From 76edcad488ddbb134284ad6c58aa7c5ad62dc921 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:26:29 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Initial plan


From 9d88c4fec21ed70b20d24098c5f9bfed14f03649 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:45:59 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix: stabilize compilation output ordering for import
 processing and job dependencies

- Add TestImportTopologicalSortStableAcrossRuns regression test from PR #17925
- Sort getCustomJobsDependingOnPreActivation result for deterministic ordering
- Sort getReferencedCustomJobs result for deterministic ordering
- Fix buildMainJob to iterate data.Jobs in sorted key order when building depends

Fixes #17923

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 pkg/parser/import_topological_test.go    | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 pkg/workflow/compiler_activation_jobs.go |  6 ++++
 pkg/workflow/compiler_jobs.go            |  3 ++
 3 files changed, 54 insertions(+)

diff --git a/pkg/parser/import_topological_test.go b/pkg/parser/import_topological_test.go
index fbee2ef43b..23e8724acc 100644
--- a/pkg/parser/import_topological_test.go
+++ b/pkg/parser/import_topological_test.go
@@ -454,3 +454,48 @@ tools:
 	assert.Equal(t, "a-dependency.md", result.ImportedFiles[0])
 	assert.Equal(t, "z-parent.md", result.ImportedFiles[1])
 }
+
+func TestImportTopologicalSortStableAcrossRuns(t *testing.T) {
+	tempDir := testutil.TempDir(t, "import-topo-stable-*")
+
+	files := map[string]string{
+		"root.md": `---
+imports:
+  - b.md
+  - a.md
+---`,
+		"a.md": `---
+imports:
+  - c.md
+tools:
+  a-tool: {}
+---`,
+		"b.md": `---
+tools:
+  b-tool: {}
+---`,
+		"c.md": `---
+tools:
+  c-tool: {}
+---`,
+	}
+
+	for filename, content := range files {
+		filePath := filepath.Join(tempDir, filename)
+		err := os.WriteFile(filePath, []byte(content), 0644)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	frontmatter := map[string]any{"imports": []string{"root.md"}}
+
+	var baseline []string
+	for i := range 5 {
+		result, err := parser.ProcessImportsFromFrontmatterWithManifest(frontmatter, tempDir, nil)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		if i == 0 {
+			baseline = append([]string(nil), result.ImportedFiles...)
+			continue
+		}
+		assert.Equal(t, baseline, result.ImportedFiles)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/workflow/compiler_activation_jobs.go b/pkg/workflow/compiler_activation_jobs.go
index 0c242550a2..e2b3f7502a 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/compiler_activation_jobs.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/compiler_activation_jobs.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"maps"
 	"slices"
+	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -801,7 +802,12 @@ func (c *Compiler) buildMainJob(data *WorkflowData, activationJobCreated bool) (
 	// so the agent job gets them transitively through activation
 	// Custom jobs that depend on agent should run AFTER the agent job, not before it
 	if data.Jobs != nil {
+		jobNames := make([]string, 0, len(data.Jobs))
 		for jobName := range data.Jobs {
+			jobNames = append(jobNames, jobName)
+		}
+		sort.Strings(jobNames)
+		for _, jobName := range jobNames {
 			// Skip jobs.pre-activation (or pre_activation) as it's handled specially
 			if jobName == string(constants.PreActivationJobName) || jobName == "pre-activation" {
 				continue
diff --git a/pkg/workflow/compiler_jobs.go b/pkg/workflow/compiler_jobs.go
index a89bafea18..7524b4434e 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/compiler_jobs.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/compiler_jobs.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/stringutil"
@@ -115,6 +116,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) getCustomJobsDependingOnPreActivation(customJobs map[string]a
 		}
 		return false
 	})
+	sort.Strings(deps)
 	compilerJobsLog.Printf("Found %d custom jobs depending on pre_activation: %v", len(deps), deps)
 	return deps
 }
@@ -133,6 +135,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) getReferencedCustomJobs(content string, customJobs map[string
 	refs := sliceutil.FilterMapKeys(customJobs, func(jobName string, _ any) bool {
 		return strings.Contains(content, fmt.Sprintf("needs.%s.", jobName))
 	})
+	sort.Strings(refs)
 	if len(refs) > 0 {
 		compilerJobsLog.Printf("Found %d custom job references: %v", len(refs), refs)
 	}