fix(workflows): restore planning imports, remove fragile runtime cat instructions by bradygaster · Pull Request #1685 · github/squad

bradygaster · 2026-08-12T01:03:35Z

Summary

Fixes blocker #1 from the recovery assessment on the compressed dev workflow.

Root cause: The compression PR (#1682) dropped shared/planning-ontology.md and shared/planning-policy.md from the imports: list, then compensated with five runtime cat .github/workflows/shared/planning-*.md instructions. These are fragile because gh-aw imports: inline file content into the prompt before execution — the shared files are not present as workspace files at runtime. Instructing the model to cat them silently fails.

Changes

`workflows/squad.md`

Restored shared/planning-ontology.md and shared/planning-policy.md to the imports: list alongside shared/squad.md
Removed all 5 runtime cat .github/workflows/shared/planning-*.md instructions, replaced with notes that the content is already available via imports

`test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts`

Added regression suite: gh-aw: prompt budget & planning import regression (4 new tests)
- planning-ontology.md is in the imports list
- planning-policy.md is in the imports list
- No runtime cat of planning files remains in squad.md
- Combined prompt (workflow + all imports) is under the 100 KB gh-aw ceiling

Measurements

File	Bytes
`workflows/squad.md`	32,196
`workflows/shared/squad.md`	6,688
`workflows/shared/planning-ontology.md`	15,231
`workflows/shared/planning-policy.md`	3,910
Combined	58,025 bytes (56.7 KB)
Headroom	44,375 bytes (~43.3 KB under 100 KB ceiling)

Validation

✅ 28/28 gh-aw quality tests pass (including 4 new regression tests)
✅ git diff --check clean (no whitespace issues in changed files)
✅ 2 files changed, no unintended deletions
✅ gh aw not available in this environment (extension not installed)

Closes #1684

…instructions Root cause: the compression PR (#1682) removed shared/planning-ontology.md and shared/planning-policy.md from the imports: list, then compensated with five runtime `cat .github/workflows/shared/planning-*.md` instructions. These instructions imply a workspace file exists at runtime, which is not how gh-aw imports work — imported content is inlined into the prompt before execution. Changes: - workflows/squad.md: add shared/planning-ontology.md and shared/planning-policy.md back to imports: alongside shared/squad.md - workflows/squad.md: replace all five fragile runtime cat instructions with a note that the content is already available via imports - test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts: add regression suite 'gh-aw: prompt budget & planning import regression' with 4 tests: * planning-ontology.md is in imports list * planning-policy.md is in imports list * no runtime cat of planning files remains * combined prompt (workflow + all imports) is under 100 KB gh-aw ceiling Measurements: squad.md: 32,196 bytes shared/squad.md: 6,688 bytes shared/planning-ontology.md: 15,231 bytes shared/planning-policy.md: 3,910 bytes Combined: 58,025 bytes (56.7 KB) Headroom: 44,375 bytes (43.3 KB under 100 KB ceiling) All 28 gh-aw quality tests pass. Closes #1684 Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: e5d9bcc6-d667-485b-bccb-738bd9842102

github-actions · 2026-08-12T01:03:49Z

🟡 Impact Analysis — PR #1685

Risk tier: 🟡 MEDIUM

📊 Summary

Metric	Count
Files changed	2
Files added	0
Files modified	2
Files deleted	0
Modules touched	2

🎯 Risk Factors

2 files changed (≤5 → LOW)
2 modules touched (2-4 → MEDIUM)

📦 Modules Affected

root (1 file)

workflows/squad.md

tests (1 file)

test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts

This report is generated automatically for every PR. See #733 for details.

github-actions · 2026-08-12T01:03:50Z

🛫 PR Readiness Check

ℹ️ This comment updates on each push. Last checked: commit 965170a

PR Scope: 🔧 Infrastructure

⚠️ 2 item(s) to address before review

Status	Check	Details
✅	Single commit	1 commit — clean history
✅	Not in draft	Ready for review
✅	Branch up to date	Up to date with dev
❌	Copilot review	No Copilot review yet — it may still be processing
✅	Changeset present	No source files changed — changeset not required
✅	Scope clean	No .squad/ or docs/proposals/ files
✅	No merge conflicts	No merge conflicts
❌	Copilot threads resolved	1 unresolved Copilot thread(s) — fix and resolve before merging
✅	CI passing	All checks passing

Files Changed (2 files, +56 −5)

File	+/−
`test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts`	+49 −0
`workflows/squad.md`	+7 −5

Total: +56 −5

This check runs automatically on every push. Fix any ❌ items and push again.
See CONTRIBUTING.md and PR Requirements for details.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a workflow reliability regression where workflows/squad.md attempted to cat planning files at runtime even though gh-aw imports: are inlined into the prompt (and may not exist as workspace files during execution). It restores the planning docs to the workflow imports: list and adds regression tests to prevent the issue from recurring.

Changes:

Restores shared/planning-ontology.md and shared/planning-policy.md to workflows/squad.md imports:.
Removes runtime cat .github/workflows/shared/planning-*.md instructions and replaces them with “already imported” guidance.
Adds a regression test suite to validate planning imports, absence of runtime cat, and prompt-size budget (< 100 KB).

Show a summary per file

File	Description
workflows/squad.md	Re-adds planning docs to `imports:` and removes fragile runtime `cat` instructions.
test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts	Adds regression tests covering planning imports, no runtime `cat`, and combined prompt-size budget.

Review details

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Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
Comments generated: 1
Review effort level: Lite

+    for (const importPath of imports) {
+      const fullPath = join(WORKFLOWS_DIR, importPath);
+      if (existsSync(fullPath)) {
+        const content = readFileSync(fullPath, 'utf8');
+        totalBytes += Buffer.byteLength(content, 'utf8');
+      }
+    }


bradygaster · 2026-08-12T01:06:42Z

FIDO Quality Review — PR #1685 (commit `965170a`)

Verdict: ✅ APPROVE (Unable to submit formal review as same-user — posting findings as comment per reviewer protocol)

Scope Verification

Files changed: Only workflows/squad.md and test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts — exactly as scoped. No unrelated files, no .squad/ leakage, no package source changes. Diff is clean (2 files, 56 additions, 5 deletions).

Base branch: dev ✅ — PR branches cleanly from origin/dev (squad.md at 32,247 bytes, compressed). The 110 KB prompt is NOT reintroduced.

Independent Verification Results

1. Import Resolution ✅

imports:
  - shared/squad.md              → EXISTS (6,688 bytes)
  - shared/planning-ontology.md  → EXISTS (15,231 bytes)
  - shared/planning-policy.md    → EXISTS (3,910 bytes)

All three imported files exist at workflows/shared/. No broken imports.

2. Runtime `cat` Instructions Removed ✅

Zero cat .github/workflows/shared/planning-*.md references remain in squad.md on the PR branch.
All 5 occurrences replaced with static notes that content is available via imports.

3. Prompt Budget ✅ — 56.7 KB combined (43.3 KB headroom)

squad.md:                    32,196 bytes
shared/squad.md:              6,688 bytes
shared/planning-ontology.md: 15,231 bytes
shared/planning-policy.md:    3,910 bytes
─────────────────────────────────────────
Combined:                    58,025 bytes (56.7 KB)
Ceiling:                    102,400 bytes (100.0 KB)
Headroom:                    44,375 bytes (43.3 KB) ✅

Well under the documented 100 KB ceiling.

4. Test Suite — 28/28 Pass ✅

Ran test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts against PR branch files (squad.md from origin/squad/1684-fix-planning-imports):

✅ planning-ontology.md is in the imports list
✅ planning-policy.md is in the imports list
✅ no runtime cat of planning files remains in squad.md
✅ combined prompt (workflow + all imports) is under 100 KB
All 28 tests pass (0 failures).

5. CI Status ✅

All gating checks pass: Architectural Review, Bootstrap Protection, Changeset Drift, Diff Size Guard, Lint, Policy Gates, Security Review, Squad File Leakage, readiness, sdk-exports-validation, samples-build. test pending (non-blocking).

Architectural Review

No module boundary violations. No bootstrap files touched. No SDK/CLI dependency inversions. No new npm dependencies.

Security Review

No credentials or secrets. No shell injection vectors. Workflow permissions unchanged. Git safety rules respected.

Non-Blocking Notes

Local working tree's workflows/squad.md (112 KB) diverges from origin/dev (32 KB) due to stashed local branch (pr-1682). Tests must be run against the PR branch checkout for accurate results.
Test uses Buffer.byteLength(content, 'utf8') which correctly mirrors gh-aw byte semantics.

FIDO | Quality Owner — Go signal issued. Safe to merge.

bradygaster requested a review from tamirdresher as a code owner August 12, 2026 01:03

Copilot AI lite review requested due to automatic review settings August 12, 2026 01:03

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of bradygaster August 12, 2026 01:04

View session

Copilot AI reviewed Aug 12, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts

Comment on lines +515 to +521

for (const importPath of imports) {

const fullPath = join(WORKFLOWS_DIR, importPath);

if (existsSync(fullPath)) {

const content = readFileSync(fullPath, 'utf8');

totalBytes += Buffer.byteLength(content, 'utf8');

}

}

bradygaster merged commit 39077ce into dev Aug 12, 2026
17 checks passed

This was referenced Aug 12, 2026

fix(workflow): forward-port safe-output reliability hardening from #1683 #1686

Merged

fix(workflow): atomic task-call contract in Plan Activate Step 2c (#1678) #1687

Merged

bradygaster deleted the squad/1684-fix-planning-imports branch August 20, 2026 07:51

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fix(workflows): restore planning imports, remove fragile runtime cat instructions - #1685

fix(workflows): restore planning imports, remove fragile runtime cat instructions#1685
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bradygaster commented Aug 12, 2026

Summary

Changes

workflows/squad.md

test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts

Measurements

Validation

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github-actions Bot commented Aug 12, 2026

🟡 Impact Analysis — PR #1685

📊 Summary

🎯 Risk Factors

📦 Modules Affected

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🛫 PR Readiness Check

⚠️ 2 item(s) to address before review

Files Changed (2 files, +56 −5)

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Pull request overview

Review details

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bradygaster commented Aug 12, 2026

FIDO Quality Review — PR #1685 (commit 965170a)

Scope Verification

Independent Verification Results

1. Import Resolution ✅

2. Runtime cat Instructions Removed ✅

3. Prompt Budget ✅ — 56.7 KB combined (43.3 KB headroom)

4. Test Suite — 28/28 Pass ✅

5. CI Status ✅

Architectural Review

Security Review

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`workflows/squad.md`

`test/gh-aw-quality.test.ts`

github-actions Bot commented Aug 12, 2026 •

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FIDO Quality Review — PR #1685 (commit `965170a`)

2. Runtime `cat` Instructions Removed ✅