Samples CI enhancements -- separate workflow, SDK patching, tiered test skipping

[diberry]

Samples CI Enhancements -- Follow-up from PR #111 Review

Source: PAO's review of PR #111 identified 4 scope expansions beyond the initial #103 implementation. These are valid improvements but out of scope for the initial gate.

Context

PR #111 adds the initial samples-build CI gate (Part 3 of repo health). PAO's review identified additional improvements from the #103 PRD that were deferred to keep the initial PR focused on the core gate.

Proposed Enhancements

1. Separate workflow file (from squad-ci.yml)

Move samples-build job to .github/workflows/squad-samples.yml instead of embedding in squad-ci.yml.

• Prevents slowing core CI for non-samples PRs
• Aligns with Squad product: Default workflows burn too many Actions minutes for multi-repo customers #98 tiered CI approach
• Issue Squad product: samples/ directory has zero CI coverage -- SDK changes silently break samples #103 Section 6 Option B recommends this

2. SDK reference patching

Three samples use published npm refs instead of local workspace:

• cost-aware-router: "@bradygaster/squad-sdk": "^0.8.0"
• autonomous-pipeline: "@bradygaster/squad-sdk": "^0.8.0"
• storage-provider-azure: "@bradygaster/squad-sdk": "latest"

Without patching, samples validate against last published npm version, not in-PR SDK changes. Need a workflow step to patch references to file:../../packages/squad-sdk before npm install.

3. Environment-dependent sample handling (ci-skip-tests.json)

Some samples need external services to test:

• Tier A (pure SDK, run full tests): autonomous-pipeline, hello-squad, hook-governance, skill-discovery, streaming-chat, rock-paper-scissors, cost-aware-router
• Tier B (needs .env, skip tests): knock-knock
• Tier C (needs external services, build-only): azure-function-squad, storage-provider-azure, storage-provider-sqlite

Create samples/ci-skip-tests.json listing samples to skip test execution. Workflow reads this file and only runs npm test for Tier A samples.

4. ci-skip-tests.json configuration file

Commit samples/ci-skip-tests.json:
["knock-knock", "azure-function-squad", "storage-provider-azure", "storage-provider-sqlite"]

Related

• PR feat(ci): add samples build validation gate #111 -- Initial samples CI gate (Part 3 of repo health)
• Issue Squad product: samples/ directory has zero CI coverage -- SDK changes silently break samples #103 -- Samples CI coverage PRD (Sections 5 and 6)
• Issue Squad product: PR completeness gates -- prevent merging without docs, CHANGELOG, exports, and samples CI #104 -- PR completeness gates
• Issue Squad product: Default workflows burn too many Actions minutes for multi-repo customers #98 -- Minutes optimization (tiered CI)

[github-actions]

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

Issue: #112 — Samples CI enhancements -- separate workflow, SDK patching, tiered test skipping
Assigned to: FIDO (Quality Owner)
Reason: Issue relates to testing/quality work

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

Team roster:

• Flight (Lead) → label: squad:flight
• Procedures (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:procedures
• EECOM (Core Dev) → label: squad:eecom
• FIDO (Quality Owner) → label: squad:fido
• PAO (DevRel) → label: squad:pao
• CAPCOM (SDK Expert) → label: squad:capcom
• CONTROL (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:control
• Surgeon (Release Manager) → label: squad:surgeon
• Booster (CI/CD Engineer) → label: squad:booster
• GNC (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:gnc
• Network (Distribution) → label: squad:network
• RETRO (Security) → label: squad:retro
• INCO (CLI UX & Visual Design) → label: squad:inco
• GUIDO (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:guido
• Telemetry (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:telemetry
• VOX (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:vox
• DSKY (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:dsky
• Sims (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:sims
• Handbook (SDK Usability) → label: squad:handbook
• Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
• @copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

[github-actions]

⚠️ No squad member found matching label squad:archive. Check .squad/team.md (or .ai-team/team.md) for valid member names.

[diberry]

Closing: work completed upstream or no longer relevant. See diberry/project-dina#22 cleanup audit.