fix(recovery): convert review-parked continuations into dependency waits (#8371)

## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - The productivity-recovery subsystem watches for "stranded" assigned
issues — claims whose live run disappeared — and repairs, resumes, or
visibly blocks them
> - When an executor decomposes an umbrella issue into sub-tasks, it
parks its own continuation as "waiting on review/approval" (error code
`issue_continuation_waiting_on_review`) — a deliberate pause, not a lost
run
> - Recovery's staleness gate mistook that deliberate park for a
disappeared run: it retried once, then escalated the issue to `blocked`
with a recovery action and an operator-facing failure notice — even
though nothing had failed and there was nothing for a human to do
> - The user is left staring at an inscrutable, over-technical
"stranded" error on a task they did nothing wrong with, with no idea
what action to take
> - This pull request teaches recovery to recognize a review-parked
continuation and, when the issue has a real waiting target (open
sub-tasks or unresolved blockers), convert it into a first-class
dependency wait: `blocked`-by-children, original assignee kept, plus a
plain-language comment saying it will resume automatically
> - The benefit is that post-decomposition umbrellas sit on a real
waiting path and self-resume through the normal blockers-resolved flow,
while genuine strands (no waiting target) still escalate exactly as
before

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

Refs #6503

## What Changed

- `server/src/services/recovery/service.ts`: add
`resolveContinuationWaitingOnReview`. When a continuation was cancelled
with `issue_continuation_waiting_on_review` and the issue has a real
waiting target — open (non-terminal) sub-tasks or existing unresolved
blockers — recovery sets the issue `blocked` by those issues, keeps the
original assignee, posts a plain-language `system` comment, and logs the
activity. Wired into `reconcileStrandedAssignedIssues` ahead of the
escalation path, with a new `waitingOnReviewResolved` counter on the
result.
- With no waiting target, the code falls through to the existing
escalation, preserving genuine stranded-run detection.
- `server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-process-recovery.test.ts`: two new
tests — (1) a review-parked continuation converts into a dependency wait
on its open sub-tasks (done children excluded, no recovery issue opened,
plain-language comment, raw error code never leaks), and (2) it still
escalates when no open dependency remains.
- `doc/execution-semantics.md`: document the "Deliberate wait is not a
lost run" recovery rule and the requirement that a post-decomposition
umbrella hold a first-class waiting path rather than relying on
`parentId` rollup.

## Verification

- `cd server && npx tsc --noEmit` — passes against current `master`.
- New tests in `server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-process-recovery.test.ts`
(describe: "heartbeat orphaned process recovery"):
- "converts a continuation parked for review into a dependency wait on
its open sub-tasks"
- "still escalates a continuation parked for review when no open
dependency remains"
- Run with the repo's vitest setup, e.g. `pnpm vitest run
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-process-recovery.test.ts` (requires the
embedded-postgres test harness).

## Risks

Low. The change adds a single guarded pre-check ahead of the existing
escalation path; behavior is unchanged when the cancellation error code
is not `issue_continuation_waiting_on_review` or when the issue has no
open sub-task / unresolved blocker to wait on. No schema or migration
changes.

## Model Used

Claude (Anthropic), Opus-class model, via the Claude Code agent harness
— extended thinking and tool use enabled.

## Checklist

- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have searched GitHub for duplicate or related PRs and linked
them above
- [x] I have either (a) linked existing issues with `Fixes: #` / `Closes
#` / `Refs #` OR (b) described the issue in-PR following the relevant
issue template
- [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or
links (only public GitHub `#NNN` / `github.com/paperclipai/paperclip`
URLs)
- [x] My branch name describes the change and contains no internal
Paperclip ticket id or instance-derived details
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [ ] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots (N/A — server-only)
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green (pending CI)
- [x] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
This commit is contained in:
Devin Foley
2026-06-19 20:52:18 -07:00
committed by GitHub
parent 8af3bc9ed4
commit 277a9a43d6
3 changed files with 264 additions and 4 deletions
+13
View File
@@ -226,6 +226,8 @@ The accepted interaction by itself is only evidence that the plan was approved.
If the live run disappears, Paperclip must repair, resume, or visibly block the existing claim. It must not leave the source issue in a state where a second run can interpret the same acceptance as fresh permission to create sibling issues again.
Once decomposition completes and the umbrella's remaining work is "wait for the children to finish," the umbrella must hold a first-class waiting path — a `blocked`-by-children state — not merely `in_progress` resting on `parentId` rollup. `parentId` is not a dependency (§6), so an `in_progress` umbrella with no run, no wake, and no blockers looks stranded to recovery. If the executor instead parks the continuation as waiting-for-review, recovery converts that park into the missing dependency wait (§9.2, "Deliberate wait is not a lost run").
### Concurrent and repeat attempts
Every later run that encounters the same accepted-plan fingerprint must consult the durable claim/result before creating children.
@@ -468,6 +470,17 @@ Recovery rule:
This is an active-work continuity recovery.
#### Deliberate wait is not a lost run
A continuation that the staleness gate cancelled with `issue_continuation_waiting_on_review` is a *deliberate park*, not a disappeared execution path. The latest run reported that the issue is waiting for review/approval (for example, an umbrella issue whose work was just decomposed into sub-tasks). Treating that park as a stranded run would retry it, then escalate it to `blocked` with a recovery action and an operator-facing failure notice — even though nothing failed and there is nothing for a human to do.
Recovery rule for a parked-for-review continuation:
- if the issue has a real waiting target — open (non-terminal) sub-tasks or existing unresolved blockers — Paperclip converts the deliberate wait into a first-class dependency wait: it sets the issue `blocked` by those issues, keeps the original assignee, and posts a plain-language comment explaining that the task will resume automatically when its dependencies finish. The issue then self-resumes through the normal `issue_blockers_resolved` path; no recovery action or escalation owner is involved
- if the issue has no waiting target, the park is indistinguishable from a genuine strand and falls through to the standard §9.2 escalation, preserving stranded detection
This keeps the post-decomposition umbrella (§7) on a real waiting path instead of relying on `parentId` rollup, which §6 does not treat as a dependency.
### 9.3 Recovery model-profile lane
Cheap model profiles are only for status-only operational recovery overhead. Paperclip may request `modelProfile: "cheap"` for bounded recovery-owner work that updates task liveness, clears bad status, records a disposition, or asks for human/manager intervention. Those wakes must carry guard context such as `allowDeliverableWork: false`, `allowDocumentUpdates: false`, and `resumeRequiresNormalModel: true`.