Wave 4 (agent-side observability + control), reconciled with the dock
contract (master relay 2026-09):
- abortJob in src/server/jobs.ts, exported through the server barrel for
POST /api/activity/abort (master's thin route): fires the job's
AbortController (real kill — the in-flight model call aborts, not just
the next loop check), drops any queued result steer, flips the record
to error "Aborted by learner" + activity "aborted" synchronously, and
queues a one-line abort steer (buildAbortSteer) through the same wake
pipeline so the teacher's promise doesn't hang in the lesson. Shares
the result steer's deterministic id space, so abort + racing result
can never both deliver (steerDelivered dedupe).
- Abort registry (src/agent/subagents/aborts.ts) on globalThis, mirroring
the wake pipeline's module-state pattern; runner registers/unregisters
per run, so the route's module instance sees the loop's controller.
- Runner usage capture: LoopContext (abortSignal + onUsage) threads into
all three kind loops; per-step usage folds via accumulateJobUsage into
JobRecord.usage (model from config MODELS, absent-never-zero), flushed
in runJob's finally so an aborted job's money record survives the kill.
- Contracts: JobUsage token fields optional + lastStep (most recent
call's accounting, for the dock's per-blob context line vs
CONTEXT_LIMITS); SubagentResultMeta.aborted; AbortSteerMessage;
buildAbortSteer; SteerMessage union generalized.
- demo-builder/visual-maker accept abortSignal + onUsage (visual folds
generateText usage per iteration).
- stillRunning/finishJob/jobContext guards: an aborted job is never
overwritten by the runner (terminal no matter what the wake does);
failJob and the pump's finalizeJob keep the flip.
- UI: abort steer renders a quiet aborted chip (job-aborted-badge).
- Prompt 20-jobs.md: one line about aborted jobs.
Tests: accumulateJobUsage folds (undefined-preservation, lastStep),
runner usage capture, real-kill abort (sync flip, silent unwind,
abort steer wakes), usage-so-far survives the kill, aborting a
delivering job drops the queued result steer, outcome reasons,
abort-chip render. 330/330, typecheck/lint/build green.
The Research-complete one-liner is now a native <details> disclosure:
collapsed it reads exactly as before (Research · complete · N sources);
one click expands the full persisted brief + source links via
ResearchBriefCard. No fetch, no state, no protocol change — the
data-subagent-artifact part in the record is the single source of truth,
which is what made this affordance 'feasible later' back in wave 1.
The brief still never clutters the transcript by default; the teacher's
wake turn remains the primary channel for weaving it into the lesson.
Test updated: the brief + sources now assert PRESENT inside the details
(and collapsed — no open attribute) instead of absent from the DOM.
Gates: typecheck, 279/279 tests, lint, build — all green.
Three refinements from live testing:
- Steer messages no longer sit inside the user Message container (the
bubble background + right alignment it gave artifact cards). chat.tsx
renders SubagentSteerCard directly in the transcript column — full
width, centered, same register as the teacher's artifacts.
- Research steers render a quiet "Research complete · N sources" badge
(the dispatch-settled idiom), not the full brief: briefs are long, the
wake turn weaves them into the lesson anyway, and the full text stays
persisted in the artifact part — a "view full research" affordance
can be added later without any protocol change. Failures keep the
failure card (the brief explains what went wrong).
- The sub-agents' verification notes (visual/demo builder notes) are
model-facing glue and no longer render on success; failure notes
remain the error explanation.
SSR-verified against a synthetic record: badge + SVG bare in the
transcript (no is-user wrapper), notes/brief confined to the RSC
payload. 229/229, typecheck, lint, build green.
The pi-style ack protocol (previous commit) left the client describing the
old world: artifact cards read the ack string as a result ("could not be
displayed"), the only job poller rendered on input-available parts that no
longer exist (so wake turns landed invisibly until re-navigation), steers
rendered as learner bubbles with no SVG anywhere, and server-persisted
assistant messages carried empty SDK ids (duplicate React keys).
- persistTurn (turn-service): fill empty message ids at the canonical write
— server-only messages (last turn's, wake turns') now key uniquely;
client-authored ids untouched.
- chat.tsx: ONE central /api/jobs poll (fast while jobs run, slow discovery
cadence, off for job-less sessions) drives every job surface, re-syncs
once when a job settles (the record already holds the steer + wake
response at flip time), and adopts server-side wake turns via the same
turnInFlight machinery as returning mid-turn. Steers branch to the
artifact card — never a bubble. Composer no longer gates on jobs.
- /api/jobs now reports turnInFlight alongside the job list.
- dispatch-card: the tool-call box — live activity by toolCallId while
running, quiet "delivered"/"failed" one-liner after; the ack is visible
observability, the artifact lives in the steer.
- steer-card: renders the delivered artifact by kind (research brief /
sanitized SVG / sandboxed demo iframe) from the data-subagent-artifact
part; result renderers extracted and exported from the artifact cards.
- sub-agents-panel: right-sidebar section above the plan tree listing
running sub-agents (kind, elapsed, live activity) — vanishes when idle.
- tests: dispatch/steer/panel render tests re-target the new protocol;
persistTurn id-hygiene suite. 229/229 green, build green.
Out-of-lane touches for master review: chat.tsx + components/** (cleared
this wave), app/api/jobs/route.ts, src/server/turn-service.ts, contracts
protocol doc §2. Live-verified on :3003 (full loop, SSR DOM checked).
amosblomqvist