multi-agent-mux/.agents/reports/reviewer-grok-01/report-0a8baaa4.md

Review: Issue #17 workspace root @ d198dd5

• Role: Reviewer (grok)
• Identity: loop loop-20261008T133858Z-9e7f5b, snapshot /var/folders/q_/68sxgw3j073dgjg8wl9s08vw0000gn/T/mam-review/loop-20261008T133858Z-9e7f5b/1, base 6b00b6e06f55299cb60f156ccef09ede4bae5bdd (main still 6b00b6e), head d198dd50aaf6119dc21f36d88704e64850e67413, tree 114ec21d3fc7de8932f5e1d34f895edd24ad7c01. One commit, tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py only, +36/−2. git diff --check clean. Snapshot porcelain empty after the runs. No version bump.
• Verified read-only at the snapshot. Python 3.9.6 from the issue17-wsroot worktree .venv, bash 3.2.57. Inherited HERDR_*, MAM_*, and MQTT_* were unset. .mam.env was not exported. started for this dispatch is dispatch_verified with attempt-id 1.
• Product code under .agents/skills is unchanged. lib.sh still installs the herdr shim when it is sourced (lib.sh:143, called at :3088). Aiming that write at a temp directory belongs in the test environment.

What this commit does

_env (tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py:224-233) drops an inherited WORKSPACE_ROOT and sets it to the helper's tmp_path. The comment matches lib.sh:26: with the variable unset, the library sets WORKSPACE_ROOT to the checkout that contains lib.sh and the source still rewrites that checkout's .mam/shim/herdr.

At 6b00b6e the same helper kept every inherited WORKSPACE_ROOT (git show 6b00b6e:tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py, the old :224-229). Sourcing the wrapper with that filter and WORKSPACE_ROOT pointed at /tmp/0a8aprobe.DcRQYA/sentinel created .mam/shim/herdr under the sentinel. The head filter, pointed at the test directory, left a second sentinel empty and wrote .mam/shim/herdr under that test directory. test_c_helpers_write_nothing_to_an_inherited_workspace (:477-498) is that check: a monkeypatched sentinel stays empty, the checkout shim's mtime stays put, _run_both still sees ws=<W>, and the direct source sees the test directory. The checkout shim was absent before these runs and is still absent.

_human_submit (:692-696) already set WORKSPACE_ROOT to its tmp_path. Callers that pass WORKSPACE_ROOT through extra still override the default (:232).

Why this file was outside the common fixture

pytest_configure (tests/conftest.py:144-146) drops WORKSPACE_ROOT only when its real path is some other checkout. A value that names this checkout stays. The autouse fixture (:161-177) sets MAM_JOBS_DIR, DELEGATE_JOB_LOGS_DIR, and MAM_ENV_FILE, and leaves WORKSPACE_ROOT alone. mam_sandbox (:215) does set it to the sandbox, and these helpers do not use that fixture. _env copies os.environ into the bash that sources the wrapper, so a root conftest kept is the directory lib.sh rewrites.

Same defect left in place

Each of these copies os.environ (or passes no env, so the child inherits it) and sources lib.sh or the wrapper without setting WORKSPACE_ROOT to a temp directory. A probe of the test_version_consistency.py:134 shape, with WORKSPACE_ROOT on a sentinel, created .mam/shim/herdr there.

Location	What it does
tests/test_version_consistency.py:29-31 and :134-136	Sources lib.sh to print MAM_VERSION. The second call copies os.environ and only replaces MAM_VERSION.
tests/test_b19_headless_reconcile_fixes.py:125-134	Copies os.environ and sources lib.sh. The later _init_herdr_isolation() { :; } runs after lib.sh:3088 has already written the shim.
tests/test_b8_send_keys_verification.py:11 and :32	The script sources lib.sh. subprocess.run passes no env.
tests/test_issue6_fail_closed.py:1241-1244	Sources .agents/skills/lib.sh with the process environment and cwd set to the repo.
tests/test_orc_onboard.py:15-18, :33-42, :46-56, :60-65	SCRUBBED_ENV copies os.environ at import. The find, verify, and dump helpers source lib.sh without assigning WORKSPACE_ROOT.
tests/test_issue21_worktree_prereqs.py:544-546	_mutate sources that temp tree's lib.sh with the process environment. An inherited WORKSPACE_ROOT is where the shim is written.

Apply the same two assignments _env now makes: drop WORKSPACE_ROOT from the copied environment and set it to that test's temporary directory before the source.

Surveyed, and already aimed at a temp directory

These copy os.environ and source lib.sh or the wrapper, and they assign WORKSPACE_ROOT to the test directory (or to a sandbox the fixture already set):

• tests/test_issue33_budget.py:47
• tests/test_issue18_liveness_contract.py:58
• tests/test_issue14_delivery_ack.py:36
• tests/test_issue26_envfile.py:76
• tests/test_issue26_ints.py:124
• tests/test_issue6_turn_handshake.py:28-29 (every call passes cwd, and the helper then sets WORKSPACE_ROOT to that cwd)
• tests/test_c1_tui_readiness.py:19
• tests/test_layout.py:318
• tests/test_issue21_phase2_loop_a.py:49 and :59
• tests/test_issue19_subscriber_daemon_lifecycle.py:53 — its only caller (:138) uses mam_sandbox, which has already set WORKSPACE_ROOT to that sandbox
• tests/test_issue34_job_tree.py:590 — same, the callers pass mam_sandbox

tests/test_issue20_state_isolation.py:150 and :201 set WORKSPACE_ROOT on purpose and assert what that root receives. tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py:172 runs python -m lib_py.delegation.wrapper, which does not install the shim. :465 sources lib_int.sh only.

Tests

--basetemp=/tmp/0a8aA.2zJF3l. The process started with WORKSPACE_ROOT equal to that basetemp; conftest.py:144-146 drops it because it is not this checkout, so the tests ran with the variable unset. tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py, tests/test_issue33_budget.py, tests/test_issue5_phase1_delegation.py, tests/test_tier1_unit.py: 443 passed in 466.90 s.

--basetemp=/tmp/0a8aB.XgggUw, outer WORKSPACE_ROOT=/tmp/0a8asent.7l9EpB. tests/test_issue17_item4_decisions.py: 290 passed in 319.77 s. The outer sentinel was empty afterwards. conftest.py:144-146 also drops that foreign root before collection, so the outer variable is not what _env sees. The check that reaches _env is test_c_helpers_write_nothing_to_an_inherited_workspace, which passed in both runs, together with the direct probe above.

[VERDICT: NOT PASS]