feat: outer cap on commit-recovery respawns catches flapping agents

The progress-aware no-progress cap (3 consecutive byte-identical diffs) doesn't catch the degenerate pattern where the agent keeps making DIFFERENT file edits each session but never commits — every respawn resets the no-progress counter, infinite loop, budget burns. Adds ContentKey::CommitRecoveryTotalAttempts: an absolute counter that increments on every commit-recovery respawn regardless of progress. TOTAL_ATTEMPTS_CAP = 8; when hit, block with reason 'agent flapped — N respawns without ever committing'. Two caps now bound the recovery loop: - NO_PROGRESS_CAP (3): catches stuck-agent (same diff repeatedly) - TOTAL_ATTEMPTS_CAP (8): catches flapping-agent (different diffs, no commits) Easy to tune the constant lower if we see runaway in practice. All 2936 tests pass.
2026-05-14 11:34:17 +01:00
parent bab337b289
commit 0572af2193
3 changed files with 172 additions and 1 deletions
@@ -1107,6 +1107,113 @@ stage = "coder"
    );
 }

+/// Outer-cap path: even if the agent keeps making file-edit progress between
+/// every commit-recovery respawn (different fingerprint each time), after
+/// TOTAL_ATTEMPTS_CAP respawns without a commit the story must block.  This
+/// catches the "flapping agent" pattern where the progress-aware counter
+/// would never trigger because the diff keeps changing.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn total_attempts_cap_blocks_flapping_agent_without_commit() {
+    use std::fs;
+
+    let tmp = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let root = tmp.path();
+
+    fs::create_dir_all(root.join(".huskies")).unwrap();
+    fs::write(
+        root.join(".huskies/project.toml"),
+        r#"
+max_retries = 3
+
+[[agent]]
+name = "coder-1"
+role = "Coder"
+command = "echo"
+args = ["noop"]
+prompt = "test"
+stage = "coder"
+"#,
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+
+    crate::crdt_state::init_for_test();
+    crate::db::ensure_content_store();
+    crate::db::write_item_with_content(
+        "9956_story_flapper",
+        "2_current",
+        "---\nname: Flapper Test\n---\n",
+        crate::db::ItemMeta::named("Flapper Test"),
+    );
+
+    // Simulate 7 previous respawns (one short of the outer cap of 8).  The
+    // no-progress counter is at 1 (the agent has been making progress every
+    // attempt) but total attempts is at the threshold.
+    crate::db::write_content(
+        crate::db::ContentKey::CommitRecoveryTotalAttempts("9956_story_flapper"),
+        "7",
+    );
+    crate::db::write_content(
+        crate::db::ContentKey::CommitRecoveryPending("9956_story_flapper"),
+        "1",
+    );
+
+    let pool = AgentPool::new_test(3001);
+    let mut rx = pool.watcher_tx.subscribe();
+
+    pool.run_pipeline_advance(
+        "9956_story_flapper",
+        "coder-1",
+        CompletionReport {
+            summary: "still no commit".to_string(),
+            gates_passed: false,
+            gate_output: "Worktree has uncommitted changes".to_string(),
+            needs_commit_recovery: true,
+        },
+        Some(root.to_path_buf()),
+        None,
+        false,
+        None,
+    )
+    .await;
+
+    // Outer cap reached (7 + 1 = 8) → block.
+    let mut got_blocked = false;
+    let mut block_reason = String::new();
+    while let Ok(evt) = rx.try_recv() {
+        if let WatcherEvent::StoryBlocked { story_id, reason } = evt
+            && story_id == "9956_story_flapper"
+        {
+            got_blocked = true;
+            block_reason = reason;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    assert!(
+        got_blocked,
+        "Story must be blocked once total commit-recovery attempts hits the outer cap"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        block_reason.contains("flapped") && block_reason.contains("without ever committing"),
+        "Block reason should describe the flapping pattern, got: {block_reason}"
+    );
+
+    // All three recovery keys must be cleared after blocking.
+    assert!(
+        crate::db::read_content(crate::db::ContentKey::CommitRecoveryTotalAttempts(
+            "9956_story_flapper"
+        ))
+        .is_none(),
+        "total_attempts key must be cleared after blocking"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        crate::db::read_content(crate::db::ContentKey::CommitRecoveryPending(
+            "9956_story_flapper"
+        ))
+        .is_none(),
+        "commit_recovery_pending key must be cleared after blocking"
+    );
+}
+
 // ── bug 953: bug-645 path must not advance when feature branch has zero commits ──

 /// Regression test for bug 953: when a coder agent exits with gates_passed=false