## What
Reusable, authoritative CI gate over **agent-produced output** — the
hookless guardrail for out-of-session agents (Claude Managed Agent,
Agent SDK loop, or NTM/Codex swarm). A `workflow_call` job runs `ao
validate --gate` (the umbrella composing ratchet/standards/scenario)
against an agent's PR/artifact and propagates PASS/WARN/FAIL to the job
exit code. **CI is the gate, not a ported hook** (AgentOps 3.0 is
hookless).
Second child of epic **ag-7s9fo** (Make Managed/SDK agents
AgentOps-native), after ag-2wln `/agent-native` (#616). Inherits the
richer spec absorbed from superseded ag-toat4; the optional SDK hook
adapter was split out to ag-50m3.
## Files (3, +184/−0)
- `scripts/agent-output-validate.sh` — testable gate logic. Resolves
`ao` (`AO_BIN` override), runs `ao validate --gate "$@"`, propagates
exit (0 pass/warn, 1 fail, 2 error). **Fails loudly if `ao` is missing**
— a missing gate never reads as a clean pass.
- `.github/workflows/agent-output-validate.yml` — `workflow_call`
wrapper (inputs: `changes`, `strict`); builds `ao`, runs the script.
Runtime-agnostic (serves Managed-Agent + NTM-swarm PRs).
`workflow_call`-only **by design** — it's adopted by a caller, not
triggered standalone, so it does not run on this PR.
- `tests/scripts/agent-output-validate.bats` — 7 cases. The
**passing+failing fixture evidence** the bead requires, exercised
deterministically via an injectable fake `ao` (exit 0/1/2), plus
scope-flag forwarding, missing-binary, strict-mode, and workflow-wiring
assertions.
## Evidence
- `bats tests/scripts/agent-output-validate.bats` → **7/7 green**
- `shellcheck scripts/agent-output-validate.sh` → clean (severity=error)
- Real-`ao` smoke: against the live binary the script faithfully
propagates the gate verdict (an empty dir yields ao's exit-2 "no
artifacts" → ERROR, proving no silent pass)
- yaml parses valid
## Note for review
The workflow is `workflow_call`-only, so CI here can't execute it
(nothing `uses:` it yet). The **bats suite is the regression proof** for
the gate logic; the yaml is the thin Actions wrapper a caller adopts.
Bare invocation (no `changes`/`bead`) intentionally surfaces ao's exit-2
— callers scope the gate via the `changes` input.
Closes-scenario: ag-mptr#agent-output-validate
Bounded-context: BC5-Runtime
Evidence: tests/scripts/agent-output-validate.bats
Bo