CollectFlow/_bmad/tea/workflows/testarch/atdd/steps-c/step-01-preflight-and-context.md

name, description, outputFile, nextStepFile, knowledgeIndex

name	description	outputFile	nextStepFile	knowledgeIndex
step-01-preflight-and-context	Verify prerequisites and load story, framework, and knowledge base	{test_artifacts}/atdd-checklist-{story_id}.md	./step-02-generation-mode.md	{project-root}/_bmad/tea/testarch/tea-index.csv

Step 1: Preflight & Context Loading

STEP GOAL

Verify prerequisites and load all required inputs before generating failing tests.

MANDATORY EXECUTION RULES

• 📖 Read the entire step file before acting
• ✅ Speak in {communication_language}
• 🚫 Halt if requirements are missing

---

EXECUTION PROTOCOLS:

• 🎯 Follow the MANDATORY SEQUENCE exactly
• 💾 Record outputs before proceeding
• 📖 Load the next step only when instructed

CONTEXT BOUNDARIES:

• Available context: config, loaded artifacts, and knowledge fragments
• Focus: this step's goal only
• Limits: do not execute future steps
• Dependencies: prior steps' outputs (if any)

MANDATORY SEQUENCE

CRITICAL: Follow this sequence exactly. Do not skip, reorder, or improvise.

1. Prerequisites (Hard Requirements)

• Story approved with clear acceptance criteria
• Test framework configured (playwright.config.ts or cypress.config.ts)
• Development environment available

If any are missing: HALT and notify the user.

---

2. Load Story Context

• Read story markdown from {story_file} (or ask user if not provided)
• Extract acceptance criteria and constraints
• Identify affected components and integrations

---

3. Load Framework & Existing Patterns

• Read framework config
• Inspect {test_dir} for existing test patterns, fixtures, helpers

3.5 Read TEA Config Flags

From {config_source}:

• tea_use_playwright_utils
• tea_browser_automation

---

4. Load Knowledge Base Fragments

Use {knowledgeIndex} to load:

Core (always):

• data-factories.md
• component-tdd.md
• test-quality.md
• test-healing-patterns.md
• selector-resilience.md
• timing-debugging.md

Playwright Utils (if enabled):

• overview.md, api-request.md, network-recorder.md, auth-session.md, intercept-network-call.md, recurse.md, log.md, file-utils.md, network-error-monitor.md, fixtures-composition.md

Playwright CLI (if tea_browser_automation is "cli" or "auto"):

• playwright-cli.md

MCP Patterns (if tea_browser_automation is "mcp" or "auto"):

• (existing MCP-related fragments, if any are added in future)

Traditional Patterns (if utils disabled):

• fixture-architecture.md
• network-first.md

---

5. Confirm Inputs

Summarize loaded inputs and confirm with the user. Then proceed.

---

6. Save Progress

Save this step's accumulated work to {outputFile}.

• If {outputFile} does not exist (first save), create it with YAML frontmatter:

  ---
  stepsCompleted: ['step-01-preflight-and-context']
  lastStep: 'step-01-preflight-and-context'
  lastSaved: '{date}'
  ---
  

  Then write this step's output below the frontmatter.

• If {outputFile} already exists, update:

  • Add 'step-01-preflight-and-context' to stepsCompleted array (only if not already present)
  • Set lastStep: 'step-01-preflight-and-context'
  • Set lastSaved: '{date}'
  • Append this step's output to the appropriate section.

Load next step: {nextStepFile}

🚨 SYSTEM SUCCESS/FAILURE METRICS:

✅ SUCCESS:

• Step completed in full with required outputs

❌ SYSTEM FAILURE:

• Skipped sequence steps or missing outputs Master Rule: Skipping steps is FORBIDDEN.