fix(device-selection): list only tied devices in an ambiguous device error by thymikee · Pull Request #4506 · callstack/agent-device

thymikee · 2026-11-13T14:12:09Z

Summary

When open without a platform finds a booted iOS simulator and a booted Android emulator, it fails with AMBIGUOUS_MATCH. This PR does not change that. It makes the failure cheaper to recover from, so an agent needs only one short retry:

Only the tied devices are listed. The error used to list every device that matched, including every shut-down simulator. Now details.devices and details.retrySelectors hold only the devices that are equally preferred, which are the ones the kernel refused to choose between.
Typed as never dispatched. The kernel's device tie now carries dispatched: 'no'. The --platform ios simulator ambiguity and the provider ambiguity carry it too. Selection runs before any device operation, so the "May have reached the device… Run snapshot" text no longer appears.
One recovery step. The hint is now Retry with the id of the intended device: --serial emulator-5554 or --udid <sim-udid>., built from the tied devices' ids.

Scope reduced by maintainer decision. An earlier version of this PR let the installed app break the tie (it probed each tied device and picked the only one with the app). That is dropped: when a device request is ambiguous, agent-device fails explicitly instead of picking a device by a heuristic that different users would expect differently. The existing --platform ios behaviour, where the booted simulator that has the app wins, is unchanged from main. No help or docs change: the error code and its fields keep the same shape.

Validation

Head b66bea3: focused vitest passes (device-selection, kernel, command-output: 44 files, 580 tests). pnpm typecheck and pnpm lint are clean.
New test: a cross-platform tie with shut-down simulators lists only the two booted devices, carries dispatched: 'no', and names both ids in the hint.
No live device run. Only the error contents change, not dispatch or native execution. CI owns full validation.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

github-actions · 2026-11-13T14:13:14Z

Size Report

Metric	Base	Current	Diff
Installed (including dependencies)	6.26 MB	6.26 MB	+19 B
Package (unpacked)	6.26 MB	6.26 MB	+19 B
Package (download)	1.90 MB	1.90 MB	-20 B

Startup median (7 runs, lower is better):

Scenario	Base	Current	Diff
CLI --version	23.3 ms	22.0 ms	-1.3 ms
CLI --help	43.0 ms	43.4 ms	+0.4 ms

cubic-dev-ai

All reported issues were addressed across 21 files

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apex-sentinel-staging · 2026-11-13T14:21:31Z

Apex Sentinel · ✅ Approve

Since the last review: 0 new · 0 still open · 2 no longer raised (2 marked fixed)

No open findings. 1 withdrawn by a re-check since this review.

3 findings below minor hidden (user_settings.min_severity).

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Earlier reviews

Review of 1491e27f · 13.11.2026 14:21 UTC

Apex Sentinel · ✅ Approve

2 finding(s): 2 minor.

🟡 Minor (2)

Where	Finding
`packages/device-selection/src/device-selection-resolver.ts:202`	An unreadable Android device aborts open instead of leaving the tie ambiguous
`src/commands/schema/cli-help.ts:88`	Help text drops 'explicit' and 'only filter' wording users relied on

3 findings below minor hidden (user_settings.min_severity).

Reviewed with this repository's own Sentinel configuration (80075b6412df).

apex-sentinel-staging

Apex Sentinel: 2 new findings on 1491e27. The verdict and the full list are in the summary comment.

… tied devices An ambiguous device selection now lists only the equally preferred devices, is typed dispatched: 'no', and its hint names the --udid/--serial of each tied device as the one retry step. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>

apex-sentinel-staging

Apex Sentinel: 1 new finding on b66bea3. The verdict and the full list are in the summary comment.

thymikee · 2026-11-13T14:54:36Z

This PR is ready at b66bea3. CI is green: 20 checks, none failing or pending. There are no conflicts. Nothing else needs to happen before merge. I did not run the tests locally, and I did not do a live device run, because the change only affects error content before dispatch.

Not blocking, and you can take or leave these. (1) The resolver recomputes the tied set in packages/device-selection/src/device-selection-resolver.ts:253, but the kernel error already carries it in details.devices, so for an Apple-only tie or more than 10 tied devices devices, retrySelectors and the hint can use a different order or subset. Would keeping the kernel's list and building retrySelectors from those ids give one owner and remove the new exported preferredDeviceCandidates? The new test only uses a mixed Android and iOS set, so it cannot see this. (2) buildAmbiguousDeviceHint in packages/kernel/src/device.ts:792 falls back to --udid <id> for platforms with no identity flag, such as linux and web, where --udid cannot work. Listing --device <name> for those devices would fix it. I did not check whether such devices can appear in a real unscoped tie. (3) The provider ambiguity test at packages/device-selection/src/tests/dispatch-resolve.test.ts:475 could also assert dispatched is 'no'.

* origin/main: fix(android): carry an empty text on a node labelled by its content description (#4531) fix(ios): restore the back swipe's pre-swipe still span (#4515) fix(daemon-client): type the remote daemon refusal with its dispatch fact (#4532) fix: prepare reinstall artifacts before removing apps (#4533) fix(ios): classify the keyboard dismiss refusal by what it dispatched (#4536) fix(ios): press the navigation bar back button and speed up the back swipe (#4508) refactor(gestures): one owner for the densified gesture path; drop the unproven sendevent transport (#4239) fix(host-kit): keep Linux process identity stable across clock steps (#4438) fix(ios): bound the idle wait of keyboard dismiss and keyboard enter (#4454) fix(device-selection): fail an ambiguous device request with only the tied devices (#4506)

cubic-dev-ai Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

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apex-sentinel-staging Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

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Comment thread packages/device-selection/src/device-selection-resolver.ts Resolved

Comment thread src/commands/schema/cli-help.ts Resolved

thymikee force-pushed the fix/open-ambiguous-device-app-tiebreak branch from 1491e27 to b66bea3 Compare November 13, 2026 14:22

thymikee changed the title ~~fix(device-selection): let the installed app break a cross-platform open tie~~ fix(device-selection): list only tied devices in an ambiguous device error Nov 13, 2026

apex-sentinel-staging Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

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Comment thread packages/device-selection/src/device-selection-resolver.ts Resolved

thymikee added the ready-for-human Valid work that needs human implementation, judgment, or maintainer merge label Nov 13, 2026

thymikee merged commit 9e4b5a4 into main Nov 13, 2026
20 checks passed

thymikee deleted the fix/open-ambiguous-device-app-tiebreak branch November 13, 2026 15:01

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fix(device-selection): list only tied devices in an ambiguous device error - #4506

fix(device-selection): list only tied devices in an ambiguous device error#4506
thymikee merged 1 commit into
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fix/open-ambiguous-device-app-tiebreak

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Earlier reviews

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