fix(runner): tell an unreachable runner apart from one that cannot evaluate snippets

[Felipe Augusto (felipe-augusto)]

Overview of Changes

Bumps @qawolf/api-contracts to 0.37.0. That release splits the single failure the platform used to return from runner.evaluateSnippet into two: a runner that could not be reached, and a runner that cannot evaluate snippets at all. qawolf runner exec now reports each on its own terms, so someone whose runner has no snippet evaluator attached is no longer told to retry something that will never start working.

The mapping lives in a new describeEvaluateSnippetFailure, which turns a failure reason into the message and exit code to report. An unreachable runner stays a network failure (exit 4); a runner with nothing to evaluate against is a usage failure (exit 2); a reason this version of the CLI does not recognise asks the user to upgrade. Only the unreachable message keeps the warning that the snippet may still be executing, because only that case can have taken effect before its answer was lost.

The message wording and the failure-reason split are Erzhan's work from #1541. His messages are better than the ones this PR started with — his keep the "may still be executing" warning on the branch where it actually applies, which this PR had dropped — so they are brought forward here verbatim. His PR is blocked on the @qawolf/api-contracts bump that this PR carries, and he is away for about a week while this is blocking, so it ships from here instead. #1541 is untouched.

This is the base of a two-PR stack — #1542 adds qawolf flows list --ai-task-id on top and needs the same contracts version.

Testing

bun run typecheck
bun run lint
bun run format:check
bun run knip
bun run test
bun run build

Checklist

• Changes follow the code style of this project
• Self-review completed
• Tests added/updated (or not applicable)
• No breaking changes (or described below)

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

The CLI now separates snippet evaluation failures for unreachable runners, runners without snippet evaluators, and unknown runner responses. Each failure reason maps to a specific user message and exit code. Evaluation tests cover the unreachable and non-evaluable cases. Runner documentation and the changeset describe the updated exit codes and retry guidance. The API contracts dependency is updated to version 0.37.0.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to a69f7

The CLI now distinguishes unreachable runners from runners that cannot evaluate snippets; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains, though coverage for an unrecognized failure reason would improve regression protection.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant evaluateSnippet
  participant describeEvaluateSnippetFailure
  participant InteractiveRunner
  evaluateSnippet->>describeEvaluateSnippetFailure: evaluation failure reason
  describeEvaluateSnippetFailure->>InteractiveRunner: select failure message
  describeEvaluateSnippetFailure-->>evaluateSnippet: return error and exit code

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Suggested reviewers: theonly1me

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Title check	⚠️ Warning	The title accurately describes the change and uses a valid Conventional Commits format, type, scope, and imperative wording. It fails the 72-character limit because it is 84 characters long.	Shorten the title to 72 characters or fewer while preserving the distinction between unreachable runners and runners that cannot evaluate snippets.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description check	✅ Passed	The description includes the required overview, testing commands, and checklist. It explains the failure-reason split, exit codes, user-facing behavior, related work, and test coverage.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch wiz-11836-api-contracts-0-37

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[Felipe Augusto (felipe-augusto)]

Erzhan Torokulov (@erzhtor) tagging you to review this since this is related to your changes on https://github.com/qawolf/platform/pull/32612

[Felipe Augusto (felipe-augusto)]

Erzhan Torokulov (@erzhtor) I just noticed this might be same as #1541, I'm also approving that PR so it doesn't really matter which one gets merged.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@src/domains/interactiveRunner/evaluateSnippet.test.ts`:
- Around line 225-228: Add an unrecognized failure reason to the
describeEvaluateSnippetFailure parameterized cases and assert that it returns
exit code 4 with the upgrade message, covering the default branch while
preserving the existing known-reason cases.

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 664abf7 and a69f79e.

📒 Files selected for processing (6)

• .changeset/evaluate-snippet-failure-reasons.md
• package.json
• skills/qawolf-cli/references/runner.md
• src/core/messages/interactiveRunner/interact.ts
• src/domains/interactiveRunner/evaluateSnippet.test.ts
• src/domains/interactiveRunner/evaluateSnippetFailure.ts

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