wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four)

Finding

PR #488's deepened notes-reconcile skill prescribes a fifth note disposition, deferred, that the workflow tool does not accept anywhere — so a worker following the skill cannot complete step 5 for a deferred note.

PR docs(repo): deepen concept-research, notes-reconcile and issue-handoff skills #488 (head 67c183f), .agents/skills/notes-reconcile/SKILL.md: the frontmatter description (line 3) and step 4 (line 40) list five dispositions — incorporated, acknowledged, declined, deferred, superseded — and step 4 directs notes about files the receiver does not own to acknowledged or deferred.
Its references/receipts.md ("The five dispositions", :5) defines deferred at :15 (with a mandatory Revisit when: <event> trigger in the reason) and repeats the unowned-file guidance at :19.
The tool on current main (d20fe86), unchanged in this respect by PR feat(repo): research workflow items, ids and render commands #490: scripts/research_workflow.py:1040 restricts resolve-note --disposition to ["incorporated", "acknowledged", "declined", "superseded"], and the receipt validation in check accepts only the same four (scripts/research_workflow.py:826).
PR docs: deepen research-workflow, request-intake and research-prepare skills #489's references/tool-fallbacks.md covers the other not-yet-implemented commands these skills rely on (lease, status --live, item, ids, render, …) but has no fallback for a deferred disposition.

Evidence (verified at PR #490 head `2b0cbbc`, which carries the current tool)

$ python3 -I scripts/research_workflow.py resolve-note --package <pkg> --note x.md \
    --disposition deferred --target main.md --reason "test"
research_workflow.py resolve-note: error: argument --disposition: invalid choice: 'deferred'
(choose from 'incorporated', 'acknowledged', 'declined', 'superseded')   → exit 2

Hand-writing the receipt instead does not help: check fails it with invalid receiver disposition/target/reason (the :826 set). Yet PR #488 step 5's Done criterion is check --package <pkg> --require-resolved exits 0 — unreachable for any package with a note the skill says to defer.

Why it matters

deferred is not an edge case in the skill's own design: it is the prescribed disposition for a valid note that must wait, and specifically for notes asking for changes in files the receiver does not own (another concept, design.md, AGENTS.md) — a routine S3 situation. A worker hitting it must either mislabel the receipt acknowledged/declined (losing the revisit trigger the receipts format requires, and misrecording the note's outcome in an immutable receipt) or stall. The pre-PR488 skill text mentioned "deferred" only in prose; PR #488 promotes it to a first-class, step-level disposition without the tool side landing.

Acceptance criteria

The skill and the tool name the same disposition set. Either:
- the tool gains deferred end to end (resolve-note choices, the check validation set, planning/workflow/records.md if it enumerates dispositions, and tests), including the Revisit when: reason convention; or
- the skill and receipts.md revert to the four tool-supported dispositions and express "valid but not now" through one of them (stating which, and where the revisit trigger is recorded instead).
Every disposition named in the notes-reconcile skill can be written with resolve-note and then passes check --require-resolved (a test or fixture exercising each named disposition).
If the tool route is chosen and cannot land with the skill, PR docs: deepen research-workflow, request-intake and research-prepare skills #489's tool-fallbacks.md gains an interim fallback entry for deferred so an S3 worker is never without a sanctioned path.

Intake review

Still live, verified on current main: .agents/skills/notes-reconcile/SKILL.md (:3, :40) still prescribes five dispositions including deferred, while scripts/research_workflow.py (~:854) still validates receipt dispositions against the four-value set {incorporated, acknowledged, declined, superseded}. Related and partially overlapping: scripts/research_workflow_live.py:31 already defines DISPOSITIONS with all five — the live path and the package check path disagree, which sharpens the fix: unify on the five in research_workflow.py (and the resolve-note choices) rather than inventing a third list.
Risks: deferred receipts carry a mandatory Revisit when: trigger per the skill's receipts.md; validation should require it for deferred entries so they don't become a silent drop box.
Suggested approach: add deferred to the check-side set + CLI choices, add a fixture exercising each of the five through resolve-note → check --require-resolved, and (per the last acceptance criterion) add the interim tool-fallbacks.md entry if the tool change cannot land with the skill.

— Fleet monitor intake enrichment, 2026-10-26 run; verified against current main this run (code 45b57e13, opencode c792e04fe0).

🤖 Agent note · picked up

Agent: queue worker (repo-worker-code), lane E
Session / ID: queue task 2111
Found via: queue claim
Task: Triage wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492: verify on current main whether the notes-reconcile skill still prescribes a deferred receipt disposition that research_workflow.py rejects; route or close with evidence.
Expectation: effort s (triage); done = verdict on wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492 + follow-up packet enqueued (or closure with evidence).
Links: issue wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492

🤖 Triage verdict — CONFIRMED on current main, tool-side route pinned (queue task 2111, lane E)

Re-verified on current main ed3a285 (filed against d20fe86 / PR #490 head; PR #488 is MERGED, so the skill text is live):

.agents/skills/notes-reconcile/SKILL.md still prescribes five dispositions — frontmatter (line 3) and step 4 (line 40) list incorporated, acknowledged, declined, deferred, superseded, and direct unowned-file notes to acknowledged or deferred. references/receipts.md ("The five dispositions") still defines deferred with the mandatory Revisit when: <event> reason trigger.
The tool still rejects it: scripts/research_workflow.py check_package validates each resolution's disposition against the four-set {"incorporated", "acknowledged", "declined", "superseded"} (~line 856) and fails anything else with invalid receiver disposition/target/reason. A package containing a skill-prescribed deferred receipt can never pass check --require-resolved — the skill's own step-5 done criterion.
planning/workflow/records.md (~line 301) documents the gap as current tool behaviour: "deferred is not accepted and nothing records scanned." That is a limitation note, not a design ruling against deferred.
One surface changed since filing: the tool's CLI no longer exposes a resolve-note subcommand (subcommands are now init/check/status/ready/note; receipts are resolution blocks the check reads from concept files). The disposition-set defect is unaffected, but the fix packet must audit the current writer path and every disposition enumeration (research_workflow.py, research_workflow_items.py, research_workflow_live.py, vocabulary.md, stages.md, templates) rather than only the filed line numbers.

Route pinned — the TOOL gains deferred (the skill does not revert). Rationale: PR #488 deliberately promoted deferred to a first-class disposition because it carries semantics none of the four has (valid, not now, with a revisit trigger), and receipts are immutable — forcing workers to mislabel a deferral as acknowledged/declined permanently falsifies the record and loses the trigger. The tool side is the small side: one validation set plus trigger enforcement.

Fix scope (enqueued as a follow-up small_fix task):

scripts/research_workflow.py: accept deferred in the check validation set; for deferred entries, require the reason to carry the Revisit when: trigger receipts.md mandates.
Audit and align every other disposition enumeration in the tool and planning docs (records.md incl. its line-301 limitation note, vocabulary.md, stages.md, templates, research_workflow_items.py, research_workflow_live.py).
A test/fixture exercising every disposition the skill names — including deferred with a valid trigger, and deferred without one failing — through check --require-resolved.
Out of scope: changing the skill's five dispositions; the scanned record gap noted in records.md (separate concern, not filed here).

🤖 Agent note · parked — PR opened, awaiting CI

Agent: queue worker (repo-worker-code), lane E
Session / ID: queue task 4813 (repo-health-code-pilot)
Found via: queue claim
Task: wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492 fix implemented per the pinned tool-side route: deferred accepted in the check validation set (concept-file resolution blocks) with a mandatory Revisit when: trigger in the reason, the same trigger enforced in the live receipt path (check_receipt — resolve-note writer + receipts reader), records.md limitation corrected, and tests for every disposition through check --require-resolved (deferred with trigger passes on both paths; without a trigger it is refused/fails).
Links: PR fix(research-workflow): accept the deferred note disposition end to end (#492) #3289 — fix(research-workflow): accept the deferred note disposition end to end (#492) #3289 (branch queue/4813-492-deferred-disposition @e9bf4ae0f, laptop worktree ~/git/fleet/4813)
Verification so far: laptop, base main cf1b243 — 88 tests OK across test_research_workflow / _live / _items (4 new); repo research_workflow.py check ok:true.
Expectation: parked for CI; on resume, read PR fix(research-workflow): accept the deferred note disposition end to end (#492) #3289 checks and Codex findings, disposition each finding, merge when green and clean, then close wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492.

Merge pull request #3289 from developing-today/queue/4813-492-deferre…

🤖 Agent note · done — fixed & merged

Agent: queue worker (repo-worker-code), lane C
Session / ID: queue task 4813 (repo-health-code-pilot)
Task: Resume of PR fix(research-workflow): accept the deferred note disposition end to end (#492) #3289 (implemented by lane E, parked on CI): re-verified fresh — PR open at e9bf4ae, diff matches the pinned tool-side route exactly, Codex review clean (no findings, current head), laptop test record 88 tests OK, merge state CLEAN. The repo's PR check surface for this path is CodeRabbit only (neutral; same profile as just-merged sibling PR feat(id): wire id world fork CLI + provenance inspect (F12.2 remainder) (#556) #3291); the two failing push-event runs are the unrelated jules daily workflows.
Result: PR fix(research-workflow): accept the deferred note disposition end to end (#492) #3289 merged @ 7d8a3ca; this issue auto-closed. deferred is now accepted end to end with the mandatory Revisit when: trigger enforced on both the check and live receipt paths.

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wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492

Finding

Evidence (verified at PR #490 head `2b0cbbc`, which carries the current tool)

Why it matters

Acceptance criteria

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wave-2 workflow: PR #488 notes-reconcile prescribes a deferred receipt disposition the tool rejects (resolve-note choices and check both allow only four) #492

Description

Finding

Evidence (verified at PR #490 head 2b0cbbc, which carries the current tool)

Why it matters

Acceptance criteria

Activity

dezren39 commented on Oct 26, 2026

Intake review

dezren39 commented on Nov 1, 2026

dezren39 commented on Nov 1, 2026

14 remaining items

dezren39 commented on Nov 1, 2026

dezren39 commented on Nov 1, 2026

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Evidence (verified at PR #490 head `2b0cbbc`, which carries the current tool)