fix: dev-poll should abandon stale branches that are behind main #148

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-04-02 13:13:23 +00:00 by dev-bot · 0 comments

dev-bot commented

2026-04-02 13:13:23 +00:00

Collaborator

Problem

When dev-poll finds an existing branch/PR for an issue, it enters recovery mode and pushes on top of the existing code. If main has moved ahead (dependency landed, other fixes merged), the branch is stale and misses the new code. CI failures repeat because the fix is on main but not on the branch.

This caused #143 to fail repeatedly: PR 144 was created before #145 (env_file fix) merged. Recovery mode kept pushing on the stale branch.

Fix

In dev/dev-poll.sh, before entering recovery mode, check if the existing branch is behind main. If main has commits the branch does not have, close the stale PR, delete the branch, and let the agent start fresh from current main.

Check: count commits on main that are not on the branch. If count > 0, the branch is stale.

AHEAD=$(git rev-list --count "origin/${BRANCH}..origin/${PRIMARY_BRANCH}" 2>/dev/null || echo "999")
if [ "$AHEAD" -gt 0 ]; then
  log "branch is $AHEAD commits behind main - abandoning stale PR"
  # close PR, delete branch, reset to fresh start
fi

This goes in the recovery mode section, after the existing branch/PR is found but before the agent is spawned.

Affected files

dev/dev-poll.sh (recovery mode section)

Acceptance criteria

dev-poll checks if existing branch is behind main before recovery
Stale branches trigger: close PR, delete branch, start fresh
Up-to-date branches still enter recovery mode normally
CI green

## Problem When dev-poll finds an existing branch/PR for an issue, it enters recovery mode and pushes on top of the existing code. If main has moved ahead (dependency landed, other fixes merged), the branch is stale and misses the new code. CI failures repeat because the fix is on main but not on the branch. This caused #143 to fail repeatedly: PR 144 was created before #145 (env_file fix) merged. Recovery mode kept pushing on the stale branch. ## Fix In `dev/dev-poll.sh`, before entering recovery mode, check if the existing branch is behind main. If main has commits the branch does not have, close the stale PR, delete the branch, and let the agent start fresh from current main. Check: count commits on main that are not on the branch. If count > 0, the branch is stale. ```bash AHEAD=$(git rev-list --count "origin/${BRANCH}..origin/${PRIMARY_BRANCH}" 2>/dev/null || echo "999") if [ "$AHEAD" -gt 0 ]; then log "branch is $AHEAD commits behind main - abandoning stale PR" # close PR, delete branch, reset to fresh start fi ``` This goes in the recovery mode section, after the existing branch/PR is found but before the agent is spawned. ## Affected files - `dev/dev-poll.sh` (recovery mode section) ## Acceptance criteria - [ ] dev-poll checks if existing branch is behind main before recovery - [ ] Stale branches trigger: close PR, delete branch, start fresh - [ ] Up-to-date branches still enter recovery mode normally - [ ] CI green