Is there an existing issue for this?
The generated reports #18993 and #19023 capture individual failures, but not the shared root cause or repository-level fix.
Describe the bug
PR Documentation Check can author and commit the required documentation in microsoft/aspire.dev, but then fails to create the draft docs PR when the effective target is a release/* branch.
The affected runs use gh-aw v0.79.8. The agent correctly calls create_pull_request with an allowlisted base such as release/13.5, but gh-aw patch generation ignores that per-call base and instead uses the workflow's static safe-outputs.create-pull-request.base-branch value, currently main.
Because Aspire checks out the release/13.5 tip at depth 1, git merge-base origin/main <agent-commit> cannot traverse from the shallow release tip to a common ancestor. Patch generation returns ERR_SYSTEM, so the prepared documentation never reaches a PR. Simply changing to full history is unsafe: once the merge-base becomes reachable, a main-based patch could include the entire main-to-release divergence rather than only the agent's documentation commit.
Observed examples include:
Expected Behavior
Patch generation should use the same effective microsoft/aspire.dev branch selected by the workflow's target resolver and passed by the agent. A depth-1 release checkout should then be sufficient because its tip is the correct patch base, and the workflow should create a draft docs PR targeting that branch.
Steps To Reproduce
- Merge or manually dispatch
PR Documentation Check for a source PR whose effective docs target resolves to release/13.5.
- Let the agent author and commit documentation in the depth-1
microsoft/aspire.dev checkout.
- Observe the agent call
create_pull_request with base: "release/13.5".
- Observe patch generation use configured
main instead and fail while computing the merge-base.
The repository fix is to expose the resolver's effective branch as a step output and use that output for agent-time create-pull-request.base-branch, retaining main as the separate safe-output job fallback. All gh-aw workflow sources should be recompiled together whenever the compiler is run or upgraded.
Exceptions (if any)
Pinned SHA ... failed to generate patch: ERR_SYSTEM: Git command failed with status 1
Aspire doctor output
N/A — this is a GitHub Actions/gh-aw workflow failure.
Anything else?
The upstream dynamic-base defect is already tracked by github/gh-aw#41265 and remains open. The v0.85.4 tag still chooses patch generation's base from the static prConfig.base_branch instead of the agent entry's per-call base.
The separate repository re-shallowing defect github/gh-aw#50240 was fixed by github/gh-aw#50378 in prerelease v0.85.0+, but that fix does not make patch generation honor the per-call base. Therefore, upgrading alone does not resolve this issue.
Compiler update
gh-aw v0.85.4 became the latest stable release on August 6. It contains the separate re-shallowing fix from github/gh-aw#50378 plus security hardening, so the repository fix will upgrade and recompile all eight gh-aw workflows together. The dynamic-base defect remains, so the resolver-output workaround is still required; upgrading without that workaround does not fix docs PR creation.
Impact inventory and recovery tracking
A repository-wide scan of aspire-repo-bot[bot] comments carrying pr-docs-check:notify-source-pr, supplemented by generated gh-aw failure issues, found 35 deduplicated failures after the previous checkout-placement fix #18320 merged. Every affected source PR is merged with milestone 13.5. All 35 authored documentation and then failed during create_pull_request patch generation against the shallow/grafted release/13.5 checkout.
Current recovery state: 19 recovered and 16 pending. The repository, safe-output permission, and cached Copilot CLI staging fixes #19055, #19062, and #19109 are merged. A checked item means the resulting Aspire docs PR is merged or the run conclusively required no docs. Remaining items require a fresh workflow_dispatch from current main.
Seven older release/13.4 failures have now been audited:
The five actionable legacy items will be recovered sequentially after the release/13.5 queue. Because release/13.4 no longer exists in microsoft/aspire.dev, the target resolver will use the latest available release branch.
Closure criteria
Is there an existing issue for this?
The generated reports #18993 and #19023 capture individual failures, but not the shared root cause or repository-level fix.
Describe the bug
PR Documentation Checkcan author and commit the required documentation inmicrosoft/aspire.dev, but then fails to create the draft docs PR when the effective target is arelease/*branch.The affected runs use gh-aw v0.79.8. The agent correctly calls
create_pull_requestwith an allowlisted base such asrelease/13.5, but gh-aw patch generation ignores that per-callbaseand instead uses the workflow's staticsafe-outputs.create-pull-request.base-branchvalue, currentlymain.Because Aspire checks out the
release/13.5tip at depth 1,git merge-base origin/main <agent-commit>cannot traverse from the shallow release tip to a common ancestor. Patch generation returnsERR_SYSTEM, so the prepared documentation never reaches a PR. Simply changing to full history is unsafe: once the merge-base becomes reachable, a main-based patch could include the entire main-to-release divergence rather than only the agent's documentation commit.Observed examples include:
Expected Behavior
Patch generation should use the same effective
microsoft/aspire.devbranch selected by the workflow's target resolver and passed by the agent. A depth-1 release checkout should then be sufficient because its tip is the correct patch base, and the workflow should create a draft docs PR targeting that branch.Steps To Reproduce
PR Documentation Checkfor a source PR whose effective docs target resolves torelease/13.5.microsoft/aspire.devcheckout.create_pull_requestwithbase: "release/13.5".maininstead and fail while computing the merge-base.The repository fix is to expose the resolver's effective branch as a step output and use that output for agent-time
create-pull-request.base-branch, retainingmainas the separate safe-output job fallback. All gh-aw workflow sources should be recompiled together whenever the compiler is run or upgraded.Exceptions (if any)
Aspire doctor output
N/A — this is a GitHub Actions/gh-aw workflow failure.
Anything else?
The upstream dynamic-base defect is already tracked by github/gh-aw#41265 and remains open. The v0.85.4 tag still chooses patch generation's base from the static
prConfig.base_branchinstead of the agent entry's per-callbase.The separate repository re-shallowing defect github/gh-aw#50240 was fixed by github/gh-aw#50378 in prerelease v0.85.0+, but that fix does not make patch generation honor the per-call base. Therefore, upgrading alone does not resolve this issue.
Compiler update
gh-aw v0.85.4 became the latest stable release on August 6. It contains the separate re-shallowing fix from github/gh-aw#50378 plus security hardening, so the repository fix will upgrade and recompile all eight gh-aw workflows together. The dynamic-base defect remains, so the resolver-output workaround is still required; upgrading without that workaround does not fix docs PR creation.
Impact inventory and recovery tracking
A repository-wide scan of
aspire-repo-bot[bot]comments carryingpr-docs-check:notify-source-pr, supplemented by generated gh-aw failure issues, found 35 deduplicated failures after the previous checkout-placement fix #18320 merged. Every affected source PR is merged with milestone 13.5. All 35 authored documentation and then failed duringcreate_pull_requestpatch generation against the shallow/graftedrelease/13.5checkout.Current recovery state: 19 recovered and 16 pending. The repository, safe-output permission, and cached Copilot CLI staging fixes #19055, #19062, and #19109 are merged. A checked item means the resulting Aspire docs PR is merged or the run conclusively required no docs. Remaining items require a fresh
workflow_dispatchfrom currentmain.Seven older release/13.4 failures have now been audited:
aspire updatedocs do not cover staging refusal on daily/local/PR builds or theoverrideStagingFeedescape hatch.ITokenCredentialProvideror accessing Aspire's provisioning credential.aspire run/aspire startdocs do not coverASPIRE_CLI_START_TIMEOUT.ArgumentException.The five actionable legacy items will be recovered sequentially after the release/13.5 queue. Because
release/13.4no longer exists inmicrosoft/aspire.dev, the target resolver will use the latest available release branch.Closure criteria