fix: sync-progress reports already-synced for an in-progress anchor

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Please choose versions by [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- fix: `/vault-cli:sync-progress` § Phase 2 reaches its `already synced — no writes this run` short-circuit for an `in_progress` anchor, instead of reporting failure for a record it can verify as present. The short-circuit added in `v0.168.6` was gated *"When a completion was established above"*, so the state the command is most often run in — an anchor that is still open — fell past it to `No task completion or PR detected. Use /update instead for in-progress work.` and STOP. Measured 2026-10-15: the operator ran the command **four times in one session** against an `in_progress` anchor whose daily-note entry already existed; all four stopped at the same line, each costing a full Phase 1–2 sweep (vault config read, session-transcript scan, git probes) and producing an identical report. The gate now reads *"whenever a completion was established above **or** the anchor is `in_progress`"*, and an explicit `in_progress` arm precedes the STOP bullet so the representation check runs first. Still keyed on the representation check rather than on the status alone: an `in_progress` anchor with **no** daily-note entry falls through to the STOP line unchanged. Out of scope: the Phase 1–2 sweep itself (the short-circuit still runs after the completion analysis, so the sweep is not removed — the false failure report and the operator's reason to re-run are) and the close-family loop in `/vault-cli:session-close`.
 - fix: `/vault-cli:create-task` and its `task-creator` agent no longer fall back silently to the configured default vault. `commands/create-task.md` documented `--vault` as optional with an implicit default, and `agents/task-creator.md` stated it outright (`Defaults: MODE = interactive, VAULT = configured default vault`) — so a task belonging to one vault was placed in another by inference, and the silent fallback is a **third** vault again, wrong for work belonging to any other. Both now resolve the vault from `--vault` or from the cwd, and **ask** when neither determines it — the convention `commands/reflect.md` (*"If cwd is not inside any vault path, ask the user which vault to write to"*) and `agents/graph-auditor.md` (*"ask user which vault to audit; do not guess"*) already carry, so this brings the pair in line with their siblings rather than adding a new rule. Observed 2026-10-15: a task belonging to `seibert-personal` was created in `seibert-brogrammers` by inference and had to be deleted and re-created, costing two `task-creator` runs (~105k tokens).
 
 ## v0.169.1

commands/sync-progress.md

@@ -128,9 +128,10 @@ If no candidate passes both, continue to the PR check below.
 If NO completion detected, check whether a PR was created (Phase 3.3 detection rules):
 - PR present, no completion → proceed but only run Phase 3.3 (PR-only sync). Report as "PR-only sync." This arm deliberately wins over the terminal-non-completion arm below: a session that both opened a PR and was aborted records the PR, and the outcome is not duplicated.
 - Anchor ended in a **terminal non-completion** (`status: aborted` or `hold`) → proceed with Phase 3.1 (daily note) only, heading the entry with the outcome — `### [[Task Name]] — Aborted (superseded)`, wikilink mandatory per Phase 3.1's entry shape — and skipping Phase 4, since there is no completion to mark. **Resolve the status by probe, never from the conversation:** run `vault-cli task get "<anchor task>" status --output json` and branch on the parsed `value`, exactly as `session-close` Phase 4.5 does. A non-zero exit or an unparseable result means *not established* — fall through to the STOP gate below rather than guessing. The conversation is not a sufficient source: the case this arm exists for is an anchor that already ended `aborted` in an earlier session or on another branch, where the transcript carries no signal at all.
+- Anchor is **`in_progress`** → **do not stop here.** Apply the short-circuit below first: run the representation check, and when it passes report `already synced — no writes this run` and STOP. When it fails, fall through to the line below. An `in_progress` anchor is the state this command is most often run in, and stopping on it reports failure for a record the command can itself verify as present.
 - Neither PR nor completion → `No task completion or PR detected. Use /update instead for in-progress work.` and STOP.
 
-**Short-circuit when the record already exists.** When a completion was established above, apply `session-close` § Phase 2's *route 1* exception — its Phase 7 representation check, plus that route's "no vault-tracked work since" conjunct — before Phase 3. Resolve the script the way Phase 7 does, under the **plugin root** and never the cwd: this command runs from a vault, and a vault has no `scripts/`, so a bare `bash scripts/…` resolves to nothing and the check silently never runs.
+**Short-circuit when the record already exists.** Apply this whenever a completion was established above **or** the anchor is `in_progress`, using `session-close` § Phase 2's *route 1* exception — its Phase 7 representation check, plus that route's "no vault-tracked work since" conjunct — before Phase 3. Resolve the script the way Phase 7 does, under the **plugin root** and never the cwd: this command runs from a vault, and a vault has no `scripts/`, so a bare `bash scripts/…` resolves to nothing and the check silently never runs.
 
 ```bash
 VAULT_CLI_SCRIPTS="$(ls -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/vault-cli/vault-cli/*/scripts 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1)"