feat(routing): add auto_escalate retry to complex tier

docs/plans/state.json

@@ -3672,6 +3672,18 @@
         "docs/plans/state.json"
       ],
       "test_status": "pnpm test:run src/daemon/routing.test.ts + pnpm typecheck passing"
+    },
+    "auto-escalate-native-retry-path": {
+      "status": "completed",
+      "date": "2026-02-17",
+      "updated": "2026-02-17",
+      "summary": "Implemented `agents.auto_escalate` runtime behavior in channel routing: on primary-tier processing failure, Flynn now escalates to `complex` tier once and retries before surfacing an error. Added regression coverage for retry success path.",
+      "files_modified": [
+        "src/daemon/routing.ts",
+        "src/daemon/routing.test.ts",
+        "docs/plans/state.json"
+      ],
+      "test_status": "pnpm test:run src/daemon/routing.test.ts + pnpm typecheck passing"
     }
   },
   "overall_progress": {

src/daemon/routing.test.ts

@@ -974,6 +974,77 @@ describe('daemon audio routing integration', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('daemon auto-escalate integration', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('retries on complex tier when auto_escalate is enabled', async () => {
+    const processSpy = vi.spyOn(AgentOrchestrator.prototype, 'process')
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('primary tier failed'))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce('complex-tier response');
+    const setModelTierSpy = vi.spyOn(AgentOrchestrator.prototype, 'setModelTier');
+
+    const session = {
+      id: 'telegram:auto-escalate',
+      addMessage: vi.fn(),
+      getHistory: vi.fn(() => []),
+      clear: vi.fn(),
+      replaceHistory: vi.fn(),
+      getConfig: vi.fn(() => undefined),
+      setConfig: vi.fn(),
+      deleteConfig: vi.fn(),
+    };
+
+    const router = createMessageRouter({
+      sessionManager: {
+        getSession: vi.fn(() => session),
+      } as unknown as MessageRouterDeps['sessionManager'],
+      modelRouter: {
+        getAvailableTiers: () => ['fast', 'default', 'complex', 'local'],
+        getAllLabels: () => ({ fast: 'fast', default: 'default', complex: 'complex', local: 'local' }),
+        getLabel: (tier: string) => tier,
+      } as unknown as MessageRouterDeps['modelRouter'],
+      systemPrompt: 'test prompt',
+      toolRegistry: {
+        clone() { return this; },
+        register: vi.fn(),
+      } as unknown as MessageRouterDeps['toolRegistry'],
+      toolExecutor: {} as unknown as MessageRouterDeps['toolExecutor'],
+      config: {
+        agents: {
+          primary_tier: 'default',
+          auto_escalate: true,
+          delegation: {
+            compaction: 'fast',
+            memory_extraction: 'fast',
+            classification: 'fast',
+            tool_summarisation: 'fast',
+            complex_reasoning: 'complex',
+          },
+          max_delegation_depth: 3,
+          max_iterations: 10,
+        },
+        compaction: { enabled: false },
+        models: { default: { provider: 'anthropic', model: 'claude' } },
+      } as unknown as MessageRouterDeps['config'],
+    });
+
+    const reply = vi.fn(async (_message: OutboundMessage) => {});
+    await router.handler({
+      id: 'm-auto-escalate',
+      channel: 'telegram',
+      senderId: 'auto-escalate',
+      text: 'do something hard',
+      timestamp: Date.now(),
+    } as MessageRouterInput, reply);
+
+    expect(processSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(setModelTierSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('complex');
+    expect(reply).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.objectContaining({ text: 'complex-tier response' }));
+  });
+});
+
 describe('daemon talk mode (voice wake) integration', () => {
   afterEach(() => {
     vi.restoreAllMocks();

src/daemon/routing.ts

@@ -888,7 +888,20 @@ export function createMessageRouter(deps: {
         }
       }
 
-      const response = await agent.process(messageText, attachments);
+      let response: string;
+      try {
+        response = await agent.process(messageText, attachments);
+      } catch (error) {
+        const currentTier = agent.getModelTier();
+        const canEscalate = deps.config.agents.auto_escalate && currentTier !== 'complex';
+        if (!canEscalate) {
+          throw error;
+        }
+
+        console.warn(`Auto-escalating session ${msg.channel}:${msg.senderId} from ${currentTier} to complex after processing failure.`);
+        agent.setModelTier('complex');
+        response = await agent.process(messageText, attachments);
+      }
       const outboundAttachments = collector.drain();
       await reply({
         text: response,