workflow: a step that is still working is killed at the 45-minute deadline and reported as "no reply" #1868

Activity

1. Birfy

   added

   bugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't working

   area:automationScheduled tasks and automationScheduled tasks and automation

   agent-readyMaintainer-approved spec: an agent may take it. Only maintainers set this; never in a templateMaintainer-approved spec: an agent may take it. Only maintainers set this; never in a template

   on Oct 30, 2026
2. Birfy commented on Oct 30, 2026

   

   Birfy

   on Oct 30, 2026

   CollaboratorAuthor

   More actions

   Written-by: Triage

   agent-ready added (labels: bug, area:automation, agent-ready). Scope is frozen below — read it before starting.

   Verified on main 2ffd9fc398696808bde7ca16d4d33296e79958db (2026-10-30T20:05Z):

   • plugins/workflow/src/service.js expireStep() (lines 244–267) reports the deadline as silence: the stage message key is {node} timed out: no reply for {minutes} minutes, the run was marked failed. / …超时：{minutes} 分钟没有回包…, and run.failure.text is no reply for ${minutes} minutes — the text quoted in this issue. fix(workflow): give a step the time its work needs #1581 (merged 59fb637) made the number real but kept the wrong cause.
   • define_workflow is the lane-creation path a Bot uses (plugins/workflow/index.js:135–145): its parameters carry no stepTimeoutMinutes, and service.define() (plugins/workflow/src/service.js:1537–1558) forwards only name/nodes/edges/description, so a lane created that way always inherits the 45-minute default. workflow/create already accepts and validates the field (service.js:1111–1113), so this is a gap, not a new design.

   Files to change

   • plugins/workflow/src/service.js — expireStep(): the stage message (English template key and Chinese text) and run.failure.text say the deadline was reached (step deadline reached (45 min)), not that no reply arrived; keep code: 'step-failed', nodeName and the release/drain path. define(): pass stepTimeoutMinutes through to create() so the existing stepTimeoutValue() validates it — a bad value is refused, never dropped.
   • plugins/workflow/index.js — add optional stepTimeoutMinutes (integer 1..120) to the define_workflow parameters and mention it in that tool's description.
   • plugins/workflow/test/deadline.test.js — the two cases below; use plugins/workflow/test/assign.test.js for the define() pass-through case if that file already exercises define.
   • docs/subsystems/workflow.md — the deadline sentence says the message names the deadline, and define_workflow is listed with workflow/create as accepting stepTimeoutMinutes.
   • changelog.d/1868.fixed.md — user-visible message change.

   Red first (write these before the fix; both must fail on main)

   In plugins/workflow/test/deadline.test.js, beside the existing #1530 deadline test:

   1. Define a lane via svc.define({ name, nodes, edges }), assign, tick to the 45-minute deadline, then assert row.failure.text matches /step deadline reached \(45 min\)/ and does not match /no reply/; assert the stage chat does not say 没有回包.
   2. svc.define({ name, nodes, edges, stepTimeoutMinutes: 90 }) → the stored workflow's stepTimeoutMinutes === 90; stepTimeoutMinutes: 0 → refused with stepTimeoutMinutes is an integer from 1 to 120; omitted → DEFAULT_STEP_TIMEOUT_MINUTES (45).
      On main: (1) fails with no reply for 45 minutes; (2) fails with undefined instead of 90 because define() drops the field.

   Acceptance

   cd plugins/workflow && node --test test/deadline.test.js && npm test
   cd ../.. && TZ=UTC npm run verify
   

   Green must include the new cases. A node that never replies must still fail at the deadline (hard deadline, unchanged) — only the words change.

   Out of scope (do not do in this fix)

   • Making a running step's deadline movable, or letting a retry push it out: service.js:228 states the deadline measures the wait the owner saw, and fix(workflow): give a step the time its work needs #1581 merged that as a hard deadline.
   • Changing DEFAULT_STEP_TIMEOUT_MINUTES (45) or scaling it with node count: that is an owner decision, not this bug. The five live lanes already carry 120 through workflow/step-timeout.
   • Reporting “last activity N min ago”: expireStep() has no partial-activity signal today; the issue makes that conditional, so it is separate work.
3. Birfy

   closed this as completedin #1875on Oct 30, 2026
4. github-actions

   removed

   agent-readyMaintainer-approved spec: an agent may take it. Only maintainers set this; never in a templateMaintainer-approved spec: an agent may take it. Only maintainers set this; never in a template

   on Oct 30, 2026