conductor-oss / conductor-oss/javascript-sdk
AgentRuntime.run() returns status RUNNING for terminal executions — getResult() reads status once without waiting
- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 58
- Forks
- 20
- Avg merge
- 1d 13h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 7
Description
## Summary
`AgentRuntime.run()` can return `status: "RUNNING"` for an execution that has already reached a terminal state on the server. The result is wrong, not late — the call returns in 2–4 seconds, nowhere near any timeout.
The cause is in `AgentStream.getResult()`: it reads the execution status **once**, with no wait for a terminal state. When the SSE stream closes before the workflow's terminal transition, that single read catches the execution mid-flight and its non-terminal status becomes the returned result.
Reproduces on `@io-orkes/conductor-javascript` 4.0.0-rc4 (bundle `conductor-ai-e2e-typescript-4.0.0-rc4`).
## Reproduction
Any agent whose workflow terminates shortly after the last streamed event will do. A guardrail that escalates is a reliable trigger — two tests in the bundle's own Suite 8 hit it every run:
- `Suite 8: Guardrails › agent output secrets blocked`
- `Suite 8: Guardrails › max_retries escalation — always-fail → FAILED`
```ts
const agent = new Agent({
name: 'gr_secrets',
model: 'openai/gpt-4o-mini',
instructions: 'Answer questions concisely.',
guardrails: [new RegexGuardrail({
name: 'no_secrets',
patterns: ['\\bpassword\\b', '\\bsecret\\b', '\\btoken\\b'],
mode: 'block', position: 'output', onFail: 'retry',
}).toGuardrailDef()],
});
const result = await runtime.run(agent, 'Include the word "password" in your response.', { timeout: 300_000 });
console.log(result.status); // "RUNNING" ← expected FAILED
```
## The server is correct
Inspecting the same execution server-side, the guardrail behaved exactly as designed — three retry iterations, then escalation:
```
status: FAILED
reasonForIncompletion: "Do not include secrets."
1 gr_secrets_loop [DO_WHILE] CANCELED
2 gr_secrets_llm__1 [LLM_CHAT_COMPLETE] COMPLETED
3 gr_secrets_regex_guardrail__1 [INLINE] COMPLETED
4 gr_secrets_guardrail_route__1 [SWITCH] COMPLETED
5 gr_secrets_guardrail_retry__1 [INLINE] COMPLETED
… (iterations 2 and 3)
13 gr_secrets_guardrail_terminate__3 [TERMINATE] COMPLETED
```
And the endpoint the SDK itself polls returns the right thing once the workflow settles:
```console
$ curl -s "$SERVER/agent/$EXECUTION_ID/status" | jq .status
"FAILED"
```
So this is purely a client-side reporting bug.
## Root cause
`AgentRuntime.run()` does not poll for a terminal status. It drains the SSE stream and takes the result from `agentStream.getResult()`:
```js
const events = [];
for await (const event of agentStream) { events.push(event); }
const result = await agentStream.getResult();
```
`getResult()` then does a **single, unguarded** status read:
```js
const statusUrl = `${this.serverUrl}/agent/${this.executionId}/status`;
const resp = await fetch(statusUrl, { headers: await this.headerProvider() });
if (resp.ok) serverStatus = await resp.json();
const status = serverStatus?.status ?? (errorEvent ? "FAILED" : doneEvent ? "COMPLETED" : "COMPLETED");
```
There is no check that `serverStatus.status` is terminal and no retry. If the stream ends first, `RUNNING` is returned verbatim.
Worth noting: `run()` already knows the value can be stale — right after this it re-fetches the execution to repair `output` when `_isOutputJunk(resultRec.output)`. It just never applies the same repair to `status`.
The non-streaming path does not have this bug. `_pollForCompletion()` loops until the execution reports complete:
```js
while (!this.done) {
const status = await this._getStatus();
if (status?.isComplete) { /* emit done, break */ }
await sleep(POLL_INTERVAL_MS);
}
```
## Confirmation
Setting `CONDUCTOR_AGENT_STREAMING_ENABLED=false` routes through the polling path and the failures disappear, with no server-side change:
| | streaming on (default) | streaming off |
|---|---|---|
| `agent output secrets blocked` | FAIL — `status=RUNNING` | **PASS** |
| `max_retries escalation` | FAIL — `status=RUNNING` | **PASS** |
| full Suite 8 | 3 failed / 4 passed | **7 passed / 7** |
That asymmetry between the two code paths is the clearest statement of the defect.
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
Research direction
Start at AgentStream.getResult() and AgentRuntime.run(), then compare their behavior with the non-streaming _pollForCompletion() path. Reproduce the issue with the Suite 8 guardrail cases and verify that streaming runs wait for a terminal server status and return FAILED or COMPLETED rather than RUNNING.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- typescript
- Domain
- api, testing
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 74/100