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Cron & Ignore System Audit

Full audit of CronScheduler and ignore-gate MCP tools before refactor.

Cron Execution — Silent Failure#

Root cause chain:

  1. CronScheduler.#execute() creates synthetic session: team_id="cron", channel_id="cron:${job.id}". src/gateway/slack/cron-scheduler.ts:48-52
  2. No route registered in adapter's routes Map. src/gateway/slack/adapter.ts:119
  3. Agent event handler: routes.get(e.sessionId) returns undefined → early return. adapter.ts:158-159
  4. All agent events (done, error, toolCall) silently dropped for cron sessions.
  5. MCP resolver returns undefined for no-route → cron session has zero Slack tools. adapter.ts:142-154
  6. Agent can't call mcp__slaude_slack__reply → response vanishes.
  7. postResult() dead code — zero call sites. cron-scheduler.ts:71
  8. next_run updates with "dispatched" status before agent finishes. cron-scheduler.ts:61

Impact: Cron jobs fire, agent runs, but zero Slack output. DB looks healthy (next_run advances) but user sees nothing.

Cron Session Reuse & Race Condition#

  • ensureSession uses deterministic thread key → same session row across all runs. src/agent/manager.ts:112-126
  • Working dir shared across runs → files from run 1 persist for run 2.
  • #running Set cleared in finally block after sendMessage resolves, not after agent completes. cron-scheduler.ts:46-66
  • If agent turn duration > cron interval, overlapping execution possible. Second run flushes prior live turn or starts overlapping session.

remove_cron_job MCP Tool Bugs#

  1. Description lies: says "8-char prefix" accepted, but findById() does exact UUID match. Prefix → "Job not found" error. db/cron-jobs.ts:34
  2. Soft delete only: deactivate() sets active = 0. Row stays forever. Tool says "deactivated" not "deleted".

ignore_thread / unignore_thread MCP Tool Bugs#

  1. No auth check: ignore_thread / unignore_thread have zero permission validation. Any agent can ignore any thread. Compare: slash command /ignore requires manager/approver. mcp-tools.ts:499-538 vs adapter.ts:372-376
  2. Duration parsing bugs:
    • Invalid suffix silently accepted: "5x" → parsed as 5 minutes.
    • Decimal silently truncated: "1.5h" → parsed as 1 hour.
    • No max duration limit.
  3. DM broken: threadTs = event.ts for regular DM messages (no event.thread_ts) → unique per message. ignore_thread only ignores that exact message; next DM flows through. adapter.ts:261
  4. Silent no-op: unignore_thread returns "removed" even if no active ignore existed.
  5. createdBy hardcoded: "agent" instead of actual user ID. mcp-tools.ts:526
  6. Missing tools: No ignore_user / unignore_user MCP tools. DB supports user-level ignore; only slash commands can create them.

Design Decision: Cron as Regular Thread Session#

Current model: Synthetic isolated session. Cron and human conversation are separate worlds.

New model: One thread = one session. Cron uses real Slack thread key.

  • /cron-add in thread #123 → job stores real (team_id, channel_id, thread_ts)
  • All cron runs resume same session, post to same thread
  • Humans reply in same thread → same session, shared history
  • Cron skips if session live (humans get priority, no interruption)

Benefits:

  • Natural human engagement — people can refine, query, adjust cron tasks
  • No synthetic session complexity
  • Single conversation history

Tradeoff: Cron and human are mutually exclusive on same thread. If humans actively chatting, cron waits next interval.

Migration:

  • cron_jobs table: store real slack_team_id, slack_channel_id, slack_thread_ts
  • Remove synthetic key usage from CronScheduler
  • postResult() becomes unnecessary — agent uses normal MCP reply
  • Adapter registers route for cron sessions same as human messages

Files to Touch#

  • src/db/schema.ts — add real Slack keys to cron_jobs
  • src/db/cron-jobs.ts — read/write real keys, prefix lookup for remove
  • src/gateway/slack/cron-scheduler.ts — use real keys, skip-if-live, remove postResult
  • src/gateway/slack/adapter.ts — wire cron routes into normal flow
  • src/gateway/slack/mcp-tools.ts — auth checks, duration validation, ignore_user tools
  • src/gateway/slack/ignore-gate.ts — DM handling (if fixing)