From 96c6cd625a6e60282959f0f2b1d07a74a8b8770f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Adrian Komorek <adrian.komorek@cloudboostup.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 2026 13:29:27 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(smithy): orphan recovery dispatches highest-priority task
 first
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

`recoverOrphanedAssignments` selected the first element from
`getAgentTasks` without sorting, so the recovered task depended on
storage insertion order rather than priority (P3 before P1 if created
first). Adds ascending sort by `task.priority` before selecting the
task. Adds a regression test: P3 created before P1 — confirms P1 is
always recovered first.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .../orphan-recovery-priority-ordering.md      |  9 +++
 .../src/services/dispatch-daemon.bun.test.ts  | 58 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.ts    |  7 ++-
 3 files changed, 73 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/orphan-recovery-priority-ordering.md

diff --git a/.changeset/orphan-recovery-priority-ordering.md b/.changeset/orphan-recovery-priority-ordering.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b54092e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/orphan-recovery-priority-ordering.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+"@stoneforge/smithy": patch
+---
+
+fix(smithy): orphan recovery dispatches highest-priority task first
+
+`recoverOrphanedAssignments` was selecting the first element from `getAgentTasks` without sorting, so the task recovered depended on storage insertion order rather than priority. A P3 task created before a P1 task would be dispatched first.
+
+Adds an ascending sort by `task.priority` before selecting the task to recover, matching the intent of priority-based scheduling. Adds a regression test with a P3 task created before a P1 task to confirm the P1 task is always recovered first.
diff --git a/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.bun.test.ts b/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.bun.test.ts
index d278cf55..de995239 100644
--- a/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.bun.test.ts
+++ b/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.bun.test.ts
@@ -693,6 +693,64 @@ describe('recoverOrphanedAssignments', () => {
 
     expect(result.processed).toBe(0);
   });
+
+  test('recovers highest-priority task first when multiple are assigned', async () => {
+    const { createTask: createTaskFn } = await import('@stoneforge/core');
+
+    const worker = await createTestWorker('priority-grace');
+    const workerId = worker.id as unknown as EntityId;
+
+    // Create P3 (low) task FIRST — naive creation-order selection would pick this
+    const lowPriorityTaskData = await createTaskFn({
+      title: 'Low priority task',
+      createdBy: systemEntity,
+      status: TaskStatus.OPEN,
+      priority: Priority.LOW,
+      assignee: workerId,
+    });
+    const savedLow = await api.create(lowPriorityTaskData as unknown as Record<string, unknown> & { createdBy: EntityId }) as Task;
+    await api.update(savedLow.id, {
+      metadata: updateOrchestratorTaskMeta(undefined, {
+        assignedAgent: workerId,
+        branch: 'agent/priority-grace/low-task-branch',
+        worktree: '/worktrees/priority-grace/low-task',
+      }),
+    });
+
+    // Create P1 (critical) task SECOND
+    const highPriorityTaskData = await createTaskFn({
+      title: 'High priority task',
+      createdBy: systemEntity,
+      status: TaskStatus.OPEN,
+      priority: Priority.CRITICAL,
+      assignee: workerId,
+    });
+    const savedHigh = await api.create(highPriorityTaskData as unknown as Record<string, unknown> & { createdBy: EntityId }) as Task;
+    await api.update(savedHigh.id, {
+      metadata: updateOrchestratorTaskMeta(undefined, {
+        assignedAgent: workerId,
+        branch: 'agent/priority-grace/high-task-branch',
+        worktree: '/worktrees/priority-grace/high-task',
+      }),
+    });
+
+    const result = await daemon.recoverOrphanedAssignments();
+
+    expect(result.processed).toBe(1);
+    // Must have spawned a session in the HIGH priority task's worktree, not the low one
+    expect(sessionManager.startSession).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      workerId,
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        workingDirectory: '/worktrees/priority-grace/high-task',
+      })
+    );
+    expect(sessionManager.startSession).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      workerId,
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        workingDirectory: '/worktrees/priority-grace/low-task',
+      })
+    );
+  });
 });
 
 describe('pollWorkflowTasks - merge steward dispatch', () => {
diff --git a/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.ts b/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.ts
index 550e7989..27cc824e 100644
--- a/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.ts
+++ b/packages/smithy/src/services/dispatch-daemon.ts
@@ -1248,7 +1248,12 @@ export class DispatchDaemonImpl implements DispatchDaemon {
         }
 
         // 4. Check if the task is stuck in a resume loop
-        const taskAssignment = workerTasks[0];
+        // Sort by priority ascending (lower number = higher priority) so the
+        // highest-priority assigned task is always recovered first.
+        const sortedWorkerTasks = [...workerTasks].sort(
+          (a, b) => (a.task.priority ?? 99) - (b.task.priority ?? 99)
+        );
+        const taskAssignment = sortedWorkerTasks[0];
         let resumeCount = taskAssignment.orchestratorMeta?.resumeCount ?? 0;
         const maxResumes = this.config.maxResumeAttemptsBeforeRecovery;