fix(FN-7577): stop planner overseer from "recovering" healthy in-progress tasks

decidePlannerRecovery fell through to inject_guidance for any non-failed
executor/workflow-gate signal, including the healthy `progressing` signal.
Under autonomous oversight this dispatched steering into the live agent of
every healthy task — flipping the card badge to "recovering", burning a
bounded-attempt slot, and consuming AI usage for no reason.

- Only problem signals (`stuck`/`blocked`, plus the existing `failed` path)
  now trigger autonomous steering; healthy (`progressing`/`complete`) and
  human-wait (`awaiting-human`) signals return `none`.
- PlannerRecoveryController.tick clears stale attempt/last-action records for
  a (taskId, stage) once its signal is healthy, so a recovered task drops
  from "recovering" back to "watching" and a later problem gets a fresh budget.
- PlannerOverseerMonitor dedupes the activity-feed heartbeat: an unchanged
  (stage, signal, reason) observation logs once per change, not every tick.

Invariant tests added across all signals for both fall-through stages.

Fusion-Task-Id: FN-7577

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.changeset/planner-overseer-no-recover-healthy-tasks.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@runfusion/fusion": patch
+---
+
+summary: Planner overseer no longer marks healthy in-progress tasks as "recovering" or steers them.
+category: fix
+dev: `decidePlannerRecovery` now returns `none` for healthy (`progressing`/`complete`) and `awaiting-human` executor/workflow-gate signals instead of falling through to `inject_guidance`; only `stuck`/`blocked`/`failed` trigger autonomous steering. Also dedupes the `PlannerOverseerMonitor` activity-feed heartbeat so an unchanged `(stage, signal, reason)` observation is logged once per change, not every poll tick. Fixes the "overseer recovering" badge appearing on every autonomous card and the needless AI-consuming guidance injections (FN-7577).

packages/core/src/__tests__/planner-recovery.test.ts

@@ -68,6 +68,31 @@ describe("decidePlannerRecovery", () => {
     expect(decision.action).toBe("inject_guidance");
   });
 
+  // FN-7577: a healthy or human-wait signal must NOT trigger autonomous
+  // steering on the executor/workflow-gate fall-through — steering a task that
+  // reports it is progressing flipped every card's badge to "recovering" and
+  // burned AI usage via a needless inject_guidance dispatch. Invariant across
+  // both fall-through stages and both problem/healthy signal classes.
+  it("returns none for healthy/human-wait signals on executor and workflow-gate stages", () => {
+    for (const stage of ["executor", "workflow-gate"] as const) {
+      for (const signal of ["progressing", "complete", "awaiting-human"] as const) {
+        const decision = decidePlannerRecovery({ snapshot: observation({ stage, signal }) });
+        expect(decision.action, `stage=${stage} signal=${signal}`).toBe("none");
+        expect(decision.exhausted, `stage=${stage} signal=${signal}`).toBe(false);
+        expect(decision.requiresConfirmation, `stage=${stage} signal=${signal}`).toBe(false);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("still steers on problem signals (stuck/blocked) for executor and workflow-gate stages", () => {
+    for (const stage of ["executor", "workflow-gate"] as const) {
+      for (const signal of ["stuck", "blocked"] as const) {
+        const decision = decidePlannerRecovery({ snapshot: observation({ stage, signal }) });
+        expect(decision.action, `stage=${stage} signal=${signal}`).toBe("inject_guidance");
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
   it("gates merger and pull-request stages behind confirmation (FN-7513) instead of none", () => {
     for (const stage of ["merger", "pull-request"] as const) {
       const decision = decidePlannerRecovery({ snapshot: observation({ stage, signal: "failed" }) });

packages/core/src/planner-recovery.ts

@@ -140,8 +140,19 @@ export interface DecidePlannerRecoveryInput {
  *  5. `executor` / `workflow-gate` stage with `signal === "failed"` →
  *     `"request_targeted_fix"` when a source link carries a specific
  *     fixable error (`failed-check` / `merge-error`), else `"retry_step"`.
- *  6. Any other `executor` / `workflow-gate` signal (stuck/blocked/
- *     progressing/awaiting-human) → `"inject_guidance"`.
+ *  6. `executor` / `workflow-gate` stage with a PROBLEM signal
+ *     (`stuck` / `blocked`) → `"inject_guidance"`.
+ *
+ * FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00:
+ * A HEALTHY signal (`progressing` / `complete`) or a human-wait signal
+ * (`awaiting-human`) yields `"none"` — steering a task that reports it is
+ * actively progressing is a misfire: it flips the card's overseer badge to
+ * "recovering", burns a bounded-attempt slot, and (because `inject_guidance`
+ * feeds the LIVE agent) consumes AI usage for no reason. Only a signal that
+ * actually indicates trouble may trigger autonomous steering (user report
+ * FN-7577: "recovering" badge on every healthy in-progress card). Previously
+ * this branch injected guidance on ANY non-`failed` signal, including
+ * `progressing`.
  */
 export function decidePlannerRecovery(input: DecidePlannerRecoveryInput): PlannerRecoveryDecision {
   const attemptCount = input?.attemptState?.attemptCount ?? 0;
@@ -252,7 +263,11 @@ export function decidePlannerRecovery(input: DecidePlannerRecoveryInput): Planne
       };
     }
 
-    {
+    // FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00: only PROBLEM signals warrant
+    // autonomous steering. Healthy (`progressing`/`complete`) and human-wait
+    // (`awaiting-human`) signals are a no-op so a fine, actively-progressing
+    // task is never "recovered" (FN-7577).
+    if (snapshot.signal === "stuck" || snapshot.signal === "blocked") {
       const proposedAction = "inject_guidance";
       const sideEffectClass = classifyPlannerActionSideEffect({ watchedStage: snapshot.stage, proposedAction });
       return {
@@ -267,6 +282,18 @@ export function decidePlannerRecovery(input: DecidePlannerRecoveryInput): Planne
         sideEffectClass,
       };
     }
+
+    return {
+      action: "none",
+      reason: `Stage "${snapshot.stage}" signal "${snapshot.signal}" is healthy or awaiting a human — no autonomous steering`,
+      attemptCount,
+      attemptLimit,
+      exhausted: false,
+      watchedStage,
+      sourceLinks,
+      requiresConfirmation: false,
+      sideEffectClass: "bounded_recovery",
+    };
   } catch {
     return {
       action: "none",

packages/engine/src/__tests__/planner-overseer.test.ts

@@ -251,6 +251,32 @@ describe("PlannerOverseerMonitor.observeTask", () => {
     expect(store.logEntry).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 
+  // FN-7577: an unchanged heartbeat (same stage/signal/reason) must not re-write
+  // the activity feed on every poll tick — only a CHANGE re-logs; clear() resets
+  // the dedup so a re-run re-logs its first observation.
+  it("dedupes consecutive identical feed entries, re-logs on signal change, resets on clear", async () => {
+    const store = { logEntry: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined) };
+    const monitor = new PlannerOverseerMonitor({ store });
+    const task = taskFixture({ column: "in-progress" });
+
+    // Three identical healthy ticks → a single feed entry.
+    await monitor.observeTask(task, "observe");
+    await monitor.observeTask(task, "observe");
+    await monitor.observeTask(task, "observe");
+    expect(store.logEntry).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+    // Signal flips (executor paused → "blocked") → re-logs once.
+    const paused = { ...task, paused: true, pausedReason: "gate" };
+    await monitor.observeTask(paused, "observe");
+    await monitor.observeTask(paused, "observe");
+    expect(store.logEntry).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+
+    // clear() drops the dedup key so the next identical observation re-logs.
+    monitor.clear(task.id);
+    await monitor.observeTask(paused, "observe");
+    expect(store.logEntry).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+  });
+
   it("bounds the per-task ring buffer to the configured cap, keeping the most recent N", async () => {
     const monitor = new PlannerOverseerMonitor({ maxObservationsPerTask: 3 });
     const task = taskFixture({ column: "in-progress" });

packages/engine/src/__tests__/planner-recovery-controller.test.ts

@@ -84,6 +84,35 @@ describe("PlannerRecoveryController.tick", () => {
     expect(retryStep).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(PLANNER_RECOVERY_MAX_ATTEMPTS);
   });
 
+  // FN-7577: a stale recovery attempt must not keep a recovered task badged
+  // "recovering" — a healthy/human-wait signal on the next tick clears the
+  // per-(taskId, stage) attempt + last-action records, restoring a fresh budget.
+  it("clears stale attempt records once the stage reports a healthy signal", async () => {
+    const retryStep = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    let current: OverseerStageObservation = observation({ signal: "failed" });
+    const controller = new PlannerRecoveryController({
+      snapshotProvider: { getSnapshot: () => current },
+      handlers: { retryStep },
+    });
+
+    await controller.tick(task());
+    expect(controller.getAttemptCount("FN-1", "executor")).toBe(1);
+    expect(controller.getLastAction("FN-1", "executor")).toBe("retry_step");
+
+    // Task recovers → healthy signal on the next tick clears the registry.
+    current = observation({ signal: "progressing" });
+    const healthy = await controller.tick(task());
+    expect(healthy?.action).toBe("none");
+    expect(controller.getAttemptCount("FN-1", "executor")).toBe(0);
+    expect(controller.getLastAction("FN-1", "executor")).toBeUndefined();
+
+    // A later genuine failure starts from a fresh budget and dispatches again.
+    current = observation({ signal: "failed" });
+    await controller.tick(task());
+    expect(retryStep).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(controller.getAttemptCount("FN-1", "executor")).toBe(1);
+  });
+
   it("is inert when effectiveLevel/oversightLevel is off/observe/steer", async () => {
     for (const level of ["off", "observe", "steer"] as const) {
       const retryStep = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(undefined);

packages/engine/src/planner-overseer.ts

@@ -255,6 +255,21 @@ export class PlannerOverseerMonitor {
   private readonly maxObservationsPerTask: number;
   private readonly observations = new Map<string, OverseerStageObservation[]>();
 
+  /*
+  FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00:
+  The overseer logs one activity-feed entry per poll tick. On the healthy path an
+  executor task re-emits the identical `signal=progressing` heartbeat every tick,
+  which spammed the task feed (user report FN-7577) with no new information and no
+  lifecycle change. Dedup the feed write on the composite `stage|signal|reason`
+  key so a log entry is only written when the observed situation CHANGES — mirrors
+  the FN-7514 withheld-oversight dedup ("not re-emitted every poll while the reason
+  is unchanged"). The in-memory ring buffer and `onObservation` callback are left
+  intact (they are cheap / drive downstream emission façades); only the noisy feed
+  logEntry is gated. Cleared alongside the ring buffer in `clear()` so a re-run of
+  the same task re-logs its first observation.
+  */
+  private readonly lastLoggedKey = new Map<string, string>();
+
   constructor(options: PlannerOverseerMonitorOptions = {}) {
     this.store = options.store;
     this.onObservation = options.onObservation;
@@ -299,9 +314,16 @@ export class PlannerOverseerMonitor {
       }
 
       if (this.store?.logEntry) {
-        await this.store
-          .logEntry(task.id, `[planner-overseer] stage=${stage} signal=${signal}: ${reason}`)
-          .catch(() => undefined);
+        // FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00 — only write the feed entry when
+        // the observed (stage, signal, reason) differs from the last one logged
+        // for this task, so an unchanged heartbeat does not re-spam the feed.
+        const loggedKey = `${stage}|${signal}|${reason}`;
+        if (this.lastLoggedKey.get(task.id) !== loggedKey) {
+          this.lastLoggedKey.set(task.id, loggedKey);
+          await this.store
+            .logEntry(task.id, `[planner-overseer] stage=${stage} signal=${signal}: ${reason}`)
+            .catch(() => undefined);
+        }
       }
 
       return observation;
@@ -327,6 +349,9 @@ export class PlannerOverseerMonitor {
   /** Clear recorded observations for a task (e.g. on task completion). */
   clear(taskId: string): void {
     this.observations.delete(taskId);
+    // FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00 — drop the feed-dedup key too so a
+    // re-run of the same task re-logs its first observation.
+    this.lastLoggedKey.delete(taskId);
   }
 
   /** Task IDs that currently retain at least one recorded observation. Used

packages/engine/src/planner-recovery-controller.ts

@@ -265,6 +265,21 @@ export class PlannerRecoveryController {
       }
 
       const key = this.attemptKey(task.id, snapshot.stage);
+
+      // FNXC:PlannerOversight 2026-07-05-11:00:
+      // FN-7577: once a task's watched stage reports a HEALTHY (`progressing`/
+      // `complete`) or human-wait (`awaiting-human`) signal, it is no longer
+      // being recovered — drop any stale attempt / last-action records for the
+      // (taskId, stage) so the card badge falls back from "recovering" to
+      // "watching" on the next `GET /api/tasks` serialization, and a later
+      // genuine problem starts from a fresh bounded budget. A still-problematic
+      // signal (`stuck`/`blocked`/`failed`) keeps its attempts so the bound holds.
+      const signal = snapshot.signal;
+      if (signal === "progressing" || signal === "complete" || signal === "awaiting-human") {
+        this.attempts.delete(key);
+        this.lastActions.delete(key);
+      }
+
       const attemptCount = this.attempts.get(key) ?? 0;
 
       const decision = decidePlannerRecovery({