instar 1.3.869 → 1.3.871

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "instar",
-  "version": "1.3.869",
+  "version": "1.3.871",
   "description": "Coherence infrastructure for self-evolving AI agents — on the Claude Code or Codex subscription you already have.",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "dist/index.js",

package/src/data/builtin-manifest.json

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
   "$schema": "./builtin-manifest.schema.json",
   "schemaVersion": 1,
-  "generatedAt": "2026-07-18T08:42:34.064Z",
-  "instarVersion": "1.3.869",
+  "generatedAt": "2026-07-18T18:29:17.453Z",
+  "instarVersion": "1.3.871",
   "entryCount": 202,
   "entries": {
     "hook:session-start": {

package/upgrades/1.3.870.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Upgrade Guide — vNEXT
+
+<!-- assembled-by: assemble-next-md -->
+<!-- bump: patch -->
+
+## What Changed
+
+Cross-machine secret sync now honors the agent's existing `secrets.forceFileKey` setting for both receiving and sending stores. A headless joined machine configured for file-backed key persistence can therefore reopen its synchronized vault after its server restarts, without depending on a different OS-keychain session context.
+
+## What to Tell Your User
+
+Secrets synchronized to a headless machine now remain readable after restart when that agent is configured to keep its vault key in its protected local state.
+
+## Summary of New Capabilities
+
+- Headless cross-machine secret receivers consistently honor their configured durable at-rest key backend.
+
+## Evidence
+
+- A new production-wiring ratchet verifies both secret-sync stores inherit the configured key policy.
+- The secret-sync round-trip and vault key-coherence suites pass together (20 targeted assertions).
+- The originating two-machine throwaway canary retained mutation, tombstone, and symmetric-restart correctness while isolating this vault-key failure.

package/upgrades/1.3.871.md

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Upgrade Guide — vNEXT
+
+<!-- assembled-by: assemble-next-md -->
+<!-- bump: patch -->
+
+## What Changed
+
+`instar doctor` now opens the encrypted secret store with the same configured key-backend policy used by runtime writers. A machine explicitly configured for a protected file-backed key is therefore reported as file-backed instead of being mislabeled from a different default resolution path.
+
+The secret-sync production-wiring regression test also now proves that both of its source-region boundary markers exist before counting constructor options. A renamed boundary can no longer silently widen the test to the rest of the server file.
+
+## What to Tell Your User
+
+Machine diagnostics now describe the secret-key storage policy the machine is actually configured to use.
+
+## Summary of New Capabilities
+
+- More trustworthy secret-store diagnostics on headless and explicitly file-keyed machines.
+
+## Evidence
+
+- Focused policy-wiring and boundary-guard tests pass.
+- A dedicated reintroduction guard pins machine-doctor policy inheritance.

package/upgrades/side-effects/headless-secret-sync-key-policy.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# Side-Effects Review — Headless secret-sync key-policy inheritance
+
+**Version / slug:** `headless-secret-sync-key-policy`
+**Date:** 2026-07-18
+**Author:** Instar Agent (instar-codey)
+**Second-pass reviewer:** not required
+
+## Summary of the change
+
+The inbound and outbound secret-sync `SecretStore` instances in `src/commands/server.ts` now inherit `config.secrets.forceFileKey`. This closes `fb-3fef9df5-80a`: a headless joined home that deliberately selects file-key persistence no longer has that policy silently discarded by the secret-sync composition root. A source-level wiring ratchet in `tests/unit/secret-sync-key-policy-wiring.test.ts` pins both construction sites.
+
+## Decision-point inventory
+
+No judgment or block/allow decision is added or modified. The change passes an existing machine-local key-storage policy into two existing stores.
+
+## 1. Over-block
+
+No block/allow surface — over-block not applicable.
+
+## 2. Under-block
+
+This does not automatically infer that every headless machine should use a file key. A joined home must still set the existing `secrets.forceFileKey` policy when its daemon cannot reliably access the OS keychain. That is intentional: silently mirroring every keychain-backed key to disk would weaken the operator's selected at-rest posture.
+
+## 3. Level-of-abstraction fit
+
+The fix belongs at the production composition root. `SecretStore` already owns key selection and durable file creation; secret sync should consume that primitive with the same config used by other store writers, not reimplement key persistence or infer daemon capabilities.
+
+## 4. Signal vs authority compliance
+
+**Required reference:** [docs/signal-vs-authority.md](../../docs/signal-vs-authority.md)
+
+- [x] No — this change has no block/allow surface.
+
+It is deterministic configuration propagation into an existing storage primitive, not a semantic detector or authority.
+
+## 4b. Judgment-point check (Judgment Within Floors standard)
+
+No new static heuristic at a competing-signals decision point. The existing explicit operator configuration remains authoritative.
+
+## 5. Interactions
+
+- **Shadowing:** none; the option reaches the same `MasterKeyManager` path used elsewhere.
+- **Double-fire:** none; no new event or writer is added.
+- **Races:** unchanged; each store retains its existing atomic ciphertext write.
+- **Feedback loops:** none.
+- **Adjacent paths:** both inbound writes and outbound reads now agree on the primary key source, preventing one side from producing ciphertext the other side cannot reopen after restart.
+
+## 6. External surfaces
+
+No API schema, notice, URL, timing contract, or operator action changes. Persistent ciphertext written after the change may use the configured file-backed master key, as the existing option already promises. No secret value is exposed.
+
+## 6b. Operator-surface quality (Operator-Surface Quality standard)
+
+No operator surface — not applicable.
+
+## 7. Multi-machine posture (Cross-Machine Coherence)
+
+**Machine-local by design:** the encrypted vault and its master-key backend are a per-machine security boundary. Secret values replicate through the existing recipient-encrypted `secret-share` mesh path; the at-rest key itself never crosses machines. The change emits no notices, creates no URLs, and adds no topic-bound durable state.
+
+## 8. Rollback cost
+
+Pure composition change: revert the two constructor options and ship a patch. No schema or migration is introduced. Vaults already written with file-backed keys remain readable through `SecretStore`'s existing dual-key candidate logic.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+The review found no competing authority or new side-effect surface. Honoring the existing explicit key policy is narrower and safer than introducing headless detection or universal disk mirroring. The targeted wiring and key-coherence tests plus the full repository lint/build gate are green; clear to ship.
+
+## Second-pass review (if required)
+
+Not required: this does not change messaging acceptance, dispatch, session lifecycle, recovery, or a guard/gate/watchdog.
+
+## Evidence pointers
+
+- `tests/unit/secret-sync-key-policy-wiring.test.ts`
+- `tests/unit/secret-store-key-coherence.test.ts`
+- Topic 458 two-machine canary report: mutation/tombstone/symmetric restart passed; the unconfigured headless receiver reproduced vault loss, and file-key configuration survived restart.
+
+## Class-Closure Declaration (display-only mirror)
+
+No agent-authored-artifact defect and no self-triggered controller — not applicable.

package/upgrades/side-effects/secret-key-diagnostic-policy.md

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Side-Effects Review — Secret-key diagnostic policy
+
+**Version / slug:** `secret-key-diagnostic-policy`
+**Date:** 2026-07-18
+**Author:** Instar Agent (instar-codey)
+**Second-pass reviewer:** not required
+
+## Summary of the change
+
+Machine doctor passes `config.secrets.forceFileKey` to its read-only `SecretStore`, and two source-scanning regression tests now validate their region boundaries explicitly. This closes the three review findings concerning diagnostic-policy disagreement and a fragile end marker without changing vault data or key selection semantics.
+
+## Decision-point inventory
+
+No new block, allow, dispatch, or semantic judgment is introduced. An existing explicit configuration value reaches an existing read-only diagnostic store.
+
+## 1. Over-block
+
+Not applicable: the command remains diagnostic and does not prevent an operation.
+
+## 2. Under-block
+
+The change does not infer policy from whether a machine looks headless. It preserves the operator’s configured choice and reports that choice through the existing `SecretStore` resolution.
+
+## 3. Level-of-abstraction fit
+
+Policy propagation belongs at the `SecretStore` construction site. Boundary validation belongs in the source-level tests that rely on those markers.
+
+## 4. Signal vs authority compliance
+
+The configured key policy remains authoritative. The diagnostic label is a derived signal and cannot alter the policy.
+
+## 4b. Judgment-point check
+
+No competing-signals judgment point is added.
+
+## 5. Interactions
+
+- No new writers, events, retries, or races.
+- The doctor command may initialize key resolution exactly as before; only its existing policy input is now consistent.
+- Marker assertions fail loudly if server section labels drift, preventing unrelated code from satisfying the constructor count.
+
+## 6. External surfaces
+
+Only the accuracy of the existing human-readable doctor label changes. No API, credential, secret value, or persistence format changes.
+
+## 6b. Operator-surface quality
+
+The corrected label is more actionable because it names the configured backend rather than a contradictory default-path result.
+
+## 7. Multi-machine posture
+
+The vault key remains machine-local. This change neither replicates key material nor changes secret-sync transport; it only aligns one machine’s diagnostic read with that machine’s policy.
+
+## 8. Rollback cost
+
+A direct revert restores the former diagnostic construction and test assertions. No migration is needed.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+The change narrows diagnostic ambiguity and strengthens a regression boundary without expanding authority or persistence. Focused tests are green.
+
+## Second-pass review
+
+Not required: messaging, session lifecycle, recovery, and guard behavior are unchanged.
+
+## Class-Closure Declaration
+
+No agent-authored-artifact controller or self-triggered loop is involved.