Make a dispatched stage's output file the completion signal#12
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Make a dispatched stage's output file the completion signal#12Pijukatel wants to merge 5 commits into
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Stacked on #12. #12 handles "file is on disk but the orchestrator didn't notice" — the missed-notification case. This adds the other direction: when the output file never appears (the dispatched agent died rather than just running slow), an absent file after several turns or a human check-in is a stall to surface and offer to re-dispatch, not another "still running" repeat. Extends #12's contract test with the new phrase. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014weQJCVrR4rakMvnSgMVm4
Issue #8: on harnesses that background subagent dispatch, the orchestrator reported the verify/explore stages as still running while their output files were already on disk, stalling the run until a human nudged it. The spec never said how a stage dispatch completes. A stage's output file on disk is now the authoritative completion signal, independent of dispatch mode (blocking/background) and site (single or parallel fan-out); a terminal-marker format also requires its VERDICT line, and an overwrite-in-place re-dispatch compares a content hash, not mtime/size. A hard rule pins that the orchestrator never reports a dispatched stage as still running without checking disk first. Rebased onto current main; completion clause trimmed to fit the 500-line SKILL.md cap. Closes #8. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014weQJCVrR4rakMvnSgMVm4
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Stacked on #12. #12 handles the file-is-on-disk-but-unnoticed case (missed notification). This adds the other direction: when the output file never appears because the dispatched agent died rather than running slowly, an absent file after several turns or a human check-in is a stall to surface and offer to re-dispatch, not another "still running" repeat. Extends #12's contract test with the new phrase. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014weQJCVrR4rakMvnSgMVm4
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I'll test it together with this fix: #17
The silent-stall rule leaned on "if dispatch status exists ... report running only when explicitly active and stalled only when terminal" — as vague as the "after several turns" trigger it replaced (per @Pijukatel's review). Replace it with the honest, observable rule: an absent output file means only "not done" — report status unknown, offer to wait or re-dispatch, and never fabricate "still running"/"stalled" from turn count or a human check-in. Nets the skill from 500 to 499 lines and drops two now-redundant contract asserts. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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What we're solving
Issue #8: on harnesses that dispatch subagents in the background, the orchestrator could report the verify/explore stages as still running while their output files were already written to
.shepherd/— the run stalled until a human nudged it. The spec never said how a stage dispatch completes, so this failure was fully spec-compliant.How
VERDICT:line) also require it, so a parallel round completes only when every reviewer's file is present and carries its verdict. Overwrite-in-place re-dispatches (architect revision, criteria re-run) compare a content hash recorded in_progress.mdat dispatch time — never mtime/size alone. Disk is checked before any status claim, on every turn, not only at resume; no idle-polling machinery.test_dispatched_stage_completion_is_disk_basedanchors the durable phrases (shown red against the unmodified spec, green after).Alternatives considered
Run evidence (shepherd pipeline)
python -m pytest tests/ -q→ 1 failed, 86 passed — baseline-consistent (the 1 failure is pre-existing and environmental: the active shepherd run's own gitignored.shepherd/config.jsontripstest_repo_does_not_duplicate_shipped_config_files; baseline before the change was 1 failed / 85 passed, the +1 pass is the new contract test). SKILL.md at 444/450 lines.Closes #8
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