multi-agent-mux/.agents/reports/reviewer-grok-01/report-6c05ed29.md

Review: follow-ups F1–F6 @ 75f364e

• Role: Reviewer (grok)
• Identity: base 0051fd6c3b088f8b265928ccd94ea31053fdde7e, head 75f364e4b47d8db95ce2a7e041b69b8e8b473e64, tree ec1fdc453ec6fdf2c09165c92a64d54e684f5a3a, 9 commits, clean worktree
• Verified at /var/folders/q_/68sxgw3j073dgjg8wl9s08vw0000gn/T/mam-review/loop-20261001T230324Z-b511bf/2. Main stayed at 0051fd6. No product file was edited.
• git diff --check 95eabc6..HEAD is clean. That commit is 3 files, +41/−2: mqtt_common.py, MESSAGING.md, tests/test_issue26_envfile.py.

75f364e is the only change since 95eabc6. It closes codex F2 R1: a failed env load was cached as loaded.

F2 review R1

load_env_or_report catches EnvFileError and returns False (mqtt_common.py:131-142). The caller returns 1 and the process keeps running, so a later ensure_env_loaded in the same process must try the file again.

Previously the flag was set before _load_dotenv. The first registry.main printed the error and returned 1, and the second skipped the file and registered a job. ensure_env_loaded now sets _env_loaded only after _load_dotenv returns (mqtt_common.py:122-128). An EnvFileError leaves the flag false.

envfile.parse reads the whole file before it returns pairs (envfile.py:59-64), and apply calls parse before it writes os.environ. A read or decode failure sets nothing, so the retry does not see a half-applied file.

test_a1_a_failed_load_is_not_cached_as_loaded (tests/test_issue26_envfile.py:470-488) runs registry.main twice in one process on an undecodable file: both rc 1, the ERROR: … cannot read (UnicodeDecodeError) line twice, no job file. It then repairs the file and checks load_env_or_report applies PROBE_CONFIG=from-file. A later edit of that file is not read again. On 95eabc6 the same probe is rc [1, 0] with a job registered and the value unset. The commit message records that run.

MESSAGING.md:369 now says the Python entry points print the one ERROR line, and the wrapper prints that line plus ERROR: cannot load <path> (see the line above). That matches the wrapper at multi-agent-mux-delegate-job:43-44, where the command substitution captures stdout only.

F1–F6 otherwise

Unchanged since 95eabc6, and still the behavior the items ask for:

• F1. mam_lstart still collapses spaces (loop_lock.sh:10-12). A8 writes the marker with the same collapse and locks a two-space lstart through a ps shim (tests/test_issue21_acceptance.py:258-293).
• F2. The seven mains still return 1 from load_env_or_report without sys.exit in the library. The one-line shape is test_a1_python_entry_points_report_an_unreadable_file_in_one_line.
• F3. Leading BOM is utf-8-sig (envfile.py:60-61). The example states first-wins and the BOM. A missing explicit MAM_ENV_FILE is skipped (mqtt_common.py:51-54).
• F4. Runner wait knobs use _int_knob / _positive_int. The bash knobs that reached [ or sleep use mam_int_knob via lib_int.sh. SKS_QUIESCENT_INTERVAL stays raw because its default is the fraction 0.5 (test_issue26_ints.py:100-101). MAM_WAIT_GRACE_S is in the loop skill.
• F5. No MAM_TEST_ in stall_watch.py. S13 sets agent_status_reliable false on the adapter and still expects no idle notice, then stalled:blocked.
• F6. The <= 60 s sentence is one herdr wait, and the stop test clears the wrapper inside the second wait_once.

No version bump and no #17 item-4 / #39 / #40 / #42 work in the range.

Checks

From this snapshot, MQTT variables unset, no .mam.env exported, control-plane venv, --basetemp under /tmp and not named mam-review:

38 passed in 7.51s — tests/test_issue26_envfile.py, including the new retry test.

The other files in the required list are identical to 95eabc6. On that tree the same list was 301 passed and 1 skipped (the Linux /proc stall test), after a rerun of the two tests that reject the substring mam-review in the basetemp path.

Note

reconcile.sh:173 still calls ensure_env_loaded() directly. An unreadable file there is still a traceback. F2's list is the seven mains.

[VERDICT: PASS]