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Add additive --add-ac/--remove-ac for acceptance criteria (currently --acceptance-criteria replaces; no append form → lossy concurrent edits) #612
Description
Summary
pm update --acceptance-criteria <v> (alias --ac) replaces the entire acceptance-criteria value; there is no additive form (no --add-ac) analogous to the tag API. Two agents each "adding" an acceptance criterion on separate branches therefore clobber the shared base criteria (and then conflict on the single acceptance_criteria: line). The flag is repeatable within one invocation (values join with ; ), but across separate pm update calls / branches it overwrites.
Verified repro (pm 2026.7.18)
ID=$(pm create --type Issue --title x --acceptance-criteria "crit one" --author base --json | ...)
pm update $ID --acceptance-criteria "crit two" --author x --json >/dev/null
pm show $ID --json # acceptance_criteria: "crit two" — "crit one" is gone
pm update --help | grep -i acceptance
# --acceptance-criteria <value> Set acceptance criteria (repeatable; values join with '; ')
# --ac <value> Alias for --acceptance-criteria
# → no --add-ac / --add-acceptance-criteria existsImpact / request
Tags have --add-tags/--remove-tags, which merge cleanly and support additive concurrent work. Acceptance criteria (a list) has only replace semantics, making concurrent additive edits impossible and lossy. Please add an additive --add-ac / --remove-ac (and ideally store criteria as a proper list so append is a conflict-free array merge, not a rewrite of one joined line).
Minor / enhancement — surfaced during a multi-agent merge stress test on 2026.7.18.
Activity
coderabbitai commentedon Jul 18, 2026
🔗 Related PRs
#45 - feat(agent-ux): deps-graph integrity, close lifecycle clarity, calendar/search/test ergonomics [closed]
#70 - Accumulate repeated comma-separated list flags instead of keeping only the last value [closed]
#196 - Add linked-test selectors and aggregate completion [closed]
#431 - Add SDK boundary inventory ratchet [merged]
#499 - Harden SDK schema-driven input fidelity and package preflight [merged]
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unbraind commentedon Jul 19, 2026
Precedent: #484 (
pm update --blocked-by silently overwrites instead of appending) was accepted and closed as completed with exactly this remedy for theblocked_bylist — additive--add-blocked-by/--remove-blocked-by(mirroring--add-tags/--remove-tags). This request applies the same, now-established pattern toacceptance_criteria, which still only has replace semantics (--acceptance-criteria/--ac). Verified on pm 2026.7.18: no--add-ac/--remove-acexists.unbraind commentedon Jul 19, 2026
pm tracker item: pm-xh82