bandit-runner/OPTION-1-IMPLEMENTATION.md

Option 1 Implementation - Complete

What Was Done

Implemented the clean state machine approach to handle max-retries with user intervention.

Changes Made

1. SSH Proxy (ssh-proxy/agent.ts)

Status type updated:

• Added 'paused_for_user_action' to the status union type in BanditState annotation

validateResult function:

• Changed status: 'failed' → status: 'paused_for_user_action' when max retries is reached (2 locations)
• The agent now pauses instead of failing, allowing the graph to end cleanly

shouldContinue routing:

• Added state.status === 'paused_for_user_action' to the END conditions
• This prevents the agent from continuing when waiting for user action

2. Frontend Type Definitions (bandit-runner-app/src/lib/agents/bandit-state.ts)

• Added 'paused_for_user_action' to the BanditAgentState.status union type
• Ensures TypeScript recognizes this as a valid status throughout the app

3. Durable Object (bandit-runner-app/src/lib/durable-objects/BanditAgentDO.ts)

Early detection in stream processing:

• In runAgentViaProxy(), before broadcasting events, check if event.type === 'node_update' and event.data.status === 'paused_for_user_action'
• When detected, immediately emit user_action_required event with:
  • reason: 'max_retries'
  • Current level, retry count, max retries
  • Error message
• Update DO state to 'paused' and stop the run
• This happens BEFORE the event stream ends, ensuring the modal triggers

Cleaned up old detection:

• Removed the error message parsing from updateStateFromEvent()
• The new approach is more reliable because it's based on explicit state, not string matching

Why This Works

1. Agent explicitly signals the need for user action via a dedicated status
2. DO detects this early in the event stream and emits the UI event immediately
3. No race conditions with run_complete because the agent graph ends cleanly with the paused_for_user_action status
4. State machine is explicit - no guessing or string parsing

Testing Instructions

Prerequisites

You need to deploy the SSH proxy with the updated agent code:

cd ssh-proxy
npm run build
fly deploy  # or flyctl deploy

Test Flow

1. Navigate to https://bandit-runner-app.nicholaivogelfilms.workers.dev/
2. Start a run with GPT-4o Mini, target level 5
3. Wait for Level 1 to hit max retries (~30-60 seconds)
4. Expected Result: Modal appears with "Max Retries Reached" and three options:
   • Stop
   • Intervene (Manual Mode)
   • Continue
5. Click "Continue" → retry count should reset, agent should resume from Level 1
6. Verify in browser DevTools console:
   • Look for: 🚨 DO: Detected paused_for_user_action, emitting user_action_required:
   • Look for: 📨 WebSocket message received: {"type":"user_action_required"...
   • Look for: 🚨 Max-Retries Modal triggered

Deployment Status

✅ Cloudflare Worker/DO: Deployed (Version ID: 32e6badd-1f4d-4f34-90c8-7620db0e8a5e)
⏳ SSH Proxy: NOT DEPLOYED - you need to run fly deploy in the ssh-proxy directory

Important Notes

• The Cloudflare Worker is already deployed and ready
• The SSH proxy MUST be deployed for the fix to work, because the paused_for_user_action status is generated there
• Until the SSH proxy is deployed, the old behavior will persist (agent fails at max retries without modal)
• The modal UI code was already implemented in the previous iteration and is working

Files Modified

1. /home/Nicholai/Documents/Dev/bandit-runner/ssh-proxy/agent.ts
2. /home/Nicholai/Documents/Dev/bandit-runner/bandit-runner-app/src/lib/agents/bandit-state.ts
3. /home/Nicholai/Documents/Dev/bandit-runner/bandit-runner-app/src/lib/durable-objects/BanditAgentDO.ts

Next Steps

1. Deploy the SSH proxy: cd ssh-proxy && fly deploy
2. Test the max-retries flow end-to-end
3. Verify the modal appears and Continue button works as expected