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#3513 issue-lifecycle: an approved plan cannot be sent back to planning
Opened by zack · 10/15/2026· Shipped 10/15/2026
Description
Once a plan is approved in the @swamp/issue-lifecycle model, there is no way to move the lifecycle back to planning. If, after approval, it turns out the plan is wrong or incomplete (new information, a reviewer asks for changes, implementation reveals a flaw before any code lands), the only way out of approved is forward (implement) or a full restart (start), which goes back to triage and discards the plan-iteration context.
The transition table in extensions/models/_lib/schemas.ts (TRANSITIONS) has:
iterate: ["plan_generated"]approve: ["plan_generated"]adversarial_review: ["plan_generated"]resolve_findings: ["plan_generated", "approved"]implement: ["approved", "pr_failed"]
Nothing accepts approved and returns the phase to plan_generated, so iterate is refused by the valid-transition check as soon as the plan is approved.
approve also moves the swamp-club issue status to in_progress, and swamp-club has no backward status transitions, so any fix needs to decide what the Lab status should be when an approved plan is reopened.
Steps to Reproduce
- Run the issue lifecycle on an issue through
triage→plan→approve. - Decide the plan needs changes and try
iteratewith feedback. - The method is refused:
iterateis only allowed fromplan_generated, and the lifecycle is inapproved.
Expected
An approved plan can be sent back to planning (e.g. iterate allowed from approved, or a dedicated unapprove/reopen_plan method), returning the phase to plan_generated while keeping the existing plan, its version history, and review findings, so the plan can be revised and re-approved.
Actual
The lifecycle is stuck in approved; the only options are implementing the approved plan or restarting the whole lifecycle from triage.
Environment
- swamp repo,
extensions/models/issue_lifecycle.ts - swamp 20261015.155234.0-sha.fd2cc7ca
Shipped
Click a lifecycle step above to view its details.
system commented 10/15/2026, 8:20:45 PM
Classified automatically when this issue was filed.
- Source: Extensions
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