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Devin Foley
ddbcf53e31
## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work > - Agents decompose work by creating child issues assigned to other agents > - When two agents each lack a capability the other assumed (e.g. neither can push to GitHub), each can "resolve" its blocker by delegating the same step to the other: A creates a child for B, B creates a grandchild back for A > - Nothing detects the cycle; the chain of blocked issues grows and no signal reaches the human who could actually fix the capability gap > - This pull request refuses agent-initiated child creation when the child's assignee is the creator of a still-open ancestor in the same chain — a mechanical, semantics-free cycle signal > - The benefit is that the hot-potato dies at creation time with an actionable error instead of growing a dead chain ## Linked Issues or Issue Description Fixes #10642 (write-time counterpart: #10648 refuses assignment to paused agents; the credential-gap *preflight* side is tracked separately in #10644) ## What Changed - `issueService.findOpenAncestorCreatedByAgent(parentIssueId, agentId, {maxDepth})`: bounded walk up the parent chain looking for a still-open (not done/cancelled) ancestor created by the given agent. - Agent-initiated issue creation with a parent (both the create-with-`parentId` route and `POST /issues/:id/children`) now refuses with a structured 409 (`code: delegation_cycle`, naming the ancestor) when the new child would be assigned to the agent that created a still-open ancestor: that agent delegated the work into this chain, so assigning it back is a cycle. The message states the alternatives — complete the work, leave the child unassigned, or escalate to a board operator. - Deliberately unaffected: human actors (deliberate re-routing is their call), closed ancestors (re-engaging the creator of finished work is normal), and accepted-plan decomposition (its children come from a human-approved plan). ## Verification - `pnpm vitest run server/src/__tests__/issue-assignee-invokability-routes.test.ts` — cycle refused with 409 and no create call; the same child allowed when no open ancestor matches; board actors never consult the guard. - `pnpm vitest run server/src/__tests__/issues-service.test.ts` — new embedded-Postgres coverage: ancestor found through the chain, closed ancestors ignored, depth bound honored (114 total). - `pnpm vitest run server/src/__tests__/issue-create-deduplication-routes.test.ts server/src/__tests__/issue-agent-mutation-ownership-routes.test.ts` — unchanged (79). - `cd server && pnpm run typecheck`. ## Risks - Low-to-moderate: a new 409 for a creation shape that previously succeeded. The blocked shape (agent assigns new work to the creator of an open ancestor) is the cycle signature; the legitimate "hand a subtask to the parent's assignee" pattern is unaffected because it keys on assignee, not creator. Watchdog and plan-decomposition flows are exempt or unaffected as described. - The walk adds at most `maxDepth` (10) single-row lookups per agent child creation with an assignee. ## Model Used Claude Fable 5 (`claude-fable-5`, Anthropic) via Claude Code — extended thinking, agentic tool use. No other models involved. ## 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