issue-lifecycle skill fails in worktrees: missing init and dev extension model resolution

[keeb]

Problem

The /issue-lifecycle skill is brittle when running in Claude Code worktrees. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Two distinct failure scenarios:

1. Worktree not initialized

When Claude Code creates a worktree via EnterWorktree, it creates a git worktree but doesn't run swamp repo init. Without .swamp/ and .swamp.yaml, all swamp model commands fail. The skill doesn't include initialization as a prerequisite step.

2. Scratch repo can't load dev extension models

During triage reproduction (Phase 1 Step 5), when a scratch repo is created at /tmp/swamp-repro-issue-<N>, dev extension models like @si/issue-lifecycle aren't available. The Deno bundler can't resolve zod imports because the scratch repo has no deno.json import map. The workaround is SWAMP_MODELS_DIR=<worktree>/extensions/models, but this isn't documented in the skill.

3. findNearestDenoConfig boundary check ordering

In user_model_loader.ts:1084-1105, the repo boundary check fires before the deno.json check, meaning if a model file is at the repo root level, its deno.json would be missed.

Expected Behavior

The issue-lifecycle skill should work flawlessly every time in any context (main repo, worktree, scratch repo) without manual environment setup.

Proposed Fix

1. Skill: Add Phase 0 (Environment Setup) with worktree detection, swamp repo init, model verification, and SWAMP_MODELS_DIR guidance
2. Skill: Update triage.md scratch repo instructions to set SWAMP_MODELS_DIR
3. Code: Fix findNearestDenoConfig boundary check order
4. Code: Improve error messages when model type not found

[keeb]

🔍 Triage started — fetching issue context

[keeb]

📋 Classified as bug (high)

Classification details

Root cause: regex bug in populateCatalogFromDir (user_model_loader.ts:821). The regex matches the first type: in the source file instead of the one inside export const model. In issue_lifecycle.ts, line 81 has type: feature (helper function call) matched before line 113 type: @si/issue-lifecycle (actual model type). This poisons the catalog permanently. Secondary issues: (1) no Phase 0 environment setup in skill for worktrees, (2) scratch repo instructions dont set SWAMP_MODELS_DIR, (3) findNearestDenoConfig boundary ordering.

[keeb]

🔍 Triage started — fetching issue context

[keeb]

📋 Classified as bug (high)

Classification details

Root cause: regex bug in populateCatalogFromDir (user_model_loader.ts:821). The regex /type\s*:\s*"'"["'"]/ matches the first type: "..." in the source file. In issue_lifecycle.ts, line 81 has type: "feature" (inside sc.ensureIssue helper call) which matches before line 113 type: "@si/issue-lifecycle" (the actual model type). This permanently poisons the extension catalog. Secondary issues: (1) no Phase 0 environment setup in skill for worktrees, (2) scratch repo instructions missing SWAMP_MODELS_DIR, (3) findNearestDenoConfig boundary check ordering.

[keeb]

📝 Implementation plan generated (v1)

Plan summary

Fix catalog type extraction regex that poisons the extension catalog, add Phase 0 environment setup to issue-lifecycle skill, fix findNearestDenoConfig boundary ordering, and update scratch repo instructions for SWAMP_MODELS_DIR.