fix(loop-tick): exclude drain cycles from zero-PR backoff (Codex P1 follow-up on #4146)#4148
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AceHack merged 1 commit intoMay 18, 2026
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…dex P1 follow-up on #4146) PR #4146 was merged before this Codex P1 fix could land on its branch. The finding: zero-PR backoff in #4146 increments on every produced_pr= false, but drain-mode runs (thread-resolution / merge work on existing PRs) never set produced_pr=true. So a healthy drain-only period would falsely look like consecutive zero-PR failures and ratchet to 30x slowdown — delaying review-thread handling and merges. Fix: filter the counter on r.mode === 'pickup' — skip drain cycles entirely when counting. Drain mode is excluded because the success signal there is NOT produced_pr (no new PR is created) but rather thread-resolution + merge, which we don't currently track as a discrete success metric (could be future work). Backoff now only triggers when pickup-mode (the cycle that's SUPPOSED to create new PRs) consistently fails. Healthy drain operation no longer slows it down. Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Follow-up on #4146: the zero-PR backoff Codex flagged as a P1 issue shipped to main before this fix could land on its branch.
Finding (Codex on #4146)
Zero-PR backoff increments on every
produced_pr=false, but drain-mode runs (thread-resolution / merge work on existing PRs) NEVER setproduced_pr=true. A healthy drain-only period (e.g., 5 PRs all going through review) would falsely look like consecutive zero-PR failures and ratchet to 30x slowdown — delaying review-thread handling and merges.Fix
if (r.mode !== "pickup") continue;— skip drain cycles entirely when counting.Drain mode is excluded because its success signal is NOT
produced_pr(no new PR is created) but rather thread-resolution + merge — which we don't currently track as a discrete success metric. Future work could add aproduced_merge: truefield to drain ratings and unify the counter.Backoff now only triggers when pickup-mode (the cycle that's SUPPOSED to create new PRs) consistently fails. Healthy drain operation no longer slows the loop down.
Why this took a follow-up PR
I was authoring the fix-commit when #4146 auto-merged. My fix-commit (
bb75cf2) was created butPATCH /refs/heads/<branch>returned 422 because the branch had already been auto-deleted on merge. Created a fresh branch off main with the same fix instead. The fix-commit on the orphan branch is functionally equivalent to this PR's0d6c5bd.Composes with #4146 (merged); applies the Codex P1 correction.
Co-Authored-By: Claude noreply@anthropic.com