Feature plan: Step 1 · Step 2 · Step 3 · Step 4

Debug mode: enabled (inherited). Effort study: railspike-effort, cycle v3/absent_retraction_import; host ledger, R1/P2.

Entry

Step 3 approved. Planning commit fd4fa3839; branch feat/absent-retraction-snapshot. Scope v3, original baseline aeaad63298ffe72b792bce84acd9f72c310c4bef; 0.70 projected total reaffirmed before implementation. Codex single exposed rater; prior snapshots preserved. No dependency changes, live repair/retry or deployment authorized. Five stages pending.

Stage 1 - Bound snapshot validation

• Changes: snapshot-only evidence scan distinguishes confirmed absent IDs from effective retractions; strict callers remain strict. Snapshot generation binds evidence bytes and excludes only initially absent targets through reappearance; malformed or removed evidence still invalidates publication.

• Verification: php tests/run.php AbsentRetractionSnapshotTest RetractionSweepTest ReadModelPostRetractionsTest passed 27/27; PHP syntax checks passed. Tests cover flat/dated absence, reappearance with unrelated author, changed evidence, malformed/symlink targets and missing tracked retraction. Initial new fixtures were corrected to follow canonical Record-ID/body format before passing.

• Notes: Stage 1 resolves build-local isolation contract; no caller uses the new context until Stage 2. Planning commit fd4fa3839. Runtime reader/CLI acceptance remains pending.

Stage 2 - Publish filtered base snapshots

• Changes: builder uses a snapshot-only guard token and filters initially absent posts before expansion validation. An excluded root retains content-free thread metadata and surviving replies; thread last activity/counts use surviving posts. Source/canonical records stay unchanged. Generation is bound to the original scan to detect intervening unrelated evidence changes.

• Verification: focused absent/base/publisher/builder checks passed 10/10; stale secret bytes absent, source database hash unchanged, root subject/preview cleared and surviving reply retained. Syntax checks passed.

• Notes: Stage 1 commit 622adaf59. No core read-model query/schema changes; temporary filtering is applied after unchanged queries. Portable update exclusion follows in Stage 3.

Stage 3 - Remove stale base copies through updates

• Changes: portable snapshot version 5 carries excluded_posts; actual reader applies exclusions outside included threads, clears excluded-root presentation and recomputes affected counts/activity without deleting surviving replies. Legacy snapshots without exclusion metadata remain supported. Runbook documents the artifact contract and required reader refresh.

• Verification: 18/18 focused absent/builder/manifest/reader-presentation checks passed, including real SQL.js execution of generated base/update artifacts, repeated update application, excluded replies/roots outside replaced threads and legacy artifacts. Node syntax and diff checks passed. No new dependency was added; existing SQL.js is reused.

• Notes: Stage 2 commit 5c7b6a3a0. Portable schema changed, not core read-model tables/queries. Browser-rendered acceptance remains Stage 5. Existing saved clients need the application reader refresh on reconnect.

Stage 4 - Queue and shared-publication recovery

• Changes: standalone CLI now publishes compact update then base, matching configured worker order, and reports both paths; private gates/status/retry policy are preserved. Ordinary snapshots keep strict-compatible generation sidecars while snapshot-context validation still binds full evidence. Snapshot scans clear stat caches and reject dangling retraction-directory symlinks.

• Verification: focused retraction/queue/CLI/high-traffic checks passed 43/43, followed by final absent-target acceptance 11/11. Actual direct CLI and configured queue CLI complete for both task-952 IDs, reject private publication, preserve prior base on evidence failure and recover after repair. Pinned-context publication succeeds after reappearance and rejects unrelated evidence changes. Matching-author/protected/other-author later-build rules pass. CLI help, PHP syntax and diff checks pass.

• Verification: import/static compatibility and interruption recovery passed 2/2 in /tmp/absent-snapshot-import-fixture-jm5ryzm5, using identical production code/assets and a bounded frozen documentation fixture (actual offline runbook). This exercises static release/activation, imported publication, base/update and private-destination skipping; it is not full-document-corpus acceptance.

• Notes: Stage 3 commit 63ef804bf. Initial broader mutable-tree run failed because the runbook changed during a guarded static build; an overbroad cleanup-count assertion was corrected to verify preservation of actual snapshot/manifest (existing cleanup also retires auxiliary sidecars). Final focused checks pass. Full-corpus full suite now runs in immutable /tmp/absent-snapshot-frozen-uasfj_5_; an earlier mutable-tree full run was interrupted to avoid misleading documentation-change failures.

Stage 5 - Acceptance and closeout

• Changes: added repeatable node tests/browser/absent_retraction_snapshot.cjs acceptance using production PHP template, actual SQL.js/WASM, generated artifacts, production reader/CSS and existing Playwright. Corrected rootless-thread rendering/reaction classification to identify the actual root by ID, preserving full reply bodies and post Likes. Corrected an old presentation fixture whose requested thread ID disagreed with its root row. Added dependent-expansion exclusion coverage and operator repair/rerun guidance.

• Verification — passed: final focused runtime command (AbsentRetractionSnapshotTest, PublicOfflineSnapshotBuilderTest, PublicOfflineSnapshotManifestTest, OfflineSnapshotThreadPresentationTest, OfflineSnapshotPresentationTest, OfflineSnapshotPublishCommandTest, TaskQueueWorkerTest, HighTrafficTest, RetractionSweepTest) 57/57; after strengthening the expansion fixture, final absent-target tests 11/11. Generated updates remove stale dependent expansions outside replaced threads, preserve surviving replies and leave source DB hashes/canonical retractions intact. Actual direct and configured queued CLI acceptance covers both reported IDs, private refusal, failure/retry and base/update artifacts.

• Verification — passed: 16/16 browser scenarios: 390px/1280px × default/Word97/Chicago/Midnight × absent reply/root. Real reader consumes old base plus update outside its thread window, shows surviving long content, omits excluded/root-derived content, retains comment semantics and post Like targets. Fresh-base, empty, failure and recovery states pass; no page overflow or page errors. Visual review of phone Word97/rootless and desktop default/reply confirms readable wrapping and visible Back action. Durable measurements and production hashes; screenshots /tmp/absent-snapshot-browser-2BJeDw/. No navigation destination/icon change.

• Verification — passed: shared import/static recovery 2/2 in bounded frozen-document fixture, as detailed in Stage 4. Frozen full-corpus LegacyTimestampImportTest bootstrap/publication/rebuild/archive journey also passed (249.98s), alongside its four additional legacy cases. Node/PHP syntax, plan links and git diff --check pass; dependency delta zero (manifests/locks/third-party assets unchanged).

• Verification — incomplete: optional full suite in /tmp/absent-snapshot-frozen-uasfj_5_ was deliberately interrupted after 75 passed, no recorded failures, during ImportInstanceCommandTest::testRealInstanceDownloadPreviewImportAndRepeat (186.12s in that case). Log /tmp/absent-snapshot-full-frozen.log; this is neither a full-suite pass nor a diagnosed baseline failure. The copy predates the final rootless-renderer correction; final focused/browser checks cover that correction. Earlier mutable-tree run was cancelled to avoid documentation fingerprint interference; a separate initial import run failed because the runbook changed during the guarded build, then passed in the frozen bounded fixture.

• Notes: Stage 4 commit 6012d8a65. No live task retry, production repair, deployment, main merge or push. Physical devices/service-worker upgrade across a real installed client are unverified; version-5 exclusion enforcement requires refreshed reader assets, as documented. The browser test exercises the actual template/reader/data paths through fixture HTTP routes, not a full installed service-worker lifecycle. Core read-model schema/query changes and rebuild migration checks are inapplicable.

Study closeout and release limits

2026-10-23T20:16:56Z: stable v3/absent_retraction_import, scope v3/R1/P2, original baseline aeaad63298ffe72b792bce84acd9f72c310c4bef, Codex single exposed rater. Projected total 0.70 preserved; separately labeled retrospective scope assessment 0.80, reflecting portable exclusions, rootless reply/reaction semantics, generation compatibility and actual-reader/CLI recovery verification. All frozen R1 hashes reverified. No measured labor, independent rating, study acceptance or accepted-count increment; maintainer comfortable-fit judgment and acceptance remain pending. Historical unavailable/v2/v3 checkpoints remain intact.

Five approved stages technically complete with scoped verification above; optional full suite and external/client-upgrade checks remain explicitly unverified. No pending scope requests; abort-on-reappearance remains rejected, snapshot-local exclusion is implemented without permanent authority. Planning fd4fa3839; stage commits 622adaf59, 5c7b6a3a0, 63ef804bf, 6012d8a65, followed by this Stage 5 commit. Each completed stage was committed before its successor.

Main integration — 2026-10-23T20:23:40Z

User explicitly authorized merging into main and pushing. Integrated origin/main 527a64c46, preserving all incoming work and this cycle's seven commits. Resolved plan-index/ledger conflicts by retaining both histories; todo conflict reconciliation preserves both pre-existing additions without new task content. Merge verification: 57/57 focused checks pass; browser-verified production file hashes are unchanged; diff check against origin/main passes. Full-suite and installed-client upgrade limitations above remain unchanged; no deployment or inferred study comfortable-fit judgment.