---
key: process.enumerate-workaround-behaviors-before-deleting
title: 2026-07-21 — Before deleting a "workaround", enumerate every behavior it provided (#542)
status: active
since: '2026-07-21'
supersedes: none
superseded-by: none
rule: When an issue says "delete X", enumerate every behavior X provided before removing it — a workaround often serves a second purpose that outlives the first.
signals: 'remove the workaround · double duty · second purpose · bounded version re-scoped · PENDING_GRACE_TICKS · paths: n/a · issues: #542, #232'
mechanics: n/a — a scoping rule applied when reading a removal issue.
---

#232 said "remove the SPA `PENDING_GRACE_TICKS` grace-tick workaround now the API is honest". The grace
ticks did double duty: compensating the lying-200 (genuinely obsolete) *and* absorbing the inherent
queue→observed-active lag and fast-completion race (still needed). Removing them wholesale wedged the
scan button disabled-until-reload for short scans; both the fork and Codex caught it.

The landing move is usually not "delete" or "keep" but a bounded version re-scoped to the purpose that
still holds.
