The cancel.spec.ts module doc named "PR C", narrating the change's origin —
process/history a reader of the current test does not need. Per the repo
doc-current-state convention, describe only what the suite tests.
A reviewer found that window 2 (a cancel from a synchronous agent/status('running')
listener) had the same early-whenIdle() race that window 1 already guards: it
unconditionally `setStatus('idle')` + continue, which settles `whenIdle()`
waiters — so if the running listener cancels AND queues replacement work, the
waiter resolves while the replacement is still queued-and-unrun (the next
iteration runs it later, but the caller already observed quiescence).
Mirror window 1: after clearing the marker, only `setStatus('idle')` when
nothing new is queued; otherwise fall through to run the queued replacement
(status is already `running`), so `whenIdle()` resolves on that turn's
running→idle. Regression test reproduces the reviewer's interleaving (running
listener cancels A, sends B; whenIdle() resolves only after B ran).
Also syncs the cancellation contract in the two ACP RFCs that describe the live
behavior: `session/cancel` is the queue-aware `agent.cancel()` (drops an
about-to-start turn), not the old best-effort `agent.abort()` pre-step
limitation.
A reviewer found that `cancel(reason)` only preserved the caller's reason when
an active AbortController observed it (the mid-step path, via
`abort.signal.reason`). The marker-only windows (step-start at loop.ts and the
continuation gate) hardcoded `reason: 'cancelled'`, so the logged `turn/end`
reason was race-dependent on WHERE the cancel landed and the public
`cancel(reason?)` parameter was half-effective.
Capture the resolved reason (`reason ?? 'cancelled'`) on the agent when the
marker is armed, expose it on the LoopHandle as `cancelReason()`, and use it in
both marker branches so a turn dropped without a live controller records the
SAME `{kind:'aborted', reason}` the mid-step path produces.
The two existing window tests asserted `reason: 'cancelled'` while passing
`'from turn-start'` / `'from continuation'` — they documented the bug. Updated
both to assert the caller's reason (behavior + test changed together, per
AGENTS.md "tests document behavior, not golden truth").
Also fixes two stale docs the PR's contract change left behind: the
module-level ACP mapping comment and `codec.ts` both still said `session/cancel
-> agent.abort()`.
Codex's converge pass found a quiescence-contract violation: a whenIdle() waiter
registered for prompt A, then cancel() clears A, then prompt B is queued BEFORE
the loop resumes from the idle wait. The window-1 cancel branch called
settleIdle() UNCONDITIONALLY, resolving the waiter while B was still
queued-and-unrun — whenIdle() resolved with zero events, then B ran afterward.
Fix: in window 1, only settleIdle() + re-park when NO new work is queued. If a
send() raced in after the cancel, the marker was for the cancelled work only —
clear it and fall through to run the new prompt's turn, letting THAT turn's
running→idle settle the waiter (so whenIdle() waits for B to actually run).
Adds a regression test reproducing the exact interleaving (send A → whenIdle →
cancel → send B): whenIdle() now resolves only after B's turn ran (B's user
message + a turn/end in the log), and A was dropped.
abort() only kills the in-flight step, so a queued-but-not-yet-started prompt
ran to completion after a cancel and a prompt accepted right after could be
batched into the cancelled turn (the loop merges queued messages into one turn).
This closes TODO(rfc010-cancel-prestep) with a distinct cancel() verb.
cancel() clears the queued + steering FIFOs, aborts the in-flight step, and
drives a turn-scoped marker on the LoopHandle that the driver checks at EVERY
point a turn could start or continue:
- right after the idle wait (window 1): drop the about-to-run turn and settle
whenIdle() waiters directly (no running→idle transition fires, and no
agent/status is emitted, so an ACP listener can't see a spurious idle that
resolves a freshly-queued prompt as cancelled);
- after the synchronous setStatus('running') emit (window 2): a running listener
can cancel in the gap before runTurn;
- in the step-start window (before runStep, after setAbort): a synchronous
turn-start/step-start listener can cancel before any AbortController exists;
- at the continuation gate: a cancel during the continuation waterfall (the
finished step's controller already cleared) ends the turn aborted.
The marker is ARMED only when there is something to cancel (running, an
in-flight step, or queued/steering work) — an idle no-op cancel cannot leave it
set to drop a later prompt — and RESET unconditionally once per loop iteration,
so it governs exactly one turn and never leaks onto the next prompt (even when a
send() lands in the cancelled turn's flush window).
ACP session/cancel now maps to agent.cancel() (keeping the synchronous
settlePrompt). Teardown/disconnect still use abort('disposed') until PR D, so
the ACP README narrows the remaining best-effort window to teardown only.
Tests (agent-loop/cancel.spec.ts) cover every window unit-level (the F1 hang
guard: a whenIdle() waiter registered before a pre-step cancel resolves; the F2
leak guard: idle cancel then a prompt runs; mid-step, continuation, both
pre-step windows, turn-start-listener, steering-cleared, marker-reset). ACP
turns.spec.ts adds the through-bridge tests with NO intervening whenIdle (idle
cancel→prompt runs; mid-stream cancel→immediate next prompt runs) and updates
the stale pre-step test to the queue-aware guarantee. The existing cancel
snapshot golden is byte-identical (it drives the new cancel() path end-to-end
through the real subprocess), so no new golden is needed. 100% coverage.
Tianyi Cui