fix(tasks): auto-wake assignee online on assignment/in_progress

[ailuvu-art]

Summary

This PR makes assignee liveness reflect active task operations.

When a task is assigned or moved into in_progress, Mission Control now performs a best-effort heartbeat commit (online) for the assignee, so operators do not need manual wake nudges.

Closes #301.

Changes

• backend/app/api/tasks.py
  • Add _wake_agent_online_for_task(...) helper.
  • Call wake helper in assignment notification path (_notify_agent_on_task_assign).
  • Call wake helper when a task enters in_progress with an assignee (_notify_task_update_assignment_changes).
  • Record activity events:
    • task.assignee_woken
    • task.assignee_wake_failed

Why

Current behavior can show agents as offline even after assignment / mission start, which is confusing for task operators and makes mission kickoff feel unreliable.

Validation

Manual integration validation against local MC stack:

1. Force assignee to offline via heartbeat endpoint.
2. PATCH task with:
   • assigned_agent_id=<agent>
   • status=in_progress
3. Confirm assignee status becomes online immediately after PATCH.

Also validated create-task-with-assignee path:

• create task in inbox with assigned_agent_id set
• assignee status transitions to online.

Notes

• This is best-effort and non-blocking for task updates.
• Existing agent notify flow remains intact.

[ailuvu-art]

@abhi1693 Could you please review this fix?\n\nIt auto-wakes assignees to online when a task is assigned or moved to in_progress, to improve mission start reliability.\n\nIssue: #301\nPR: #302

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the backend task-mutation notification flow so that when a task is assigned or first enters in_progress, Mission Control best-effort “wakes” the assignee by committing an online heartbeat and recording activity events, reducing cases where the UI shows an assignee as offline during active work.

Changes:

• Add _wake_agent_online_for_task(...) to commit an online heartbeat and record wake success/failure activity.
• Invoke the wake helper during assignment notifications and when transitioning into in_progress with an assignee.
• Add new activity events: task.assignee_woken and task.assignee_wake_failed.

[ailuvu-art]

Addressed review feedback in commit dd5e6ef.

✅ Changes made

1. Deduplicated wake path

   • Prevented double wake when one PATCH does both assignment + status transition to in_progress.
   • _notify_task_update_assignment_changes now wakes on status_in_progress only when assignment is unchanged.
   • Assignment path still wakes once via _notify_agent_on_task_assign.

2. Reduced unnecessary board query

   • Reworked _notify_task_update_assignment_changes to lazy-load Board only when needed (unassign notify, wake, assign/rework notify paths).

3. Added test coverage

   • test_lead_assignment_and_in_progress_wakes_assignee_once
     • Covers assignment + in_progress in one PATCH, asserts assignee wake happens once.
   • test_entering_in_progress_with_existing_assignee_wakes_assignee
     • Covers transition to in_progress with existing assignee, asserts wake + expected reason.

🔎 Manual verification

• Rebuilt backend and verified with API smoke tests:
  • assignment + in_progress patch now emits exactly 1 task.assignee_woken event.
  • entering in_progress with existing assignee emits 1 wake event with (status_in_progress) reason.

[ailuvu-art]

Hi @abhi1693 👋

PR check run #23306147068 is currently action_required (workflow approval needed for fork PR).

Please approve and run workflow for run 23306147068: https://github.com/abhi1693/openclaw-mission-control/actions/runs/23306147068

This is blocking because the latest push (commit 48bc1ea) needs a maintainer-approved run to verify the status-gate fix.