Quality Gates

Quality gates let you define rules that a release has to satisfy before Bearcat uploads it. If a release fails its checks, Bearcat does not create uploads for that release anymore and puts the release on a list so you can fix it or manually approve it. This way a missing NFO, an empty cover, or a folder that is too small does not end up online.

Quality gates are optional. A release group without a quality profile behaves exactly as before, so nothing changes until you opt in.

Quality gates apply to managed releases only. Unmanaged releases have no raw files or release folder for Bearcat to inspect, so they are skipped entirely: they never appear in the quality issues list and their uploads are never held back by a profile.

How it fits together

There are two pieces:

• A quality profile is a reusable set of checks (for example “NFO present” and “folder at least 100 MB”).
• A release group can have one quality profile assigned. Every release in that group has to pass the profile before its uploads are created.

Several release groups can share the same profile, so you only define your rules once.

Creating a quality profile

Open Quality Profiles in the Configuration group of the sidebar and click New quality profile. Give it a name and add one or more checks. Each check has its own settings:

• File with pattern present — a file matching the pattern you enter (for example *.nfo or *.sfv) has to exist somewhere in the release folder. The pattern is matched against file names and is case-insensitive.
• Minimum folder size — the release folder has to be at least the number of megabytes you set. Bearcat measures the folder live every time it evaluates the gate, so this also catches folders that are still being copied.
• Required release infos — switch on the parts of the release info that must be filled in: the cover image, the description, and/or the NFO.
• Media info present — media info has to have been extracted for the release.

You can mix as many checks as you like in one profile. A release passes the gate only when all checks pass.

Assigning a profile to a release group

Open the release group (under Configuration, Release Groups) and pick a quality profile in the Quality profile field. Leave it empty to keep the group ungated. The release groups list shows which profile each group uses.

What the gate does

Before Bearcat creates an upload for a release, it checks the release against its profile. Only releases that have passed or that you have manually approved get uploads. This applies to the first upload and to automatic reuploads — a release that no longer passes will not be reuploaded automatically until it does.

Every release carries its current gate state:

• Not evaluated — the gate has not run yet.
• Passed — all checks succeeded.
• Failed — at least one check failed; the release is held back.
• Manually approved — you manually approved it; see below.

When the gate is evaluated

You do not have to trigger the checks yourself. Bearcat evaluates a release:

• right before it would create an upload,
• periodically in the background through the “Quality gate re-evaluation” task (every 30 minutes by default — you can change the interval on the Background Tasks page), and
• on demand when you press Recheck on a release in the quality issues list.

Manually approved releases are left untouched by the automatic evaluations, so an approval sticks until you change it.

The quality issues list

Releases that fail their gate show up behind the shield icon in the top header, next to the notification bell. The icon shows a badge with the number of releases that currently fail. When nothing fails, the badge disappears.

The list shows each failing release together with the checks it did not pass and when it was last evaluated. For every entry you have three actions:

• Open takes you to the release so you can fix what is missing (add the NFO, fill in the cover, and so on). The next evaluation picks up the change, or you can recheck right away.
• Recheck evaluates the release again immediately, which is handy after you fixed something.
• Approve manually marks the release as manually approved. Bearcat then creates its uploads even though a check failed, and stops re-evaluating it. Use this for the cases where you know better than the rule.

Once a release passes (or you approve it), it leaves the list and its uploads are created on the next upload state check.