pixel-ship-gate — the 7-step pre-merge gate (JOB-7 + O9 + S15/S16)

Stance: "passes tests" ≠ accessible/secure/fast/non-slop. Automated a11y catches only ~30–40% of WCAG (O9) — green axe is the necessary FLOOR, not the sufficient gate. Run the 7 steps IN ORDER; a generated draft is untrusted until all 7 pass (O7).

trigger

• "is this ready to merge / ship?"
• pre-merge review / final QA on any UI
• an a11y / CWV / security sign-off
• before you call ANY UI "done"

The 7-step gate (IN ORDER — each is exit-code/binary)

1. impeccable — npx impeccable detect --json <dir>/src → exit 0, 0 slop violations (the anti-slop floor; keyless). See pixel-anti-slop.
2. axe — @axe-core/playwright injected on every route → 0 violations.
3. lhci — npx lhci autorun against the CWV 2026 budgets: LCP < 2.0s (tightened from 2.5s, March 2026 — most write-ups still say 2.5), INP < 200ms (FID is DEAD), CLS < 0.1. CWV pass/fail is the 75th-percentile FIELD/RUM number — treat Lighthouse as a proxy, RUM as truth (§7.2/§11.2: 43% of sites still fail INP).
4. 12-dim — the design-systems V3 binary audit: ≥10/12, NEVER "7/10" (O11). Either a dimension meets the bar or the fix is explicit.
5. manual a11y — keyboard nav + screen-reader + reduced-motion (the ~60–70% axe misses, O9). WCAG 2.2 AA is the operative legal baseline (NOT WCAG 3.0 — not a Recommendation until ~2029). Add the new 2.2 criteria: 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (no cognitive test to log in; allow password managers/passkeys), 2.5.8 Target Size ≥24px (keep the 44px house rule), 2.5.7 Dragging (single-pointer alt), 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured.
6. security — generated UI is ~40–45% vulnerable (O7/§7.4): audit injected scripts, secrets, unused Server Actions exposing endpoints (§5.7), dependency surface.
7. visual — screenshot + READ it; page.on('console') → 0 hydration warnings (O14/§0 #7). "It compiles" means nothing.

The two NAMED traps the gate exists to catch

• S15 / §11.1 🟡 the CWV default-emit (the money one). AI emits the "heaviest, jankiest solution" — product pages at 4–5s LCP convert 40–50% lower than at 2s; "53% of sites lose 8–35% of conversions when they fail CWV in 2026" (a documented +$1.2M A/B). Make the fix-set the DEFAULT emit: hero fetchpriority="high" + explicit width/height + srcset, NOT lazy; below-fold images loading="lazy"; facade/lite pattern for chat/review/3rd-party widgets (mount on interaction, not module-top); self-hosted next/font ≤2 weights + size-adjusted fallbacks; CSS aspect-ratio/min-height/contain to kill CLS.
• S16 / §10.4 🔴 NEVER an accessibility OVERLAY widget — it's a silent LEGAL failure. Overlays (accessiBe/UserWay/AudioEye-class JS) cannot fix heading structure, keyboard nav, form labels, semantic HTML, captions, or focus; screen readers conflict with them; scanners audit the underlying HTML. FTC fined accessiBe $1M (Jan 2025); in H1-2025 456 suits (22.6%) targeted sites with an overlay. FIX: emit semantically correct HTML by default (<button>, <label htmlFor>) + remediate the source to WCAG 2.2 AA. Grep deps for overlay injectors → BLOCK.

steps

1. Run steps 1–3 (the automated exit-code floor); any non-zero/violation = BLOCK.
2. Run the 12-dim binary audit (≥10/12) + the manual a11y pass.
3. Run the security audit + the visual/console proof.
4. Check the two named traps explicitly: hero has fetchpriority+dims & below-fold is lazy (S15); NO overlay dep present (S16).
5. All 7 green → SHIP. Any fail → fix, re-run. No "7/10".

output

• A per-step pass/fail table (impeccable · axe · lhci-with-CWV-numbers · 12-dim score · manual-a11y · security · visual).
• The S15 check (hero priority + below-fold lazy + facade widgets) and S16 check (no overlay dep) explicitly marked.
• Verdict: SHIP (7/7) or BLOCKED (the failing step + the fix).

verify

npx impeccable detect --json <dir>/src exits 0 AND deps grep for accessiBe/UserWay/AudioEye-class scripts is EMPTY (S16) AND the hero has fetchpriority="high"+width/height and is not lazy while below-fold images are loading="lazy" (S15).

sources

brain/EXPERTISE-MAP.md JOB 7 · brain/OPINIONS.md O7, O9, O11, O14 · brain/KNOWN-PITFALLS.md §7.1–§7.4, §10.4, §11.1–§11.2 · BATTLE-TESTED S15, S16.