[futurepaul]

An import writes its Session Archive's search, through the platform's search write API (#783): GET /api/f/{name}/search/sources, POST …/search/upsert and POST …/search/delete. The importer is the writer that holds each conversation's bytes, so it writes them itself. The platform knows nothing of the archive's format, and an app can't read a conversation of 1 MiB or more.

What

• Extractor (crates/core/src/session_search.rs, pure): builds a fragment_proto::search::Upsert for each conversation file (sessions/<key>.json), with the file's sha256 as its revision and one section per turn.
  • A turn is a person's message plus what the agent said until their next one, written as "Person: … / Agent: …". A tool's output is left out and its call only named. Reasoning is left out. Files a message held are named. A compression's summary gets its own section, headed "Summary".
  • Turns are numbered from the start (t<n>; a split turn's later parts are t<n>.<k>), so a conversation that grew keeps its earlier ids and only its new turns are embedded again.
  • Fields are {kind, origin, source}. A section's context is [source, agent], its at is the turn's first message, and its location is {from, to} (message indexes, both included).
  • It stays within what the platform takes (fragment_core::searchable::check, the cell's own check):
    • a long turn splits at its messages, and a long message within it, at a space where it can;
    • title, fields and context are bounded in bytes;
    • control characters are stripped (except newline and tab), and = is kept out of filters;
    • past 2,000 sections or 4 MiB as sent, a conversation keeps its first sections and counts the rest (left_out).
• Reconcile after each import, with the archive as it stands then (cli/src/session/search.rs):
  • It pages sources, then reads the archive at main's head (its indexes, plus the files changed since them: held, found), not the entries this import saved. Another import may have written meanwhile.
  • It upserts each conversation whose sha256 isn't the revision search holds, 8 at a time. Each one's bytes are read at that head (or from the spool, when they're the same bytes), and its revision is their own sha256.
  • Each upsert names the revision it replaces, as search was read holding it (replaces, "" for none). So another import's write since is refused (409), left as that import wrote it, and counted overtaken.
  • Each upsert runs searchable::check before it's sent; one the platform would refuse is reported and never sent.
  • It deletes nothing. The platform forgets a conversation's source when a move of main deletes its file, and absence from this import's view is no evidence a file is gone.
  • So an import that writes nothing still repairs search, and an archive made before its host had search is indexed on its next import.
• Failure handling:
  • A host without search (404), or one that can't be reached, is reported in search: {state: "skipped", why}, and the import still succeeds.
  • A 401, 403 or 404 on an upsert stops the run, since the same cause would apply to every write. Other refusals are listed (at most 20, plus a count).
• Fake (crates/fakes/src/search.rs): the write API behind the code.storage fake's host routes, switched on per fragment (enable_search). It checks an upsert with the cell's own type and check, and answers as the cell does.

Tests

• Extractor (session_search):
  • a conversation is searched as its turns;
  • a conversation that grew keeps its earlier sections;
  • every upsert stays within the limits (splits, a message with no space, more than 2,000 turns, more than 4 MiB);
  • control characters, =, and a title or agent name far past its bytes in CJK all still give an upsert searchable::check accepts.
• CLI against the fake:
  • an_import_puts_its_archives_search_right: a host without search, valid writes, a replay with no upserts, an update, a lost index repaired from the archive's files, and nothing deleted.
  • an_import_overtaken_undoes_nothing_of_a_later_ones_search (Alex's case): A writes a and pauses; B writes a newer a and a new b, then its search; A's search then changes neither.
  • a_write_overtaken_leaves_the_others_as_it_wrote_it: a write naming a revision another import has written over since is refused and left as the other wrote it.
• e2e, search section, against the real service: importing the sessions section's export writes 3 sources. A person finds the beans chat by "plant beans", and the same import again writes nothing.
• e2e, sessions section: on a node with no search service, the import says it skipped search and still succeeds.
• cargo xtask check is green.

Complexity ledger

Adds	Where	Why	Removing it	Blast radius
The extractor (~230 lines with tests)	crates/core/src/session_search.rs	Turns a conversation into search sections, within the platform's checks	Delete it and its call	Only what search holds; the archive's files are untouched
Reconcile after each import, with the archive as it stands then (~200 lines)	cli/src/session/search.rs, one call in run	The importer is the writer holding the bytes, and reconciling makes every import a repair	Drop the call and the module	The import's output gains search; failures are reported, never fatal
The fake search write API (~150 lines)	crates/fakes/src/search.rs, plus a route and two levers in codestorage.rs	CLI unit tests with no cell	Delete it (the e2e search section covers the real service)	Tests only
An e2e step	crates/e2e/src/lanes/search.rs	The import against the real service	Delete it	Tests only

There are no changes to the wire, the schema, the archive format or the cell.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[alexlwn123]

Fail for now at ea9996f2b521640ed1a6e6f092013d25d80ea502.

Blocking:

1. [P2] An older import can undo a completed import's search reconciliation. cli/src/session/search.rs:98-99 computes writes and deletions from the entries saved by write(), rather than the archive as it stands when reconciliation runs. Reproduced with a temporary test using the existing code.storage/search fake: A commits conversation a and pauses before sync; B updates a, adds b, and completes its search sync; A resumes. A reports written: 1, deleted: 1, refused_count: 0, restores a's old search revision from its spool, and deletes sessions/hermes-b.json from search although main and its index still hold both conversations. Both imports succeed, but the newer words and the new conversation stop being searchable until another import repairs them.

This is additional to the debt ledger's accepted same-conversation file/index race: even imports of different conversations can remove each other's search sources. Reconciliation must account for archive changes after its saved snapshot, for both upserts and deletions; absence from that snapshot is not evidence a file is gone. Please cover overlapping imports that add distinct conversations and update an existing conversation, including a writer overtaken during reconciliation. The archive-read fallback also reads mutable MAIN while assigning the saved entry's hash (write_one, lines 174-177), so preserve the bytes/revision relationship across this boundary too.

The extractor and use of the platform's shared wire types/checks otherwise fit the purpose without unnecessary platform machinery.

Validation: all four fragment-core session-search tests and the existing CLI reconciliation test pass; the temporary overlap reproduction confirmed the behavior above and was removed afterward. CI check and images check passed; e2e shards and the real-Hermes Docker check were still running when inspected. I did not run full e2e locally. The engineering-style document named by AGENTS.md was unavailable at its specified path.

[futurepaul]

Fixed at 3347c5a. You're right: reconciliation computed from write()'s saved entries, a snapshot. Point by point:

1. An older import could undo a completed import's search reconciliation.

• Reconcile against the archive as it stands. sync no longer takes this import's entries. When it reconciles, it reads the archive at main's current head: its indexes, plus found for files changed since their commit or not indexed (the same rule as the restart repair). The upserts are computed from that.
• Bytes and revision stay one. Each conversation's bytes are read at that pinned head, not at mutable MAIN. The spool copy is used only when its sha256 is the one at that head. The revision sent is sha256(bytes) of what was actually read, so the bytes/revision relationship holds across the boundary.
• Overtaken mid-reconciliation. Each upsert carries replaces, the revision search was read holding ("" for none). If another import writes that source in between, the platform answers 409. That write is left as the other import made it and counted overtaken (not refused, not retried).
• No deletions from reconciliation. Absence from any view this import has is no evidence a file is gone. The platform already forgets a source when a move of main deletes its file, retried and ordered before any later write of that source (search_forget, cell/src/searchable.rs). So the reconciler leaves deletion to it, and deleted is gone from the output. The fake holds writers to replaces as the service does: the same revision is a no-op, and otherwise a mismatch is 409 with current.
• Tests, each failing before the fix:
  • an_import_overtaken_undoes_nothing_of_a_later_ones_search, your reproduction. A writes a and pauses; B writes a newer a (an update) and a new b (a distinct conversation), then B's search; A's search then. Search keeps B's a and still has b. On the previous head it fails exactly as you saw: written: 1, deleted: 1, with a back at A's revision.
  • a_write_overtaken_leaves_the_others_as_it_wrote_it: a write naming the revision this import read, after another import has written a newer one there, is refused and counted overtaken, and the newer revision stands. Removing replaces makes it fail.

The existing reconciliation test no longer expects deletions. The README's "Reconciled" paragraph and the PR body describe the new rule. cargo test -p fragment-cli -p fragment-fakes, clippy and cargo xtask check pass.

[alexlwn123]

Fail for now at 3347c5ae175cecbde2873035f152ca0c66743667.

The earlier reproduction is fixed: reconciliation rereads the archive, no longer deletes sources from a stale snapshot, and hashes the actual bytes read at a fixed head. The two new regression tests pass. One ordering of the same concurrency boundary remains broken.

Blocking:

1. [P2] A newer reconciliation can lose to an older in-flight write. cli/src/session/search.rs:205 treats every compare-and-set conflict as a completed replacement worth preserving, but a changed search revision does not establish that it represents the current archive. Reproduced with a temporary test using the existing fake and write_one: A commits a, reads empty search and its archive head, then pauses before upsert; B commits a newer a, reads the same empty search and its newer head; A's upsert lands first; B's upsert receives 409 and returns Overtaken. A returns Written(0). Search keeps A's old hash while main and its index hold B's newer conversation, so the new words remain unsearchable until another import. This does not require the file/index race accepted in the debt ledger: the archive writes are sequential and agree.

Keep the conditional writes, but on conflict reconcile again against fresh search state and the current archive, with a bounded retry and an explicit unresolved result if contention persists. Do not simply retry the captured old payload against the newly observed revision. Cover both write orderings (older-first and newer-first), for both an initially absent source and an existing source being updated; a CAS conflict alone cannot determine which writer has the authoritative bytes.

The implementation otherwise stays appropriately small by reusing held/found and the platform's shared search types and checks.

Validation: all 16 existing CLI session tests and all four core session-search tests passed. The temporary older-first reproduction failed as described and was removed; the checkout is clean. CI check and images check passed; e2e shards and real-Hermes Docker were still running when inspected. Full e2e was not run locally. The engineering-style document named by AGENTS.md was unavailable at its specified path.

[futurepaul]

@alexlwn123 here's what changed since your review. Your blocker, a reconciliation that could undo a later import's search, was fixed in 3347c5a (see my reply above). Since then:

• dff543f, master merged in (no force-push). Search now lives in each fragment's own SearchIndex (search: each fragment life's index in a SearchIndex object of its own #846), behind the same API, so the importer's calls are unchanged. Two conflicts:
  • crates/e2e/src/lanes/search.rs: I kept master's version and moved the import check before its closing Ok((owner, name)).
  • docs/MODEL.md: I kept master's condensed row and added one clause for the archive's search.
• 13b2759, a full index is sent no more. The per-fragment index caps its chunks and refuses a write past the cap (507 storage_full). Before, an import kept sending every remaining conversation (up to 4 MiB each), and each was refused. Now the writers stop at the first 507 and count what they didn't send as refused, so the next import writes it. Test: an_import_stops_writing_once_search_is_full (the fake index gains chunks_max). It fails before the fix with "40 of 40 sent".
• 67f5e5f, e2e. The dev node now has search everywhere, so the sessions section's "host without search → skipped" check became "the import writes its archive's search". The 404 → skipped path stays in the CLI, since today's production has no search routes, and a unit test covers it.

Checks: cargo xtask check passes on 67f5e5f. cargo xtask e2e --only sessions,search passes (13/13 sessions; the search section, including the import check, all ok).

[alexlwn123]

Fail for now at 67f5e5ff1c8d19df86fab6d66edd906e44b21a02.

The original stale-snapshot deletion and bytes/revision issues remain fixed. The blocker from my review of 3347c5ae175cecbde2873035f152ca0c66743667 remains unchanged.

Blocking:

1. [P2] A newer reconciliation still loses to an older in-flight write. cli/src/session/search.rs:214 treats every 409 as Overtaken and finishes without reconciling again. A reads search and its older archive head; B commits the newer conversation and reads the same search revision; A's upsert lands first; B's upsert conflicts. Search retains A's old conversation despite main and its index holding B's newer bytes, so the new words remain unsearchable until another import. The current SearchIndex CAS (cell/src/search_index.rs:522-525) checks revision equality, not archive freshness, so moving search into a Durable Object does not fix this ordering.

I reproduced this on this head with the existing fake and write_one, for both an initially absent source and an existing source being updated: A returns Written(0), B returns Overtaken, and search retains A's hash instead of B's. The archive commits are sequential; this does not depend on the debt ledger's file/index race.

Keep conditional writes, but on conflict reread search and the current archive and reconcile with bounded retries, reporting an unresolved result if contention persists. Do not retry the captured old payload against a fresh revision. Cover both older-first and newer-first write orderings for absent and existing sources.

The extractor and reconciliation still reuse the platform's types/checks and archive helpers appropriately; no additional complexity concern blocks this change.

Validation: all 17 existing CLI session tests passed. A temporary reproduction confirmed both stale-search cases and was removed; the checkout is clean. CI images check passed; check and real-Hermes Docker were pending when inspected, and e2e build/shards were skipped. Full e2e was not run locally. The engineering-style document named by AGENTS.md is unavailable at its specified path.

[alexlwn123]

Fail for now at 82ffed21202deb354877e01360784ec0e9ffaab0.

The original stale-snapshot deletion and bytes/revision issues remain fixed. The blocker from my previous verdict remains: this merge leaves the importer, its fake, and the server's compare-and-set behavior unchanged.

Blocking:

1. [P2] A newer reconciliation still loses to an older in-flight write. cli/src/session/search.rs:214 returns Overtaken for every 409, without reconciling again. A reads search and its older archive head; B commits the newer conversation and reads the same search revision; A's upsert lands first; B's conflicts. Both finish, but search retains A's old bytes and the newer words remain unsearchable until another import. This affects both absent sources and updates to existing sources. The archive commits can be sequential and agree with their indexes, so this is separate from the accepted file/index race. cell/src/search_index.rs:520-528 still compares revisions only; it cannot determine which payload matches the current archive.

Keep conditional writes, but on conflict reread search and the current archive and reconcile with bounded retries, reporting unresolved contention explicitly. Do not retry the captured old payload against a fresh revision. Cover older-first and newer-first write orderings for both absent and existing sources.

The shared types, validation and archive helpers remain an appropriate implementation; this merge adds no new complexity concern to the PR's own changes.

Validation: traced the failure on this head and confirmed the relevant code is unchanged from the previously reproduced head; did not rerun that temporary reproduction. cargo test -p fragment-cli session:: -- --nocapture: 34 passed, 1 ignored. CI check, images check and real-Hermes Docker were pending when inspected; e2e build/shards were skipped. Full e2e was not run locally. The engineering-style document named by AGENTS.md remains unavailable at its specified path.

[futurepaul]

@alexlwn123 the blocker you raised at 67f5e5f and 82ffed2 (a newer reconciliation losing to an older in-flight write) is fixed in fded92d.

What changed (cli/src/session/search.rs, sync):

• Passes. Each pass reads search first, then the archive at its head, and writes each conversation whose sha256 differs, with replaces set to the revision just read.
• A 409 is reconciled again. It no longer ends at Overtaken. Each conversation whose write conflicted goes into the next pass, which reads search and the archive again and writes it from the archive's new head if the two still differ. It never retries the captured old payload against a fresh revision.
• Bounded. At most PASSES_MAX (4) passes. Anything still conflicted after the last pass is reported explicitly as unresolved, replacing the old overtaken count, in the JSON and in the human summary.
• Why read order matters: search is read before the archive, so the revision held is never of a newer copy than the archive read after it. That's why a retry can't write an older copy over a newer one.
• The writers moved into write_pass unchanged, except that results now carry their key and a writer that panics reports its whole part as refused.

Tests:

• search_ends_as_the_archive_whichever_imports_write_lands_first runs four cases: a source search didn't hold and one it held an older copy of, each with the older write first and with the newer write first. Every case asserts search ends holding the newest copy, with unresolved: 0.
  • Older first: B's sync, with A's older write landing just ahead of B's write.
  • Newer first: A's sync, with B's commit and write landing just ahead of A's write.
  • The landing uses a new fake hook, land_before_upserts(name, Vec<Ahead { commit, source }>). It applies another writer's commit to main and/or its search write, under the fake's lock, just before the next upsert is served.
  • With PASSES_MAX set to 1 (the old behaviour) it fails as you described: "held before: false; older first: true", search keeps A's copy, unresolved: 1.
• a_write_overtaken_every_pass_stops_and_is_said_unresolved: another writer lands ahead of every write. The import sends exactly PASSES_MAX upserts and reports unresolved: 1.

Checks: master merged in again (362efef, no force-push), plus a clippy alias (d271123). cargo xtask check passes on d271123. cargo xtask e2e --only sessions,search passes 31/31 on fded92d. cargo test -p fragment-cli session:: passes 36.

[alexlwn123]

Pass at d271123110aa1f20a3d9a6a3381996c8937888a5.

The earlier blockers are fixed. Stale snapshots no longer drive deletions, revisions match the bytes read at a fixed archive head, and a CAS conflict now triggers fresh search and archive reads rather than being treated as successful reconciliation. The retry is bounded to four passes, with remaining contention explicitly reported as unresolved. The new tests cover older-first and newer-first writes for both absent and existing sources, plus sustained contention.

This makes each import repair its archive's search through the shared platform API. The extractor, shared validation, archive helpers and small bounded reconciliation loop fit that purpose; I see no remaining blocking regression or complexity concern.

Validation: CLI session tests passed (36 passed, one fixture-generation test ignored), and all four core session-search tests passed. CI check passed; real-Hermes Docker was pending, and images check and e2e build/shards were skipped when inspected. Full e2e was not run locally. The engineering-style document named by AGENTS.md was unavailable at its specified path.