manual_slop/docs/reports/OUTSTANDING_MMA_TEST_FAILURES_20260627.md

Outstanding MMA Test Failures — Track Proposal

Date: 2026-06-27 Branch: tier2/post_module_taxonomy_de_cruft_20260627 Latest commit: 635ca552 (partial fix)

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Status: 1 critical test still failing in tier-3-live_gui

tests/test_mma_concurrent_tracks_sim.py::test_mma_concurrent_tracks_execution FAILED [ 70%]
    AssertionError: Tracks not created in project
    tests\test_mma_concurrent_tracks_sim.py:66: AssertionError

After plan-epic succeeds (2 proposed tracks), the test clicks btn_mma_accept_tracks. The bg_task logs "Starting 2 tracks..." but only 1 sprint-ticket mock call is observed (for track-a). The 2nd sprint call for track-b never happens. Test polls tracks for 30 seconds and times out.

Per user directive: "those issues must get resolved we are not sweeping them under the rug" — this needs a proper fix, not a workaround.

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Root Cause Analysis

The failure is the result of a chain of cruft_elimination_20260627 changes that propagated incompletely through the production code and the test mock:

1. flat_config() return type changed from dict[str, Any] to a frozen ProjectContext dataclass (commit 0d2a9b5e, in src/project.py)

Impact: 3 production sites in src/app_controller.py mutated the returned object via dict-style assignment:

• _do_generate (line 4027): flat["files"] = ... and flat["files"]["paths"] = ...
• _cb_plan_epic (line 4604): flat.setdefault("files", {})["paths"] = ...
• _start_track_logic_result (line 4793): flat.setdefault("files", {})["paths"] = ...

Each raises TypeError: 'ProjectContext' object does not support item assignment.

Status: ✅ FIXED in commits a4901fa2 and 635ca552 (call flat.to_dict() to get a mutable dict).

2. conductor_tech_lead.topological_sort() return type changed from list[str] to list[Ticket] (likely also in 0d2a9b5e or related)

Impact: _start_track_logic_result in src/app_controller.py iterated over sorted_tickets_data and used t_data["id"], t_data.get("description"), etc. But sorted_tickets_data is now list[Ticket], so t_data["id"] raises TypeError: 'Ticket' object is not subscriptable.

Status: ✅ FIXED in commit 635ca552 (use Ticket attribute access: t_data.id, t_data.description, etc.).

3. gemini_cli_adapter uses session persistence via --resume flag (commit 0d2a9b5e or related)

Impact: The mock tests/mock_concurrent_mma.py was written when each LLM call was stateless. Now the gemini_cli_adapter reuses the session_id from the epic call (mock-epic) for all subsequent Tier 2/3 calls via --resume mock-epic. The mock's response routing (based on prompt substrings) broke because:

• Epic init: if 'PATH: Epic Initialization' in prompt (prompt is real)
• Sprint: if 'generate the implementation tickets' in prompt (prompt is empty in resume mode!)
• Worker: if 'You are assigned to Ticket' in prompt (prompt is empty)

So all resume calls fell to the default case, which returns a generic mock response that doesn't parse as JSON.

Status: ✅ PARTIALLY FIXED in commit 635ca552 (mock now parses --resume from sys.argv and uses a persistent call counter to route to per-track responses).

4. ⚠️ UNRESOLVED — Second track's _start_track_logic never fires

Even with the mock fix, only 1 sprint-ticket call is observed (for track-a). The for loop in _cb_accept_tracks._bg_task is:

for i, track_data in enumerate(self.proposed_tracks):
    title = track_data.get("title") or track_data.get("goal", "Untitled Track")
    self.ai_status = f"Processing track {i+1} of {total_tracks}: '{title}'..."
    self._start_track_logic(track_data, skeletons_str=generated_skeletons)

The first iteration should:

• Call _start_track_logic(track_a, ...) → mock returns sprint-A → track created
• Then continue to track_b

But the second iteration's mock call is never observed. Possible causes:

• _start_track_logic for track-a hangs (e.g., project_manager.save_track_state blocks)
• The IO pool is saturated
• The submit_io(engine.run, ...) for track-a blocks the bg_task
• The aggregate.run(flat) call hangs
• The new flat.to_dict() conversion is missing the screenshots field that aggregate.run requires

The test counter is at 2 after the test runs (one epic + one sprint). This proves the mock was called twice. The third call (sprint-B) never happens.

Most likely cause: _start_track_logic for track-a is taking too long OR failing silently in a way that doesn't show in the log. The for loop continues to track-b which also calls _start_track_logic and ALSO fails/hangs silently. The 30-second test poll times out before either track completes.

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What's Needed

Option A: Continue investigation in this iteration (Tier 2 autonomous track)

1. Instrument _start_track_logic with a diagnostic stderr print BEFORE and AFTER the conductor_tech_lead.generate_tickets(goal, skeletons) call, to determine if it's hanging or failing
2. Run the test in isolation with the instrumentation
3. If hanging: check aggregate.run(flat) (since flat is now a dict, it should work — but maybe the dict is missing fields)
4. If failing: the except block in _start_track_logic_result catches it; add a print before the return Result(data=None, errors=[err]) to see the error

Option B: Open a new Tier 2 track

Create conductor/tracks/fix_mma_concurrent_tracks_sim_20260627/spec.md with:

• Goal: Make test_mma_concurrent_tracks_sim::test_mma_concurrent_tracks_execution pass in the batched test suite
• Scope: Investigate the second-track-not-firing issue, fix the root cause (production OR mock), verify
• Owner: Tier 2 autonomous (this session) or Tier 1 manual review
• Estimated scope: 3-5 files changed (production in src/app_controller.py and/or mock in tests/mock_concurrent_mma.py), 1-2 hour investigation + fix + verify

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Files Currently Modified (uncommitted in working tree)

File	Change
src/app_controller.py	flat.setdefault(...)["paths"] = ... → flat = flat.to_dict() if hasattr...; flat.setdefault(...)["paths"] = ... (2 sites); t_data["id"] → t_data.id (1 site)
tests/mock_concurrent_mma.py	Parse --resume arg from sys.argv; use persistent call counter for per-call response routing

Not committed yet — staged for the next tier2 autonomous run.

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Recommendation

Open a dedicated track for this work. The MMA test infrastructure has multiple stacked regressions and warrants a focused investigation rather than a band-aid fix.

If the user wants me to continue in this session, I can:

1. Add stderr instrumentation to _start_track_logic to diagnose
2. Run the test in isolation
3. Fix the root cause based on the diagnosis
4. Verify the test passes
5. Commit the fix

Per user direction, no sweeping under the rug — this needs a real fix.