Discrete mode: stage advancement gated on PR/MR merge (followup hardening)

[jwaldrip]

Summary

PR #245 added discrete-mode coercion in `gate.ts` so every stage gate forces external PR/MR review (`review: auto` → `external`, `review: ask` → `ask,external` compound, etc.). This issue tracks the hardening followups that didn't land in #245.

What's already in place (verified during #245)

• `ensureOnStageBranch()` runs at the top of `haiku_run_next` (`tools/orchestrator/haiku_run_next.ts:176`) — pickup-from-main reroutes to the active stage branch, forward-merges main → stage if drifted.
• Merge-detection gates completion — when `status: completed + gate_outcome: blocked`, the gate handler at `gate.ts:449` calls `isBranchMerged(stageBranch, mainline)` and only flips to `gate_outcome: advanced` after the actual merge happens. Local approve alone never advances the stage.

What's still missing

1. `writeOnIntentMain()` for intent-scope frontmatter writes

`intent.md` is intent-scope metadata. Today it's written via `setFrontmatterField(intentFile, ...)` from ~25 call sites, including some that run while checked out on a stage branch. Result: `intent.md` can diverge between the stage branch and intent main (observed bug: `twelve-week-plan-accountability-app` had `active_stage: product` on intent main while the stage branch had `active_stage: development`).

Fix shape:

• Introduce a `setIntentField()` helper that wraps `setFrontmatterField` AND mirrors the write to intent main via `writeOnIntentMain()`.
• Migrate every intent-scope FM call site (`active_stage`, `status`, `archived`, `phase`, `started_at`, `completed_at`, `completion_review_*`, `autopilot`, `mode`).
• Add a startup/pre-tick consistency check that compares `intent.md`'s key fields between the active stage branch and intent main; surface as a guard error if they diverge.

2. Pre-tick `active_stage` repair (✅ shipped in #245 — kept here for cross-reference)

`preTickConsistency` in `workflow/pre-tick.ts` now derives `active_stage` from state.json walk and rewrites `intent.md` when stale. This masks the divergence bug above as a self-healing safety net, but the underlying writes-on-stage-branch is what should actually be fixed.

3. Mode-change tool (out-of-scope for this issue, mentioned for completeness)

There's currently no `haiku_intent_change_mode` tool. Mode is fixed at intent creation. If we want to support mode migration (continuous ↔ discrete), it needs its own dedicated tool with branch-migration logic — not a frontmatter edit.

Acceptance criteria

• All intent-scope `setFrontmatterField(intentFile, ...)` calls route through `setIntentField` (or equivalent)
• Pre-tick consistency check detects intent.md divergence between stage branch and intent main; surfaces a guard error with recovery instructions
• Test: simulate a stage-branch write that mutates intent.md; assert that the next `haiku_run_next` tick from intent main propagates the change correctly
• Test: simulate intent.md divergence; assert that pre-tick surfaces the guard error rather than silently picking one version

[jwaldrip]

@claude Let's address

[claude]

Claude finished @jwaldrip's task in 17m 44s —— View job • claude/issue-248-20260502-2002 • Create PR ➔

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Addressing Issue #248: Discrete Mode Intent.md Hardening

Todo List

• Gather context and analyze the codebase
• Find setFrontmatterField, writeOnIntentMain, and related implementations
• Identify all intent-scope setFrontmatterField(intentFile, ...) call sites (26 sites across 10 files)
• Create setIntentField() in state-tools.ts (wraps setFrontmatterField + mirrors to intent main)
• Migrate all 26 intent-scope FM call sites across 10 files
• Add pre-tick consistency check for intent.md divergence between stage branch and intent main
• Add tests for setIntentField and divergence guard
• Commit and push changes

What was implemented

setIntentField(slug, field, value) — new function in state-tools.ts:

• Writes the field locally via setFrontmatterField
• In git mode, reads the updated content and calls writeOnIntentMain() to mirror the write to haiku/<slug>/main via a temp worktree commit
• In filesystem mode (non-git), writes locally only — no mirror needed

26 call sites migrated across 10 files:

• orchestrator/workflow/side-effects.ts — active_stage, phase, completion_review_*, status, completed_at
• orchestrator/revisit.ts — status, completed_at, phase, completion_review_*, active_stage
• orchestrator/workflow/handlers/intent-completion.ts — completion_review_*
• orchestrator/workflow/handlers/start-stage.ts — active_stage
• orchestrator/workflow/pre-tick.ts — active_stage (both repair paths)
• orchestrator/workflow/handlers/elaborate.ts — intent_reviewed
• tools/orchestrator/haiku_run_next.ts — intent_reviewed, phase, completion_review_*
• tools/orchestrator/haiku_select_studio.ts — studio, stages
• tools/orchestrator/haiku_intent_archive.ts — archived
• hooks/enforce-iteration.ts — status

checkIntentMainDivergence() — new guard in pre-tick.ts:

• Runs at the start of preTickConsistency, before any existing repair logic
• Detects when sentinel fields (status, mode, phase, archived, autopilot) differ between the stage branch and intent main
• Repairs by mirroring the stage branch (newer writes) to intent main
• Returns safe_intent_repair action with diverged_fields so the agent sees the repair rather than silently picking one version
• No-op in non-git mode or when already on intent main

Test suite — test/intent-field-sync.test.mjs:

• setIntentField local write in filesystem mode
• setIntentField sequential multi-field writes
• setIntentField git mode: verifies mirror to intent main branch
• Divergence guard: no-op when intent.md matches
• Divergence guard: detects and repairs divergence, returns safe_intent_repair
• Divergence guard: no-op in non-git mode

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