Workbench / Issues

Workflow Loops Through Review Without Resolution

A workflow repeatedly sends work through review, repair, or escalation without reaching an approved, rejected, or otherwise resolved state.

What This Looks Like

Work keeps cycling through review, repair, re-review, escalation, or reclassification without reaching a resolved state. Each pass may produce comments, changes, or another review result, but the workflow does not settle into approved, rejected, blocked, or complete.

Why It Matters

Review loops consume time and attention without creating closure. Users may not know whether to keep revising, stop, escalate, or accept the current state. If the loop is automated, it can also create repeated tool calls, notifications, or workflow churn.

Structural Signal

The workflow contains a cycle with no effective resolution condition. The issue is not that review exists; it is that the review path can continue indefinitely without a rule that exits the loop.

Common Triggers

When to Use This Issue

Use this Issue when a workflow repeatedly cycles through review, repair, or escalation without reaching a resolved state.

When Not to Use This Issue

Do not use this Issue for one normal revision cycle. Do not use it when the workflow is intentionally iterative and has a clear stopping rule.

Category

Loops & Resolution

Primary Pattern

PAT-0250 — Circular Dependency

Declared Patterns

Derived Primary Lenses

Derived Secondary Lenses

Search Intents

Ontology Metadata

Code
ISS-0086
Version
ISS-0086@0.1.0
Ontology release
0.1.0
Updated
2026-05-10T00:00:00Z

History

No public history entries recorded.

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