fix(workflows): reject a retry gate whose verdict enum forbids the reset value (#3912)

A gate with `on_reject: retry` consumes a bound reject verdict before
pausing by resetting the named input to `""` (documented behaviour, so a
later resume prompts again). Every `resume()` re-resolves the persisted
inputs through `_coerce_input`.

Those two rules collide when the bound input declares an `enum` that does
not list `""`. The reset writes a value the input's own enum forbids, and
the run wedges:

    inputs:
      spec_verdict:
        type: string
        enum: [approve, reject]
    steps:
      - id: review
        type: gate
        options: [approve, reject]
        on_reject: retry
        verdict_input: spec_verdict

    $ specify workflow run wf --input spec_verdict=reject
    Status: paused
    $ specify workflow resume <run_id> --input note=b
    Error: Input 'spec_verdict' value '' not in allowed values:
           ['approve', 'reject'].

The workflow validates clean and the first run looks fine, so the failure
only appears at the second resume. It is also unrecoverable in practice:
`_resolve_inputs` re-coerces the whole persisted map, so *any* resume that
supplies an input dies on the stored `""`. Only a resume with no inputs at
all still works -- and that is precisely the call that cannot deliver a new
verdict, which is the one thing the retry cycle exists to allow.

Extend the existing `verdict_input` cross-check (which already confirms the
name is declared) to also require that a retry-bound input's `enum` admits
the reset sentinel, and report it with a fix hint. To do that, thread the
input *definitions* through `_validate_steps` instead of just their names.

Rejected the alternative of popping the key instead of writing `""`: that
lets the input's `default` flow back in on the next resume, so a gate the
user just rejected would silently auto-approve.

Docs: note the `enum` requirement next to the reset behaviour it follows
from.

Adds 4 validation tests for the new guard plus a characterization test that
drives the engine directly to pin the wedge it prevents.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context)
This commit is contained in:
Noor ul ain
2026-07-31 19:53:25 +05:00
committed by GitHub
parent 7f40c82945
commit cf71d00dfe
3 changed files with 203 additions and 18 deletions

View File

@@ -623,6 +623,19 @@ pauses: the named stored input is reset to `""`. A later resume therefore
prompts or pauses again until another verdict is supplied. Approve, abort, and
skip outcomes leave the input unchanged.
Because of that reset, a verdict input used with `on_reject: retry` must accept
`""`. If it declares an `enum`, include the empty string — otherwise the reset
value violates the input's own `enum` and the run can no longer be resumed with
any input. `specify workflow add` reports this as a validation error.
```yaml
inputs:
spec_verdict:
type: string
enum: ["", approve, reject]
default: ""
```
## FAQ
### What happens when a workflow hits a gate step?