fix: return 429 instead of 403 when max turns exceeded#5648
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The API proxy was returning HTTP 403 when the max-runs limit was hit, which caused the Copilot CLI harness to misinterpret it as an authentication failure rather than a turn budget exhaustion. Change the status code to 429 (Too Many Requests) which more accurately reflects the condition and allows clients to distinguish auth failures from resource limits. Also bumps the contribution-check workflow max-turns from 3 to 4 to give the agent enough headroom to complete its task. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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Pull request overview
This PR adjusts the API proxy’s “max turns / max runs” exhaustion behavior so clients receive a more accurate HTTP status (429) instead of an authorization-style 403, and increases the contribution-check workflow’s turn budget to reduce premature cutoffs.
Changes:
- Return HTTP 429 for the
max_runs_exceededguard (previously 403). - Update API proxy test suites to expect 429 for max-runs exhaustion (HTTP + WebSocket paths).
- Increase contribution-check max-turns from 3 → 4 and recompile the workflow lock file.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
containers/api-proxy/guards/common-guard-checks.js |
Changes max-runs guard status code to 429. |
containers/api-proxy/server.token-guards.test.js |
Updates HTTP guard test expectations to 429 and asserts message text. |
containers/api-proxy/server.websocket.test.js |
Updates WebSocket guard test to expect HTTP/1.1 429. |
.github/workflows/contribution-check.md |
Bumps workflow max-turns from 3 to 4. |
.github/workflows/contribution-check.lock.yml |
Recompiled workflow; contains additional generated differences that should align with the repo’s post-processing expectations. |
Review details
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- Files reviewed: 5/5 changed files
- Comments generated: 4
- Review effort level: Low
| // Terminal hard cap: 429 signals the agent has exhausted its allowed | ||
| // turns. Unlike transient rate-limits, the Retry-After is absent so | ||
| // well-behaved clients won't retry indefinitely. | ||
| statusCode: 429, | ||
| eventName: 'max_runs_exceeded', |
| @@ -211,6 +211,16 @@ | |||
| uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0 | |||
| with: | |||
| persist-credentials: false | |||
| sparse-checkout: | | |||
| @@ -472,36 +482,8 @@ | |||
| run: bash "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/actions/install_copilot_cli.sh" 1.0.65 | |||
| env: | |||
| GH_HOST: github.com | |||
| - name: Setup Node.js | |||
| uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0 | |||
| with: | |||
| node-version: '24' | |||
| package-manager-cache: false | |||
| - name: Install awf dependencies | |||
| run: npm ci | |||
| - name: Build awf | |||
| run: npm run build | |||
| - name: Install awf binary (local) | |||
| run: | | |||
| WORKSPACE_PATH="${GITHUB_WORKSPACE:-$(pwd)}" | |||
| NODE_BIN="$(command -v node)" | |||
| if [ ! -d "$WORKSPACE_PATH" ]; then | |||
| echo "Workspace path not found: $WORKSPACE_PATH" | |||
| exit 1 | |||
| fi | |||
| if [ ! -x "$NODE_BIN" ]; then | |||
| echo "Node binary not found: $NODE_BIN" | |||
| exit 1 | |||
| fi | |||
| if [ ! -d "/usr/local/bin" ]; then | |||
| echo "/usr/local/bin is missing" | |||
| exit 1 | |||
| fi | |||
| sudo tee /usr/local/bin/awf > /dev/null <<EOF | |||
| #!/bin/bash | |||
| exec "${NODE_BIN}" "${WORKSPACE_PATH}/dist/cli.js" "\$@" | |||
| EOF | |||
| sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/awf | |||
| - name: Install AWF binary | |||
| run: bash "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/actions/install_awf_binary.sh" v0.27.11 | |||
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Post-processing replaced with source build in eb4fed8.
| # shellcheck disable=SC1003,SC2086 | ||
| sudo -E awf --config "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/awf-config.json" --container-workdir "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}" --mount "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:ro" --mount "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:/host${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:ro" ${GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE_MOUNT:+--mount "$GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE_MOUNT"} ${GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST:+--docker-host "$GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST"} ${GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST_PATH_PREFIX_ARGS} --env-all --exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN --exclude-env MCP_GATEWAY_API_KEY --log-level info --proxy-logs-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/firewall/logs --audit-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/firewall/audit --session-state-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/agent/session-state --enable-host-access --allow-host-ports 80,443,8080 --build-local \ | ||
| sudo -E awf --config "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/awf-config.json" --container-workdir "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}" --mount "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:ro" --mount "${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:/host${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw:ro" ${GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE_MOUNT:+--mount "$GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE_MOUNT"} ${GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST:+--docker-host "$GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST"} ${GH_AW_DOCKER_HOST_PATH_PREFIX_ARGS} --env-all --exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN --exclude-env MCP_GATEWAY_API_KEY --log-level info --proxy-logs-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/firewall/logs --audit-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/firewall/audit --enable-host-access --allow-host-ports 80,443,8080 --skip-pull \ | ||
| -- /bin/bash -c 'set +o histexpand; export PATH="${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/mcp-cli/bin:$PATH" && : "${RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE:?RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE must be set}"; GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE="$RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE"; export PATH="$(find "$GH_AW_TOOL_CACHE" -maxdepth 5 -type d -name bin 2>/dev/null | tr '\''\n'\'' '\'':'\'')$PATH"; [ -n "$GOROOT" ] && export PATH="$GOROOT/bin:$PATH" || true && GH_AW_NODE_EXEC="${GH_AW_NODE_BIN:-}"; if [ -z "$GH_AW_NODE_EXEC" ] || [ ! -x "$GH_AW_NODE_EXEC" ]; then GH_AW_NODE_EXEC="$(command -v node 2>/dev/null || true)"; fi; if [ -z "$GH_AW_NODE_EXEC" ]; then echo "node runtime missing on this runner — check runtimes.node in workflow YAML" >&2; exit 127; fi; GH_AW_NPM_GLOBAL_ROOT="$(npm root -g 2>/dev/null || true)"; if [ -n "$GH_AW_NPM_GLOBAL_ROOT" ]; then export NODE_PATH="${GH_AW_NPM_GLOBAL_ROOT}${NODE_PATH:+:${NODE_PATH}}"; fi; "$GH_AW_NODE_EXEC" ${RUNNER_TEMP}/gh-aw/actions/copilot_harness.cjs /usr/local/bin/copilot --add-dir /tmp/gh-aw/ --log-level all --log-dir /tmp/gh-aw/sandbox/agent/logs/ --disable-builtin-mcps --no-ask-user --allow-all-tools --allow-all-paths --add-dir "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}" --prompt-file /tmp/gh-aw/aw-prompts/prompt.txt' 2>&1 | tee -a /tmp/gh-aw/agent-stdio.log |
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Post-processing replaced with --build-local in eb4fed8.
|
@copilot run pr-finisher skill |
Update test assertion to match the new max-turns value in the contribution-check workflow. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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✅ Copilot review passed with no inline comments. @lpcox Add the |
✅ Coverage Check PassedOverall Coverage
📁 Per-file Coverage Changes (1 files)
Coverage comparison generated by |
- Update maxRuns guard description in both schema files: 403 → 429 - Post-process contribution-check.lock.yml: remove sparse-checkout, replace install_awf_binary.sh with source build, replace --skip-pull with --build-local, inject --session-state-dir - Incidental: remove env_key XPIA sanitization in secret-digger-codex
Fix schema docs and regenerate contribution-check lock file
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❌ Contribution Check failed. Please review the logs for details. |
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🔑 Smoke Copilot PAT PAT auth validated. All systems operational. ✅ |
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✅ Smoke Gemini completed. All facets verified. 💎 Testing GitHub MCP |
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✅ Smoke Copilot BYOK AOAI (Entra) completed. Copilot AOAI BYOK (Entra) mode operational. 🔓 |
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✅ Smoke Copilot BYOK completed. Copilot BYOK mode operational. 🔓 |
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🔌 Smoke Services — All services reachable! ✅ |
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✅ Build Test Suite completed successfully! |
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✅ Smoke Claude passed |
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📰 VERDICT: Smoke Copilot has concluded. All systems operational. This is a developing story. 🎤 |
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✨ The prophecy is fulfilled... Smoke Codex has completed its mystical journey. The stars align. 🌟 |
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Chroot tests passed! Smoke Chroot - All security and functionality tests succeeded. |
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❌ Security Guard failed. Please review the logs for details. |
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✅ Smoke Copilot BYOK AOAI (api-key) completed. Copilot AOAI BYOK (api-key) mode operational. 🔓 |
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📡 Smoke OTel Tracing completed. All tracing scenarios validated. ✅ |
Smoke Test: Claude Engine Validation
Overall result: PASS
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🔬 Smoke Test ResultsPR: fix: return 429 instead of 403 when max turns exceeded
Overall: PASS
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🔍 Smoke Test: Copilot PAT Auth — PASS
Overall: ✅ PASS — Auth mode: PAT (COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN)
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Smoke Test: Copilot BYOK (Direct) Mode ✅
Status: PASS
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lpcox
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Overall: PASS
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Warning Firewall blocked 1 domainThe following domain was blocked by the firewall during workflow execution:
network:
allowed:
- defaults
- "registry.npmjs.org"See Network Configuration for more information.
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🔭 Smoke Test: API Proxy OpenTelemetry Tracing
All scenarios pass. OTEL tracing integration is complete and functional.
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✅ MCP Testing Running in direct BYOK mode (AWF_AUTH_TYPE=github-oidc + AWF_AUTH_AZURE_* + COPILOT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL) via api-proxy → Azure OpenAI (Foundry, o4-mini-aw) authenticated via Microsoft Entra Overall: PASS
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🔍 Chroot Runtime Version Comparison
Result: ❌ Not all tests passed — Python and Node.js versions differ between host and chroot environments.
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🏗️ Build Test Suite Results
Overall: 8/8 ecosystems passed — ✅ PASS
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Smoke Test: Services Connectivity
Overall: ❌ FAIL — Service containers appear not to be running or are inaccessible from this runner.
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Gemini Smoke Test Results
Overall status: PASS Warning Firewall blocked 1 domainThe following domain was blocked by the firewall during workflow execution:
network:
allowed:
- defaults
- "localhost"See Network Configuration for more information.
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Problem
The API proxy returns HTTP 403 when the max-runs (turns) limit is exhausted. The Copilot CLI harness interprets 403 as
authentication_failedand stops retrying immediately — surfacing a misleading "Check your COPILOT_PROVIDER_API_KEY" error to the user.This was observed in CI run #28328818484 where the contribution-check agent completed only 2 turns of work before being cut off by
maxRuns: 3, with the 3rd request returning 403 from the proxy.Fix
Change status code from 403 → 429 for the
max_runs_exceededguard. HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) accurately signals resource exhaustion rather than authorization failure. The error body already contains a clearmax_runs_exceededtype and descriptive message ("Maximum LLM invocations exceeded (N / M)"), so clients can distinguish this from transient rate-limits (which includeRetry-Afterheaders).Bump contribution-check
max-turnsfrom 3 → 4 to give the agent enough headroom to complete its review task.Changes
containers/api-proxy/guards/common-guard-checks.jsstatusCode: 403→429for max-runs guardcontainers/api-proxy/server.token-guards.test.jscontainers/api-proxy/server.websocket.test.js.github/workflows/contribution-check.mdmax-turns: 3→4.github/workflows/contribution-check.lock.ymlTesting
All 33 tests in the affected suites pass, plus 184 guard-related tests.