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2026-02 Quality and Onboarding Opportunities

Status: Historical Snapshot (Partially Completed) Reviewed: 2026-02-11 Inputs: recent commits (v0.9.7..HEAD), go test ./..., golangci-lint run

For current status, use docs/IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md and ROADMAP.md.

Snapshot

  • go test ./...: passing (at time of review)
  • golangci-lint run: passing after one low-risk fix in internal/devbox/detect/hash_test.go
  • historical coverage at review time (go tool cover -func): 21.2%
  • hook reliability improvement (2026-02-11): loom agent supports HUD->daemon fallback and heartbeat --ensure-session bootstrap for notify-only clients.

Completion Since This Review

Items from this plan that have shipped (see ROADMAP.md / CHANGELOG.md):

  • Docs + command guardrails in CI (scripts/ci/check_docs_guardrails.sh and CLI help smoke checks).
  • make bootstrap-local onboarding workflow.
  • Significant MCP server coverage growth and additional edge-case tests.

Items still active from this plan:

  • Additional daemon lifecycle + devbox integration coverage toward the current 40% target.
  • Broader migration to standardized MCP error handling across remaining legacy servers.

Priority Opportunities

1) Raise coverage on MCP servers with no direct tests

Many cmd/mcp-* servers still have no package-level tests. High-value candidates:

  • mcp-devbox (new, complex lifecycle and backend orchestration)
  • mcp-agent-context (critical stateful core)
  • mcp-release, mcp-substack, mcp-itchio (new additions)
  • frequently used infra servers: mcp-git, mcp-grafana, mcp-docker, mcp-redis

Proposed baseline:

  1. Add one happy-path test per server.
  2. Add one argument validation/error-path test per server.
  3. Add one external-call failure mapping test (mcperror response shape).

2) Add a docs guardrail in CI

Recent docs drift happened around HUD/devbox features and command workflows.

Proposed checks:

  1. Add a CI job that fails if README.md, docs/, and CHANGELOG.md are unchanged for user-visible commits (convention/tag-based).
  2. Add a lightweight command smoke check (go run ./cmd/loom --help) in CI to catch doc/command drift early.

Status update (2026-02-11):

  • Implemented in GitLab CI + GitHub Actions.
  • Added reusable script: scripts/ci/check_docs_guardrails.sh.

3) Improve first-run onboarding automation

Current onboarding requires users to infer sequence across multiple docs.

Proposed additions:

  1. Add make bootstrap-local that runs:
    • make build
    • make install-core
    • ./bin/loom sync all --regen --loom-mode
    • ./bin/loom check
  2. Print explicit next steps (loom start, loom hud --port 3333) at the end.

4) Strengthen devbox quality gates

mcp-devbox is now a core path and should have stronger regression protection.

Proposed additions:

  1. Integration tests covering both Docker and K8s backend selection paths.
  2. Tests for mount/workdir behavior in monorepo and out-of-tree project layouts.
  3. Tests for async exec lifecycle cleanup (stale exec IDs, timeout behavior).

5) Standardize error-handling adoption across MCP servers

The documented standard (validate + mcperror) is clear, but adoption is uneven across older servers.

Proposed implementation:

  1. Add a checklist-driven migration tracker for all cmd/mcp-* directories.
  2. Prioritize high-traffic servers first.
  3. Include at least one negative test per migrated server to lock in response format.

Suggested Execution Order

  1. Coverage baseline for mcp-devbox, mcp-agent-context, and newest MCP servers.
  2. bootstrap-local onboarding command.
  3. CI docs/command smoke guardrails.
  4. Broader error-handling standardization sweep.
2026-02 Quality and Onboarding Opportunities | Loom Core docs