docs/LQVern/HANDOFF-2026-06-23-session-wrap-and-185-186-kickoff.md

Handoff — 2026-06-23 session wrap + next-session kickoff (#185/#186)

main (LegalQuants + tucuxi, both == 40a0ea0) at session end.

What shipped this session

#207 (chat tool-loop findings) — fully closed:

#208 — empty-answer-at-cap fix: the final no-tools round now carries a synthesis directive so a cap-hit turn writes an answer instead of a blank.
#210 — findings 2+3: LQ_AI_CHAT_TOOL_CALL_CAP env alias (with bare-name back-compat) + thread chat_id into the tool_call_log audit row.
#211 — finding 4: opt-in sticky skills (migration 0056 chats.sticky_skills, MessageCreate.set_sticky, composer toggle). Off by default; snapshot-on-toggle; union-for-that-turn/set-unchanged. Integration doc: docs/contribute/sticky-skills-frontend-integration.md (canonical diff 5ad9f9e).
#212 / DE-357 — finding 1 (default tool-call cap of 8 is low for multi-call skills): filed, OPEN, not built.

Ingest (DE-332):

#206 — text/markdown ingest (parse_text, verbatim store). Merged.
#198 — DOCX ingest decision accepted as ADR 0017 (renumbered from a colliding 0014); Pandoc dependency + redline policy approved. The parse_docx() build PR is pending — next concrete feature work, gated on the mini-PRD acceptance checklist (docs/contribute/mini-prds/docx-ingest-support.md).

Earlier in the session: macOS BYOK launcher fix (#202) released as images v0.5.1 + signed app desktop-v0.5.2, verified on a clean fresh install; DE-356 (#204) first-run progress UX filed.

NEXT SESSION — primary task: evaluate PR #185 and #186

Two forks by SaifAlYounan, opened mid-stream while we were building the same thing:

#185 feat(gateway): tools/tool_choice passthrough + Anthropic tool-call bridge (PR5b-i) — +562/-16, 6 files.
#186 feat(api): governed chat tool-loop + human confirmation gate (PR5b-ii) — +2348/-23, 18 files incl. api/app/chat/tool_loop.py, api/app/chat/pending.py, api/alembic/versions/0054_pending_tool_call.py.

Strong prior: almost certainly duplicative. All of this is already in main — the governed tool-calling model (ADR 0015), the tool-loop (tool_loop.py, which we edited for #208/#210/#211), the confirmation gate (chat_pending_tool_call + migration 0054 — #186's 0054_pending_tool_call.py collides), and the Anthropic tool-call bridge. CI on both is stale (opened 2026-06-19/20, before everything above merged).

Disposition (Kevin's instruction):

Diff each against current main; check out + merge main locally to surface conflicts (esp. the 0054 migration collision and tool_loop.py divergence).
If duplicative/conflicting (expected) → reject politely, with a note to the contributor explaining the work is already merged to main, thanking them.
But extract any genuinely-additive aspects (extra provider coverage, edge cases, tests, ideas) not in our version. If any exist, give the contributor an enumerated list of remaining modifications they could make by pulling main and starting a fresh branch.
Tone: appreciative and polite; expectation is that most/all is already accomplished.

Memory pointers: project-next-session-185-186, project-tool-use-and-ingest-state.

Workflow reminders

Branch off main (never commit on main); push feature branches to origin + tucuxi; after a PR merges, mirror origin/main → tucuxi main (fast-forward) and confirm origin == tucuxi; release tags (v*, desktop-v*) are origin-only. api/gateway tests run via the host venv + a throwaway pgvector (conftest auto-migrates) — never host alembic against the dev DB. Commits: -s + the Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 trailer.