fix: proper end-to-end Ctrl-C / signal handling for all gh aw commands (WSL) by Copilot · Pull Request #21795 · github/gh-aw

Copilot · 2026-03-19T13:04:23Z

Ctrl-C failed to terminate gh aw processes reliably — especially on WSL — because there was no top-level signal handler and context cancellation was not propagated through the command stack.

Root causes

main() called rootCmd.Execute() with no signal-aware context — whether Ctrl-C did anything useful depended entirely on what ad-hoc handlers happened to be active
ExecuteWithRepeat (--repeat) only checked the signal channel at the start of each iteration; a long-running iteration would not be interrupted mid-flight
WaitForWorkflowCompletion accepted no context and treated interrupt errors as non-fatal warnings, so the repeat loop silently continued after Ctrl-C
Interactive huh forms used form.Run() instead of form.RunWithContext(ctx), so context cancellation couldn't reach them
The gh workflow run subprocess used ExecGH (no context), so it couldn't be killed on cancellation
PollFunc had no context parameter, so a hanging poll operation (e.g. a stalled gh run view call) could not be aborted mid-call on Ctrl-C

Changes

Top-level signal handling

main(): use signal.NotifyContext + rootCmd.ExecuteContext(ctx) — the canonical Go pattern; a single clean cancellation point for the entire process

Context propagation

PollOptions / RepeatOptions / EngineSecretConfig / AddInteractiveConfig: add Ctx context.Context field (optional; falls back to context.Background())
PollWithSignalHandling: check both ctx.Done() and sigChan in the poll loop; pass ctx to each PollFunc invocation so callbacks can abort mid-call
PollOptions.PollFunc: signature changed from func() (PollResult, error) to func(ctx context.Context) (PollResult, error) — callers forward ctx to context-aware operations (e.g. RunGHContext) for true mid-call cancellation
ExecuteWithRepeat: check both ctx.Done() and sigChan at the top of the iteration loop; return ctx.Err() / context.Canceled on interruption so the process exits with a non-zero status
WaitForWorkflowCompletion: new ctx context.Context parameter; passes it to the poll loop and to the PollFunc callback; propagate ErrInterrupted / ctx.Err() so callers (repeat loop) can stop immediately

Subprocess cancellation

gh workflow run subprocess: switch from ExecGH → ExecGHContext(ctx, ...) so it is killed when context is cancelled

Interactive forms

All huh forms in run_interactive.go, interactive.go, add_interactive_*, and engine_secrets.go: replaced form.Run() with form.RunWithContext(ctx)

Sentinel error

Define ErrInterrupted in signal_aware_poll.go and use errors.Is(err, ErrInterrupted) instead of fragile string comparison

Tests

TestPollWithSignalHandling_ContextCancellation: verifies ErrInterrupted is returned when context is cancelled mid-poll
TestPollWithSignalHandling_AlreadyCancelledContext: verifies ErrInterrupted is returned immediately when an already-cancelled context is passed
TestWaitForWorkflowCompletion_ContextCancellation: verifies WaitForWorkflowCompletion propagates a cancellation error so callers detect and stop on interruption

[!WARNING]

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- Add signal.NotifyContext + ExecuteContext in main() for top-level SIGINT/SIGTERM handling - Add Ctx to PollOptions/RepeatOptions/EngineSecretConfig/AddInteractiveConfig - Define ErrInterrupted sentinel error in signal_aware_poll.go - Add ctx parameter to WaitForWorkflowCompletion and propagate interrupts - Use ExecGHContext for gh workflow run subprocess - Use RunWithContext(ctx) for all huh interactive forms - Pass context through interactive add-wizard and run command flows Co-authored-by: dsyme <7204669+dsyme@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Improve Ctrl‑C / signal handling across gh aw commands (notably on WSL) by introducing a top-level cancelable context and propagating it through polling, repeating, interactive prompts, and subprocess execution.

Changes:

Add top-level signal.NotifyContext and execute Cobra commands with ExecuteContext(ctx).
Propagate context.Context through repeat/poll flows and interactive huh forms (RunWithContext).
Introduce ErrInterrupted and switch gh workflow run to context-aware execution (ExecGHContext).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
cmd/gh-aw/main.go	Introduces signal-cancelable context and uses `ExecuteContext`.
pkg/cli/trial_command.go	Propagates context into secret prompting and workflow completion wait.
pkg/cli/signal_aware_poll.go	Adds `Ctx` to polling options and introduces `ErrInterrupted`.
pkg/cli/run_workflow_execution.go	Uses context-aware GH subprocess execution; propagates interrupt errors upward.
pkg/cli/run_interactive.go	Passes context into interactive forms via `RunWithContext`.
pkg/cli/retry.go	Adds context to repeat options and checks cancellation before each iteration.
pkg/cli/pr_automerge.go	Adds context to `WaitForWorkflowCompletion` and passes it to polling.
pkg/cli/pr_automerge_test.go	Updates test for new `WaitForWorkflowCompletion(ctx, ...)` signature.
pkg/cli/interactive.go	Stores context on builder and runs forms with `RunWithContext`.
pkg/cli/engine_secrets.go	Adds context to engine secret prompting and runs forms with `RunWithContext`.
pkg/cli/add_interactive_orchestrator.go	Adds/threads `Ctx` through interactive add-flow config.
pkg/cli/add_interactive_workflow.go	Runs interactive form with context.
pkg/cli/add_interactive_schedule.go	Runs interactive form with context.
pkg/cli/add_interactive_engine.go	Runs interactive form with context; passes context into secret config.
pkg/cli/add_interactive_auth.go	Runs interactive form with context.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

pkg/cli/retry.go:1

ExecuteWithRepeat can only observe cancellation between iterations because ExecuteFunc has no way to receive ctx. As a result, if an iteration blocks inside ExecuteFunc, Ctrl-C won’t stop it until it returns. To make repeat truly cancellation-aware, consider evolving the API to ExecuteFunc func(ctx context.Context) error (or adding an additional ExecuteFuncWithContext field) and pass the ctx through.

package cli

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pkg/cli/signal_aware_poll.go

pkg/cli/pr_automerge.go

 	return PollWithSignalHandling(PollOptions{
+		Ctx:          ctx,
 		PollInterval: 10 * time.Second,
 		Timeout:      timeout,
 		PollFunc: func() (PollResult, error) {


pkg/cli/retry.go

pkg/cli/trial_command.go

pkg/cli/add_interactive_workflow.go

dsyme · 2026-03-19T16:38:51Z

pkg/cli/signal_aware_poll.go

+// ErrInterrupted is returned when polling is interrupted by a signal or context cancellation
+var ErrInterrupted = errors.New("interrupted by user")


@copilot apply changes based on this feedback

Added in d5b5a76:

TestPollWithSignalHandling_ContextCancellation: starts a poll with PollContinue, cancels the context mid-flight, and asserts errors.Is(err, ErrInterrupted)

TestPollWithSignalHandling_AlreadyCancelledContext: verifies ErrInterrupted is returned immediately when polling starts with an already-cancelled context

TestWaitForWorkflowCompletion_ContextCancellation: verifies that WaitForWorkflowCompletion propagates a cancellation error (ErrInterrupted or context.Canceled) so callers can detect and stop on interruption

Also fixed a CI build failure in the same commit: a previous "Potential fix" commit introduced workflow.RunGHWithContext (undefined) instead of the correct workflow.RunGHContext inside WaitForWorkflowCompletion's PollFunc.

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…llation tests - Fix undefined workflow.RunGHWithContext → workflow.RunGHContext in WaitForWorkflowCompletion's PollFunc (fixes CI build failure) - Add TestPollWithSignalHandling_ContextCancellation: verifies ErrInterrupted returned when context is cancelled mid-poll - Add TestPollWithSignalHandling_AlreadyCancelledContext: verifies ErrInterrupted returned when polling starts with an already-cancelled context - Add TestWaitForWorkflowCompletion_ContextCancellation: verifies that WaitForWorkflowCompletion propagates a cancellation error to callers Co-authored-by: dsyme <7204669+dsyme@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-19T16:47:30Z

Just as a heads up, I was blocked by some firewall rules while working on your feedback. Expand below for details.

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https://api.github.com/repos/nonexistent/repo/actions/runs/12345
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh run view 12345 --repo nonexistent/repo --json status,conclusion (http block)

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pelikhan · 2026-03-19T17:01:57Z

@copilot review comment

…n Ctrl-C Change PollFunc signature from func() to func(ctx context.Context) so that poll callbacks receive the same context used by the poll loop. This enables callers to pass ctx to context-aware operations (e.g. RunGHContext) and abort mid-call when Ctrl-C is pressed, rather than only aborting between iterations. - PollOptions.PollFunc: func() → func(ctx context.Context) - PollWithSignalHandling: pass ctx to both PollFunc call sites - WaitForWorkflowCompletion: use PollFunc(ctx) directly; remove redundant ctx.Done() guard inside closure (now handled by RunGHContext's ctx arg) - All test PollFuncs updated to new signature Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-19T17:10:48Z

@copilot review comment

Addressed the remaining open review comment in 27b521c: changed PollFunc from func() (PollResult, error) to func(ctx context.Context) (PollResult, error). The poll loop now passes ctx directly to each PollFunc call, so callbacks can forward it to context-aware operations (like RunGHContext) and abort mid-call on Ctrl-C rather than only between iterations. The redundant manual ctx.Done() guard inside WaitForWorkflowCompletion's closure was removed since RunGHContext handles it directly now.

Warning

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I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

https://api.github.com/repos/nonexistent/repo/actions/runs/12345
- Triggering command: /usr/bin/gh gh run view 12345 --repo nonexistent/repo --json status,conclusion (http block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

Configure Actions setup steps to set up my environment, which run before the firewall is enabled
Add the appropriate URLs or hosts to the custom allowlist in this repository's Copilot coding agent settings (admins only)

Initial plan

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Copilot AI assigned Copilot and dsyme Mar 19, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of dsyme March 19, 2026 13:04 View session

Copilot AI linked an issue Mar 19, 2026 that may be closed by this pull request

gh aw has problems with Ctrl-C on WSL #21794

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This was referenced Mar 19, 2026

Smoke Test: Copilot - 23296566936 #21799

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Smoke Test: Copilot - 23296588438 #21801

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Smoke Test: Claude - 23296588401 #21803

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Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix Ctrl-C handling issues in WSL for gh commands~~ fix: proper end-to-end Ctrl-C / signal handling for all gh aw commands (WSL) Mar 19, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from dsyme March 19, 2026 13:37

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pelikhan approved these changes Mar 19, 2026

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 19, 2026 13:58

Merge branch 'main' into copilot/fix-ctrl-c-handling-issues

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Merge branch 'main' into copilot/fix-ctrl-c-handling-issues

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github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Smoke Test: Claude - 23300957786 #21821

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dsyme and others added 5 commits March 19, 2026 16:36

Potential fix for pull request finding

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Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Potential fix for pull request finding

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Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Potential fix for pull request finding

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Potential fix for pull request finding

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Potential fix for pull request finding

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Copilot started work on behalf of dsyme March 19, 2026 16:39 View session

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Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan March 19, 2026 17:11

Merge branch 'main' into copilot/fix-ctrl-c-handling-issues

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pelikhan merged commit 1540e14 into main Mar 19, 2026
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pelikhan deleted the copilot/fix-ctrl-c-handling-issues branch March 19, 2026 17:56

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fix: proper end-to-end Ctrl-C / signal handling for all gh aw commands (WSL)#21795

fix: proper end-to-end Ctrl-C / signal handling for all gh aw commands (WSL)#21795
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		// ErrInterrupted is returned when polling is interrupted by a signal or context cancellation
		var ErrInterrupted = errors.New("interrupted by user")

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