From 67a860ca981d5d57ae13643d82e31c58881f20a9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tom Boucher <trekkie@nomorestars.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:00:54 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(#3319): mutation-gate has_work=false renders skipped, not
 success (#3399)

The has_work=false branch previously exit-0'd from a step that ran,
so the job's conclusion was `success` -- identical to a PR that
actually ran mutation testing and passed. Moved the trivial-pass
condition to the job's own `if:`, so the job is SKIPPED (not run)
when has_work=false, matching the `coverage-gate` precedent in
test.yml and confirmed (via job-level `if:` research plus this
repo's own live PR #3392) that a skipped required check does not
block merge while still rendering visibly distinct from a pass.

First design attempt (splitting into two step-level `if:`-gated
steps) was verified WRONG before landing: a job whose every step is
individually skipped via step-level `if:` still reports `success`,
not `skipped` -- confirmed against documented GitHub Actions
behavior, not assumed.

Empirically verified via `workflow_dispatch`:
  pre-fix  (run 31652963610, on next): mutation-gate conclusion = success
  post-fix (see PR): mutation-gate conclusion = skipped

Co-authored-by: sim <sim@local>
---
 .github/workflows/mutation.yml | 25 ++++++++++++-------------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/mutation.yml b/.github/workflows/mutation.yml
index 0b3b8f12a..5dd836bd0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/mutation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/mutation.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ name: Mutation Testing
 # are "covered" (have meaningful test coverage for mutation). It computes
 # changed modules from git diff and emits a GitHub Actions matrix so each
 # changed module gets its own Stryker shard running in parallel.
-# If no covered modules changed the gate passes trivially (has_work: false).
+# If no covered modules changed the gate is skipped, not trivially passed (has_work: false).
 
 on:
   pull_request:
@@ -147,39 +147,38 @@ jobs:
           retention-days: 14
 
   # ── Job 3: mutation-gate ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
-  # Stable required-check name for branch protection. Passes when:
-  #   • has_work is false (nothing to mutate — trivial pass), OR
-  #   • all mutate shards succeeded.
-  # Fails when any shard failed.
+  # Stable required-check name for branch protection.
+  #   • has_work is false → job is SKIPPED (not run) — nothing to mutate is not
+  #     the same claim as "mutated and passed" (#3319).
+  #   • has_work is true and all mutate shards succeeded → PASSES.
+  #   • has_work is true and any shard failed, or detect itself failed → FAILS.
   # Summary job keeps the LEGACY check name so existing branch protection
   # (which requires "Stryker mutation score (changed files only)") needs no
   # change. The per-module shards report as "Stryker (<module>)".
   mutation-gate:
     name: Stryker mutation score (changed files only)
     needs: [detect, mutate]
-    if: always()
+    # has_work=false is rendered by SKIPPING this job entirely (job-level `if:`), not by an
+    # early `exit 0` inside the step — a step that runs and exits 0 always reports `success`,
+    # indistinguishable in the UI from "evaluated and passed". A job-level-skipped job reports
+    # `skipped` instead, matching the `coverage-gate` precedent in test.yml, and (verified)
+    # skipped required checks do not block merge. See #3319.
+    if: always() && (needs.detect.result != 'success' || needs.detect.outputs.has_work == 'true')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Evaluate gate
         run: |
           DETECT="${{ needs.detect.result }}"
           MUTATE="${{ needs.mutate.result }}"
-          HAS_WORK="${{ needs.detect.outputs.has_work }}"
 
           echo "detect result : ${DETECT}"
           echo "mutate result : ${MUTATE}"
-          echo "has_work      : ${HAS_WORK}"
 
           if [ "${DETECT}" != "success" ]; then
             echo "FAIL: detect job did not succeed (${DETECT})"
             exit 1
           fi
 
-          if [ "${HAS_WORK}" = "false" ]; then
-            echo "PASS: no covered modules changed — gate trivially green"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
           if [ "${MUTATE}" = "success" ]; then
             echo "PASS: all mutation shards passed"
             exit 0