Skip planning on error and not-found pages

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -165,6 +165,14 @@
 
 ### Changes
 
+- [Planner] A page that reports the thing you asked for does not exist gets no test plan. A missing
+  record, a failed load, or a page with nothing on it still came back with a full set of invented
+  scenarios, every one of them written against a page that had nothing to click. The planner now
+  proposes nothing for such a page.
+- Explore: A sub-page with nothing to test is skipped and exploration moves straight on to the next
+  candidate page. An error page is caught before any research or planning runs on it, and a page the
+  planner proposes no scenarios for is dropped as well, instead of being reported as a planning
+  failure and retried once per planning style.
 - State Manager: Drawers, side panels and swapped-in subviews are now recognised as pages in their
   own right. Until now only a modal that announced itself as a dialog counted as a state; a panel
   built as a plain positioned element, or a wizard step that replaced half the screen without

src/ai/planner.ts

@@ -195,10 +195,6 @@ export class Planner extends PlannerBase implements Agent {
         throw new Error('No tasks were created successfully');
       }
 
-      if (aiResult.object.scenarios.length === 0 && !this.currentPlan) {
-        throw new Error('No tasks were created successfully');
-      }
-
       const defaultStartUrl = this.getDefaultStartUrl(state);
       const fromPlanning = aiResult.object.scenarios.map((s: any) => new Test(s.scenario, s.priority, s.expectedOutcomes, s.startUrl || defaultStartUrl, s.steps || []));
 
@@ -335,6 +331,7 @@ export class Planner extends PlannerBase implements Agent {
       <task>
       Based on the page research, create ${this.MIN_TASKS}-${this.MAX_TASKS} exploratory testing scenarios.
       For each scenario provide specific steps and expected outcomes.
+      Exception: if the page reports the requested resource is missing, shows a failure state, or holds no content and no controls, return an empty scenarios list. Never invent tests for a page with nothing to exercise.
       </task>
 
       <rules>

src/commands/explore-command.ts

@@ -261,9 +261,15 @@ export class ExploreCommand extends BaseCommand {
       tag('info').log(`Exploring sub-page: ${pick.url} (${pick.reason})`);
       try {
         await this.explorBot.visit(pick.url);
+        const errorPage = getStateErrorPageError(this.explorBot.stateManager().getCurrentState());
+        if (errorPage) {
+          tag('warning').log(`Skipping sub-page: ${errorPage.message}`);
+          this.failedSubPages.add(normalizeUrl(pick.url));
+          continue;
+        }
         await this.runAllStyles(pick.url, undefined, mainPlan, this.completedPlans, styles);
         const subPlan = this.explorBot.getCurrentPlan();
-        if (subPlan && !this.completedPlans.includes(subPlan)) {
+        if (subPlan?.tests.length && !this.completedPlans.includes(subPlan)) {
           this.completedPlans.push(subPlan);
         }
         knownUrls.add(normalizeUrl(pick.url));
@@ -298,6 +304,11 @@ export class ExploreCommand extends BaseCommand {
       if (fresh && parentPlan) opts.extend = parentPlan;
       if (this.dryRun) opts.noSave = true;
       await this.planWithRetry(feature, opts, pageUrl);
+      const plan = this.explorBot.getCurrentPlan();
+      if (plan && plan.tests.length === 0) {
+        tag('warning').log('Nothing to test on this page, moving on');
+        return;
+      }
       await this.runPendingTests();
       this.rememberCurrentPlan();
       fresh = false;

tests/integration/planner.test.ts

@@ -275,10 +275,33 @@ describe('Planner with aimock', () => {
     expect(mock.getRequests().length).toBe(0);
   });
 
-  it('throws when AI returns empty scenarios and no current plan', async () => {
+  it('instructs to return no scenarios for a page with nothing to exercise', async () => {
+    await planner.plan();
+
+    const prompt = extractPromptText(mock.getLastRequest());
+    expect(prompt).toContain('return an empty scenarios list');
+  });
+
+  it('returns an empty plan when AI returns no scenarios', async () => {
+    mock.clearFixtures();
+    mock.on({}, { content: JSON.stringify({ planName: 'Empty', scenarios: [] }) });
+
+    const plan = await planner.plan();
+
+    expect(plan.tests.length).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps an existing plan when a later style returns empty scenarios', async () => {
+    const existingPlan = new Plan('Task Board Testing');
+    existingPlan.url = '/tasks/board';
+    existingPlan.addTest(new Test('Create a new task via the Create Task modal', 'critical', ['Task appears'], '/tasks/board', ['Click Create']));
+    planner.currentPlan = existingPlan;
+
     mock.clearFixtures();
     mock.on({}, { content: JSON.stringify({ planName: 'Empty', scenarios: [] }) });
 
-    await expect(planner.plan()).rejects.toThrow('No tasks were created successfully');
+    const plan = await planner.plan();
+
+    expect(plan.tests.length).toBe(1);
   });
 });