From 81a4945be8d6e841545d73c2ffde439e77210e44 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: nesquena-hermes <nesquena-hermes@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2026 22:05:01 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] harden(#4411): read-side anchor-scene ref-ambiguity guard
 (Opus finding)

Mirror the write-side _find_anchor_scene_message ambiguity guard on the read side:
_hydrate_anchor_activity_scenes now counts ref occurrences and skips ref-based
attachment for any ref resolving to >1 assistant message (falls through to the
positional index match), so a duplicate content-digest ref can't double-render the
same worklog scene. Low-severity defense-in-depth on the crown-jewel render surface.
Co-authored-by: franksong2702 <franksong2702@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 api/routes.py                          | 16 ++++++++++++-
 tests/test_anchor_scene_persistence.py | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/api/routes.py b/api/routes.py
index 2ec74bb8..fa3b1fe8 100644
--- a/api/routes.py
+++ b/api/routes.py
@@ -3490,11 +3490,25 @@ def _hydrate_anchor_activity_scenes(messages, records, *, message_offset=0, tool
         if idx is not None:
             by_index[idx] = record
     out = list(messages)
+    # Read-side ref-ambiguity guard (parity with the write-side
+    # _find_anchor_scene_message, which returns None when a ref matches >1
+    # message). If two assistant messages ever share a ref (byte-identical
+    # whitespace-normalized content + identical _ts), attaching the same scene
+    # to both would render duplicate worklog groups. Count ref occurrences and
+    # fall through to the index-based match (which is positional, unambiguous)
+    # for any ref that resolves to more than one assistant message.
+    _ref_counts: dict[str, int] = {}
+    for _m in messages:
+        if isinstance(_m, dict) and _m.get("role") == "assistant":
+            _r = _assistant_anchor_scene_message_ref(_m)
+            if _r:
+                _ref_counts[_r] = _ref_counts.get(_r, 0) + 1
     for local_idx, message in enumerate(messages):
         if not isinstance(message, dict) or message.get("role") != "assistant":
             continue
         absolute_idx = int(message_offset or 0) + local_idx
-        record = by_ref.get(_assistant_anchor_scene_message_ref(message))
+        _msg_ref = _assistant_anchor_scene_message_ref(message)
+        record = by_ref.get(_msg_ref) if _ref_counts.get(_msg_ref, 0) <= 1 else None
         if not record:
             candidate = by_index.get(absolute_idx)
             if candidate and _anchor_scene_candidate_matches_scene(message, candidate.get("scene") or {}):
diff --git a/tests/test_anchor_scene_persistence.py b/tests/test_anchor_scene_persistence.py
index 56e8346d..552ec64c 100644
--- a/tests/test_anchor_scene_persistence.py
+++ b/tests/test_anchor_scene_persistence.py
@@ -187,6 +187,39 @@ def test_anchor_scene_persistence_rejects_cross_profile_write(tmp_path, monkeypa
     )
 
 
+def test_anchor_scene_hydration_skips_ambiguous_ref_match(monkeypatch):
+    """#4411 defense-in-depth: when two assistant messages share a ref (byte-identical
+    content + identical _ts), the read-side hydration must NOT attach the same scene to
+    both (which would render duplicate worklog groups) — mirroring the write-side
+    _find_anchor_scene_message ambiguity guard. The ambiguous ref falls through to the
+    positional index match instead."""
+    from api import routes
+
+    # Two assistant messages that normalize to the SAME ref.
+    messages = [
+        {"role": "assistant", "content": "dup answer", "timestamp": 5.0},
+        {"role": "assistant", "content": "dup answer", "timestamp": 5.0},
+    ]
+    ref = routes._assistant_anchor_scene_message_ref(messages[0])
+    assert ref == routes._assistant_anchor_scene_message_ref(messages[1]), "refs must collide for this test"
+
+    # A single record keyed by that ambiguous ref, index-targeted at message 0.
+    records = {
+        ref: {
+            "version": "anchor_activity_scene_record_v1",
+            "message_index": 0,
+            "message_ref": ref,
+            "scene": {"version": "activity_scene_v1", "activity_rows": [], "final_answer": "dup answer"},
+        }
+    }
+    out = routes._hydrate_anchor_activity_scenes(messages, records, message_offset=0)
+    attached = [("_anchor_activity_scene" in m) for m in out]
+    # The ambiguous ref must NOT fan the scene out to BOTH messages.
+    assert attached.count(True) <= 1, (
+        f"ambiguous ref must not double-attach the scene; got {attached}"
+    )
+
+
 def test_anchor_scene_hydration_rejects_stale_index_fallback_when_final_answer_mismatches():
     from api import routes