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Resilient Worktree Cleanup in Default Workflow (Issue #647)

Late-stage workflow steps (19c, 20b, 21) no longer hard-fail when the worktree directory has been cleaned up before the finalize phase completes.

Problem

Steps 19c (zero-BS verification), 20b (push-cleanup), and 21 (pr-ready) each cd into WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH using a ${VAR:?} guard. When the worktree directory no longer exists — because the agent, a prior step, or an external process already removed it — the cd fails and aborts the recipe with exit code 1.

This is a false failure. By the time these steps run, the actual work (coding, testing, committing, pushing, PR creation) is complete. The remaining steps perform read-only verification and cleanup that can function from the repository root.

# Typical error before this fix:
bash: line 3: cd: /tmp/worktrees/feat-auth-1234: No such file or directory
# Recipe aborts — PR already open, branch already pushed

Solution: Resilient cd Fallback Chain

Steps 19c, 20b, and 21 use a three-tier directory resolution instead of a hard-fail cd:

WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH  (preferred — run in the worktree)
        │ not found
        ▼
    REPO_PATH                  (fallback — run from repo root)
        │ not found
        ▼
      $(pwd)                   (final — run from current directory)

Each fallback emits a WARNING to stderr so the behavior is visible in logs:

WARNING: WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH=/tmp/worktrees/feat-auth-1234 not found, falling back to REPO_PATH

Which Steps Are Resilient

Step Recipe Behavior Rationale
15 (design) workflow-pr-review Hard-fail Needs worktree files to review
16 (review) workflow-pr-review Hard-fail Needs worktree files to review
18c (enforce-verdict) workflow-pr-review Hard-fail Verifies work artifacts in worktree
19c (zero-BS) workflow-pr-review Resilient Read-only checks; can use repo root
20b (push-cleanup) workflow-finalize Resilient Push and cleanup; branch is remote
21 (pr-ready) workflow-finalize Resilient Final status check; reads git remote

Early-stage steps (15, 16, 18c) retain their ${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:?} hard-fail guards. These steps genuinely require the worktree to be present — the files under review live there.

Fallback Pattern

Compact form (used in workflow-pr-review.yaml which is at 399/400 LOC brick limit):

if [ -d "${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-}" ]; then cd "$WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH"; elif [ -d "${REPO_PATH:-}" ]; then echo "WARNING: WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH=${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-unset} not found, falling back to REPO_PATH" >&2; cd "$REPO_PATH"; else echo "WARNING: WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH=${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-unset} not found, falling back to cwd ($(pwd))" >&2; fi

Multi-line form (used in workflow-finalize.yaml where LOC headroom exists):

if [ -d "${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-}" ]; then
  cd "$WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH"
elif [ -d "${REPO_PATH:-}" ]; then
  echo "WARNING: WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH=${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-unset} not found, falling back to REPO_PATH" >&2
  cd "$REPO_PATH"
else
  echo "WARNING: WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH=${WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:-unset} not found, falling back to cwd ($(pwd))" >&2
fi

Both forms are semantically identical. The compact form is required because workflow-pr-review.yaml is at 399 of its 400-line brick limit; the multi-line form is used in workflow-finalize.yaml where LOC headroom exists.

Configuration

No configuration required. The resilient fallback is always active for steps 19c, 20b, and 21. There is no way to force a hard-fail on these steps — the old behavior was a bug, not a feature.

Security

  • All variables remain double-quoted — no shell injection risk.
  • set -euo pipefail is preserved in all steps. Only the cd target selection is resilient; git operations still fail-closed on errors.
  • WARNING output goes to stderr only — no information disclosure beyond local paths that are already in the recipe log.
  • No || true, >/dev/null 2>&1, set +e, or other error-suppression patterns are used. The fallback is explicit conditional logic.
  • REPO_PATH is typically available via implicit context propagation from the parent recipe — no new inputs are added to workflow-pr-review.yaml. The $(pwd) final fallback covers cases where REPO_PATH is not set.

Validation

Integration Tests

default_workflow_decomposition_test.rs validates the hard-fail vs. resilient split:

Test target Assertion
step-18c Contains WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:? (hard-fail preserved)
step-18c Contains set -euo pipefail
step-19c Contains set -euo pipefail
step-19c Contains WARNING (resilient fallback emits warning)
step-19c Contains REPO_PATH (fallback target)
step-19c Does NOT contain WORKTREE_SETUP_WORKTREE_PATH:? with cd (no hard-fail)

Shell Tests

Test file What changed
tests/issue_412_fail_loud_other_recipes.sh :? count assertions updated: finalize 2→0, pr-review 2→1
tests/issue_414_fail_loud_phase_bricks.sh Section B counts, Section C loop membership, Section F resilience assertions updated

Running the Tests

# Rust integration tests
cargo test default_workflow_decomposition -- --nocapture

# Shell assertion tests
bash tests/issue_412_fail_loud_other_recipes.sh
bash tests/issue_414_fail_loud_phase_bricks.sh