Files
PaperClipAI/server/src
DottaandClaude Opus 5.5 7c56147bb3 fix(workspaces): a busy-workspace holder whose controller lease is held is live, however silent (#20023)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - Two runs must never write one workspace at once. A run that finds a
workspace held (a remote workspace's writer run, or a running holder of
a shared local tree) waits behind it
> - The holder counted as live only while it produced output: after 60
minutes of silence it was "stale"
> - For the shared local tree, that meant the waiter went ahead while
the silent holder might still be working, which is a second writer.
>   - For a remote workspace, the waiter failed instead of waiting.
> - Silence is not proof a run stopped. A long tool call can be silent
and alive
> - The durable ownership plan proves ownership by identity or by a held
fence, never by age
> - This pull request treats a holder whose controller still renews its
lease (the legacy controller lease or the native coordinator lease) as
live, however silent. The 60-minute rule applies only once that fence
lapses
> - The benefit is that a silent but live holder is never overtaken. A
dead holder is still settled by the run reapers, which wake the waiters

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

Refs #19831 (plan, Phase 2 sections A and C, and Phase 3 E), #19838
(inventory: "Remote workspace writer lane", and the "Released only by
TTL/age" list: "Remote writer lane: 60 min").

**What happened?**
`WORKSPACE_BUSY_HOLDER_STALE_AFTER_MS` (60 min of output silence)
decided whether a running holder still held a workspace. This applied in
four places:
- the remote reservation deferral;
- the parked busy-workspace wait;
- `findSharedWorkspaceHolder`, which stopped counting the holder at all;
- `findExecutionWorkspaceHolder`, which flagged it stale.

**Expected behavior**
A running holder whose controller lease is held is live by fence. Only a
holder with no held fence is judged by the silence cutoff, which keeps
the visible failure instead of parking forever. The check is
database-only (`runOwnerFenceHeldSql`): no process probe on the
workspace-preparation path before a turn starts.

## What Changed

- `remote-workspace-writer-hold.ts`: new `runOwnerFenceHeldSql`. It is
true while `heartbeat_runs.controller_lease_expires_at > now()` or the
run's native coordinator lease is held.
`RemoteWorkspaceWriter.ownerFenceHeld` is reported for a running writer.
- `heartbeat/workspace-preparation.ts`: the reservation keeps deferring
behind a silent writer whose fence is held.
- `run-dispatch/adapters/workspace-busy-wait.ts`: a parked wait behind a
running holder with a held fence stays parked and re-checks at the
parked cadence.
- `heartbeat/retries.ts`: `findSharedWorkspaceHolder` counts a silent
holder whose fence is held. `findExecutionWorkspaceHolder` flags a
holder stale only when it is silent and its fence lapsed.

## Verification

- `heartbeat/workspace-preparation.test.ts`: 138 pass. The extended
"waits for the live writer of an inherited remote … at reservation"
(both modes) fails on `master` and passes here: a silent writer with a
held lease defers, and once the lease lapses it is the 409 as before.
- `heartbeat-workspace-busy.test.ts`: 41 pass. The new "still defers
behind a silent holder whose controller renews its lease" fails on
`master` and passes here. The existing "does not defer when the only
holder has been silent past the staleness threshold" (no lease) still
passes.
- The server package typecheck passes.

## Risks

- A silent holder whose controller is alive now blocks waiters for as
long as it holds its lease. That is the safe direction. A hung but live
run is the active-run silence watchdog's to handle, and a dead
controller's lease lapses within a minute.
- The extra predicate is an indexed lookup of the run's own row and its
coordinator row.

## Model Used

- Claude Opus 5.5 (`claude-opus-5-5`), Anthropic, with tool use and code
execution in Claude Code.

## Checklist

- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have searched GitHub for duplicate or related PRs and linked
them above
- [x] I have either (a) linked existing issues with `Fixes: #` / `Closes
#` / `Refs #` OR (b) described the issue in-PR following the relevant
issue template
- [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or
links (only public GitHub `#NNN` / `github.com/paperclipai/paperclip`
URLs)
- [x] My branch name describes the change (e.g. `docs/...`, `fix/...`)
and contains no internal Paperclip ticket id or instance-derived details
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-11-08 05:50:33 -06:00
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