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Bug Report BR-056: RW Accepts Ambiguous Task Identifier Without Validation (Typo Risk)

Bug ID: BR-056 Task ID: E6:S06:T56 Priority: HIGH Severity: MEDIUM (wrong attribution, requires manual rollback) Status: VERIFIED_FIXED Created: 2026-03-18 Classification: Bug + UX gap

Bug Summary​

RW executes with user-supplied task identifiers (e.g. RW E7S5T1) without validating or confirming them. A single-digit typo (e.g. E7S5T1 instead of E7S6T1) causes attribution to the wrong task (E7:S05:T01 instead of E7:S06:T01), producing an incorrect version bump, changelog, kanban update, and commit. RW should have detected the mismatch or prompted for confirmation.

Problem Description​

Observed Behavior​

  • User typed RW E7S5T1 (intended: RW E7S6T1 – Story 6, Task 1)
  • RW executed without validation or confirmation
  • RW attributed release to E7:S05:T01 (UXR-001) instead of E7:S06:T01 (Windsurf artifact cleanup)
  • Version bumped to 0.7.5.1+1; Story 5 updated; wrong changelog entry
  • Required manual git reset --hard HEAD~1 to rollback

Risk​

  • Single-digit typos (S5 vs S6, T1 vs T2) are easy to make and hard to spot
  • No context check: Current version was 0.7.6.1+1 (Story 6); user intent was likely Story 6. RW did not flag that the requested task (E7:S05:T01) differed from current version context (E7:S06:T01)
  • Silent wrong attribution: Commits and changelog are polluted; rollback loses other work if not caught immediately

Root Cause​

  • No validation of user-supplied task identifiers against current version/branch context
  • No confirmation step when identifier differs from "most likely" (e.g. current story)
  • Short formats (E7S5T1) are ambiguous – S5 vs S6 is one character

Proposed Solutions​

Option A: Context-Aware Validation (Bug Fix)​

  • When user supplies RW E7S5T1 (or similar), parse to E7:S05:T01
  • Compare to current VERSION_EPIC.STORY.TASK from version.py
  • If mismatch (e.g. requested S05, current S06): warn and ask for confirmation before proceeding
  • Example: "You requested E7:S05:T01. Current version is E7:S06:T01. Did you mean E7:S06:T01? (yes/no)"

Option B: Canonical Format Enforcement (UX)​

  • Require explicit format: RW E7:S06:T01 (with colons) to reduce parsing ambiguity
  • Reject or prompt on shorthand that could parse multiple ways

Option C: Pre-Commit Summary (UX)​

  • Before Step 10 (commit), display: "About to commit as E7:S05:T01. Confirm? (yes/no)"
  • Gives user one last chance to catch typo

Recommendation​

Implement Option A as primary fix; consider Option C as defense-in-depth.

Acceptance Criteria​

  • RW detects when user-supplied task identifier differs from current version's Epic/Story/Task (validate_rw_task_intent.py; story/epic mismatch blocks)
  • RW prompts for confirmation path: agent RW ABORTED on validator exit 1; resume with --confirmed-override after explicit user confirm (.cursorrules Step 1b)
  • Documentation updated: .cursorrules, packaged RW trigger template, release-workflow-agent-execution.md Step 1.5
  • Regression scenarios: run_validate_rw_task_intent_scenarios.sh (story typo, new-task T999 vs T998, RW -k exemption)

User verification (2026-03-25): On epic/7-codebase-maintenance, RW E7S5T1 with version.py at E7:S06:T17 — Step 1b abort (story mismatch / BR-056). On same branch, RW E6S6T56 — Step 1b abort (epic mismatch). Guard behaves as designed.

Fixed (verified)​

  • BR-056: RW task-intent validation blocks wrong story and wrong epic before Step 2 file edits; RW -k and --confirmed-override paths documented.

Attempted resolution (implementation complete; verify manually)​

  • Script: packages/frameworks/workflow mgt/scripts/validation/validate_rw_task_intent.py — compares parsed --requested id to version.py; --mode rw-k; --confirmed-override.
  • Rules: .cursorrules Step 1b; exception to continuous execution when guard fails.
  • Template: packages/frameworks/workflow mgt/cursorrules-rw-trigger-section.md (adopters).
  • Guide: Step 1.5 in release-workflow-agent-execution.md.
  • UKW parser fix: removed duplicate empty normalize_task_id stub in ukw_syntax_parser.py (blocked imports).

References​

  • Incident: 2026-03-18 – User typo E7S5T1 for E7S6T1; rollback via git reset --hard HEAD~1
  • Related: FR-060 (RW task argument requirement), FR-048 (RW trigger extensions)