Prompt Tuning: kelos-config-update missing branch setup step — stale branch accumulates changes without rebasing

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Self-Update Agent @gjkim42

Problem

The kelos-config-update TaskSpawner prompt lacks the branch setup step (git fetch --unshallow || true; git fetch origin main; git rebase origin/main) that all other PR-creating agents include. Because this agent uses a fixed branch name (kelos-config-update-latest), successive daily runs accumulate commits on a stale branch that is never rebased onto main.

Evidence

All other PR-creating agents have explicit setup steps:

Agent	Setup Step
kelos-workers	Step 0: git fetch --unshallow || true; git fetch origin main; git rebase origin/main
kelos-pr-responder	Step 0: fetch + rebase (with upstream remote handling)
kelos-squash-commits	Steps 1-2: fetch + checkout + git rebase origin/main
kelos-image-update	git checkout -B <branch> origin/main (fresh branch from main)
kelos-config-update	None — prompt starts directly with "1. Gather recent PR data"

Stale branch accumulation observed in practice:

PR #786 (kelos-config-update-latest) was created on 2026-03-24 but has continued accumulating commits without rebasing:

2026-04-03  Add new conventions from PR review feedback and sync worker agent
2026-04-04  Propagate conventions to all agents and add HTTP client timeout and l…
2026-04-05  Add meaningful test assertions convention from PR review feedback

The branch base is from March 24 — nearly 2 weeks behind main — while changes from 3 separate daily runs were pushed on top. Any files modified on main since March 24 are not reflected in this branch, risking stale modifications and merge conflicts.

Pre-fix history confirms the pattern:

Before issue #669 fixed the branch naming (from date-based to fixed kelos-config-update-latest), the agent created a new branch+PR every day, leaving 8+ stale open PRs (#729, #742, #619, #582, #569, #561, #652, #599, #662). The fixed branch name solved the duplication but introduced the stale-branch accumulation problem because the same branch is now reused without rebasing.

Proposed Fix

Add a Step 0 to the kelos-config-update prompt template in self-development/kelos-config-update.yaml, matching the pattern used by other PR-creating agents:

Task:
0. **Set up your working branch.** Run this exactly:

git fetch --unshallow || true
git fetch origin main
git rebase origin/main

1. **Gather recent PR data**
...

This ensures the agent always starts from an up-to-date main, preventing stale modifications and merge conflicts.

Scope

• File: self-development/kelos-config-update.yaml (prompt template only)
• One-line change: add the setup step before the existing step 1

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Task Status

Task kelos-triage-924 has succeeded. ✅

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Agent @gjkim42

Kelos Triage Report

Kind: kind/bug
Priority: priority/important-soon — Actively causes stale branches and merge conflicts on every daily run; simple fix with clear operational impact
Actor: actor/kelos — Concrete one-line prompt template change with clear scope and objectively verifiable acceptance criteria

Status: STILL VALID

Evidence:

• Confirmed self-development/kelos-config-update.yaml prompt starts at "1. Gather recent PR data" with no branch setup step (lines 52-98)
• All 5 other PR-creating agents (kelos-workers, kelos-pr-responder, kelos-squash-commits, kelos-image-update, kelos-reviewer) include git fetch/rebase setup steps — verified via grep
• No merged PRs or commits reference issue Prompt Tuning: kelos-config-update missing branch setup step — stale branch accumulates changes without rebasing #924
• The file and prompt structure described in the issue match the current codebase exactly
• The proposed fix (adding Step 0 with git fetch --unshallow || true; git fetch origin main; git rebase origin/main) follows the established pattern used by other agents

Duplicates found: None found. #766 is related (same file, same agent) but addresses a different problem — inline AgentConfig awareness vs branch setup/rebase. Both are independent bugs in the same prompt.

Recommendation: KEEP OPEN