TIME_PROTECTED governs every protected path except the workflow directories (#81)

TIME_PROTECTED governs every protected path except the workflow directories (#81)

touches_protected() hard-coded all of .github/ and .gitea/ on top of TIME_PROTECTED, so the engine under .github/time/ could never land without a human. Only the workflow directories stay hard-coded; DEFAULT_PROTECTED is unchanged. With this repo's TIME_PROTECTED narrowed, card PRs under .github/time/ with a trusted Approve and green checks merge via the time bot.

CI green on 3b757fa. Squash-merged by the CEO session on the owner's explicit instruction.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_017K4vyY3yUD3GsvoZaAtKkD

.github/time/test_time.py

@@ -281,6 +281,14 @@ assert not merged(w) and "objected" in w.posted[0][1]
 # protected paths -> human merges
 w = run(pr_world(files=[".github/workflows/ci.yml"]), {**K, "TIME_AUTOMERGE": "on"})
 assert not merged(w) and "protected paths" in w.posted[0][1]
+# the default protects all of .github/, the engine included; TIME_PROTECTED can narrow that to the workflow dirs, which stay
+# protected whatever it says
+w = run(pr_world(files=[".github/time/time.py", "CHANGELOG.md"]), {**K, "TIME_AUTOMERGE": "on"}); assert not merged(w)
+NARROW = ".github/workflows/,.gitea/workflows/,deploy,infra/,.env,secret"
+w = run(pr_world(files=[".github/time/time.py", "CHANGELOG.md"]), {**K, "TIME_AUTOMERGE": "on", "TIME_PROTECTED": NARROW}); assert merged(w)
+w = run(pr_world(files=[".gitea/workflows/ci.yml"]), {**K, "TIME_AUTOMERGE": "on", "TIME_PROTECTED": "deploy"})
+assert not merged(w) and "protected paths" in w.posted[0][1]
+os.environ.pop("TIME_PROTECTED", None)
 # failing or missing checks block the merge even when approved
 w = run(pr_world(checks=[{"status": "failure", "context": "ci"}]), {**K, "TIME_AUTOMERGE": "on"})
 assert not merged(w) and "checks are failing" in w.posted[0][1]

.github/time/time.py

@@ -542,7 +542,9 @@ def verdict(pr: dict, since: str) -> str | None:
 
 def touches_protected(pr_number: int) -> list[str]:
     paths = [p.strip() for p in (os.environ.get("TIME_PROTECTED") or DEFAULT_PROTECTED).split(",") if p.strip()]
-    paths = list(dict.fromkeys([".github/", ".gitea/", *paths]))  # workflows stay a human's merge whatever TIME_PROTECTED says
+    # workflows stay a human's merge whatever TIME_PROTECTED says; the rest is TIME_PROTECTED's call: the default keeps all
+    # of .github/, and a repo that trusts its reviewer can narrow it so the engine under .github/time/ lands like other code
+    paths = list(dict.fromkeys([".github/workflows/", ".gitea/workflows/", *paths]))
     files, page = [], 1
     while True:  # every file, not the first 100; a rename counts under both names
         batch = gh("GET", f"/repos/{REPO}/pulls/{pr_number}/files?limit=100&page={page}")

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 - The second fix round escalates to Kimi's code model (`venice:kimi code`) instead of grok 4.7: still a different model from the first round, at a fraction of the cost. `TIME_VENTURE_ESCALATE` overrides it.
 
 ### Added
+- `TIME_PROTECTED` now governs every protected path except the workflow directories (`.github/workflows/`, `.gitea/workflows/`), which stay a human's merge whatever it says. The default still protects all of `.github/`; a repo that trusts its reviewer can set `TIME_PROTECTED=.github/workflows/,.gitea/workflows/,deploy,infra/,.env,secret` so the engine under `.github/time/` merges itself on Approve + green like any other code.
 - Objections go back to the worker. `/time retry` on a card whose PR is open hands the worker the reviewer's latest comments (marked as the reviewer's, strangers' left out) on the same branch; `open_pr` on an open PR updates its description instead of failing; the card goes back to `dispatched`, so the next beat reviews again and an objection older than the push no longer counts.
 - A batch's children start in the tick that spawned them (GitHub lists a card made a moment ago only later, so they used to wait a tick).
 - Build briefs keep claims to what the code does: no promised features or schedules, and the trending repos are the wave a venture rides, never something it "builds on". Fix rounds take a failing claim off the page rather than building a feature in a hurry. In the first live batch, every fix round was a claim the code didn't back.