## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip orchestrates AI agents for zero-human companies
> - The issue graph and liveness recovery system decide whether assigned
work is executable or parked
> - Assigned issues created without an explicit status could silently
land in backlog, making parents look blocked with no productive wake
path
> - The server, shared validators, recovery analysis, and UI all need to
agree on that execution semantic
> - This pull request makes assigned issue creation default to `todo`,
flags assigned backlog blockers, and surfaces the state in the board
> - The benefit is that parked assigned work becomes intentional and
visible instead of creating silent liveness stalls
## What Changed
- Adds contract tests for assigned issue creation defaults.
- Defaults assigned issue creation to `todo` when status is omitted
while preserving explicit `backlog` parking.
- Exposes `resolveCreateIssueStatusDefault` through shared validators.
- Teaches liveness/blocker attention paths to distinguish assigned
backlog blockers.
- Adds UI notices, row/header badges, and issue detail safeguards for
assigned backlog blockers.
- Adds Storybook fixtures and execution-semantics documentation for the
assigned-backlog behavior.
## Verification
- `pnpm run preflight:workspace-links && pnpm exec vitest run
packages/shared/src/validators/issue.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/issue-assigned-backlog-contract-routes.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/issue-blocker-attention.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/issue-liveness.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-issue-liveness-escalation.test.ts
ui/src/components/IssueAssignedBacklogNotice.test.tsx
ui/src/components/IssueRow.test.tsx` — 50 passed, 23 skipped.
- Skipped tests were embedded Postgres suites on this host with the repo
skip message: `Postgres init script exited with code null. Please check
the logs for extra info. The data directory might already exist.`
- Pairwise merge check against the issue-controls PR branch completed
without conflicts via `git merge --no-commit --no-ff` in a temporary
worktree.
- Screenshots for assigned-backlog UI states:
[light](docs/pr-screenshots/pr-5428/assigned-backlog-light.png),
[dark](docs/pr-screenshots/pr-5428/assigned-backlog-dark.png).
- Follow-up checks: `pnpm --filter /ui typecheck`; `pnpm --filter
/mcp-server build`; `pnpm --filter /mcp-server test`; `pnpm exec vitest
run packages/shared/src/validators/issue.test.ts`; focused UI component
tests.
- Remote PR checks on head `6300b3c`: policy, verify, serialized server
shards 1/4-4/4, Canary Dry Run, e2e, Greptile Review, and Snyk all
passed.
## Risks
- Medium: changes status defaulting for assigned issue creation when the
caller omits status. Explicit `backlog` remains supported, and
server/shared tests cover both paths.
- Medium: liveness classification changes can affect blocker attention
labels; focused service and UI tests cover the new assigned-backlog
state.
> For core feature work, check [`ROADMAP.md`](ROADMAP.md) first and
discuss it in `#dev` before opening the PR. Feature PRs that overlap
with planned core work may need to be redirected — check the roadmap
first. See `CONTRIBUTING.md`.
## Model Used
- OpenAI Codex coding agent, GPT-5 model family (`gpt-5`), tool-enabled
Paperclip heartbeat environment. Context window and internal reasoning
mode are not exposed by the runtime.
## Checklist
- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the control plane for autonomous agent companies, so
non-terminal issue state must always have a clear live, waiting, or
recovery owner.
> - This change stays inside the server reliability and liveness
subsystem for assigned issue recovery, blocker attention, and live-run
polling.
> - Closed PR #4860 mixed this reliability work with separate
mutation-boundary policy changes, which made review and merge risk too
broad.
> - [PAP-2981](/PAP/issues/PAP-2981) asked for a replacement PR
containing only the remaining reliability slice and explicitly excluding
user-assignment and execution-policy restrictions.
> - Follow-up review also split `advanced` run-liveness continuation
behavior out of this PR so it can be reviewed separately.
> - The implementation hardens repeated recovery escalation, expands
blocker-attention coverage for explicit waiting and recovery paths, and
caps company live-run polling defaults.
> - The benefit is a smaller reliability PR that improves liveness
behavior without changing agent/user mutation authorization boundaries
or `advanced` continuation semantics.
## What Changed
- Avoid repeated liveness escalation updates when the source issue is
already blocked by the same open escalation.
- Treat open liveness escalation recovery issues, their source issues,
and their leaf blockers as covered waiting paths in blocker attention.
- Cap default company live-run polling at 50 rows for both `minCount`
and `limit`, including explicit zero values, to avoid unbounded
responses.
- Preserve the existing behavior where succeeded `advanced` runs are
considered productive/healthy for stranded-work recovery and are not
actionable bounded run-liveness continuations.
- Added focused server coverage for recovery dedupe, blocker attention,
liveness escalation, run continuations, and live-run polling.
## Verification
- `pnpm install --frozen-lockfile`
- `pnpm exec vitest run
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-process-recovery.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-issue-liveness-escalation.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/issue-blocker-attention.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/run-continuations.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/agent-live-run-routes.test.ts`
- Result: 5 files passed, 63 tests passed.
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/server typecheck`
- Result: passed.
- No UI changes; screenshots are not applicable.
## Risks
- Recovery and blocker-attention classification changes can affect which
blocked chains are shown as covered versus needing attention.
- Live-run polling now treats omitted, invalid, or non-positive `limit`
/ `minCount` values as the capped default of 50.
- `advanced` run-liveness continuation behavior is intentionally
excluded from this PR and split for separate review.
> For core feature work, check [`ROADMAP.md`](ROADMAP.md) first and
discuss it in `#dev` before opening the PR. Feature PRs that overlap
with planned core work may need to be redirected — check the roadmap
first. See `CONTRIBUTING.md`.
## Model Used
- OpenAI Codex, GPT-5, code execution and GitHub CLI tool use, medium
reasoning effort.
## Checklist
- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
Dotta