From cc23cc522750f539f2b50230f9b206213a6623d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Dina Berry (She/her)" <diberry@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:01:23 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(nap): account for separator newlines in decision archival
 budget

The budget calculation in archiveDecisions() did not account for the
newline separators added during content reassembly (header + '\n' +
entries.join('\n') + '\n'). This caused the final recentContent to
exceed DECISION_THRESHOLD even after archival, so the size limitation
kept being reapplied on subsequent nap runs.

Fix: add reassemblyOverhead (2 bytes for header/trailing newlines)
and +1 byte per entry for join separators to the budget calculation.

Closes #123

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 .changeset/fix-nap-archival-budget.md  | 12 ++++++++++++
 CHANGELOG.md                           |  3 +++
 packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts | 13 +++++++++----
 3 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/fix-nap-archival-budget.md

diff --git a/.changeset/fix-nap-archival-budget.md b/.changeset/fix-nap-archival-budget.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95461886a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-nap-archival-budget.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+"@bradygaster/squad-cli": patch
+---
+
+fix(nap): account for separator newlines in decision archival budget
+
+The budget calculation in archiveDecisions() did not account for the newline
+separators added during content reassembly. This caused the final recentContent
+to exceed DECISION_THRESHOLD even after archival. Fix adds reassemblyOverhead
+and per-entry separator bytes to the budget calculation.
+
+Closes #123
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5dab04371..7d9972765 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+- **Nap archival budget** (#123) — account for separator newlines in decision archival budget calculation
+
 ### Added — Full Work Monitor for squad watch (#708)
 - `--execute` flag spawns Copilot sessions to work on actionable issues autonomously
 - Multi-platform support — auto-detects GitHub vs Azure DevOps from git remote URL
diff --git a/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts b/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
index 8f26c43f7..95775aa6b 100644
--- a/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
+++ b/packages/squad-cli/src/cli/core/nap.ts
@@ -386,17 +386,22 @@ function archiveDecisions(squadDir: string, dryRun: boolean): NapAction | null {
     dated.sort((a, b) => a.daysAgo! - b.daysAgo!);
 
     // Keep the most recent dated entries that fit under the threshold
-    // along with all undated entries and the header
+    // along with all undated entries and the header.
+    // Account for separator newlines added during reassembly:
+    //   recentContent = header + '\n' + entries.join('\n') + '\n'
+    // Each entry contributes +1 byte for its join separator (overestimates
+    // by 1 byte for the last entry, which is a safe margin).
     const headerEnd = entries.length > 0 ? entries[0]!.start : lines.length;
     const headerSize = Buffer.byteLength(lines.slice(0, headerEnd).join('\n'), 'utf8');
+    const reassemblyOverhead = 2; // '\n' after header + trailing '\n'
     const undatedSize = undated.reduce(
-      (sum, e) => sum + Buffer.byteLength(lines.slice(e.start, e.end).join('\n'), 'utf8'), 0,
+      (sum, e) => sum + Buffer.byteLength(lines.slice(e.start, e.end).join('\n'), 'utf8') + 1, 0,
     );
-    let budget = DECISION_THRESHOLD - headerSize - undatedSize;
+    let budget = DECISION_THRESHOLD - headerSize - reassemblyOverhead - undatedSize;
 
     const keptDated: typeof entries = [];
     for (const e of dated) {
-      const entrySize = Buffer.byteLength(lines.slice(e.start, e.end).join('\n'), 'utf8');
+      const entrySize = Buffer.byteLength(lines.slice(e.start, e.end).join('\n'), 'utf8') + 1;
       if (budget >= entrySize) {
         budget -= entrySize;
         keptDated.push(e);