internal/continuity/continuity.go

@@ -136,6 +136,13 @@ var reasons = map[string]bool{"threshold": true, "milestone": true, "thrash": tr
 
 const maxAuthoredLine = 200
 
+// Action is not one authored line. parseHandoffAnswer joins the agent's NEXT
+// and WHY answers with " — ", and the prompt asks for a sentence each without
+// naming any budget. Two ordinary sentences cleared 200 characters and every
+// rotation on workpc failed at "prose smuggled into list" (F31). Budget the
+// joined field for the two lines it is actually made of.
+const maxAuthoredAction = 2*maxAuthoredLine + len(" — ")
+
 var circularAction = regexp.MustCompile(`(?i)handoff|report\.md|^continue the task`)
 var circularCommand = regexp.MustCompile(`(?i)\.orchestra-handoff|handoff-report|report\.md`)
 
@@ -149,7 +156,7 @@ func (h Handoff) Validate() error {
 	if circularAction.MatchString(h.Action) {
 		return errors.New("invalid handoff action: must name concrete next work, not a handoff")
 	}
-	if err := validateAuthoredLine(h.Action); err != nil {
+	if err := validateAuthored(h.Action, maxAuthoredAction); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if circularCommand.MatchString(h.Command) {
@@ -180,12 +187,22 @@ func (h Handoff) Validate() error {
 }
 
 func validateAuthoredLine(s string) error {
+	return validateAuthored(s, maxAuthoredLine)
+}
+
+// The two rejections used to share one message, which named the cause the
+// agent had not hit. An answer over budget was reported as smuggled prose, so
+// the agent could not tell what to shorten and retried the same text.
+func validateAuthored(s string, limit int) error {
 	if strings.TrimSpace(s) == "" {
 		return errors.New("invalid handoff authored field: empty item")
 	}
-	if strings.Contains(s, "\n#") || len(s) > maxAuthoredLine {
+	if strings.Contains(s, "\n#") {
 		return errors.New("invalid handoff authored field: prose smuggled into list")
 	}
+	if len(s) > limit {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid handoff authored field: %d characters, limit %d", len(s), limit)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 func Encode(h Handoff) ([]byte, error) {

internal/continuity/continuity_test.go

@@ -165,3 +165,43 @@ func TestVerifyTaskFileRejectsMutation(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("expected immutable task check to fail")
 	}
 }
+
+// TestActionCarriesTheBudgetOfBothLinesItIsMadeOf guards F31. Action is not one
+// authored line: parseHandoffAnswer joins the agent's NEXT and WHY answers, and
+// the prompt asks for a sentence each. Holding the join to a single line's
+// budget rejected two ordinary sentences, which failed every rotation on
+// workpc at "prose smuggled into list" and pinned the worker slot behind it.
+func TestActionCarriesTheBudgetOfBothLinesItIsMadeOf(t *testing.T) {
+	next := strings.Repeat("a", maxAuthoredLine)
+	why := strings.Repeat("b", maxAuthoredLine)
+	h := Handoff{
+		Meta:   Meta{ID: "h1", Reason: "threshold"},
+		Anchor: Anchor{GitSHA: strings.Repeat("0", 40), Branch: "main"},
+		Action: next + " — " + why,
+	}
+	if err := h.Validate(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("two full-length answers rejected: %v", err)
+	}
+	h.Action = next + " — " + why + "c"
+	if err := h.Validate(); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an action past both budgets was accepted")
+	}
+}
+
+// An over-budget field must not be reported as smuggled prose. The agent
+// cannot shorten what it is not told is too long, so it retried the same text.
+func TestOverBudgetFieldNamesLengthNotProse(t *testing.T) {
+	h := Handoff{
+		Meta:      Meta{ID: "h1", Reason: "threshold"},
+		Anchor:    Anchor{GitSHA: strings.Repeat("0", 40), Branch: "main"},
+		Action:    "do the next thing",
+		Remaining: []string{strings.Repeat("x", maxAuthoredLine+1)},
+	}
+	err := h.Validate()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("over-budget item accepted")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "limit") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "smuggled") {
+		t.Fatalf("error names the wrong cause: %v", err)
+	}
+}

internal/herdr/adapter.go

@@ -195,9 +195,9 @@ func (a CLIAdapter) prompt(ctx context.Context, s Session, text string, wait tim
 
 const handoffPrompt = `Orchestra is about to rotate this task. Write ONLY the following labelled answers to ` + HandoffReportFile + `, then stop. Output nothing else.
 
-NEXT: the single next action (one line).
-WHY: why that is next (one line).
-REMAINING: outstanding items, one line each. If none: NONE.
+NEXT: the single next action (one line, at most 200 characters).
+WHY: why that is next (one line, at most 200 characters).
+REMAINING: outstanding items, one line each, at most 200 characters each. If none: NONE.
 DEAD ENDS: approaches tried that failed — "tried X → failed because Y", one per line. If none: NONE.
 OPEN Q: unresolved decisions, one line each. If none: NONE.
 LEARNED: constraints discovered that are NOT in TASK.md, one line each. If none: NONE.