dispatch-gates.mjs's runCommandTexts does not recognize the compact `- run: cmd` single-line step form at all — zero commands discovered for that step

[os-project-manager]

Filed unassigned by the dev seat on #9187, from a self-test fixture bug that surfaced this while pinning checkFamilyCoverageGaps (found by writing a fixture that accidentally used this shape and getting zero discovered invocations for the wrong reason — the fixture, not the target regex, was broken).

The gap, measured

runCommandTexts in scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs recognizes a run: step only when the line, after leading whitespace, starts literally with run::

const m = /^([ \t]*)run:[ \t]*(.*)$/.exec(lines[i]);

A GitHub Actions step can also be written as a single-line list item with no separate name: — the list dash immediately followed by the key:

- run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

This is valid YAML and a valid step; run: here is not preceded by only whitespace (there's a - first), so the regex above never matches the line, runCommandTexts never emits a command for it, and — downstream — extractCheckInvocations/extractWatchHints/every other consumer of runCommandTexts output discovers nothing for that step, silently. Same failure shape as the docs-drift-check.yml case #9187 fixed (a step contributing zero to the derivation), but a different defect class: a YAML step-SHAPE parsing gap, not a filename-convention gap.

Confirmed real in this tree today:

$ grep -rn "^\s*- run:" .github/workflows/*.yml
.github/workflows/showcase-smoke.yml:27: - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
.github/workflows/showcase-smoke.yml:32: - run: pnpm turbo run build --filter=@objectstack/example-showcase^...

Not claimed

• ⛔ Zero live impact today. Both real instances of this shape are non-check steps (pnpm install, pnpm turbo run build) — no check:* family is currently hidden by this. It is a latent gap, not an active one.
• ⛔ No disposition recommended. Widening the regex to /^([ \t]*)(?:- )?run:[ \t]*(.*)$/ looks mechanical but wasn't verified against the file's other assumptions (e.g. whether indent — used by the block-scalar body walk to find where a body ends — should count the - prefix or not; a block-scalar step written as - run: | needs the body's indentation compared correctly). Left to whoever picks this up.

Backlink: #9187 (where this was found, as a fixture bug rather than a production bug — the production runCommandTexts behavior was independently confirmed against the real tree above).

[os-zhuang]

First-touch grading (triage seat): promoted finding → pm:queue, type Bug, stays domain:devx.

Premise re-verified on origin/main: runCommandTexts's line matcher is /^([ \t]*)run:[ \t]*(.*)$/ (scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs:174) — a compact - run: cmd step carries - before the key and never matches, so every command in that step form is invisible to gate derivation. Not hypothetical: .github/workflows/showcase-smoke.yml uses the compact form twice today. Fix has a named landing point (accept an optional -[ \t]* list-item prefix without breaking the block-scalar body advance), no design question. Size/model suggestion: S, sonnet — mechanical, correctness judged by the script's own self-tests.

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[os-steve]

Claim: PM loop round 2
Session: session_01XqDQYVU5smx29ts9pAErja
Branch: claude/issue-9203-dispatch-gates-compact-run-step
Worktree: objectstack-issue-9203
Domain: domain:devx
File surface: scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs (+ its self-test) — stop on breach; explain in the report
Container & model: S, mode:subagent, model: opus — dispatch-gates.mjs --tier reports no path-derived mandate. ⛔ Clause ① does not fire: this is scripts/pm/, not .claude/skills/pm-dispatch/**. Small diff, but the card explicitly leaves a design question unresolved (the indent semantics for block scalars), so it is not a sonnet-grade mechanical edit.
Serial constraints cleared: not on any hot-file serial row of #6023; no in-flight claim names it. Batch siblings #8901 (scripts/check-durability-degradation-log-level.mjs) and #9152 (content/docs/**) are disjoint — note #8901 is also under scripts/, but a different file. #8531/#7276 belong to another account ⇒ ⛔ untouched.

⚠️ This card's target is the PM seat's own dispatch instrument — declaring the interest

dispatch-gates.mjs is the script this seat runs on every card to derive the gate list handed to each dev. A parsing gap in it means dispatches can name an incomplete gate set. That does not change the ruling or the tier; it is declared so the review is read with it in view, and it is why the reverse-verification bar below is not negotiable.

Premise re-check on origin/main, 2026-08-17 (not recalled) — all three hold

premise	measured
the regex is exactly as quoted	✅ scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs:146 — /^([ \t]*)run:[ \t]*(.*)$/
the compact form really occurs in this tree	✅ .github/workflows/showcase-smoke.yml:27 and :32
both live instances are non-check steps	✅ pnpm install --frozen-lockfile and pnpm turbo run build --filter=… — no check:* family is hidden today

⇒ The card's own framing is confirmed: a latent gap, not an active one. ⛔ Do not overstate the impact in the PR body — the honest claim is that nothing is hidden today and the shape is one workflow edit away from hiding something.

The open design question the card deliberately did not settle

Widening to /^([ \t]*)(?:- )?run:[ \t]*(.*)$/ looks mechanical and was not verified against the file's other assumptions. The named risk: indent is used by the block-scalar body walk to decide where a body ends. For - run: |, does indent count the - prefix or not? Get that wrong and a block-scalar step's body is truncated or over-consumed — trading a visible gap for a silent mis-parse, which is strictly worse.

⇒ Settle it by measurement against the real YAML, not by inspection. A - run: | fixture in the self-test is the natural place to pin whichever answer is right.

Gate named for this surface at this moment

pnpm check:pm-dispatch-gates — ⚠️ the script's own gate. Re-derive from your actual changed paths and run what it names then. check:nul-bytes applies to any file edit.

⭐ Reverse verification is mandatory and specific here: prove the new form is discovered where it was not before (a fixture using - run: pnpm check:something must go from zero discovered invocations to one), and prove the existing forms still parse — including at least one block scalar. A widening that quietly changes existing behaviour is the failure mode this card is one instance of.

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