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fix(pm-dispatch): failed launches leave orphan tracking issues open (66 open, #3499–#4899) #4917
Description
Problem
A dispatch whose launch fails after the tracking issue is created leaves that issue open, empty and uncommented — an orphan. There are 66 such issues open right now, all titled with the literal test prompt do the thing:
#3499 #3500 #3501 #3502 #3503 #3504 #3863 #3864 #4029 #4030 #4037 #4038 #4039 #4040 #4042 #4043 #4228 #4229 #4237 #4239 #4244 #4245 #4247 #4248 #4343 #4344 #4348 #4349 #4531 #4532 #4859 #4860 #4892 #4893 #4894 #4895 #4896 #4897 #4898 #4899 (and older)
Every one has body exactly:
do the thing
---
Launched by pm-dispatch for developing-today/code. Queue task and OpenCode session ids follow in a comment below.
and zero comments until the coverage loop-back pass of 2026-11-03 began adding its own reviewed notes.
Evidence / root cause
pm-stack/dispatch/src/server.ts handleSessions:
- step 1 creates the tracking issue (
maybeCreateIssue, line ~199); - step 2 enqueues the task (
enqueueDispatchTask); its failure path returns 502 without touching the issue (server.ts~482–493); - step 3 creates the session; a session failure likewise returns with the issue left behind.
The comment that would have carried "Queue task #… OpenCode session #…" is only posted after the launch succeeds (annotateLaunch, ~500+). So exactly the failure shape above — issue created, no comment ever — is the signature of a launch that died between issue creation and the first annotation. That is the 66-issue pattern.
The prompt is the literal test string from pm-stack/dispatch/test/validate.test.ts / test/server.test.ts (prompt: "do the thing"), so these are manual/test dispatches fired against the production repo (developing-today/code) with a deliberately meaningless prompt — and the successful ones among them are where the orphans come from when only part of the launch path worked.
Design #2668 states the principle "validate the whole request at the boundary, one commit point, nothing after it can fail the launch"; the tracking issue is created before the commit point and has no compensating action, which is the gap.
Scoped fix
- Compensation: when the launch fails after
maybeCreateIssuesucceeded (enqueue 502 path, session creation failure), post a short failure comment on the issue and close it asnot planned— or move issue creation after the enqueue/session commit point, keeping the issue as the record only once the launch is real. - Cleanup: close the existing 66 orphans (they carry no spec), each with a one-line reason pointing here.
- Guard: optionally refuse
POST /v1/sessionswith the test prompt against a production repo, or keep test dispatches on a scratch repo, so the smoke path cannot file issues indeveloping-today/code.
For other triage lanes
Any further do the thing issue is the same artifact: triage it by closing it with a pointer here. Do not open a second fix issue for this class.
Found by triage of #4898 (queue task 7881, repo-health-code-pilot).
Activity
dezren39 commentedon Nov 3, 2026
agent-note:v1
state: picked-up
task 8030 (small_fix, lane code-j, direct) claimed 2026-11-03T13:52Z. Issue #4917 revalidated OPEN, no hard-stop labels. Plan: laptop worktree from ~/git/code main, compensation in pm-stack/dispatch/src/server.ts (comment + close as not planned on enqueue/session failure after issue creation), targeted test, orphan cleanup with pointer here, PR + merge under standing criteria.
Merge pull request #4941 from developing-today/queue/8030-4917-pm-dis…
dezren39 commentedon Nov 3, 2026
agent-note:v1
state: done
task 8030 (small_fix, lane code-j) — fixed and merged in PR #4941 (merge 503ff3a, head 14692ee). This issue auto-closed on the merge; recording the evidence here.
What landed:
Tests: bun test pm-stack/dispatch/test on the laptop — 127 pass, 0 fail. tsc: one pre-existing error in untouched test/queue.test.ts only. Codex review on the PR could not run (usage limits, PR comments 6605825714/6605826421) — no findings existed to disposition; disposition recorded on PR #4941 (comment 6606057384).
Cleanup: 66 body-verified orphan issues (exact dispatch footer body) closed as not planned, each with a comment pointing here — verified fresh afterwards: the only remaining open title matches are #2912 (same artifact but under an ACTIVE claim with user/review — left for its owning lane rather than yanked) and #4925 (a different, genuine issue about this class, currently claimed by another lane; this fix addresses its root cause too, its owner can close it against PR #4941).
Note for the escalated placeholder: #4894 was among the 66 closed — its user/escalated ask (name the work or close as smoke test) is answered by this issue's class ruling: it was a smoke-test artifact with no spec. Reopen if that read is wrong.