/checklist — The QA Gatekeeper

SkillCommunication

Surface the right marketing checklist for any task. Covers content, SEO, ads, email, press, landing pages, launches, and technical audits. 17+ checklists indexed by task type.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the /checklist — The QA Gatekeeper skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by cgallic/kai-cmo-harness in legacy/checklist/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Surface the right checklist for any marketing task. The harness includes 17+ validation checklists — this skill maps your task to the right one and walks you through it interactively.

Arguments

Required:

  • task: What you're doing. Free-form — the skill maps it to the right checklist.

Examples:

  • /checklist publish a blog post
  • /checklist launch meta ads
  • /checklist send cold email campaign
  • /checklist technical SEO audit
  • /checklist launch a new product
  • /checklist press release

The Skill

Step 1: Map Task to Checklist

Match the task description against the checklist index:

Task KeywordsChecklist FileCategory
blog, article, content, publishknowledge/checklists/content-checklist.mdContent
SEO, search, ranking, optimizationknowledge/checklists/seo-checklist.mdSEO
technical SEO, crawl, audit, screaming frogknowledge/checklists/technical-seo-audit-sop.mdTechnical SEO
security, htaccess, CSP, hackknowledge/checklists/SEO Expert-technical-seo-checklist.mdTechnical SEO
meta ads, facebook, instagram, fbknowledge/checklists/meta-advertising-checklist.mdAds
paid, ads, PPC, campaign, google adsknowledge/checklists/paid-acquisition-checklist.mdAds
tiktok, TikTok Shopknowledge/checklists/tiktok-checklist.mdAds/Social
email, newsletter, lifecycle, dripknowledge/checklists/email-checklist.mdEmail
press, PR, media, press releaseknowledge/checklists/pr-checklist.mdPR
sales page, landing page, conversionknowledge/checklists/perception-engineering-checklist.mdConversion
landing page, messaging, copyknowledge/checklists/landing-page-messaging-checklist.mdConversion
content brief, briefknowledge/checklists/content-brief-checklist.mdPlanning
fintech, payment, financial appknowledge/checklists/fintech-design-checklist.mdDesign
business model, B2B, SaaS, DTCknowledge/checklists/business-model-checklist.mdStrategy
2026, readiness, planningknowledge/checklists/2026-readiness-checklist.mdStrategy
patent, researchknowledge/checklists/patent-research-checklist.mdResearch

If no match, show all available checklists and ask user to pick.

Step 2: Load the Checklist

Read the matched checklist file from the knowledge base.

Step 3: Interactive Walkthrough

Present each checklist item one at a time for the user to confirm:

CHECKLIST: {checklist name}
══════════════════════════════════════

Item 1 of {N}:
  [ ] {checklist item description}

  Status? (pass / fail / skip / na)

Track progress as user responds:

Progress: 8/24 items checked
  ✓ Pass:  6
  ✗ Fail:  1  ← "Missing meta description"
  ○ Skip:  1
  — N/A:   0

Step 4: Generate Report

After all items are checked:

CHECKLIST REPORT — {checklist name}
══════════════════════════════════════

Date:     {today}
Result:   {PASS / FAIL}
Score:    {passed}/{total applicable} ({pct}%)

PASSED (6):
  ✓ Title tag present and under 60 characters
  ✓ H1 hierarchy correct
  ✓ Internal links present (3+)
  ...

FAILED (1):
  ✗ Meta description missing
    Fix: Add a meta description of 150-160 characters targeting the primary keyword.

SKIPPED (1):
  ○ Schema markup (manual check required)

RECOMMENDATION:
  Fix 1 failing item before publishing.
  Run: /content-gate {file} for automated scoring.

Step 5: Offer Fixes

For each failing item, offer to fix automatically if applicable:

  • Content issues → "Want me to write the meta description?"
  • SEO issues → "Want me to add the missing internal link?"
  • Compliance issues → "Load the policy reference for details"

Available Checklists (Full Index)

Content & Copy

  1. Content Checklist — Final review before publishing any content
  2. Content Brief Checklist — Validates brief completeness before writing
  3. Perception Engineering Checklist — Persuasive messaging and decision installation
  4. Landing Page Messaging Checklist — 7-phase landing page validation

SEO

  1. SEO Checklist — Core SEO validation (on-page, technical, links)
  2. Technical SEO Audit SOP — Screaming Frog crawl with dev ticket templates
  3. SEO Expert Technical SEO Checklist — Security hardening, htaccess, CSP, hack recovery

Advertising

  1. Meta Advertising Checklist — Meta/FB/IG campaign launch, learning phase, optimization
  2. Paid Acquisition Checklist — Cross-platform paid campaign launch and optimization
  3. TikTok Checklist — TikTok Shop content and ad validation

Email

  1. Email Checklist — Email program setup and campaign validation

PR

  1. PR Checklist — Press release distribution validation

Strategy

  1. Business Model Checklist — Model-specific marketing validation
  2. 2026 Readiness Checklist — Infrastructure and strategy readiness

Design

  1. Fintech Design Checklist — B2C fintech app design validation

Research

  1. Patent Research Checklist — Google patent research methodology

Ad Platform Compliance (via /ad-copy)

  1. Google Ads Policy — harness/references/google-ads-policy-reference.md
  2. Meta Ads Policy — harness/references/meta-ads-rules.md
  3. TikTok Ads Policy — harness/references/tiktok-ads-policy-reference.md (+ 6 more platform policies)

Error Handling

  • No matching checklist: Show full index, ask user to pick
  • Checklist file missing: "Checklist '{name}' not found. Available checklists: {list}"

Chain State

Standalone: Works independently for any task Pairs with: /content-gate (automated scoring), /ad-copy (compliance checking)

Signals

GitHub stars
47
Forks
6
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
checklist-cgallic
Source
github.com/cgallic/kai-cmo-harness