tools-only Exclude Markdown from Tech Debt Scans
Summary
Markdown documentation contained example TODO/FIXME/HACK markers, which the scanner counted as new debt and caused baseline checks to fail. We now exclude .md files from scanning and update the scheduled workflow to flag any debt and report the correct timestamp.
Context
- File:
scripts/todo_scanner.py - Symptoms: PR scans failed with debt coming from documentation examples; weekly reports never opened issues because the scan did not fail.
Root Cause
The scanner did not exclude documentation files, and the scheduled workflow checked the baseline without any failure mode, so debt presence never produced a failing exit status.
Changes
- Excluded Markdown files from
EXCLUDE_PATTERNS. - Documented Markdown exclusion in
docs/agent-docs/tech-debt-tracking.md. - Updated the scheduled workflow to use
--fail-on-new, renamed steps, and fixed the report timestamp field.
Behavioral Impact
- Markdown files are no longer scanned for debt markers.
- Weekly reports now open/update issues when any debt exists.
- PR baseline checks remain unchanged for code files.
Related Cards
- [[tech-debt-tracking]]