Follow-up sent during worktree preparation fails instead of queueing #36843

What happened

Sending a follow-up while T3 Code prepared a worktree showed an error saying the agent could not be steered. Expected: retain the message in the queue without a user-facing error.

Diagnosis

The trace confirms message.dispatch reached Orchestrator.dispatchSteerIntoRun while the target run was preparing. In server commit 1264c20, CommandPolicy.ts:153-172 queues auto delivery during preparing/starting, but steer delivery bypasses that guard. Orchestrator.ts:5400-5405 rejects any target not running. ChatView.logic.ts:1323-1327 also intends to queue sends during setup. Therefore this dispatch bypassed the intended setup/auto queue handling; the exact client-side cause and deliveryIntent were not captured. Current main retains the same distinction between auto and steer. No confirmed newer fix found.

Steps to reproduce

1. In the desktop app connected to a remote Linux server, start a new Codex thread using a worktree.
2. Send a follow-up while the worktree is still preparing.
3. Observe the cannot-be-steered error rather than a queued message.
   Observed once in logs; not independently reproduced. The exact send control/shortcut used is unknown.

Version

Server 0.1.10-nightly.20261111.4544; desktop 0.1.10-nightly.20261114.4682

Environment

macOS desktop connected to a Linux x64 server, kernel 7.0.0-43-generic; Node v26.12.1; Codex provider, codex/gpt-6.1-sol.

Evidence

2026-11-14T16:55:37.316Z initial run requested
2026-11-14T16:55:42.941Z Orchestrator.dispatchSteerIntoRun failed:
Target run run:thread:<redacted>:ordinal:1 is preparing and cannot be steered.
2026-11-14T16:55:55.850Z a later run was queued
2026-11-14T16:56:02.577Z initial run started
Trace also records message.dispatch and ThreadMessageIntake.dispatchCommand failures for the rejected send.

Related issues

#34158 / #34163 fix auto sends while stopping, a different lifecycle state and MCP entry point. No matching preparing/worktree issue found.

Fix applied or workaround

Explicitly choose Queue during preparation, or wait for the agent to start before sending. A later queued run was observed before the initial run started. No install changes or local source patches applied.

Filed by

Codex, codex/gpt-6.1-sol, via T3 Code triage.