[eric] browser: stop the caller starving the send-script, which silently killed every write

backend/apps/agents/browser/browser_agent.py

@@ -1690,9 +1690,11 @@ async def run_browser_agent(
                 task, browser_id, tab_id, preloaded_perception,
                 execute_browser_tool, send_submit_index_in_state, payload_in_textbox,
                 payload_source=user_prompt, current_url=current_url,
-            ), timeout=30.0)
+            ), timeout=browser_send_script.WORST_CASE_BUDGET_S)
         except Exception as p_se:
-            logger.info(f"[browser-sendscript] outer skip ({p_se})")
+            # Name the class: a bare TimeoutError stringifies to nothing, so this used to log
+            # "outer skip ()" and a starved send looked identical to a page we chose not to touch.
+            logger.info(f"[browser-sendscript] outer skip ({type(p_se).__name__}: {p_se})")
             p_script = None
         if isinstance(p_script, dict):
             action_log.extend(p_script["log"])

backend/apps/agents/browser/browser_send_script.py

@@ -27,6 +27,18 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 ToolRunner = Callable[[str, dict, str, str], Awaitable[dict]]
 
+# The worst case this routine can legitimately take, so the CALLER cannot starve it. Roughly: the
+# composer poll (3 backoff waits plus three 6s interactive lists), one structural finder call (which
+# carries its own 30s command timeout), then fill-and-commit and submit-and-receipt.
+#
+# This constant exists because the caller's timeout and this routine's real cost silently drifted
+# apart: raising find_composer's command timeout from 15s to 30s made a single finder call able to
+# eat the caller's entire 30s budget, so the whole script was killed mid-send and EVERY write fell
+# back to the slow model loop. It failed invisibly, because asyncio.TimeoutError stringifies to
+# nothing and the log read "outer skip ()". Measured live on LinkedIn: a 190.9s write that never
+# posted. Import this instead of writing a number at the call site.
+WORST_CASE_BUDGET_S = 75.0
+
 
 def script_enabled() -> bool:
     return os.environ.get("OSW_SEND_SCRIPT", "0") != "0"

backend/tests/test_browser_send_honesty.py

@@ -53,6 +53,31 @@ def test_the_two_facts_are_not_the_same_variable():
         "the run's success must be a function of evidence, not of the model's Done argument"
 
 
+def test_the_caller_cannot_starve_the_send_script():
+    """INVARIANT, and the third time this exact trap has bitten (find_composer, import_session, now
+    this). The send-script's cost and its caller's timeout drifted apart when find_composer went
+    15s -> 30s: one finder call could eat the caller's whole 30s budget, so the script was killed
+    mid-send and EVERY write silently fell back to the slow model loop. It was invisible because
+    asyncio.TimeoutError stringifies to nothing, so the log read "outer skip ()".
+
+    Measured live on LinkedIn: a 190.9s write that never posted."""
+    from backend.apps.agents.browser import browser_send_script as ss
+    from backend.apps.agents.core.ws_manager import BROWSER_CMD_TIMEOUTS
+
+    assert "timeout=browser_send_script.WORST_CASE_BUDGET_S" in P_SRC, (
+        "the caller hardcodes its own timeout again; it must import the script's stated worst case "
+        "so the two cannot drift")
+    # A single finder call must not be able to consume the whole budget.
+    assert ss.WORST_CASE_BUDGET_S > BROWSER_CMD_TIMEOUTS.get("find_composer", 15.0) * 2, \
+        "the budget must leave room for fill and submit after the finder, not just the finder"
+
+
+def test_a_starved_send_is_logged_by_exception_class():
+    """A bare TimeoutError has an empty message, so a starved send read exactly like a page we
+    deliberately declined to touch. The class name is what makes those two distinguishable."""
+    assert "type(p_se).__name__" in P_SRC
+
+
 def test_an_unverified_send_gets_an_honest_line_that_does_not_claim_delivery():
     note = dc.unverified_send_note("https://x.com/home", "hello from my automation")
     low = note.lower()