Fix critical bug in patcher.py where patches failed to apply to staged
files during pre-commit hooks.
**Root Cause:**
The apply_patch() function was unstaging files before applying patches:
1. File gets unstaged (git reset HEAD)
2. Patch tries to apply with --index flag
3. But patch was generated from STAGED content
4. Base state mismatch causes patch application to fail
5. Original changes get re-staged, AI changes are lost
**The Fix:**
Remove the unstaging logic entirely (lines 599-610, 639-641).
- Patches are generated from staged content (git diff --cached)
- The --index flag correctly applies to both working tree and index
- No need to unstage first - that changes the base state
**Changes:**
- Deleted 19 lines of problematic unstaging code
- Added clear comment explaining why unstaging is harmful
- Simplified apply_patch() function
**Impact:**
- Patches now apply correctly during pre-commit hooks
- Status changes (OPEN → READY_FOR_DESIGN) work properly
- Gate creation (design_gate_writer) will trigger correctly
- No behavior change for non-staged files
**Testing:**
- All 18 existing tests still pass
- Bundle rebuilt and verified
Discovered during end-to-end testing when AI-generated status promotion
patches failed with "Failed to apply patch (strict and 3-way both failed)".
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Changed approach from disabling outputs to properly handling AI's decision
not to generate changes (e.g., gated outputs, conditional rules).
Changes:
1. patcher.py - Allow empty diffs
- sanitize_unified_patch() returns empty string instead of raising error
- generate_output() returns early for empty patches (silent skip)
- Common case: implementation_gate_writer when status != READY_FOR_IMPLEMENTATION
- AI can now return explanatory text without a diff (no error)
2. features.ai-rules.yml - Override README rule
- Add README.md → "readme_skip" association
- Creates empty rule to disable README updates in Docs/features/
- Prevents unnecessary AI calls during feature discussions
- README automation still works in root directory
3. root.ai-rules.yml - Restore default README rule
- Removed "enabled: false" flag (back to default enabled)
- Features directory overrides this with empty rule
Benefits:
- implementation_gate now calls AI but AI returns empty diff (as designed)
- No more "[runner] error generating ...implementation.discussion.md"
- No more "[runner] error generating README.md"
- Clean separation: AI decides vs. config disables
- Instructions to AI are still executed, AI just chooses no changes
Testing:
Setup completes cleanly with no [runner] errors. The automation
runs and AI correctly returns no diff for implementation file
when status is OPEN.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Detect Claude API 500 Overloaded errors
- Continue processing other files on error instead of aborting
- Log errors to stderr for visibility
This allows commits to succeed even if some AI requests fail due to rate limiting.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Helps debugging by preserving raw AI output when markers are missing.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude CLI returns exit code 1 even when successfully generating output.
Check for stdout content before failing on non-zero exit codes.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Fix missing space after colon in features.ai-rules.yml
- Add tools/mock_ai.sh for testing automation without real AI
- Ensures installer has valid YAML templates
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
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