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](publication-reconciliation.md) defines the requested
behavior; the [implementation plan](implementation.md) 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.