releasekit/docs/roadmap/remediation.md

Publication reconciliation remediation

Status: open findings from review of commits 4dff808 through 599ad81, against planning baseline 447b42a.

The feature roadmap defines the requested behavior; the implementation plan supplies the intended implementation. The broad package structure is in place: the root facade owns public evidence and recovery types, internal/publish owns observation, recording, and discovery, internal/git owns scoped endpoints and ref queries, and the CLI owns command parsing, presentation, and exit classification. The findings below identify remaining correctness, boundary, and contract gaps.

Review evidence

The full offline suite (go test ./...) and compiled facade/dependency checks (go run ./internal/apicheck) passed with Go 1.26.8. Additional disposable probes used local Git repositories, synthetic credentials, controlled Git subprocesses, and failing local output. They reproduced the findings below without changing production code or adding repository tests. Passing existing tests does not cover these failure combinations.

R01: Preserve candidate failures and keep storage failures separate — P1

Relevant code: internal/publish/publish.go:110, especially the assignment at line 120 and the error check at line 127.

candidate.Capture can return useful repository/identity fields together with an error, such as a missing or invalid release note. When its repository field is present, the new storage initialization assigns resolveRecordDir's error to the same err variable before the capture error is checked.

This produces two opposite defects:

• Successful storage resolution erases the capture error. Publication continues with a candidate that failed capture. The probe used a release note with the wrong product heading: Check rejected it, while Publish ran the product callback, returned published with a nil error, and pushed the annotated tag to the local remote.
• Failed storage resolution replaces a successful capture with a publication failure. A controlled failure of the Git common-directory lookup returned not_attempted, ran no product callback, and returned a capture release candidate error as well as RecordError.

Expected behavior: A capture error stops publication while preserving useful partial evidence. A recording/storage error is reported separately and leaves the publication result governed by its existing checks and push outcome.

Remediation: Keep capture and storage errors in separate variables. Preserve the original capture failure across record initialization/finalization; use RecordError exclusively for recording failures. Add regressions for invalid and missing notes, capture-error cause preservation, and a valid candidate whose storage-directory lookup fails. Verify that rejected candidates run no product checks or tag creation, and that storage lookup failure permits an otherwise successful publication.

R02: Validate the filename that will actually be written — P2

Relevant code: internal/publish/record.go:68, record.go:85, and record.go:134; the pre-push save in internal/publish/publish.go.

The override guard generates a random proposed filename and checks its Git ignore status. The creation loop then generates a different random filename and writes that file without checking its ignore status.

Filename-dependent ignore rules therefore allow the check and actual write to disagree. A probe using selective/attempt-[0-7]*.json in .gitignore successfully saved a record starting with attempt-c...; Git reported that actual record as untracked. The save returned success. The reverse mismatch can also reject a name even though another name the writer would choose is ignored.

Expected behavior: The storage safeguard applies to the exact path passed to exclusive creation. A failed storage choice leaves the handoff unavailable without introducing unignored candidate contents.

Consequences: During publication, saving occurs after the final clean-tree guard. An unchecked actual path can therefore leave the worktree dirty while publication succeeds, and can expose a sensitive record to a later ordinary git add operation. The already captured release tag does not itself include that new file.

Remediation: Generate one candidate path, validate that path, and use the same path for exclusive creation. Repeat that sequence if a filename collision requires another candidate. Add deterministic coverage with filename-dependent ignore rules; verify that successful writes are ignored and rejected choices leave the worktree clean. A naming seam can make this test deterministic rather than relying on random retries.

R03: Allow an explicit override into Git metadata — P2

Relevant code: internal/publish/record.go:142, especially the worktree containment and git check-ignore handling at lines 148–159.

For a conventional checkout, the default store is inside .git/releasekit/publication-attempts. Selecting that same directory explicitly activates the override guard. It treats the path as worktree content and demands an ignore-rule match, although Git metadata is already excluded from tracked source and ordinary status reporting.

The probe saved a default record successfully, then selected its parent directory as the explicit override. The second save failed with record_write and an assertion that the metadata path was inside the worktree and unignored.

Expected behavior: The agreed storage choices include Git metadata, external locations, and Git-ignored worktree locations. An override changes the location rather than imposing a requirement to add ignore rules for metadata. The rejection is an additional storage prohibition beyond the intended policy.

Remediation: Identify Git metadata through Git's directory discovery and recognize that it is outside candidate contents, including linked-worktree and separate-Git-directory layouts. Apply ordinary ignore checks to actual worktree-content paths. Add coverage for explicitly selecting the default store and other private locations in Git metadata, retaining rejection of genuine unignored worktree contents.

R04: Restore cancellation across storage and recovery phases — P2

Relevant code: internal/publish/record.go:112 and record.go:152; internal/publish/attempts.go:31 and attempts.go:74; internal/publish/reconcile.go:109 and reconcile.go:130.

Cancellation behavior depends on which phase is active:

• resolveRecordDir and the ignore guard use exec.Command without the caller's context. A probe held the common-directory lookup, canceled publication, and observed that the call remained blocked until the controlled Git command was explicitly released.
• Discovery resolves a default/relative store before checking ctx.Err(), and wraps all resolution failures as storage_enumeration. An already canceled default-store request consequently returned that kind instead of canceled.
• recordDirectoryFor uses raw exec.CommandContext, which can return only a killed-process error when cancellation occurs during Git execution. The active-discovery probe returned storage_enumeration and errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) == false.
• Later observation checks cancellation in some branches but not the tag-ref validation and QueryTag error branches. Canceling an active tag query returned remote_observation, even though its error chain correctly retained context.Canceled.

Expected behavior: Caller cancellation stops cancellable Git work and is reported as canceled, with the context cause retained. Discovery preserves already obtained entries. Immediate failed-push reconciliation retains its separately selected bounded recovery context.

Remediation: Consolidate the duplicated storage-directory/Git command work behind the shared internal Git/process boundary, passing the relevant context and preserving its cause. Normalize recovery errors at each failed operation using the known context cause, rather than assigning a phase kind first and losing cancellation. Keep partial evidence finalization and recording warnings separate from the original publication failure. Add coordinated tests for already canceled and actively canceled default/relative discovery, blocked storage Git commands, and cancellation during tag validation/query. Preserve the existing immediate-recovery timeout semantics.

R05: Redact recovery paths and diagnostic fields at display boundaries — P2

Relevant code: recovery.go:53; cmd/releasekit/recovery.go:76, its JSON DTO construction, and human path displays; cmd/releasekit/main.go's record displays.

PublicationRecoveryError.Error redacts its wrapped cause but interpolates its own RecordPath directly. The CLI also copies record paths and diagnostic messages directly into human and JSON output. Safe evidence formatting protects the endpoint field, but does not provide a general safe-display boundary for these other strings.

Passing the synthetic value https://audit-user:audit-secret@example.invalid/attempt.json to LoadPublicationEvidence reproduced the issue. The nested file-read cause was redacted, while the facade error's path still contained audit-secret. reconcile --record with the same invalid local-record selection also emitted the synthetic credential in JSON output. This can expose a credential-bearing URL pasted into the wrong argument, despite the documented credential-safe error and diagnostic behavior.

Expected behavior: Recognized endpoint credentials are redacted throughout human and structured diagnostics. Raw values remain available in typed evidence, private records, and the filesystem arguments used for the actual operation.

Remediation: Apply the existing diagnostic/URL formatter to every relevant display string, including recovery-error paths and CLI path/identity/diagnostic fields, before formatting or JSON encoding. Keep raw operation inputs and private serialization intact. Add public-error and CLI human/JSON regressions covering synthetic credential-bearing paths, causes, and metadata, alongside the existing endpoint-only case. No new credential-storage policy is needed.

R06: Propagate structured-output write failures — P2

Relevant code: cmd/releasekit/recovery.go:242 and its two writeJSON call sites.

writeJSON explicitly discards the error returned by json.Encoder.Encode. Command status is then chosen entirely from observation/discovery results, even when no structured result reaches the caller.

The probe enumerated an empty existing store with --json, directing stdout to /dev/full. It returned status 0 with no stderr diagnostic despite the failed write. The same helper is used by successful reconciliation.

Expected behavior: Automation can distinguish successful output delivery from an output failure. A local reporting failure remains separate from the already observed remote publication state.

Remediation: Return and handle the encoder error. Report the local output failure on stderr and return an appropriate operational failure status, while preserving the actual observation in the implementation rather than converting it to unknown remote state. Document that output-failure status in the CLI contract. Add focused failing-writer coverage for both structured commands; ordinary writable-output state/status behavior should stay unchanged.

Integration audit evidence

A subsequent audit examined the interaction with existing consumer launchers, repository discovery, candidate cleanliness, and the maintainer runbook. The production code remains identical to the code covered by the full-suite/API checks above. A fresh focused run of the existing launcher, Woodpecker, publication-handoff, and lost-output recovery integration tests passed with Go 1.26.8. Disposable probes reproduced the additional issues below. R01–R06 remain open and are preserved rather than duplicated here.

R07: Make the recovery handoff survive a cold Go-tool invocation — P2

Relevant code: cmd/releasekit/main.go:134 (publicationRecoveryCommand); examples/multi-module/release.sh; docs/consumers/adoption.md's module-selected Go-tool workflow; cmd/releasekit/publication_handoff_test.go.

The new handoff always uses os.Executable() as the command to run later. Existing consumer guidance and the maintained launcher execute ReleaseKit through go tool releasekit. On an uncached tool build, Go 1.26.8 executes a temporary build executable and removes it when the Go driver exits. A warm invocation uses a surviving cached executable, so its behavior differs.

Evidence: A disposable tool-registered consumer used the current CLI with a cold tool build and a local remote that rejected the tag push. Publication returned status 1 and saved a complete record, but its printed recovery command named /tmp/go-build.../exe/releasekit. That executable was already absent when the driver returned, and copying the command returned status 127. A surviving CLI reconciled the same record successfully to not_published with status 1. The existing handoff test builds a persistent executable directly and therefore does not exercise this launch lifecycle.

Expected behavior: The copyable handoff works with supported consumer launch methods after the publication process has exited. Routine first use on a fresh machine/cache should not require reconstructing another invocation manually. The existing fallback guidance for a subsequently unavailable executable does not supply a working handoff for this ordinary cold-build case.

Remediation: Make the recovery invocation independent of an ephemeral Go-tool executable. Use a supported module-selected entry point when available, or otherwise provide a surviving supported entry point. Account for the maintained launcher's temporary -modfile cleanup and its support for ordinary package dependencies as well as registered tools; a bare go tool command cannot assume every consumer has a permanent tool declaration. Keep explicit record selection and distinct exit statuses. Add an assembled cold-build test that executes the printed command after the original Go driver and launcher have exited, rather than only testing a directly built CLI or a warm cache.

R08: Reuse the existing repository-path semantics for record storage — P2

Relevant code: internal/publish/record.go:112, especially line 117; internal/publish/attempts.go:74, especially line 82; the existing internal/git/source.go:39 and source.go:50 repository-root helpers.

The pre-existing root resolver removes Git's output newline and resolves filesystem aliases, preserving valid whitespace in the path itself. The new recording and discovery resolvers independently use strings.TrimSpace, which changes repository identity when a directory name ends in whitespace. Recording then uses that altered root both for relative overrides and for deciding whether an absolute override lies inside the candidate worktree.

Evidence: In a temporary checkout whose final directory component was consumer , the existing git.RepositoryRoot preserved the exact path and the existing candidate Check completed successfully. The new code produced three inconsistent results:

• A relative .releasekit/attempts override tried to use the different sibling path under consumer and failed its Git ignore check, despite the real .releasekit/ location being ignored.
• After a record was saved in the correct absolute ignored location, relative discovery selected the wrong sibling directory and returned a successful empty collection. The actual record still existed in the requested store.
• An absolute override inside the actual worktree was misclassified as external because containment used the trimmed root. It successfully wrote an unignored record, which Git reported as untracked.

Expected behavior: Publication, discovery, relative overrides, and worktree containment use the same repository identity already supported by the library. Path data remains intact. This failure is independent of R02's filename mismatch: the containment decision itself uses the wrong root.

Remediation: Reuse internal/git.RepositoryRoot and share metadata-path resolution through the Git boundary, coordinating with R04 rather than adding another resolver. Remove output terminators without stripping path characters. Apply the same preservation to common-directory output. Add focused regressions for a valid root ending in whitespace, relative-store read/write agreement, and absolute unignored-path rejection. Preserve existing filesystem-alias and linked-worktree behavior instead of introducing new pathname restrictions.

R09: Align maintainer recovery instructions with the source bootstrap — P2

Relevant code/docs: scripts/release:9; docs/release.md:104 and release.md:149; docs/roadmap/publication-reconciliation.md:21.

The existing maintainer procedure builds and executes .releasekit/bin/releasekit. It does not install an executable named releasekit on PATH. The new lost-output recovery instructions instead run releasekit publication-attempts and releasekit reconcile without identifying the executable that the procedure prepared.

Evidence: With Go and Git available on PATH and only the source-built CLI in .releasekit/bin, the newly documented discovery command returned 127 (releasekit: not found). The equivalent command using ./.releasekit/bin/releasekit returned 0 and listed the saved attempt. A globally installed CLI could also be a different version from the source-built one.

The recovery-section rename additionally left the feature roadmap's link to docs/release.md#resolve-failures pointing at a heading that no longer exists.

Expected behavior: The repository's executable runbook uses the CLI prepared by its own prerequisites, and its recovery links resolve to the current owner. It requires no additional global installation for lost-output recovery.

Remediation: Use the source-built executable for discovery and reconciliation in the maintainer runbook, consistent with its existing delivery commands. Retain explicit instructions for selecting another supported CLI when the original executable is genuinely unavailable. Repair the renamed-section link. Verify the recovery snippets in an environment without a global releasekit executable; keep generic consumer command examples in their consumer-facing documentation.

R10: Preserve endpoint bytes across the private-record handoff — P2

Relevant code: internal/publish/record.go:77 and its evidence decoding; the string fields in internal/publish/reconcile.go's Evidence; the existing Git endpoint resolution/query path in internal/git/remote.go and tag.go.

On POSIX, the existing Git transport can use local repository paths containing bytes that are not valid UTF-8. Typed evidence retains those bytes in its Go strings. The new private JSON codec uses json.Marshal directly on those strings, which replaces invalid UTF-8 with the Unicode replacement character without reporting an error. Loading the record therefore supplies a different endpoint to the existing Git observer.

Evidence: A disposable valid candidate's publication attempt targeted a local repository whose path contained a non-UTF-8 byte. Its hook rejected the push; publication returned not_published with a complete saved record and the exact original endpoint in typed evidence. A second local repository, named using the replacement-character form of that path, held the same intended annotated tag object. Direct typed reconciliation correctly returned not_published at the original destination. Loading the saved record changed its endpoint to the second repository and record-based reconciliation returned published there. The record save/load reported no error.

Expected behavior: Direct and record-loaded evidence identify the same captured destination. The private handoff retains exact transport identity, including pathname bytes supported by the existing Git boundary, or reports that the handoff could not be saved faithfully. Diagnostic JSON is a display format and can use safe displays; the private record supplies actual operation inputs and must preserve their identity.

Remediation: Make private serialization lossless for supported evidence, using an explicit byte representation where needed. At minimum, detect values that the selected record format cannot round-trip and return a separate recording failure with no misleading saved handoff. Keep the original typed evidence and publication behavior intact; avoid adding a general UTF-8 restriction to previously valid Git publication inputs. Cover endpoint/path round trips and equivalent direct-versus-loaded observations, including a distinct replacement-character path, in focused regression tests.