Autoloop template should exclude language-specific dev files from protected-files by default

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
72/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Quiet
Domain
devops, tooling

Research direction

Open workflows/autoloop.md and inspect the protected-files configuration for both create-pull-request and push-to-pull-request-branch. Add the listed language-specific development files to each exclude list while keeping the named documentation, ownership, and top-level dot-folder protections. Done means the template contains matching exclusions in both sections.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Problem

The default protected-files list in the autoloop workflow template blocks common dev files that autoloop programs legitimately need to modify:

  • Go: go.mod, go.sum
  • JS/TS: package.json, package-lock.json, bun.lockb, bunfig.toml, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml, tsconfig.json
  • Python: requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, setup.py, setup.cfg, Pipfile, Pipfile.lock
  • Ruby: Gemfile, Gemfile.lock

When an autoloop iteration modifies any of these, the push silently falls back to creating an issue instead of a PR (protected_files_policy: fallback-to-issue). The iteration's code is effectively lost.

This has blocked autoloop on:

  • githubnext/apm — Go migration, go.mod/go.sum blocked every iteration
  • githubnext/tsikit-learn — TS project, package.json/bunfig.toml blocked
  • githubnext/tsessebe — same pattern

Fix

The autoloop workflow template (workflows/autoloop.md) should use the exclude form for protected-files to remove language-specific dev files from the default list:

create-pull-request:
    protected-files:
      policy: fallback-to-issue
      exclude:
        - go.mod
        - go.sum
        - package.json
        - package-lock.json
        - bun.lockb
        - bunfig.toml
        - yarn.lock
        - pnpm-lock.yaml
        - tsconfig.json
        - biome.json
        - requirements.txt
        - pyproject.toml
        - setup.py
        - setup.cfg
        - Pipfile
        - Pipfile.lock
        - Gemfile
        - Gemfile.lock

Same for push-to-pull-request-branch.

Files that should STAY protected: CODEOWNERS, README.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, DESIGN.md, and .github/ (via protect_top_level_dot_folders).

Affected repos

  • githubnext/tsikit-learn — fixed in PR #13, #15
  • githubnext/apm — fixed in PR #37
  • githubnext/tsessebe — already had max-patch-files but should also get the exclude list
  • githubnext/autoloop — template itself needs updating so new installs get this by default
Dominant language
Python
Stars
72
Forks
6
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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