feat(ci): add ruff auto-fix workflow and ensure lint runs before tests

- Create new ruff-auto-fix.yml workflow that automatically fixes formatting issues
- Auto-commits fixes back to PR branches
- Comments on PRs when fixes are applied
- Restructure CI pipeline to run lint before tests (Stage 1 → Stage 2)
- Update CONTRIBUTING.md with current Ruff tooling (replaces outdated Black/Flake8 references)
- Add clear pre-commit setup instructions
- Document new CI workflow structure

Co-authored-by: christianlouis <361235+christianlouis@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -25,12 +25,38 @@ env:
 
 jobs:
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
-  # Stage 1: Quality Checks (run in parallel)
+  # Stage 1: Ruff Lint & Format (runs first to catch style issues early)
+  # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+  lint:
+    name: Ruff Lint & Format
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.11"
+
+      - name: Install Ruff
+        run: pip install ruff
+
+      - name: Run Ruff Check
+        run: ruff check app/ tests/
+
+      - name: Run Ruff Format
+        run: ruff format --check app/ tests/
+
+  # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+  # Stage 2: Tests & Type Checking (run in parallel after lint passes)
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
 
   test:
     name: Tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [lint]  # Wait for lint to pass before running tests
     services:
       redis:
         image: redis:7
@@ -91,30 +117,10 @@ jobs:
             junit.xml
             coverage.xml
 
-  lint:
-    name: Ruff Lint & Format
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout Code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
-        with:
-          python-version: "3.11"
-
-      - name: Install Ruff
-        run: pip install ruff
-
-      - name: Run Ruff Check
-        run: ruff check app/ tests/
-
-      - name: Run Ruff Format
-        run: ruff format --check app/ tests/
-
   mypy:
     name: Mypy
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [lint]  # Wait for lint to pass before running type checks
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -133,7 +139,7 @@ jobs:
         run: mypy app/
 
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
-  # Stage 2: Build & Push Docker Image (only after all Stage 1 jobs pass)
+  # Stage 3: Build & Push Docker Image (only after all Stage 2 jobs pass)
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
 
   build:
@@ -196,7 +202,7 @@ jobs:
           cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
 
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
-  # Stage 3: Deploy (only after build succeeds, only on main branch)
+  # Stage 4: Deploy (only after build succeeds, only on main branch)
   # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
 
   deploy:

.github/workflows/ruff-auto-fix.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+name: Ruff Auto-Fix
+
+# This workflow automatically fixes ruff formatting and linting issues
+# and commits them back to the PR branch when issues are detected.
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - main
+      - develop
+    paths:
+      - '**.py'
+  workflow_dispatch:  # Allow manual triggering
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  ruff-auto-fix:
+    name: Auto-fix Ruff Issues
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # Only run on PRs from the same repository (not forks) for security
+    if: github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout PR branch
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.11"
+
+      - name: Install Ruff
+        run: pip install ruff
+
+      - name: Run Ruff Check with Auto-fix
+        run: |
+          echo "Running ruff check with auto-fix..."
+          ruff check app/ tests/ --fix || true
+
+      - name: Run Ruff Format
+        run: |
+          echo "Running ruff format..."
+          ruff format app/ tests/
+
+      - name: Check for changes
+        id: check_changes
+        run: |
+          if [[ -n $(git status --porcelain) ]]; then
+            echo "changes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "Changes detected after running ruff auto-fix"
+          else
+            echo "changes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "No changes needed - code is already properly formatted"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Commit and push changes
+        if: steps.check_changes.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        run: |
+          git config --local user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git add app/ tests/
+          git commit -m "style: apply ruff auto-fix
+
+          - Auto-formatted code with ruff format
+          - Applied ruff linting fixes with --fix
+
+          Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>"
+          git push
+
+      - name: Comment on PR
+        if: steps.check_changes.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          script: |
+            github.rest.issues.createComment({
+              issue_number: context.issue.number,
+              owner: context.repo.owner,
+              repo: context.repo.repo,
+              body: '✨ Ruff auto-fix applied! The code has been automatically formatted and linting issues have been fixed.\n\nPlease pull the latest changes:\n```bash\ngit pull\n```'
+            })
+
+      - name: Summary
+        run: |
+          if [[ "${{ steps.check_changes.outputs.changes }}" == "true" ]]; then
+            echo "✅ Ruff auto-fix completed and changes committed"
+          else
+            echo "✅ No changes needed - code is already properly formatted"
+          fi

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -151,13 +151,13 @@ DocuElevate uses [semantic-release](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic
 
 Before submitting a pull request:
 
-- [ ] Code follows the project style guide (Black, isort, flake8)
+- [ ] Code follows the project style guide (Ruff)
 - [ ] Commit messages follow conventional commit format
+- [ ] Pre-commit hooks installed and passing (see below)
 - [ ] Tests added/updated for new functionality
 - [ ] Documentation updated if user-facing changes
 - [ ] No manual edits to `VERSION` or `CHANGELOG.md`
 - [ ] All tests pass locally
-- [ ] Pre-commit hooks pass
 - [ ] Security scan passes (if applicable)
 
 ## Development Environment
@@ -176,8 +176,33 @@ source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
 # Install dependencies
 pip install -r requirements.txt
 pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+
+# Install pre-commit hooks (recommended)
+pre-commit install
 ```
 
+### Pre-commit Hooks
+
+Pre-commit hooks automatically check your code before each commit, catching issues early:
+
+```bash
+# Install the hooks (one-time setup)
+pre-commit install
+
+# Run hooks manually on all files
+pre-commit run --all-files
+
+# Run hooks on staged files (happens automatically on commit)
+pre-commit run
+```
+
+The pre-commit hooks include:
+- **Ruff** - Linting and formatting (with auto-fix)
+- **Mypy** - Type checking
+- **detect-secrets** - Secret detection
+- **Conventional commits** - Commit message validation
+- File checks (trailing whitespace, large files, etc.)
+
 ### Running Tests
 
 DocuElevate has comprehensive test coverage including unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests. Tests are automatically configured with the necessary environment variables.
@@ -264,37 +289,56 @@ Tests are organized using pytest markers:
 
 #### Running Tests in CI
 
-Tests run automatically in GitHub Actions for all pull requests. The CI workflow splits every check into an **independent parallel job** so that a failure in one tool never blocks the others:
+Tests run automatically in GitHub Actions for all pull requests. The CI workflow is organized in stages:
+
+**Stage 1: Ruff Lint & Format** (runs first)
+- Checks code style, formatting, and basic security issues
+- Must pass before tests run
+
+**Stage 2: Tests & Type Checking** (runs after lint passes)
 
 | Job | Tool | What it checks |
 |--------|--------|--------------------------------------|
 | `test` | pytest | Unit/integration tests + coverage |
-| `flake8`| flake8 | PEP 8 style |
-| `black` | black | Code formatting |
 | `mypy` | mypy | Static type checking |
-| `pylint`| pylint | Code quality |
-| `bandit`| bandit | Security vulnerabilities |
 
-All jobs are enforced — failures in any linter will block the PR. For full details see [docs/CIWorkflow.md](docs/CIWorkflow.md).
+**Stage 3: Docker Build** (runs after all checks pass)
+- Builds and pushes Docker images
+
+**Stage 4: Deploy** (only on main branch)
+- Deploys to production
+
+**Auto-fix Workflow:**
+- A separate `ruff-auto-fix` workflow automatically fixes formatting issues on PRs
+- Commits fixes back to the PR branch
+- Only runs on PRs from the same repository (not forks)
+
+For full details see [docs/CIWorkflow.md](docs/CIWorkflow.md) and [docs/CIToolsGuide.md](docs/CIToolsGuide.md).
 
 ### Code Style
 
-We use:
+DocuElevate uses **Ruff** for all Python code quality checks:
-- Black for Python code formatting (line length: 120)
+
-- Flake8 for linting
+- **Linting** - PEP 8 style, code quality, and security checks
-- isort for import sorting (Black-compatible profile)
+- **Formatting** - Consistent code formatting (120 character line length)
+- **Import sorting** - Organized imports
 
 ```bash
-# Format code
+# Check for linting issues
-black .
+ruff check app/ tests/
 
-# Check linting
+# Auto-fix linting issues
-flake8
+ruff check app/ tests/ --fix
 
-# Sort imports
+# Check formatting
-isort .
+ruff format --check app/ tests/
+
+# Auto-format code
+ruff format app/ tests/
 ```
 
+**Note:** The pre-commit hooks and CI pipeline will automatically check (and optionally fix) these for you.
+
 ## Project Structure
 
 ```