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+---
+type: bug
+title: Setup command failure prevents agent from starting, creating unrecoverable deadlock
+---
+
+# Bug 172: Setup command failure prevents agent from starting, creating unrecoverable deadlock
+
+## Description
+
+When an agent dies mid-edit and leaves the worktree in a non-compiling state, the retry loop deadlocks:
+
+1. Coder PTY dies mid-edit → worktree has broken build
+2. Pipeline retries → calls `create_worktree` which calls `run_setup_commands`
+3. `run_setup_commands` includes `pnpm run build`, which fails because the worktree has a build error
+4. Setup failure propagates via `?` → agent never spawns → empty log → marked failed
+5. Auto-assign retries → goto 2, forever
+
+The agent is the only thing that can fix the build error, but it can never start because the build error prevents it from starting.
+
+## Fix
+
+Make `run_setup_commands` non-fatal. Log a warning if any setup command fails, but don't prevent the agent from starting. The agent can run `pnpm install` / `pnpm build` itself if needed.
+
+## Key files
+
+- `server/src/worktree.rs:82` — `run_setup_commands` call on worktree reuse path (propagates error with `?`)
+- `server/src/worktree.rs:98` — `run_setup_commands` call on fresh worktree path (propagates error with `?`)
+- `server/src/worktree.rs:261` — `run_setup_commands` implementation
+
+## Acceptance Criteria
+
+- [ ] Setup command failures are logged as warnings, not fatal errors
+- [ ] Agent PTY spawns even if setup commands fail
+- [ ] Agent can still fix build errors in its worktree
+- [ ] All tests pass