Require reply anchors for stale Face threads

apps/worker/src/index.ts

@@ -1208,6 +1208,11 @@ async function postRepoIdentityIntent(job: JobRecord, intent: RepoIdentityPostIn
       `Coerced repo identity ${identity.id} speech for job ${job.id} from "${requestedChannelId}" to conversation channel ${channelId}.`,
     );
   }
+  if (intent.requiresExplicitReplyTo && !intent.replyToMessageId) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Repo identity ${identity.id} SAY for job ${job.id} revived older context but did not include an explicit reply_to anchor.`,
+    );
+  }
   const replyToMessageId = intent.replyToMessageId ?? repoIdentityDefaultReplyToMessageId(job, channelId);
   const rawContent = intent.content.trim();
   if (isNonPublicRepoIdentitySpeech(rawContent)) {

apps/worker/src/repo-face-speech.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ export interface RepoIdentityPostIntent {
   channelId?: string;
   content: string;
   replyToMessageId?: string;
+  requiresExplicitReplyTo?: boolean;
 }
 
 type RepoFaceActionBlock = {
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ type RepoFaceActionBlock = {
 };
 
 export function parseRepoIdentityPostIntents(finalResponse: string): RepoIdentityPostIntent[] {
+  const requiresExplicitReplyTo = repoFaceInterpretationRequiresExplicitReplyAnchor(finalResponse);
   const intents: RepoIdentityPostIntent[] = parseRepoFaceActionBlocks(finalResponse)
     .filter((block) => block.kind === "say")
     .flatMap((block): RepoIdentityPostIntent[] => {
@@ -25,6 +27,7 @@ export function parseRepoIdentityPostIntents(finalResponse: string): RepoIdentit
           identity: optionalDslString(block.fields.identity),
           channelId: optionalDslString(block.fields.channel) ?? optionalDslString(block.fields.channelId),
           replyToMessageId: optionalDslString(block.fields.reply_to) ?? optionalDslString(block.fields.replyToMessageId),
+          requiresExplicitReplyTo,
           content,
         },
       ];
@@ -48,6 +51,7 @@ export function parseRepoIdentityPostIntents(finalResponse: string): RepoIdentit
         channelId: typeof parsed.channelId === "string" ? parsed.channelId.trim() : undefined,
         replyToMessageId:
           typeof parsed.replyToMessageId === "string" ? parsed.replyToMessageId.trim() : undefined,
+        requiresExplicitReplyTo,
         content,
       });
     } catch {
@@ -58,6 +62,20 @@ export function parseRepoIdentityPostIntents(finalResponse: string): RepoIdentit
   return intents;
 }
 
+export function repoFaceInterpretationRequiresExplicitReplyAnchor(finalResponse: string): boolean {
+  const interpretation = finalResponse.match(/INTERPRETATION\s*([\s\S]*?)\s*END/i)?.[1] ?? "";
+  if (!interpretation.trim()) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return [
+    /\bnewest\b[\s\S]{0,160}\b(moved|elsewhere|topic)\b/i,
+    /\bolder side thread\b/i,
+    /\brevives?\b[\s\S]{0,120}\b(older|stale|side thread)\b/i,
+    /\bstale\b[\s\S]{0,120}\b(room|context|topic|thread)\b/i,
+  ].some((pattern) => pattern.test(interpretation));
+}
+
 export function isNonPublicRepoIdentitySpeech(value: string): boolean {
   const trimmed = value.trim();
   if (!trimmed) {

scripts/smoke-repo-face-speech-boundary.ts

@@ -62,6 +62,32 @@ const cases: Case[] = [
       "show \"rear pair drifting 38 ms\", \"geometry confidence low\", \"world model provisional\".",
     detail: "Repo Faces can mention technical labels without speaking in code spans.",
   },
+  {
+    name: "older side-thread route requires explicit reply anchor",
+    run: () => {
+      const posts = parseRepoIdentityPostIntents([
+        "INTERPRETATION",
+        "correction_check: retry",
+        "doctrine_check: none",
+        "decision: route",
+        "reason:",
+        "  The newest room context has moved to CNC workflow; this revives an older side thread.",
+        "END",
+        "",
+        "SAY",
+        "identity: current_face_id",
+        "channel: current_room",
+        "reply_to:",
+        "content:",
+        "  A stale field can lie very politely.",
+        "END",
+      ].join("\n"));
+      return posts.length === 1 &&
+        posts[0]?.requiresExplicitReplyTo === true &&
+        posts[0]?.replyToMessageId === undefined;
+    },
+    detail: "A routed old-topic reply without reply_to must be marked so the worker refuses an orphan post.",
+  },
 ];
 
 const failures = cases.filter((entry) => !entry.run());

state/evidence.jsonl

@@ -344,3 +344,4 @@
 {"ts":"2026-06-04T19:28:18Z","type":"implementation","status":"ok","note":"Moderation consequences now live in typed void.moderation_cursor userStatuses with one-week strike expiry and pending user-status notices; unattended Discord egress defaults through Bifrost bridge posts/DMs with direct VoidBot send helper retained only behind VOID_DISCORD_TRANSPORT=direct fallback."}
 {"ts":"2026-06-04T20:43:18Z","type":"verification","status":"ok","note":"Rumination parent normalizes legacy top-level userStatuses model output into upsert_moderation_user_status operations; fixtures cover the stale shape and moderation status DM delivery."}
 {"ts":"2026-06-04T21:00:32Z","type":"implementation","status":"ok","note":"Legacy bare moderation cursor documents with top-level userStatuses now decode through voidModerationCursorSchema into canonical cursor shape; verified build, state-boundary fixture, rumination fixture, targeted bot/worker restart, and restored a lost Nibu summon through the heartbeat path (Discord message 1512199001309446295). Separate CultCache/CultMesh Extra-byte decode still remains if it recurs outside state-note-only jobs."}
+{"ts":"2026-06-04T22:20:09Z","type":"implementation","status":"ok","note":"Repo Face SAY routing now marks parent-Interpreter stale/older-side-thread routes as requiring an explicit reply_to anchor; worker refuses those SAY intents instead of defaulting to an unanchored current_room post. Verified build, agents:speech-boundary-smoke, moderation state-boundary fixture, and restarted worker PID 2488."}