Inconclusive proofs with zero available validators are stuck in VERIFYING forever

[cybermax4200]

Why this matters now: Capacity gap — if no community validators are active, legitimate proofs never resolve and never get paid.

Problem / What: verificationWorker.ts:154-179 calls assignValidators; if no validators exist (assignValidators returns 0, validatorService.ts:41), it logs "needs manual review" but the proof stays VERIFYING with no admin auto-escalation and no queue of such proofs. There is no endpoint or sweeper that surfaces "VERIFYING but unassigned/expired-assignment" proofs for human action.

Key Challenges: Defining an escalation path (admin review queue filter, or auto-reject-after-TTL), and ensuring it doesn't collide with the finalization race fix in #1.

Acceptance Criteria:

• A proof that cannot be assigned validators is moved to an explicitly reviewable/escalated state within a bounded time.
• An admin can list and act on these proofs (or they auto-resolve) — test.

Relevant files/functions: src/workers/verificationWorker.ts:154-179, src/services/validatorService.ts:20-52, src/controllers/proofController.ts:listPendingProofs.

Out of scope: Auto-recruiting validators.

Labels: advanced, reliability, bug

[kawmy]

Hi, I’d like to work on this issue. From reviewing the current flow, assignValidators() returning 0 leaves the proof in VERIFYING without an explicit escalation indicator.
Before I begin, would you prefer:

1. immediate escalation to the existing admin-review queue when no validators are available, or
2. automatic resolution after a configurable TTL?
   I’ll include regression tests and ensure the escalation is idempotent under worker retries. Please assign this issue to me if it’s available.

[grantfox-oss]

🦊 GrantFox — @kawmy has been assigned to this issue as part of the Third Campaign campaign!

Next steps:

1. Open a Pull Request referencing this issue (e.g., Closes #81)
2. Your PR will be reviewed by the ecotask-network maintainers

Good luck! Track your progress on GrantFox.

[grantfox-oss]

🎉 This issue has been marked as completed on GrantFox as part of the Third Campaign campaign!

@kawmy's PR #97 was approved and merged by @cybermax4200.

🏆 @kawmy: You earned 35 FoxPoints for this contribution! Your current tier: Explorer (83 total points). Track your full progress on GrantFox.

👏 Great work, @kawmy! Keep contributing to ecotask-network.