Mission Control should not block ready-for-policy-review promotions on accepted_record

[ozand]

Problem

After #461 / PR #462, the runtime now emits a coherent pending policy-review promotion:

• status=ready_for_policy_review
• decision_record=pending_operator_review_packet
• accepted_record=null
• governance_packet.review_packet_status=pending_operator_review
• readiness_checks.missing_inputs=[]
• readiness_checks.provenance_complete=true
• readiness_blocker.state=ready_for_policy_review
• source_commit=2998ffa5047db482c39fae91b84d6799735a3761

Live proof from /api/promotions.items[0] after eeepc deploy/collect:

{
  "identity_key": "promotion-26cbaba1d30b",
  "status": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "decision_record": "pending_operator_review_packet",
  "accepted_record": null,
  "readiness_checks": {
    "artifact_present": true,
    "evidence_refs_present": true,
    "provenance_complete": true,
    "missing_inputs": []
  },
  "readiness_blocker": {
    "state": "ready_for_policy_review",
    "recommended_next_action": "ready_for_policy_review"
  },
  "recommended_next_action": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "governance_packet.review_packet_status": "pending_operator_review",
  "governance_packet.decision": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "source_commit": "2998ffa5047db482c39fae91b84d6799735a3761"
}

But Mission Control still reports:

• /api/mission-control.headline = Blocked: accepted_record
• /api/system.autonomy_verdict.reasons = [promotion_lifecycle_blocked]

This is a dashboard/Mission-Control classification bug: accepted_record=null is expected before acceptance when the promotion is pending policy review. It must not be treated as a blocker in the ready_for_policy_review / pending_operator_review_packet state.

Contract interpretation

A promotion with:

• review_status/status=ready_for_policy_review
• decision_record=pending_operator_review_packet
• accepted_record=null
• governance_packet.review_packet_status=pending_operator_review

is not accepted yet, but it is also not blocked. It is awaiting policy/operator review.

Blocked states should be reserved for actual gate failures such as:

• not_ready_for_policy_review
• blocked_not_ready
• missing readiness inputs
• missing source provenance
• missing artifact/evidence

Likely files/functions

• ops/dashboard/src/nanobot_ops_dashboard/app.py
  • _promotion_replay_readiness_from_promotions()
  • _autonomy_verdict()
  • _mission_control_summary()
• tests likely in:
  • ops/dashboard/tests/test_dashboard_truth_audit_gaps.py
  • ops/dashboard/tests/test_app.py
  • ops/dashboard/tests/test_promotions_truth.py

Acceptance criteria

• Add regression coverage for a latest promotion with:
  • status=ready_for_policy_review
  • decision_record=pending_operator_review_packet
  • accepted_record=null
  • governance_packet.review_packet_status=pending_operator_review
• /api/mission-control must not show Blocked: accepted_record for that state.
• /api/system.autonomy_verdict.reasons must not include promotion_lifecycle_blocked solely because accepted_record is null in that state.
• /api/promotions must still show the candidate as pending review, not accepted.
• Genuine not_ready_for_policy_review / blocked_not_ready candidates must still be classified as blocked.
• Deploy to live dashboard and prove Mission Control no longer blocks on accepted_record for the latest ready candidate, or expose the next real blocker.

[ozand]

#463 complete: ready policy-review promotions no longer block on accepted_record

Fixed in PR #464 / commit 446ad5ce.

Root cause

After #461/#462 the runtime emitted the correct pending-review promotion state:

• status=ready_for_policy_review
• decision_record=pending_operator_review_packet
• accepted_record=null
• governance_packet.review_packet_status=pending_operator_review

But Dashboard/Mission Control treated accepted_record=null as a missing-record blocker. That is wrong before acceptance: no accepted_record exists until the policy/operator accepts the candidate.

Fix

ops/dashboard/src/nanobot_ops_dashboard/app.py now classifies:

• ready_for_policy_review
• pending_operator_review
• pending_operator_review_packet

as promotion_candidate_awaiting_policy_review, with missing_records=[] for the expected null accepted_record.

Genuine blocked/not-ready candidates still remain blocked/not-ready.

Verification

RED before fix:

• PYTHONPATH=ops/dashboard/src:ops/dashboard python3 -m pytest ops/dashboard/tests/test_dashboard_truth_audit_gaps.py::test_api_system_does_not_block_ready_promotion_awaiting_policy_review -q
  • failed with readiness['state'] == 'blocked'

GREEN after fix:

• focused regression and control tests: 3 passed
• dashboard suite: 166 passed
• root suite: 699 passed, 5 skipped

GitHub CI for PR #464:

• test (3.11): pass, 1m37s
• test (3.12): pass, 1m25s
• test (3.13): pass, 2m51s

Live proof after merge/restart/collect

Services restarted:

• nanobot-ops-dashboard-web.service: active/running
• nanobot-ops-dashboard-collector.service: active/running

Latest /api/promotions.items[0]:

{
  "identity_key": "promotion-a50518d431fd",
  "status": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "decision_record": "pending_operator_review_packet",
  "accepted_record": null,
  "gp_status": "pending_operator_review",
  "gp_decision": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "readiness_blocker_state": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "source_commit": "2998ffa5047db482c39fae91b84d6799735a3761"
}

/api/system.control_plane.promotion_replay_readiness:

{
  "state": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "reason": "promotion_candidate_awaiting_policy_review",
  "decision_record": "pending_operator_review_packet",
  "accepted_record": null,
  "missing_records": [],
  "recommended_next_action": "ready_for_policy_review"
}

/api/system.autonomy_verdict and /api/analytics.autonomy_verdict:

{
  "state": "healthy_progress",
  "reasons": [],
  "historical_reasons": [
    "same_task_streak",
    "discarded_experiment",
    "suppressed_reward",
    "terminal_noop"
  ],
  "recommended_next_action": "ready_for_policy_review",
  "blocking_summary": null
}

The specific #463 blocker is resolved: accepted_record=null is no longer a promotion lifecycle blocker for a ready pending-review candidate.

A new downstream display/control-plane inconsistency remains visible: /api/mission-control.headline still starts with Blocked: even though /api/system and /api/analytics now report healthy_progress with no autonomy blockers. I am tracking that separately rather than reopening #463.