fix(workflow): deleting a user workflow while a run is live releases no run Bot #1441

Written-by: FlyBot Product

plugins/workflow/** belongs to the workflow module, not to us: this is a defect report. We do not implement it and will not open a PR for it.

What happens

Deleting a user-owned workflow while it has a live run releases no run Bot — fb.bot.remove is never called — and leaves the run behind as running. Nothing is repaired until the next plugin load, when reap() releases it.

Reproduction (live main, 09151516, in-process service, no host)

const released = []
const svc = createWorkflowService({ persist: false, now: () => 1_700_000_000_000, bots: () => [],
  spawn: async (spec) => `runbot-${spec.nodeId}`,
  release: async (id) => { released.push(id) },
  dispatch: async () => ({ ok: true }), warn: () => {} })
const made = svc.create({ name: 'Probe lane', nodes: [{ id: 'plan', name: 'Planner', prompt: 'x' }], edges: [] })
const id = made.workflows.find(w => w.name === 'Probe lane').id
await svc.runNamed({ workflow: 'Probe lane', brief: 'probe', task: 't1' })
const del = await svc.delete({ workflowId: id })

Output:

started.ok = true  spawned = [ 'runbot-plan' ]  released = []
run status = running  ephemeral = {"plan":"runbot-plan"}
delete.ok = true  released after delete = []
workflow still listed = false

With persist: true in a temp dir, workflows.json after the same delete still carries the lane:

workflow listed = false
lane kept = [{"id":"run-c9337392","status":"running","ephemeral":{"plan":"runbot-plan"}}]
state.runs keys = 0
released = []

Root cause

• plugins/workflow/src/service.js:647-648 — const run = state.runs[workflowId]; const releasing = run ? Object.values(run.ephemeral ?? {}) : [] reads the legacy state.runs container.
• migrateRuns (:1103) moves every old run into state.lanes and then empties that container (:1124 state.runs = {}). A new run only ever goes to laneOf(id).active (:190, :492), with its ephemeral map on the run object (:484).
• delete() (:640-664) never mentions state.lanes, so releasing is always empty, finish() runs, filters the workflow out, and the lane stays untouched.
• #1437 (b20524fe) reworked dispose() (:999-1015) so it walks every lane, releases those Bots first and only then drops their ids — but it did not touch delete(), which (:640-664) still reads the emptied state.runs at :647-648. So this defect stays, and the stranded ids are still only released when the plugin is disposed or reloaded (plugin load runs reap()).

Nothing else repairs it: once the workflow is gone advance answers No such workflow (:576-577), so the run never reaches done/failed and releaseRun (:387-399) is never called. reap() does walk every lane (:968) and releases a run still marked running, but it only runs at plugin load — until then the run Bots stay in the host (release is fb.bot.remove, plugins/workflow/index.js:65-70), and the lane, queue included, stays in workflows.json. That queue can never drain either: takeNext iterates state.workflows (:402), where the workflow no longer exists.

Docs this falsifies

docs/subsystems/workflow.md:31 — "delete removes the workflow, releases ephemeral Bots, and cleans logs/runs/routes" — and :41 — "workflow/delete … releases its ephemeral Bots if a run exists".

The existing test cannot catch it

plugins/workflow/test/assign.test.js:324 is named "delete removes workflow and releases its ephemeral Bots", but it never spawns and never starts a run: released stays [], and no assertion reads it.

Reachable today

#1435 gives every user-owned workflow row a × (core/src/client/workflows.js, Row); the confirm dialog only says the delete cannot be undone and never looks for a live run. One click during a run hits this.

Expected

delete should collect the ids from laneOf(id).active[].ephemeral, releaseAll them, drop the lane (delete state.lanes[id], queue and history included), and only then remove the workflow. The confirm dialog should say the live run will be stopped.

Acceptance

1. Rewrite plugins/workflow/test/assign.test.js:324 to start a real run (spawn returns an id, release records it) and then delete: released contains that id, and state().workflows no longer lists the workflow.
2. With persist: true, the file after the delete has no lanes[workflowId] — no active, no queue, no history.
3. docs/subsystems/workflow.md:31 and :41 either match the new behaviour or say that the run is stopped and its Bots released.