Mission Control task-editor save diagnosis

Date: 2026-04-27

Scope

Diagnose the task-editor save issue Pete hit when trying to mark JAM-45 done from the UI.

Root cause

The task editor exposed all status columns in the Column select for existing tasks, but the server-side save path does not allow arbitrary status jumps.

Relevant save path:

• components/tasks/TaskEditorModal.tsx renders every column as a selectable option.
• components/tasks/TasksWorkspace.tsx saves edit-mode changes with PATCH /api/tasks/:taskId.
• app/api/tasks/[taskId]/route.ts calls updateTask(...).
• lib/tasks-store.ts applies lifecycle validation via applyLifecycleTransition(...) and rejects illegal transitions such as backlog -> done.

That creates a UI/API mismatch:

• the modal suggests direct moves like backlog -> done are allowed;
• the API rejects them with Invalid transition: backlog -> done;
• from the user side, the save appears not to stick.

Live repro

I reproduced this in the running UI at http://localhost:3100/tasks using temporary tasks.

Repro 1, invalid transition, expected failure before fix

Temporary task: JAM-47

• created in backlog
• opened in the editor modal
• changed Column to Done
• clicked Save changes

Observed result:

• modal stayed open
• page surfaced Invalid transition: backlog -> done
• task did not move

Repro 2, valid transition, save path works

Temporary task: JAM-48

• created in needs-review
• opened in the editor modal
• changed Column to Done
• clicked Save changes

Observed result:

• API persisted the task as done
• no transition error returned

This confirms the bug is not a generic editor save failure. It is a status-option mismatch between the editor and lifecycle-enforcing API.

Fix implemented

I made the task lifecycle rules a shared source of truth and constrained edit-mode status options to legal choices for the task’s current persisted state.

Files changed:

• mission-control/lib/tasks.ts
• added allowedTaskStatusTransitions
• added getTaskStatusEditOptions(currentStatus)
• mission-control/lib/tasks-store.ts
• switched server transition validation to use the shared lifecycle map
• mission-control/components/tasks/TasksWorkspace.tsx
• edit mode now passes lifecycle-filtered column options into TaskEditorModal
• options are based on the task’s current persisted status, not the mutable draft state

Expected behavior after restart/reload:

• backlog tasks show only Backlog and Up Next
• up-next tasks show Backlog, Up Next, In Progress
• in-progress tasks show In Progress, Needs Review
• needs-review tasks show In Progress, Needs Review, Done
• done tasks show Done

This prevents the editor from offering impossible transitions that the API will reject.

Validation status

Completed:

• reproduced the original failure mode in the live UI
• confirmed valid needs-review -> done saves do persist
• implemented a scoped code fix
• cleaned up both temporary repro tasks, board left clean

Blocked in this session:

• I could not restart or rebuild the running Mission Control server from this Discord subagent session because exec requires approval and chat exec approvals are disabled here.
• The browser continued serving the pre-change bundle, so I could not perform a post-restart UI validation of the patched modal from this session alone.

Remaining edge cases

• Deep-linked edit modals should now respect lifecycle options after the updated bundle is loaded.
• This fix is intentionally narrow. It does not change drag-and-drop behavior or introduce multi-step auto-advancement through the lifecycle.
• If product intent is to allow direct jumps to Done, the server lifecycle model would need a separate policy change. That is not part of this fix.