fix: engine/model CLI reflection, Manager owner default, RETRO_JSON parse

- engine/model: pass DB engine to reviewer spawn, show model in UI
- Manager proposals: default owner to 'builder' when missing
- RETRO_JSON: bracket-matching extraction to handle trailing text

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: recuu-pfeg

src/agent-templates.ts

@@ -339,6 +339,8 @@ export interface ActionContext {
     sprintNumber?: number;
     language?: string;
     engine?: string;
+    /** Agent's DB engine setting (e.g. "claude-opus") for model resolution */
+    agentEngine?: string;
   };
   /** Agent exit code (only available in post_actions) */
   exitCode?: number | null;

src/commands/run-loop.ts

@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import { extractCompletionJson } from "../utils/completion-parser.js";
 import { TIMEOUTS, INTERVALS } from "../constants.js";
 import { shouldSplit, autoSplitTasks } from "../task-splitter.js";
 import { detectDependencies, sortByDependency } from "../task-dependency.js";
+import { OpsRunner } from "../ops-runner.js";
+import { extractJsonObject } from "../utils/extract-json.js";
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Helpers
@@ -63,6 +65,14 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
   // Start stall detection for agent processes
   runner.startStallDetection();
 
+  // Start ops task runner (background, parallel to main loop)
+  const opsRunner = new OpsRunner({
+    apiUrl: cliArgs.apiUrl,
+    apiKey: cliArgs.apiKey,
+    pollIntervalMs: 60_000,
+  });
+  opsRunner.start();
+
   while (!shutdownState.shuttingDown) {
     try {
       sprintData = await api.fetchSprintData();
@@ -257,6 +267,7 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
       // Use slot name as agent name to avoid collisions in parallel dispatch
       const agentName = slotName;
       const agentRole = task.owner ?? "builder";
+      const agentInfo = sprintData.agents.find((a) => a.name === agentRole);
       const apiDocs = await api.fetchApiDocs(agentRole);
       const taskType = task.type as string | undefined;
       const taskLabels = parseTaskLabels(task);
@@ -269,7 +280,7 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
 
       const actionCtx: ActionContext = {
         api, task, agentName, template: agentTemplate, taskLog,
-        config: { apiUrl: cliArgs.apiUrl, apiKey: cliArgs.apiKey, workingDir: taskWorkingDir, baseBranch: cliArgs.baseBranch, sprintNumber: sprintData.sprint.number, language: ctx.language, engine: cliArgs.engine },
+        config: { apiUrl: cliArgs.apiUrl, apiKey: cliArgs.apiKey, workingDir: taskWorkingDir, baseBranch: cliArgs.baseBranch, sprintNumber: sprintData.sprint.number, language: ctx.language, engine: cliArgs.engine, agentEngine: agentInfo?.engine },
         onDataUpdate: (entity, id, changes) => {
           ctx.wsServer?.broadcast({
             type: WS_MSG.DATA_UPDATE,
@@ -358,7 +369,6 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
         if (ctx.gitUserInfo) ensureGitUser(taskWorkingDir, ctx.gitUserInfo.name, ctx.gitUserInfo.email);
 
         // Resolve model from agent's DB engine setting or role default
-        const agentInfo = sprintData.agents.find((a) => a.name === agentRole);
         const agentModel = resolveModelForRole(agentRole, agentInfo?.engine);
 
         const agentConfig = {
@@ -380,7 +390,7 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
           continue;
         }
 
-        ui.agentSpawned({ agentName: agentConfig.name, taskId: task.id, taskTitle: task.title, docker: !cliArgs.noDocker });
+        ui.agentSpawned({ agentName: agentConfig.name, taskId: task.id, taskTitle: task.title, docker: !cliArgs.noDocker, model: agentModel });
 
         const messagePoller = new MessagePoller({ api, channel: agentRole, workingDir: taskWorkingDir });
         messagePoller.start();
@@ -437,13 +447,15 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
           for (const line of runningAgent.stdout) {
             let raw: string | null = null;
             if (line.startsWith("RETRO_JSON:")) {
-              raw = line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length);
+              raw = extractJsonObject(line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length));
             } else {
               try {
                 const event = JSON.parse(line);
                 const text = typeof event === "object" && event?.type === "assistant" ? (event.message?.content?.[0]?.text ?? "") : "";
-                const m = text.match?.(/RETRO_JSON:(\{[\s\S]*\})/);
-                if (m) raw = m[1];
+                const retroIdx = text.indexOf?.("RETRO_JSON:");
+                if (retroIdx !== undefined && retroIdx !== -1) {
+                  raw = extractJsonObject(text.slice(retroIdx + "RETRO_JSON:".length));
+                }
               } catch { /* not JSON */ }
             }
             if (raw) {
@@ -459,13 +471,15 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
             for (const line of runningAgent.stdout) {
               let raw: string | null = null;
               if (line.startsWith("RETRO_JSON:")) {
-                raw = line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length);
+                raw = extractJsonObject(line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length));
               } else {
                 try {
                   const event = JSON.parse(line);
                   if (event.type === "result" && typeof event.result === "string") {
-                    const match = event.result.match(/RETRO_JSON:(\{[\s\S]*\})/);
-                    if (match) raw = match[1];
+                    const retroIdx = event.result.indexOf("RETRO_JSON:");
+                    if (retroIdx !== -1) {
+                      raw = extractJsonObject(event.result.slice(retroIdx + "RETRO_JSON:".length));
+                    }
                   }
                 } catch { /* not JSON */ }
               }
@@ -568,6 +582,7 @@ export async function runLoop(cliArgs: CliArgs, runner: AgentRunner, shutdownSta
     }
   }
 
+  opsRunner.stop();
   await api.updateAgent({ name: cliArgs.agentName, status: "idle", activity: "Shut down" });
   ui.outro("Shutting down — goodbye");
 }

src/handlers/spawn-reviewer.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import * as ui from "../ui.js";
 import { parseTaskLabels } from "../utils/parse-labels.js";
 import { spawnClaudeOnce } from "../utils/spawn-claude.js";
 import { resolveRepoRoot } from "../git-ops.js";
+import { resolveModelForRole } from "../agent-engine.js";
 import { TIMEOUTS, LIMITS } from "../constants.js";
 
 export async function handleSpawnReviewer(
@@ -156,8 +157,10 @@ Output format: ${outputFormat}`;
   ctx.onReviewUpdate?.(ctx.task.id, "analyzing");
   ui.info(`[${phase}] ${label}: spawning Reviewer agent (${filesChanged.length} files)`);
 
+  // Use agent's DB engine setting for model resolution (respects dashboard config)
+  const reviewerModel = resolveModelForRole("reviewer", ctx.config.agentEngine);
   const reviewResult = await spawnClaudeOnce(fullPrompt, {
-    role: "reviewer", maxTurns: 5, timeout: TIMEOUTS.REVIEWER, cwd: reviewRepoDir,
+    model: reviewerModel, role: "reviewer", maxTurns: 5, timeout: TIMEOUTS.REVIEWER, cwd: reviewRepoDir,
   });
 
   // Parse COMPLETION_JSON from reviewer output (supports COMPLETION_JSON: prefix and ```json blocks)

src/manager-actions.ts

@@ -161,10 +161,13 @@ export function parseResponse(response: string): { reply: string; actions: Manag
   const tail = remaining.slice(lastEnd).trim();
   if (tail) replyLines.push(tail);
 
-  // Sanitize owner fields in proposals
+  // Sanitize owner fields in proposals — ensure every proposal has a valid owner
   if (proposals) {
     for (const p of proposals) {
-      if (p.owner && !VALID_OWNERS.includes(p.owner)) {
+      if (!p.owner) {
+        // Default to "builder" so CLI auto-starts the task
+        p.owner = "builder";
+      } else if (!VALID_OWNERS.includes(p.owner)) {
         const base = p.owner.split("-")[0];
         p.owner = VALID_OWNERS.includes(base) ? base : "builder";
       }

src/runner.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   tryMerge,
 } from "./spawner.js";
 import { getEngine, extractTextFromStreamJson } from "./agent-engine.js";
+import { extractJsonObject } from "./utils/extract-json.js";
 import {
   isDockerAvailable,
   isImageAvailable,
@@ -363,7 +364,8 @@ export class AgentRunner {
       // Direct match (non-stream-json or already extracted text)
       if (line.startsWith("RETRO_JSON:")) {
         try {
-          const json = JSON.parse(line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length));
+          const jsonStr = extractJsonObject(line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length)) ?? line.slice("RETRO_JSON:".length);
+          const json = JSON.parse(jsonStr);
           return {
             agent_name: config.name,
             went_well: json.went_well || undefined,
@@ -380,15 +382,18 @@ export class AgentRunner {
         const event = JSON.parse(line);
         const text = extractTextFromStreamJson(event);
         if (text) {
-          const retroMatch = text.match(/RETRO_JSON:(\{[\s\S]*\})/);
-          if (retroMatch) {
-            const json = JSON.parse(retroMatch[1]);
-            return {
-              agent_name: config.name,
-              went_well: json.went_well || undefined,
-              to_improve: json.to_improve || undefined,
-              suggested_tasks: json.suggested_tasks || undefined,
-            };
+          const retroIdx = text.indexOf("RETRO_JSON:");
+          if (retroIdx !== -1) {
+            const jsonStr = extractJsonObject(text.slice(retroIdx + "RETRO_JSON:".length));
+            if (jsonStr) {
+              const json = JSON.parse(jsonStr);
+              return {
+                agent_name: config.name,
+                went_well: json.went_well || undefined,
+                to_improve: json.to_improve || undefined,
+                suggested_tasks: json.suggested_tasks || undefined,
+              };
+            }
           }
         }
       } catch {

src/ui.ts

@@ -158,12 +158,16 @@ export function agentSpawned(opts: {
   repo?: string;
   container?: string;
   docker: boolean;
+  model?: string;
 }): void {
   const mode = opts.docker ? color.dim("(container)") : color.dim("(host)");
   const lines = [
     `${color.cyan("●")} ${color.bold(opts.agentName)} ${mode}`,
     `  task: ${opts.taskTitle}`,
   ];
+  if (opts.model) {
+    lines.push(`  model: ${opts.model}`);
+  }
   if (opts.repo) {
     lines.push(`  repo: ${opts.repo}`);
   }

src/utils/extract-json.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+/**
+ * Extract the first valid JSON object from a string that may contain
+ * trailing text after the JSON. Uses bracket matching to find the
+ * correct closing brace.
+ *
+ * Example: '{"a":1} some extra text' -> '{"a":1}'
+ */
+export function extractJsonObject(str: string): string | null {
+  const start = str.indexOf("{");
+  if (start === -1) return null;
+
+  let depth = 0;
+  let inString = false;
+  let escape = false;
+
+  for (let i = start; i < str.length; i++) {
+    const ch = str[i];
+
+    if (escape) {
+      escape = false;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    if (ch === "\\") {
+      escape = true;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    if (ch === '"') {
+      inString = !inString;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    if (inString) continue;
+
+    if (ch === "{") depth++;
+    if (ch === "}") {
+      depth--;
+      if (depth === 0) {
+        return str.slice(start, i + 1);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return null;
+}