@torrent-tv/proxy 2.86.0 → 2.87.1

package/test/auto-quality-step.test.js

@@ -1,515 +1,707 @@
-/**
- * @file The automatic quality step: what the proxy does when this machine, or
- * the viewer's link, cannot carry the picture it is producing.
- *
- * The rule these tests exist to pin is one sentence long: THE SIZE OF THE
- * PICTURE IS NEVER REWRITTEN UNDERNEATH A RUNNING SESSION. The fMP4 init
- * segment is fetched once, by `#EXT-X-MAP`, and `avc1` keeps SPS and PPS in it
- * rather than in the fragments — so a run that changes the size produces
- * fragments the decoder cannot read, silently, with no layer reporting an
- * error. Measured 2026-08-21 on two files: one browser reported
- * `size=1280x720` for three and a half minutes over macroblock garbage, the
- * other errored on the first mismatched fragment and sat at `size=0x0`.
- *
- * A change of resolution is a change of VARIANT. So the proxy ASKS, the request
- * travels in every progress report, and the browser — where the viewer's own
- * choice lives — decides whether to follow it.
- */
-
-import test from "node:test";
-import { recordViewerReport } from "../services/viewer/report-intake.js";
-import { fakeProcess as fakeEncoder, startRunOn } from "./helpers/encode-run.js";
-import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { SourceFile } from "../services/source/SourceFile.js";
-import { Timeline } from "../services/output/Timeline.js";
-import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
-import os from "node:os";
-import path from "node:path";
-import { HlsSessionManager } from "../services/hls-session-manager.js";
-import { Output } from "../services/output/Output.js";
-import { viewerOf } from "../services/viewer/Viewer.js";
-import { fmp4Format } from "../services/segment-formats/fmp4.js";
-import { softwareDescriptor, maxrateKbpsFor, nominalKbpsForHeight } from "../services/hwaccel.js";
-import { readVideoSampleSize } from "../services/segment-formats/mp4-boxes.js";
-
-const BASE_ID = "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee";
-const SEGMENT_SECONDS = 4;
-
-
-/**
- * A session shaped like a live one, encoding 720p of a 1080p source.
- *
- * @param {{ dirPath: string, transcodeVideo?: boolean, cutGrid?: string }} params
- *   `cutGrid` goes into the file's cut table; left out, it is what production
- *   builds for this branch.
- * @returns {object}
- */
-function fakeSession({ dirPath, transcodeVideo = true, cutGrid = transcodeVideo ? "uniform" : "keyframe" }) {
-  return {
-    id: BASE_ID,
-    dirPath,
-    // Where this file is cut, held by the file. A fixture that stated it
-    // on the session was describing what production no longer does.
-    //
-    // The grid travels in here and nowhere else: a copy can only be cut where
-    // the source already has a keyframe, so this is what decides whether the
-    // stream publishes variants at all, and `#publishesVariants` reads it off
-    // the table. The default is what production builds — a keyframe grid only
-    // where one was read, which is the copy.
-    timeline: new Timeline({
-      boundaries: Array.from({ length: 101 }, (_, index) => index * SEGMENT_SECONDS),
-      cutGrid
-    }),
-    state: "ready",
-    file: new SourceFile({ sourceKey: "source-1", fileIndex: 0, name: "video.mkv" }).learn({ width: 1920, height: 1080, durationSeconds: 400 }),
-    // An ordinary session reads its own file, and its sound is inside it. The
-    // three differ only for a soundtrack shipped as a file of its own.
-    get inputFile() { return this.file; },
-    get audioFile() { return this.file; },
-    startedAt: Date.now(),
-    lastAccessedAt: Date.now(),
-    runs: new Set(),
-    runState: "running",
-    runSerial: 1,
-    lastError: "",
-    consumers: new Set(),
-    segmentFormat: fmp4Format,
-    transcodeVideo,
-    transcodeAudio: true,
-    audioOnly: false,
-    audioTrackIndex: 0,
-    // The shape this output is encoded AS, decided once for the output.
-    output: new Output({
-      encodeWidth: transcodeVideo ? 1280 : 0,
-      encodeHeight: transcodeVideo ? 720 : 0,
-      outputFps: 24,
-      softwarePreset: null,
-      applyTonemap: false
-    }),
-    encodeRunGeneration: 0,
-    budgetSlowSince: 0,
-    budgetUpSince: 0,
-    budgetLastActionAt: 0,
-    qualityAsk: null,
-    initSizeSaid: "",
-    recentSpeed: null,
-    rateCapKbps: null,
-    viewers: new Map(),
-    linkSlowSince: 0,
-    lastAloneSpeed: null,
-    usesExplicitCuts: false,
-    useSyntheticPlaylist: true,
-    playlistText: "#EXTM3U\n",
-    progress: { state: "running", processedSeconds: 40, startPositionSeconds: 0, speed: "1.0x" }
-  };
-}
-
-/**
- * @param {{ transcodeVideo?: boolean, cutGrid?: string }} [options]
- * @returns {Promise<{ manager: HlsSessionManager, session: object, dirPath: string, restarts: number[] }>}
- */
-async function managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo = true, cutGrid } = {}) {
-  const dirPath = await mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "auto-quality-"));
-  const manager = new HlsSessionManager({
-    enabled: true,
-    ffmpegBin: "ffmpeg",
-    localBindHost: "127.0.0.1",
-    localPort: 9090
-  });
-  // A software host: the budget's own precondition.
-  manager.videoEncoder = { kind: "software", name: "libx264", inputArgs: [] };
-  // A fully-downloaded file, so nothing here is ever read as download-bound —
-  // the distinction is tested elsewhere and would only obscure these.
-  manager.getSourceStats = async () => ({
-    downloadSpeed: 10e6,
-    fileProgress: 1,
-    fileLength: 4e9
-  });
-  const session = fakeSession({ dirPath, transcodeVideo, cutGrid });
-  manager.sessionsById.set(BASE_ID, session);
-  startRunOn(session, { process: fakeEncoder() });
-  return { manager, session, dirPath };
-}
-
-/**
- * Produced segments of a known size, so the observed stream bitrate the link
- * check compares against is a real reading of real files.
- *
- * @param {object} session
- * @param {number} bytesEach
- * @returns {Promise<void>}
- */
-async function produceSegments(session, bytesEach) {
-  // Where the run in force writes.
-  const runDir = session.dirPath;
-  await mkdir(runDir, { recursive: true });
-  for (let index = 0; index < 4; index += 1) {
-    await writeFile(
-      path.join(runDir, session.segmentFormat.segmentFileName(index)),
-      Buffer.alloc(bytesEach)
-    );
-  }
-}
-
-test("a picture that cannot be kept up with is asked for as another VARIANT, and its size is left alone", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  const sizeBefore = `${session.encodeWidth}x${session.encodeHeight}`;
-  // Sustained sub-realtime, read as a slope: the run has been slow since well
-  // before the window, and the reading is from this very run.
-  session.budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-  session.recentSpeed = { speed: 0.7, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.equal(
-    `${session.encodeWidth}x${session.encodeHeight}`,
-    sizeBefore,
-    "the size the init segment describes must survive the step — that is the whole fault"
-  );
-  assert.ok(session.qualityAsk, "the step is a request to the player to move variant");
-  assert.ok(
-    session.qualityAsk.height < 720,
-    `a step DOWN, and 720p was on screen (asked for ${session.qualityAsk?.height}p)`
-  );
-});
-
-test("the request reaches the browser in the progress report, and stops once the viewer is there", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  session.qualityAsk = { height: 480, at: Date.now(), reason: "measured" };
-  const asked = await manager.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID);
-  assert.equal(asked.requestedHeight, 480, "the request travels with every progress report");
-
-  // The player moved: the variant it is now watching IS the height asked for.
-  session.variantHeight = 480;
-  const answered = await manager.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID);
-  assert.equal(answered.requestedHeight, 0, "a request the viewer has answered is not repeated");
-  assert.equal(session.qualityAsk, null, "and it is let go of, not merely hidden");
-});
-
-test("a request the player never follows runs out instead of being repeated for the whole film", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // A viewer on a manual pick ignores every request by design, and so does a
-  // stream with no variants. Neither is an error; both look the same from here.
-  session.qualityAsk = { height: 480, at: Date.now() - 120_000, reason: "measured" };
-
-  const progress = await manager.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID);
-
-  assert.equal(progress.requestedHeight, 0);
-  assert.equal(session.qualityAsk, null, "said once and let go");
-});
-
-test("a COPIED picture is never asked to slow its encoder, because it has none", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // Whatever this reading says, a copy has no encoder to make cheaper: moving
-  // the viewer to a RE-ENCODED rung costs the machine more, not less.
-  session.budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-  session.recentSpeed = { speed: 0.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.equal(session.qualityAsk, null, "the copy path's lever is the viewer's link, not the CPU");
-});
-
-test("a measured link becomes the encoder's own bitrate ceiling, and nothing else moves", () => {
-  // The one lever that reduces what is sent without touching the picture:
-  // -maxrate/-bufsize and CRF do not appear in the SPS, so the init segment
-  // already in the player's hands goes on describing every fragment.
-  const uncapped = softwareDescriptor().buildVideoArgs({
-    targetWidth: 1280,
-    targetHeight: 720,
-    segmentDurationSec: 4,
-    fps: 24
-  });
-  const capped = softwareDescriptor().buildVideoArgs({
-    targetWidth: 1280,
-    targetHeight: 720,
-    segmentDurationSec: 4,
-    fps: 24,
-    nominalKbps: 1200
-  });
-
-  assert.equal(
-    uncapped[uncapped.indexOf("-maxrate") + 1],
-    `${maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbpsForHeight(720))}k`,
-    "with nothing measured the rung's own nominal rate stands"
-  );
-  assert.equal(capped[capped.indexOf("-maxrate") + 1], `${maxrateKbpsFor(1200)}k`);
-  // Everything that decides the SIZE must be identical in the two.
-  assert.deepEqual(
-    uncapped.slice(0, uncapped.indexOf("-maxrate")),
-    capped.slice(0, capped.indexOf("-maxrate")),
-    "the scale filter, the codec and the preset are untouched by a rate cap"
-  );
-});
-
-test("the size an init segment describes is read from the init, not assumed", () => {
-  // A minimal moov/trak/mdia/minf/stbl/stsd with one avc1 entry. Built here
-  // rather than taken from a fixture so the offsets under test are the ones
-  // ISO/IEC 14496-12 states, and a fixture cannot quietly encode a mistake.
-  const avc1 = Buffer.alloc(8 + 8 + 16 + 4);
-  avc1.writeUInt32BE(avc1.length, 0);
-  avc1.write("avc1", 4, "latin1");
-  avc1.writeUInt16BE(960, 32);
-  avc1.writeUInt16BE(540, 34);
-
-  const stsd = Buffer.concat([Buffer.alloc(8 + 8), avc1]);
-  stsd.writeUInt32BE(stsd.length, 0);
-  stsd.write("stsd", 4, "latin1");
-  stsd.writeUInt32BE(1, 12); // entry_count
-
-  const wrap = (type, payload) => {
-    const box = Buffer.alloc(8 + payload.length);
-    box.writeUInt32BE(box.length, 0);
-    box.write(type, 4, "latin1");
-    payload.copy(box, 8);
-    return box;
-  };
-  const init = wrap("moov", wrap("trak", wrap("mdia", wrap("minf", wrap("stbl", stsd)))));
-
-  assert.deepEqual(readVideoSampleSize(init), { width: 960, height: 540 });
-  assert.equal(readVideoSampleSize(Buffer.alloc(0)), null);
-});
-
-test("a COPIED picture too thick for the viewer's link is asked for as a smaller VARIANT", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // Four seconds of segment at 2 MB is ~4 Mbit/s of stream. The viewer reports
-  // a link that cannot carry it and a buffer that is running dry.
-  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
-  viewerOf(session, "viewer").netReport = { linkMbps: 1.0, bufferedAheadSec: 1.5, positionSeconds: null, at: Date.now() };
-  session.linkSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.ok(
-    session.qualityAsk,
-    "a copy has no encoder to bound, so the only way to send fewer bits is another rendering of the film"
-  );
-  assert.ok(session.qualityAsk.height < 1080, `a step down (asked for ${session.qualityAsk?.height}p)`);
-});
-
-test("with two viewers the budget acts on the WORST link, not on whoever reported last", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
-  // One viewer is comfortable and reported LAST, which under a single field was
-  // the whole of what the budget saw. The other cannot carry the stream and is
-  // running dry.
-  viewerOf(session, "thin").netReport = {
-    linkMbps: 1.0,
-    bufferedAheadSec: 1.5,
-    positionSeconds: 40,
-    at: Date.now() - 1_000
-  };
-  viewerOf(session, "fat").netReport = {
-    linkMbps: 80,
-    bufferedAheadSec: 60,
-    positionSeconds: 40,
-    at: Date.now()
-  };
-  session.linkSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.ok(
-    session.qualityAsk,
-    "the viewer who cannot keep up decides, whichever of them reported most recently"
-  );
-});
-
-test("a reading stops counting when the person leaves, not when it gets old", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
-  // A LINK READING DOES NOT EXPIRE. It is the last thing known about that link,
-  // and how fast a link is does not change because nobody measured it for a
-  // minute — the page keeps its own last figure for the same reason. What ends
-  // a reading is the person leaving, which is presence, and presence is the
-  // connection: silence removes nobody (2026-09-05, a soundtrack's encoder
-  // stopped because those two questions had one answer).
-  const gone = viewerOf(session, "gone");
-  gone.report({ linkMbps: 1.0, bufferedAheadSec: 1.5, positionSeconds: 40, playing: true }, Date.now() - 120_000);
-  gone.gone = true;
-  recordViewerReport({
-    sessions: manager.sessionsById,
-    viewers: manager.viewers,
-    sessionId: session.id,
-    report: { linkMbps: 80, bufferedAheadSec: 60, consumerId: "here", positionSeconds: 40 }
-  });
-  session.linkSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.equal(session.viewers.size, 2, "the viewer is still known — silence is not leaving");
-  // Their reading is not deleted anywhere: it is simply not theirs to give any
-  // more, because they are not here. Nothing walks it for a decision.
-  assert.equal(
-    viewerOf(session, "gone").linkReading()?.linkMbps,
-    1.0,
-    "their last reading stands as the last thing known about that link"
-  );
-  assert.equal(session.qualityAsk, null, "the viewer who is here can carry the picture");
-});
-
-test("the way BACK UP exists, and a bitrate cap is lifted before the picture is enlarged", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // The viewer is on 480p, the machine has been ahead of realtime for longer
-  // than the up window, and nothing is capping the bitrate.
-  session.variantHeight = 480;
-  session.encodeWidth = 854;
-  session.encodeHeight = 480;
-  session.recentSpeed = { speed: 2.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
-  session.budgetUpSince = Date.now() - 120_000;
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.ok(session.qualityAsk, "for most of this project's life there was no step up at all");
-  assert.equal(
-    session.qualityAsk.height,
-    540,
-    "one rung at a time: the lowest height above the one on screen, never above the source"
-  );
-});
-
-test("a capped picture gets its own bitrate back before it is asked to grow", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  session.variantHeight = 480;
-  session.encodeWidth = 854;
-  session.encodeHeight = 480;
-  session.rateCapKbps = 700;
-  session.recentSpeed = { speed: 2.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
-  session.budgetUpSince = Date.now() - 120_000;
-  // A restart is what lifting the cap costs, and spawning ffmpeg is not this
-  // test's business. The run the fixture gave the session is the one the
-  // reading above came from, and replacing it here would make that reading
-  // belong to a run that is gone — which is exactly what the comparison is for.
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce().catch(() => undefined);
-
-  assert.equal(session.rateCapKbps, null, "the cap goes first: it is cheaper than enlarging the picture");
-  assert.equal(
-    session.qualityAsk,
-    null,
-    "and the height is left for a second unbroken window, so the two do not move at once"
-  );
-});
-
-test("a stream that publishes no variants is left alone, and said so once", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({
-    transcodeVideo: false,
-    // A copy whose keyframe index could not be read falls back to an even grid
-    // ffmpeg does not cut on. Nothing can be aligned to that, so there is no
-    // master and no variant to move to.
-    cutGrid: "even"
-  });
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
-  viewerOf(session, "viewer").netReport = { linkMbps: 1.0, bufferedAheadSec: 1.5, positionSeconds: null, at: Date.now() };
-  session.linkSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.equal(session.qualityAsk, null, "asking a player with no variants to change variant is nothing");
-  assert.equal(session.saidNoVariants, true, "and the reason is stated once, not once per window");
-});
-
-test("a height this machine has been MEASURED failing at is not what the way back up offers", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // The base ran 720p at half realtime and the viewer was stepped down to 480p.
-  // The base's own height used to be exempt from every refusal — it was the
-  // rung on screen, back when a step changed the encode inside it — so the way
-  // back up would have asked for 720p again, failed again, and stepped down
-  // again, about every hundred seconds for the length of the film.
-  manager.softwarePresetBenchmark = [{ preset: "ultrafast", pixelsPerSec: 1e6 }];
-  session.lastAloneSpeed = 0.5;
-  session.variantHeight = 720;
-
-  const offered = manager.offeredHeights(session);
-
-  assert.ok(!offered.includes(720) || manager.liveOutputs.variantHeightOf(session) === 720);
-  // Now on the 480p variant: 720p has a reading of its own and must be gone.
-  session.variantHeight = 480;
-  session.encodeHeight = 480;
-  session.encodeWidth = 854;
-  assert.ok(
-    !manager.offeredHeights(session).includes(720),
-    "a rung measured below realtime is withdrawn once the viewer has left it"
-  );
-});
-
-test("a cap is not lifted because there is no higher rung to compare against", async (t) => {
-  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
-  t.after(async () => {
-    await manager.disposeAll();
-    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
-  });
-
-  // At the top offered height, so there is no NEXT rung — and the question of
-  // whether to lift the cap is about THIS one. Deciding it on "nothing to step
-  // to, so yes" took the cap off a link measured at a fifth of what the picture
-  // needs, after which #checkLinkBudget put it straight back: two ffmpeg
-  // restarts a minute and a half, on exactly the thin cellular viewer the cap
-  // exists for.
-  session.variantHeight = 1080;
-  session.encodeWidth = 1920;
-  session.encodeHeight = 1080;
-  session.rateCapKbps = 700;
-  session.recentSpeed = { speed: 2.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
-  session.budgetUpSince = Date.now() - 120_000;
-  viewerOf(session, "viewer").netReport = { linkMbps: 1.0, bufferedAheadSec: 30, positionSeconds: null, at: Date.now() };
-
-  await manager.runQualityBudgetOnce();
-
-  assert.equal(session.rateCapKbps, 700, "the link still cannot carry this picture uncapped");
-});
+/**
+ * @file The automatic quality step: what the proxy does when this machine, or
+ * the viewer's link, cannot carry the picture it is producing.
+ *
+ * The rule these tests exist to pin is one sentence long: THE SIZE OF THE
+ * PICTURE IS NEVER REWRITTEN UNDERNEATH A RUNNING SESSION. The fMP4 init
+ * segment is fetched once, by `#EXT-X-MAP`, and `avc1` keeps SPS and PPS in it
+ * rather than in the fragments — so a run that changes the size produces
+ * fragments the decoder cannot read, silently, with no layer reporting an
+ * error. Measured 2026-08-21 on two files: one browser reported
+ * `size=1280x720` for three and a half minutes over macroblock garbage, the
+ * other errored on the first mismatched fragment and sat at `size=0x0`.
+ *
+ * A change of resolution is a change of VARIANT. The proxy asks only a viewer
+ * in automatic mode, and the request travels only in that viewer's progress
+ * report.
+ */
+
+import test from "node:test";
+import { recordViewerReport } from "../services/viewer/report-intake.js";
+import { fakeProcess as fakeEncoder, startRunOn } from "./helpers/encode-run.js";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { SourceFile } from "../services/media/SourceFile.js";
+import { Timeline } from "../services/encode/output/Timeline.js";
+import { mkdir, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { managerWithOwnStore } from "./helpers/manager.js";
+import { Output } from "../services/encode/output/Output.js";
+import { qualityStateOf } from "../services/encode/quality/OutputQualityState.js";
+import { fmp4Format } from "../services/encode/segment-formats/fmp4.js";
+import { softwareDescriptor, maxrateKbpsFor, nominalKbpsFor } from "../services/encode/hwaccel.js";
+import { softwareRateControlFor } from "../services/encode/args.js";
+import { readVideoSampleSize } from "../services/encode/segment-formats/mp4-boxes.js";
+import { outputSpec } from "./helpers/output-spec.js";
+
+const BASE_ID = "aaaaaaaabbbbcccc";
+const SEGMENT_SECONDS = 4;
+
+
+/**
+ * A session shaped like a live one, encoding 720p of a 1080p source.
+ *
+ * @param {{ dirPath: string, transcodeVideo?: boolean, cutGrid?: string }} params
+ *   `cutGrid` goes into the file's cut table; left out, it is what production
+ *   builds for this branch.
+ * @returns {object}
+ */
+function fakeSession({ dirPath, transcodeVideo = true, cutGrid = transcodeVideo ? "uniform" : "keyframe" }) {
+  return {
+    spec: outputSpec({ transcodeVideo, cutGrid }),
+    id: BASE_ID,
+    dirPath,
+    // Where this file is cut, held by the file. A fixture that stated it
+    // on the session was describing what production no longer does.
+    //
+    // The grid travels in here and nowhere else: a copy can only be cut where
+    // the source already has a keyframe, so this is what decides whether the
+    // stream publishes variants at all, and `#publishesVariants` reads it off
+    // the table. The default is what production builds — a keyframe grid only
+    // where one was read, which is the copy.
+    timeline: new Timeline({
+      boundaries: Array.from({ length: 101 }, (_, index) => index * SEGMENT_SECONDS),
+      cutGrid
+    }),
+    state: "ready",
+    file: new SourceFile({ sourceKey: "source-1", fileIndex: 0, name: "video.mkv" }).learn({ width: 1920, height: 1080, durationSeconds: 400 }),
+    // An ordinary session reads its own file, and its sound is inside it. The
+    // three differ only for a soundtrack shipped as a file of its own.
+    get inputFile() { return this.file; },
+    get audioFile() { return this.file; },
+    startedAt: Date.now(),
+    lastAccessedAt: Date.now(),
+    runs: new Set(),
+    runState: "running",
+    runSerial: 1,
+    lastError: "",
+    consumers: new Set(),
+    segmentFormat: fmp4Format,
+    transcodeVideo,
+    transcodeAudio: true,
+    audioOnly: false,
+    audioTrackIndex: 0,
+    // The shape this output is encoded AS, decided once for the output.
+    output: new Output({
+      encodeWidth: transcodeVideo ? 1280 : 0,
+      encodeHeight: transcodeVideo ? 720 : 0,
+      outputFps: 24,
+      softwarePreset: null,
+      applyTonemap: false
+    }),
+    encodeRunGeneration: 0,
+    usesExplicitCuts: false,
+    useSyntheticPlaylist: true,
+    playlistText: "#EXTM3U\n",
+    progress: { state: "running", processedSeconds: 40, startPositionSeconds: 0, speed: "1.0x" }
+  };
+}
+
+/**
+ * @param {{ transcodeVideo?: boolean, cutGrid?: string }} [options]
+ * @returns {Promise<{ manager: object, session: object, dirPath: string, restarts: number[] }>}
+ */
+async function managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo = true, cutGrid } = {}) {
+  // Its own store root — see `helpers/manager.js` for what sharing one cost.
+  const { manager } = managerWithOwnStore();
+  // ADDRESSED THE WAY PRODUCTION ADDRESSES IT: a session's segments live in the
+  // store's directory for its OUTPUT, and what it has produced is asked of the
+  // store by that same key. A fixture with a directory of its own and no key
+  // describes a proxy that no longer exists — the observed bitrate the link
+  // budget reads would then be taken from files nothing can find.
+  const outputKey = `auto-quality:fmt=fmp4:grid=${transcodeVideo ? "uniform" : "kf@0"}:video-only:v=0/${transcodeVideo ? "enc/libx264/1280x720@24/-/none/vbv=-" : "copy"}`;
+  manager.segmentStore.useFormat(outputKey, fmp4Format);
+  const dirPath = manager.segmentStore.directoryFor(outputKey);
+  // A software host: the budget's own precondition.
+  // A fully-downloaded file, so nothing here is ever read as download-bound —
+  // the distinction is tested elsewhere and would only obscure these.
+  manager.getSourceStats = async () => ({
+    downloadSpeed: 10e6,
+    fileProgress: 1,
+    fileLength: 4e9
+  });
+  const session = fakeSession({ dirPath, transcodeVideo, cutGrid });
+  session.outputKey = outputKey;
+  manager.outputs.set(BASE_ID, session);
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer").qualityMode = "auto";
+  // A run that states its speed, as every real one does from its first
+  // seconds, and covers the whole film to its last segment, as the plan gives a
+  // run: without a speed the plan cannot tell arrangements apart and takes the
+  // encoder away, and with an open end it moves the run to a bounded one —
+  // which starts a real ffmpeg in the output's directory, and on Windows that
+  // directory then cannot be removed while the process lives.
+  const run = startRunOn(session, { process: fakeEncoder(), speedX: 1, to: session.timeline.segmentCount - 1, producing: false });
+  manager.encodeOrchestrator.adopt(outputKey, run);
+  return { manager, session, dirPath };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Produced segments of a known size, so the observed stream bitrate the link
+ * check compares against is a real reading of real files.
+ *
+ * @param {object} session
+ * @param {number} bytesEach
+ * @returns {Promise<void>}
+ */
+/**
+ * This viewer's page reports a buffer that falls a second per second over two
+ * segments' time, on the link named: what, on its trend, runs dry before
+ * another output could have the piece they need (roadmap item 98).
+ *
+ * @param {object} viewer
+ * @param {number} linkMbps
+ * @returns {void}
+ */
+function drainingReports(viewer, linkMbps) {
+  const now = Date.now();
+  for (const [ago, held] of [[8_000, 9], [4_000, 5], [0, 1.5]]) {
+    viewer.report({ linkMbps, bufferedAheadSec: held, positionSeconds: 40, playing: true }, now - ago);
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * This viewer's page reports a buffer that grows, on the link named.
+ *
+ * @param {object} viewer
+ * @param {number} linkMbps
+ * @returns {void}
+ */
+function fillingReports(viewer, linkMbps) {
+  const now = Date.now();
+  for (const [ago, held] of [[8_000, 40], [4_000, 50], [0, 60]]) {
+    viewer.report({ linkMbps, bufferedAheadSec: held, positionSeconds: 40, playing: true }, now - ago);
+  }
+}
+
+async function produceSegments(session, bytesEach) {
+  // Where the run in force writes.
+  const runDir = session.dirPath;
+  await mkdir(runDir, { recursive: true });
+  for (let index = 0; index < 4; index += 1) {
+    await writeFile(
+      path.join(runDir, session.segmentFormat.segmentFileName(index)),
+      Buffer.alloc(bytesEach)
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+test("a picture that cannot be kept up with is asked for as another VARIANT, and its size is left alone", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  const sizeBefore = `${session.encodeWidth}x${session.encodeHeight}`;
+  // Sustained sub-realtime, read as a slope: the run has been slow since well
+  // before the window, and the reading is from this very run.
+  qualityStateOf(session).budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 0.7, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+
+  await manager.quality.runQualityBudgetOnce();
+
+  assert.equal(
+    `${session.encodeWidth}x${session.encodeHeight}`,
+    sizeBefore,
+    "the size the init segment describes must survive the step — that is the whole fault"
+  );
+  assert.ok(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, "the step is a request to the AUTO viewer to move variant");
+  assert.ok(
+    manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk.height < 720,
+    `a step DOWN, and 720p was on screen (asked for ${manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk?.height}p)`
+  );
+});
+
+test("a manual viewer is never sent an automatic quality request", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityMode = "manual";
+  qualityStateOf(session).budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 0.7, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+
+  await manager.quality.runQualityBudgetOnce();
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null);
+  const progress = await manager.viewerRequests.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID, "viewer");
+  assert.equal(progress.requestedHeight, 0);
+});
+
+test("the request reaches the browser in the progress report, and stops once the viewer is there", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk = { height: 480, at: Date.now(), reason: "measured" };
+  const asked = await manager.viewerRequests.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID, "viewer");
+  assert.equal(asked.requestedHeight, 480, "the request travels with every progress report");
+
+  // The player moved: the variant it is now watching IS the height asked for.
+  session.variantHeight = 480;
+  const answered = await manager.viewerRequests.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID, "viewer");
+  assert.equal(answered.requestedHeight, 0, "a request the viewer has answered is not repeated");
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "and it is let go of, not merely hidden");
+});
+
+test("a request the player never follows runs out instead of being repeated for the whole film", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  // A viewer on a manual pick ignores every request by design, and so does a
+  // stream with no variants. Neither is an error; both look the same from here.
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk = { height: 480, at: Date.now() - 120_000, reason: "measured" };
+
+  const progress = await manager.viewerRequests.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(progress.requestedHeight, 0);
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "said once and let go");
+});
+
+test("a COPIED picture is never asked to slow its encoder, because it has none", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  // Whatever this reading says, a copy has no encoder to make cheaper: moving
+  // the viewer to a RE-ENCODED rung costs the machine more, not less.
+  qualityStateOf(session).budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 0.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+
+  await manager.quality.runQualityBudgetOnce();
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "the copy path's lever is the viewer's link, not the CPU");
+});
+
+test("the output's own rate control is what reaches ffmpeg, and nothing about the size moves with it", () => {
+  // Two limits are two outputs (roadmap item 97, step 10): the figures are
+  // read off the output's identity and handed to the encoder as they are. The
+  // level is the nominal output's, so every limit at one size declares the
+  // same one.
+  const nominal = softwareRateControlFor({ width: 1280, height: 720, fps: 24 });
+  const lower = softwareRateControlFor({ width: 1280, height: 720, fps: 24, capKbps: 1200 });
+  const build = (rateControl) => softwareDescriptor().buildVideoArgs({
+    targetWidth: 1280,
+    targetHeight: 720,
+    segmentDurationSec: 4,
+    fps: 24,
+    rateControl
+  });
+  const atNominal = build(nominal);
+  const atLower = build(lower);
+
+  assert.equal(atNominal[atNominal.indexOf("-maxrate") + 1], `${maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbpsFor({ width: 1280, height: 720 }))}k`);
+  assert.equal(atLower[atLower.indexOf("-maxrate") + 1], `${maxrateKbpsFor(1200)}k`);
+  assert.equal(lower.level, nominal.level, "a lower limit is declared at the nominal output's level");
+  assert.equal(atLower[atLower.indexOf("-level:v") + 1], nominal.level);
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    atNominal.slice(0, atNominal.indexOf("-maxrate")),
+    atLower.slice(0, atLower.indexOf("-maxrate")),
+    "the scale filter, the codec and the preset are untouched by the limit"
+  );
+  assert.equal(build(null).includes("-maxrate"), false, "an output that states no limit is given none");
+  assert.throws(
+    () => softwareRateControlFor({ width: 1280, height: 720, fps: 24, capKbps: nominalKbpsFor({ width: 1280, height: 720 }) + 1 }),
+    RangeError,
+    "a limit above the size's own is refused, not lowered"
+  );
+});
+
+test("the size an init segment describes is read from the init, not assumed", () => {
+  // A minimal moov/trak/mdia/minf/stbl/stsd with one avc1 entry. Built here
+  // rather than taken from a fixture so the offsets under test are the ones
+  // ISO/IEC 14496-12 states, and a fixture cannot quietly encode a mistake.
+  const avc1 = Buffer.alloc(8 + 8 + 16 + 4);
+  avc1.writeUInt32BE(avc1.length, 0);
+  avc1.write("avc1", 4, "latin1");
+  avc1.writeUInt16BE(960, 32);
+  avc1.writeUInt16BE(540, 34);
+
+  const stsd = Buffer.concat([Buffer.alloc(8 + 8), avc1]);
+  stsd.writeUInt32BE(stsd.length, 0);
+  stsd.write("stsd", 4, "latin1");
+  stsd.writeUInt32BE(1, 12); // entry_count
+
+  const wrap = (type, payload) => {
+    const box = Buffer.alloc(8 + payload.length);
+    box.writeUInt32BE(box.length, 0);
+    box.write(type, 4, "latin1");
+    payload.copy(box, 8);
+    return box;
+  };
+  const init = wrap("moov", wrap("trak", wrap("mdia", wrap("minf", wrap("stbl", stsd)))));
+
+  assert.deepEqual(readVideoSampleSize(init), { width: 960, height: 540 });
+  assert.equal(readVideoSampleSize(Buffer.alloc(0)), null);
+});
+
+test("a COPIED picture too thick for the viewer's link is asked for as a smaller VARIANT", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  // Four seconds of segment at 2 MB is ~4 Mbit/s of stream. The viewer reports
+  // a link that cannot carry it and a buffer that is running dry.
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  drainingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer"), 1.0);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.ok(
+    manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk,
+    "a copy has no encoder to bound, so the only way to send fewer bits is another rendering of the film"
+  );
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk.urgent, true, "their buffer runs dry first: no cushion is waited for");
+  assert.ok(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk.height < 1080, `a step down (asked for ${manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk?.height}p)`);
+});
+
+test("with two viewers each link decides for its own viewer, not the worst for both", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  // One viewer is comfortable and reported LAST, which under a single field was
+  // the whole of what the budget saw. The other cannot carry the stream and is
+  // running dry.
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "thin").qualityMode = "auto";
+  drainingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "thin"), 1.0);
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "fat").qualityMode = "auto";
+  fillingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "fat"), 80);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "thin");
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "fat");
+
+  assert.ok(
+    manager.viewers.get("thin").qualityAsk,
+    "the viewer who cannot keep up is asked, whichever of them reported most recently"
+  );
+  assert.equal(
+    manager.viewers.get("fat").qualityAsk,
+    null,
+    "and ONLY them: a thin link is its owner's, and the viewer beside them keeps their picture"
+  );
+});
+
+test("a reading stops counting when the person leaves, not when it gets old", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  // A LINK READING DOES NOT EXPIRE. It is the last thing known about that link,
+  // and how fast a link is does not change because nobody measured it for a
+  // minute — the page keeps its own last figure for the same reason. What ends
+  // a reading is the person leaving, which is presence, and presence is the
+  // connection: silence removes nobody (2026-09-05, a soundtrack's encoder
+  // stopped because those two questions had one answer).
+  const gone = manager.viewers.of(session, "gone");
+  gone.qualityMode = "auto";
+  gone.report({ linkMbps: 1.0, bufferedAheadSec: 1.5, positionSeconds: 40, playing: true }, Date.now() - 120_000);
+  gone.gone = true;
+  recordViewerReport({
+    outputs: manager.outputs,
+    viewers: manager.viewers,
+    sessionId: session.id,
+    report: { linkMbps: 80, bufferedAheadSec: 60, consumerId: "here", positionSeconds: 40 }
+  });
+  manager.viewers.get("here").qualityMode = "auto";
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "here");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.forOutput(session).size, 3, "the viewer is still known — silence is not leaving");
+  // Their reading is not deleted anywhere: it is simply not theirs to give any
+  // more, because they are not here. Nothing walks it for a decision.
+  assert.equal(
+    manager.viewers.get("gone").linkReading()?.linkMbps,
+    1.0,
+    "their last reading stands as the last thing known about that link"
+  );
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("here").qualityAsk, null, "the viewer who is here can carry the picture");
+});
+
+test("the way BACK UP exists, one rung at a time", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  // The viewer is on 480p and the machine has been ahead of realtime for longer
+  // than the up window.
+  session.variantHeight = 480;
+  session.encodeWidth = 854;
+  session.encodeHeight = 480;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 2.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+  qualityStateOf(session).budgetUpSince = Date.now() - 120_000;
+
+  await manager.quality.runQualityBudgetOnce();
+
+  assert.ok(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, "for most of this project's life there was no step up at all");
+  assert.equal(
+    manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk.height,
+    540,
+    "one rung at a time: the lowest height above the one on screen, never above the source"
+  );
+});
+
+test("a re-encoded picture too thick for the viewer's link is asked for as a smaller VARIANT, and its output is left as it is", async (t) => {
+  // The limit on a picture's bitrate is part of the output now, so a thin link
+  // no longer lowers the limit of the output every viewer of it is watching.
+  // Until each viewer is served an output of their own (roadmap item 97, steps
+  // 11-12), the one lever is a lower height, asked of a viewer in AUTO.
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  const keyBefore = session.outputKey;
+
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer").qualityMode = "auto";
+  drainingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer"), 1.0);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.ok(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, "the viewer is asked to move to a smaller variant");
+  assert.equal(session.outputKey, keyBefore, "and the output they were on is not altered under anybody");
+});
+
+test("a stream that publishes no variants is left alone, and said so once", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({
+    transcodeVideo: false,
+    // A copy whose keyframe index could not be read falls back to an even grid
+    // ffmpeg does not cut on. Nothing can be aligned to that, so there is no
+    // master and no variant to move to.
+    cutGrid: "even"
+  });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  drainingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer"), 1.0);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "asking a player with no variants to change variant is nothing");
+  assert.equal(qualityStateOf(session).saidNoVariants, true, "and the reason is stated once, not once per window");
+});
+
+test("a height this machine has been MEASURED failing at is not what the way back up offers", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  // The base ran 720p at half realtime and the viewer was stepped down to 480p.
+  // The base's own height used to be exempt from every refusal — it was the
+  // rung on screen, back when a step changed the encode inside it — so the way
+  // back up would have asked for 720p again, failed again, and stepped down
+  // again, about every hundred seconds for the length of the film.
+  manager.softwarePresetBenchmark = [{ preset: "ultrafast", pixelsPerSec: 1e6 }];
+  qualityStateOf(session).lastAloneSpeed = 0.5;
+  session.variantHeight = 720;
+
+  const offered = manager.quality.offeredHeights(session);
+
+  assert.ok(!offered.includes(720) || manager.outputs.variantHeightOf(session) === 720);
+  // Now on the 480p variant: 720p has a reading of its own and must be gone.
+  session.variantHeight = 480;
+  session.encodeHeight = 480;
+  session.encodeWidth = 854;
+  assert.ok(
+    !manager.quality.offeredHeights(session).includes(720),
+    "a rung measured below realtime is withdrawn once the viewer has left it"
+  );
+});
+
+test("a request is answered when the viewers watching are on that height, whoever they are", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  // A named viewer followed the request to a 480p step. The step is an output
+  // of its own; the picture's own height is still 720.
+  const stepId = "aaaaaaaabbbbdddd";
+  const step = { ...fakeSession({ dirPath }), id: stepId, isStep: true, variantHeight: 480 };
+  step.outputKey = `${session.outputKey}:step480`;
+  manager.outputs.set(stepId, step);
+  manager.outputs.markStep(step);
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "alice").qualityMode = "auto";
+  manager.viewers.of(session, "alice").activeVariantId = stepId;
+
+  manager.viewers.get("alice").qualityAsk = { height: 480, at: Date.now(), reason: "measured" };
+  const answered = await manager.viewerRequests.getSessionProgress(BASE_ID, "alice");
+
+  assert.equal(answered.requestedHeight, 0, "the viewer is on the height asked for");
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("alice").qualityAsk, null, "so the request is let go of");
+});
+
+test("a thin link whose buffer is filling moves nothing: the trend, not the reading, decides", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  await produceSegments(session, 2_000_000);
+  fillingReports(manager.viewers.of(session, "viewer"), 1.0);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null);
+});
+
+test("a step up being prepared is dropped once the viewer's buffer starts running dry", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  session.variantHeight = 480;
+  await produceSegments(session, 200_000);
+  const viewer = manager.viewers.get("viewer");
+  viewer.askQuality(540, "room to spare", Date.now());
+  drainingReports(viewer, 80);
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(viewer.qualityAsk, null, "the conditions it was asked under have gone back");
+});
+
+test("a picture seen larger than the rung on screen is asked one rung up, when there is room", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  session.variantHeight = 480;
+  session.encodeWidth = 854;
+  session.encodeHeight = 480;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 2.4, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").noteVisiblePicture({ width: 1920, height: 1080 });
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk?.height, 540);
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk?.urgent, false, "a step up waits for the cushion");
+});
+
+test("a picture seen smaller than the rung on screen moves nothing until a rung of its height is ready", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").noteVisiblePicture({ width: 640, height: 360 });
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "no 360p rung is made yet; nothing is started for this alone");
+});
+
+test("a COPY taller than the picture seen is left alone", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession({ transcodeVideo: false });
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").noteVisiblePicture({ width: 640, height: 360 });
+  // Every smaller rung is ready for them: what stops the move is the rule
+  // about copies, and nothing else.
+  manager.renditions.heightReadyFor = () => true;
+
+  await manager.quality.noteViewerReported(session.id, "viewer");
+
+  assert.equal(manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk, null, "a copy is never re-encoded for being taller than the screen");
+});
+
+test("a step down for the machine goes to the rung the picture seen bounds, where that is lower", async (t) => {
+  const { manager, session, dirPath } = await managerWithSession();
+  t.after(async () => {
+    await manager.lifecycle.disposeAll();
+    // The store closes its watch on the directory as it drops the output, and
+    // on Windows the directory stays held until the event loop has turned.
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
+    await rm(dirPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+  manager.viewers.get("viewer").noteVisiblePicture({ width: 640, height: 360 });
+  qualityStateOf(session).budgetSlowSince = Date.now() - 60_000;
+  qualityStateOf(session).recentSpeed = { speed: 0.7, at: Date.now(), run: [...session.runs][0] };
+
+  await manager.quality.runQualityBudgetOnce();
+
+  const asked = manager.viewers.get("viewer").qualityAsk?.height;
+  assert.ok(asked, "the machine cannot keep up: a step down is asked");
+  assert.ok(asked <= 360, `not a rung between that the screen cannot show (asked for ${asked}p)`);
+});