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feat(workflows): gate review pipeline behind non-empty implementation#1414

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mhooooo wants to merge 14 commits intocoleam00:devfrom
mhooooo:feat/workflow-implementation-gate
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feat(workflows): gate review pipeline behind non-empty implementation#1414
mhooooo wants to merge 14 commits intocoleam00:devfrom
mhooooo:feat/workflow-implementation-gate

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@mhooooo mhooooo commented Apr 26, 2026

Summary

archon-plan-to-pr and archon-idea-to-pr currently run validate, finalize-pr, the 5-agent review fan-out, fix-on-review, and workflow-summary unconditionally on all_success of implement-tasks. When implement-tasks completes cleanly with zero commits — which can happen if a host PreToolUse hook denies Edit and the agent gracefully gives up, or if a model context overload truncates the run early — each downstream node still runs an AI call against an empty branch. Each one independently detects "no PR exists, branch has zero commits ahead of main" and produces a BLOCKED artifact. Total cost per silent failure: ~12-15 minutes, ~10 AI invocations.

This PR inserts a 14-line bash gate node between implement-tasks and validate. Counts commits via git rev-list --count "$BASE_BRANCH"..HEAD. Zero commits → exit 1 → the default all_success cascade skips every downstream node automatically. Worst-case silent failure drops to ~30s bash + 0 review agents.

Repro

Easiest synthetic repro:

  1. Create a plan file referencing some target file.
  2. Add a PreToolUse hook in the host project that denies Edit against that file (e.g. exit 2 from a Python hook reading the tool input).
  3. Dispatch: archon workflow run archon-plan-to-pr --branch test/empty ".agents/plans/test.md"
  4. Observe: workflow runs ~12-15 min to completion, produces no PR, all review artifacts say BLOCKED.

Real-world repro happens organically when host hooks misfire or context overloads truncate implement-tasks. Excerpt from one such run on my fork (DB run id f37a914f...):

18:53 [implement-tasks] "The edit was denied twice. This worktree should be the permission per CLAUDE.md, but the session is blocking edits"
18:54 [validate] "Validation invoked out of order — implementation hasn't run yet."
18:54 [finalize-pr] "PR Finalization BLOCKED — Zero commits ahead of main, no existing PR."
18:57 [code-review] "Review BLOCKED — no implementation to review."
18:57 [test-coverage] "REQUEST_CHANGES — BLOCKED."
18:59 [synthesize] "All 4 agent artifacts report BLOCKED."
19:00 [implement-fixes] "Auto-fix is not applicable. Skipping."
19:02 [workflow-summary] "Workflow Complete — but BLOCKED."

Total wall time: 14 min 49 s.

Why this approach

Three designs considered:

  1. Gate node (this PR) — 14 lines of bash, zero runtime changes, leverages the existing all_success cascade. Cheapest fix.
  2. `when:` condition on validate — would need a node-level output like `$implement-tasks.output.commit_count` available to a `when:` clause. Archon's current `when:` syntax (`==` / `!=` only) can't handle "non-zero" cleanly without coercing to a string. Doable but more invasive.
  3. Workflow-runner change — teach the executor that "no commits since fork point" should fail the implement-tasks node retroactively. Cleanest semantically but requires runtime work and changes the contract of `implement-tasks` outputs.

(1) has minimal surface area, easy to roll back, no runtime changes. The cascade already works correctly — this just gives it the right signal.

Scope

This PR patches archon-plan-to-pr.yaml and archon-idea-to-pr.yaml. The same shape (implement-tasksvalidate → review fan-out, all all_success) exists in:

  • archon-feature-development.yaml
  • archon-fix-github-issue.yaml

Happy to extend to those in a follow-up if the approach is acceptable. Did not include them here to keep the PR focused.

Test plan

  • Both YAMLs parse via yaml.safe_load
  • Topological sort: implement-tasks → implementation-gate → validate → finalize-pr → ...
  • On a real worktree, dev-mode bun src/index.ts reads the new YAML on every dispatch (no restart needed)
  • Integration test: dispatch against a fixture plan that produces zero commits and assert that downstream nodes are skipped (happy to add if requested)

Environment

  • Source, git commit 7fc47611 (post-merge of Release 0.3.9 #1358 from dev), git describe --tagsv0.3.9
  • macOS Darwin 25.3.0 (Mac Mini M4)
  • Bun v1.3.11
  • Workflow runs in dev mode (`bun src/index.ts`)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

github-actions Bot and others added 13 commits April 22, 2026 11:26
…be (coleam00#1359)

The pre-flight binary smoke does a bare `bun build --compile` — it
deliberately skips `scripts/build-binaries.sh` to stay fast. That means
packages/paths/src/bundled-build.ts retains its dev defaults, including
BUNDLED_IS_BINARY = false.

version.ts branches on BUNDLED_IS_BINARY: when true it returns the
embedded string; when false it calls getDevVersion(), which reads
package.json at `SCRIPT_DIR/../../../../package.json`. Inside a compiled
binary SCRIPT_DIR resolves under `$bunfs/root/`, the walk produces a CWD-
relative path that doesn't exist, and the smoke aborts with "Failed to
read version: package.json not found" — a false positive.

Hit during the 0.3.8 release attempt: the real Pi lazy-load fix was
working end-to-end; the smoke test was the only thing failing.

Use --help instead. It exercises the same module-init graph (so it still
catches the real failure modes the skill lists — Pi package.json init
crash, Bun --bytecode bugs, CJS wrapper issues, circular imports under
minify) but has no dev/binary branch, so no false positive.

Also add a longer comment block explaining why --help is preferred, so
this doesn't get "normalized" back to `version` by a future drive-by.
The brew path of /test-release runs `brew uninstall` in Phase 5 to leave the
system in its pre-test state. For operators using the dual-homebrew pattern
(renamed brew binary at `/opt/homebrew/bin/archon-stable` so it coexists with
a `bun link` dev `archon`), that uninstall wipes the Cellar dir the
`archon-stable` symlink points into → `archon-stable` becomes dangling →
`brew cleanup` sweeps it away on the next brew op. Next time the operator
wants stable, they have to manually re-run `brew-upgrade-archon`.

Fix: make the skill aware of `archon-stable` and restore it transparently.

- Phase 2 item 4: detect the `archon-stable` symlink before any brew op;
  export `ARCHON_STABLE_WAS_INSTALLED=yes` so Phase 5 knows to restore it.
  Only triggers for the brew path (curl-mac/curl-vps don't touch brew so
  they leave `archon-stable` alone).
- Phase 5 brew path: after `brew uninstall + untap`, if the flag was set,
  re-tap + re-install + rename. Verifies the restored `archon-stable`
  reports a version and warns (non-fatal) if the rename target is missing.
  Documents the tradeoff: the restored version is "whatever the tap ships
  today", not necessarily the pre-test version — usually that's what the
  operator wants (the release they just tested becomes stable) but the
  back-version-QA case requires a manual `brew-upgrade-archon` after.
- Phase 1 confirmation banner now mentions that `archon-stable` will be
  preserved so the operator isn't surprised by the reinstall during Phase 5.

No changes to curl-mac/curl-vps paths. No changes to Phase 4 test suite.
… a compiled binary (coleam00#1360)

v0.3.9 made Pi boot-safe: lazy-loading its imports meant `archon version`
no longer crashed on `@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent/dist/config.js`'s
module-init `readFileSync(getPackageJsonPath())`. That's what the
`provider-lazy-load.test.ts` regression test guards.

The fix was only half the problem though. When a Pi workflow actually
runs, sendQuery() triggers the dynamic import — and Pi's config.js
module-init fires then, hitting the exact same ENOENT on
`dirname(process.execPath)/package.json`. Discovered by running
`archon workflow run test-pi` against a locally-compiled 0.3.9 binary:

    [main] Failed: ENOENT: no such file or directory,
           open '/private/tmp/package.json'
        at readFileSync (unknown)
        at <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/archon-providertest:184:7889)
        at init_config

Boot-safe ≠ runtime-safe. The `/test-release` run for 0.3.9 passed
because it only exercised `archon-assist` (Claude); Pi was never
actually invoked on the released binary.

Fix: before the dynamic `import('@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent')` in
sendQuery, install a PI_PACKAGE_DIR shim. Pi's config.js checks
`process.env.PI_PACKAGE_DIR` first in its `getPackageDir()` and
short-circuits the `dirname(process.execPath)` walk. We write a
minimal `{name, version, piConfig:{}}` stub to
`tmpdir()/archon-pi-shim/package.json` (idempotent — existsSync check)
and set the env var. Pi only reads `piConfig.name`, `piConfig.configDir`,
and `version` from that file, all optional, so the stub surface is
genuinely minimal.

Localized to PiProvider: no global state, no mutation of any shared
config, no upstream fork. Claude and Codex providers are unaffected
(their SDKs don't have this class of module-init side effect).

Verified end-to-end: built a compiled archon binary with this patch,
ran `archon workflow run test-pi --no-worktree` (Pi workflow with
model `anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5`), got a clean response. Before the
patch, same binary crashed at `dag_node_started` with the ENOENT above.

Regression test added: asserts `PI_PACKAGE_DIR` is set after sendQuery
hits even its fast-fail "no model" path. Together with the existing
`provider-lazy-load.test.ts` (boot-safe) this covers both halves.
… and Codex (coleam00#1361)

Both binary resolvers previously stopped at env-var + explicit config and
threw a "not found" error when neither was set. Users who followed the
upstream-recommended install flow (Anthropic's `curl install.sh` for
Claude, `npm install -g @openai/codex`) still had to manually set either
`CLAUDE_BIN_PATH` / `CODEX_BIN_PATH` or the corresponding config field
before any workflow could run.

Add a tier-N autodetect step between the explicit config tier and the
install-instructions throw. Purely additive: env and config still win
when set (precedence covered by new tests). On autodetect miss, the same
install-instructions error fires as before.

Claude probe list (verified against docs.claude.com "Uninstall Claude
Code → Native installation" section):
  - $HOME/.local/bin/claude            (mac/linux native installer)
  - $USERPROFILE\.local\bin\claude.exe (Windows native installer)

Codex probe list (verified against openai/codex README; npm global-
install puts the binary at `{npm_prefix}/bin/<name>` on POSIX,
`{npm_prefix}\<name>.cmd` on Windows):
  - $HOME/.npm-global/bin/codex   (user-set `npm config set prefix`)
  - /opt/homebrew/bin/codex       (mac arm64 with homebrew-node)
  - /usr/local/bin/codex          (mac intel / linux system node)
  - %APPDATA%\npm\codex.cmd       (Windows npm global default)
  - $HOME\.npm-global\codex.cmd   (Windows user-set prefix)

Not probed (explicit override still required):
  - Custom npm prefixes — `npm root -g` would need a subprocess per
    resolve, too much surface for a probe helper
  - `brew install --cask codex` — cask layout isn't a PATH binary
  - Manual GitHub Releases extracts — placement is user-determined
  - `~/.bun/bin/codex` — not documented in openai/codex README

Pi provider intentionally has no equivalent change: the Pi SDK is
bundled into the archon binary (no subprocess), so there's no "binary"
to resolve. Pi auth lives at `~/.pi/agent/auth.json` which the SDK
already finds by default, and the PR A shim (`PI_PACKAGE_DIR`) handles
the package-dir case via Pi's own documented escape hatch.

E2E verified: removed both config entries from ~/.archon/config.yaml,
rebuilt compiled binary, ran `archon workflow run archon-assist` and a
Codex workflow. Logs showed `source: 'autodetect'` for both, responses
returned cleanly.
…ry autodetect test

The native-installer autodetect test computed its expected path from
process.env.HOME, but the implementation uses node:os homedir(). On
Windows, HOME is typically unset (Windows uses USERPROFILE), so the
test fell back to '/Users/test' while the resolver returned the real
home dir — making the spy's path-equality check fail and breaking CI
on windows-latest.

Mirror the implementation by importing homedir() from node:os and
joining with node:path so the expected path matches the actual
platform-resolved home and separator.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…ver (coleam00#1365)

Reported in coleam00#1365: a user running `archon serve` with DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
set but the "Message Content Intent" toggle disabled in the Discord
Developer Portal saw the entire server crash with `Used disallowed
intents`. Discord rejects the gateway connection (close code 4014) when
a privileged intent is requested without being enabled, and the
unguarded `await discord.start()` propagated the error all the way up,
taking the web UI down with it.

Wrap discord.start() in try/catch — log the failure with an actionable
hint (special-cased for the disallowed-intent error) and continue
running. Other adapters and the web UI come up regardless. The shutdown
handler already uses optional chaining (`discord?.stop()`) so nulling
discord after a failed start is safe.

Other adapters (Telegram, Slack, GitHub, Gitea, GitLab) have the same
unguarded-start pattern but are out of scope for this fix — addressing
them is tracked separately.

Also expanded the Discord setup docs with a caution callout that names
the exact error string and the new log event so users can grep for
both.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…0#1362)

* docs(script-nodes): add dedicated guide and teach the archon skill how to write them

Script nodes (script:) have been a first-class DAG node type since v0.3.3 but
were documented only as one-liners in CLAUDE.md and a CI smoke test. Claude
Code reading the archon skill would see "Four Node Types: command, prompt,
bash, loop" and reach for bash+node/python one-liners instead of a proper
script node — losing bun's --no-env-file isolation, uv's --with dependency
pins, and the .archon/scripts/ reuse story.

- New packages/docs-web/src/content/docs/guides/script-nodes.md mirroring the
  structure of loop-nodes.md / approval-nodes.md: schema, inline vs named
  dispatch, runtime/deps semantics, scripts directory precedence (repo > home),
  extension-runtime mapping, env isolation, stdout/stderr contract, patterns,
  and the explicit list of ignored AI fields.
- guides/authoring-workflows.md and guides/index.md updated so the new guide is
  discoverable from both the node-types table and the guides landing page.
- reference/variables.md calls out the no-shell-quote difference between
  bash: and script: substitution — a subtle correctness trap when adapting a
  bash pattern into a script node.
- Sidebar order bumped +1 on hooks/mcp-servers/skills/global-workflows/
  remotion-workflow to slot script-nodes at order 5 next to the other
  node-type guides.

- .claude/skills/archon/SKILL.md: replaces stale "Four Node Types" (which
  also silently omitted approval and cancel) with the accurate seven, with a
  script-node code block showing both inline and named patterns.
- references/workflow-dag.md: full Script Node section covering dispatch,
  resolution, deps, stdout contract, and the list of AI-only fields that are
  ignored; validation-rules list updated.
- references/dag-advanced.md and references/variables.md: retry-support line
  corrected; no-shell-quote note added.
- examples/dag-workflow.yaml: added an extract-labels TypeScript script node
  and updated the header comment.

* fix(docs): review follow-ups for script-node guide

- skills example: extract-labels was reading process.env.ISSUE_JSON which is
  never set; use String.raw`$fetch-issue.output` so the upstream bash node's
  JSON is actually consumed
- guides/script-nodes.md + skills/workflow-dag.md: idle_timeout is accepted
  but ignored on script (and bash) nodes — executeScriptNode only reads
  node.timeout. Clarify that script/bash use `timeout`, not idle_timeout
- archon-workflow-builder.yaml: prompt enumerated only bash/prompt/command/loop,
  so the AI builder could never propose script or approval nodes. Add both
  (plus examples + rule about script output not being shell-quoted) and
  regenerate bundled defaults
- book/dag-workflows.md + book/quick-reference.md + adapters/web.md: fill in
  the node-type references that were missing script, approval, and cancel.
  adapters/web.md also overclaimed "loop" in the palette — NodePalette.tsx
  only drags command/prompt/bash, so note that the other kinds are YAML-only
…nv gaps, add good-practices + troubleshooting (coleam00#1363)

* fix(skill/when): document the full `when:` operator set and compound expressions

The skill reference previously stated "operators: ==, != only" which is
materially wrong — the condition evaluator supports ==, !=, <, >, <=, >=
plus && / || compound expressions with && binding tighter than ||, plus
dot-notation JSON field access. An agent authoring a workflow from the
skill would think half the operators don't exist.

Replaces the single-sentence section with a structured reference covering:
- All six comparison operators (string and numeric modes)
- Compound expressions with precedence rules and short-circuit eval
- JSON dot notation semantics and failure modes
- The fail-closed rules in full (invalid expression, non-numeric side,
  missing field, skipped upstream)

Grounded in packages/workflows/src/condition-evaluator.ts.

* feat(skill): document Approval and Cancel node types

Approval and cancel nodes are first-class DAG node types (approval since the
workflow lifecycle work in coleam00#871, cancel as a guarded-exit primitive) but the
skill never described either one. An agent reading the skill and asked to
"add a review gate before implementation" or "stop the workflow if the input
is unsafe" would fall back to bash + exit 1, losing the proper semantics
(cancelled vs. failed, on_reject AI rework, web UI auto-resume).

Approval node coverage (references/workflow-dag.md, SKILL.md):
- Full configuration block with message, capture_response, on_reject
- The interactive: true workflow-level requirement for web UI delivery
- Approve/reject commands across all platforms (CLI, slash, natural
  language) and the capture_response → $node-id.output flow
- Ignored-fields list + the on_reject.prompt AI sub-node exception

Cancel node coverage (references/workflow-dag.md, SKILL.md):
- Single-field schema (cancel: "<reason>")
- Lifecycle: cancelled (not failed); in-flight parallel nodes stopped;
  no DAG auto-resume path
- The "cancel: vs bash-exit-1" decision rule (expected precondition miss
  vs. check itself failing)
- Two canonical patterns — upstream-classification gate, pre-expensive-step
  gate

Validation-rules list updated to enumerate approval/cancel constraints
(message non-empty, on_reject.max_attempts range 1-10, cancel reason
non-empty), plus a forward note that script: joins the mutually-exclusive
set once PR coleam00#1362 lands.

Placement in both files is after the Loop section and before the validation
section, so this commit stays additive with respect to PR coleam00#1362's Script
node insertion between Bash and Loop — rebase is clean.

* feat(skill): document workflow-level fields beyond name/provider/model

The skill's Schema section previously showed only name, description, provider,
and model at the workflow level — which is most of a stub. Agents asked to
"use the 1M-context Claude beta" or "run this under a network sandbox" or
"add a fallback model in case Opus rate-limits" had no way to discover
that any of these fields existed at the workflow level.

Adds a comprehensive Workflow-Level Fields section covering:
- Core: name, description, provider, model, interactive (with explicit
  callout that interactive: true is REQUIRED for approval/loop gates on
  web UI — a common footgun)
- Isolation: worktree.enabled for pin-on/pin-off (the only worktree field
  at workflow level; baseBranch/copyFiles/path/initSubmodules are
  config.yaml only, so a cross-reference points there)
- Claude SDK advanced: effort, thinking, fallbackModel, betas, sandbox,
  with explicit per-node-only exceptions (maxBudgetUsd, systemPrompt)
- Codex-specific: modelReasoningEffort (with note that it's NOT the same
  as Claude's effort — this has confused users), webSearchMode,
  additionalDirectories
- A complete worked example combining sandbox + approval + interactive

All fields cross-referenced against packages/workflows/src/schemas/workflow.ts
and packages/workflows/src/schemas/dag-node.ts.

* feat(skill/loop): document interactive loops and gate_message

Interactive loop nodes pause between iterations for human feedback via
/workflow approve — used by archon-piv-loop and archon-interactive-prd.
The skill's Loop Nodes section previously omitted both interactive: true
and gate_message entirely, so an agent writing a guided-refinement
workflow wouldn't know the feature exists or that gate_message is
required at parse time.

Adds:
- interactive and gate_message rows to the config table (marking
  gate_message as required when interactive: true — enforced by the
  loader's superRefine)
- A dedicated "Interactive Loops" subsection explaining the 6-step
  iterate-pause-approve-resume flow
- Explicit call-out that $LOOP_USER_INPUT populates ONLY on the first
  iteration of a resumed session — easy to miss and a common surprise
- Workflow-level interactive: true requirement for web UI delivery
  (loader warning otherwise) so the full-flow example is complete
- Note that until_bash substitution DOES shell-quote $nodeId.output
  (unlike script bodies) — called out since the audit surfaced this
  inconsistency

* fix(skill/cli): complete the CLI command reference with missing lifecycle commands

The CLI reference previously documented only list, run, cleanup, validate,
complete, version, setup, and chat — missing nearly every workflow
lifecycle command an agent needs to operate a paused, failed, or stuck
run. The interactive-workflows reference assumed these commands existed
without actually documenting them.

Adds full documentation for:
- archon workflow status — show running workflow(s)
- archon workflow approve <run-id> [comment] — resume approval gate
  (also populates $LOOP_USER_INPUT on interactive loops and the gate
  node's output when capture_response: true)
- archon workflow reject <run-id> [reason] — reject gate; cancels or
  triggers on_reject rework depending on node config
- archon workflow cancel <run-id> — terminate running/paused with
  in-flight subprocess kill
- archon workflow abandon <run-id> — mark stuck row cancelled without
  subprocess kill (for orphan-cleanup after server crashes — matches
  the coleam00#1216 precedent)
- archon workflow resume <run-id> [message] — force-resume specific
  run (auto-resume is default; this is for explicit override)
- archon workflow cleanup [days] — disk hygiene for old terminal runs
  (with explicit callout that it does NOT transition 'running' rows,
  a common confusion)
- archon workflow event emit — used inside loop prompts for state
  signalling; documented so agents don't invent their own mechanism
- archon continue <branch> [flags] [msg] — iterative-session entry
  point with --workflow and --no-context flags

Also:
- Adds --allow-env-keys flag to the `workflow run` flag table with
  audit-log context and the env-leak-gate remediation use case
- Adds an "Auto-resume without --resume" note disambiguating when
  --resume is needed vs. when auto-resume handles it
- Adds --include-closed flag to `isolation cleanup`, which was
  previously missing; converts the flag list to a structured table
- Explains the cancel/abandon distinction (live subprocess vs. orphan)

All grounded in packages/cli/src/commands/workflow.ts, continue.ts,
and isolation.ts.

* feat(skill/repo-init): add scripts/ and state/, three-path env model, per-project env injection

The repo-init reference was missing two first-class .archon/ directories
(scripts/ since v0.3.3, state/ since the workflow-state feature) and had
nothing to say about env — the #1 thing a user hits on first-run when
their repo has a .env file with API keys.

Directory tree updates:
- Adds .archon/scripts/ with the extension->runtime rule (.ts/.js -> bun,
  .py -> uv) so agents know where to put named scripts referenced by
  script: nodes.
- Adds .archon/state/ with explicit "always gitignore" callout — these
  are runtime artifacts, not source. Previously undocumented in the skill.
- Adds .archon/.env (repo-scoped Archon env) and distinguishes it from
  the target repo's top-level .env.
- Adds a "What each directory is for" list so the structure isn't just
  a tree with no narrative.

.gitignore guidance:
- state/ and .env added as must-gitignore (state/ matches CLAUDE.md and
  reference/archon-directories.md — skill was lagging).
- mcp/ demoted to conditional — gitignore only if you hardcode secrets.

New "Three-Path Env Model" section:
- ~/.archon/.env (trusted, user), <cwd>/.archon/.env (trusted, repo),
  <cwd>/.env (UNTRUSTED, target project — stripped from subprocess env).
- Precedence (override: true across archon-owned paths) and the
  observable [archon] loaded N keys / stripped K keys log lines so
  operators can verify what actually happened.
- Decision tree for where to put API keys vs. target-project env vs.
  things Archon shouldn't touch.
- Links to archon setup --scope home|project with --force for writing
  to the right file with timestamped backups.

New "Per-Project Env Injection" section:
- Documents both managed surfaces: .archon/config.yaml env: block
  (git-committed, $REF expansion) and Web UI Settings → Projects →
  Env Vars (DB-stored, never returned over API).
- Names every execution surface that receives the injected vars:
  Claude/Codex/Pi subprocess, bash: nodes, script: nodes, and direct
  codebase-scoped chat.
- Documents the env-leak gate with all 5 remediation paths so an agent
  hitting "Cannot register: env has sensitive keys" knows the options.

Grounded in CHANGELOG v0.3.7 (three-path env + setup flags), v0.3.0
(env-leak gate), and reference/security.md on the docs site.

* fix(skill/authoring-commands): correct override paths and add home-scoped commands

The file-location and discovery sections described an override layout that
does not match the actual resolver. It showed:

  .archon/commands/defaults/archon-assist.md  # Overrides the bundled

and claimed `.archon/commands/defaults/` was where repo-level overrides
lived. In fact the resolver (executor-shared.ts:152-200 + command-
validation.ts) walks `.archon/commands/` 1 level deep and uses basename
matching — putting `archon-assist.md` at the top of `.archon/commands/`
is the canonical way to override the bundled version. The `defaults/`
subfolder is a Archon-internal convention for shipping bundled defaults,
not a user-facing override pattern.

Also, home-scoped commands (`~/.archon/commands/`, shipped in v0.3.7)
were completely absent — agents authoring personal helpers wouldn't
know they could live at the user level and be shared across every repo.

Changes:
- File Location section now shows all three discovery scopes (repo,
  home, bundled) with precedence ordering and 1-level subfolder rules
- Duplicate-basename rule documented as a user error surface
- Discovery and Priority section rewritten with accurate 3-step lookup
  order — no more references to the nonexistent defaults/ override path
- Adds the Web UI "Global (~/.archon/commands/)" palette label note so
  users authoring helpers for the builder know what to expect

No code changes — this is a pure fix of stale/incorrect skill reference
material.

* feat(skill): add workflow good-practices and troubleshooting reference pages

Closes two gaps from the audit. The skill previously had zero guidance on
designing multi-node workflows (what to avoid, what to reach for first,
how to structure artifact chains) and zero guidance on where to look
when things go wrong (log paths, env-leak gate remediations, orphan-row
cleanup, resume semantics).

New references/good-practices.md (9 Good Practices + 7 Anti-Patterns):

- Use deterministic nodes (bash:/script:) for deterministic work, AI for
  reasoning — the single biggest quality lever
- output_format required whenever downstream when: reads a field — the
  most common source of "workflow silently routes wrong"
- trigger_rule: none_failed_min_one_success after conditional branches —
  the classic bug where all_success fails because a skipped when:-gated
  branch doesn't count as a success
- context: fresh requires artifacts for state passing — commands must
  explicitly "read $ARTIFACTS_DIR/..." when downstream of fresh
- Cheap models (haiku) for glue, strong for substance
- Workflow descriptions as routing affordances
- Validate (archon validate workflows) + smoke-run before shipping
- Artifact-chain-first design
- worktree.enabled: true for code-changing workflows (reversibility)
- Anti-patterns with before/after YAML examples for each (AI-for-tests,
  free-form when: matching, context: fresh without artifacts, long flat
  AI-node layers, secrets in YAML, retry on loop nodes, tiny
  max_iterations, missing workflow-level interactive:, tool-restricted
  MCP nodes)

New references/troubleshooting.md:

- Log location (~/.archon/workspaces/<owner>/<repo>/logs/<run-id>.jsonl)
  with jq recipes for common queries (last assistant message, failed
  events, full stream)
- Artifact location for cross-node handoff debugging
- 9 Common Failure Modes, each with root cause + concrete fix:
  - $BASE_BRANCH unresolvable
  - Env-leak gate (5 remediations)
  - Claude/Codex binary not found (compiled-binary-only)
  - "running" forever (AI working / orphan / idle_timeout)
  - Mid-workflow failure and auto-resume semantics
  - Approval gate missing on web UI (workflow-level interactive:)
  - MCP plugin connection noise (filtered by design)
  - Empty $nodeId.output / field access (4 causes)
- Diagnostic command cheat sheet (list, status, isolation list, validate,
  tail-log, --verbose, LOG_LEVEL=debug)
- Escalation protocol (version + validate + log tail + CHANGELOG + issue)

SKILL.md routing table now dispatches "Workflow good practices /
anti-patterns" and "Troubleshoot a failing / stuck workflow" to the new
references so an agent can find them without having to know they exist.

* docs(book): update node-types coverage from four to all seven

The book is the curated first-contact reading path (landing page → "Get
Started" → /book/). Both dag-workflows.md and quick-reference.md were
stuck on "four node types" — missing script, approval, and cancel. A user
reading the book as their first introduction would form an incomplete
mental model, then find three more node types in the reference section
later with no explanation of when they arrived.

book/dag-workflows.md:
- "four node types" → "seven node types. Exactly one mode field is
  required per node"
- Table now lists Command, Prompt, Bash, Script, Loop, Approval, Cancel
  with one-line "when to use" for each, and cross-links to the dedicated
  guide pages for Script / Loop / Approval
- New sections below the table for Script (inline + named examples with
  runtime and deps), Approval (with the interactive: true workflow-level
  note that's easy to miss), and Cancel (guarded-exit pattern) — keeping
  the existing narrative shape for Bash and Loop

book/quick-reference.md:
- Node Options table now includes script, approval, cancel rows
- agents row added (inline sub-agents, Claude-only)
- New "Script-specific fields" and "Approval-specific fields" subsections
  so the cheat-sheet is actually complete rather than pointing users
  elsewhere for the required constraints
- Retry row callout that loop nodes hard-error on retry — previously
  omitted
- bash timeout note widened to cover script timeout (same semantics)

Both files are docs-web content; the CI build on the docs-script-nodes
PR (coleam00#1362) previously validated the Starlight build path with a similar
table addition, so this should render clean.

* fix(skill/cli): remove nonexistent \`archon workflow cancel\`, fix workflow status jq recipe

Two accuracy issues from the PR code-reviewer (comment 4311243858).

C1: \`archon workflow cancel <run-id>\` does NOT exist as a CLI subcommand.
The switch at packages/cli/src/cli.ts:318-485 dispatches on list / run /
status / resume / abandon / approve / reject / cleanup / event — running
\`archon workflow cancel\` hits the default case and exits with "Unknown
workflow subcommand: cancel" (cli.ts:478-484). Active cancellation is
only available via:
  - /workflow cancel <run-id> chat slash command (all platforms)
  - Cancel button on the Web UI dashboard
  - POST /api/workflows/runs/{runId}/cancel REST endpoint

cli-commands.md: removed the \`### archon workflow cancel <run-id>\`
subsection; kept the \`abandon\` subsection but made it explicit that
abandon does NOT kill a subprocess. Added a call-out box at the bottom
of the abandon section explaining where to go for actual cancellation.

troubleshooting.md "running forever" section: split the original
cancel-vs-abandon advice into three bullets — Web UI / CLI abandon (for
orphans, no subprocess kill) / chat \`/workflow cancel\` (for live runs
that need interruption). Added an explicit "there is no archon workflow
cancel CLI subcommand" parenthetical since the wrong command was being
suggested in flow.

I1: the \`archon workflow list --json\` diagnostic used an incorrect jq
filter. workflow list's --json output (workflow.ts:185-219) has shape
{ workflows: [{ name, description, provider?, model?, ... }], errors: [...] }
with no \`runs\` field — \`jq '.workflows[] | select(.runs)'\` returns empty
unconditionally. Replaced with \`archon workflow status --json | jq '.runs[]'\`,
which matches the actual shape of workflowStatusCommand at
workflow.ts:852+ ({ runs: WorkflowRun[] }). Also tightened the narration
to distinguish JSON from human-readable status output.

No change to the commit history in this PR — these are follow-up fixes
to claims I introduced in earlier commits of this branch (f10b989 for
C1, 66d2b86 for I1).

* fix(skill): remove env-leak gate references (feature was removed in provider extraction)

C2 from the PR code-reviewer (comment 4311243858). The pre-spawn env-leak
gate was removed from the codebase during the provider-extraction refactor
— see TODO(coleam00#1135) at packages/providers/src/claude/provider.ts:908. Zero
hits for --allow-env-keys / allowEnvKeys / allow_env_keys / allow_target_repo_keys
across packages/. The CLI's parseArgs (cli.ts:182-208) has no
--allow-env-keys option, and because parseArgs uses strict: false, an
unknown --allow-env-keys would be silently ignored rather than error.

What remains accurate and is NOT touched:
- Three-Path Env Model section (user/repo archon-owned envs are loaded;
  target repo <cwd>/.env keys are stripped from process.env at boot)
  still correctly describes current behavior, grounded in
  packages/paths/src/strip-cwd-env.ts + env-integration.test.ts
- Per-Project Env Injection section (Option 1: .archon/config.yaml env:
  block; Option 2: Web UI Settings → Projects → Env Vars) is unchanged —
  both remain the sanctioned way to get env vars into subprocesses

Removed claims (all three files):
- cli-commands.md: --allow-env-keys flag row in the workflow run flags
  table
- repo-init.md: the "Env-leak gate" subsection at the end of Per-Project
  Env Injection listing 5 remediations (all of which reference UI/CLI/
  config surfaces that don't exist). Replaced with a succinct callout
  that explains the actual current behavior — target repo .env keys are
  stripped, workflows that need those values should use managed
  injection — so the reader still gets the "where to put my env vars"
  answer
- troubleshooting.md: the "Cannot register: codebase has sensitive env
  keys" section (error message that can no longer be emitted)

If the env-leak gate is ever resurrected per TODO(coleam00#1135), the docs can be
re-added then. The CHANGELOG v0.3.0 entry describing the gate is a
historical record of past behavior and does not need to be rewritten.

* fix(skill/troubleshooting): correct JSONL event type names and field name

C3 from the PR code-reviewer (comment 4311243858). The troubleshooting
reference's event-types table used _started / _completed / _failed
suffixes, but packages/workflows/src/logger.ts:19-30 shows the actual
WorkflowEvent.type enum is:

  workflow_start | workflow_complete | workflow_error |
  assistant | tool | validation |
  node_start | node_complete | node_skipped | node_error

The second jq recipe also queried `.event` but the discriminator is `.type`.

Fixes:
- Event table: renamed columns (_started → _start, _completed → _complete,
  _failed → _error). Explicitly called out the field name as `type` so the
  reader knows what jq selector to use
- Replaced the "tool_use / tool_result" row with a single `tool` row and
  listed its actual payload fields (tool_name, tool_input, duration_ms,
  tokens) — tool_use/tool_result are SDK message kinds that appear within
  the AI stream, not top-level log event types
- Added a `validation` row (was missing; it's emitted by workflow-level
  validation calls with `check` and `result` fields)
- Removed `retry_attempt` row — this event type is not emitted to the
  JSONL file. Retry bookkeeping goes through pino logs, not the workflow
  log file
- Added an explicit callout that loop_iteration_started /
  loop_iteration_completed (and other emitter-only events) go through
  the workflow event emitter + DB workflow_events table, NOT the JSONL
  file. Pointed readers to the DB or Web UI for loop-level detail. This
  distinguishes the two parallel event systems — easy to conflate
  (store.ts:11-17 uses _started/_completed/_failed for the DB side,
  logger.ts uses _start/_complete/_error for JSONL)
- Fixed the "all failed events" jq recipe: .event → .type and _failed → _error
- Minor cleanup: the inline "tool_use events" mention in the "running
  forever" section said the wrong event name — updated to "tool or
  assistant events in the tail"

Grounded in packages/workflows/src/logger.ts (canonical JSONL event
shape) and packages/workflows/src/store.ts (the parallel DB event
naming, which the reviewer correctly flagged as different and worth
keeping distinct).

* fix(skill): two stragglers from the code-reviewer audit

Cleanup of two references that slipped through the earlier C1 and C3 fixes:

- references/troubleshooting.md:126: \`node_failed\` → \`node_error\`
  (the "Node output is empty" diagnostics section references the JSONL
  log, which uses the logger.ts enum — not the DB workflow_events table
  which does use \`node_failed\`). The C3 fix corrected the event table
  and one jq recipe but missed this inline mention.

- references/interactive-workflows.md:106: removed \`archon workflow
  cancel <run-id>\` (nonexistent CLI subcommand) from the
  troubleshooting bullet. This was pre-existing before the hardening
  PR but fell within the C1 remediation scope. Replaced with the
  correct triage: reject (approval gate only) vs abandon (orphan
  cleanup, no subprocess kill) vs chat /workflow cancel (actual
  subprocess termination).

Grounded in the same sources as the earlier C1/C3 commits:
packages/cli/src/cli.ts:318-485 (no cancel case) and
packages/workflows/src/logger.ts:19-30 (JSONL type enum).

* feat(skill): point to archon.diy as the canonical docs source

The skill had no reference to archon.diy (the live docs site built from
packages/docs-web/). Several reference files said "see the docs site"
without naming the URL, leaving the agent to guess or grep the repo for
the hostname. An agent with the skill loaded should know that when the
distilled reference pages don't cover a case, the full canonical docs
are one WebFetch away.

SKILL.md: new "Richer Context: archon.diy" section between Routing and
Running Workflows. Covers:
- When to reach for the live docs (longer examples, tutorial framing,
  features the skill only mentions in passing, "where's that
  documented?" user questions)
- URL map — 13 starting points covering getting-started, book (tutorial
  series), guides/ (authoring + per-node-type + per-node-feature),
  reference/ (variables, CLI, security, architecture, configuration,
  troubleshooting), adapters/, deployment/
- Precedence: skill refs first (context-cheap, tuned for agents), docs
  site as escalation. Prevents agents defaulting to WebFetch when a
  local skill ref already covers the answer

Also upgrades the 5 existing generic "docs site" mentions across
reference files to concrete archon.diy URLs with anchor fragments where
helpful:
- good-practices.md: Inline sub-agents pattern → archon.diy/guides/
  authoring-workflows/#inline-sub-agents
- troubleshooting.md: "Install page on the docs site" → archon.diy/
  getting-started/installation/
- workflow-dag.md: "Workflow Description Best Practices" → anchor link;
  sandbox schema reference → archon.diy/guides/authoring-workflows/
  #claude-sdk-advanced-options
- repo-init.md: Security Model reference → archon.diy/reference/
  security/#target-repo-env-isolation (deep-link into the section that
  covers the <cwd>/.env strip behavior)

URL source of truth: astro.config.mjs:5 (site: 'https://archon.diy').
URL structure mirrors packages/docs-web/src/content/docs/<section>/
<page>.md — verified by the 62 pages the docs build produces.
…#1395)

Anthropic's Opus 4.7 landed 2026-04-16; on the Anthropic API, opus /
opus[1m] now resolve to 4.7 with a 1M context window at standard
pricing. Using the alias instead of the hard-pinned claude-opus-4-6[1m]
lets bundled default workflows auto-track the recommended Opus version.

No explicit effort is set, so nodes inherit the per-model default
(xhigh on 4.7, high on 4.6).
…m00#1398)

* fix(workflow): migrate piv-loop plan handoff to $ARTIFACTS_DIR (coleam00#1380)

The create-plan node used a relative path (.claude/archon/plans/{slug}.plan.md)
that the AI agent would sometimes write to a different location, breaking all
downstream nodes that glob for the plan file. Migrated all plan/progress file
references to $ARTIFACTS_DIR/plan.md and $ARTIFACTS_DIR/progress.txt, matching
the pattern used by archon-fix-github-issue and other workflows.

Changes:
- Replace slug-based plan path with $ARTIFACTS_DIR/plan.md in create-plan node
- Replace ls -t glob discovery with direct $ARTIFACTS_DIR/plan.md reads in
  refine-plan, code-review, and fix-feedback nodes
- Replace empty-string guard with file-existence check in implement-setup bash
- Migrate progress.txt references in implement loop to $ARTIFACTS_DIR/
- Add explicit plan/progress paths in finalize node
- Regenerated bundled-defaults.generated.ts

Fixes coleam00#1380

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workflow): address review findings in archon-piv-loop

- Rename 'Step 2: Write the Plan' to 'Step 2: Plan File Location' to
  eliminate the duplicate heading that collided with Step 3's identical
  title in the create-plan node
- Guard implement-setup against a 0-task plan file: exit 1 with a
  clear error when no '### Task N:' sections are found, preventing a
  silent no-op implement loop
- Remove 2>/dev/null from code-review commit so pre-commit hook failures
  and other stderr are visible to the agent instead of silently swallowed
- Replace '|| true' on git push in finalize with an explicit WARNING echo
  so push failures (auth, upstream conflict, no remote) surface to the
  agent rather than being silently ignored
- Regenerate bundled-defaults.generated.ts

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* chore(workflows): regenerate bundled defaults to match opus[1m] alias

The bundle was stale relative to the YAML sources after coleam00#1395 merged —
check:bundled was failing CI. Regenerated; no YAML edits.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
…cutor (coleam00#1403)

PIV Task 1: Adds three new tests in a dedicated describe block
'executeDagWorkflow -- final status derivation' covering the anyFailed
branch (dag-executor.ts ~line 2956) that previously had no direct test:
- one success + one independent failure calls failWorkflowRun (not completeWorkflowRun)
- multiple successes + one failure calls failWorkflowRun (not completeWorkflowRun)
- trigger_rule: none_failed skips dependent node but anyFailed still marks run failed

Fixes coleam00#1381.
New reference for the archon skill: a single-glance lookup of which
parameter works on which node type, an intent-based "how do I..." table,
a consolidated silent-failure catalog, and an inline agents: section
(previously only referenced via archon.diy).

Purpose is complementary, not duplicative:
- workflow-dag.md remains the authoring guide
- dag-advanced.md remains the hooks/MCP/skills/retry deep-dive
- good-practices.md remains the patterns and anti-patterns
- parameter-matrix.md is the grep-this-first lookup when you know the
  outcome you want but not which field gets you there

Also registers the new reference in SKILL.md routing table.
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archon-plan-to-pr and archon-idea-to-pr previously ran validate, finalize-pr,
the 5-agent review fan-out, fix-on-review, and workflow-summary unconditionally
on all_success of implement-tasks. When implement-tasks completed cleanly with
zero commits (e.g. when host PreToolUse hooks denied Edit and the agent
gracefully gave up), each downstream node still ran an AI call against an empty
branch and produced BLOCKED artifacts — ~12-15 min and ~10 AI invocations
wasted per silent failure.

Insert a 14-line bash gate node between implement-tasks and validate. Counts
commits ahead of $BASE_BRANCH; exit 1 on zero. The default trigger_rule of
all_success then cascades the failure, skipping every downstream node.
Worst-case silent failure drops to ~30s bash + 0 review agents.

No runtime changes — pure YAML edit, leverages existing all_success cascade.
Workflow YAMLs are reloaded from disk on every dispatch (dev mode); no
restart needed.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mhooooo mhooooo force-pushed the feat/workflow-implementation-gate branch from 04c3266 to 7087bdc Compare April 26, 2026 00:18
@mhooooo mhooooo changed the base branch from main to dev April 26, 2026 00:18
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Wirasm commented Apr 27, 2026

@mhooooo this PR appears to fully address #1418. Consider adding Closes #1418 to the PR body so the issue auto-closes on merge.

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Wirasm commented Apr 27, 2026

Hi @mhooooo — thanks for opening this PR.

This repository uses a PR template at .github/pull_request_template.md with several required sections. A few of them appear to be empty or placeholder here:

  • Security Impact
  • Side Effects / Blast Radius
  • Rollback Plan

Could you fill those out (even briefly)? The template helps reviewers understand scope, risk, and rollback — it speeds up review significantly.

If a section genuinely doesn't apply, just write "N/A" in it rather than leaving it blank.

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Wirasm commented Apr 27, 2026

Review Summary

Verdict: ready-to-merge

Your implementation-gate bash node is clean and well-reasoned — it correctly exits with a descriptive message when implement-tasks produces zero commits, preventing the downstream review pipeline from burning tokens on an empty branch. Code, error handling, and the inline comment are all solid. A small nudge on the PR body below.

Blocking issues

None.

Suggested fixes

None.

Minor / nice-to-have

  • PR body: The Security Impact, Side Effects / Blast Radius, and Rollback Plan sections are still empty — Wirasm already flagged these. Filling them in makes the PR fully self-documenting and helps future maintainers understand blast radius without digging through the YAML. No blocking concern, but worth completing before you move on.

Compliments

  • The PR body is otherwise excellent — real-world evidence (DB run id cited), three designs considered in "Why This Approach", and a clear Test plan. Strong submission.
  • The scoped deferral of archon-feature-development.yaml and archon-fix-github-issue.yaml to a follow-up is exactly the right call. Tight, focused changes are easier to review and safer to ship.

Reviewed via maintainer-review-pr workflow (Pi/Minimax). Aspects run: code-review, error-handling, comment-quality.

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3 participants