Remove firewall.effective-token-steering frontmatter key by Copilot · Pull Request #32161 · github/gh-aw

Copilot · 2026-05-14T15:02:40Z

✨ Enhancement

Token steering is now on by default — the opt-in firewall.effective-token-steering key is removed. To disable budget enforcement and token steering together, set max-effective-tokens to any negative value.

# Before: explicit opt-in required
firewall:
  effective-token-steering: true
max-effective-tokens: 5000000

# After: steering on by default; use negative to disable both
max-effective-tokens: -1   # disables budget enforcement AND token steering

What does this improve?
Eliminates a redundant knob — steering behaviour was already tied to the ET budget, so a separate boolean was unnecessary friction.

Implementation approach:

Schema — removed the firewall top-level key entirely; max-effective-tokens now accepts negative integers (previously minimum: 1)
Compiler — removed EnableTokenSteering from EngineConfig, parseEffectiveTokenSteering, and extractEffectiveTokenSteering; awf_config.go now derives enableTokenSteering from maxEffectiveTokens >= 0
Negative sentinel — parseMaxEffectiveTokensValue passes negatives through; GetMaxEffectiveTokens uses == 0 (not <= 0) as the "not configured" sentinel; a negative value zeroes the AWF budget field (omitted via omitempty) and suppresses steering
Workflow files — stripped firewall.effective-token-steering: true from 32 workflow files; refreshed all corresponding .lock.yml frontmatter hashes
Tests & docs — updated schema, engine-config, AWF-config, and orchestrator tests; updated reference/network.md and reference/frontmatter.md

… by default, negative max-effective-tokens to disable Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR removes the firewall.effective-token-steering opt-in and makes token steering default behavior, using negative max-effective-tokens values as the disable sentinel.

Changes:

Removed EnableTokenSteering parsing/storage and derives AWF token steering from the effective token budget.
Updated schema/tests/docs for negative max-effective-tokens and removed the top-level firewall schema key.
Removed the old frontmatter key from workflow files and refreshed corresponding lock metadata.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`pkg/workflow/engine.go`	Removes token-steering config field and updates ET parsing/default behavior.
`pkg/workflow/engine_config_test.go`	Updates engine config tests for negative ET sentinel.
`pkg/workflow/compiler_orchestrator_engine.go`	Preserves negative ET values through engine/import setup.
`pkg/workflow/compiler_orchestrator_engine_test.go`	Updates preservation test for negative ET values.
`pkg/workflow/awf_config.go`	Enables token steering by default and omits budget when disabled.
`pkg/workflow/awf_config_test.go`	Updates AWF config tests for default steering and negative disable.
`pkg/parser/schemas/main_workflow_schema.json`	Allows negative ET values and removes top-level `firewall`.
`pkg/parser/schema_test.go`	Updates schema validation test for negative ET values.
`docs/src/content/docs/reference/network.md`	Documents default token steering and disable sentinel.
`docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md`	Documents negative `max-effective-tokens`.
`.github/workflows/daily-mcp-concurrency-analysis.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-mcp-concurrency-analysis.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-malicious-code-scan.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-malicious-code-scan.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-issues-report.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-issues-report.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-hippo-learn.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-hippo-learn.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-grafana-otel-instrumentation-advisor.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-grafana-otel-instrumentation-advisor.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-geo-optimizer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-geo-optimizer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-function-namer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-function-namer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-firewall-report.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-firewall-report.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-file-diet.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-file-diet.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-fact.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-fact.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-experiment-report.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-experiment-report.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-doc-updater.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-doc-updater.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-doc-healer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-doc-healer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-compiler-threat-spec-optimizer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-compiler-threat-spec-optimizer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-compiler-quality.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-compiler-quality.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-community-attribution.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-community-attribution.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-code-metrics.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-code-metrics.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-cli-tools-tester.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-cli-tools-tester.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-cli-performance.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-cli-performance.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-choice-test.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-choice-test.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-caveman-optimizer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-caveman-optimizer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-cache-strategy-analyzer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-cache-strategy-analyzer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-aw-cross-repo-compile-check.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-aw-cross-repo-compile-check.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-astrostylelite-markdown-spellcheck.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-astrostylelite-markdown-spellcheck.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-assign-issue-to-user.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-assign-issue-to-user.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-architecture-diagram.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-architecture-diagram.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/daily-agentrx-trace-optimizer.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/daily-agentrx-trace-optimizer.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/cloclo.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/cloclo.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/brave.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/brave.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/archie.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/archie.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/approach-validator.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/approach-validator.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.github/workflows/ace-editor.md`	Removes old steering opt-in frontmatter.
`.github/workflows/ace-editor.lock.yml`	Refreshes lock metadata hash.
`.changeset/patch-bump-awf-v0-25-44.md`	Updates release note text for token steering change.

Copilot's findings

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Files reviewed: 75/75 changed files
Comments generated: 3

+	if engineConfig.MaxEffectiveTokens == 0 && importsResult.MergedMaxEffectiveTokens != "" {
 		var importedMaxTokens any
 		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(importsResult.MergedMaxEffectiveTokens), &importedMaxTokens); err == nil {
 			if parsed := parseMaxEffectiveTokensValue(importedMaxTokens); parsed > 0 {


 ---

-Bump default `gh-aw-firewall` to `v0.25.44` and add compiler/frontmatter support for `firewall.effective-token-steering` mapped to AWF `apiProxy.enableTokenSteering`.
+Bump default `gh-aw-firewall` to `v0.25.44`. Token steering (`apiProxy.enableTokenSteering`) is now enabled by default; the `firewall.effective-token-steering` frontmatter key has been removed. Set `max-effective-tokens` to a negative value to disable both budget enforcement and token steering.


          "type": "integer",
-          "minimum": 1,
-          "description": "Maximum effective-token (ET) budget for AWF API proxy enforcement."
+          "not": {"enum": [0]},


pelikhan · 2026-05-14T15:38:23Z

@copilot review all comments and pull request review comments. Handle the boundary max-effective-tokens: 0, or negative should turn off the feature.

…ero schema test; fix changeset Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-05-14T15:45:42Z

@copilot review all comments and pull request review comments. Handle the boundary max-effective-tokens: 0, or negative should turn off the feature.

Addressed all three review points in commit fix: import path handles negative max-effective-tokens; add integer-zero schema test; fix changeset:

Import path (compiler_orchestrator_engine.go:312): Changed parsed > 0 → parsed != 0 so a negative value (the disable sentinel) from an imported shared workflow is correctly propagated — zero stays as the "not configured" indicator and is never applied from imports.
Schema regression test (pkg/parser/schema_test.go): Added TestValidateMainWorkflowFrontmatterWithSchemaAndLocation_MaxEffectiveTokensIntegerZeroInvalid to confirm that integer 0 is rejected at the schema level (separate from the existing string "0" test).
Changeset (.changeset/patch-bump-awf-v0-25-44.md): Removed the stale "Bump default gh-aw-firewall to v0.25.44" claim — the current default is already v0.25.46.

feat: remove firewall.effective-token-steering; token steering now on…

c308028

… by default, negative max-effective-tokens to disable Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and pelikhan May 14, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:03

Copilot created this pull request from a session on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:03 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:03

pelikhan closed this May 14, 2026

pelikhan reopened this May 14, 2026

pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review May 14, 2026 15:27

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 14, 2026 15:27

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:28 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:38 View session

fix: import path handles negative max-effective-tokens; add integer-z…

e818845

…ero schema test; fix changeset Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan May 14, 2026 15:46

pelikhan merged commit 0e1696f into main May 14, 2026

pelikhan deleted the copilot/remove-frontmatter-firewall-effective-token-steeri branch May 14, 2026 17:05

This was referenced May 14, 2026

Smoke Test: Codex - 25874070518 #32183

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Fix AWF resolution in PR Sous Chef detection job #32169

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Remove firewall.effective-token-steering frontmatter key#32161

Remove firewall.effective-token-steering frontmatter key#32161
pelikhan merged 2 commits into
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✨ Enhancement

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Pull request overview

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