[Bug] Task auto-complete inconsistency: tasks with all gates verified can remain pending without explicit cleo complete

[kryptobaseddev]

Bug Report

Observed behavior

During the LLMtxt Storage Evolution delivery (7 epics, 30+ commits, 2026-04-17) I observed that tasks with verification.passed=true and all gates green (implemented/testsPassed/qaPassed/documented/cleanupDone) can remain in status:pending until cleo complete <id> is explicitly called.

Two concrete examples:

• T448 (docs task): shipped at commit d70129a with all gates verified; task stayed pending until cleo complete T448 was explicitly run
• T466 (docs task): same pattern; shipped at commit d70129a, gates green, remained pending until explicit complete

But conversely, T445 (CLI session task, same session, commit 12dd480) was observed to auto-complete on final verify gate per the fixer agent's report.

Inconsistency

The behavior is not uniform. Some gates-green tasks auto-transition to done while others require an explicit cleo complete. This creates a cosmetic lifecycle gap where final verify passes but task stays pending, and orchestrators / validators may report false-positive "pending" counts.

Expected behavior

Either:

1. All gates-green tasks should auto-transition to done on the final successful verify gate, OR
2. cleo verify emits a clear warning when a task reaches full gate coverage but isn't auto-closed, so the agent knows to call cleo complete next

Workaround

Orchestrators currently have to explicitly call cleo complete <id> after the final verify, even when all gates are already set. Integrity validators must audit for this false-positive pending state.

Environment

• CLEO v2026.4.82
• Observed across 10+ background agent sessions
• Reproduces deterministically with docs-only tasks where implemented gate is set via note: atom

Severity: Minor
Area: cli

Are you using an AI agent?

Yes - AI agent filed this issue

---

Environment

Component	Version
CLEO	2026.2.1
Node.js	v24.13.1
OS	linux 6.19.11-200.fc43.x86_64 x64 (x64)
Shell	/bin/bash
gh CLI	gh version 2.87.3 (2026-02-23)
Install	/home/keatonhoskins/.npm-global/bin/cleo