fix: seed verify_feedback during fix-step claim

[rightclaw]

Bug Description

This workflow/runtime validation checked a prior handoff failure where the bug-fix pipeline crashed on the first pass into the fix step because the template referenced {{verify_feedback}} before any verifier retry had populated it. Current runtime behavior shows the patch is in place: verify_feedback is seeded to an empty string during claim resolution, the fix step can now be claimed successfully, and the workflow advances past triage/investigate/setup instead of failing on a missing template key.

Severity: medium

Root Cause

The original handoff failure came from a mismatch between the bug-fix workflow template and Antfarm's claim-time template validation. In workflows/bug-fix/workflow.yml, the fix step input always includes a VERIFY FEEDBACK (if retrying): {{verify_feedback}} section, even on the first pass into the fixer. Before the runtime patch, claimStep() in src/installer/step-ops.ts validated every {{...}} placeholder with findMissingTemplateKeys() before resolving the input, but first-pass run context had no verify_feedback yet because that field is only created later by verifier retry handling (handleSingleStepRetry() stores context["verify_feedback"] = ... after a verifier returns STATUS: retry). That meant the very first claim of the fix step could fail immediately with "missing required template key(s) verify_feedback" before any implementation work started. The current code shows the runtime fix is now in place in both source and built output: for story-loop claims and ordinary single-step claims, claimStep() now seeds context["verify_feedback"] = "" before running missing-key validation, so the template resolves successfully on first pass and renders an empty VERIFY FEEDBACK section instead of crashing the run. The passing tests/single-step-retry.test.ts confirms the complementary retry path still stores real verifier feedback back into run context once a retry actually happens. In short: the bug was a runtime assumption error — the engine treated a retry-only placeholder as if it were guaranteed to exist on initial step claim.

Fix

Kept the runtime-side fix in src/installer/step-ops.ts that seeds verify_feedback to an empty string before claim-time missing-key validation, which allows a first-pass bug-fix fix step to resolve its template instead of failing before work starts. Added regression coverage in tests/single-step-retry.test.ts for the fresh bug-fix handoff path and revalidated the existing retry-path feedback persistence check. Built the project with npm run build and ran node --test tests/single-step-retry.test.ts to confirm the workflow advances past the previous failure point while the run stays in running state.

Regression Test

Added a test in tests/single-step-retry.test.ts that creates a fresh bug-fix run with triage/investigate/setup already done, leaves verify_feedback absent from run context, claims the pending fix step, and asserts the step is successfully claimed/running with an empty VERIFY FEEDBACK section instead of failing on a missing template key.

Verification

Diff is non-trivial and matches the claimed runtime fix plus targeted regression coverage; .gitignore exists; only in-repo files changed (src/installer/step-ops.ts and tests/single-step-retry.test.ts); no sensitive files or hardcoded credential patterns were introduced; the fix in claimStep is minimal and targeted to the root cause by seeding verify_feedback to an empty string before missing-key validation, so first-pass bug-fix fix-step claims no longer fail on a retry-only placeholder; the new regression test specifically constructs the original failure scenario with triage/investigate/setup completed and verify_feedback absent, then proves the fix step is claimed, remains running, and renders an empty VERIFY FEEDBACK section; that test would fail if the fix were reverted because claimStep would hit missing template key validation and not return a claimed running fix step with resolved input; the existing retry-path test still passes and confirms real verifier feedback is persisted back into run context on actual retry; npm run build passed; node --test tests/single-step-retry.test.ts passed; findings indicate the runtime patch fixed the prior handoff failure and the workflow now advances beyond the previous failure point instead of crashing at fix-step claim time.

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