chore(review): remove AutonomyLevel.suggest/.propose and fix a stale milestone-match comment

[JSONbored]

Summary

This is a decision-and-partial-implementation PR for #4620, which explicitly required a wire-or-remove call per item before any code changed. Verified every item against the actual current source (not just the issue's own characterization) — this caught two real mischaracterizations, documented below.

Decisions (all 9 items)

Item	Decision	Reasoning
AutonomyLevel.suggest/.propose	REMOVE (this PR)	Doc comment promised distinct "guidance/proposal" behavior; every read site (isActingAutonomyLevel/autonomyRequiresApproval) only ever distinguished acting from non-acting, so both were 100% identical to observe. No stored config uses either value — zero behavior change for any existing repo.
checkRunDetailLevel.deep	REMOVE (follow-up)	Confirmed both read sites (buildCheckRunAnnotations, formatCheckRunOutput in src/rules/advisory.ts) only branch on "minimal" vs everything else — "standard"/"deep" produce byte-identical output. The system's own design philosophy (formatCheckRunOutput's summary text: "Gittensory public check output is intentionally minimal. Detailed maintainer context is available only through private API/MCP surfaces") argues against ever wiring more public detail. Deferred to a follow-up PR — real footprint across 6 files (types.ts, openapi/schemas.ts, github/app.ts, api/routes.ts, rules/advisory.ts, db/repositories.ts), decision already made here so it's a fast, low-risk mechanical follow-up.
autoProjectMilestoneMatch: "auto"	NOT dead — fixed the stale comment instead	The issue (and the code's own comment) claimed this "behaves identically to suggest until #3185 wires real milestone attachment." Checked directly: #3185 shipped (closed 2026-07-10) and maybeSuggestMilestoneMatchForPr's "auto" branch genuinely calls attachToMilestone/attachToProject — this is a real, working, distinct behavior today. The only actual bug was a stale doc comment never updated after #3185 merged. Fixed in this PR.
firstTimeContributorGrace	KEEP, no change	Already deliberately decided via #2266 → PR #2411 ("mark gate.firstTimeContributorGrace as reserved/inert") 9 days ago — a dedicated prior issue already concluded blocker findings must remain closure outcomes regardless of contributor tenure, and chose to keep the field as documented-inert "for potential future use" rather than remove it. Not this issue's call to reverse.
copycatGateMode	KEEP, no change	Tied to #1969 (Plagiarism/copycat detection), which is still open. Genuinely reserved config surface for active, tracked future work — not abandoned.
qualityGateMode: "block"	KEEP, no change	Confirmed buildQualityGateWarning (src/rules/advisory.ts) always returns a severity: "warning" finding regardless of mode, and the finding code isn't in isConfiguredGateBlocker's allowlist either — this is a deliberate two-layer safety clamp (a fuzzy readiness score should never hard-block a PR), not forgotten dead code. Reversing it would be a real product decision about whether quality-gate should ever be allowed to block, not a cleanup.
reviewCheckMode: "visible"	KEEP, no change	The type's own doc comment is explicit: "the distinction is purely about how the operator should configure GitHub [branch protection]" — "visible" and "required" deliberately produce identical gittensory-side behavior by design; the value exists to signal operator intent, not to drive code. Not dead code.
ScreenshotTableGateAction: "advisory"	KEEP, no change	Also not actually dead — "advisory" skips only the auto-close path (screenshotTableMatch only forms when action === "close"), while the gate still evaluates and reports. A real, working, intentionally-scoped alternate mode (#4535), just mischaracterized by #4620's summary as a "no-op."
gateCheckMode	Out of scope here	Already tracked separately in #4618 (config-surface-reduction epic) — not duplicated in this issue's scope.

Net: 5 of 9 items were legitimate, deliberate design decisions already made elsewhere (not dead code) — only 2 are genuine removals, and 1 was a stale-comment bug rather than a config-surface issue at all. Recording this here so the next person doesn't re-litigate the same research.

What's actually in this PR

• Removed "suggest"/"propose" from AutonomyLevel (src/types.ts), AUTONOMY_LEVELS (src/settings/autonomy.ts), the zod validator (src/api/routes.ts), the mirrored engine-package copies, and the maintainer-settings UI's local type/dropdown/description text.
• Fixed ProjectMilestoneMatchMode's stale doc comment.
• Updated 5 existing test files whose fixtures used "suggest"/"propose" as valid-but-arbitrary non-acting examples — replaced with "observe" (the value they were always behaviorally equivalent to) or another still-valid level, preserving each test's actual intent.

Follow-up (tracked, decision already made, not blocking this PR): remove checkRunDetailLevel.deep in a separate PR given its wider file footprint.

Closes #4620

Scope

• The PR title follows type(scope): short summary Conventional Commit format, for example fix(api): restore profile access checks.
• This PR is focused and does not mix unrelated backend, UI, MCP, docs, dependency, and deploy changes.
• This follows CONTRIBUTING.md and does not reintroduce GitHub Pages, VitePress, site/, or CNAME.
• I linked a currently open issue this PR resolves (e.g. Closes #123) — a linked open issue is required for every contributor PR.

Validation

• git diff --check
• npm run actionlint
• npm run typecheck
• npm run test:coverage locally; codecov/patch requires ≥99% coverage of the lines AND branches you changed (aim for 100% on your diff so CI variance does not fail near the threshold). Global coverage is a non-blocking trend with a loose 90% backstop, not the gate.
• npm run test:workers
• npm run build:mcp
• npm run test:mcp-pack
• npm run ui:openapi:check (N/A — no API/OpenAPI schema change; enum shrink is TS-level only)
• npm run ui:lint
• npm run ui:typecheck
• npm run ui:test
• npm run ui:build
• npm audit --audit-level=moderate
• New or changed behavior has unit/integration tests for new branches, fallback paths, and sanitizer boundaries — this is a pure type-surface removal with no new behavior; 319 tests across 5 affected files updated and passing, confirming zero behavior change for every remaining valid autonomy level.
• npm run engine-parity:drift-check — clean; caught and fixed a real drift on the first pass (a comment-text mismatch between the two autonomy.ts copies).

If any required check was skipped, explain why:

• No wrangler-binding, MCP, or build-pipeline surface touched. ui:test/ui:build weren't run locally (only ui:lint/ui:typecheck, both clean) given no runtime UI behavior changed (dropdown option count only); CI will run the full UI suite. test:coverage was run targeted on the 5 affected test files (319/319 passing) rather than the full unsharded suite.

Safety

• No secrets, wallet details, hotkeys, coldkeys, user PATs, private keys, raw trust scores, private rankings, or private maintainer evidence are exposed. (Ran the diff through the repo's own hasGenericSecretAssignment detector directly — clean.)
• Public GitHub text stays sanitized, low-noise, and does not imply compensation guarantees or optimization tactics. (N/A)
• Auth, cookie, CORS, GitHub App, Cloudflare, or session changes include negative-path tests. (N/A)
• API/OpenAPI/MCP behavior is updated and tested where needed. (N/A — TS-level enum only, no wire-format change; autonomy API field already accepted arbitrary strings server-side via allowlist-drop normalization)
• UI changes use live API data or real empty/error/loading states, not production mock/demo fallbacks. (N/A — dropdown option list only)
• Visible UI changes include a UI Evidence section below. See below — minor, text-only settings-panel change.
• Public docs/changelogs are updated where needed; changelogs are only edited for release-prep PRs. (N/A)

UI Evidence

Minor text-only change to the maintainer settings panel's autonomy dropdown (fewer options: observe → auto_with_approval → auto instead of observe → suggest → propose → auto_with_approval → auto) and its description text. No screenshot captured — purely a dropdown-option-count reduction with the exact same visual layout, not a rendering/state change.

Notes

• Two of Resolve dead config branches (wire or remove) #4620's 9 items turned out to be mischaracterized by the original audit summary (autoProjectMilestoneMatch was actually already fixed by a since-shipped issue; ScreenshotTableGateAction.advisory was never actually dead). Verifying against live source rather than trusting the issue text caught both before any wrong code change happened.

[superagent-security]

Superagent didn't find any vulnerabilities or security issues in this PR.

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Status	Name	Latest Commit	Preview URL	Updated (UTC)
✅ Deployment successful! View logs	gittensory-ui	33474d9	Commit Preview URL Branch Preview URL	Jul 10 2026, 09:59 PM

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 94.22%. Comparing base (eafcd35) to head (3953217).
⚠️ Report is 4 commits behind head on main.
✅ All tests successful. No failed tests found.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main    #4730   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   94.22%   94.22%           
=======================================
  Files         440      440           
  Lines       38714    38714           
  Branches    14103    14103           
=======================================
  Hits        36478    36478           
  Misses       1576     1576           
  Partials      660      660           

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
...ackages/gittensory-engine/src/settings/autonomy.ts	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/api/routes.ts	94.26% <ø> (ø)
src/settings/autonomy.ts	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)
src/types.ts	100.00% <ø> (ø)

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Caution

🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥

🛑 Gittensory review result - fixes required

_{Review updated: 2026-07-10 22:24:59 UTC}

11 files · 1 AI reviewer · no blockers · readiness 100/100 · CI failing · blocked

🛑 Suggested Action - Manual Review

• Touches a guarded path — held for manual review: This PR changes guardrail-protected path(s): src/settings/autonomy.ts (matched src/settings/autonomy.ts).

Review summary
This PR mechanically removes the dead AutonomyLevel.suggest/.propose values (verified identical-to-observe behavior at every read site) and fixes a stale doc comment claiming auto milestone-match was still unwired after #3185 shipped. The removal is applied consistently across both duplicated settings modules, the shared types, the API zod schema, the UI's local duplicate type, and every affected test file — no leftover reference to the removed values is visible in the diff. Scope is appropriately narrow: it explicitly defers the checkRunDetailLevel.deep item to a follow-up rather than bundling it, and ties itself to issue #4620.

Nits — 7 non-blocking

• Confirm there's no DB-level CHECK constraint/migration still enumerating "suggest"/"propose" for the stored autonomy column — the PR asserts no stored config uses them but doesn't show the storage layer to prove it.
• apps/gittensory-ui/src/components/site/app-panels/maintainer-settings.tsx hand-duplicates AutonomyLevel/AUTONOMY_LEVELS instead of importing the shared type from src/types.ts — pre-existing debt, but since this PR touches the exact lines, worth importing the shared type instead.
• The updated doc comment on ProjectMilestoneMatchMode (src/types.ts) asserts maybeSuggestMilestoneMatchForPr's "auto" branch calls attachToMilestone/attachToProject — that function isn't in the diff, so this claim is unverified from what's visible (low risk, comment-only).
• Add a one-line grep/CI check (or note in the PR body) confirming no remaining "suggest" / "propose" string literal exists outside the changed files, since the safety argument rests entirely on that claim.
• Follow up per the PR's own plan to remove checkRunDetailLevel.deep given the decision is already made — low risk, mechanical, same shape as this PR.
• PR author also opened the linked issue — Link an issue that was opened by a different contributor, or provide a rationale for why this self-authored issue represents genuine discovery work.
• Touches a guarded path — held for manual review — A maintainer must review and merge this change.

CI checks failing

• validate
• validate-code

Signal	Result	Evidence
Code review	✅ No blockers	1 reviewer
Linked issue	✅ Linked	#4620
Related work	✅ No active overlap found	No same-issue or scoped active PR overlap found.
Change scope	✅ 20/20	Low review scope from cached public metadata (1 linked issue).
Validation posture	✅ 25/25	PR body includes validation/test evidence.
Contributor workload	✅ 10/10	Author activity: 48 registered-repo PR(s), 40 merged, 285 issue(s).
Contributor context	✅ Confirmed Gittensor contributor	JSONbored; Gittensor profile; 48 PR(s), 285 issue(s).
Gate result	⚠️ Not blocking	Advisory; not blocking this PR.

Review context

• Author: JSONbored
• Role context: owner (maintainer lane)
• Public audience mode: oss maintainer
• Lane context: Repository is configured for direct PR review.
• Public profile languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, Kotlin, MDX, Shell
• Official Gittensor activity: 48 PR(s), 285 issue(s).
• PR-specific overlap: none found.

Contributor next steps

• Treat this as maintainer-lane context rather than normal contributor-lane activity.

Signal definitions

• Related work = same linked issue, overlapping active PRs, or title/path similarity.
• Change scope = cached public metadata such as size labels, draft state, and review-burden hints.
• Validation posture = whether the PR provides enough public validation/test evidence for maintainer review.
• Contributor workload = public contributor activity and cleanup pressure, not a repo-wide quality failure.
• Contributor context = public GitHub/Gittensor identity context; non-Gittensor status is not a blocker.

Visual preview

Route	Viewport	Before (production)	After (this PR's preview)	Diff
/	desktop			—
/	mobile			—

Click any thumbnail to open the full-size screenshot. Before = production · After = this PR's preview deploy.

_{🟩 Safe / merged · 🟦 Advisory · 🟨 Held for review · 🟥 Blocked / closed}

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