fix: pause blocked goal inspection loops

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- Pause active goals when an automatic continuation only inspects goal status and makes no actionable progress, preventing blocked goals from requeueing hidden continuations indefinitely.
+- Add regression coverage for goal-only inspection continuation loops.
+
 ## 0.1.38 - 2026-07-19
 
 - Make Pi the sole compaction owner: remove the extension's hardcoded 50k `turn_end` trigger so Pi's effective compaction settings determine threshold behavior and host/extension races cannot produce `Already compacted` or interrupt an active goal.

src/goal-runtime-agent-handlers.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,34 @@ import {
 } from "./goal-runtime-event-utils.js";
 import type { GoalRuntimeAgentHandlerContext } from "./goal-runtime-event-handler-types.js";
 
+function isGoalInspectionToolName(name: unknown): boolean {
+  return name === "get_goal" || (typeof name === "string" && name.endsWith("__get_goal"));
+}
+
+function hasOnlyGoalInspectionToolCalls(messages: readonly { role?: string; content?: unknown }[]): boolean {
+  let toolCallCount = 0;
+
+  for (const message of messages) {
+    if (message.role !== "assistant" || !Array.isArray(message.content)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    for (const block of message.content) {
+      if (!block || typeof block !== "object" || (block as { type?: unknown }).type !== "toolCall") {
+        continue;
+      }
+      toolCallCount += 1;
+      if (!isGoalInspectionToolName((block as { name?: unknown }).name)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return toolCallCount > 0;
+}
+
+const BLOCKED_GOAL_INSPECTION_REASON =
+  "active goal continuation made no actionable progress; user input is required";
+
 export function createAgentEventHandlers(deps: GoalRuntimeAgentHandlerContext) {
   const { runtimeState, stateController, continuation, goalAccounting, resetErrorRecovery } = deps;
 
@@ -48,6 +76,14 @@ export function createAgentEventHandlers(deps: GoalRuntimeAgentHandlerContext) {
       if (lastAssistant && recordAssistantContextOverflow(lastAssistant, ctx, deps)) {
         return;
       }
+      if (hasOnlyGoalInspectionToolCalls(event.messages)) {
+        stateController.applyGoalTransition(
+          { kind: "recovery_pause", recoveryReason: BLOCKED_GOAL_INSPECTION_REASON },
+          ctx,
+        );
+        return;
+      }
+
       resetErrorRecovery();
       continuation.maybeContinue(ctx);
     }) satisfies ExtensionHandler<AgentEndEvent>,

src/goal-runtime-event-handler-types.ts

@@ -131,7 +131,10 @@ export interface GoalRuntimeTurnHandlerContext extends StaleQueuedWorkEffectCont
 
 export interface GoalRuntimeAgentHandlerContext extends StaleQueuedWorkEffectContext {
   runtimeState: Pick<GoalRuntimeState, "agentRunSequence" | "staleQueuedWorkGuard">;
-  stateController: Pick<GoalStateController, "beginOverflowRecovery" | "flushGoalPersistence" | "pauseForAbort">;
+  stateController: Pick<
+    GoalStateController,
+    "applyGoalTransition" | "beginOverflowRecovery" | "flushGoalPersistence" | "pauseForAbort"
+  >;
   continuation: Pick<
     GoalRuntimeContinuationPort,
     "clearPassthroughContinuationInput" | "maybeContinue"

test/continuation.test.ts

@@ -299,6 +299,36 @@ test("agent_end, not agent_settled, drives deliberate per-run goal continuation"
   assert.equal(harness.sentMessages.length, 1);
 });
 
+test("goal-only inspection turns pause active goals instead of looping", async () => {
+  const harness = createRuntimeHarness();
+  await harness.runCommand("ship it");
+  harness.sentMessages.length = 0;
+
+  const inspectionTurn = {
+    ...assistantMessage("toolUse", { input: 20, output: 4 }),
+    content: [
+      {
+        type: "toolCall" as const,
+        id: "get-goal-call",
+        name: "get_goal",
+        arguments: {},
+      },
+    ],
+  };
+
+  await harness.emit("agent_end", {
+    type: "agent_end",
+    messages: [inspectionTurn, assistantMessage("stop", { input: 30, output: 12 })],
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(harness.snapshot().goal?.status, "paused");
+  assert.equal(harness.sentMessages.length, 0);
+  assert.match(
+    harness.footerStatuses.at(-1) ?? "",
+    /Goal needs attention.*no actionable progress/,
+  );
+});
+
 test("agent end waits for idle before continuing active goals", async () => {
   mock.timers.enable({ apis: ["setTimeout"] });
   try {