## Problem
Models frequently use shell `&` instead of `run_in_background=true` when
starting long-running processes through `/agents`, causing them to die
shortly after starting. This happens because:
1. **No guidance in tool schema** — The `ExecuteArgs` struct had zero
`description` tags. The model saw `run_in_background: boolean
(optional)` with no explanation of when/why to use it.
2. **Shell `&` is silently broken** — `sh -c "command &"` forks the
process, the shell exits immediately, and the forked child becomes an
orphan not tracked by the process manager.
3. **No process group isolation** — The SSH subsystem sets `Setsid:
true` on spawned processes, but the agent process manager set no
`SysProcAttr` at all. Signals only hit the top-level `sh`, not child
processes.
## Investigation
Compared our implementation against **openai/codex** and **coder/mux**:
| Aspect | codex | mux | coder/coder (before) |
|--------|-------|-----|---------------------|
| Background flag | Yield/resume with `session_id` | `run_in_background`
with rich description | `run_in_background` with **no description** |
| `&` handling | `setsid()` + `killpg()` | `detached: true` +
`killProcessTree()` | **Nothing** — orphaned children escape |
| Process isolation | `setsid()` on every spawn | `set -m; nohup ...
setsid` for background | **No `SysProcAttr` at all** |
| Signal delivery | `killpg(pgid, sig)` — entire group | `kill -15
-\$pid` — negative PID | `proc.cmd.Process.Signal()` — **PID only** |
## Changes
### Fix 1: Add descriptions to `ExecuteArgs` (highest impact)
The model now sees explicit guidance: *"Use for long-running processes
like dev servers, file watchers, or builds. Do NOT use shell & — it will
not work correctly."*
### Fix 2: Update tool description
The top-level execute tool description now reinforces: *"Use
run_in_background=true for long-running processes. Never use shell '&'
for backgrounding."*
### Fix 3: Detect trailing `&` and auto-promote to background
Defense-in-depth: if the model still uses `command &`, we strip the `&`
and promote to `run_in_background=true` automatically. Correctly
distinguishes `&` from `&&`.
### Fix 4: Process group isolation (`Setpgid`)
New platform-specific files (`proc_other.go` / `proc_windows.go`)
following the same pattern as `agentssh/exec_other.go`. Every spawned
process gets its own process group.
### Fix 5: Process group signaling
`signal()` now uses `syscall.Kill(-pid, sig)` on Unix to signal the
entire process group, ensuring child processes from shell pipelines are
also cleaned up.
## Testing
All existing `agent/agentproc` tests pass. Both packages compile
cleanly.
- Use t.Errorf in chattest non-streaming helpers so encoding
failures fail the test
- Thread testing.TB into writeResponsesAPIStreaming and log
SSE write errors instead of silently dropping them
- Bump createworkspace DB error log from Warn to Error
- Use errors.Join for timeout + output error in execute.go
Handle previously ignored error return values in coderd:
- coderd/chats.go: check sendEvent errors, log on failure
- coderd/chatd/chattest: thread testing.TB through server structs,
replace log.Printf with t.Logf, check writeSSEEvent errors
- coderd/chatd/chattool/createworkspace.go: log UpdateChatWorkspace
failure instead of discarding both return values
- coderd/chatd/chattool/execute.go: surface ProcessOutput error in
the timeout message returned to the caller
- coderd/provisionerdserver: log stream.Send failure in the
DownloadFile error helper
## Problem
When the git askpass flow triggered diff status refreshes, it updated
**every chat** connected to the workspace. This was wasteful and could
cause confusing status updates on unrelated chats.
## Solution
Thread the chat ID through the entire git askpass flow so only the chat
that initiated the git operation gets updated:
1. **`coderd/chatd/chattool/execute.go`** — Sets `CODER_CHAT_ID` env var
on spawned processes (alongside the existing `CODER_CHAT_AGENT`)
2. **`cli/gitaskpass.go`** — Reads `CODER_CHAT_ID` from the environment
and sends it as a `chat_id` query parameter in the `ExternalAuthRequest`
3. **`codersdk/agentsdk/agentsdk.go`** — Adds `ChatID` field to
`ExternalAuthRequest` and encodes it as a query param
4. **`coderd/workspaceagents.go`** — Parses `chat_id` query param and
passes it through to `storeChatGitRef` and
`triggerWorkspaceChatDiffStatusRefresh`
5. **`coderd/chats.go`** — `storeChatGitRef` and
`refreshWorkspaceChatDiffStatuses` now scope updates to just the
initiating chat when a chat ID is provided, falling back to
all-workspace-chats behavior for backwards compatibility (non-chat git
operations)
## Summary
Adds a new agent-side process management HTTP API and rewrites the chat
execute tool to use it instead of SSH sessions.
## What changed
### New agent/agentproc/ package
- **headtail.go** — Thread-safe io.Writer with bounded memory (16KB head
+ 16KB tail ring buffer). Provides LLM-ready output with truncation
metadata and long-line truncation at 2048 bytes.
- **headtail_test.go** — 16 tests including race detector coverage for
concurrent writes.
- **process.go** — Manager + Process types for lifecycle management
using agentexec.Execer for proper OOM/nice scores.
- **api.go** — HTTP API following the agentfiles chi router pattern. 4
endpoints: start, list, output, signal.
### Agent wiring (agent/agent.go, agent/api.go)
Mounts the process API at /api/v0/processes, mirroring how agentfiles is
mounted.
### SDK (codersdk/workspacesdk/agentconn.go)
4 new AgentConn interface methods + 7 request/response types:
- StartProcess, ListProcesses, ProcessOutput, SignalProcess
### Execute tool rewrite (coderd/chatd/chattool/execute.go)
- SSH to Agent API: conn.StartProcess() + conn.ProcessOutput() polling
- New parameters: workdir, run_in_background
- Structured response: success, exit_code, wall_duration_ms, error,
truncated, note, background_process_id
- Non-interactive env vars: GIT_EDITOR=true, TERM=dumb, NO_COLOR=1,
PAGER=cat, etc.
- Output truncation: HeadTailBuffer caps at 32KB for LLM consumption
- File-dump detection with advisory notes suggesting read_file
- Default timeout: 60s to 10s
- Foreground polling: 200ms intervals until exit or timeout
## Architecture
State lives on the agent, surviving coderd failover and instance
changes. Any coderd replica can query any agent via HTTP over tailnet.
Kyle Carberry