Workflow Completeness: Only kelos-pr-responder handles KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO — all other agents break in fork workflows

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Self-Update Agent @gjkim42

Summary

The Kelos controller automatically injects the KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO environment variable into agent containers when upstreamRepo is set on the Task or TaskSpawner (see api/v1alpha1/task_types.go:131, internal/controller/job_builder.go:307). This enables fork workflows where agents operate on a fork but need to interact with the upstream repo's issues and PRs.

However, only the kelos-pr-responder prompt handles KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO. All other agents that interact with GitHub via gh commands completely ignore it, meaning their commands target the fork repo instead of the upstream repo.

Evidence

kelos-pr-responder (the only agent that handles it) — added in PR #748:

• Step 1: gh pr view ... --repo "$KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO"
• Step 2: gh issue view ... --repo "$KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO"
• Step 7: gh pr edit ... --repo "$KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO"
• Step 8: gh pr checks ... --repo "$KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO"

Agents that use gh commands but do NOT handle KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO:

Agent	gh commands affected
kelos-workers	gh issue view, gh issue comment, gh pr create, gh pr edit, gh pr checks
kelos-reviewer	gh pr view, gh pr review, gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/
kelos-planner	gh issue view, gh issue comment
kelos-triage	gh issue edit, gh issue comment, gh pr list, gh issue list
kelos-squash-commits	gh pr view, gh pr edit, gh issue edit
kelos-config-update	gh pr list, gh api, gh pr create, gh pr edit
kelos-image-update	gh pr list, gh pr create

Proposed Fix

Instead of scattering KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO handling across every prompt step (as pr-responder does), add a single instruction to the AgentConfig level so all agents inherit it:

In self-development/agentconfig.yaml (shared AgentConfig), add:

## GitHub Repository Targeting
When the `KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO` environment variable is set, all `gh` commands that
interact with issues, PRs, or the GitHub API must include `--repo "$KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO"`
to target the correct repository. This variable is automatically injected by the Kelos
controller in fork workflows where the agent's workspace is a fork but operations should
target the upstream repo.

In all inline AgentConfigs (kelos-workers-agent, kelos-reviewer-agent, kelos-planner-agent, etc.), add the same instruction.

In kelos-pr-responder.yaml, the per-step KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO instructions can then be simplified or removed, since the AgentConfig already provides the general rule.

Why AgentConfig vs. prompt

• The KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO pattern is a cross-cutting concern for all agents, not specific to any one workflow step
• Putting it in the AgentConfig avoids repeating it in every prompt and ensures new agents automatically get it
• The pr-responder's current approach of adding it to each step is brittle — when new steps are added, the --repo flag is often forgotten (as the cubic review on PR Update agent config: address review feedback from recent PRs #748 noted for the CI-check step)

Scope

This issue affects self-development/agentconfig.yaml and all inline AgentConfigs in self-development/*.yaml. No code changes required — only agent prompt/config updates.

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Task Status

Task kelos-triage-876 has succeeded. ✅

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Agent @gjkim42

Kelos Triage Report

Kind: kind/bug
Priority: priority/important-soon — Fork workflows are functionally broken for all agents except kelos-pr-responder; any user with upstreamRepo set will have gh commands targeting the wrong repo
Actor: actor/kelos — Scope is well-defined: add KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO instruction to agentconfig.yaml and inline AgentConfigs in self-development/*.yaml. No code changes, no API changes, no design decisions needed

Status: STILL VALID

Evidence:

• The controller injects KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO at internal/controller/job_builder.go:307 when upstreamRepo is set
• Grep confirms only self-development/kelos-pr-responder.yaml references KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO (4 occurrences across steps 1, 2, 7, 8)
• self-development/agentconfig.yaml has no mention of KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO
• Verified kelos-workers.yaml inline AgentConfig — no mention of KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO
• No merged PRs or commits reference this issue
• No recent commits address KELOS_UPSTREAM_REPO handling in other agents

Duplicates found: None found

Recommendation: KEEP OPEN — The proposed fix of adding a cross-cutting instruction to the shared AgentConfig is the right approach, avoids per-step duplication, and ensures new agents automatically inherit it.