huskies: merge 986

server/src/agents/lifecycle.rs

@@ -264,13 +264,21 @@ pub fn transition_to_merge_failure(
 ) -> Result<TransitionFired, String> {
     let display = kind.display_reason();
     let gate_output = kind.to_gate_output();
+    // Serialise the typed kind BEFORE it is moved into the event so both the
+    // JSON key and the legacy string key can be written after the transition.
+    let kind_json = serde_json::to_string(&kind).unwrap_or_default();
 
     let fired = apply_transition(story_id, PipelineEvent::MergeFailed { kind }, None)
         .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
 
-    // Persist gate-output string so the CRDT projection can reconstruct the
-    // MergeFailureKind on server restart (display-only; scheduling uses the
-    // typed kind from the Stage variant).
+    // Persist the typed kind as JSON so the CRDT projection can reconstruct it
+    // without substring-scanning the gate output string (story 986).
+    crate::db::write_content(
+        crate::db::ContentKey::MergeFailureKind(story_id),
+        &kind_json,
+    );
+    // Persist legacy gate-output string for human-readable display and
+    // backward-compatible fallback on pre-986 data.
     crate::db::write_content(crate::db::ContentKey::GateOutput(story_id), &gate_output);
 
     // Persist human-readable description on the MergeJob CRDT entry so display