[bradygaster]

Found by the #2487 backend selection and isolation scenario, run live on Claude Code with Copilot's coordinator file deleted.

Setup: a team migrated with squad upgrade --state-backend orphan. Prompt: "Record a team decision … Then tell me where the decision is stored."

Isolation passes. The decision landed only on the squad-state branch. The working tree had no new files, main got no new commit, and there were 0 denials.

The bug: the coordinator told the user the decision was in .squad/decisions/inbox/…, because squad_decide returns only the key. With a git-branch backend (orphan, two-layer), the result now adds that the path is a key on the squad-state branch and that no working-tree file exists. A live re-run reports "the squad-state orphan Git branch … not as a file in your working tree." The local backend's output is unchanged.

Test: test/tools.test.ts covers orphan, two-layer and local.

The CHANGELOG change also adds a missing comma in the #2496 entry.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

🟡 Impact Analysis — PR #2502

Risk tier: 🟡 MEDIUM

📊 Summary

Metric	Count
Files changed	4
Files added	1
Files modified	3
Files deleted	0
Modules touched	3
Critical files	1

🎯 Risk Factors

• 4 files changed (≤5 → LOW)
• 3 modules touched (2-4 → MEDIUM)
• Critical files touched: packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts

📦 Modules Affected

root (2 files)

• .changeset/decide-where-stored.md
• CHANGELOG.md

squad-sdk (1 file)

• packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts

tests (1 file)

• test/tools.test.ts

⚠️ Critical Files

• packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts

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This report is generated automatically for every PR. See #733 for details.

[github-actions]

🛫 PR Readiness Check

ℹ️ This comment updates on each push. Last checked: commit 3a4d22a

PR Scope: 📦🔧 Mixed (product + infrastructure)

⚠️ 4 item(s) to address before review

Status	Check	Details
❌	Single commit	3 commits — consider squashing before review
✅	Not in draft	Ready for review
❌	Branch up to date	dev is 1 commit(s) ahead — rebase recommended
❌	Copilot review	No Copilot review yet — it may still be processing
✅	Changeset present	Changeset file found
✅	Scope clean	No .squad/ or docs/proposals/ files
✅	No merge conflicts	Merge status unknown — GitHub is still computing
❌	Copilot threads resolved	1 unresolved Copilot thread(s) — fix and resolve before merging
✅	CI passing	All checks passing

Files Changed (4 files, +37 −2)

File	+/−
.changeset/decide-where-stored.md	+5 −0
CHANGELOG.md	+2 −1
packages/squad-sdk/src/tools/index.ts	+11 −1
test/tools.test.ts	+19 −0

Total: +37 −2

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This check runs automatically on every push. Fix any ❌ items and push again.
See CONTRIBUTING.md and PR Requirements for details.

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

The two-layer storage message incorrectly claims decisions are stored only on the orphan branch, although the backend also writes them to Git notes.

1 open issue

• Correct two-layer backend storage description · New

What changed in this PR

This PR clarifies squad_decide results for Git-branch state backends so coordinators can distinguish stored decision keys from working-tree files. It addresses the reporting problem found in #2487’s backend-isolation scenario without changing storage behavior.

Changes:

• Adds storage-location wording for orphan and two-layer, leaving local-backend output unchanged.
• Adds assertions for both Git-branch backends and local output.
• Records the SDK patch and changelog entry, and fixes a missing comma.

File	Description
test/​tools.test.ts	Adds backend-specific result-message coverage.
packages/​squad-sdk/​src/​tools/​index.ts	Appends storage-location guidance to decision results.
CHANGELOG.md	Documents the change and corrects punctuation.
.changeset/​decide-where-stored.md	Declares an SDK patch release.

_{Review effort: Balanced (dynamic)}