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fix: stop the two process storms (dispatcher re-entry fork-bomb, cross-project dispatch retry loop) - #759
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Neither agentflare dispatcher -- the `~/.bashenv` `_af_dispatch` function nor the compiled PATH shim -- had a re-entry guard of its own. Both only honored lean-ctx's user-facing opt-outs (LEAN_CTX_DISABLED/NO_HOOK), and lean-ctx deliberately clears its own LEAN_CTX_WRAPPED/LEAN_CTX_ACTIVE markers on its delegate-to-shell path, so a shell that lean-ctx spawns could re-enter a dispatcher unmarked, spawn a fresh unwrapped `lean-ctx -c`, which spawned another shell, without bound. Observed live on 2026-09-16 as ~8,000 orphaned bash.exe/lean-ctx.exe processes and system memory exhaustion (image-qc vents #274 and #278), and reproduced on 2026-09-17. Both dispatchers now stamp AGENTFLARE_SHIM_ACTIVE=1 on the lean-ctx child they spawn and treat it (plus LEAN_CTX_WRAPPED, one hop earlier) as a kill switch: anything inside a command tree an agentflare dispatcher already handed to lean-ctx execs the real tool. lean-ctx never touches that variable, so it survives every lean-ctx spawn path and every shell lean-ctx starts. The regression test drives the generated .bashenv block with a fake lean-ctx that re-runs its command in a fresh bash under the same BASH_ENV -- the exact pathological lap -- and gives up after five laps so a regression fails instead of hanging. Against the previously installed block that harness measures six laps (exit 99); with this change, one. Agentflare-Agent: claude-code_2-1-274_agent Agentflare-Branch: fix/process-storms Agentflare-Session: db2a8bd7-2d5e-425b-935e-bf58bc998a87
…ailure ceiling can trip for every project The discovery tick walks every registered `project_dirs` folder, but its `AgentflareMcp` is linked to only the project this daemon process was started in. `dispatch_item`, `skip_item` and `ask_item` did their label swap and comment through the `ItemRequest`/`CommentRequest` MCP entry points, which resolve ids via `resolve_item_id` and reject any item outside that one linked project -- and every call was `let _ =`. The daemon started by the watchdog scheduled task runs from C:\Windows\System32, which matches no real project at all, so since 2026-08-31 not one `## supervisor — dispatched` marker landed on any item in any project. `dispatch_failure_ceiling` counts dispatch cycles by exactly that marker, so it counted zero, `handle_terminal_job_failure` put `ready-for-work` straight back after every terminal failure, and a deterministically failing item was re-dispatched every SUPERVISOR_DISCOVERY_INTERVAL without bound: image-qc item #273 ran 1,367 identical failing jobs, one every 12 seconds, across 31 hours (2026-09-16/17). A skipped item likewise never lost `ready-for-work` and was re-skipped, with a fresh comment, every tick. Do the swap and the comment directly against the backend by the item's own canonical ids (the same way `handle_terminal_job_failure` already does), and log a failure instead of swallowing it -- a swap that silently doesn't land is precisely what re-arms the loop (item #221). The regression test seeds a ready item in a second project reachable only through `project_dirs` and asserts the tick strips `ready-for-work`, adds `dispatched`, and posts the marker; against the previous code it fails on the first assertion. The trigger for #273's failures (a stale worktree registration that `remove_stale_registration_for` only clears when its HEAD names the same branch, while git refuses by path) is tracked separately as item #588. Agentflare-Agent: claude-code_2-1-274_agent Agentflare-Branch: fix/process-storms Agentflare-Session: db2a8bd7-2d5e-425b-935e-bf58bc998a87
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Included review availability: 0 reviews are currently available. Your included PR review attempts over the past 7 days set your current allowance at 2 reviews per hour. 📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe shim and Bash dispatcher now prevent recursive ChangesRe-entry guards and supervisor behavior
Priority: ➖ Normal Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes Change: Bug fix Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant Shim
participant LeanCtx as lean-ctx
participant RealTool as real tool
Shim->>Shim: Check re-entry markers
Shim->>LeanCtx: Launch with AGENTFLARE_SHIM_ACTIVE=1
LeanCtx->>Shim: Invoke nested Bash shim
Shim->>RealTool: Execute command directly
Merge Risk: 🟡 Moderate · up to A backend mutation failure can leave queued work marked ready, allowing repeated processing and recreating the process storm this change is intended to prevent. 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1❌ Failed checks (1 warning)
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
✨ Finishing Touches 💡 1📝 Generate docstrings 💡
🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
In `@src/supervisor.rs`:
- Line 621: Update the dispatch flow around enqueue_work_job to resolve
DISPATCHED_LABEL before enqueueing work; if the label is unavailable, return
DispatchOutcome::NotDispatched and do not remove ready-for-work or enqueue the
job. Preserve the existing label application behavior when the dispatched label
is present.
- Around line 407-414: Update the with_backend_db closure around remove_label,
add_label, and comment::create to start a single transaction before these
writes, pass the transaction to each operation, and commit only after all
succeed so failures roll back the complete bookkeeping update.
- Around line 607-630: Update dispatch_item to handle failure from
record_supervisor_action as a dispatch failure rather than returning
DispatchOutcome::Dispatched. Ensure the enqueue path coordinates with
recoverable persisted dispatch state so an item left ready-for-work cannot be
redispatched after the job leaves in-flight states. Preserve the existing
one-per-cycle behavior and keep this ordering fix separate from making
record_supervisor_action transactional.
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crates/agentflare-shim/src/lib.rscrates/agentflare-shim/src/main.rssrc/bashenv.rssrc/supervisor.rssrc/supervisor_project_scope_tests.rssrc/supervisor_tests.rs
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…sor_action/dispatch_item Two of the three findings from PR #759's automated review: 1. record_supervisor_action's three backend writes (remove_label, add_label, comment::create) ran as separate auto-committed statements, not a transaction -- with_backend_db only locks and opens the connection, it does not start one. A failure partway through (e.g. add_label after remove_label already committed) left the exact half-applied state this PR's other fix exists to prevent: an item with neither label and no dispatch marker, invisible to both the discovery query and the failure ceiling. Wrapped in conn.unchecked_transaction(), the pattern this codebase already uses elsewhere (label.rs, project.rs, item/claim.rs, item/crud.rs). 2. dispatch_item resolved DISPATCHED_LABEL only when swapping labels, after the job was already enqueued. run_discovery_tick only requires READY_LABEL to exist before batching a project, so a project that never got DISPATCHED_LABEL seeded would enqueue a real job, remove ready-for-work, and leave the item wearing neither label. Resolved before enqueue_work_job now; returns NotDispatched (no job, no label change) when the label doesn't exist, so a human fixing the missing label sees the item again on the very next tick instead of a silently orphaned item. The third finding (a rarer failure mode: the enqueue and the bookkeeping are two different SQLite databases with no shared transaction, so the bookkeeping write can still fail outright after the job is already enqueued) is real but tagged "heavy lift" by the review itself -- tracked separately as agentflare item #591 rather than folded into this fix. Regression tests for both: dispatch_item_declines_when_the_project_has_no_dispatched_label asserts no job is enqueued and ready-for-work stays on; the existing cross-project test continues to cover the transactional write path. Agentflare-Agent: claude-code_2-1-274_agent Agentflare-Branch: fix/process-storms Agentflare-Session: db2a8bd7-2d5e-425b-935e-bf58bc998a87
# Conflicts: # scripts/loc-gate.sh Agentflare-Agent: claude-code_2-1-274_agent Agentflare-Branch: fix/process-storms Agentflare-Session: db2a8bd7-2d5e-425b-935e-bf58bc998a87
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Summary
Two independent process storms, both root-caused on 2026-09-17, one commit each.
1. Fork-bomb: lean-ctx <-> bash recursion (image-qc vents #274, #278)
Neither agentflare dispatcher -- the
~/.bashenv_af_dispatchfunction nor the compiled PATH shim (crates/agentflare-shim) -- had a re-entry guard of its own. Both only honored lean-ctx's user-facing opt-outs (LEAN_CTX_DISABLED/LEAN_CTX_NO_HOOK), and lean-ctx deliberately clears its ownLEAN_CTX_WRAPPED/LEAN_CTX_ACTIVEmarkers on its delegate-to-shell path. A shell that lean-ctx spawned therefore re-entered a dispatcher unmarked, spawned a fresh unwrappedlean-ctx -c, which spawned another shell, without bound: ~8,000 orphanedbash.exe/lean-ctx.exeprocesses and memory exhaustion on 2026-09-16, reproduced on 2026-09-17.Fix: both dispatchers stamp
AGENTFLARE_SHIM_ACTIVE=1on the lean-ctx child they spawn and treat it (plusLEAN_CTX_WRAPPED, one hop earlier) as a kill switch. agentflare owns that variable, so it survives every lean-ctx spawn path.Test:
bashenv::tests::dispatcher_stops_after_one_lap_when_lean_ctx_resources_the_same_bashenvdrives the generated block with a fakelean-ctxthat re-runs its command in a fresh bash under the sameBASH_ENV(the exact pathological lap) and gives up after five laps. The previously installed block measures six laps (exit 99); with this change, one. Verified live afterdev-install: the new shim stamps the marker and passes through when it is preset.2. Dispatch retry loop: supervisor bookkeeping never landed for other projects
run_discovery_tickwalks every registeredproject_dirsfolder, butdispatch_item/skip_item/ask_itemdid their label swap and comment through theItemRequest/CommentRequestMCP entry points, which resolve ids only against the one project this daemon process is linked to -- and every call waslet _ =. The daemon started by the watchdog scheduled task runs fromC:\Windows\System32, so since 2026-08-31 not one## supervisor — dispatchedmarker landed on any item.dispatch_failure_ceilingcounts cycles by that marker, so it counted zero,handle_terminal_job_failureputready-for-workstraight back, and a deterministically failing item was re-dispatched every 12 s without bound (image-qc item #273: 1,367 identical failing jobs over 31 hours). Skipped items were re-skipped, with a fresh comment, every tick for the same reason.Fix:
record_supervisor_actiondoes the swap and the comment directly against the backend by canonical id (ashandle_terminal_job_failurealready does) and logs failures instead of swallowing them.Test:
supervisor::tests::project_scope_tests::dispatch_bookkeeping_lands_on_items_of_projects_other_than_the_daemons_ownseeds a ready item in a second project reachable only throughproject_dirs; it fails on master at the first assertion and passes here. Live: the restarted daemon logs one skip tick and no bookkeeping failures, instead of a repeat every 12 s.Follow-ups filed (not in this PR)
remove_stale_registration_foronly clears a stale worktree registration whose HEAD names the same branch, while git refusesworktree addby path.LEAN_CTX_EXEC_DEPTHnesting ceiling exists only as uncommitted local changes in~/workspace/lean-ctx.claim_self_repair_defers_when_another_workstation_already_holds_a_live_claimhardcodes this workstation's own bridge label; fails locally, passes in CI. Pre-existing, unrelated.Verification
cargo test -p agentflare-shim,cargo test -p agentflare bashenv::tests,cargo test -p agentflare supervisor::tests::(78 pass; the one failure is fix: automated item done never populates reply_text, so every PR body is a placeholder #590 above)cargo clippy --locked --workspace --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings -A unsafe_code -A clippy::pedanticcleancargo fmt --allcleanSummary by CodeRabbit
Bug Fixes
dispatchedlabel; otherwise, no job is queued or labels changed.Tests