fix(gateway): guard the verb runner against a None task/agent

The runner's atomic steps dereference task.id / agent.id with no None-check, so a
verb invoked when the task or agent could not be resolved crashed with a cryptic
"'NoneType' object has no attribute 'id'" (observed on i_will_plan for a task
forced into an unexpected state out-of-band). Fail fast at run_intent's entry
with an actionable INVALID_STATE error instead.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 
 - **The CEO and other human roles no longer get spammed with agent "learnings."** Whenever an agent recorded a learning, RoboCo broadcast it as a knowledge-share notification — and the recipient query swept in the human roles too (the CEO, plus the human-driven prompter and secretary). Agent knowledge-sharing is a signal for *agents*; in a human's inbox it is just noise. Those roles are now excluded from learning broadcasts.
 
+- **A gateway verb on a vanished task/agent fails cleanly instead of crashing cryptically.** The verb runner's atomic steps dereference `task.id` / `agent.id` with no guard, so a verb invoked when the task or agent could not be resolved (e.g. a task forced into an unexpected state out-of-band) crashed with an opaque `'NoneType' object has no attribute 'id'`. The runner now fails fast with an actionable `INVALID_STATE` error that tells the agent to re-fetch and re-issue its claim verb.
+
 ## [0.10.0] - 2026-06-23
 
 ### Added

roboco/services/gateway/choreographer/_verb_runner.py

@@ -51,6 +51,18 @@ class VerbRunner:
         the underlying TaskService methods raise; the savepoint context
         rolls the DB back on raise.
         """
+        # Fail loud + clean on a missing task/agent. The atomic handlers below
+        # dereference task.id / agent.id, so a None here would otherwise crash
+        # with a cryptic "'NoneType' object has no attribute 'id'" (observed when
+        # a task was forced into an unexpected state out-of-band) instead of an
+        # actionable error the agent can recover from.
+        if task is None or agent is None:
+            missing = "task" if task is None else "agent"
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"INVALID_STATE: cannot run '{intent_name}' — its {missing} "
+                "could not be resolved. Re-fetch with evidence(task_id) and "
+                "re-issue your claim verb."
+            )
         intent = spec._INTENT_VERBS[intent_name]
         for side_effect_name in intent.pre_side_effects:
             await self._dispatch_side_effect(side_effect_name, task, agent)

tests/unit/gateway/test_verb_runner.py

@@ -53,6 +53,25 @@ async def test_runner_runs_composed_actions_in_order() -> None:
     assert final_task.status == "in_progress"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_runner_rejects_none_task_or_agent() -> None:
+    """A None task/agent fails loud with a clean error, not a NoneType crash.
+
+    The atomic handlers dereference task.id / agent.id; without the guard a
+    missing one crashes with "'NoneType' object has no attribute 'id'" (observed
+    when a task was forced into an unexpected state out-of-band).
+    """
+    runner = VerbRunner(task_service=AsyncMock(), git_service=AsyncMock())
+    ctx = spec.Context(plan="p")
+    agent = MagicMock(id=uuid4(), role="cell_pm")
+    task = MagicMock(id=uuid4(), status="in_progress")
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="INVALID_STATE"):
+        await runner.run_intent("i_will_plan", None, agent, ctx)
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="INVALID_STATE"):
+        await runner.run_intent("i_will_plan", task, None, ctx)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_runner_runs_side_effects_after_db_commit() -> None:
     """For open_pr: composes is empty; side_effects (push_branch, create_pr) run."""