[#5162] fix(frontend): forward variant references on draft playground runs

docs/design/agent-workflows/projects/draft-run-references/README.md

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+# Draft-run references
+
+An agent that edits its own configuration can commit once, then every later commit in the
+same chat fails with `missing run-context value for direct-call binding
+'workflow_revision.workflow_variant_id'`. The page has to reload to recover. This workspace
+explains why and proposes the fix.
+
+The cause: on a run with unsaved config edits, the playground sends `references: null`, which
+drops the variant identity that the `commit_revision` tool needs. A successful commit is what
+flips the panel into the unsaved state, so the agent's own success breaks its next commit.
+
+The recommended fix: keep dropping the committed-revision reference on a dirty run (that is
+the correct draft signal), but keep forwarding the variant reference, because the variant is
+what `commit_revision` targets. Variant identity and draft-ness are independent.
+
+## Files
+
+- [context.md](context.md): what the user sees, why it matters, goals and non-goals, and the
+  three layers involved.
+- [research.md](research.md): the full trace of the bug through the frontend, the SDK and
+  service, and the runner. Includes the worked before/after reference blocks and the verified
+  proof that the frontend fix is safe. Read this to understand the mechanism.
+- [plan.md](plan.md): the two fix options, their trade-offs, the recommendation, the
+  draft-mode interaction, the acceptance checks, and the test plan.
+- [status.md](status.md): current state, decisions, verified citations, provenance, and
+  recorded follow-ups.
+
+## Start here
+
+Read context.md, then research.md (it proves the mechanism before anything is proposed), then
+plan.md.
+
+## Tracking
+
+Issue: https://github.com/Agenta-AI/agenta/issues/5162

docs/design/agent-workflows/projects/draft-run-references/context.md

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+# Context
+
+## The problem in one sentence
+
+An agent that edits its own configuration can commit the change once, then every later
+commit in the same chat fails with a run-context error, until the page reloads.
+
+## What the user sees
+
+You open an agent in the playground and chat with it. You ask it to add some tools. The
+agent calls the `commit_revision` tool to save the new configuration. The first commit
+works. A new version appears.
+
+Then you ask for another change in the same conversation. The agent calls `commit_revision`
+again. This time it fails. The error is:
+
+```
+missing run-context value for direct-call binding 'workflow_revision.workflow_variant_id'
+```
+
+Every commit after the first one fails the same way. The only fix is to reload the page.
+
+This was reproduced in two recorded sessions:
+
+- `c6de1865` on 2026-07-07.
+- `8110bba2` on 2026-07-08.
+
+Both timelines are saved at the repository root as `turn-*.md` files.
+
+## Why this matters
+
+Self-editing is the core loop of the builder agent. The whole point is that you talk to
+the agent and it configures itself: it adds tools, edits its prompt, changes its model,
+then commits the result. If the second commit in a conversation always fails, the agent
+can make exactly one change per page load. That breaks the core experience.
+
+## What this project delivers
+
+This is a design-only workspace. It explains the bug from the ground up, lays out two fixes
+with their trade-offs, recommends one, and defines how to verify it. No code changes here.
+Implementation follows after review.
+
+## Goals
+
+- Explain, for a reader who has never seen this code, exactly how a commit fails.
+- Recommend one fix with clear reasoning.
+- Make sure the fix does not break the draft-mode rules that the same code path relies on.
+- Define acceptance checks and a test plan.
+
+## Non-goals
+
+- Changing the wire contract between the frontend, the SDK, and the runner.
+- Redesigning how run context is assembled. That is a larger effort tracked separately (see
+  the related work in plan.md).
+- Fixing the case of a brand-new agent that has never been committed. That agent has no
+  variant yet, so its first commit is a different flow. This project targets the reported
+  loop: an agent that was committed once and then keeps failing.
+
+## Background: the three moving parts
+
+Three layers cooperate on every agent run. You need all three to understand the bug.
+
+1. **The playground (frontend).** It builds the `/invoke` request. It decides what identity
+   information to attach to the run, in a block called `references`.
+2. **The SDK and service (Python).** They receive the request, assemble a "run context" from
+   the references, and hand the run to the runner.
+3. **The runner (TypeScript).** It runs the agent loop. When the agent calls a platform tool
+   like `commit_revision`, the runner fills in server-owned fields from the run context.
+
+The bug is a disagreement between these layers about one field: which variant is running.
+research.md traces the field through all three layers. plan.md proposes the fix.

docs/design/agent-workflows/projects/draft-run-references/plan.md

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+# Plan: restore the variant identity on a draft run
+
+Read research.md first. It proves the mechanism. This document chooses the fix.
+
+Tracking issue: https://github.com/Agenta-AI/agenta/issues/5162
+
+## The decision in one line
+
+Stop dropping the variant reference on a dirty run. Keep dropping only the revision
+reference, because the revision is what marks a run as non-draft. The variant says which
+variant is running, and `commit_revision` needs it.
+
+## What must stay true
+
+Any fix has to hold three invariants at once. research.md shows how they interact.
+
+1. **A committed-revision run stays non-draft.** A clean run (no unsaved edits) must still
+   send all three references, so `is_draft` is false and the run is pinned to its committed
+   snapshot.
+2. **A dirty inline-config run stays a draft.** When the panel has unsaved edits, the run is
+   an inline draft. `is_draft` must stay true. Since `is_draft` keys only on the revision
+   reference (`tracing.py:165`), the run must not carry a revision reference.
+3. **`commit_revision` always has a variant target.** The run must carry the variant identity
+   whenever a real committed variant exists, draft or not.
+
+The current code satisfies 1 and 2 but breaks 3, because it drops the variant along with the
+revision.
+
+## Option 1 (recommended): fix the frontend read path
+
+### What changes
+
+In `agentRequest.ts`, replace the all-or-nothing gate with a field-level gate. Always forward
+the `application` and `application_variant` references when they exist. Forward
+`application_revision` only when the run is clean (`!isDirty`).
+
+Today:
+
+```typescript
+const references = isCommittedRevisionRun ? fullReferences : null
+```
+
+After (illustrative, final shape decided at implementation):
+
+```typescript
+// Always identify WHICH variant is running (well-defined even for a dirty draft).
+// Forward the committed-revision reference ONLY on a clean run, so a dirty run stays
+// is_draft=true. The variant is orthogonal to draft-ness (see research.md).
+const references = fullReferences
+    ? {
+          ...(fullReferences.application ? {application: fullReferences.application} : {}),
+          ...(fullReferences.application_variant
+              ? {application_variant: fullReferences.application_variant}
+              : {}),
+          ...(isCommittedRevisionRun
+              ? {application_revision: fullReferences.application_revision}
+              : {}),
+      }
+    : null
+```
+
+### The reference block, before and after the fix
+
+For a dirty run of an agent that was committed once:
+
+- **Before:** `references: null`. `commit_revision` throws.
+- **After:** `references: {application: {...}, application_variant: {...}}`. Run context has
+  `variant.id` set and `revision` unset, so `is_draft` is true and the commit works.
+
+A clean run is unchanged: it still sends all three families and stays non-draft.
+
+### Why this is the right layer
+
+- It matches the repo rule to normalize on the frontend read path. The frontend is where the
+  run identity is decided, and it is the layer that knows exactly which variant is loaded.
+- It is small. It touches one expression in one file.
+- It preserves `is_draft` by construction. The draft signal is the revision reference, and
+  the fix keeps gating that reference on `!isDirty`.
+- It needs no wire change, no SDK change, no runner change. The backend already reads the
+  variant reference it is handed (`tracing.py:155-158`).
+
+### Trade-offs and how we cover them
+
+- **It relies on a verified invariant.** research.md proves that a playground run always
+  sends `data.parameters`, so the backend never re-resolves the forwarded variant to a HEAD
+  revision (`resolver.py:577-582`). If a future change ever sent a references-only agent run
+  with no parameters, forwarding a bare variant would hydrate it to a HEAD revision and flip
+  `is_draft` to false. We lock this invariant with a unit test (see the test plan) so a
+  regression is caught in CI rather than in production.
+- **A never-committed local draft still cannot self-commit.** `buildAgentReferences` drops
+  non-UUID ids, so a brand-new agent that was never saved has no real variant id to forward,
+  and `commit_revision` still has no target. This is correct and out of scope: there is no
+  variant to commit to yet. The reported loop is about an agent that was committed once and
+  then keeps failing, and that agent has a real variant id. We note this edge here so the
+  reviewer knows it is deliberate, not missed.
+
+## Option 2: derive the variant in the service from the app id
+
+### What changes
+
+The service would look up the variant from `application_id` (which is on the URL query even
+for a draft run, `agentRequest.ts:378-386`) whenever the request carries no explicit variant
+reference. It would then fill `runContext.workflow.variant` from that lookup.
+
+### Trade-offs
+
+- **Larger blast radius.** The change spreads across the SDK reference assembly and the
+  service run-context builder, and it adds a database lookup on a path that today reads only
+  what the client sent.
+- **Ambiguous for multi-variant apps.** An app can have more than one variant. The app id
+  alone does not say which variant is running. The service could guess (for example, the most
+  recent variant), but a guess can bind the wrong variant and commit to it. That is a
+  correctness risk on a write operation.
+- **Wrong layer for a client-known fact.** The frontend already knows exactly which variant
+  is loaded. Recovering that identity in the backend from a weaker signal is more code to do
+  a worse job.
+
+Option 2 does have one attraction: it works even if the frontend never sends a variant. But
+the frontend does know the variant, so that robustness buys little and costs correctness.
+
+## Recommendation
+
+Take **Option 1**. It is the smallest change, it lives in the layer that owns the decision,
+it preserves `is_draft` by construction, and it avoids the multi-variant ambiguity that makes
+Option 2 risky on a write path. Option 2's only edge (surviving a frontend that sends no
+variant) does not apply, because the frontend has the variant and can send it.
+
+## What happens after a successful self-commit
+
+A successful `commit_revision` creates a new revision and moves the HEAD. Two questions
+follow.
+
+1. **Does the next commit work without a page reload?** With Option 1, yes. The variant
+   identity is forwarded on every run regardless of `isDirty`, so a second commit in the same
+   conversation has its target. The loop described in research.md is broken at the source. No
+   reload is required for correctness.
+2. **Should the frontend adopt the new revision so the panel re-syncs and `isDirty` resets?**
+   This is a display concern, not a correctness one. After a self-commit, the loaded panel
+   still shows the pre-commit inline edits, which now genuinely differ from the new HEAD, so
+   the run stays a draft (`is_draft` true). That is honest. Adopting the new revision (reload
+   or sync the panel, bump the version chip) would make the UI reflect the new committed state
+   and reset `isDirty`. It is a nice follow-up for UI accuracy, but it must stay decoupled
+   from the run-context fix. Option 1 makes the run robust whether or not the panel re-syncs,
+   so the two concerns do not entangle. We record the panel-adoption follow-up as optional in
+   status.md.
+
+Draft-mode semantics do not regress under Option 1. A clean run sends all three references
+and stays non-draft. A dirty run sends the variant but not the revision and stays a draft.
+The variant identity and the draft flag move independently, which is exactly what
+`tracing.py` already expects.
+
+## Adjacent work: server-stamped identity in run context
+
+A separate design, the session keep-alive project, is landing follow-ups that also enrich the
+run context. Its follow-up 5 (`docs/design/agent-workflows/projects/session-keepalive/status.md`,
+decision 1 and follow-up 5) moves the session pool's project scope off the sandbox mount and
+stamps a server-verified `project_id` into `runContext`. The two designs are adjacent because
+both add identity to `runContext`, but they do not overlap:
+
+- Follow-up 5 stamps **project identity**, server-side, from request auth state.
+- This design fixes **variant identity**, by forwarding the variant reference that the service
+  already resolves into `runContext.workflow`.
+
+They do not contradict each other. One fills the project scope; the other fills the variant
+scope.
+
+There is a natural long-term direction that unifies them. Today the variant identity is
+trusted from the client `references` block. The project identity in follow-up 5 is instead
+derived server-side from request state, which is stronger, because the server does not have to
+trust the client for it. The eventual end-state is a single "server-stamped identity in run
+context" where both the project and the workflow or variant identity are derived server-side
+from the authenticated request, so `commit_revision`'s variant binding is immune to whatever
+the client sends. That is a larger change and out of scope here. Option 1 is the correct
+minimal fix now, and it does not block that end-state; it fills the same `runContext.workflow`
+field the server-stamped version would later own.
+
+## Acceptance checks
+
+- A dirty run of a committed agent sends a `references` block that contains `application` and
+  `application_variant` and does **not** contain `application_revision`.
+- A clean run of a committed agent still sends all three reference families.
+- The run context for a dirty run has `workflow.variant.id` set and `workflow.is_draft` true.
+- `commit_revision` succeeds on the second and later calls within one conversation, with no
+  page reload.
+- A never-committed local draft still sends no variant (unchanged), because there is no real
+  variant id yet.
+
+## Test plan
+
+**Unit, frontend (`buildAgentRequest` reference gating).** Add cases to the request-builder
+tests:
+
+- Clean, committed revision: `references` contains all three families.
+- Dirty, committed revision: `references` contains `application` and `application_variant`,
+  and omits `application_revision`.
+- Local draft (non-UUID ids): `references` is null (no variant forwarded), unchanged.
+- Invariant guard: a dirty committed run still sets `data.parameters`, so the backend
+  hydration gate never fires. Assert the request carries `data.parameters` alongside the
+  bare-variant references, documenting the invariant Option 1 depends on.
+
+**Integration or replay, the self-commit loop.** Turn the reported failure into a regression
+test using the agent-replay approach (see the `agent-replay-test` skill). Capture a real run
+where the agent commits, then commits again in the same conversation. Assert:
+
+- The first `commit_revision` succeeds.
+- The second `commit_revision` in the same conversation succeeds (today it fails).
+- The second run's run context still reports `is_draft` true (the draft signal did not
+  regress when the variant was forwarded).
+
+**Live check (optional, during implementation).** Reproduce in the playground on the dev box:
+open a committed agent, ask for two changes in one conversation, confirm both commits land and
+two new versions appear without reloading.