Visible-Agent-Loop-Protocol

Troubleshooting

This page covers common first-run failures.

preflight says no pane or session was reported

For HERDR/pane-controller runtimes:

1. Run herdr status.
2. Run herdr pane list.
3. Start or attach the agent session.
4. Rerun bin/valp preflight --agent <agent>.

For non-pane runtimes, do not fake pane fields. Implement an adapter record with the equivalent queue id, worker id, hosted run id, output ref, and expected evidence refs.

dispatch_blocked: expected evidence did not appear

This means VALP could not prove completion.

Check:

• the dispatch was actually submitted, not only inserted;
• the agent wrote the exact expected evidence path;
• the latest receipt for that agent is not dispatch_blocked;
• evidence-status.json does not mark the evidence invalid, superseded, rejected, or blocked.

If late evidence appears after a timeout, append a newer dispatch_completed receipt that points to the recovered evidence.

task-skill-router not found

Skill recommendation is optional evidence. If no local recommender is installed, record status: unavailable and continue with explicit capability routing.

If a recommender exists but fails, record status: failed; the reference audit reports this as a warning. Do not let a failed recommender grant permissions or hide missing skills.

Manual Mode audit fails on receipts

Manual Mode should use manual labels:

manual_dispatch_written
manual_delivery_attested
manual_result_attested
manual_blocked

manual_result_attested can satisfy a Manual Mode evidence trail when expected evidence exists. It is not Full Mode dispatch_submitted proof.

Runtime says completed, but valp audit fails

This is expected when the runtime completed a job but VALP evidence is missing.

VALP completion requires:

• receipt gates;
• expected evidence;
• verification or scoped blocker;
• review gate;
• approval resolution;
• final synthesis.

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