blue/.blue/docs/spikes/2026-02-01T0124Z-rfc-sdlc-workflow-gaps.wip.md

Spike: RFC SDLC Workflow Gaps

Status	In Progress
Date	2026-02-01
Time Box	1 hour

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Question

Why does RFC matching fail for NNNN-prefixed patterns, and why doesn't RFC status auto-update on PR merge?

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Findings

Issue 1: RFC Matching Fails for NNNN-slug Patterns

Location: crates/blue-core/src/store.rs:1749-1831

The find_document() function tries matches in this order:

1. Exact title match (line 1751)
2. Slug-to-title (lines 1755-1786): worker-job-id → worker job id
3. Number match (lines 1788-1798): Parse as integer
4. Substring match (lines 1800-1824): LIKE '%query%'

Root cause at line 1789:

let trimmed = query.trim_start_matches('0');
if let Ok(num) = if trimmed.is_empty() {
    "0".parse()
} else {
    trimmed.parse::<i32>()
} { ... }

This only works for pure numeric strings. Given 0107-worker-job-id-integration:

• trim_start_matches('0') → "107-worker-job-id-integration"
• parse::<i32>() → fails (not a number)
• Falls through to substring match
• %0107-worker-job-id-integration% matches nothing

Why each pattern failed:

Pattern	Why Failed
0107	Parsed as 107, but no RFC #107 exists
0107-worker-job-id-integration	Not a pure number, substring finds nothing
worker-job-id-integration	Substring match succeeds ✓

Fix: Extract leading digits with regex before number parse:

// Try number match - extract leading digits from NNNN-slug format
let num_str = query.chars()
    .take_while(|c| c.is_ascii_digit())
    .collect::<String>();
let trimmed = num_str.trim_start_matches('0');

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Issue 2: RFC Status Not Auto-Updating on Merge

Location: crates/blue-mcp/src/handlers/pr.rs:341-441

The handle_merge() function merges the PR but never updates RFC status.

Existing automation:

Handler	Status Update
worktree.rs:218-221	accepted → in-progress ✓
pr.rs:341-441	None ❌

Why it's missing - the data exists but isn't connected:

1. Worktrees table has the link:

   CREATE TABLE worktrees (
       document_id INTEGER NOT NULL,  -- Links to RFC
       branch_name TEXT NOT NULL,     -- The branch
       ...
   )
   

2. PR handler can get current branch:

   fn get_current_branch(repo_path: &Path) -> Result<String, String>
   

3. But no way to look up worktree by branch:

   • get_worktree(document_id) - by RFC id only
   • list_worktrees() - all worktrees
   • Missing: get_worktree_by_branch(branch_name)

Fix requires two changes:

1. Add get_worktree_by_branch() to store.rs:

   pub fn get_worktree_by_branch(&self, branch_name: &str) -> Result<Option<Worktree>, StoreError>
   

2. Update handle_merge() in pr.rs to:

   • Get current branch
   • Look up worktree by branch
   • Get document (RFC) from worktree.document_id
   • Update status to "implemented"

---

Summary

Issue	Root Cause	Fix Location
RFC matching	Number extraction only works on pure digits	store.rs:1789
Auto-status	No worktree→RFC lookup on merge	pr.rs:416 + store.rs

Both fixes are mechanical. Create RFC to track implementation.