Files
multica/server/internal/daemon/execenv/reply_instructions.go
Bohan Jiang e45a8f6c12 fix(daemon): scan comment roots before bulk reads in agent catch-up (MUL-5372) (#6093)
* fix(daemon): scan comment roots before bulk reads in agent catch-up

The mandatory step-3 catch-up in the issue runtime brief asked for
`--recent 10`. `--recent N` caps THREADS, not comments: each returned
thread carries its root plus every descendant with no depth bound, so on
an issue with fewer than N root threads it returns the entire comment
history. Because the step is mandatory and fires on every run, every
reply turn re-read the whole issue -- and on comment-triggered turns it
duplicated the bounded thread read the per-turn message had already
pointed at, so the same bytes were fetched twice.

Lead the step with `--roots-only --summary` instead: every top-level
thread with reply_count and last_activity_at, contents clipped. That
keeps the property the step exists for -- the agent still sees every
thread that exists, so it cannot act on stale context -- and makes the
drill-down into `--thread <id> --tail 30` explicit. `--recent 10` stays
documented for when several complete threads really are needed, now with
its saturation semantics spelled out.

Measured on a live 2-thread issue: 21,249 -> 1,518 bytes for the
mandatory read (-93%), and the duplicate 11,082-byte thread read is gone.

The brief stays byte-identical across runs of a session (MUL-5377): the
new text interpolates only the issue id, no per-run state. The three
per-turn pointers that express the same rule move with it so the two
layers cannot drift.

MUL-5372

Co-authored-by: multica-agent <github@multica.ai>

* refactor(daemon): keep comment-read flag semantics in one place

The previous commit fixed the payload shape but restated the read surface
in four places: the workflow step, both per-turn prompt fallbacks, and the
cold-start hint each explained what `--recent 10` does. `## Available
Commands` is already the brief's single discovery point for these flags,
and `TestInjectRuntimeConfigStaticCatchUp` pins it as such -- so those
restatements were duplicated reference text, and the per-turn ones were
paid on every turn rather than once in the cached prefix.

Move the `--recent N` saturation warning into the `comment list` line in
Available Commands, next to the flags it qualifies, and add `--roots-only`
and `--summary` to that signature so the bounding options are discoverable
where an agent already looks. Workflow steps and per-turn hints now name
only the reads they actually want run.

Per-turn prompt sizes: assignment 1170 -> 749 bytes (-36%), cold-start
comment turn 1550 -> 1355 (-13%). Step 3 is 1065 bytes and no longer
carries a ready-to-paste bulk read.

MUL-5372

Co-authored-by: multica-agent <github@multica.ai>

* docs(daemon): address review nits on comment-catchup change

Three cosmetic follow-ups from review:

- `--recent N` saturation warning said it hands back "the entire
  history"; resolved threads are still folded by default on that read, so
  say so.
- Rename two tests whose names still advertised `--recent` after their
  assertions stopped mentioning it, plus the one added in this branch
  whose name referenced a bulk read the step no longer contains:
  MentionsRecent -> ScansRootsFirst, ScansRootsBeforeBulkRead ->
  ScansRootsFirst.
- Fix the stale doc comment that still described the mandatory read as
  bounded to "the recent active-thread window".

No behavior change.

MUL-5372

Co-authored-by: multica-agent <github@multica.ai>

---------

Co-authored-by: Bohan-J <bohan@devv.ai>
Co-authored-by: multica-agent <github@multica.ai>
2026-07-29 16:08:55 +08:00

15 KiB