Add steerable option to pdd sync + fix textual sync animation resize issues #267

beknobloch · 2026-01-08T23:11:57Z

Summary

feat: Modified pdd sync to be steerable. Before taking an action, the TUI will present the user with a list of options, including the default option that pdd sync recommends. If no action is selected after a certain timeout length, the default option will be chosen automatically. Steering may be disabled with a new CLI option --no-steer, and the timeout length may be adjusted with a new option --steer-timeout <FLOAT>.
fix: Modified pdd sync TUI behavior to ignore resizes, fixing a previous issue which caused visuals to become corrupted and unreadable when the terminal window was resized.

Test Results

Unit tests: PASS
Regression tests: PASS
Sync regression: PASS
Test coverage: 66%

Manual Testing

Manually tested steering, disabling steering, and window resizing to verify stability and usability.

Fixes #169
Fixes #236

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces interactive steering to the PDD sync process via a new --steer flag (disabled by default), and resolves TUI corruption issues caused by terminal resizes by implementing a fixed-width rendering approach during sync runs.

Key changes:

Added optional interactive steering allowing users to override sync operation choices at decision points
Implemented --steer CLI flag (opt-in) to enable steering without changing default behavior
Fixed TUI resize-related visual corruption by freezing animation/layout width at mount time

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 179 out of 184 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`pdd/sync_tui.py`	Added steering infrastructure (`ChoiceScreen`, `maybe_steer_operation`), fixed resize handling with frozen UI width, added `on_resize` handler
`pdd/sync_orchestration.py`	Integrated steering calls into sync loop, added graceful handling for mock exhaustion in tests
`pdd/commands/maintenance.py`	Added `--steer` flag with environment variable control
`tests/test_sync_tui.py`	New comprehensive test file with unit tests and Z3 formal verification of steering logic
`tests/test_sync_orchestration.py`	Added missing imports for resize logic testing
`tests/test_llm_invoke.py`	Made model ID matching more robust with fallback candidates and graceful skipping
`pdd/fix_code_loop.py`	Fixed pipe streaming to use `readline()` instead of single-byte reads, reordered thread joins
`pdd/agentic_fix.py`	Added harvest-first strategy, updated `claude` binary resolution with `shutil.which`
`README.md`	Documented `--steer` flag and interactive steering behavior
Various metadata/backup files	Test run results and backup snapshots

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pdd/sync_tui.py

pdd/sync_orchestration.py

pdd/fix_code_loop.py

tests/test_sync_tui.py

pdd/agentic_fix.py

tests/test_llm_invoke.py

gltanaka

please clean out the temp files to make the review easier

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T00:12:56Z

.pdd/backups/agentic_fix/20260106_212146/code_1.py

don't commit these temp files

gltanaka

Thanks for your work. Can you also submit your prompt changes to the pdd_cap?

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T19:18:48Z

README.md

 - `--skip-tests`: Skip unit test generation and fixing
 - `--target-coverage FLOAT`: Desired code coverage percentage (default is 90.0)
 - `--dry-run`: Display real-time sync analysis for this basename instead of running sync operations. This performs the same state analysis as a normal sync run but without acquiring exclusive locks or executing any operations, allowing inspection even when another sync process is active.
+- `--steer`: Enable interactive steering during the sync process. When enabled, PDD may pause at key decision points (e.g., choosing the next operation) and allow you to select between multiple valid options instead of automatically choosing one.


Is this a countdown timer or does it just stop until action is taken?
I think having it as a countdown timer might be better?

it uses a countdown timer with a default value of 8 seconds. Currently hardcoded, but I'll work on making it configurable via CLI

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T19:19:35Z

calculator.py

should you put this example in examples/ dir instead of root?

the change right now is in the context/ dir with other examples, which seems to be the default. Should I move it elsewhere?

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T19:21:26Z

README.md

maybe make steer the default and have no steer if the user doesn't want delays

sure, I'll make that change

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T19:22:14Z

pdd/prompts/agentic_bug_step10_pr_LLM.prompt

@@ -54,11 +54,6 @@ You are operating in an isolated git worktree at: {worktree_path}
 This worktree is already checked out to branch `fix/issue-{issue_number}`.
 Do NOT create a new branch - just stage, commit, and push.

-% Files to Stage


what is the purpose of this removal?

the LLM did this at some point as part of syncing sync_tui. I didn't know what the intention was, but does it seem like an error to you?

gltanaka · 2026-01-09T19:22:50Z

project_dependencies.csv

use the latest pdd version so that this is hashes vs. timestamps

beknobloch · 2026-01-09T21:18:00Z

Just submitted the prompt changes to pdd_cap as a PR in the branch pr-267-ben!

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 14 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

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pdd/sync_tui.py

pdd/agentic_fix.py

tests/test_sync_tui.py

pdd/sync_orchestration.py

pdd/sync_tui.py

tests/test_sync_tui.py

pdd/sync_tui.py

jiaminc-cmu · 2026-01-13T00:25:22Z

Hi can you resolve the git conflict? I'll test this bug fix.
Thank you!

gltanaka · 2026-01-20T18:05:33Z

target 1/20

gltanaka · 2026-01-21T23:40:42Z

@beknobloch It looks like there are still conflicts

jiaminc-cmu · 2026-01-22T04:53:40Z

Hi. We refactored agentic_fix.py just yesterday to use the agentic_common.py module so seems like there is git conflict again. I can help with resolving git conflict and testing if you can kindly note why agentic fix was updated and what changes we're expected to keep. Thanks

beknobloch · 2026-01-24T18:09:33Z

Hi! The change to agentic_fix.py was a tentative change I made while debugging sync - it's unconnected with this pull request, so I accepted your refactors and removed the changes I made in my commit. Sorry for the confusion there.

jiaminc-cmu · 2026-01-24T20:43:35Z

Hi I am getting a compilation error because there was a missing import. Would you fix it or would you mind if I pushed the fix?
⏺ Confirmed:

The patch for sync_orchestration.py only shows:

Import added: from .sync_tui import maybe_steer_operation
Usage: steer_timeout: float = DEFAULT_STEER_TIMEOUT_S

Missing: from .sync_tui import DEFAULT_STEER_TIMEOUT_S

This would cause exactly the NameError you saw. The fix I applied to your branch adds the missing import:

from .sync_tui import maybe_steer_operation, DEFAULT_STEER_TIMEOUT_S

You may want to comment on PR #267 about this bug, or the PR author needs to fix it before it can be merged.

To test your fixed local version, reinstall from the local directory:

pip install -e .

beknobloch · 2026-01-24T20:49:08Z

Good catch, I had made an env variable so I didn't notice this bug. You can go ahead and push the fix. Thanks so much!

The original PR #267 was missing this import, causing a NameError when the module is loaded. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

The original PR promptdriven#267 was missing this import, causing a NameError when the module is loaded. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

jiaminc-cmu · 2026-01-25T01:26:05Z

======================== short test summary info =========================
FAILED tests/test_sync_main.py::test_sync_dry_run_mode - AssertionError: 'sync_orchestration' does not contain all of (call('', ('log_test',), {'language': 'python', 'prompts_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/prompts', 'code_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/src', 'examples_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/examples', 'tests_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/tests', 'dry_run': True, 'verbose': True, 'quiet': False, 'context_override': None}), call('', ('log_test',), {'language': 'typescript', 'prompts_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/prompts', 'code_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/src', 'examples_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/examples', 'tests_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/tests', 'dry_run': True, 'verbose': True, 'quiet': False, 'context_override': None})) in its call list, found [call('', ('log_test',), {'language': 'python', 'prompts_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/prompts', 'code_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/src', 'examples_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/examples', 'tests_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/tests', 'dry_run': True, 'verbose': True, 'quiet': False, 'context_override': None, 'no_steer': False, 'steer_timeout': 8.0}), call('', ('log_test',), {'language': 'typescript', 'prompts_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/prompts', 'code_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/src', 'examples_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/examples', 'tests_dir': '/private/var/folders/dx/6jpz4l8545179pngyxzmkhx80000gn/T/pytest-of-caijiamin/pytest-1582/test_sync_dry_run_mode0/test_project/tests', 'dry_run': True, 'verbose': True, 'quiet': False, 'context_override': None, 'no_steer': False, 'steer_timeout': 8.0})] instead
FAILED tests/test_sync_orchestration.py::test_stopiteration_handling - assert False is True
========= 2 failed, 2856 passed, 9 skipped in 1045.64s (0:17:25) =========

jiaminc-cmu · 2026-01-25T01:26:47Z

I pushed the fix for missing import. However, I am getting unit tests errors. Does this PR pass all unit tests and regressions?

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 12 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

tests/test_sync_tui.py:1

Use Any from typing instead of lowercase any for type hints.

import pytest

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pdd/sync_tui.py

pdd/sync_orchestration.py

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 12 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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pdd/sync_tui.py

The original PR promptdriven#267 was missing this import, causing a NameError when the module is loaded. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

beknobloch · 2026-01-26T23:20:09Z

I pushed the fix for missing import. However, I am getting unit tests errors. Does this PR pass all unit tests and regressions?

I just fixed the remaining issues caused by the merge conflict resolutions, did a full rebase, and reran unit tests and regression tests, and all pass. These issues should be resolved and the PR good to merge.

gltanaka · 2026-01-27T04:36:14Z

Somehow I am getting conflicts: ```=========================== short test summary info ============================
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::test_run_agentic_fix_success_via_run_agentic_task
FAILED tests/test_commands_modify.py::test_cli_change_command_csv_validation
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::test_run_agentic_fix_handles_no_keys - asse...
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::test_run_agentic_fix_real_call_when_available[anthropic-ANTHROPIC_API_KEY-claude]
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::test_run_agentic_fix_real_call_when_available[google-GOOGLE_API_KEY-gemini]
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::test_run_agentic_fix_real_call_when_available[openai-OPENAI_API_KEY-codex]
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::TestCwdHandling::test_run_agentic_fix_respects_cwd_parameter
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::TestCwdHandling::test_run_agentic_fix_resolves_paths_against_cwd
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::TestMtimeChangeDetection::test_detects_new_files
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::TestMtimeChangeDetection::test_detects_modified_files
FAILED tests/test_agentic_fix.py::TestMtimeChangeDetection::test_detects_deleted_files
FAILED tests/test_fix_code_loop.py::TestCumulativeCostDisplay::test_total_cost_display_includes_prior_cost
FAILED tests/test_unfinished_prompt.py::test_unfinished_prompt_marks_mid_block_tail_without_dangling_as_finished
FAILED tests/test_e2e_issue_364_cumulative_cost.py::TestCumulativeCostDisplayE2E::test_fix_code_loop_displays_cumulative_cost
FAILED tests/test_e2e_issue_364_cumulative_cost.py::TestSyncOrchestrationCostAccumulation::test_sync_accumulated_cost_passed_to_fix_loops
================= 15 failed, 2949 passed in 339.05s (0:05:39) ==================
<<<PYTHON-EXEC-OUTPUT
Finished running tests!

…nd ignore vertical terminal resizes

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

… user to choose how long `sync` waits for user steering before progressing with the default option chore(steer): changed --steer to --no-steer, making steering the default behavior of `sync` test(sync): added additional tests to verify the functionality of steering and related edge cases

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

The original PR promptdriven#267 was missing this import, causing a NameError when the module is loaded. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…nflict resolution

- Add pdd/prompts/*.prompt to .gitignore (local convenience files) - Add temporary files to .gitignore (error_log.txt, *.backup) - Fix duplicate --local flag handling in regression.sh - Add max_output_tokens field to ModelInfo in prompts.py

…dividual path/color references instead of dictionaries. Update _detect_mtime_changes function in agentic_fix.py to handle new, modified, and deleted files more effectively. Introduce run_agentic_task wrapper for better testability. Adjust fix_code_loop to incorporate prior costs. Enhance error handling in SyncLock class for improved robustness.

…M invocations - Added timeout handling for SSH session simulations in test_e2e_subprocess_issue_399_ssh_url_message.py to skip tests on timeout. - Improved error handling in test_llm_invoke_integration.py to skip tests when Vertex AI API is unavailable. - Updated comments for clarity on potential issues during test execution.

- Deleted backup files for agentic_fix and comment_line modules, including code and program files. - Cleaned up unnecessary temporary files to streamline the project structure.

- Updated sync_orchestration.py to streamline decision handling, replacing StopIteration with a direct all_synced decision for improved workflow completion. - Introduced a _debug_swallow function in sync_tui.py to better manage non-critical exception logging, enhancing robustness in UI interactions. - Modified test_sync_orchestration.py to verify the new decision handling and updated test_sync_tui.py for improved environment variable restoration during tests. - Adjusted .gitignore to include additional staging log files and ensure proper exclusion of temporary files.

…o steering-sync

- Introduced logging at the beginning of the sync_orchestration function to capture the start of the synchronization process. - Implemented a try-except block to ensure that the sync proceeds even if logging setup fails, enhancing robustness.

beknobloch · 2026-02-06T06:43:45Z

Okay! I resolved all the issues you noted and also verified the following:

Rebased this PR after separating out some unrelated test fixes that I'm also getting on the upstream head.
Resolved merge conflicts.
Ran all unit and regression tests - all unit tests affected by this PR pass, and all regression tests pass.
Did manual verification that sync steering and the resize issue improvements look good.

Let me know if the auto merge succeeds on your end - I'm pretty sure the unit failures are unrelated to this PR (I'm looking into them on another branch) but I'm not certain.

The original PR promptdriven#267 was missing this import, causing a NameError when the module is loaded. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

gltanaka requested a review from Copilot January 9, 2026 00:12

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don't commit these temp files

beknobloch requested a review from gltanaka January 9, 2026 15:10

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Serhan-Asad mentioned this pull request Jan 21, 2026

Terminal UI break when terminal is resized during pdd sync #236

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gltanaka requested a review from Copilot January 25, 2026 20:10

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Serhan-Asad mentioned this pull request Jan 26, 2026

Bug: File Handle Resource Leak in SyncLock.acquire() #403

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beknobloch force-pushed the steering-sync branch from 1f71174 to 51d7843 Compare January 26, 2026 21:23

beknobloch and others added 25 commits February 6, 2026 01:03

fix(tui): Make sync animation robust to horizontal terminal resizes a…

19bb684

…nd ignore vertical terminal resizes

doc: update README.md to reflect new "pdd sync --steer" option

6c829a5

fix(tui): Make sync animation robust to horizontal terminal resizes a…

75b8a91

…nd ignore vertical terminal resizes

Update pdd/fix_code_loop.py

638a9d9

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update tests/test_sync_tui.py

3a19222

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update tests/test_llm_invoke.py

c3d6c39

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update pdd/sync_tui.py

f0e37f2

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update pdd/sync_tui.py

5f14372

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update pdd/sync_orchestration.py

09cad77

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

fix(sync tests)

e3bb740

chore: Remove redundant app running verification in sync_tui

c655abd

fix: add no_steer option and customizable steer timeout removed by co…

6fbc0c2

…nflict resolution

chore(.gitignore): restore upstream gitignore

884d479

delete: remove backup files

1ba83e8

- Deleted backup files for agentic_fix and comment_line modules, including code and program files. - Cleaned up unnecessary temporary files to streamline the project structure.

chore: move agentic_fix changes to separate branch

d169b53

chore: drop unrelated changes

69a06c7

chore: remove stray lock files

103029d

Merge branch 'steering-sync' of https://github.com/beknobloch/pdd int…

1898800

…o steering-sync

beknobloch requested a review from gltanaka February 6, 2026 06:40

gltanaka merged commit b25313f into promptdriven:main Feb 6, 2026

Add steerable option to pdd sync + fix textual sync animation resize issues #267

Add steerable option to pdd sync + fix textual sync animation resize issues #267

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