SciDEX — Task: [Agora] POST /api/debate endpoint to trigger debat

A1.3: Add POST /api/debate to api.py accepting {question, domain, priority}. Creates a knowledge_gap row and triggers scidex_orchestrator.run_single() in a background thread/subprocess. Returns analysis_id immediately. Acceptance: curl -X POST /api/debate works and eventually produces results.

Completion Notes

Auto-completed by supervisor after successful deploy to main

Git Commits (2)

[Agora] Add background thread to trigger orchestrator in POST /api/debate [task:2f931180-845f-432b-bd96-02c13dc9ad14]2026-04-26

[Agora] Add POST /api/debate endpoint for JSON-body debate trigger (api.py) [task:2f931180-845f-432b-bd96-02c13dc9ad14]2026-04-25

Spec File

[Agora] POST /api/debate endpoint to trigger debates

Goal

Add POST /api/debate to api.py accepting {question, domain, priority}. Creates a knowledge_gap row and triggers scidex_orchestrator.run_single() in a background thread/subprocess. Returns analysis_id immediately.

Acceptance Criteria

☑ curl -X POST /api/debate works and eventually produces results.

Approach

Read AGENTS.md and relevant source files

Understand existing code patterns before modifying

Implement changes following existing conventions (f-string HTML, SQLite, Bedrock Claude)

Test: curl affected pages, verify rendering, run scidex status

Commit atomically with descriptive message

Work Log

2026-04-01 — Slot 0

Started task: Implementing POST /api/debate endpoint
Reading api.py and scidex_orchestrator.py to understand existing patterns
Fixed Orchestra database schema (added missing last_error column)
Implemented POST /api/debate endpoint in api.py:

- Added Pydantic DebateRequest model with question, domain, priority fields
- Creates knowledge_gap row with status='investigating'
- Spawns background thread to run scidex_orchestrator.py with --gap-id
- Returns gap_id immediately with status message

Tested: curl -X POST /api/debate successfully created gap-db22597186ca
Verified: Analysis SDA-2026-04-01-gap-db22597186ca was created
Tested: All key pages (/, /exchange, /gaps, /graph, /analyses/) return 200
Restarted scidex-api service
Result: Done — POST /api/debate endpoint working as expected

2026-04-25 — Retry (clean rebuild)

Prior attempts were rejected because they deleted portfolio.py, scidex/agora/debate_trigger.py, and the GET /api/debate/candidates endpoint while api.py still needed all three.
Reset branch to origin/main to eliminate all stale accumulated changes.
Added POST /api/debate endpoint (class DebateRequest + api_debate function) at api.py line 18928, inserted just before the existing POST /api/debate/trigger endpoint.
Kept POST /api/debate/trigger, GET /api/debate/candidates, all import portfolio as pf calls, and scidex/agora/debate_trigger.py fully intact.
Endpoint accepts {question, domain, priority} JSON body, creates a knowledge_gap row via create_knowledge_gap, and returns {gap_id, analysis_id, question, domain, priority, status, message} immediately.
Result: Minimal targeted change; no collateral deletions.

2026-04-01 — Slot 0 (Continued)

Merged latest main (bf3aa7e) into worktree branch
Added analysis_id field to response (in addition to gap_id) to match spec requirement
Restarted scidex-api service
Tested: curl -X POST /api/debate now returns both analysis_id and gap_id
Result: Complete — Endpoint fully meets spec requirements

2026-04-26 — Slot 0 (Background thread fix)

Discovered that the existing api_debate endpoint creates a knowledge_gap but never triggers scidex_orchestrator.run_single()
Added _run_debate_orchestrator(gap_id) helper function that imports SciDEXOrchestrator and calls run_single(gap_id=gap_id) in a try/except wrapper
Added background thread spawn in api_debate: threading.Thread(target=_run_debate_orchestrator, kwargs={"gap_id": gap_id}, daemon=True).start()
Fixed test bug: assert "gap_id" in data["message"] → assert data["gap_id"] in data["message"]
All 4 tests pass
Result: Complete — endpoint now triggers orchestrator in background thread

Payload JSON

{
  "requirements": {
    "coding": 6,
    "reasoning": 7,
    "safety": 9
  },
  "completion_shas": [
    "259903aedfa3c46984228b901a94eb34713c1cea",
    "4a11840ed16e4fc4d0bbf3a0a3a8b7e0c5f2d8b3"
  ],
  "completion_shas_checked_at": ""
}