fix(orchestration): preserve active sibling dispatches

src/main/runtime/orchestration/__snapshots__/preamble.test.ts.snap

@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ Slack, GitHub comments, or any other channel to reach a human during the run.
   # Ask the coordinator a question and block until it answers.
   #
   # BEHAVIOR RULE #1 (MUST NOT VIOLATE):
-  # NEVER use AskUserQuestion; use \`orca orchestration ask\` or send
-  # --type decision_gate. AskUserQuestion opens a local TUI prompt that the
+  # NEVER use AskUserQuestion; use \`orca orchestration ask\`.
+  # AskUserQuestion opens a local TUI prompt that the
   # coordinator cannot see and cannot answer — your session will hang forever
   # waiting on a human. Every interactive question goes through \`ask\` below.
   #

src/main/runtime/orchestration/db-task-dispatch-lifecycle-guards.test.ts

@@ -121,6 +121,76 @@ describe('Task/Dispatch lifecycle guards', () => {
     expectCapability(database, worker, false)
   })
 
+  it('keeps a Task dispatched when missing-terminal recovery leaves another worker active', () => {
+    const database = createDatabase()
+    const task = database.createTask({ spec: 'legacy missing-terminal split' })
+    const missing = startWorker(database, task.id, 'missing')
+    sqliteFor(database).prepare("UPDATE tasks SET status = 'ready' WHERE id = ?").run(task.id)
+    const live = startWorker(database, task.id, 'live')
+
+    database.reconcileMissingWorkerTerminal(missing.dispatchId, 'terminal missing')
+
+    expect(database.getTask(task.id)?.status).toBe('dispatched')
+    expect(database.getDispatchContextById(missing.dispatchId)).toMatchObject({
+      status: 'failed',
+      capability_revoked_at: expect.any(String)
+    })
+    expect(database.getWorkerDispatch(missing.dispatchId)?.state).toBe('abandoned')
+    expect(database.getDispatchContextById(live.dispatchId)?.status).toBe('dispatched')
+    expect(database.getWorkerDispatch(live.dispatchId)?.state).toBe('ready')
+    expectCapability(database, missing, false)
+    expectCapability(database, live, true)
+
+    database.reconcileMissingWorkerTerminal(live.dispatchId, 'second terminal missing')
+    expect(database.getTask(task.id)?.status).toBe('ready')
+    expectCapability(database, live, false)
+  })
+
+  it.each(['local', 'federated'] as const)(
+    'keeps a Task dispatched when a %s worker start fails beside a live worker',
+    (kind) => {
+      const database = createDatabase()
+      const task = database.createTask({ spec: `${kind} split start failure` })
+      const failed = database.createStartingWorkerDispatch({
+        taskId: task.id,
+        startOptions: {},
+        ...(kind === 'federated'
+          ? {
+              federation: {
+                environmentId: 'server-1',
+                environmentName: 'worker server',
+                peerFingerprint: 'peer-1',
+                protocolVersion: 3
+              }
+            }
+          : {})
+      })
+      sqliteFor(database).prepare("UPDATE tasks SET status = 'ready' WHERE id = ?").run(task.id)
+      const live = startWorker(database, task.id, `${kind}_live`)
+
+      if (kind === 'local') {
+        database.failWorkerStart(failed.dispatch.id, 'start_failed', 'worker failed to start')
+      } else {
+        database.reconcileFederatedWorkerStart({
+          dispatchId: failed.dispatch.id,
+          state: 'failed',
+          stage: 'start_failed',
+          lastError: 'worker failed to start'
+        })
+      }
+
+      expect(database.getTask(task.id)?.status).toBe('dispatched')
+      expect(database.getDispatchContextById(failed.dispatch.id)).toMatchObject({
+        status: 'failed',
+        capability_revoked_at: expect.any(String)
+      })
+      expect(database.getWorkerDispatch(failed.dispatch.id)?.state).toBe('failed')
+      expect(database.getDispatchContextById(live.dispatchId)?.status).toBe('dispatched')
+      expect(database.getWorkerDispatch(live.dispatchId)?.state).toBe('ready')
+      expectCapability(database, live, true)
+    }
+  )
+
   it('rejects gate creation while a supervised worker remains active', () => {
     const database = createDatabase()
     const task = database.createTask({ spec: 'worker gate guard' })

src/main/runtime/orchestration/db.ts

@@ -5125,7 +5125,13 @@ export class OrchestrationDb {
         )
         .run(stage, reason, dispatchId)
       this.db
-        .prepare("UPDATE tasks SET status = 'failed', completed_at = datetime('now') WHERE id = ?")
+        .prepare(
+          `UPDATE tasks SET status = 'failed', completed_at = datetime('now')
+           WHERE id = ? AND NOT EXISTS (
+             SELECT 1 FROM dispatch_contexts
+             WHERE task_id = tasks.id AND status IN ('pending', 'dispatched')
+           )`
+        )
         .run(dispatch.task_id)
       this.closeQuestionsForDispatch(dispatchId)
       this.db.exec('COMMIT')
@@ -5250,7 +5256,12 @@ export class OrchestrationDb {
           .run(reason, params.dispatchId)
         this.db
           .prepare(
-            "UPDATE tasks SET status = 'failed', completed_at = datetime('now') WHERE id = ? AND status IN ('blocked', 'dispatched')"
+            `UPDATE tasks SET status = 'failed', completed_at = datetime('now')
+             WHERE id = ? AND status IN ('blocked', 'dispatched')
+               AND NOT EXISTS (
+                 SELECT 1 FROM dispatch_contexts
+                 WHERE task_id = tasks.id AND status IN ('pending', 'dispatched')
+               )`
           )
           .run(dispatch.task_id)
         this.closeQuestionsForDispatch(params.dispatchId)
@@ -5317,7 +5328,11 @@ export class OrchestrationDb {
             .prepare(
               `UPDATE tasks
                SET status = ?, completed_at = CASE WHEN ? = 'failed' THEN datetime('now') ELSE NULL END
-               WHERE id = ? AND status IN ('dispatched', 'blocked')`
+               WHERE id = ? AND status IN ('dispatched', 'blocked')
+                 AND NOT EXISTS (
+                   SELECT 1 FROM dispatch_contexts
+                   WHERE task_id = tasks.id AND status IN ('pending', 'dispatched')
+                 )`
             )
             .run(taskStatus, taskStatus, dispatch.task_id)
         }

src/main/runtime/orchestration/preamble.test.ts

@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ describe('buildDispatchPreamble', () => {
     expect(result).toMatch(/orchestration ask --from term_worker/)
     expect(result).toContain('--question')
     expect(result).toContain('--timeout-ms 600000')
+    expect(result).not.toContain('--type decision_gate')
     // Why: the exact phrase is asserted so the rule can't be trimmed away by
     // accident. BEHAVIOR RULE #1 is the only place AskUserQuestion appears.
     expect(result).toContain('BEHAVIOR RULE #1')

src/main/runtime/orchestration/preamble.ts

@@ -104,8 +104,8 @@ Slack, GitHub comments, or any other channel to reach a human during the run.
   # Ask the coordinator a question and block until it answers.
   #
   # BEHAVIOR RULE #1 (MUST NOT VIOLATE):
-  # NEVER use AskUserQuestion; use \`${cli} orchestration ask\` or send
-  # --type decision_gate. AskUserQuestion opens a local TUI prompt that the
+  # NEVER use AskUserQuestion; use \`${cli} orchestration ask\`.
+  # AskUserQuestion opens a local TUI prompt that the
   # coordinator cannot see and cannot answer — your session will hang forever
   # waiting on a human. Every interactive question goes through \`ask\` below.
   #