Related: #10903

Authored by Claude Opus 4.7 (Claude Code). Session 7e897a0b-33ce-4d6c-b1a9-a1ff93e4e571.

Bucket A + E sub-PR for #10903 (Audit unit-test failures in clean CI env). Establishes the canonical NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI single-env-var skip-guard pattern with bucket-context preserved in the skip-message string. Per @tobiu's framing: simplest solution; granularity available later if needed via skip-message-grep.

Evidence: L1 (file syntax + diff verified via node --check) → L2 in-flight (specs will skip cleanly once NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI=true is set in .github/workflows/test.yml via Lane C-followup PR after Buckets B/C/D land). No external residuals.

What this PR ships

Two file changes, +12 lines:

Bucket A — heavy SLM (gemma4)

test/playwright/unit/ai/mcp/server/memory-core/services/SessionSummarization.spec.mjs:

test.describe('Memory Core Offline Summarization', () => {
    // Bucket A (#10903): heavy SLM (gemma4) dependency — no local LM Studio / Ollama in CI.
    // The per-test `localModelActive` guard below stays as a defensive fallback for local-dev
    // without gemma4 running, but the CI-side skip is the early exit that prevents `beforeAll`
    // from probing a nonexistent endpoint.
    test.skip(!!process.env.NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI, 'CI-skip: heavy SLM (gemma4) — bucket A (#10903)');
    // ...rest unchanged

Belt-and-suspenders: the existing per-test localModelActive runtime guard remains as a defensive fallback for local-dev machines without gemma4 actually running. The new describe-level NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI guard fires earlier — preventing beforeAll from probing a nonexistent endpoint at all.

Bucket E — Authorization PoC-skip

test/playwright/unit/ai/mcp/Authorization.spec.mjs:131 (single test, 'should allow access with a valid token'):

test('should allow access with a valid token', async ({request}) => {
    // Bucket E (#10903) PoC-skip: in CI, the token-issuing substrate (OIDC discovery + JWKS)
    // is not provisioned, so the bearer token validation path can't complete. TODO: investigate
    // whether this needs a mock issuer fixture or a fully-skipped substrate-data bucket — for
    // now, skip with rationale to unblock Lane C (#10897) `unit` matrix re-add.
    test.skip(!!process.env.NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI, 'CI-skip: token-issuing substrate not provisioned — bucket E (#10903)');
    // ...rest unchanged

Per @tobiu's "even those could get skipped for a PoC" framing — skip with a TODO rather than try to fix the substrate. Future ticket can address the mock-issuer fixture properly.

Why a single env var (vs granular)

Considered per-bucket env vars (NEO_LOCAL_SLM_AVAILABLE, NEO_SKIP_AUTH_PROVISIONING, etc.) and rejected for this audit because:

• Single CI knob is simpler to set + flip.
• Bucket context lives in the skip-message string — grep -rn "bucket A" / bucket E finds all guards when bucket-substrate work eventually lands. The string IS the metadata.
• YAGNI: granularity can be split out non-destructively if it ever becomes load-bearing.
• Matches @tobiu's "simplest solution is a new env var like NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI" directive.

Sibling sub-PRs (in flight per #10903 distribution)

The other 3 buckets are distributed across the swarm via A2A:

• Bucket B + D — @neo-gemini-pro: grid refactor WIP (LockedColumns, Pooling, Teleportation) + MCP server bootstrap (McpServersHealth, McpServersIsolation).
• Bucket C — @neo-gpt: substrate-data tests (~17 specs across checkAllAgentIdle, checkSunsetted, resumeHarness, DestructiveOperationGuard, SessionService.*, QueryReRanker, PullRequestService).

After all 3 bucket PRs merge, I file a tiny Lane C-followup PR (against #10897) that:

1. Adds unit back to the matrix in .github/workflows/test.yml.
2. Sets NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI=true in the workflow env.
3. Includes Resolves #10903 for the substrate-audit close-out.

Test Evidence

L1:

• node --check test/playwright/unit/ai/mcp/server/memory-core/services/SessionSummarization.spec.mjs — clean.
• node --check test/playwright/unit/ai/mcp/Authorization.spec.mjs — clean.
• git diff --stat — 2 files changed, 12 insertions, 0 deletions.

L2 verification (deferred to convergence): once NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI=true lands in dev's CI workflow + this PR is in dev, both specs skip cleanly when npm run test-unit runs in CI; locally without NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI set, they run as today (gated by the existing localModelActive runtime probe in Bucket A).

Post-Merge Validation

• Once Lane C-followup PR sets NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI=true, verify Tests / unit matrix row no longer fails on the SessionSummarization 4 tests + Authorization line-131 test.
• Optional: grep -rn "bucket [A-E]" test/playwright/unit/ returns the canonical list of bucket-skipped tests for future cleanup.

Commits

• c63c112ec — feat(testing): NEO_TEST_SKIP_CI guard for heavy-SLM + auth specs (#10903) (single commit, +12 lines).

Cross-family review request

Round-robin assignment: @neo-gemini-pro as primary reviewer (Anthropic → Google). Lane B's recent post-rebase pattern + her #10906 audit institutionalization both validate her on this kind of substrate-discipline review.

Origin Session ID: 7e897a0b-33ce-4d6c-b1a9-a1ff93e4e571