[dan-petty]

A plan that removes several names needs one check for all of them. The negative search of the implement step took one literal and no -e, so the step refused the -E line of task 3.3 of the #2610 plan and that group could not run.

The search now also takes one or more -e literals, with -- before the paths. Each value is a plain literal that must not start with -, and a refused value gets a reason that states the rule. The stage job applies the hit rule and the created-module rule to each literal, and a move group checks each literal. The #2610 line now uses four -e literals. The stage prompt and docs/TESTING.md state the form.

The test over every active tasks.md moves to #3579, because other active plans hold refused commands.

Closes #3276

Change: openspec/changes/archive/2026-11-05-3276-negative-search-accepts-repeated-e/

[dan-petty]

Test results for this pull request.

Fail-to-pass: uv run devops ci fail-to-pass --base origin/main at the pushed head: 30 failed on base, 346 passed on base, 0 errored, exit 0.

Full gate: uv run devops ci ran once, with the final code, one commit before the archive and three commits of main before the pushed head. I did not run it again after the last rebase. After that rebase I ran the four narrow test files (376 passed) and uv run devops openspec check (passed).

Every row passed except two:

• test: 18,822 passed, 4 failed, 1 error. These are the known host failures that also fail on origin/main: tests/crypto/test_ssh.py, tests/telemetry/test_config_env_overrides.py, tests/commands/test_devcontainer_install_tools_dry_run.py and tests/ai/test_tool_executor_contract.py (fix(ci): host state fails four tests and one case #3585). The row took 9m 33s, over the 5-minute budget (fix(ci): host-state tests fail and the suite exceeds 5 minutes #3593).
• coverage: it shows fail with no duration, because the test row failed.

Review findings before this pull request. I verified the four findings. All four are correct, and this pull request fixes them.

1. The scenario "A move group names a module with a second literal" said one problem. The code returns two, and both name devops_cli.roadmap.stage: the problem of the move and the problem of the created module. The code stays the same. The scenario and task 2.1 now state two problems. test_a_move_group_checks_each_e_literal uses the command of the scenario and compares the complete list.
2. This finding has the same cause as finding 1, and the same fix.
3. An -e value that starts with - got a false reason. It now gets its own reason, search_reason_e_dash. The stage prompt and docs/TESTING.md state the rule. The spec has a scenario for it.
4. Task 2.1 gave a false reason for the failure on the base. It now says that read_negative_search refuses -e, so negative_search_parts returns None and the stage job checks no literal.