Merge-triggered epic continuation silently no-ops: squad.md never interpolates workflow_dispatch inputs #1740

Summary

The PR-merged → continue-implementation chain already exists in workflows/squad-implement-worker.md, and it fires correctly — but the final hop drops the epic number, so the run ends in a silent noop and the user is left with no visible next step.

Observed on github/gh-aw#53498, where /squad implement dispatched #53513, its PR merged, and then nothing happened.

Evidence

PR github/gh-aw#53527 merged
  → squad-implement-worker run 32082398976 ✅ (merge trigger fired)
  → dispatched squad with {"command":"implement","issue_number":"53498"} ✅
  → squad run 32082667356 ✅ … emitted noop:
     "No actionable /squad slash command was found in the trigger context.
      This run has pull-request-number #53527 but no comment body, issue number,
      or workflow_dispatch input was provided to parse a command from."

53498 appears nowhere in the squad run's agent log.

Root cause

workflows/squad.md only describes its dispatch inputs in prose (lines 135–142):

Read slash command from: github.event.comment.body … or github.event.inputs.command (workflow_dispatch, default: cast).

• Manual issue target: github.event.inputs.issue_number — issue number for /squad implement runs started from the Actions tab

Those are backtick-quoted expression names, not ${{ }} interpolations, so the values are never rendered into the prompt. The run-name on line 3 does interpolate (Squad — implement resolved correctly), which is why the dispatch looks healthy from the Actions tab while the agent sees nothing.

squad-implement-worker.md gets this right — it uses literal ${{ github.event.inputs.issue_number }} throughout its prompt body (lines 117, 150, 170–173).

Compounding this: noop is configured report-as-issue: false, so the failed continuation posts zero comments. The epic just goes quiet.

Proposed fixes

1. Interpolate, don't describe (the actual bug) — in squad.md Trigger Context, emit real values, e.g. Command: ${{ github.event.inputs.command }} / Target issue: ${{ github.event.inputs.issue_number }}.
2. Always leave a visible next step — the continuation must comment on the epic on every run: ✅ #53513 merged → dispatching #53514 · 6 remaining, or ⏸️ all remaining tasks blocked on …. Never a silent noop.
3. Guard against prose-only context — add a workflow-lint rule: if a prompt body references github.event.inputs.X, it must interpolate it. This failure mode is invisible in CI and will recur.
4. (minor, separable) squad-implement-worker.md's pull_request: types: [closed] fires on every PR in the repo; the if: guard skips them, but it produces a wall of action_required runs in the Actions tab. Worth scoping the trigger.

Acceptance criteria

• A merged squad/implement-* PR results in the parent epic receiving a comment naming the next dispatched task, or an explicit blocked/complete status.
• The dispatched squad run resolves the target issue number from workflow_dispatch inputs and does not emit noop for a well-formed continuation dispatch.
• Lint fails on a workflow prompt that references github.event.inputs.* without interpolating it.

Routing

Prompt architecture in workflows/ → Procedures 🧠. Lint rule (#3) → Booster ⚙️.