# Failing tests and the task decision

> What happens to tests that were failing before the task started, and how you decide their fate.

Sometimes a project has tests that were **failing before your task** — they were broken earlier and have nothing to do with your request. So that the agents do not waste time on someone else’s breakage, such tests are handled **before development begins**.

## How it works

Before the agents take on the task, the project’s tests are run on the task branch. If something fails, it is a **pre-existing** failure (the task has not changed anything yet). Each such failure is checked separately, and tests that are **really broken** are **temporarily taken out of the run on the task branch** — with the reason and the confirmation of the failure kept. Nothing is faked into “green”: only genuine pre-existing failures are taken out, and only when the test itself is at fault, not the environment.

After that the task **pauses and waits for your decision** — you see the list of what was found.

_Illustration: The list of pre-existing failures and three possible decisions — one for the whole set._

## Your decision (one for the whole set)

- **Ignore for this task** — a temporary block: the tests are taken out of the run **for this task only**. The agents work from a “green” start, and when the task is merged into the main branch these temporary exclusions are **lifted** — they do not affect the project.
- **Ignore permanently** — the tests are treated as disabled **at the project level** and stay excluded after the task too (this goes into the main branch). Suitable when a test is broken for a long time and this is a deliberate decision.
- **Hold the task until fixed** — make no decision now; the task waits until you come back (for example, once the tests have been fixed).

Disabled tests and their reasons are always visible in the [“Test settings”](/en/docs/tests) section.

> This only concerns tests that were failing **before** the task. Breakage introduced by the development itself is caught by the check at the review stage — the decision there is made differently.