refactor: generate task name fallback on coderd (#19447)

DanielleMaywood · web-flow · commit 2521e732beb9 · 2025-08-21T11:06:30.000+01:00
Instead of generating the fallback task name on the website, we instead
generate it on coderd.
diff --git a/coderd/aitasks.go b/coderd/aitasks.go
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ func (api *API) tasksCreate(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	taskName := req.Name
+	taskName := taskname.GenerateFallback()
 	if anthropicAPIKey := taskname.GetAnthropicAPIKeyFromEnv(); anthropicAPIKey != "" {
 		anthropicModel := taskname.GetAnthropicModelFromEnv()
 
diff --git a/coderd/aitasks_test.go b/coderd/aitasks_test.go
@@ -151,7 +151,6 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 		var (
 			ctx = testutil.Context(t, testutil.WaitShort)
 
-			taskName   = "task-foo-bar-baz"
 			taskPrompt = "Some task prompt"
 		)
 
@@ -176,15 +175,14 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 
 		// When: We attempt to create a Task.
 		workspace, err := expClient.CreateTask(ctx, "me", codersdk.CreateTaskRequest{
-			Name:              taskName,
 			TemplateVersionID: template.ActiveVersionID,
 			Prompt:            taskPrompt,
 		})
 		require.NoError(t, err)
 		coderdtest.AwaitWorkspaceBuildJobCompleted(t, client, workspace.LatestBuild.ID)
 
 		// Then: We expect a workspace to have been created.
-		assert.Equal(t, taskName, workspace.Name)
+		assert.NotEmpty(t, workspace.Name)
 		assert.Equal(t, template.ID, workspace.TemplateID)
 
 		// And: We expect it to have the "AI Prompt" parameter correctly set.
@@ -201,7 +199,6 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 		var (
 			ctx = testutil.Context(t, testutil.WaitShort)
 
-			taskName   = "task-foo-bar-baz"
 			taskPrompt = "Some task prompt"
 		)
 
@@ -217,7 +214,6 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 
 		// When: We attempt to create a Task.
 		_, err := expClient.CreateTask(ctx, "me", codersdk.CreateTaskRequest{
-			Name:              taskName,
 			TemplateVersionID: template.ActiveVersionID,
 			Prompt:            taskPrompt,
 		})
@@ -235,7 +231,6 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 		var (
 			ctx = testutil.Context(t, testutil.WaitShort)
 
-			taskName   = "task-foo-bar-baz"
 			taskPrompt = "Some task prompt"
 		)
 
@@ -251,7 +246,6 @@ func TestTaskCreate(t *testing.T) {
 
 		// When: We attempt to create a Task with an invalid template version ID.
 		_, err := expClient.CreateTask(ctx, "me", codersdk.CreateTaskRequest{
-			Name:              taskName,
 			TemplateVersionID: uuid.New(),
 			Prompt:            taskPrompt,
 		})
diff --git a/coderd/taskname/taskname.go b/coderd/taskname/taskname.go
@@ -2,11 +2,15 @@ package taskname
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"math/rand/v2"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-go"
 	anthropicoption "github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-go/option"
+	"github.com/moby/moby/pkg/namesgenerator"
 	"golang.org/x/xerrors"
 
 	"github.com/coder/aisdk-go"
@@ -20,19 +24,17 @@ const (
 Requirements:
 - Only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
 - Start with "task-"
-- End with a random number between 0-99
-- Maximum 32 characters total
+- Maximum 28 characters total
 - Descriptive of the main task
 
 Examples:
-- "Help me debug a Python script" → "task-python-debug-12"
-- "Create a React dashboard component" → "task-react-dashboard-93"
-- "Analyze sales data from Q3" → "task-analyze-q3-sales-37"
-- "Set up CI/CD pipeline" → "task-setup-cicd-44"
+- "Help me debug a Python script" → "task-python-debug"
+- "Create a React dashboard component" → "task-react-dashboard"
+- "Analyze sales data from Q3" → "task-analyze-q3-sales"
+- "Set up CI/CD pipeline" → "task-setup-cicd"
 
 If you cannot create a suitable name:
-- Respond with "task-unnamed"
-- Do not end with a random number`
+- Respond with "task-unnamed"`
 )
 
 var (
@@ -67,6 +69,32 @@ func GetAnthropicModelFromEnv() anthropic.Model {
 	return anthropic.Model(os.Getenv("ANTHROPIC_MODEL"))
 }
 
+// generateSuffix generates a random hex string between `0000` and `ffff`.
+func generateSuffix() string {
+	numMin := 0x00000
+	numMax := 0x10000
+	//nolint:gosec // We don't need a cryptographically secure random number generator for generating a task name suffix.
+	num := rand.IntN(numMax-numMin) + numMin
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%04x", num)
+}
+
+func GenerateFallback() string {
+	// We have a 32 character limit for the name.
+	// We have a 5 character prefix `task-`.
+	// We have a 5 character suffix `-ffff`.
+	// This leaves us with 22 characters for the middle.
+	//
+	// Unfortunately, `namesgenerator.GetRandomName(0)` will
+	// generate names that are longer than 22 characters, so
+	// we just trim these down to length.
+	name := strings.ReplaceAll(namesgenerator.GetRandomName(0), "_", "-")
+	name = name[:min(len(name), 22)]
+	name = strings.TrimSuffix(name, "-")
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("task-%s-%s", name, generateSuffix())
+}
+
 func Generate(ctx context.Context, prompt string, opts ...Option) (string, error) {
 	o := options{}
 	for _, opt := range opts {
@@ -127,7 +155,7 @@ func Generate(ctx context.Context, prompt string, opts ...Option) (string, error
 		return "", ErrNoNameGenerated
 	}
 
-	return generatedName, nil
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", generatedName, generateSuffix()), nil
 }
 
 func anthropicDataStream(ctx context.Context, client anthropic.Client, model anthropic.Model, input []aisdk.Message) (aisdk.DataStream, error) {
diff --git a/coderd/taskname/taskname_test.go b/coderd/taskname/taskname_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,14 @@ const (
 	anthropicEnvVar = "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"
 )
 
+func TestGenerateFallback(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	name := taskname.GenerateFallback()
+	err := codersdk.NameValid(name)
+	require.NoErrorf(t, err, "expected fallback to be valid workspace name, instead found %s", name)
+}
+
 func TestGenerateTaskName(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
diff --git a/codersdk/aitasks.go b/codersdk/aitasks.go
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ func (c *ExperimentalClient) AITaskPrompts(ctx context.Context, buildIDs []uuid.
 }
 
 type CreateTaskRequest struct {
-	Name                    string    `json:"name"`
 	TemplateVersionID       uuid.UUID `json:"template_version_id" format:"uuid"`
 	TemplateVersionPresetID uuid.UUID `json:"template_version_preset_id,omitempty" format:"uuid"`
 	Prompt                  string    `json:"prompt"`
diff --git a/site/src/api/typesGenerated.ts b/site/src/api/typesGenerated.ts
diff --git a/site/src/pages/TasksPage/TasksPage.tsx b/site/src/pages/TasksPage/TasksPage.tsx
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ import { useAuthenticated } from "hooks";
 import { useExternalAuth } from "hooks/useExternalAuth";
 import { RedoIcon, RotateCcwIcon, SendIcon } from "lucide-react";
 import { AI_PROMPT_PARAMETER_NAME, type Task } from "modules/tasks/tasks";
-import { generateWorkspaceName } from "modules/workspaces/generateWorkspaceName";
 import { WorkspaceAppStatus } from "modules/workspaces/WorkspaceAppStatus/WorkspaceAppStatus";
 import { type FC, type ReactNode, useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { Helmet } from "react-helmet-async";
@@ -741,7 +740,6 @@ export const data = {
 		}
 
 		const workspace = await API.experimental.createTask(userId, {
-			name: `task-${generateWorkspaceName()}`,
 			template_version_id: templateVersionId,
 			template_version_preset_id: preset_id || undefined,
 			prompt,

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ func (api API) tasksCreate(rw http.ResponseWriter, r http.Request) {`
`107`	`107`	`return`
`108`	`108`	`}`
`109`	`109`
`110`		`- taskName := req.Name`
	`110`	`+ taskName := taskname.GenerateFallback()`
`111`	`111`	`if anthropicAPIKey := taskname.GetAnthropicAPIKeyFromEnv(); anthropicAPIKey != "" {`
`112`	`112`	`anthropicModel := taskname.GetAnthropicModelFromEnv()`
`113`	`113`
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ func (c *ExperimentalClient) AITaskPrompts(ctx context.Context, buildIDs []uuid.`
`47`	`47`	`}`
`48`	`48`
`49`	`49`	`type CreateTaskRequest struct {`
`50`		- Name string `json:"name"`
`51`	`50`	TemplateVersionID uuid.UUID `json:"template_version_id" format:"uuid"`
`52`	`51`	TemplateVersionPresetID uuid.UUID `json:"template_version_preset_id,omitempty" format:"uuid"`
`53`	`52`	Prompt string `json:"prompt"`