CI watch reads checks cancelled by a newer push as a failure and starts a Repair #839

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1. JacobStephens2

   added

   bugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't working

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   on Oct 19, 2026
2. JacobStephens2

   marked this as blocked on Oct 21, 2026

   • Deepen CI watch to own Delivery's per-head re-run policy #955
3. JacobStephens2 commented on Oct 21, 2026

   

   JacobStephens2

   on Oct 21, 2026

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   This was generated by AI during triage.

   Agent Brief

   Category: bug
   Summary: CI watch treats checks superseded by a newer CI run as superseded, not red, and starts no Repair for them

   This brief also covers #927, which is closed into this issue.

   Current behavior:
   CI watch reads every check run and commit status on the head it watches, from every check suite on that commit. It waits until none is pending, and reads any cancelled conclusion as a failure. The Repair loop then starts a CI-fix Repair for the branch's own failures.

   Two kinds of cancellation are not failures of the head:

   1. The Issue branch moved (CI watch reads checks cancelled by a newer push as a failure and starts a Repair #839). Another writer pushed the Issue branch while CI ran on the Run's head, so the repository's concurrency setting cancelled that CI run. On 2026-10-19, a Run on rename CONTEXT.md to GLOSSARY.md and the references to CONTEXT.md accordingly #812 read CI failed on 9f546fe: test-macos, announce, … from such cancelled checks. It started Repair 1 of 5 and spent about ten minutes on failures that never happened.
   2. The same head got a newer run (CI watch reads a same-head run's cancelled checks as failed after a PR is labelled #927). A labeled or reopened event starts a new run of the same workflow on the same head, and concurrency cancels the older one. Its cancelled check runs stay on the head beside the new run's. On PR Run the full macOS suite on main and nightly, with a one-job macOS gate on PRs into main #925, test was listed three times on one head: cancelled from the cancelled run, success from an earlier run, and in_progress from the new one.

   Desired behavior:

   • Same head. When one GitHub Actions workflow has more than one workflow run on the watched head, only the most recent run's checks count. The earlier runs' checks are superseded and ignored, whatever their conclusion. CI watch waits for the most recent run's pending checks as usual. A Check re-run's new attempt belongs to the same workflow run, so this rule never supersedes it, and Check re-run behavior is unchanged.
   • Moved Issue branch. When the watched head's CI is red and the Issue branch on origin no longer points at that head, the head's cancelled checks are superseded, not failures. If nothing else failed, the Repair loop starts no CI-fix Repair for that head and consumes no Check re-run for it. It says so in a progress line, e.g. CI on <sha> was superseded by a newer push, and goes round again, counted as an upstream move. In a Merge run, the next round takes in the new commits as it already does. A Run left ready for review keeps its existing handling of a moved Issue branch: this change only removes the CI-fix Repair for the superseded head. A check that genuinely failed on that head is handled as today.
   • Inherited failures. The same supersession applies when CI watch reads the Base branch commit's checks for Inherited failures.
   • Unchanged. A cancelled check with no newer run of its workflow on the head, on an Issue branch that hasn't moved, still reads as failed.

   Key interfaces:

   • CI watch's reading of conclusions (reading, Ci) and the checks it lists for a commit (checks_on). ActionsJob gives a check run's workflow run. GitHub's workflow-run listing for a head gives each run's workflow and creation time.
   • The Repair loop's rounds, its upstream-move budget, and its view of new commits on the Issue branch on origin (new_commits_on_origin).
   • Checks that aren't GitHub Actions jobs, and commit statuses, are read as today.

   Acceptance criteria:

   • On one head, an older run's cancelled test beside a newer run's pending test makes CI watch wait, then pass when the newer one succeeds. No Repair starts.
   • On one head, an older run's failed check is ignored when a newer run of the same workflow succeeds.
   • A cancelled check with no newer run of its workflow, on an Issue branch that hasn't moved, still fails CI as today.
   • A Merge run whose watched head's checks are cancelled after another writer's push starts no CI-fix Repair and consumes no Check re-run. It takes in the new commits and watches the new head.
   • The Inherited failure comparison ignores superseded checks on the Base branch commit.
   • Existing CI watch, Check re-run, Abandoned job and Inherited failure tests pass.

   Out of scope:

   • What a failing or stopped Run does to a pull request another live Run is delivering (CI watch reads checks cancelled by a newer push as a failure and starts a Repair #839's third point, moved to A failing or stopped Run drafts a pull request another live Run is delivering #960).
   • Changing this repository's CI triggers or concurrency settings.
4. JacobStephens2

   added

   ready-for-agentFully specified, ready for an AFK agentFully specified, ready for an AFK agent

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   and removed

   needs-triageMaintainer needs to evaluate this issueMaintainer needs to evaluate this issue

   ready-for-agentFully specified, ready for an AFK agentFully specified, ready for an AFK agent

   on Oct 21, 2026
5. JacobStephens2

   closed this as completedin #1081on Oct 22, 2026
6. JacobStephens2

   removed

   in-progressA Claim: thirdshift has taken this issueA Claim: thirdshift has taken this issue

   on Oct 22, 2026