fix: an open PR suppresses the reporter chase, which was oscillating (#640)

Parking an item that has an open PR does not settle it -- it OSCILLATES.
`park` says move the card to Backlog; the column derivation says an item with
an open PR is In Review; so the next pass reports `move_card` to put it back,
and the pass after that parks it again. Forever.

#162 did exactly this and it was watched happen: parked at 55 quiet days,
immediately reported as a mis-placed card, restored, reported as needing a park
again. That is the "same conversation every tick" failure the board work exists
to end, reappearing between two rules inside this script rather than between
the script and the maintainer.

The rule is also right on its own terms, independent of the loop. An issue with
a PR in flight is not a reporter chase whatever its `Awaiting` field says: the
work exists, and the wait that matters is the review, which the PR half of this
pass already reports. Nudging the reporter of a 46-day-stale conflicted PR asks
the wrong person about the wrong thing.

So `.pr != null` suppresses both `park` and `nudge_reporter`. The suppression
does not reach the case the rule exists for: an issue with no PR still parks at
28 quiet days, pinned by `test_the_chase_still_fires_without_a_pr`, which
passes both before and after the change.

Verified the oscillation test fails against the pre-fix script and passes
after. Live effect: 23 actions -> 22, with no `park`/`move_card` pair left to
trade #162 back and forth.


Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_012LExo6fcbup75vtc9NfoAR

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: johanzander

backend/tests/test_backlog_rhythm.py

@@ -158,6 +158,39 @@ def test_nudge_at_threshold_then_park(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     assert "park" in parked and "nudge_reporter" not in parked
 
 
+def test_an_open_pr_suppresses_the_chase_and_the_park(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """Parking an item that has an open PR OSCILLATES: `park` says move the
+    card to Backlog, the column derivation says an item with a PR is In Review,
+    so the next pass reports `move_card` to put it back and the pass after that
+    parks it again. #162 did exactly that — parked at 55 quiet days, reported
+    as a mis-placed card, restored, parked again.
+
+    The rule is also right on its own terms: an issue with a PR in flight is
+    not a reporter chase whatever its Awaiting says, and the wait that matters
+    is the review, which the PR half already reports.
+    """
+    for days, unwanted in ((28, "park"), (14, "nudge_reporter")):
+        item = _item(
+            162,
+            labels=["b"],
+            awaiting="reporter",
+            pr=167,
+            column="In Review",
+            board_status="In Review",
+            last_comment=_comment(days),
+        )
+        actions = _actions_for(_run(tmp_path, [item]), 162)
+        assert unwanted not in actions, days
+        # ...and no move_card either, so there is nothing to oscillate against.
+        assert "move_card" not in actions, days
+
+
+def test_the_chase_still_fires_without_a_pr(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """The suppression must not swallow the case the rule exists for."""
+    item = _item(163, labels=["b"], awaiting="reporter", last_comment=_comment(28))
+    assert "park" in _actions_for(_run(tmp_path, [item]), 163)
+
+
 def test_below_threshold_does_not_chase(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     item = _item(4, labels=["b"], awaiting="reporter", last_comment=_comment(13))
     assert _actions_for(_run(tmp_path, [item]), 4) == set()

scripts/backlog-rhythm.sh

@@ -93,7 +93,21 @@ actions=$(printf '%s' "$digest" | jq \
 
     # Chase once, then park. `is_reporter` false means the last word was ours,
     # so the ball is still with them.
-    (if .awaiting == "reporter"
+    #
+    # AN OPEN PR SUPPRESSES BOTH, and that is not a nicety -- parking one
+    # OSCILLATES. `park` says move the card to Backlog; the column derivation
+    # says an item with an open PR is In Review; so the next pass reports
+    # `move_card` to put it back, and the pass after that parks it again,
+    # forever. #162 did exactly this: parked at 55 quiet days, immediately
+    # reported as a mis-placed card, restored, parked again.
+    #
+    # The rule is right underneath the loop, too. An issue with a PR in flight
+    # is not a reporter chase whatever its `Awaiting` says: the work exists,
+    # and the wait that matters is the PR review, which the PR half of this
+    # pass already reports. Nudging the reporter of a 46-day-stale conflicted
+    # PR asks the wrong person about the wrong thing.
+    (if .pr != null then empty
+     elif .awaiting == "reporter"
         and ((.last_comment.is_reporter // false) | not)
         and quiet_days >= $park
      then {issue: .number, action: "park",