[ai] fix(ci): drop dead 'stale' batch option from Branch Cleanup workflow

[github-actions]

Caution

Protected files were modified in this change.
This pull request is in request_review mode and requires explicit human scrutiny before merge.

Protected files: .github/workflows/branch-cleanup.yml

Fix: drop dead stale batch option from Branch Cleanup workflow

Problem

.github/workflows/branch-cleanup.yml advertised a stale batch in the
workflow_dispatch.inputs.batch choice list and the push-sentinel regex
([run-cleanup:safe|stale|review]), but scripts/maintenance/branch-cleanup-delete.sh
only implements safe and review. The STALE_BRANCHES case was
intentionally removed after the 30 CLOSE-STALE branches were archived and
deleted on 2026-06-02 (see docs/branch-cleanup-followups.md), but the
workflow wasn't updated to match.

Confirmed failure — run 34392035516 (Branch Cleanup, dry_run=1, batch=stale):

usage: scripts/maintenance/branch-cleanup-delete.sh {safe|review}   (prefix DRY_RUN=1 to preview)
##[error]Process completed with exit code 2.

Any dispatch or sentinel push using stale fails immediately, even in
dry-run/preview mode.

Fix

Removed stale from all 4 places it appeared in the workflow file: the
doc comment, the workflow_dispatch choice list, and both places in the
push-sentinel regex. No script changes were needed — safe/review
already work correctly.

Verification

grep -n stale .github/workflows/branch-cleanup.yml   # no matches
python3 -c "import yaml; yaml.safe_load(open('.github/workflows/branch-cleanup.yml'))"  # YAML OK
DRY_RUN=1 bash scripts/maintenance/branch-cleanup-delete.sh safe    # exit 0
DRY_RUN=1 bash scripts/maintenance/branch-cleanup-delete.sh review  # exit 0

Evidence chart

Closes the workflow-drift bug described in the linked issue.

---

Opened by the PR Iteration Loop. Recommended pattern for this class of fix: Continuous AI — a small, LLM-driven pass that watches live workflow run signals and closes drift between a workflow's advertised options and its script's actual implementation, without needing a new automation program (Agentic Workflows), a live multiplayer session (Chopin), or an unsupervised iterate-to-goal loop (Autoloop).

• Fixes <h1>Dependency Review</h1> #1827

---

Note

This was originally intended as a pull request, but the git push operation failed.

Original error: The process '/usr/bin/git' failed with exit code 1

Workflow Run: View run details and download bundle artifact

The bundle file is available in the agent artifact in the workflow run linked above.

Create the pull request manually

# Download the artifact from the workflow run
gh run download '34390299480' -n agent -D '/tmp/agent-34390299480'

# Resolve the bundle source ref, fetch it into a temporary ref, then create the local branch
bundle_path='/tmp/agent-34390299480/aw-fix-branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch.bundle'
temp_ref='refs/bundles/create-pr-pr-iteration-fix-branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch-b7bc2a5a'
target_ref='refs/heads/pr-iteration/fix/branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch'
bundle_source_ref=$(git bundle list-heads "$bundle_path" | awk '$2 ~ /^refs\/heads\// { print $2 }')
if [ -z "$bundle_source_ref" ]; then
  bundle_source_ref=$(git bundle list-heads "$bundle_path" | awk '$2 == "HEAD" { print $2 }')
fi
if [ "$(printf '%s\n' "$bundle_source_ref" | sed '/^$/d' | wc -l | tr -d ' ')" != "1" ]; then
  echo "Expected exactly one bundle source ref, found: $bundle_source_ref" >&2
  exit 1
fi
git fetch "$bundle_path" "${bundle_source_ref}:${temp_ref}"
git update-ref "$target_ref" "$temp_ref"
git checkout 'pr-iteration/fix/branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch'
# Ensure the working tree matches the updated branch
git reset --hard
# Remove the temporary bundle ref
git update-ref -d "$temp_ref"

# Push the branch to the target remote
git push 'origin' 'pr-iteration/fix/branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch'

# Create the pull request
gh pr create --title '[ai] fix(ci): drop dead '\''stale'\'' batch option from Branch Cleanup workflow' --base 'main' --head 'pr-iteration/fix/branch-cleanup-drop-stale-batch' --repo 'groupthinking/EventRelay'

Generated by pr-iteration-loop for #1827 · copilot · auto · 88.5 AIC · ⌖ 17.2 AIC · ⊞ 12.1K · ◷

• expires on Sep 16, 2026, 7:05 PM UTC

[linear-code]

GRV-517

[kk-agent]

Closing: completed/stale evidence already on main (backlog pass 1 retry after Hayden issue-write confirm). —UVAI Loop