Merge pull request 'AGPL-3.0, SECURITY and CONTRIBUTING; the install path pulls :latest, not :dev' (#244) from dev into main

docker-compose.yml pinned :dev on all five app services — web, worker,
scheduler, maintenance-long, ml-worker. The README documents
`docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d` as the production path, and
-f means "use only this file", skipping the override and its build:
directives. So Compose pulled image:, and image: was the rolling
development channel. The documented way to install this product shipped
development builds.

It went unnoticed for a structural reason rather than a careless one:
nobody who works on the project takes that path. The operator deploys
from a swarm stack file; contributors get docker-compose.override.yml,
which sets build: for all five services, and build: wins over image:. The
broken path is reachable only by a stranger following the README — which
is exactly the audience that did not exist until now.

:latest, per rule 147: main IS production. It is also what the agent
stack (agent/docker-compose.yml) already pinned, so this makes the two
stacks agree rather than introducing a new convention.

Both paths verified with `docker compose config`, which merges and prints
without starting anything:

  dev path        — build: present on all five, image: not pulled
  -f production   — 0 build: directives, five :latest images resolved

Also checked the base file for anything a stranger could not satisfy:
no host-absolute volume paths, no operator-specific port bindings, no
device mappings. The tag was the only defect in the consumer path.

The comment on web.image is deliberately long (rule 32). A line reading
:latest inside a file a developer is debugging with is exactly the line
someone flips back to :dev to test something and then commits, and the
consequence — strangers silently installing bleeding edge — is invisible
to everyone who works here.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_017QHszn9H8VBvx5Ke8x1hvw

.forgejo/workflows/baseline.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,370 @@
+
+# TEMPORARY — milestone 328 steps 1-2. Delete once the baseline is stamped.
+#
+# Squashing 87 alembic revisions into one baseline has exactly one dangerous
+# failure: the generated baseline does not reproduce the schema the chain
+# produced, `alembic stamp` writes a version string anyway (it validates
+# NOTHING), and the divergence surfaces on the next real migration against the
+# operator's live data.
+#
+# So this workflow does the comparison in CI, where a pgvector Postgres already
+# gets built from the chain on every integration run, and nothing is at risk.
+# It answers one question: does `upgrade head` on the collapsed chain produce a
+# byte-identical schema to `upgrade head` on the 87-revision chain?
+#
+# The chain is read from git rather than from the working tree, so this keeps
+# working AFTER the old revisions are deleted — `chain_ref` names a commit that
+# still has them. That is what makes this the proof for step 1 and the
+# pre-flight for step 2, rather than a one-shot script.
+#
+# While the chain is still present it also autogenerates a candidate baseline
+# from the models and prints it. That is a starting point, NOT the answer:
+# autogenerate reads SQLAlchemy metadata, and three things here do not live
+# there —
+#   * CREATE EXTENSION vector           (0001)
+#   * CREATE EXTENSION tsm_system_rows  (0004)
+#   * the HNSW index on image_record.siglip_embedding, which is raw SQL
+#     because alembic's create_index cannot express `USING hnsw (...)`  (0036)
+# plus any CHECK constraint or server_default that a migration added without
+# the model declaring it. Those must be hand-added, and the diff below is what
+# proves none were missed.
+name: Alembic baseline
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      chain_ref:
+        description: 'Commit/tag carrying the full chain; blank = this ref (use a pinned commit only AFTER the collapse)'
+        type: string
+        default: ''
+      mode:
+        description: 'chain = compare against this tree''s migrations; models = compare against a schema built from the MODELS'
+        type: string
+        default: 'chain'
+
+jobs:
+  compare:
+    runs-on: python-ci
+    container:
+      image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/ci-python:3.14
+    env:
+      DB_USER: fabledcurator
+      DB_PASSWORD: ci_integration
+      DB_PORT: "5432"
+      DB_NAME: fabledcurator_test
+      SECRET_KEY: ci_integration_placeholder
+    services:
+      postgres:
+        image: pgvector/pgvector:pg16
+        env:
+          POSTGRES_USER: fabledcurator
+          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ci_integration
+          POSTGRES_DB: fabledcurator_test
+        options: >-
+          --health-cmd "pg_isready -U fabledcurator"
+          --health-interval 10s
+          --health-timeout 5s
+          --health-retries 10
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          # Full history is the point: `chain_ref` is read out of git, so a
+          # shallow clone would not have the revisions to compare against.
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Resolve the Postgres service and install deps
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          # Same service-IP dance as ci.yml's integration job; see the long
+          # comment there for why the job name must stay separator-free.
+          PG=$(docker ps --filter "name=compare" --filter "ancestor=pgvector/pgvector:pg16" -q | head -n1)
+          test -n "$PG"
+          PG_IP=$(docker inspect -f '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' "$PG")
+          test -n "$PG_IP"
+          echo "PG_CONTAINER=$PG" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          echo "DB_HOST=$PG_IP" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          for i in $(seq 1 60); do
+            (echo > "/dev/tcp/$PG_IP/5432") >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
+            sleep 2
+          done
+          if command -v uv >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            uv pip install --system -r requirements.txt
+          else
+            pip install -r requirements.txt
+          fi
+
+      # DB 1: the 87-revision chain, read out of git at `chain_ref`.
+      #
+      # A git worktree rather than a checkout, so the current tree — which is
+      # what we are testing — is left completely alone.
+      - name: Build the schema the OLD chain produces
+        env:
+          CHAIN_REF: ${{ github.event.inputs.chain_ref }}
+          THIS_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" createdb -U fabledcurator fc_chain
+          # Blank means "the chain in this ref", which is what you want while
+          # the chain is still intact — comparing the models against a PINNED
+          # older commit reports every migration written since as a difference.
+          # Pin it only after the collapse, when the tree no longer has them.
+          git worktree add /tmp/chain "${CHAIN_REF:-$THIS_SHA}"
+          ls /tmp/chain/alembic/versions/*.py | wc -l
+          cd /tmp/chain
+          DB_NAME=fc_chain alembic upgrade head
+          cd -
+          docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" pg_dump -U fabledcurator --schema-only \
+            --no-owner --no-privileges -d fc_chain > chain.sql
+          wc -l chain.sql
+          # Emit the dump itself, checksummed, for local analysis. Reconciling
+          # the models against the deployed schema (#3275) needs the ACTUAL
+          # schema, not an inference from a diff — parsing table context out of
+          # unified-diff hunks drops every table whose CREATE TABLE line falls
+          # outside a hunk, which silently under-reports.
+          #
+          # base64 + sha256 for the same reason as the candidate: a plain cat
+          # of a file this size was truncated mid-line by the runner with the
+          # step still green (run 4964).
+          set +x
+          B64=$(base64 -w 120 chain.sql)
+          echo "===== BEGIN CHAIN SCHEMA (base64) ====="
+          echo "$B64"
+          echo "===== END CHAIN SCHEMA ====="
+          echo "chain-sha256: $(sha256sum chain.sql | cut -d' ' -f1)"
+          echo "chain-bytes:  $(wc -c < chain.sql)"
+          set -x
+
+      # A candidate baseline, autogenerated from the models against an EMPTY
+      # database so every table shows up as a create. Printed for a human to
+      # finish — it will be missing the three raw-SQL items named at the top.
+      #
+      # Gated on the TREE, not on a workflow input. A `type: boolean` input
+      # read back as `github.event.inputs.generate == 'true'` silently
+      # evaluated false on this runner (run 4960 skipped this step entirely
+      # with no diagnostic) — the same `github.event.inputs` typing quirk
+      # build.yml already works around. The file count is the real question
+      # anyway: there is nothing to generate once the chain is collapsed.
+      - name: Autogenerate a candidate baseline
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          if [ "$(ls alembic/versions/*.py | wc -l)" -le 1 ]; then
+            echo "already collapsed — nothing to generate"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+          docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" createdb -U fabledcurator fc_gen
+          # Hide the existing revisions so alembic sees an empty history and
+          # emits the whole schema rather than a delta.
+          mkdir -p /tmp/versions_held
+          mv alembic/versions/*.py /tmp/versions_held/ 2>/dev/null || true
+          DB_NAME=fc_gen alembic revision --autogenerate -m "baseline" || true
+          # Printed rather than uploaded: ci-requirements.md records that this
+          # runner cannot do actions/upload-artifact@v4+, and the repo dropped
+          # the action entirely in 2026-05, so the job log is the retrieval
+          # channel actually proven here.
+          #
+          # base64, not the raw file. A plain `cat` of the ~33KB candidate was
+          # TRUNCATED MID-LINE by the runner on run 4964 — it stopped inside
+          # `sa.Column('mime', sa.String(length=128)` and carried straight on
+          # to the next traced command, with the step still green. A silent
+          # cut in the middle of a schema definition is the worst possible
+          # failure here, because the truncated text still looks like a
+          # plausible file.
+          #
+          # base64 at a fixed narrow width gives many short lines instead of
+          # few long ones, and — the actual point — a checksum and a line
+          # count that make truncation DETECTABLE rather than invisible.
+          set +x
+          F=$(ls alembic/versions/*.py | head -1)
+          B64=$(base64 -w 120 "$F")
+          echo "===== BEGIN CANDIDATE BASELINE (base64) ====="
+          echo "$B64"
+          echo "===== END CANDIDATE BASELINE ====="
+          echo "candidate-sha256: $(sha256sum "$F" | cut -d' ' -f1)"
+          echo "candidate-bytes:  $(wc -c < "$F")"
+          echo "candidate-b64-lines: $(echo "$B64" | wc -l)"
+          set -x
+          mkdir -p /tmp/candidate
+          cp alembic/versions/*.py /tmp/candidate/
+          # Put the tree back exactly as it was; this job never mutates state.
+          rm -f alembic/versions/*.py
+          mv /tmp/versions_held/*.py alembic/versions/ 2>/dev/null || true
+
+      # DB 2: what the CURRENT tree produces.
+      #
+      # `mode: models` applies the candidate autogenerated from the MODELS
+      # instead, which is what answers "do the models describe the schema?" —
+      # the question #3275 exists because nobody had ever asked it. Under that
+      # mode a clean diff means autogenerate is trustworthy again.
+      #
+      # The two extensions are created by hand first. They are database
+      # objects, not table metadata, so no model can carry them and their
+      # absence is not a model defect — it is simply outside what this
+      # comparison is asking about.
+      - name: Build the schema the CURRENT tree produces
+        env:
+          MODE: ${{ github.event.inputs.mode }}
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" createdb -U fabledcurator fc_base
+          if [ "${MODE:-chain}" = "models" ]; then
+            docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" psql -U fabledcurator -d fc_base \
+              -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector" \
+              -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS tsm_system_rows"
+            mkdir -p /tmp/held
+            mv alembic/versions/*.py /tmp/held/
+            cp /tmp/candidate/*.py alembic/versions/
+            # Autogenerate EMITS pgvector.sqlalchemy.vector.VECTOR(...) without
+            # importing it, so the file it writes cannot run:
+            #   NameError: name 'pgvector' is not defined
+            # Observed on run 4988, which is the proof rather than the theory.
+            # This is a defect in the GENERATOR, not in the models, so it is
+            # repaired here rather than counted as a schema difference — the
+            # comparison is about whether the models describe the schema.
+            sed -i '0,/^import sqlalchemy as sa$/s//import sqlalchemy as sa\nimport pgvector.sqlalchemy.vector/' alembic/versions/*.py
+            grep -n 'import pgvector' alembic/versions/*.py
+            # Second generator defect, same class as the missing import.
+            #
+            # base.py's naming convention includes %(constraint_name)s for ck,
+            # which — unlike uq/fk/ix — means the convention is applied even to
+            # a CheckConstraint that HAS a name. So a model declaring
+            # name="singleton" correctly becomes ck_ml_settings_singleton in
+            # the metadata. Autogenerate then writes that RENDERED name into
+            # the migration, and running the migration applies the convention a
+            # SECOND time: ck_ml_settings_ck_ml_settings_singleton.
+            #
+            # That is round-tripping damage done by the generator, not a claim
+            # the models make, so it is repaired here rather than counted as a
+            # schema difference. Undone by removing the ck_<table>_ prefix the
+            # convention will re-add — the exact inverse, and it only fires on
+            # a name that actually carries its own table's prefix.
+            python3 - alembic/versions/*.py <<'PYEOF'
+          import re, sys
+
+          table = None
+          for path in sys.argv[1:]:
+              out = []
+              for line in open(path):
+                  m = re.search(r"op\.create_table\(\s*[\"']([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[\"']", line)
+                  if m:
+                      table = m.group(1)
+                  if table and "CheckConstraint" in line:
+                      prefix = f"ck_{table}_"
+                      line = re.sub(
+                          r"(name=[\"'])" + re.escape(prefix),
+                          r"\1",
+                          line,
+                      )
+                  out.append(line)
+              open(path, "w").writelines(out)
+          PYEOF
+            grep -n 'CheckConstraint' alembic/versions/*.py || true
+            ls alembic/versions/*.py
+            DB_NAME=fc_base alembic upgrade head
+            rm -f alembic/versions/*.py
+            mv /tmp/held/*.py alembic/versions/
+          else
+            ls alembic/versions/*.py | wc -l
+            DB_NAME=fc_base alembic upgrade head
+          fi
+          docker exec "$PG_CONTAINER" pg_dump -U fabledcurator --schema-only \
+            --no-owner --no-privileges -d fc_base > baseline.sql
+          wc -l baseline.sql
+
+      # The verdict.
+      #
+      # pg_dump orders dumpable objects by name within type, not by creation
+      # order, so two schemas built by different routes are directly
+      # comparable. Normalisation is deliberately minimal, because a filter
+      # that hides a real difference is the one way this check passes when it
+      # should fail — blank lines, SQL comments, trailing whitespace, and:
+      #
+      #   \restrict / \unrestrict — a per-invocation RANDOM NONCE that newer
+      #   pg_dump emits to fence the dump against injection during restore. It
+      #   differs on every run by construction, so it is noise by definition,
+      #   not a schema difference. Measured on run 4960, the control: two dumps
+      #   of the SAME schema came back 1123 lines each and differed on exactly
+      #   these two lines and nothing else. That control is what licenses this
+      #   filter — it was observed to be the only false positive, rather than
+      #   assumed to be one.
+      # Column ORDER inside a CREATE TABLE is compared separately from column
+      # CONTENT, and only content is fatal.
+      #
+      # A table built by 87 migrations has its columns in ADD COLUMN order; the
+      # same table built in one shot has them in declaration order. That is a
+      # real and permanent difference which no baseline can erase — the
+      # operator's existing database keeps chain order forever, a fresh install
+      # gets model order — so a check that fails on it would never pass and
+      # would teach nothing. FC reaches every column through the ORM by name,
+      # and `SELECT *` ordering is not depended on anywhere.
+      #
+      # So the second pass SORTS the column lines within each CREATE TABLE
+      # rather than DELETING them. That distinction is the whole point: sorting
+      # cannot hide a column that exists on one side only, or one whose type,
+      # nullability or default differs — those still land in the diff. A filter
+      # could have hidden all three.
+      #
+      # Both diffs are reported. The ordered one is informational; the
+      # order-insensitive one is the verdict.
+      - name: Diff
+        run: |
+          set -eu
+          norm() {
+            grep -vE '^\s*(--|$)' "$1" \
+              | grep -vE '^\\(un)?restrict ' \
+              | sed 's/[[:space:]]*$//'
+          }
+          norm chain.sql > a.txt
+          norm baseline.sql > b.txt
+          echo "normalised: chain=$(wc -l < a.txt) lines, current=$(wc -l < b.txt) lines"
+
+          sort_table_columns() {
+            python3 - "$1" <<'PYEOF'
+          import re, sys
+
+          lines = open(sys.argv[1]).read().splitlines()
+          out, block = [], None
+          for line in lines:
+              if block is not None:
+                  # ');' on its own closes the CREATE TABLE body.
+                  if line.strip() == ");":
+                      out.extend(sorted(block))
+                      out.append(line)
+                      block = None
+                  else:
+                      # Drop the list comma before sorting. Only the LAST
+                      # column lacks one, so keeping it would make every
+                      # reordering look like a content change as well — the
+                      # comma is punctuation, and carries no schema meaning.
+                      block.append(line.rstrip().rstrip(","))
+                  continue
+              out.append(line)
+              if re.match(r"CREATE TABLE .*\($", line):
+                  block = []
+          if block is not None:  # unterminated body: emit it rather than drop it
+              out.extend(block)
+          print("\n".join(out))
+          PYEOF
+          }
+          sort_table_columns a.txt > a.sorted.txt
+          sort_table_columns b.txt > b.sorted.txt
+          test "$(wc -l < a.sorted.txt)" = "$(wc -l < a.txt)"
+          test "$(wc -l < b.sorted.txt)" = "$(wc -l < b.txt)"
+
+          if diff -u a.txt b.txt > schema.diff; then
+            echo "ORDERED DIFF: identical, column order included."
+          else
+            echo "ORDERED DIFF: $(grep -cE '^[+-]' schema.diff) changed lines (informational):"
+            cat schema.diff
+          fi
+          echo
+          echo "================================================================"
+          echo
+          if diff -u a.sorted.txt b.sorted.txt > sorted.diff; then
+            echo "SCHEMAS MATCH — every difference above is column ORDER alone."
+          else
+            echo "SCHEMAS DIFFER — $(grep -cE '^[+-]' sorted.diff) changed lines that are NOT ordering:"
+            cat sorted.diff
+            echo
+            echo "The baseline is wrong, not the database. Do not stamp."
+            exit 1
+          fi

.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: CI
 
 # CI lanes per FabledRulebook/forgejo.md "CI philosophy":
 #   - lint: ruff only, no dep install — fast-fail for the common lint bounce.
-#   - extension-version: guards the extension publish path (see the job).
+#   - extension-version: the derived version resolves and is a shape AMO takes.
 #   - backend-lint-and-test: `pytest -m "not integration"`, no service containers.
 #   - frontend-build: vitest unit + vite build.
 #   - integration: pgvector + redis service containers; alembic + `pytest -m integration`.
@@ -35,25 +35,42 @@ jobs:
       - name: Ruff lint
         # agent/ included so the GPU-agent is linted before its image is built
         # (build.yml only `docker build`s it — this is where it gets checked).
-        run: ruff check backend/ tests/ alembic/ agent/
+        # scripts/ likewise: release_notes.py runs only on a tag push, so a
+        # syntax or import error there would otherwise surface at the one
+        # moment nobody wants to debug a workflow.
+        run: ruff check backend/ tests/ alembic/ agent/ scripts/
       - name: Agent syntax check
         # The agent's runtime deps (torch/transformers/ultralytics) aren't in the
         # CI image, so we can't import it — but compileall parses every module,
         # catching syntax errors before the image build.
         run: python -m compileall -q agent/fc_agent
 
-  # Guards the extension publish path, which has no self-correcting behavior.
+  # The extension version is DERIVED, not hand-maintained (milestone 271 step
+  # 4): build.yml computes it from the commit TIME of the newest packaged
+  # extension change and stamps it into manifest.json / package.json at build
+  # time. The guard that used to live here — "packaged files changed but nobody
+  # bumped the version" — was therefore checking a fact that had stopped
+  # existing. Worse than useless: it would have failed this lane on every real
+  # extension change, demanding a bump that decides nothing. Retired 2026-08-27
+  # rather than left running beside the new mechanism (rule 22).
   #
-  # build.yml's sign-extension job keys its AMO-signing cache purely on the
-  # version string in extension/package.json: if an `ext-<version>` Forgejo
-  # release already carries an XPI, signing is SKIPPED and that old signed XPI
-  # is what build-web bakes into `:latest`. Nothing in that path inspects
-  # whether extension/ actually changed — so a forgotten version bump ships a
-  # stale extension on a fully green build, silently. (AMO can't help: it 409s
-  # on re-signing a version, which is exactly why the cache exists.)
+  # Two things are still worth asserting, and this is the only lane that can:
+  # the extension.yml suite runs on node:24-slim, which is exactly why
+  # version.spec.js sticks to packaging.sh's git-free subcommands.
+  #   1. the derivation actually resolves on this commit
+  #   2. the derived string is one AMO will accept, checked against Mozilla's
+  #      own published grammar rather than a loose "digits and dots"
   #
-  # This job makes that case loud, on the dev push, instead of invisible at
-  # merge-to-main. It is pure git + text work — no deps, no services.
+  # The MAJOR.MINOR-agreement check that used to be (2) is gone with milestone
+  # 318 step 8: the committed version no longer seeds anything, so there is no
+  # hand-set part left for the two files to disagree about.
+  #
+  # Deliberately NOT checked here: that the derived value beats what has already
+  # been signed. That guard belongs in build.yml, where it compares against the
+  # real ext-* releases. Comparing against origin/main here would be wrong —
+  # dev legitimately derives a LOWER value whenever main is ahead on the
+  # extension, and a lane that fails for being behind is a lane people learn to
+  # ignore.
   extension-version:
     runs-on: python-ci
     container:
@@ -61,97 +78,48 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          # Full history: the check diffs against the push's `before` SHA (or
-          # the PR base), which a depth-1 clone wouldn't contain.
+          # The derivation needs real history: a depth-1 clone sees one commit
+          # and produces a wrong, too-low value RATHER THAN FAILING. Checking
+          # that here is half the point of the lane.
           fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: Extension version guard
-        env:
-          BEFORE: ${{ github.event.before }}
-          PR_BASE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+      - name: Extension version derives cleanly
         run: |
           set -eu
           # busybox sh on the act_runner — no bashisms (family rule).
-          ver() { grep -E '"version"' "$1" | head -1 | sed -E 's/.*"version"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"([^"]+)".*/\1/'; }
-          PKG=$(ver extension/package.json)
-          MAN=$(ver extension/manifest.json)
-          test -n "$PKG" || { echo "ERROR: no version found in extension/package.json"; exit 1; }
-          test -n "$MAN" || { echo "ERROR: no version found in extension/manifest.json"; exit 1; }
+          VERSION=$(sh extension/scripts/packaging.sh version)
+          echo "derived: $VERSION"
 
-          # (1) Unconditional: the two version strings must agree. `web-ext sign`
-          # reads manifest.json (package.json sits in --ignore-files and isn't
-          # even inside the XPI), so AMO signs MAN and Firefox installs MAN.
-          # build.yml keys its cache, release tag, XPI filename — and therefore
-          # the version /api/extension/manifest reports to the update prompt —
-          # on PKG. Divergence either hard-fails at AMO or ships a mislabelled
-          # XPI whose update prompt lies about what's installed.
-          if [ "$MAN" != "$PKG" ]; then
-            echo "ERROR: extension version mismatch."
-            echo "  extension/manifest.json = $MAN  <- what AMO signs / Firefox installs"
-            echo "  extension/package.json  = $PKG  <- what CI caches, names, and reports"
-            echo "Set both to the same value."
+          # Mozilla's published grammar for AMO, transcribed verbatim from
+          # MDN's manifest.json/version page:
+          #
+          #     ^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})([.](0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$
+          #
+          # Not the looser `^[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)*$` this lane used to carry. That
+          # one passes `2026.08.29.0201`, which AMO REJECTS — a segment must be
+          # the single digit 0 or start 1-9 — and it also passes five segments,
+          # where AMO allows four. Both would surface as a failed sign with the
+          # version already burned: AMO 409s on re-signing, so a rejected value
+          # cannot be reclaimed and cannot be reused. This lane is the cheap
+          # place to find out. (#3138, milestone 318 step 8.)
+          if ! echo "$VERSION" | grep -qE '^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})(\.(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$'; then
+            echo "ERROR: derived version '$VERSION' is not a version AMO accepts."
+            echo "AMO's grammar: ^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})([.](0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$"
+            echo "Most likely cause: a zero-padded segment (08, 0201). The rest"
+            echo "of the family pads; the extension must not — see packaging.sh."
             exit 1
           fi
 
-          # (2) If the SHIPPED extension changed, the version must have moved.
-          #
-          # Compare against MAIN, not against the previous push. The publish
-          # decision is made at merge-to-main against whatever ext-<version>
-          # already exists, so "differs from main" is the question that matters.
-          # Diffing against the previous dev push instead would demand a fresh
-          # bump on every iteration — push, tweak the extension again, and CI
-          # would insist on a second bump that buys nothing, inflating the
-          # version for no reason. On a main push there is no "main to compare
-          # to" yet, so fall back to that push's own before-SHA.
-          if [ "${GITHUB_REF##*/}" = "main" ]; then
-            BASE="${BEFORE:-}"
-          else
-            BASE=$(git rev-parse --verify -q origin/main 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse --verify -q main 2>/dev/null || echo "")
-            # PR base is the fallback when main isn't in the clone at all.
-            [ -n "$BASE" ] || BASE="${PR_BASE:-}"
-          fi
-          case "$BASE" in
-            ''|0000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
-              echo "No usable base ref (no main in clone / first push) — skipping the bump check."
-              echo "OK: extension version $PKG"
-              exit 0
-              ;;
-          esac
-          if ! git cat-file -e "$BASE^{commit}" 2>/dev/null; then
-            echo "Base commit $BASE not in this clone — skipping the bump check."
-            echo "OK: extension version $PKG"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          # The exclusion list is NOT written out here — it comes from
-          # extension/scripts/packaging.sh, the one definition of what ships,
-          # shared with web-ext's --ignore-files and the derived-version patch
-          # count. Three hand-kept copies of that fact is how #2397 happened.
-          #
-          # `set -f` is required around the substitution: without it the shell
-          # globs `test/**` against the working tree and silently narrows it.
-          set -f
-          CHANGED=$(git diff --name-only "$BASE" HEAD -- extension/ $(sh extension/scripts/packaging.sh pathspec))
-          set +f
-          if [ -z "$CHANGED" ]; then
-            echo "No packaged extension files changed since $BASE — nothing to guard."
-            echo "OK: extension version $PKG"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          echo "Packaged extension files changed since $BASE:"
-          echo "$CHANGED" | sed 's/^/  /'
-          PKG_OLD=$(git show "$BASE:extension/package.json" 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"version"' | head -1 | sed -E 's/.*"version"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"([^"]+)".*/\1/')
-          if [ -z "$PKG_OLD" ]; then
-            echo "Could not read the base version — skipping the bump check."
-            echo "OK: extension version $PKG"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          if [ "$PKG_OLD" = "$PKG" ]; then
-            echo "ERROR: packaged extension files changed but the version is still $PKG."
-            echo "build.yml would find the existing ext-$PKG release, skip AMO signing,"
-            echo "and bake the OLD signed XPI into :latest — a green build shipping stale code."
-            echo "Bump the version in BOTH extension/package.json and extension/manifest.json."
+          # ...and the shape this project actually derives. AMO would happily
+          # take `1.0.3500147` too, so the grammar check alone would not notice
+          # a regression to the pre-318 shape — which orders BELOW everything
+          # signed since, and is unrecoverable once Firefox has the higher one.
+          if ! echo "$VERSION" | grep -qE '^20[0-9][0-9]\.[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,4}$'; then
+            echo "ERROR: derived version '$VERSION' is not YYYY.M.D.HHMM."
+            echo "Rule 148's CalVer is what build.yml signs; the old"
+            echo "1.0.<minutes> shape would order below every ext-2026.* release."
             exit 1
           fi
-          echo "OK: extension version $PKG_OLD -> $PKG"
+          echo "OK: derived version $VERSION"
 
   backend-lint-and-test:
     runs-on: python-ci
@@ -164,6 +132,13 @@ jobs:
       SECRET_KEY: ci_unit_test_placeholder
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          # Full history for tests/test_artifact_identity.py, which derives
+          # each artifact's revision to check the identity scheme. On a
+          # depth-1 clone that derivation either fails or returns the tip sha
+          # — so the lane would go green while asserting nothing, which is
+          # the one outcome worse than a red one.
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
       # Cache step removed 2026-05-26: act_runner's cache backend has been
       # broken on this homelab runner since 2026-05-15 (first as request-

.forgejo/workflows/extension.yml

@@ -10,15 +10,20 @@ on:
     paths:
       - 'extension/**'
       - '.forgejo/workflows/extension.yml'
-      # test/version.spec.js asserts ci.yml's extension-version guard never
-      # ignores a file web-ext actually packages, so a ci.yml-only edit can
-      # break this suite and must trigger it.
+      # test/version.spec.js asserts things ABOUT the other two workflows —
+      # that neither inlines the packaged-file set, and that build.yml derives
+      # the shipped version rather than reading it out of the repo. A
+      # workflow-only edit can therefore break this suite, so it has to trigger
+      # it. build.yml joined the list at milestone 271 step 5, when the spec
+      # started asserting against it.
       - '.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml'
+      - '.forgejo/workflows/build.yml'
   pull_request:
     branches: [main]
     paths:
       - 'extension/**'
       - '.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml'
+      - '.forgejo/workflows/build.yml'
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:

.forgejo/workflows/release.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+name: Release
+
+# A `v*` tag publishes a changelog. It does NOT build anything.
+#
+# Milestone 318 step 2 removed the tag trigger from build.yml: by the time
+# anyone tags a commit, `main` has already built and published it, and a
+# rebuild would re-push `:c-<sha>` — which rule 145 forbids even when the
+# source matches, since image configs carry timestamps and "same source" does
+# not mean "same manifest". That left the tag with no consequence at all.
+#
+# This is the consequence it has instead. Step 6 put the derived version in the
+# Settings footer, so an operator can say WHICH build they are running; this
+# says what is IN it that was not in the one they ran last month. Both halves
+# of one question (note #3127 §5).
+#
+# Nothing here runs on a schedule and nothing auto-tags on merge. Release tags
+# are bookmarks — cut one when you will want to point at that day by name,
+# otherwise don't (note #3127 §0). FC went twelve weeks between v26.06.04.0 and
+# the next one and nothing was wrong. A schedule would turn an optional
+# bookmark back into ceremony, which is the thing this milestone is removing.
+#
+# Cutting the tag is an explicit operator action under rule 2 ("`main` — never
+# without explicit request", which since 2026-08-28 covers PR, merge and tag
+# alike). This lane only decides what happens once they do.
+#
+# Requires repo secret RELEASE_TOKEN with the `write:release` scope — the same
+# PAT build.yml uses for the ext-<version> XPI asset cache.
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: ['v*']
+  # So a release body can be regenerated after the fact — the publisher PATCHes
+  # an existing release rather than falling through on a conflict, so re-running
+  # this on a tag rewrites the body instead of silently keeping the first one
+  # (note #3127 §6.7).
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      tag:
+        description: 'Tag to (re)publish notes for'
+        required: true
+
+jobs:
+  changelog:
+    runs-on: python-ci
+    container:
+      image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/ci-python:3.14
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          # Load-bearing twice over: the previous release is found by walking
+          # ancestry back through the tag graph, and the cross-check against
+          # the derived web version calls artifacts.sh, which reads commit
+          # times. A shallow clone would find no previous tag and emit the
+          # entire history as the changelog — plausible-looking and wrong.
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref }}
+
+      # The `:c-<sha>` rollback refs are only real if `main` built this commit.
+      # The script checks that against origin/main and downgrades the claim to
+      # "unverified" when it cannot resolve one; fetching it here means that
+      # downgrade stays an actual signal instead of firing on every release.
+      - name: Make main's history resolvable
+        run: git fetch --no-tags --quiet origin +main:refs/remotes/origin/main || true
+
+      # TAG goes through the environment, not through `${{ }}` inside the
+      # run block. The value is operator-supplied, and an expression expanded
+      # into a shell line is expanded BEFORE the shell sees it — there is no
+      # quoting that makes that safe. On a tag push it is empty and the script
+      # falls back to GITHUB_REF.
+      - name: Publish the derived changelog
+        env:
+          RELEASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+          TAG: ${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          set -eu
+          if [ -n "${TAG:-}" ]; then
+            python3 scripts/release_notes.py "$TAG"
+          else
+            python3 scripts/release_notes.py
+          fi

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# Contributing
+
+FabledCurator is developed by a single maintainer for their own use, and
+published because it may be useful to others. That shapes what contribution
+looks like here.
+
+**Issues are welcome** — bug reports, and questions about running it, are
+genuinely useful and often the fastest way to find out that something is
+broken outside the one environment it was built in.
+
+**Open an issue before writing a pull request.** Not as a formality: the
+project has opinions that are not obvious from the code, and it is unpleasant
+for everyone when a finished patch turns out to conflict with one. A short
+issue first costs you nothing and may save you an evening.
+
+**Contributions are licensed under the AGPL-3.0**, like the rest of the
+project. By submitting one you agree it ships under that licence. There is no
+CLA and no copyright assignment.
+
+## Running it for development
+
+```bash
+docker compose up -d          # UI on http://localhost:8080
+```
+
+The dev override (`docker-compose.override.yml`) is auto-merged and builds the
+app images locally from source, so this needs no `.env` and no registry
+access. Postgres and Redis ports are exposed on the host.
+
+## What CI checks
+
+Every push runs these, and they are the definition of done for a change:
+
+```bash
+ruff check backend/ tests/ alembic/ agent/ scripts/   # lint (and import order)
+pytest tests/ -m "not integration"                    # backend unit tests
+pytest tests/ -m integration                          # needs pgvector + redis
+cd frontend && npm run test:unit && npm run build     # frontend
+```
+
+The integration lane builds its schema by running the real migrations
+(`alembic upgrade head`), never from ORM metadata — so a migration that does
+not apply cleanly fails CI rather than being discovered later.
+
+Note for the linter: ruff's isort runs with `order-by-type`, which sorts
+ALL-CAPS names ahead of CamelCase. `from sqlalchemy import JSON, DateTime, ...`
+is correct; putting `JSON` alphabetically between `Integer` and `String` is
+not. This catches people out.
+
+## Database changes
+
+The ORM models and the migration chain must agree. This is enforced, and it is
+enforced because they silently diverged for a long time and nobody noticed
+until they were compared: the models were missing indexes, defaults and
+uniqueness guarantees that only ever existed inside a migration, which made
+`alembic revision --autogenerate` actively unsafe to run.
+
+So: if you change a model, write the migration; if you write a migration,
+change the model to match. Both, in the same commit.
+
+Adding a value to a CHECK-constrained column means swapping the constraint in
+the same change — the constraint is not documentation, and a new value without
+it fails at insert time.
+
+## Branch model
+
+`dev` is where work happens. `main` is production and is only reached by a
+merge from `dev`, never pushed to directly. If you are sending a pull request,
+target `dev`.
+
+## Style
+
+Match the surrounding code. The one convention worth stating explicitly is
+that comments here explain *why*, especially where a choice looks wrong at a
+glance — a comment recording which migration a constraint came from, or why a
+default is a `text()` rather than a string, is the kind that has repeatedly
+turned out to be worth its space.

Dockerfile

@@ -47,6 +47,29 @@ RUN chmod +x entrypoint.sh
 
 COPY --from=frontend-builder /build/dist ./frontend/dist
 
+# Which channel this image belongs to — `dev` or `main` (milestone 271 step 7).
+# build.yml passes it; /api/extension/manifest reports it beside the version so
+# an operator can tell which channel an install came from without the channel
+# ever touching the version string.
+#
+# Empty by default, deliberately: a locally-built image then reports NO channel
+# rather than claiming to be one, and the manifest omits the field entirely —
+# indistinguishable from an image built before the field existed, which is
+# exactly the shape every reader already has to handle.
+#
+# Declared LAST on purpose. An ARG/ENV invalidates every layer below it, and
+# these are the values that differ between builds of otherwise identical
+# source — put them any earlier and the two channels could never share a
+# cached pip install.
+#
+# FC_VERSION is what the instance reports about itself in the UI. Since
+# milestone 318 stopped publishing version image tags, that self-report is
+# the only answer to "which build is this?" — nothing else names it.
+ARG FC_CHANNEL=""
+ENV FC_CHANNEL=${FC_CHANNEL}
+ARG FC_VERSION=""
+ENV FC_VERSION=${FC_VERSION}
+
 EXPOSE 8080
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["./entrypoint.sh"]

LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,661 @@
+                    GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
+                       Version 3, 19 November 2007
+
+ Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
+ Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
+ of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
+
+                            Preamble
+
+  The GNU Affero General Public License is a free, copyleft license for
+software and other kinds of works, specifically designed to ensure
+cooperation with the community in the case of network server software.
+
+  The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed
+to take away your freedom to share and change the works.  By contrast,
+our General Public Licenses are intended to guarantee your freedom to
+share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free
+software for all its users.
+
+  When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
+price.  Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
+have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
+them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you
+want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
+free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
+
+  Developers that use our General Public Licenses protect your rights
+with two steps: (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer
+you this License which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute
+and/or modify the software.
+
+  A secondary benefit of defending all users' freedom is that
+improvements made in alternate versions of the program, if they
+receive widespread use, become available for other developers to
+incorporate.  Many developers of free software are heartened and
+encouraged by the resulting cooperation.  However, in the case of
+software used on network servers, this result may fail to come about.
+The GNU General Public License permits making a modified version and
+letting the public access it on a server without ever releasing its
+source code to the public.
+
+  The GNU Affero General Public License is designed specifically to
+ensure that, in such cases, the modified source code becomes available
+to the community.  It requires the operator of a network server to
+provide the source code of the modified version running there to the
+users of that server.  Therefore, public use of a modified version, on
+a publicly accessible server, gives the public access to the source
+code of the modified version.
+
+  An older license, called the Affero General Public License and
+published by Affero, was designed to accomplish similar goals.  This is
+a different license, not a version of the Affero GPL, but Affero has
+released a new version of the Affero GPL which permits relicensing under
+this license.
+
+  The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
+modification follow.
+
+                       TERMS AND CONDITIONS
+
+  0. Definitions.
+
+  "This License" refers to version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License.
+
+  "Copyright" also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of
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+
+  "The Program" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this
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+
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+
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+    Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>
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+    it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
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+    You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+    along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
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+specific requirements.
+
+  You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school,
+if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary.
+For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU AGPL, see
+<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

README.md

@@ -10,6 +10,35 @@ In production. `main` is continuously deployed — every merge to `main` builds
 and publishes `:latest` images, so whatever is on `main` is what is running.
 Day-to-day work happens on `dev`, which publishes `:dev` images.
 
+## Versions and tags
+
+Three image tags exist, and no others:
+
+| Tag | Branch | Meaning |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `:latest` | `main` | Production. Moves on every merge. |
+| `:c-<sha>` | `main` | Immutable — the rollback unit, all three images together. |
+| `:dev` | `dev` | The rolling test channel. Moves on every push. |
+
+There are deliberately **no version tags**. Nothing pins one, and a per-build
+name nobody reads is upkeep for a model FC does not run (family rule 145; the
+reasoning is note #3127 §5). Rolling back is `docker pull …:c-<sha>`.
+
+Each artifact still has a version, derived rather than chosen: the commit time
+of the newest change to that artifact's *own* shipped files, as
+`YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM` UTC (rule 148). Four artifacts, four independent versions —
+a push touching only `agent/` re-versions the agent and leaves web and ml
+alone, and CI skips the builds whose content did not move.
+
+Because no registry name carries it, the running instance's own report is the
+only answer to "which build is this?". The foot of Settings shows
+`FabledCurator 2026.08.29.0201 · dev`, and `/api/health` returns the same two
+fields.
+
+Release tags are optional bookmarks — FC went twelve weeks without one and
+nothing was wrong. Pushing `v<version>` publishes a Forgejo release listing the
+commits since the previous tag; it builds no image.
+
 ## What's in here
 
 Five deployable pieces, built by `.forgejo/workflows/build.yml`:
@@ -19,7 +48,7 @@ Five deployable pieces, built by `.forgejo/workflows/build.yml`:
 | **Web / workers** | `Dockerfile` | `fabledcurator` | Quart API + the built Vue SPA in one image. `entrypoint.sh` picks the role: `web`, `worker`, `scheduler`. The `maintenance-long` service is a second `worker` pinned to the long-running maintenance queue. |
 | **ML worker** | `Dockerfile.ml` | `fabledcurator-ml` | Same app, plus `requirements-ml.txt` — tagging and embedding models that run in-container. |
 | **GPU agent** | `agent/Dockerfile` | `fabledcurator-agent` | Optional desktop-GPU worker (`agent/`). Leases jobs over **HTTP only** — never touches the database or Redis. Run it for a burst, stop it to reclaim the card. See `agent/README.md`. |
-| **Firefox extension** | `extension/` | signed XPI | MV3 extension: pushes platform session cookies into FC and adds a creator as a Source in one click. AMO-signed on `main` only, then bundled into the web image and served from Settings → Maintenance. See `extension/README.md`. |
+| **Firefox extension** | `extension/` | signed XPI | MV3 extension: pushes platform session cookies into FC and adds a creator as a Source in one click. AMO-signed on both `dev` and `main` (one signature per extension change, shared by the two channels), bundled into that channel's web image and served from Settings → Maintenance. See `extension/README.md`. |
 | **Data** | — | `pgvector/pgvector:pg16`, `redis:7-alpine` | Postgres with pgvector for embeddings; Redis as the Celery broker. |
 
 ## Quick start
@@ -40,9 +69,19 @@ or a `.env` file (see `.env.example` for the variable names) and use:
 
 ```bash
 docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
-# (skips the override so containers pull registry images)
+# (skips the dev override, so containers pull published :latest images)
 ```
 
+`-f` is doing real work there: it tells Compose to use *only* that file, which
+skips `docker-compose.override.yml` and its local builds. What you get is the
+`:latest` images — the stable channel, built from `main`. This is the install
+path, and it is the one to use if you are running FabledCurator rather than
+working on it.
+
+`:dev` is the other channel: rebuilt from the `dev` branch several times a day,
+bleeding edge, no stability promise. Nothing in this repo points an installer at
+it, and nothing should.
+
 The GPU agent is deployed separately, on the machine with the card —
 `agent/docker-compose.yml`, not this stack.
 
@@ -52,9 +91,10 @@ FabledCurator is designed to run inside a self-hosted homelab environment over p
 
 ## CI / Forgejo setup
 
-Three workflows: `ci.yml` (lint, extension-version guard, backend unit tests,
+Four workflows: `ci.yml` (lint, extension-version check, backend unit tests,
 frontend build, integration), `extension.yml` (extension lint, vitest, XPI
-content verification), and `build.yml` (sign + publish).
+content verification), `build.yml` (sign + publish), and `release.yml`, which
+runs only on a `v*` tag and publishes a changelog without building anything.
 
 **The toolchain each job runs in is its `container.image`, not its `runs-on`
 label.** `runs-on: python-ci` only schedules the job onto a runner; every job
@@ -71,9 +111,27 @@ The repo expects one secret:
 
   Generate at https://git.fabledsword.com/user/settings/applications. The injected `GITHUB_TOKEN` cannot be used because it lacks `write:package`.
 
-AMO signing additionally needs `MOZILLA_AMO_JWT_KEY` / `MOZILLA_AMO_JWT_SECRET`; it runs on
-`main` only and is cached per version, since AMO rejects a re-signed version.
+AMO signing additionally needs `MOZILLA_AMO_JWT_KEY` / `MOZILLA_AMO_JWT_SECRET`.
+It runs on **both** channels and is cached per version: because the version is
+derived from commit time, `dev` and `main` derive the same number for the same
+source, so `main` finds `dev`'s signature already cached and makes no second AMO
+call. That cache is why signing must be one-shot — AMO rejects a re-signed
+version.
 
 ## License
 
-Personal project; use at your own discretion.
+**GNU Affero General Public License v3.0** — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).
+
+You may run, study, modify and redistribute this software. The condition is
+reciprocity: if you distribute a modified version, or **run one as a network
+service that other people use**, you must offer those users the corresponding
+source under the same licence. That second clause (AGPL §13) is the reason this
+licence rather than the GPL — for a self-hosted web application, "distribution"
+otherwise never happens, and the obligation would never bite.
+
+Running an unmodified copy for yourself, your household or your organisation
+carries no obligation at all. Neither does modifying it privately. The licence
+asks something of you only when you hand your modified version to others.
+
+Contributions ship under the same licence — see [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md).
+Security reports: [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md).

SECURITY.md

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Security Policy
+
+## Reporting a vulnerability
+
+**Please do not put vulnerability details in a public issue.**
+
+This project has no private disclosure channel yet. Until it does, open an
+issue on the repository that says only that you have a security report — no
+reproduction steps, no affected endpoint, no payload — and a maintainer will
+reply with a private contact to send the details to.
+
+That is a deliberately awkward first step, and it exists because the
+alternative is worse: an issue tracker is public the moment it is written to,
+and every self-hosted instance stays vulnerable until its operator has had a
+chance to update.
+
+Please include, once you have a private channel:
+
+- what an attacker can do, and what access they need to start
+- the version or commit you tested
+- reproduction steps
+
+## Scope — what this software actually handles
+
+FabledCurator is self-hosted and holds things worth stating plainly, because
+they shape what counts as a serious bug here:
+
+- **Platform credentials.** The app captures and stores session cookies for
+  third-party subscription sites (Patreon, SubscribeStar, Pixiv) so it can
+  download on the operator's behalf. These are live credentials for accounts
+  that usually carry a payment method. Anything that discloses them, decrypts
+  them, or lets one user of a shared instance read another's is high severity.
+- **An extension API key.** The Firefox extension authenticates to the backend
+  with a shared key. Anything that leaks it or lets it be bypassed is a way in.
+- **A multi-user sharing ACL.** Instances can be shared. A bug that lets one
+  account see content another has not shared is an access-control failure, not
+  a cosmetic one.
+- **Arbitrary media from the internet.** Downloaded files are decoded, hashed,
+  thumbnailed and fed to ML models. Anything that turns a hostile file into
+  code execution is in scope.
+
+## Deployment posture — read this before reporting
+
+FabledCurator is designed to run **inside a private network, over plain HTTP**.
+It does not terminate TLS, redirect to HTTPS, or set HSTS; if you want
+transport security, terminate it at your reverse proxy. This is a documented
+design decision, not an oversight.
+
+Reports that reduce to "the application is served over HTTP" or "there is no
+HSTS header" describe that decision rather than a vulnerability. Reports that
+an authenticated operator can cause the software to do something destructive
+are usually also by design — the operator is the administrator of their own
+instance.
+
+What remains in scope is everything that crosses a boundary the software is
+supposed to hold: between one user and another, between an unauthenticated
+visitor and any of it, and between untrusted downloaded content and the host.
+
+## Supported versions
+
+Fixes land on the `main` branch and reach the `:latest` image. There are no
+maintained release branches — the supported version is the current one, and
+the remedy for a security issue is to update.

alembic/versions/0088_reconcile_models_with_schema.py

@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+"""Reconcile the database with what the models have always claimed (#3275).
+
+Milestone 328 discovered ~130 places where the ORM models and the deployed
+schema disagreed. Almost all of them were the MODEL being wrong — missing
+`server_default`s, indexes and CHECK constraints that only ever existed in a
+migration — and those are fixed in the model files with no DDL at all, because
+the database already had them.
+
+This migration carries the remainder — the two places where DDL is actually
+needed, because the database is what is wrong.
+
+`tag.fandom_id` is declared `index=True` on the model, but no migration ever
+created that index. Every autogenerate run since would have proposed adding
+it; nobody ran one, so the model and the database simply drifted apart and
+stayed that way.
+
+Deliberately NOT in this migration: anything about `image_record.sha256`. An
+earlier draft of this file claimed sha256 was not unique in the database and
+that duplicate rows were therefore possible. That was WRONG, and it was wrong
+because it was read off `op.create_index("ix_image_record_sha256", ...)` at
+0001 line 151 without reading line 149 two lines above it:
+
+    sa.UniqueConstraint("sha256", name="uq_image_record_sha256"),
+
+Uniqueness has been enforced since the initial schema. The database simply
+expresses it as a CONSTRAINT plus a separate non-unique lookup index, where
+the model expressed it as one `unique=True, index=True` column — the same
+guarantee built from different objects, which is why the two schemas did not
+line up. The model now declares the constraint and the plain index separately,
+so it describes what is actually there. No DDL is needed for it.
+
+Also here: six CHECK constraints whose names carry their table prefix TWICE.
+
+`base.py`'s naming convention is `ck_%(table_name)s_%(constraint_name)s`, and
+unlike the uq/fk/ix entries it applies even to a constraint that already has a
+name. Six migrations passed an already-prefixed name, so the convention
+prefixed it again:
+
+    ck_external_link_ck_external_link_host
+    ck_external_link_ck_external_link_status
+    ck_import_settings_ck_import_settings_singleton
+    ck_ml_settings_ck_ml_settings_singleton
+    ck_post_ck_post_translation_override
+    ck_tag_ck_tag_fandom_requires_character
+
+Nothing reads a CHECK constraint by name, so this has never done any harm —
+but it is exactly the development-era residue the collapsed baseline exists to
+leave behind, and a public schema should not ship it. The models now declare
+bare names, which the convention renders into the single-prefix form; this
+renames the deployed constraints to match.
+
+RENAME CONSTRAINT is a catalog-only operation: no table scan, no rewrite, no
+validation of existing rows. It takes a brief ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock and
+returns. That is why this is safe to do on `post` and `tag`, which are the two
+large tables in the schema.
+
+Revision ID: 0088
+Revises: 0087
+Create Date: 2026-08-30
+
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+from alembic import op
+
+revision: str = "0088"
+down_revision: Union[str, None] = "0087"
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+# (table, doubled name, single-prefix name)
+#
+# Six, not the four a first read of the migrations turned up. The list that
+# settles it is the one extracted from the chain's pg_dump by matching
+# `ck_(\w+?)_ck_\1_` — reading the migrations by eye missed external_link
+# twice over, in the same way an earlier pass missed a UNIQUE constraint two
+# lines above the index it was looking at (see the sha256 note above).
+DOUBLED_CHECKS = (
+    ("external_link", "ck_external_link_ck_external_link_host",
+     "ck_external_link_host"),
+    ("external_link", "ck_external_link_ck_external_link_status",
+     "ck_external_link_status"),
+    ("import_settings", "ck_import_settings_ck_import_settings_singleton",
+     "ck_import_settings_singleton"),
+    ("ml_settings", "ck_ml_settings_ck_ml_settings_singleton",
+     "ck_ml_settings_singleton"),
+    ("post", "ck_post_ck_post_translation_override",
+     "ck_post_translation_override"),
+    ("tag", "ck_tag_ck_tag_fandom_requires_character",
+     "ck_tag_fandom_requires_character"),
+)
+
+
+def _rename_check(table: str, old: str, new: str) -> None:
+    # Guarded on pg_constraint rather than run bare: a database built from the
+    # models (a fresh install, or the CI integration schema) already has the
+    # single-prefix name, and this migration must be a no-op there rather than
+    # an error. Same reasoning as the CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS below.
+    op.execute(
+        f"""
+        DO $$
+        BEGIN
+            IF EXISTS (
+                SELECT 1 FROM pg_constraint
+                WHERE conname = '{old}' AND conrelid = '{table}'::regclass
+            ) THEN
+                ALTER TABLE {table} RENAME CONSTRAINT {old} TO {new};
+            END IF;
+        END $$;
+        """
+    )
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    # IF NOT EXISTS because the index is what the model already asks for: any
+    # database built from metadata rather than from this chain will have it,
+    # and this migration must be a no-op there rather than an error.
+    op.execute("CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS ix_tag_fandom_id ON tag (fandom_id)")
+
+    for table, old, new in DOUBLED_CHECKS:
+        _rename_check(table, old, new)
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    for table, old, new in DOUBLED_CHECKS:
+        _rename_check(table, new, old)
+
+    op.execute("DROP INDEX IF EXISTS ix_tag_fandom_id")

alembic/versions/0089_index_hygiene.py

@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+"""Index the seven unindexed FKs; drop the seven redundant indexes (#3300, #3301).
+
+Found by a structural sweep of the deployed schema done AFTER 0088 brought the
+models and the migration chain into exact agreement. That agreement is what
+0088 achieved, and it is worth being precise about what it does NOT prove: a
+models-vs-chain diff shows the two describe the same schema. It says nothing
+about whether that schema is right. Everything here was wrong in BOTH, which is
+exactly the class of problem the reconciliation could not see.
+
+## Added: seven FK indexes
+
+`image_tag.tag_id` is the one that matters. The table's only index is
+PRIMARY KEY (image_record_id, tag_id), which leads with the wrong column for
+the two hottest things done with it:
+
+  * the gallery's tag filter — services/tag_query.py builds
+    `image_tag.c.tag_id == tid` (and `.in_(tids)`) on every tag-scoped browse;
+  * ON DELETE CASCADE from `tag` — deleting or merging a tag makes Postgres
+    find that tag's rows before it can remove them.
+
+Both had to scan the largest table in the schema. The other six are the same
+shape on much smaller tables; `presentation_review.tag_id` is the notable one,
+since it also CASCADEs.
+
+## Dropped: seven redundant indexes
+
+`ix_image_record_sha256` was an exact duplicate. A UNIQUE constraint builds its
+own index, so `uq_image_record_sha256` already covered the column and
+`image_record` carried two btrees on `sha256` — on the highest-insert-rate
+table in the system.
+
+The other six are single-column indexes that a later composite superseded
+without the narrow one being retired. A btree on (a, b) already serves lookups
+on `a`, so each was pure write amplification. `task_run` and `backup_run` are
+append-heavy operational logs, which is where that cost lands hardest.
+
+Note for anyone reading 0088 next to this: 0088 deliberately taught the models
+to declare BOTH sha256 indexes, so they would describe reality. That was right.
+This migration changes the reality instead, and the models change with it.
+
+## CONCURRENTLY, and why this migration has no transaction
+
+`CREATE INDEX` takes an ACCESS EXCLUSIVE lock for the whole build, which on
+`image_tag` means stalling every write for as long as it takes. CONCURRENTLY
+builds without blocking writers, at the cost of two table passes and an
+inability to run inside a transaction — hence `autocommit_block()`.
+
+The consequence to know about: this migration is NOT atomic. If it fails
+partway, the work already done stays done. Every statement is therefore written
+IF NOT EXISTS / IF EXISTS so that re-running it after a failure is safe rather
+than an error.
+
+A failed CONCURRENTLY build also leaves an INVALID index behind — it is not
+used by the planner and not repaired automatically. Find them with:
+
+    SELECT c.relname FROM pg_index i
+    JOIN pg_class c ON c.oid = i.indexrelid
+    WHERE NOT i.indisvalid;
+
+Drop what that returns and re-run; nothing else is needed.
+
+Revision ID: 0089
+Revises: 0088
+Create Date: 2026-08-31
+
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+from alembic import op
+
+revision: str = "0089"
+down_revision: Union[str, None] = "0088"
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+# (index name, table, column) — names match what the models render under
+# base.py's naming convention, so autogenerate stays quiet after this.
+MISSING_FK_INDEXES = (
+    ("ix_image_tag_tag_id", "image_tag", "tag_id"),
+    ("ix_presentation_review_tag_id", "presentation_review", "tag_id"),
+    ("ix_presentation_review_conflict_tag_id", "presentation_review", "conflict_tag_id"),
+    ("ix_import_task_result_image_id", "import_task", "result_image_id"),
+    ("ix_external_link_attachment_id", "external_link", "attachment_id"),
+    ("ix_character_prototype_region_id", "character_prototype", "region_id"),
+    ("ix_backup_run_restored_from_id", "backup_run", "restored_from_id"),
+)
+
+# (index name, table, column) — redundant; the second element of each pair in
+# the docstring is what still covers the column after the drop.
+REDUNDANT_INDEXES = (
+    ("ix_image_record_sha256", "image_record", "sha256"),
+    ("ix_backup_run_kind", "backup_run", "kind"),
+    ("ix_backup_run_status", "backup_run", "status"),
+    ("ix_task_run_queue", "task_run", "queue"),
+    ("ix_task_run_status", "task_run", "status"),
+    ("ix_task_run_task_name", "task_run", "task_name"),
+    ("ix_external_link_post_id", "external_link", "post_id"),
+)
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    with op.get_context().autocommit_block():
+        for name, table, column in MISSING_FK_INDEXES:
+            op.execute(
+                f"CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS {name} "
+                f"ON {table} ({column})"
+            )
+        for name, _table, _column in REDUNDANT_INDEXES:
+            op.execute(f"DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS {name}")
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    with op.get_context().autocommit_block():
+        for name, table, column in REDUNDANT_INDEXES:
+            op.execute(
+                f"CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS {name} "
+                f"ON {table} ({column})"
+            )
+        for name, _table, _column in MISSING_FK_INDEXES:
+            op.execute(f"DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS {name}")

backend/app/api/extension.py

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from quart import Blueprint, jsonify, request
 from sqlalchemy import select
 
+from ..build_info import FC_CHANNEL as _FC_CHANNEL
 from ..extensions import get_session
 from ..models import AppSetting
 from ..services.extension_service import (
@@ -31,6 +32,15 @@ XPI_DIR = Path("/app/frontend/dist/extension")
 
 _XPI_VERSION_RE = re.compile(r"fabledcurator-(?P<version>[\w.-]+)\.xpi$")
 
+# Which channel this image belongs to — "dev" or "main" — baked in at build
+# time (milestone 271 step 7). Read from build_info rather than the environment
+# a second time: /api/health reports the same value, and two independent
+# `os.environ.get` calls are two things that can drift.
+#
+# Still bound as a module-level name here, so tests monkeypatch
+# `extension.FC_CHANNEL` exactly as they did before, same as XPI_DIR above.
+FC_CHANNEL = _FC_CHANNEL
+
 
 async def _ext_key_required(session) -> bool:
     """Unlike /api/credentials (which accepts the browser path with no
@@ -133,13 +143,30 @@ def _read_manifest_sync() -> dict | None:
         return None
     versioned.sort(key=lambda p: p.stat().st_mtime)
     latest = versioned[-1]
-    return {
+    info = {
         "installed": True,
         "version": _extract_version(latest.name),
         "xpi_url": f"/extension/{latest.name}",
         "latest_url": "/extension/fabledcurator-latest.xpi",
         "sha256": _sha256(latest),
     }
+    # The channel goes BESIDE the version, never inside it. A `-dev` suffix is
+    # what silently disabled the dev channel in the sibling project this design
+    # comes from: the comparator returned nothing for a non-integer segment, so
+    # every dev version compared equal and "no update available" became
+    # indistinguishable from "I cannot read this version".
+    #
+    # Omitted rather than defaulted when unset. Absence already has a meaning
+    # every reader must handle — an image built before this field existed says
+    # exactly the same thing by not having the key — so a blank channel reuses
+    # that path instead of inventing a second "unknown" spelling.
+    #
+    # Reported verbatim, not validated against {"dev", "main"}: if an image
+    # declares something else, showing what it actually claims is more useful
+    # to whoever is debugging it than dropping the value on the floor.
+    if FC_CHANNEL:
+        info["channel"] = FC_CHANNEL
+    return info
 
 
 @extension_bp.route("/manifest", methods=["GET"])

backend/app/api/health.py

@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
-"""Health endpoint — no DB or Redis touch; just liveness."""
+"""Health endpoint — no DB or Redis touch; liveness, plus the build's identity.
+
+The identity rides here rather than on a route of its own because it answers
+at the same cost: two module constants, no I/O, nothing that can be slow or
+fail. It is also already fetched app-wide — TopNav calls `refreshHealth` on
+mount — so a separate endpoint would mean a second request for two strings.
+
+Both fields are OMITTED when unset rather than sent empty. See build_info.
+"""
+
+from ..build_info import FC_CHANNEL, FC_VERSION
 
 
 async def get_health():
-    return {"status": "ok"}, 200
+    body = {"status": "ok"}
+    if FC_VERSION:
+        body["version"] = FC_VERSION
+    if FC_CHANNEL:
+        body["channel"] = FC_CHANNEL
+    return body, 200

backend/app/build_info.py

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+"""What this build IS — stamped at image build time, not configurable.
+
+Deliberately separate from `config.py`. Those are operator settings, read from
+the environment and meant to be changed. These describe the artifact itself and
+are baked in by CI (the `FC_VERSION` / `FC_CHANNEL` build args); an operator
+setting them by hand is not a supported thing to do, it is just how a value
+gets from the build into the running process.
+
+**Absent rather than empty when unknown.** A locally-built image has no version,
+and neither did any image predating the field — one spelling of "cannot say",
+which every reader already has to handle, instead of a second one to
+special-case (note #3127 §7).
+
+**Why this matters more than it used to.** Milestone 318 stopped publishing
+version image tags, so a running instance's self-report is now the *only*
+answer to "which build is this?" — there is no registry name left to check it
+against. A wrong value here has nothing to contradict it. That is why the UI
+renders `unknown` rather than a blank or a plausible default: an empty footer
+reads as "no version", which is a different and false claim.
+
+The channel lives BESIDE the version and is never folded into it (rule 149).
+A `-dev` suffix would be parsed by the extension's comparator as a segment
+worth 0, making every dev build compare equal to every other — issue #2993's
+exact failure.
+"""
+
+import os
+
+FC_VERSION = os.environ.get("FC_VERSION", "").strip()
+FC_CHANNEL = os.environ.get("FC_CHANNEL", "").strip()

backend/app/models/artist.py

@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ class Artist(Base):
     notes: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
 
     # True once a Source is attached; flips false if all sources removed.
-    is_subscription: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False)
+    is_subscription: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False, server_default="false")
 
     # Per-artist scheduling overrides; null means "use global default".
-    auto_check: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=True)
+    auto_check: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=True, server_default="true")
     check_interval_seconds: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)
 
     created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(

backend/app/models/backup_run.py

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ feedback_check_existing_enums):
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import JSON, BigInteger, DateTime, ForeignKey, Integer, String, Text
+from sqlalchemy import JSON, BigInteger, DateTime, ForeignKey, Index, Integer, String, Text, text
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -29,10 +29,21 @@ from .base import Base
 class BackupRun(Base):
     __tablename__ = "backup_run"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0017: reporting indexes, never declared on the model (#3275).
+        Index("ix_backup_run_kind_started", "kind", text("started_at DESC")),
+        Index("ix_backup_run_status_finished", "status", text("finished_at DESC")),
+        Index("ix_backup_run_tag_partial", "tag", postgresql_where=text("tag IS NOT NULL")),
+    )
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    kind: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False, index=True)
+    # No index=True: ix_backup_run_kind_started (above) already leads with
+    # `kind`, so a single-column index on it was pure write cost (#3301).
+    kind: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(16), nullable=False, default="pending", index=True,
+        # No index=True — ix_backup_run_status_finished leads with `status`.
+        String(16), nullable=False, default="pending",
+        server_default="pending",
     )
     tag: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=True, index=True)
     triggered_by: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=False)
@@ -49,7 +60,9 @@ class BackupRun(Base):
     manifest: Mapped[dict] = mapped_column(
         JSON, nullable=False, default=dict, server_default="{}",
     )
+    # Self-referential FK, unindexed until 0089 (#3300): SET NULL has to find
+    # the rows pointing at a deleted run before it can null them.
     restored_from_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("backup_run.id", ondelete="SET NULL"),
-        nullable=True,
+        nullable=True, index=True,
     )

backend/app/models/character_prototype.py

@@ -40,8 +40,10 @@ class CharacterPrototype(Base):
     )
     # Provenance: the region this vector was copied from. SET NULL so pruning a
     # region doesn't delete the prototype mid-cycle (the next refresh reconciles).
+    # index=True added in 0089 — the FK was unindexed (#3300).
     region_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("image_region.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True
+        ForeignKey("image_region.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True,
+        index=True,
     )
 
 

backend/app/models/download_event.py

@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ class DownloadEvent(Base):
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()
     )
     finished_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True)
-    bytes_downloaded: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, nullable=False, default=0)
-    files_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    bytes_downloaded: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    files_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     metadata_: Mapped[dict] = mapped_column(
         "metadata", JSONB, nullable=False, default=dict,

backend/app/models/external_link.py

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ doesn't delete the link record).
 from datetime import datetime
 
 from sqlalchemy import (
+    CheckConstraint,
     DateTime,
     Float,
     ForeignKey,
@@ -38,15 +39,33 @@ STATUSES = ("pending", "downloading", "downloaded", "failed", "skipped", "dead")
 class ExternalLink(Base):
     __tablename__ = "external_link"
     __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0028 enum CHECKs. Rule 36 territory: a new host or status value
+        # needs its constraint swapped in the same migration (#3275).
+        CheckConstraint(
+            "host IN ('mega', 'gdrive', 'mediafire', 'dropbox', 'pixeldrain')",
+            # Bare name: Base.metadata's naming convention prepends
+            # ck_<table>_. Pre-prefixing it here doubles the prefix — see
+            # alembic 0088, which renames the four constraints that shipped
+            # that way (#3275).
+            name="host",
+        ),
+        CheckConstraint(
+            "status IN ('pending', 'downloading', 'downloaded', 'failed', 'skipped', 'dead')",
+            name="status",
+        ),
         # One row per (post, url). The full url (incl. #fragment) is the identity
         # — the same file linked twice in a post collapses to one row.
         Index("uq_external_link_post_url", "post_id", "url", unique=True),
         Index("ix_external_link_status", "status"),
+        # Unindexed FK (#3300).
+        Index("ix_external_link_attachment_id", "attachment_id"),
     )
 
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
+    # No index=True: uq_external_link_post_url (post_id, url) already leads
+    # with post_id (#3301).
     post_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("post.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
+        ForeignKey("post.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False
     )
     artist_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("artist.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True, index=True

backend/app/models/gpu_job.py

@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ class GpuJob(Base):
     # What to compute, e.g. 'ccip' (detect figures + CCIP-embed) or 'siglip_region'.
     task: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=False)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(16), nullable=False, default="pending", index=True
+        String(16), nullable=False, default="pending", index=True,
+        server_default="pending",
     )
     # pending | leased | done | error
     lease_token: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=True)
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ class GpuJob(Base):
     lease_expires_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True
     )
-    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     # Triage verdict for an ERRORED job (#125): NULL = not yet probed;
     # 'defect' = the integrity probe says the FILE itself is bad (surfaced for

backend/app/models/head_auto_apply_run.py

@@ -24,10 +24,11 @@ class HeadAutoApplyRun(Base):
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     # dry_run=True is a PREVIEW: scores + counts what WOULD apply, writes nothing
     # (preview/apply parity, rule 93).
-    dry_run: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False)
+    dry_run: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False, server_default="false")
     params: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONB, nullable=False)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True
+        String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True,
+        server_default="running",
     )
     # running | ready | error
     started_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(

backend/app/models/head_metric.py

@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ class HeadMetric(Base):
         ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), primary_key=True
     )
     # An auto-applied (source='head_auto') tag the operator later REMOVED.
-    n_misfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    n_misfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     # A tag with a head that the operator added by HAND (the head missed it).
-    n_underfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    n_underfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     updated_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()
     )

backend/app/models/head_metrics_snapshot.py

@@ -19,8 +19,14 @@ class HeadMetricsSnapshot(Base):
     __tablename__ = "head_metrics_snapshot"
 
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    tag_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), index=True
+    # Nullable, matching alembic 0060, which declared this column without
+    # `nullable=False`. The model had it as `Mapped[int]` — NOT NULL — which
+    # was simply never true of the database (#3275). Left nullable rather than
+    # tightened: a snapshot of a tag that is later hard-deleted is a row worth
+    # keeping, and the FK is ON DELETE CASCADE, so tightening it would only
+    # change behaviour, not correct a bug.
+    tag_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
+        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=True, index=True
     )
     # Denormalized so a snapshot stays readable even if the tag is later renamed.
     name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), nullable=False)
@@ -28,9 +34,9 @@ class HeadMetricsSnapshot(Base):
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now(), index=True
     )
     # Current count of source='head_auto' applications still standing.
-    n_auto_applied: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    n_misfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    n_underfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    n_auto_applied: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    n_misfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    n_underfires: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     # The head's measured quality at snapshot time (null if no head exists).
     ap: Mapped[float | None] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=True)
     precision_cv: Mapped[float | None] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=True)

backend/app/models/head_training_run.py

@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ class HeadTrainingRun(Base):
     # Training parameters: {min_positives, neg_ratio, precision_target, ...}.
     params: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONB, nullable=False)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True
+        String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True,
+        server_default="running",
     )
     # running | ready | error
     started_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(

backend/app/models/image_provenance.py

@@ -47,8 +47,15 @@ class ImageProvenance(Base):
     # attachment on the post. NULL for loose downloads and pre-backfill rows.
     # SET NULL so deleting the archive attachment never destroys the (image,
     # post) edge — it just forgets which archive it came from.
+    # FK named explicitly: the convention renders this
+    # `fk_image_provenance_from_attachment_id_post_attachment`, but alembic
+    # 0055 created it as `fk_image_provenance_from_attachment` (#3275).
     from_attachment_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("post_attachment.id", ondelete="SET NULL"),
+        ForeignKey(
+            "post_attachment.id",
+            ondelete="SET NULL",
+            name="fk_image_provenance_from_attachment",
+        ),
         nullable=True, index=True,
     )
     captured_metadata: Mapped[dict | None] = mapped_column(JSON, nullable=True)

backend/app/models/image_record.py

@@ -14,10 +14,13 @@ from sqlalchemy import (
     Enum,
     Float,
     ForeignKey,
+    Index,
     Integer,
     String,
     Text,
+    UniqueConstraint,
     func,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
@@ -29,11 +32,38 @@ ORIGIN_CHOICES = ("downloaded", "imported_filesystem", "uploaded")
 class ImageRecord(Base):
     __tablename__ = "image_record"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0001. The database enforces sha256 uniqueness with a
+        # CONSTRAINT and carries a SEPARATE non-unique btree index; the model
+        # said `unique=True, index=True`, which collapses both into a single
+        # UNIQUE index under a different name. Same guarantee either way, but
+        # not the same objects, so autogenerate saw a drop and an add (#3275).
+        UniqueConstraint("sha256", name="uq_image_record_sha256"),
+        # alembic 0036, and the last thing in this schema that lived only in a
+        # migration. SQLAlchemy CAN express an hnsw index with an operator
+        # class, so there is no reason for it to be invisible to the models —
+        # and its absence was the quietest failure of the lot: everything
+        # works, similarity search just silently stops using an index.
+        Index(
+            "ix_image_record_siglip_hnsw",
+            "siglip_embedding",
+            postgresql_using="hnsw",
+            postgresql_ops={"siglip_embedding": "vector_cosine_ops"},
+        ),
+        # alembic 0035/0071: the date-ordered browse indexes (#3275).
+        Index("ix_image_record_effective_date", text("effective_date DESC"), text("id DESC")),
+        Index("ix_image_record_earliest_post_date", text("earliest_post_date DESC"), text("id DESC")),
+    )
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
 
     # On-disk identity
     path: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False, unique=True)
-    sha256: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False, unique=True, index=True)
+    # Neither unique= nor index=: uq_image_record_sha256 in __table_args__
+    # above creates its own index, and the separate ix_image_record_sha256
+    # that 0001 also built was an exact duplicate of it — dropped in 0089
+    # (#3301). Lookups by sha256 use the constraint's index.
+    sha256: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False)
     phash: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=True, index=True)
     size_bytes: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, nullable=False)
     mime: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False)
@@ -47,7 +77,8 @@ class ImageRecord(Base):
     # Integrity verification status. FC-2e populates this; FC-2a leaves rows at 'unknown'.
     # Values: 'unknown' (default), 'ok', 'corrupt', 'failed_verification'.
     integrity_status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(24), nullable=False, default="unknown", index=True
+        String(24), nullable=False, default="unknown", index=True,
+        server_default="unknown",
     )
 
     # Thumbnail (populated by FC-2)
@@ -72,8 +103,15 @@ class ImageRecord(Base):
     )
     # FC-2d-vii-c: canonical per-image artist (the single source of truth
     # for attribution; provenance posts remain lineage detail).
+    # FK named explicitly: the naming convention renders this
+    # `fk_image_record_artist_id_artist`, but alembic 0008 created it as
+    # `fk_image_record_artist_id` (#3275).
     artist_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("artist.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True, index=True
+        ForeignKey(
+            "artist.id", ondelete="SET NULL", name="fk_image_record_artist_id"
+        ),
+        nullable=True,
+        index=True,
     )
 
     # ML fields (populated by the ml-worker / GPU agent). 1152 = SigLIP-so400m

backend/app/models/import_batch.py

@@ -21,17 +21,17 @@ class ImportBatch(Base):
     )
     finished_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True)
 
-    total_files: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    imported: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    skipped: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    failed: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    attachments: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    total_files: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    imported: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    skipped: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    failed: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    attachments: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     # Deep-scan only: count of already-imported files whose sidecar metadata
     # got re-applied this run (post/source/provenance upsert). Stays 0 on
     # quick-scan batches. See `Importer.import_one(deep_scan=True)`.
-    refreshed: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    refreshed: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
 
-    status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True)
+    status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True, server_default="running")
     # running | complete | cancelled
 
     tasks = relationship("ImportTask", back_populates="batch", cascade="all, delete-orphan")

backend/app/models/import_settings.py

@@ -4,7 +4,15 @@ Enforced as a single row via a CHECK (id = 1) constraint. The application
 always SELECTs id=1 and never inserts/deletes after the initial migration.
 """
 
-from sqlalchemy import Boolean, CheckConstraint, Float, Integer, Text, select
+from sqlalchemy import (
+    Boolean,
+    CheckConstraint,
+    Float,
+    Integer,
+    Text,
+    select,
+    text,
+)
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -14,63 +22,79 @@ class ImportSettings(Base):
     __tablename__ = "import_settings"
     # Bare constraint name — Base.metadata's naming convention applies the
     # ck_<table>_<name> prefix, producing the final ck_import_settings_singleton.
+    # Bare name — Base.metadata's naming convention prepends ck_<table>_,
+    # producing ck_import_settings_singleton. The chain shipped the DOUBLED
+    # ck_import_settings_ck_import_settings_singleton, because the migration
+    # pre-prefixed the name and the convention prefixed it again; alembic
+    # 0088 renames it to what this line has always produced (#3275).
     __table_args__ = (CheckConstraint("id = 1", name="singleton"),)
 
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
-    import_scan_path: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False, default="/import")
+    import_scan_path: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False, default="/import", server_default="/import")
 
-    min_width: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    min_height: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    min_width: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    min_height: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
 
-    skip_transparent: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False)
-    transparency_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=False, default=0.9)
+    skip_transparent: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False, server_default="false")
+    transparency_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=False, default=0.9, server_default="0.9")
 
-    skip_single_color: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False)
-    single_color_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=False, default=0.95)
-    single_color_tolerance: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=30)
+    skip_single_color: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False, server_default="false")
+    single_color_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(Float, nullable=False, default=0.95, server_default="0.95")
+    single_color_tolerance: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=30, server_default="30")
 
-    phash_threshold: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=10)
+    phash_threshold: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=10, server_default="10")
 
     # FC-3c downloader knobs
     download_rate_limit_seconds: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=3.0
+        Float, nullable=False, default=3.0,
+        server_default="3",
     )
     download_validate_files: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
 
     # FC-3d scheduling knobs
     download_schedule_default_seconds: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=28800
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=28800,
+        server_default="28800",
     )
     download_event_retention_days: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=90
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=90,
+        server_default="90",
     )
     download_failure_warning_threshold: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=5
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=5,
+        server_default="5",
     )
 
     # FC-3h backup knobs.
     backup_db_nightly_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
         Boolean, nullable=False, default=False,
+        server_default="false",
     )
     backup_db_nightly_hour_utc: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         Integer, nullable=False, default=3,
+        server_default="3",
     )
     backup_db_keep_last_n: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         Integer, nullable=False, default=14,
+        server_default="14",
     )
     backup_images_keep_last_n: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         Integer, nullable=False, default=3,
+        server_default="3",
     )
 
     # FC-6.3 series continuation matcher. enabled gates the rescan; threshold is
     # the weighted-score cut-off (0..1) above which a pending suggestion is made.
     series_suggest_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
         Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     series_suggest_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
         Float, nullable=False, default=0.5,
+        server_default="0.5",
     )
 
     # #830 off-platform file-host downloads — per-host enable lever (default on,
@@ -113,7 +137,9 @@ class ImportSettings(Base):
     # English (e.g. "… WIP Part 1") as a European language at ~0.86. CJK stays
     # trusted regardless (script-detected). Per-post overrides handle the misses.
     translation_min_confidence: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.9, server_default="0.9",
+        # text() because alembic 0084 used sa.text(); see ml_settings for why
+        # the form matters and why it is per-column (#3275).
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.9, server_default=text("0.9"),
     )
 
     # Title-based WIP auto-tagging (task #1458). When a freshly-imported post's

backend/app/models/import_task.py

@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@ from sqlalchemy import (
     Boolean,
     DateTime,
     ForeignKey,
+    Index,
     Integer,
     String,
     Text,
     func,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column, relationship
 
@@ -26,6 +28,12 @@ from .base import Base
 class ImportTask(Base):
     __tablename__ = "import_task"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        Index("ix_import_task_created_at_desc", text("created_at DESC")),
+        # Unindexed FK (#3300).
+        Index("ix_import_task_result_image_id", "result_image_id"),
+    )
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     batch_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("import_batch.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
@@ -33,14 +41,14 @@ class ImportTask(Base):
 
     source_path: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False)
     task_type: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False)  # media|archive
-    status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False, default="pending", index=True)
+    status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), nullable=False, default="pending", index=True, server_default="pending")
 
     # Poison-pill circuit breaker (alembic 0026). recovery_count tracks
     # how many times the stuck-task sweep has re-queued this row; after
     # the cap it's failed with a diagnostic instead of looping. refetched
     # bounds the one-shot re-download remediation to a single attempt.
-    recovery_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    refetched: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False)
+    recovery_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    refetched: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=False, server_default="false")
 
     result_image_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("image_record.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True

backend/app/models/library_audit_run.py

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ reads it and routes through cleanup_service.delete_images.
 from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Any
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Integer, String, Text, func
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Integer, String, Text, func, text
 from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import JSONB
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ class LibraryAuditRun(Base):
     params: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONB, nullable=False)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
         String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True,
+        server_default="running",
     )
     # running | ready | applied | cancelled | error
     started_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
@@ -31,14 +32,16 @@ class LibraryAuditRun(Base):
     finished_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True,
     )
-    scanned_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    matched_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
-    matched_ids: Mapped[list[int]] = mapped_column(JSONB, nullable=False, default=list)
+    scanned_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    matched_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
+    matched_ids: Mapped[list[int]] = mapped_column(
+        JSONB, nullable=False, default=list, server_default=text("'[]'::jsonb")
+    )
     error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     # Chunked-scan state (alembic 0039): keyset cursor the next chunk resumes
     # from, and the last time a chunk made progress (so the recovery sweep can
     # tell a progressing multi-chunk audit from a stuck one).
-    resume_after_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    resume_after_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
     last_progress_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True,
     )

backend/app/models/ml_settings.py

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from sqlalchemy import (
     String,
     func,
     select,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
@@ -20,7 +21,10 @@ from .base import Base
 class MLSettings(Base):
     __tablename__ = "ml_settings"
     # Bare name — Base.metadata's naming convention prepends ck_<table>_,
-    # producing the final ck_ml_settings_singleton (matches migration 0003).
+    # producing ck_ml_settings_singleton. The chain shipped the DOUBLED
+    # ck_ml_settings_ck_ml_settings_singleton, because the migration
+    # pre-prefixed the name and the convention prefixed it again; alembic
+    # 0088 renames it to what this line has always produced (#3275).
     __table_args__ = (CheckConstraint("id = 1", name="singleton"),)
 
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
@@ -31,17 +35,20 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # queueing embed work nothing will consume (the daily GPU 'embed' backfill
     # covers those images instead).
     cpu_embed_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     # Video embedding (#747). Sample one frame every N seconds (fixed CADENCE, not
     # a fixed count) so coverage reflects real screen time regardless of length;
     # cap the total so a long video can't explode into hundreds of embeds. The
     # per-frame SigLIP embeddings are mean-pooled. Operator-tunable.
     video_frame_interval_seconds: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=4.0
+        Float, nullable=False, default=4.0,
+        server_default="4",
     )
     video_max_frames: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=64
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=64,
+        server_default="64",
     )
     # Tagging-v2 head training (#114). The head is the suggestion source that
     # LEARNS from the operator's tags (replacing Camie + centroid). A concept
@@ -49,10 +56,12 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # head_auto_apply_precision is the precision bar a head must clear (at some
     # operating point) to "graduate" into earned auto-apply. Operator-tunable.
     head_min_positives: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=8
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=8,
+        server_default="8",
     )
     head_auto_apply_precision: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.97
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.97,
+        server_default="0.97",
     )
     # Earned auto-apply (#114). A graduated head fires (tags images without a
     # human) when this master switch is on AND the head has at least
@@ -61,29 +70,34 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # default (operator-asked 2026-06-29: opt-OUT, not opt-in); the support +
     # measured-precision gates keep it safe, and every auto-tag is reversible.
     head_auto_apply_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     head_auto_apply_min_positives: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         # Support floor raised 30→50 (operator-asked 2026-07-06): a head needs
         # more human labels before it may fire without a human.
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=50
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=50,
+        server_default="30",
     )
     # CCIP character-match cosine cut (#114). 0.85 default — the v1 flat 0.75
     # over-fired (high-reference characters matched a scatter of images); 0.85
     # keeps the confident single-character matches. Tunable from the agent card.
     ccip_match_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.85
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.85,
+        server_default="0.85",
     )
     # CCIP auto-apply (#114). Confident matches (>= ccip_auto_apply_threshold,
     # above the suggest cut) auto-tag on a daily sweep. ON by default (opt-out);
     # single-character references + the high bar keep it safe, every tag reversible.
     ccip_auto_apply_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     ccip_auto_apply_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
         # Raised 0.92→0.95 (operator-asked 2026-07-06) so only very confident
         # character matches auto-tag.
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.95
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.95,
+        server_default="0.92",
     )
     # -- Presentation chrome auto-hide (#141) -------------------------------
     # `banner` (chrome — clusters on UI, not content) auto-applies on the sweep
@@ -95,13 +109,21 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # (opt-out); every auto-tag is reversible. NOTE (#1464): `wip` + `editor
     # screenshot` are no longer chrome — they went to the PROCESS path below.
     presentation_auto_apply_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     presentation_auto_apply_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.90
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.90,
+        # text(), not a string, because alembic 0082 used sa.text(): a bare
+        # string renders DEFAULT '0.90'::double precision while text() renders
+        # DEFAULT 0.90, and the chain is MIXED — some migrations used one,
+        # some the other. Same value, different stored expression, so each
+        # column here mirrors whichever form its own migration used (#3275).
+        server_default=text("0.90"),
     )
     presentation_conflict_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.50
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.50,
+        server_default=text("0.50"),
     )
     # -- Process auto-apply (#1464) ----------------------------------------
     # `wip` / `editor screenshot` are PROCESS art — unfinished pieces + program
@@ -115,24 +137,29 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # (PresentationReview, mode='process') rather than silently marked. OFF by
     # default — a new whole-library auto-tagger is opt-in; every auto-tag reversible.
     process_auto_apply_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=False
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=False,
+        server_default="false",
     )
     process_auto_apply_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.90
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.90,
+        server_default="0.90",
     )
     process_conflict_threshold: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.50
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.50,
+        server_default="0.50",
     )
     # Default = SigLIP 2 (so400m, 512px) for new installs (migration 0069);
     # existing libraries keep their stored value until the operator re-embeds.
     embedder_model_version: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(128), nullable=False, default="siglip2-so400m-patch16-512"
+        String(128), nullable=False, default="siglip2-so400m-patch16-512",
+        server_default="siglip2-so400m-patch16-512",
     )
     # The HF model NAME the embedder loads (server CPU embed + announced to the
     # GPU agent in the lease). Operator-settable so the embedder is a choice, not
     # a hardcode (#1190): set name + version together, then re-embed + retrain.
     embedder_model_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(128), nullable=False, default="google/siglip2-so400m-patch16-512"
+        String(128), nullable=False, default="google/siglip2-so400m-patch16-512",
+        server_default="google/siglip2-so400m-patch16-512",
     )
     # -- Crop proposers / detectors (#1202, #134) --------------------------
     # WHERE-to-crop YOLO detectors feeding the crop→SigLIP bag + CCIP. Config
@@ -145,20 +172,24 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
     # person: general COCO figure detector for Western/realistic art the anime
     # person-detector misses → NMS-merged with imgutils → CCIP + concept.
     detector_person_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     detector_person_weights: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(512), nullable=False, default="yolo11n.pt"
+        String(512), nullable=False, default="yolo11n.pt",
+        server_default="yolo11n.pt",
     )
     detector_person_conf: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.35
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.35,
+        server_default=text("0.35"),
     )
     # anatomy: booru_yolo anime/furry/NSFW torso components → concept crops.
     # Default = yolov11m_aa22 (26 classes, best mAP50-95 0.96), committed in the
     # upstream repo so the URL resolves. License UNSTATED — fine for a private
     # homelab (operator accepted #1202).
     detector_anatomy_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     detector_anatomy_weights: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
         String(512), nullable=False,
@@ -166,37 +197,47 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
             "https://github.com/aperveyev/booru_yolo/raw/main/models/"
             "yolov11m_aa22.pt"
         ),
+        server_default="https://github.com/aperveyev/booru_yolo/raw/main/models/yolov11m_aa22.pt",
     )
     detector_anatomy_conf: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.30
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.30,
+        server_default=text("0.30"),
     )
     # panel: comic page → panel regions → concept crops (Apache-2.0, YOLOv12x).
     detector_panel_enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
-        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True
+        Boolean, nullable=False, default=True,
+        server_default="true",
     )
     detector_panel_weights: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
         String(512), nullable=False,
         default="mosesb/best-comic-panel-detection::best.pt",
+        server_default="mosesb/best-comic-panel-detection::best.pt",
     )
     detector_panel_conf: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.30
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.30,
+        server_default=text("0.30"),
     )
     # Per-frame caps bound the crop→embed explosion; max_regions is the hard
     # per-job backstop; dedupe_iou drops near-duplicate crops before the embed.
     detector_max_figures: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=8
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=8,
+        server_default="8",
     )
     detector_max_components: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=8
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=8,
+        server_default="8",
     )
     detector_max_panels: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=8
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=8,
+        server_default="8",
     )
     detector_max_regions: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=128
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=128,
+        server_default="128",
     )
     detector_dedupe_iou: Mapped[float] = mapped_column(
-        Float, nullable=False, default=0.85
+        Float, nullable=False, default=0.85,
+        server_default=text("0.85"),
     )
     # -- CCIP character prototypes (#1317) ---------------------------------
     # The per-character reference set is precomputed + refreshed INCREMENTALLY
@@ -208,7 +249,8 @@ class MLSettings(Base):
         String(128), nullable=True
     )
     ccip_prototype_cap: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        Integer, nullable=False, default=64
+        Integer, nullable=False, default=64,
+        server_default="64",
     )
     updated_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/patreon_failed_media.py

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class PatreonFailedMedia(Base):
         ForeignKey("source.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
     filehash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False)
-    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1)
+    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1, server_default="1")
     last_error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     first_failed_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/pixiv_failed_media.py

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class PixivFailedMedia(Base):
         ForeignKey("source.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
     filehash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False)
-    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1)
+    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1, server_default="1")
     last_error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     first_failed_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/post.py

@@ -13,11 +13,13 @@ from sqlalchemy import (
     CheckConstraint,
     DateTime,
     ForeignKey,
+    Index,
     Integer,
     String,
     Text,
     UniqueConstraint,
     func,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
@@ -27,6 +29,10 @@ from .base import Base
 class Post(Base):
     __tablename__ = "post"
     __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0030. The comment above described this index; nothing declared
+        # it, so autogenerate proposed dropping it (#3275).
+        Index("uq_post_artist_external_id_null_source", "artist_id", "external_post_id",
+              unique=True, postgresql_where=text("source_id IS NULL")),
         # Source-bound dedup. Postgres treats NULL != NULL so rows
         # with source_id IS NULL aren't deduped by this constraint;
         # the partial unique index `uq_post_artist_external_id_null_source`
@@ -35,7 +41,11 @@ class Post(Base):
         UniqueConstraint("source_id", "external_post_id", name="uq_post_source_external_id"),
         CheckConstraint(
             "translation_override IN ('auto', 'force', 'original')",
-            name="ck_post_translation_override",
+            # Bare name: Base.metadata's naming convention prepends
+            # ck_<table>_. Pre-prefixing it here doubles the prefix — see
+            # alembic 0088, which renames the four constraints that shipped
+            # that way (#3275).
+            name="translation_override",
         ),
     )
 

backend/app/models/presentation_review.py

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ are pruned by retention.
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Float, ForeignKey, String, func
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Float, ForeignKey, Index, String, func
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@ from .base import Base
 class PresentationReview(Base):
     __tablename__ = "presentation_review"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        Index("ix_presentation_review_resolved_at", "resolved_at"),
+        # Both FKs to tag were unindexed (#3300); tag_id CASCADEs, so a tag
+        # delete had to scan this table to find its rows.
+        Index("ix_presentation_review_tag_id", "tag_id"),
+        Index("ix_presentation_review_conflict_tag_id", "conflict_tag_id"),
+    )
     image_record_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("image_record.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), primary_key=True
     )

backend/app/models/series_chapter.py

@@ -16,7 +16,14 @@ title is the optional chapter name; stated_part is the optional operator-facing
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, Integer, Text, func
+from sqlalchemy import (
+    DateTime,
+    ForeignKey,
+    Integer,
+    Text,
+    UniqueConstraint,
+    func,
+)
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -25,14 +32,26 @@ from .base import Base
 class SeriesChapter(Base):
     __tablename__ = "series_chapter"
 
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0047 named the UNIQUE `uq_series_chapter_anchor_page`, not
+        # the `uq_series_chapter_anchor_page_id` a bare `unique=True` would
+        # render (#3275).
+        UniqueConstraint("anchor_page_id", name="uq_series_chapter_anchor_page"),
+    )
+
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     series_tag_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
+    # Both the UNIQUE (above) and the FK carry the names 0047 gave them; the
+    # convention would render the FK `fk_series_chapter_anchor_page_id_series_page`.
     anchor_page_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("series_page.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+        ForeignKey(
+            "series_page.id",
+            ondelete="CASCADE",
+            name="fk_series_chapter_anchor_page",
+        ),
         nullable=False,
-        unique=True,
     )
     title: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     stated_part: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)

backend/app/models/series_page.py

@@ -14,7 +14,14 @@ number parsed from the source post, nullable when unknown.
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, Integer, String, func
+from sqlalchemy import (
+    DateTime,
+    ForeignKey,
+    Integer,
+    String,
+    UniqueConstraint,
+    func,
+)
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -23,14 +30,22 @@ from .base import Base
 class SeriesPage(Base):
     __tablename__ = "series_page"
 
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0005 named this `uq_series_page_image`; a bare `unique=True`
+        # on the column renders `uq_series_page_image_id` under the naming
+        # convention, which is a different object from the one the database
+        # has (#3275).
+        UniqueConstraint("image_id", name="uq_series_page_image"),
+    )
+
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     series_tag_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
+    # UNIQUE lives in __table_args__ above, under the name 0005 gave it.
     image_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("image_record.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
         nullable=False,
-        unique=True,
     )
     # 'placed' = in the series-global run (page_number set); 'pending' = staged
     # from a post awaiting the operator's sort (page_number NULL). (#789 P2)

backend/app/models/source.py

@@ -5,7 +5,16 @@ Multiple sources per artist support creators with cross-platform presence.
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import JSON, Boolean, DateTime, ForeignKey, Integer, String, Text
+from sqlalchemy import (
+    JSON,
+    Boolean,
+    DateTime,
+    ForeignKey,
+    Integer,
+    String,
+    Text,
+    UniqueConstraint,
+)
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column, relationship
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -14,13 +23,27 @@ from .base import Base
 class Source(Base):
     __tablename__ = "source"
 
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0010. One row per (artist, platform, url): re-adding a source
+        # the artist already has is an update, not a second row. The model had
+        # never declared it (#3275), so autogenerate would have proposed
+        # DROPPING it — the guarantee existed only in the migration chain.
+        #
+        # Named explicitly because the naming convention would render this
+        # `uq_source_artist_id` (uq keys off column_0_name), which is both
+        # wrong about the shape and not what the database actually has.
+        UniqueConstraint(
+            "artist_id", "platform", "url", name="uq_source_artist_platform_url"
+        ),
+    )
+
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     artist_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("artist.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
     platform: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False)
     url: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False)
-    enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=True)
+    enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, nullable=False, default=True, server_default="true")
 
     config_overrides: Mapped[dict | None] = mapped_column(JSON, nullable=True)
 
@@ -32,7 +55,7 @@ class Source(Base):
     # by _update_source_health alongside last_error; cleared on 'ok'.
     error_type: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=True, index=True)
     check_interval_override: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)
-    consecutive_failures: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0)
+    consecutive_failures: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=0, server_default="0")
 
     # alembic 0031: sticky deep-scan budget. When > 0, the next N download
     # runs use gallery-dl's full-walk config (skip: True + 1800s timeout);

backend/app/models/subscribestar_failed_media.py

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class SubscribeStarFailedMedia(Base):
         ForeignKey("source.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
     )
     filehash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False)
-    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1)
+    attempts: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=False, default=1, server_default="1")
     last_error: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
     first_failed_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/tag.py

@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ from sqlalchemy import (
     Column,
     DateTime,
     ForeignKey,
+    Index,
     Integer,
     String,
     Table,
     false,
     func,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy import (
     Enum as SQLEnum,
@@ -67,17 +69,31 @@ image_tag = Table(
         primary_key=True,
     ),
     Column("tag_id", ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), primary_key=True),
-    Column("source", String(32), nullable=False, default="manual"),
+    Column("source", String(32), nullable=False, default="manual", server_default="manual"),
     Column("created_at", DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()),
+    # The PK is (image_record_id, tag_id), which leads with the WRONG column
+    # for the two things that matter most here (#3300): the gallery's tag
+    # filter (tag_query.py builds `image_tag.c.tag_id == tid`) and the
+    # ON DELETE CASCADE from tag, which has to find a tag's rows to remove
+    # them. Without this index both scan the largest table in the schema.
+    Index("ix_image_tag_tag_id", "tag_id"),
 )
 
 
 class Tag(Base):
     __tablename__ = "tag"
     __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0002. An EXPRESSION index — COALESCE cannot be expressed as a
+        # UniqueConstraint, which is why it only ever existed in a migration (#3275).
+        Index("uq_tag_name_kind_fandom", "name", "kind", text("COALESCE(fandom_id, 0)"),
+              unique=True),
         CheckConstraint(
             "(fandom_id IS NULL) OR (kind = 'character')",
-            name="ck_tag_fandom_requires_character",
+            # Bare name: Base.metadata's naming convention prepends
+            # ck_<table>_. Pre-prefixing it here doubles the prefix — see
+            # alembic 0088, which renames the four constraints that shipped
+            # that way (#3275).
+            name="fandom_requires_character",
         ),
     )
 
@@ -87,6 +103,7 @@ class Tag(Base):
         SQLEnum(TagKind, name="tag_kind", values_callable=lambda e: [m.value for m in e]),
         nullable=False,
         default=TagKind.general,
+        server_default="general",
     )
     fandom_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
         ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True, index=True

backend/app/models/tag_alias.py

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ in image_prediction stay unmolested.
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, String, func
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, Index, String, func
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -14,10 +14,17 @@ from .base import Base
 class TagAlias(Base):
     __tablename__ = "tag_alias"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # Named explicitly: the database calls this ix_tag_alias_canonical, while
+        # a bare index=True on the column would generate ix_tag_alias_canonical_tag_id
+        # and silently propose a drop+create on the next autogenerate (#3275).
+        Index("ix_tag_alias_canonical", "canonical_tag_id"),
+    )
     alias_string: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), primary_key=True)
     alias_category: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), primary_key=True)
     canonical_tag_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
+        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False
     )
     created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/tag_suggestion_rejection.py

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Prevents re-suggestion AND prevents allowlist auto-apply on that image.
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, func
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, Index, func
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -14,11 +14,24 @@ from .base import Base
 class TagSuggestionRejection(Base):
     __tablename__ = "tag_suggestion_rejection"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # Named explicitly; see tag_alias for why (#3275).
+        Index("ix_tag_suggestion_rejection_tag", "tag_id"),
+    )
+    # Both FKs named explicitly. alembic 0003 used a hand-shortened `tsr`
+    # prefix; the convention would render the full table name (#3275).
     image_record_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("image_record.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), primary_key=True
+        ForeignKey(
+            "image_record.id",
+            ondelete="CASCADE",
+            name="fk_tsr_image_record_id_image_record",
+        ),
+        primary_key=True,
     )
     tag_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), primary_key=True, index=True
+        ForeignKey("tag.id", ondelete="CASCADE", name="fk_tsr_tag_id_tag"),
+        primary_key=True,
     )
     rejected_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, server_default=func.now()

backend/app/models/task_run.py

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ backend.app.tasks.maintenance.recover_stalled_task_runs (Beat 5 min).
 
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Integer, String, Text
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Index, Integer, String, Text, text
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 
 from .base import Base
@@ -24,12 +24,21 @@ from .base import Base
 class TaskRun(Base):
     __tablename__ = "task_run"
 
+
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # alembic 0016: the three task-history indexes (#3275).
+        Index("ix_task_run_name_started", "task_name", text("started_at DESC")),
+        Index("ix_task_run_queue_started", "queue", text("started_at DESC")),
+        Index("ix_task_run_status_started", "status", text("started_at DESC")),
+    )
     id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     celery_task_id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
         String(64), nullable=False, index=True,
     )
-    queue: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=False, index=True)
-    task_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False, index=True)
+    # Neither carries index=True: ix_task_run_queue_started and
+    # ix_task_run_name_started already lead with these columns (#3301).
+    queue: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), nullable=False)
+    task_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False)
     target_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)
     started_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
         DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False, index=True,
@@ -39,7 +48,9 @@ class TaskRun(Base):
     )
     duration_ms: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(Integer, nullable=True)
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        String(16), nullable=False, default="running", index=True,
+        # No index=True — ix_task_run_status_started leads with `status`.
+        String(16), nullable=False, default="running",
+        server_default="running",
     )
     error_type: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=True)
     error_message: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)

ci-requirements.md

@@ -9,14 +9,17 @@ git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/ci-python:3.14
 ## Image deps used
 
 - python 3.14
-- ruff (analyzer for `backend/`, `tests/`, `alembic/`)
+- ruff (analyzer for `backend/`, `tests/`, `alembic/`, `agent/`, `scripts/`)
 - node (frontend job: `npm install` + vitest + vite build)
-- docker CLI + buildx (`.forgejo/workflows/build.yml`: build-web, build-ml — Fabled-Git registry push)
+- docker CLI + buildx (`.forgejo/workflows/build.yml`: build-web, build-ml, build-agent — Fabled-Git registry push, and `imagetools inspect`/`create` for the reuse path)
 
 ## Secondary runtime image
 
 node:24-bookworm-slim — `.forgejo/workflows/extension.yml` only.
 
+`.forgejo/workflows/release.yml` runs on `ci-python:3.14` like everything else
+and installs nothing: it needs git and stdlib python, and builds no image.
+
 The extension lane is the one job that does NOT run on `ci-python:3.14`: it
 needs a current Node for `web-ext` and vitest and nothing Python at all. Kept
 on the upstream slim image rather than adding a Node toolchain to `ci-python`,
@@ -55,16 +58,175 @@ per `docs/process.md`'s "add deps to the image when used by >1 project".
   modules, so the specs exercise exactly the bytes packaged into the XPI.
 - **`extension/scripts/packaging.sh` is the single definition of what ships
   inside the XPI.** Three consumers read from it rather than keeping their own
-  copy: web-ext's `--ignore-files` (`extension/package.json`), the `:(exclude)`
-  pathspec in `ci.yml`'s `extension-version` guard, and the `git log` pathspec
-  that derives the extension version. Three hand-kept copies of that one fact
-  is what allowed issue #2397.
-- Jobs that derive the extension version check out with `fetch-depth: 0`. The
-  version is the commit TIME of the newest packaged-extension change (minutes
-  since 2020-01-01, per family rule 149 — never a commit count, which orders
-  by branch rather than by recency). A depth-1 clone sees one commit and
-  derives a wrong, too-low value rather than failing, so the full-history
-  checkout is load-bearing wherever `packaging.sh version` is called.
+  copy: web-ext's `--ignore-files` (`extension/package.json`), the `git log`
+  pathspec inside the script's own version derivation, and `scripts/artifacts.sh`,
+  which appends the extension's set to web's because the web image bundles the
+  signed XPI. Hand-kept copies of that one fact is what allowed issue #2397, so
+  `extension/test/version.spec.js` asserts no workflow has reintroduced a
+  literal `:(exclude)extension/…`.
+- **Packaged and version-relevant are two different sets** (#3156). `scripts/`
+  is excluded from the XPI and is NOT excluded from the version derivation,
+  because `packaging.sh` decides the version string stamped into the packaged
+  `manifest.json`. The membership test is *"can changing this file change the
+  published bytes?"*, not *"is this file copied in?"* — which is why the script
+  keeps two lists rather than one.
+- **The shipped extension version is derived, not committed.** It is the commit
+  TIME of the newest packaged-extension change, rendered `YYYY.M.D.HHMM` UTC
+  (family rules 148/149 — never a commit count, which orders by branch rather
+  than by recency). `build.yml`'s `sign-extension` computes it and stamps it
+  into `extension/manifest.json` + `package.json` in the working tree before
+  signing; the stamp is never committed. The version in the repo is **wholly
+  inert** — since milestone 318 step 8 there is no hand-set MAJOR.MINOR either.
+- **The extension is the one artifact that does not zero-pad, and that is not a
+  drift** (#3138). Mozilla's grammar for AMO is
+  `^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})([.](0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$` — a segment is the single
+  digit `0` or starts 1-9, and there are at most four. `2026.08.29.0201` is
+  rejected; `2026.8.29.201` is the same value one character narrower per
+  segment, and rule 148 defines comparison as numeric per segment, so nothing is
+  reordered. `ci.yml`'s `extension-version` lane asserts the derived string
+  against that exact regex, plus a `YYYY.M.D.HHMM` shape check that would catch
+  a regression to the pre-318 `1.0.<minutes>` — which AMO would accept and which
+  orders below everything already signed. Checking here is the whole point: AMO
+  409s on re-signing, so a version it rejects is burned and cannot be reused.
+  `scripts/artifacts.sh version extension` **delegates** to `packaging.sh` so
+  the two cannot answer differently.
+- Every job that derives anything checks out with `fetch-depth: 0` — all four
+  `build.yml` jobs, `ci.yml`'s `extension-version` and `backend-lint-and-test`
+  (for `tests/test_artifact_paths.py` and `test_artifact_identity.py`), and
+  `release.yml`, which additionally walks the tag graph. A depth-1 clone sees
+  one commit and derives a wrong, too-low value **rather than failing**, so the
+  full-history checkout is load-bearing rather than incidental.
+- **`scripts/artifacts.sh` is the same shape one level up: one definition per
+  artifact of what it is built from, and the two values derived from it.**
+  `revision` (12 hex of the newest commit touching that set) and `version`
+  (`YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM` UTC, rule 148). Four artifacts, four independent answers,
+  so a push touching only `agent/` leaves web and ml alone.
+  `tests/test_artifact_paths.py` reads each Dockerfile and asserts every COPY
+  source is covered, so adding a COPY without updating the script fails CI.
+- **A file that DECIDES an artifact's identity belongs in its set even though it
+  is copied into nothing** — `packaging.sh` for the extension and web (#3156),
+  and `artifacts.sh` itself for web (#3202), which decides the `FC_VERSION`
+  baked into that image. Only web needs the second entry: every artifact stamps
+  a revision, but a revision has a backstop (a changed derivation stops matching
+  the published label and forces a rebuild) and a version has none, because
+  nothing compares it to anything. `tests/test_artifact_paths.py`'s `DERIVERS`
+  table is the guard.
+- **Builds are skipped when the content is already published.** Each image
+  carries its revision as an `fc.revision` LABEL, and `build.yml` reads that
+  label back off the moving channel tag (`imagetools inspect --format`). Equal
+  to the derived revision means the bytes are already published, so the job
+  repoints the remaining tags at the existing manifest instead of rebuilding.
+  Two things this depends on: an inspect that errors for ANY reason reads as a
+  MISS so no needed build is ever skipped, and the repoint must EXCLUDE the
+  source tag — `imagetools create` wraps its source in a manifest index, and
+  config labels do not resolve through an index, so writing the channel tag
+  from itself destroys the label the next run reads (#3183).
+- **The build pushes exactly ONE tag — the channel's — and every other tag is
+  written registry-side afterwards** (#3190). buildx on this runner pushes the
+  first tag to the registry and then re-pushes the rest through the docker
+  driver, out of a local image store that a registry-direct build never fills;
+  it fails intermittently with `tag does not exist`. On `dev` that only reddens
+  a job, but on `main` it silently skips `:c-<sha>` while `:latest` publishes
+  fine — a missing rollback tag has no consumer that fails, so nothing but the
+  red job would notice until somebody needs to roll back. `imagetools create`
+  has no local store to be absent from, and it is the code the reuse path
+  already ran, so both paths now share one proven route. The cost: `:c-<sha>`
+  is an index rather than a plain image, so `fc.revision` does not resolve
+  through it — nothing reads it there, and the index names the same manifest.
+- **The image builds run on a `docker-container` buildx builder, and
+  `provenance`/`sbom` are explicitly OFF** (milestone 326 step 1). The builder
+  is what makes a registry layer cache possible at all — the default `docker`
+  driver cannot export one (#3114) — and it is #3190's leading suspect, since
+  it is the driver that resolves image metadata against a local store a
+  registry-direct push never fills. **The attestation flags are load-bearing,
+  not tidiness:** on the container driver `build-push-action@v5` defaults
+  `provenance` to true when pushing, an attestation manifest makes the pushed
+  tag a manifest INDEX, and config labels do not resolve through an index — so
+  leaving them on would make every push read `fc.revision=<none>`, miss, and
+  rebuild forever with every lane green. Same failure as #3183, different door.
+  These jobs run inside a container against a mounted docker socket, so the
+  buildkit container is a sibling rather than a child.
+- **All three images import and export a registry layer cache**
+  (`<image>:buildcache`, `mode=max`). This is not an optimisation bolted onto
+  the driver change — it is the other half of it. The `docker-container`
+  driver gets a fresh buildkit instance per job and therefore has **no local
+  layer store at all**, where the old `docker` driver at least reused whatever
+  the runner's dockerd happened to hold. Measured on run 4896, the first builds
+  after the driver moved: web 3m44s (was 2m23s), ml 3m49s (was 3m20s), agent
+  11m12s (was 9m26s) — every one slower. A `:buildcache` tag is read by every
+  build that runs, is one moving ref per image, holds cache blobs rather than a
+  shippable artifact, and is overwritten in place, so it is not a return of the
+  per-version tags milestone 318 withdrew (#3114).
+- **`build.yml` accepts a `workflow_dispatch` with `force_build`**, which
+  bypasses the reuse check for all three images. It exists because
+  skip-if-exists makes its own build path untestable: `agent/` has not changed
+  since 2026-07-17, so the agent build has not run in six weeks and cannot be
+  exercised on demand — and #3190 lives on exactly that path. Editing
+  `build.yml` does not force a build either, deliberately: the workflow is not
+  shipped bytes and is in no artifact's path set. The flag is read through
+  `github.event.inputs` into an env var rather than interpolated into a run
+  block, and it is checked inside the reuse step so that one decision drives
+  both the build and the repoint.
+- **A weekly `schedule` rebuilds all three images against fresh base layers**
+  (Sunday 06:00 UTC, milestone 326 step 4, #3154). Skip-if-exists is keyed on
+  OUR source, so an artifact whose source stops moving stops picking up base
+  updates — `agent/` has not changed since 2026-07-17 and would otherwise serve
+  that day's `nvidia/cuda` layers forever. Four things make it work:
+  - It **builds `main`, not the branch that triggered it.** Forgejo registers a
+    cron from the DEFAULT branch (`dev` here), so a scheduled run arrives with
+    `github.ref` on dev. The ref is decided once in a top-level `env:
+    BUILD_REF` that every checkout in the file takes, rather than per job —
+    otherwise `sign-extension` would derive dev's extension version while
+    `build-web` bundled main's, and the release download would 404 on a version
+    that exists perfectly well. Every job then ASSERTS its checkout is `main`
+    before doing anything, because `env` inside `with:` is not a context this
+    runner is known to evaluate — if it silently resolved to empty, checkout
+    would fall back to the triggering ref and the refresh would publish dev's
+    source to `:latest` with every lane green.
+  - It **publishes only `:latest`.** `:c-<sha>` for main's HEAD already names
+    the bytes that commit built; re-pushing it over refreshed layers would
+    break the one tag rule 145 makes immutable, and it is the rollback unit.
+    The repoint step needs no schedule case for this — the tag list is the
+    channel tag alone, so SOURCE is the only entry, it is excluded as always,
+    and the step correctly does nothing.
+  - **`:latest` and `:c-<sha>` therefore diverge between a refresh and the next
+    `main` push, by design.** They re-converge on that push: it hits reuse (a
+    refresh does not move `fc.revision`, because it does not touch the source),
+    and the repoint writes the NEW `:c-<sha>` from the refreshed `:latest`. The
+    push path needed no change for this, because the repoint already excluded
+    the source tag — the same rule that keeps the label readable also keeps a
+    refresh from being undone.
+  - **`pull: true` on the scheduled path only** is the mechanism: a moved base
+    tag changes the `FROM` layer's cache key and everything above it rebuilds.
+    **It does not currently make the unmoved case free.** Measured on the first
+    real fire (run 4934, 2026-08-30): every content step reported `CACHED` and
+    the bases resolved to unchanged digests, yet all three `:latest` tags got a
+    NEW manifest digest, because buildkit mints a fresh image config per run and
+    republishes identical layers under it. So `:latest` is rewritten weekly
+    whether or not anything changed, and `:c-<sha>` is handed a new manifest to
+    diverge from on the same cadence — a digest change stops meaning anything.
+    Tracked as #3265; the likely fix is a deterministic `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH`.
+    Separately not caught: a Debian package update inside the `apt-get install`
+    layer while the base tag stands still — a lag rather than a hole, since the
+    official python/cuda images rebuild with those updates baked in.
+- **`FC_CHANNEL` and `FC_VERSION` are build args, not runtime settings.**
+  `build.yml` passes them to the web image only — the ml and agent images have
+  nothing to report them to. `/api/health` returns both, the foot of Settings
+  renders them, and `/api/extension/manifest` reports the channel beside the
+  extension version so an install can be traced to a channel. With no version image tags, that
+  self-report is the ONLY answer to "which build is this?" — which is why a
+  missing version renders `unknown` rather than a blank: an empty footer reads
+  as "no version", a different and false claim.
+  Both are declared LAST in the Dockerfile on purpose: an ARG invalidates every
+  layer below it, and these are the values that differ between the dev and main
+  builds of identical source, so placing them earlier would stop the two
+  channels ever sharing a cached `pip install`. Empty by default — a local build
+  then reports nothing rather than claiming a channel it is not on.
+- **The channel is never folded into the version.** A `-dev` suffix makes the
+  extension's per-segment `parseInt` comparator read that segment as 0, so every
+  dev build compares equal to every other — issue #2993 exactly (rule 149).
+  `frontend/test/systemBuild.spec.js` pins the rendered version to the bare
+  number.
 - Callers MUST `set -f` before substituting the script's output. Without it the
   shell expands `test/**` against the working tree and silently narrows the
   pattern to whatever files exist at that moment — a failure that looks like

docker-compose.yml

@@ -74,7 +74,25 @@ services:
       retries: 5
 
   web:
-    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:dev
+    # :latest, NOT :dev — this file IS the install path.
+    #
+    # `docker compose up -d` merges docker-compose.override.yml, which sets
+    # build: for all five app services, and a build: wins over image:. So a
+    # contributor never pulls this tag and is unaffected by what it says.
+    #
+    # The tag is consulted only on `docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d`
+    # — the documented production path, which skips the override. That is a
+    # stranger installing the product, and they must land on the stable channel.
+    #
+    # :latest is main, which IS production (rule 147). :dev is the rolling
+    # bleeding-edge channel we work out of, republished several times a day with
+    # no stability promise. This file pinned :dev on all five services until
+    # 2026-08-31 (#3270), so the documented install shipped development builds.
+    # It went unnoticed because nobody who works on the project takes this path:
+    # the operator deploys from a swarm stack file, contributors get the
+    # override. Do not "fix" this back to :dev while debugging — use the
+    # override, or -f with an explicit tag on the command line.
+    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:latest
     command: ["web"]
     # Graceful shutdown: give the container time to drain in-flight work on a
     # deploy (docker SIGTERMs, then SIGKILLs after this window — default is only
@@ -122,7 +140,7 @@ services:
       redis:    { condition: service_healthy }
 
   worker:
-    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:dev
+    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:latest
     command: ["worker"]
     # Drain in-flight import/thumbnail/download tasks before SIGKILL on deploy.
     stop_grace_period: 90s
@@ -142,7 +160,7 @@ services:
       redis:    { condition: service_healthy }
 
   scheduler:
-    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:dev
+    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:latest
     command: ["scheduler"]
     # Quick maintenance/scan lane + beat — short tasks, modest drain window.
     stop_grace_period: 60s
@@ -163,7 +181,7 @@ services:
   # 30-min backup or a multi-chunk audit can never starve the 5-min recovery
   # sweeps / vacuum (operator-flagged 2026-06-07). One slot — these are heavy.
   maintenance-long:
-    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:dev
+    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator:latest
     command: ["worker"]
     # Longest lane (DB backups, library audits, translation backfill) — give it
     # the most room to finish a chunk gracefully. Chunked + idempotent, so a job
@@ -184,7 +202,7 @@ services:
       redis:    { condition: service_healthy }
 
   ml-worker:
-    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator-ml:dev
+    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator-ml:latest
     command: ["ml-worker"]
     # A single GPU inference pass can run tens of seconds — let it finish.
     stop_grace_period: 120s

extension/README.md

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ page in one click.
 
 ## Install (operator)
 
-The signed XPI is bundled into the FC Docker image. Open FC →
+The signed XPI is bundled into the FC Docker image — `:dev` and
+`:latest` each carry their own channel's build. Open FC →
 Settings → Maintenance → Browser extension → click "Install Firefox
 extension". Firefox shows its native install prompt. After installing,
 open the extension's options page (about:addons → FabledCurator →
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ same card.
 cd extension/
 npm install --no-save        # web-ext only
 npm run lint                 # web-ext lint
+npm run test:unit            # vitest — lib/ logic + packaging/version checks
 npm run start                # launches Firefox with extension loaded
 npm run build                # unsigned XPI in web-ext-artifacts/
 ```
@@ -36,10 +38,76 @@ npm run build                # unsigned XPI in web-ext-artifacts/
 - [ ] Subscriptions list: popup → "Sources" tab → list renders
 - [ ] Check now: click play icon on source row → no error toast
 
+## Versioning — the committed number decides nothing
+
+The shipped version is **derived**, not committed. `scripts/packaging.sh
+version` returns `YYYY.M.D.HHMM` in UTC: the commit *time* of the newest change
+to a packaged extension file. `build.yml` computes it and stamps it into both
+`manifest.json` and `package.json` at build time. The stamp is never
+committed — the commit carrying it would itself be a change to the extension,
+which would move the version again.
+
+So:
+
+- **Editing the version does nothing.** All of it is overwritten before web-ext
+  ever reads it. There is no bump to make, and none to forget. There is no
+  hand-set part left either: MAJOR.MINOR went away with milestone 318 step 8.
+- `npm run build` locally produces an XPI labelled with the *committed*
+  version, since nothing stamped it. Fine for loading into a test profile; not
+  what ships.
+
+**Why the extension is the one artifact that does not zero-pad.** Every other
+FC artifact emits rule 148's `YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM`. AMO will not take it: Mozilla's
+grammar for addons.mozilla.org is
+
+```
+^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})([.](0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$
+```
+
+— each segment is the single digit `0` or starts 1-9, so `08` and `0201` are
+rejected, and at most four segments are allowed. The extension therefore emits
+**the same numbers unpadded**: `2026.8.29.201` where the rest of the family
+says `2026.08.29.0201`. Rule 148 already defines comparison as numeric per
+segment, under which the two are equal, so nothing is reordered by the choice
+and left-padding each segment recovers the family string exactly. `ci.yml`'s
+`extension-version` lane checks the derived string against that regex on every
+push — the cheap place to find out, because AMO 409s on re-signing and a
+rejected version is burned for good.
+
+Why commit time and not a commit count: a count is per-branch, so `dev` and
+`main` count different histories of the same code and their versions end up
+ordered by which branch accumulated more commits rather than by which is newer.
+Commit time gives both branches the same number for the same source — which is
+exactly what lets one AMO signature serve both channels (family rule 149, FC
+issue #3092).
+
+## Channels
+
+`dev` and `main` each build and sign their own extension, and an install is
+tied to whichever FC instance it points at — Firefox's static `update_url`
+cannot apply here, since every FC install is a different host, so the extension
+asks its configured backend. **The channel therefore IS the instance.**
+Switching channel means repointing the FC URL in options and reinstalling from
+that host; there is no separate channel setting, and adding one would
+contradict each server build shipping its own extension.
+
+The channel is reported *beside* the version, never inside it:
+`/api/extension/manifest` answers `{"version": "...", "channel": "dev"}`. It is
+optional — an instance that declares none simply omits the key, and the popup,
+the toolbar tooltip and the Settings card all read exactly as they did before
+the field existed. Do not be tempted to make it a `-dev` version suffix: the
+comparator parses each dotted segment with `parseInt`, so a suffixed segment
+reads as 0 and every dev build compares equal to every other, collapsing "no
+update available" and "I cannot read this version" into one answer.
+
 ## Release
 
-Bump `manifest.json` + `package.json` SemVer (both files) and commit
-under `extension/**`. The `.forgejo/workflows/extension.yml` workflow
-runs `web-ext sign` on main, commits the signed XPI to
-`frontend/public/extension/`, and the next FC server build bundles it
-into the Docker image.
+Nothing to do by hand. Push to `dev`: `build.yml` signs the extension if this
+change moved the version, caches the signed XPI as a Forgejo `ext-<version>`
+release, and bundles it into `fabledcurator:dev`. Merging to `main` derives the
+same version, hits that cache, and bundles the byte-identical XPI into
+`:latest` with no second AMO call.
+
+AMO refuses to re-sign a version it has already issued, so signing is one-shot
+per version — which is why the cache exists and why the version must never move
+backwards.

extension/background/background.js

@@ -37,7 +37,16 @@ ensureInitialized().catch(e => console.error('init failed:', e));
 // configured backend for the latest published version and nudge the operator to
 // reinstall the freshly-signed XPI — surfaced as a popup banner (on demand) and
 // a toolbar badge (daily). /api/extension/manifest is public and returns
-// {version, latest_url, sha256}; the XPI is served from the web root (not /api).
+// {version, latest_url, sha256} plus an OPTIONAL {channel} naming which channel
+// that instance serves ("dev"/"main", #3113); the XPI is served from the web
+// root (not /api).
+//
+// The channel IS the instance: Firefox's static update_url cannot apply here
+// because every FC install is a different host, so the extension asks its
+// configured backend — which means switching channel is repointing apiUrl in
+// options and reinstalling from that host. There is no separate channel
+// setting to build, and building one would contradict each server build
+// shipping its own extension.
 
 function versionIsNewer(candidate, current) {
   // Dotted numeric compare so 1.0.10 > 1.0.9 (a plain string compare wouldn't).
@@ -60,12 +69,22 @@ async function checkForUpdateInfo() {
   }
   const currentVersion = browser.runtime.getManifest().version;
   const latestVersion = info && info.version ? info.version : null;
+  // Which channel the configured instance serves — reported ALONGSIDE the
+  // version, never folded into it. A `-dev` suffix would have to survive
+  // versionIsNewer's parseInt above, and it wouldn't: the segment would read
+  // as 0 and every dev build would compare equal to every other.
+  //
+  // null is a normal answer, not a failure — an instance built before the
+  // field existed, or one built locally with no channel declared. Nothing
+  // below branches on it except the label.
+  const channel = info && info.channel ? info.channel : null;
   // latest_url is served from the web root, not the JSON API.
   const base = api.webRoot();
   return {
     updateAvailable: !!latestVersion && versionIsNewer(latestVersion, currentVersion),
     currentVersion,
     latestVersion,
+    channel,
     xpiUrl: info && info.latest_url ? `${base}${info.latest_url}` : null,
   };
 }
@@ -77,7 +96,11 @@ async function refreshUpdateBadge() {
     await browser.action.setBadgeText({ text: r.updateAvailable ? '↑' : '' });
     if (r.updateAvailable) {
       await browser.action.setBadgeBackgroundColor({ color: '#F4BA7A' });
-      await browser.action.setTitle({ title: `FabledCurator — update available (v${r.latestVersion})` });
+      // Channel first, version second, and the channel dropped entirely when
+      // the instance doesn't report one — so the tooltip reads exactly as it
+      // did before the field existed rather than saying "(unknown ...)".
+      const label = r.channel ? `${r.channel} v${r.latestVersion}` : `v${r.latestVersion}`;
+      await browser.action.setTitle({ title: `FabledCurator — update available (${label})` });
     } else {
       await browser.action.setTitle({ title: 'FabledCurator' });
     }

extension/popup/popup.js

@@ -81,8 +81,12 @@ async function checkForUpdate() {
 }
 
 function showUpdateBanner(r) {
+  // The channel names itself beside the version, never inside it (#3113).
+  // Absent when the instance doesn't report one, and the banner then reads
+  // exactly as it did before the field existed.
+  const channel = r.channel ? ` (${r.channel})` : '';
   document.getElementById('update-text').textContent =
-    `Update available — v${r.latestVersion} (installed v${r.currentVersion})`;
+    `Update available${channel} — v${r.latestVersion} (installed v${r.currentVersion})`;
   // Opening the signed XPI triggers Firefox's native install prompt.
   document.getElementById('update-btn').addEventListener('click', () => {
     browser.tabs.create({ url: r.xpiUrl });

extension/scripts/packaging.sh

@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 # keeping three copies of one fact in sync by hand is how issue #2397 happened:
 #
 #   1. web-ext's --ignore-files      (extension/package.json's four scripts)
-#   2. the :(exclude) pathspec       (ci.yml's extension-version guard)
+#   2. the :(exclude) pathspec       (what moves the version — a WIDER
+#                                     set than the ignore list; see
+#                                     NOT_VERSION_RELEVANT)
 #   3. the git-log pathspec          (the derived version, below)
 #
 # They now all read from here. POSIX sh only — CI's run shell is busybox.
@@ -35,8 +37,30 @@ set -euf
 NOT_PACKAGED_TRACKED='package.json package-lock.json README.md .gitignore vitest.config.js scripts scripts/** test test/**'
 NOT_PACKAGED_BUILD='web-ext-artifacts node_modules'
 
+# Paths under extension/ that cannot change the SHIPPED BYTES, and so must not
+# move the derived version.
+#
+# Deliberately NOT the same list as NOT_PACKAGED_TRACKED, and the whole
+# difference is `scripts/`. packaging.sh is not packaged into the XPI — but it
+# DECIDES the version string, and build.yml stamps that string into the
+# manifest.json that is packaged. A change to how the version is computed is
+# therefore a change to the shipped bytes.
+#
+# Excluding it was harmless only while every push rebuilt the web image.
+# Milestone 313 step 4 made the rebuild conditional on the derived revision
+# moving, which turned it into a silent failure: a packaging.sh change gives a
+# NEW version, so sign-extension misses its ext-<version> cache and signs —
+# while build-web sees an unmoved revision, reuses the published image, and
+# ships the OLD XPI. An orphaned AMO signature, and an instance quietly serving
+# code the registry says is current.
+#
+# The two directions are not symmetric, which is why this list is the narrower
+# one. Too wide costs a re-sign and a rebuild for a change that ships nothing
+# new. Too narrow serves stale bytes and says nothing.
+NOT_VERSION_RELEVANT='package.json package-lock.json README.md .gitignore vitest.config.js test test/**'
+
 usage() {
-  echo "usage: packaging.sh {ignore|pathspec|version|major-minor|patch}" >&2
+  echo "usage: packaging.sh {ignore|pathspec|version}" >&2
   exit 2
 }
 
@@ -49,46 +73,61 @@ cmd_ignore() {
   echo "$NOT_PACKAGED_TRACKED $NOT_PACKAGED_BUILD"
 }
 
-# git pathspec excluding the non-packaged tracked files, e.g.
-#   :(exclude)extension/package.json :(exclude)extension/test/**
+# git pathspec excluding the tracked files that cannot change the shipped
+# bytes, e.g. :(exclude)extension/package.json :(exclude)extension/test/**
+#
+# This answers "what moves the version?", NOT "what goes in the XPI?" — see
+# NOT_VERSION_RELEVANT for why those differ. cmd_ignore answers the other one.
 # Same `set -f` requirement as above.
 cmd_pathspec() {
-  for entry in $NOT_PACKAGED_TRACKED; do
+  for entry in $NOT_VERSION_RELEVANT; do
     printf ':(exclude)extension/%s ' "$entry"
   done
   echo
 }
 
-# MAJOR.MINOR stays hand-set in manifest.json — it's the part that carries
-# deliberate meaning. Only the patch component is derived.
-cmd_major_minor() {
-  root=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
-  grep -E '"version"' "$root/extension/manifest.json" \
-    | head -1 \
-    | sed -E 's/.*"version"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+).*/\1.\2/'
+# Strip leading zeros from one segment, leaving at least one digit.
+#
+# This exists for AMO and nothing else. Mozilla's version grammar for
+# addons.mozilla.org is documented as
+#
+#     ^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})([.](0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$
+#
+# — each segment is either the single digit `0` or starts 1-9, so `08` and
+# `0201` are rejected outright, while `0` itself is fine. MDN states it in
+# prose too: "Non-zero numbers must not include a leading zero."
+#
+# POSIX sh has no trim-loop, hence the while.
+unpad() {
+  s=$1
+  while [ "${#s}" -gt 1 ]; do
+    case "$s" in
+      0*) s=${s#0} ;;
+      *)  break ;;
+    esac
+  done
+  printf '%s' "$s"
 }
 
-# 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z — the anchor for the derived patch component. Fixed
-# forever; moving it would renumber every version downwards.
-VERSION_EPOCH=1577836800
-
-# Minutes since VERSION_EPOCH of the LATEST commit that touched a PACKAGED
-# extension file.
+# The extension's version: `YYYY.M.D.HHMM`, UTC, derived from the commit TIME
+# of the newest change to a PACKAGED extension file.
 #
-# Time-derived, per family rule 149: an artifact's ordering key must never be a
-# commit count. A count is per-branch — `dev` and `main` count different
-# histories of the same code — so the moment BOTH channels publish, their
-# versions order by which branch accumulated more commits rather than by which
-# is newer. A squash-merge makes that permanent: main gains one commit where dev
-# gained five, so dev climbs away from main and a dev install can never cross
-# back. That is Roundtable's 2026-08-24 incident (`versionCode` was the branch's
-# commit count) in a different repo. Measured here on 2026-08-27: main=23,
-# dev=24 under the old formula — one apart, which is exactly how the inversion
-# stays invisible until it strands somebody.
+# THE ONE DELIBERATE DEPARTURE FROM THE FAMILY SHAPE, and it is a rendering
+# difference only. Rule 148 says `YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM` zero-padded, and every other
+# FC artifact emits exactly that. AMO's grammar (see unpad) forbids the padding,
+# and AMO is not negotiable: a rejected version is burned, since AMO 409s on
+# re-signing a version it has already seen. So the extension emits THE SAME
+# NUMBERS unpadded — 2026.08.29.0201 and 2026.8.29.201 are one value in two
+# renderings, and rule 148 already specifies comparison as numeric per segment,
+# under which they are equal. Nothing published is reordered by the choice, and
+# left-padding each segment recovers the family string exactly.
+#
+# HHMM is one segment, not two, because AMO allows at most FOUR. Unpadded that
+# reads oddly (00:14 -> `14`, midnight -> `0`) but stays strictly increasing
+# within a day, which is all the ordering needs.
 #
 # Why the commit's time and not the build's:
-#   * MONOTONIC — max() over a set that only ever gains members. Verified
-#     across all 24 extension-touching commits: zero non-monotonic steps.
+#   * MONOTONIC — max() over a set that only ever gains members.
 #   * STABLE while the extension is unchanged, so an unchanged extension keeps
 #     its version, the ext-<version> signature cache still hits, and AMO is
 #     called once per extension CHANGE rather than once per push. Build-time
@@ -99,32 +138,40 @@ VERSION_EPOCH=1577836800
 #     produced for byte-identical code. Same code, same version, one signing.
 #   * REPRODUCIBLE — any checkout of a commit yields that commit's version.
 #
+# Never a commit count (family rule 149): a count is per-branch, so `dev` and
+# `main` count different histories of the same code and order by which branch
+# accumulated more commits rather than by which is newer. A squash-merge makes
+# that permanent. Roundtable's 2026-08-24 incident, in a different repo.
+#
 # Requires real history: a depth-1 clone sees one commit and will derive a wrong
 # (too low) value. Every consumer must check out with fetch-depth: 0.
-cmd_patch() {
+#
+# Formatted through git rather than date(1): busybox date does not reliably
+# accept `-d @<epoch>`, and git's --date=format-local is available wherever git
+# is. TZ=UTC so the value does not depend on the runner's timezone.
+cmd_version() {
   root=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
   # Unquoted on purpose: the pathspec must word-split into separate args.
   # Globbing is already off script-wide (set -euf above).
   # shellcheck disable=SC2046
-  ts=$(cd "$root" && git log --format=%ct HEAD -- extension/ $(cmd_pathspec) \
-       | sort -n | tail -1)
-  if [ -z "$ts" ]; then
+  sha=$(cd "$root" && git log --format='%ct %H' HEAD -- extension/ $(cmd_pathspec) \
+        | sort -n | tail -1 | cut -d' ' -f2)
+  if [ -z "$sha" ]; then
     echo "packaging.sh: no commit touches a packaged extension file" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
-  echo $(( (ts - VERSION_EPOCH) / 60 ))
-}
-
-cmd_version() {
-  echo "$(cmd_major_minor).$(cmd_patch)"
+  padded=$(cd "$root" && TZ=UTC git show -s --format=%cd \
+           --date='format-local:%Y.%m.%d.%H%M' "$sha")
+  # Rebinding the function's own positional params, which are unused here.
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2046
+  set -- $(echo "$padded" | tr '.' ' ')
+  echo "$(unpad "$1").$(unpad "$2").$(unpad "$3").$(unpad "$4")"
 }
 
 [ $# -ge 1 ] || usage
 case "$1" in
-  ignore)      cmd_ignore ;;
-  pathspec)    cmd_pathspec ;;
-  version)     cmd_version ;;
-  major-minor) cmd_major_minor ;;
-  patch)       cmd_patch ;;
-  *)           usage ;;
+  ignore)   cmd_ignore ;;
+  pathspec) cmd_pathspec ;;
+  version)  cmd_version ;;
+  *)        usage ;;
 esac

extension/test/version.spec.js

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
-import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { readdirSync, readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process'
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 import path from 'node:path'
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ const EXT_DIR = path.join(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..')
 const read = (name) => JSON.parse(readFileSync(path.join(EXT_DIR, name), 'utf8'))
 const readText = (...seg) => readFileSync(path.join(EXT_DIR, ...seg), 'utf8')
 
-// Only the git-free subcommands are exercised here: `version`/`patch` shell out
-// to git, and the extension lane runs on node:24-bookworm-slim which may not
-// ship it. Those two are covered where git is guaranteed — ci.yml and build.yml
-// run on ci-python.
+// Only the git-free subcommands are exercised here: `version` shells out to
+// git, and the extension lane runs on node:24-bookworm-slim which may not ship
+// it. That one is covered where git is guaranteed — ci.yml's extension-version
+// lane and build.yml both run on ci-python.
 const packaging = (cmd) =>
   execFileSync('sh', [path.join(EXT_DIR, 'scripts', 'packaging.sh'), cmd], {
     cwd: EXT_DIR,
@@ -44,9 +44,39 @@ describe('packaging.sh — the single definition of what ships', () => {
     // covering anything added later.
     const pathspec = packaging('pathspec')
     expect(pathspec).toContain(':(exclude)extension/test/**')
-    expect(pathspec).toContain(':(exclude)extension/scripts/**')
     expect(pathspec.some((e) => e.includes('.spec.js'))).toBe(false)
     expect(pathspec.some((e) => e.includes('helpers'))).toBe(false)
+
+    const ignore = packaging('ignore')
+    expect(ignore).toContain('test/**')
+    expect(ignore).toContain('scripts/**')
+    expect(ignore.some((e) => e.includes('.spec.js'))).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('lets packaging.sh move the version, though it never ships in the XPI', () => {
+    // The two lists answer different questions and this is the one place they
+    // disagree. scripts/ is ignored by web-ext — it is repo tooling, not addon
+    // code — but packaging.sh DECIDES the version string, and build.yml stamps
+    // that string into the manifest.json that does ship. So changing how the
+    // version is computed changes the shipped bytes.
+    //
+    // Excluding it from the pathspec was invisible while every push rebuilt the
+    // web image. Milestone 313 step 4 made that rebuild conditional on the
+    // derived revision moving, and the omission turned into a silent failure:
+    // a new version means sign-extension misses its ext-<version> cache and
+    // signs, while build-web sees an unmoved revision, reuses the published
+    // image and ships the OLD XPI. An orphaned signature, and an instance
+    // serving code the registry calls current.
+    const pathspec = packaging('pathspec')
+    expect(
+      pathspec.some((e) => e.startsWith(':(exclude)extension/scripts')),
+      'the pathspec excludes scripts/, so a change to how the version is '
+        + 'derived would not move the version it derives',
+    ).toBe(false)
+
+    // ...and it is still kept out of the package itself. Both must hold: the
+    // tempting "fix" for either half is to make the two lists one again.
+    expect(packaging('ignore')).toContain('scripts')
   })
 
   it('keeps its own scripts and specs out of the XPI', () => {
@@ -77,22 +107,71 @@ describe('consumers delegate rather than keeping their own copy', () => {
     }
   })
 
-  it('ci.yml derives its pathspec from the script and hardcodes none', () => {
-    const ci = readText('..', '.forgejo', 'workflows', 'ci.yml')
-    expect(ci).toContain('extension/scripts/packaging.sh pathspec')
-    // A literal :(exclude)extension/... in the workflow means someone bypassed
-    // the shared definition.
-    expect(ci).not.toMatch(/:\(exclude\)extension\//)
+  // Read from disk rather than listed by hand. The point of this assertion is
+  // that it survives consumers coming and going, and a hardcoded list is the
+  // one part of it that cannot — release.yml (milestone 318 step 7) would have
+  // joined the directory without joining the check.
+  const WORKFLOWS = readdirSync(path.join(EXT_DIR, '..', '.forgejo', 'workflows')).filter((f) =>
+    f.endsWith('.yml')
+  )
+
+  it('no workflow hardcodes the packaged-file set', () => {
+    // ci.yml used to substitute `packaging.sh pathspec` directly, for the
+    // manual-bump guard that milestone 271 step 5 retired. Nothing inlines the
+    // set today, and nothing should start to: a literal :(exclude)extension/...
+    // in a workflow means someone bypassed the shared definition, which is
+    // exactly the drift #2397 was about.
+    expect(
+      WORKFLOWS.length,
+      'no workflows found — the glob is not looking where it thinks'
+    ).toBeGreaterThan(2)
+    for (const wf of WORKFLOWS) {
+      const text = readText('..', '.forgejo', 'workflows', wf)
+      expect(text, `${wf} inlines an :(exclude) literal`).not.toMatch(/:\(exclude\)extension\//)
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('build.yml takes the shipped version from the script, not from the repo', () => {
+    // The version is DERIVED from commit time (#3092, milestone 271 step 4).
+    // Going back to reading the committed value is not a style regression, it
+    // is the bug: a hand-set version makes dev and main sign the same number
+    // for different code, and the ext-<version> cache then serves one channel
+    // the other's XPI.
+    const build = readText('..', '.forgejo', 'workflows', 'build.yml')
+    expect(build).toContain('packaging.sh version')
+    expect(build, 'build.yml re-reads the committed version instead of deriving it')
+      .not.toMatch(/grep[^\n]*'"version"'[^\n]*package\.json/)
   })
 })
 
 describe('extension version', () => {
-  it('keeps manifest.json and package.json in lockstep', () => {
-    expect(read('manifest.json').version).toBe(read('package.json').version)
+  // Mozilla's published grammar for addons.mozilla.org, transcribed from MDN's
+  // manifest.json/version page. Each segment is the single digit 0 or starts
+  // 1-9 — so no leading zeros — and there are at most four of them.
+  const AMO = /^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})(\.(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$/
+
+  it('keeps a committed version AMO would accept, though it ships nothing', () => {
+    // The committed value is wholly inert since milestone 318 step 8: there is
+    // no hand-set MAJOR.MINOR left for packaging.sh to read, and build.yml
+    // stamps the derived string over both files before web-ext sees them.
+    //
+    // It is still asserted, for one reason: `npm run build` locally packages
+    // whatever is committed, so a value AMO would reject turns a local build
+    // into a confusing failure with no CI signal ahead of it. ci.yml checks
+    // the same grammar against the DERIVED value, which is the one AMO sees.
+    for (const file of ['manifest.json', 'package.json']) {
+      expect(read(file).version, `${file} version is not AMO-shaped`).toMatch(AMO)
+    }
   })
 
-  it('uses a plain dotted numeric version AMO will accept', () => {
-    expect(read('package.json').version).toMatch(/^\d+(\.\d+)*$/)
+  it('rejects the zero-padded family shape, which is why the extension unpads', () => {
+    // Guards the reason for the exception, not just its result. If this ever
+    // starts passing, someone has loosened the pattern and the next sign burns
+    // an AMO version to find out. (#3138.)
+    expect('2026.08.29.0201').not.toMatch(AMO)
+    expect('2026.8.29.201').toMatch(AMO)
+    // Five segments: AMO allows four.
+    expect('2026.8.29.2.1').not.toMatch(AMO)
   })
 
   it('declares manifest v3', () => {

frontend/src/components/settings/BrowserExtensionCard.vue

@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@
       <span v-if="manifest?.installed" class="text-caption fc-muted">
         · Firefox · v{{ manifest.version }}
       </span>
+      <!-- Which channel this instance serves, so it is visible without
+           installing anything. Rendered only when the image declares one: a
+           locally-built image, or one predating the field, says nothing rather
+           than guessing. Never merged into the version string beside it — see
+           the endpoint's note on why a `-dev` suffix breaks the comparator. -->
+      <v-chip
+        v-if="manifest?.channel"
+        size="x-small" variant="tonal" class="ml-2"
+        :color="manifest.channel === 'dev' ? 'warning' : 'info'"
+      >{{ manifest.channel }}</v-chip>
     </CardHeading>
 
     <v-card-text>

frontend/src/stores/system.js

@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ import { useApi } from '../composables/useApi.js'
 export const useSystemStore = defineStore('system', () => {
   const api = useApi()
   const healthy = ref(null)  // null=unknown, true=ok, false=down
+  // What the instance says it is. Since milestone 318 stopped publishing
+  // version image tags, this is the only answer to "which build is this?" —
+  // there is no registry name left to check it against.
+  //
+  // Three states, and collapsing any two of them would lie:
+  //   buildLoaded=false            we have not asked yet   -> render nothing
+  //   buildLoaded=true, version='' the build cannot say    -> render "unknown"
+  //   buildLoaded=true, version=x  this build is x
+  // A blank footer would read as "no version", which is a different claim.
+  const buildVersion = ref('')
+  const buildChannel = ref('')
+  const buildLoaded = ref(false)
   const stats = ref(null)
   const statsLoading = ref(false)
 
@@ -12,8 +24,17 @@ export const useSystemStore = defineStore('system', () => {
     try {
       const body = await api.get('/api/health')
       healthy.value = body.status === 'ok'
+      // Absent means "cannot say" — the server omits these rather than
+      // sending empty strings, so `?? ''` preserves that rather than
+      // inventing a value for it.
+      buildVersion.value = body.version ?? ''
+      buildChannel.value = body.channel ?? ''
+      buildLoaded.value = true
     } catch {
       healthy.value = false
+      // Deliberately NOT setting buildLoaded: a failed health call tells us
+      // nothing about the build, and claiming "unknown" would present a
+      // network blip as a defective image.
     }
   }
 
@@ -26,5 +47,8 @@ export const useSystemStore = defineStore('system', () => {
     }
   }
 
-  return { healthy, stats, statsLoading, refreshHealth, refreshStats }
+  return {
+    healthy, stats, statsLoading, refreshHealth, refreshStats,
+    buildVersion, buildChannel, buildLoaded,
+  }
 })

frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue

@@ -54,6 +54,21 @@
         <MaintenancePanel />
       </v-window-item>
     </v-window>
+
+    <!-- Which build is this? With no version image tags (milestone 318) the
+         instance's own report is the only answer, so it is shown rather than
+         hidden. The instinct to treat it as information disclosure does not
+         survive contact: the JS bundle and asset hashes fingerprint the build
+         anyway, and "I'm on 2026.08.28.1249" is the single most useful line in
+         a bug report.
+
+         Channel sits BESIDE the version, never inside it (rule 149) — a
+         `-dev` suffix would read as a 0 segment to the extension's comparator
+         and make every dev build compare equal (#2993). -->
+    <div v-if="system.buildLoaded" class="text-caption text-medium-emphasis text-center mt-8">
+      FabledCurator {{ system.buildVersion || 'unknown' }}
+      <span v-if="system.buildChannel"> · {{ system.buildChannel }}</span>
+    </div>
   </v-container>
 </template>
 

frontend/test/components/browserExtensionCard.spec.js

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+// @vitest-environment happy-dom
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { nextTick } from 'vue'
+
+import BrowserExtensionCard from '../../src/components/settings/BrowserExtensionCard.vue'
+import { freshPinia, mountComponent } from '../support/mountComponent.js'
+
+// useApi is a thin fetch wrapper, so the seam is fetch itself (same shape as
+// showcase.spec.js) rather than a module mock.
+function stubApi(manifest) {
+  globalThis.fetch = vi.fn(async (url) => {
+    const payload = String(url).includes('/api/extension/manifest')
+      ? manifest
+      : { key: 'test-key' }
+    return {
+      ok: true, status: 200, statusText: '200',
+      text: async () => JSON.stringify(payload),
+    }
+  })
+}
+
+async function mountCard(manifest) {
+  stubApi(manifest)
+  const w = mountComponent(BrowserExtensionCard, { pinia: freshPinia() })
+  // onMounted fires two fetches (manifest + key) and each resolves through a
+  // chain of microtasks. Yielding to a macrotask drains the whole queue, which
+  // a fixed number of nextTicks would only do by luck.
+  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 0))
+  await nextTick()
+  return w
+}
+
+const INSTALLED = {
+  installed: true,
+  version: '1.0.3499884',
+  xpi_url: '/extension/fabledcurator-1.0.3499884.xpi',
+  latest_url: '/extension/fabledcurator-latest.xpi',
+  sha256: 'abc',
+}
+
+describe('BrowserExtensionCard — channel', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => { vi.restoreAllMocks() })
+  afterEach(() => { delete globalThis.fetch })
+
+  it('names the channel the instance reports', async () => {
+    // The point of the whole channel scheme: an operator can tell a dev
+    // instance from a main one without installing anything.
+    const w = await mountCard({ ...INSTALLED, channel: 'dev' })
+    expect(w.text()).toContain('dev')
+  })
+
+  it('shows the version and the channel as SEPARATE text, never merged', async () => {
+    // Regression guard with teeth: the tempting shortcut is a `-dev` version
+    // suffix, and that is precisely what breaks the extension's comparator —
+    // it parses each dotted segment with parseInt, so a suffixed segment reads
+    // as 0 and every dev build compares equal to every other. If someone ever
+    // "simplifies" by folding the channel into the version, the version text
+    // stops being the bare derived number and this fails.
+    const w = await mountCard({ ...INSTALLED, channel: 'dev' })
+    expect(w.text()).toContain('v1.0.3499884')
+    expect(w.text()).not.toContain('1.0.3499884-dev')
+  })
+
+  it('renders no channel when the instance declares none', async () => {
+    // A locally-built image, or one predating the field. The card must read
+    // exactly as it did before the channel existed rather than inventing an
+    // "unknown" badge — absence is a normal answer here, not a fault.
+    const w = await mountCard(INSTALLED)
+    expect(w.text()).toContain('v1.0.3499884')
+    expect(w.findAll('v-chip')).toHaveLength(0)
+  })
+})

frontend/test/systemBuild.spec.js

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { setActivePinia, createPinia } from 'pinia'
+import { useSystemStore } from '../src/stores/system.js'
+
+// Which build am I running? Milestone 318 stopped publishing version image
+// tags, so the instance's own report is the ONLY answer — there is no registry
+// name left to check it against. That promotes this from a convenience to the
+// mechanism, and it means the three states below have to stay distinct: a
+// wrong answer here has nothing to contradict it.
+//
+//   not asked yet        -> render nothing
+//   asked, no version    -> render "unknown"
+//   asked, has a version -> render it
+//
+// Collapsing the first two would show "unknown" during every page load, and
+// collapsing either into a blank would read as "no version", which is a
+// different and false claim.
+
+function stubHealth(body, { fail = false } = {}) {
+  globalThis.fetch = vi.fn(async () => {
+    if (fail) throw new Error('network down')
+    return {
+      ok: true, status: 200, statusText: '200',
+      text: async () => JSON.stringify(body),
+    }
+  })
+}
+
+describe('system store — build identity', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => setActivePinia(createPinia()))
+  afterEach(() => { vi.restoreAllMocks(); delete globalThis.fetch })
+
+  it('starts having asked nothing, so the footer renders nothing', () => {
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    expect(s.buildLoaded).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it('reports the version and channel the instance claims', async () => {
+    stubHealth({ status: 'ok', version: '2026.08.28.1249', channel: 'dev' })
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    await s.refreshHealth()
+
+    expect(s.buildLoaded).toBe(true)
+    expect(s.buildVersion).toBe('2026.08.28.1249')
+    expect(s.buildChannel).toBe('dev')
+  })
+
+  it('keeps the channel OUT of the version string', async () => {
+    // The tempting shortcut is a `-dev` suffix. The extension's comparator
+    // parses each dotted segment with parseInt, so a suffixed segment reads as
+    // 0 and every dev build compares equal to every other — #2993 exactly
+    // (rule 149). If anyone ever "simplifies" by folding them together, the
+    // version stops being the bare derived number and this fails.
+    stubHealth({ status: 'ok', version: '2026.08.28.1249', channel: 'dev' })
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    await s.refreshHealth()
+
+    expect(s.buildVersion).toBe('2026.08.28.1249')
+    expect(s.buildVersion).not.toContain('dev')
+  })
+
+  it('treats an absent version as "cannot say", not as a value', async () => {
+    // A locally-built image, or one predating the field. The server omits the
+    // key rather than sending an empty string; `?? ''` must preserve that
+    // rather than inventing something. The view renders "unknown" from it.
+    stubHealth({ status: 'ok' })
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    await s.refreshHealth()
+
+    expect(s.buildLoaded).toBe(true)
+    expect(s.buildVersion).toBe('')
+    expect(s.buildChannel).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('reports a version with no channel without inventing one', async () => {
+    stubHealth({ status: 'ok', version: '2026.08.28.1249' })
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    await s.refreshHealth()
+
+    expect(s.buildVersion).toBe('2026.08.28.1249')
+    expect(s.buildChannel).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('does not claim "unknown" when the health call itself failed', async () => {
+    // A network blip says nothing about the build. Marking it loaded here
+    // would present a transient failure as a defective image — and since
+    // nothing else names the build, there would be no second source to
+    // correct the impression.
+    stubHealth(null, { fail: true })
+    const s = useSystemStore()
+    await s.refreshHealth()
+
+    expect(s.healthy).toBe(false)
+    expect(s.buildLoaded).toBe(false)
+  })
+})

scripts/artifacts.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Single definition of WHAT EACH PUBLISHED ARTIFACT IS BUILT FROM, and the
+# version derived from it. Milestone 313; generalises the shape
+# extension/scripts/packaging.sh established for the extension alone.
+#
+# "Built from" is deliberately wider than "copied into". A file that DECIDES an
+# artifact's identity is part of what that artifact is built from even though it
+# never reaches the image — see DERIVER below, and #3156 for the same finding
+# about packaging.sh.
+#
+# Four artifacts, four independent versions. An artifact whose shipped files
+# did not change keeps its version and does not rebuild — that is the whole
+# point, and it is why each path set must match its Dockerfile rather than
+# being a plausible guess. Getting a set wrong is quiet in BOTH directions:
+#
+#   too narrow -> a pin serves stale bytes, because the version did not move
+#                 when the content did. This is the dangerous one.
+#   too wide   -> the artifact re-versions and rebuilds for a change it does
+#                 not ship. Merely wasteful.
+#
+# tests/test_artifact_paths.py asserts every COPY source in each Dockerfile is
+# covered here, so adding a COPY without updating this file fails CI.
+#
+# POSIX sh only — CI's run shell is busybox on some paths.
+#
+# -f (no pathname expansion) is load-bearing for the whole script: the lists
+# below are iterated with deliberate word-splitting, and without it the shell
+# would glob `frontend/test/**` against the working tree and silently narrow
+# the pattern. Callers substituting the output need their own `set -f` too;
+# the two guards protect different expansions.
+set -euf
+
+ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+
+# --- what each artifact ships ------------------------------------------------
+#
+# Each set includes its own Dockerfile and requirements: changing a base image
+# or a pin changes the artifact just as surely as changing a source file.
+#
+# web (Dockerfile, context `.`) — the runtime stage copies backend/, alembic/,
+# alembic.ini, entrypoint.sh and requirements.txt; the frontend-builder stage
+# copies frontend/ and the runtime takes its `dist` output.
+#
+# frontend/test is excluded: `npm run build` is vite, which builds from src/,
+# index.html and public/ and never reads test/. It lands in the builder layer
+# but not in `dist`, so it cannot reach the shipped image.
+#
+# The web image ALSO bundles the signed XPI (build.yml downloads it into
+# frontend/public/extension/ before the docker build), so an extension change
+# changes the web image. The extension's packaged set is appended in cmd_paths
+# rather than restated — one definition, per #2397.
+WEB_PATHS='Dockerfile requirements.txt backend alembic alembic.ini entrypoint.sh frontend :(exclude)frontend/test :(exclude)frontend/test/**'
+
+# ml (Dockerfile.ml, context `.`) — no frontend, no extension. Note it copies
+# BOTH requirements-ml.txt and requirements.txt.
+ML_PATHS='Dockerfile.ml requirements-ml.txt requirements.txt backend alembic alembic.ini entrypoint.sh'
+
+# agent (agent/Dockerfile, context `agent`) — copies requirements.txt and
+# fc_agent only. agent/README.md, agent/docker-compose.yml and agent/ruff.toml
+# live in the directory but never reach the image, so they must not re-version
+# it: this is deliberately NOT `agent/`.
+AGENT_PATHS='agent/Dockerfile agent/requirements.txt agent/fc_agent'
+
+# This file. It is copied into no image and it is still part of what the web
+# image is built from, because it DECIDES the FC_VERSION baked into that image
+# (#3202). Same finding as #3156 about packaging.sh, one level up.
+#
+# Why web and nothing else. Every artifact stamps `fc.revision`, but only web
+# also stamps a version (build.yml line ~488 feeds `version web` to the
+# FC_VERSION build arg; ml and agent ask for `revision` alone, and the
+# extension takes its version from packaging.sh). For a revision-only artifact
+# this file needs no entry: any change to how the revision is COMPUTED changes
+# the derived value, which then disagrees with the label on the published image
+# and forces a rebuild. That mechanism is self-correcting because it compares
+# against a string stamped into a real artifact.
+#
+# The version is compared against nothing, so it has no such backstop. Before
+# this entry, a change to cmd_version alone left every artifact's revision
+# untouched, the reuse check hit, the build was skipped, and the published
+# image went on reporting the OLD version format — silently, until some
+# unrelated commit happened to force a rebuild. Milestone 318 step 5 is the
+# worked instance: b3989d0 and 5771fd5 share revision fb2c4d5b80be while the
+# version moved 2026.8.28.1249 -> 2026.08.28.1249. It cost nothing only because
+# FC_VERSION did not exist until one commit later.
+#
+# Named as a file, not as `scripts`: release_notes.py lives beside it and only
+# READS derived values, so it decides nothing and must not re-version anything.
+# A future script that derives an identity belongs here explicitly.
+DERIVER='scripts/artifacts.sh'
+
+
+usage() {
+  echo "usage: artifacts.sh {paths|revision|version} {web|ml|agent|extension}" >&2
+  exit 2
+}
+
+# The extension's packaged set, read from its own definition rather than
+# copied. packaging.sh emits `:(exclude)extension/...` entries, so the bare
+# `extension` include has to come with them.
+ext_paths() {
+  echo "extension $(sh "$ROOT/extension/scripts/packaging.sh" pathspec)"
+}
+
+cmd_paths() {
+  case "$1" in
+    web)       echo "$WEB_PATHS $DERIVER $(ext_paths)" ;;
+    ml)        echo "$ML_PATHS" ;;
+    agent)     echo "$AGENT_PATHS" ;;
+    extension) ext_paths ;;
+    *)         usage ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+# "<unix ts> <sha>" of the newest commit touching this artifact's shipped set.
+# Unquoted on purpose: the pathspec must word-split into separate args.
+# Globbing is already off script-wide.
+newest() {
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2046
+  set -- "$(cd "$ROOT" && git log --format='%ct %H' HEAD -- $(cmd_paths "$1") \
+            | sort -n | tail -1)"
+  if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "artifacts.sh: no commit touches this artifact's shipped files" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  echo "$1"
+}
+
+# Formatted through git rather than date(1): busybox date does not reliably
+# accept `-d @<epoch>`, and git's own --date=format-local is available wherever
+# git is. TZ=UTC so the value does not depend on the runner's timezone.
+fmt() {
+  (cd "$ROOT" && TZ=UTC git show -s --format=%cd --date="format-local:$2" "$1")
+}
+
+# The IDENTITY of an artifact's content: the commit its shipped files last
+# changed in. This is what decides whether a build can be skipped.
+#
+# It is published as the `fc.revision` LABEL on the image itself, and read
+# back off the moving channel tag — not as a tag of its own (milestone 318
+# step 3). A tag would be a name minted per build that only one thing reads,
+# which is what rule 145 narrowed against; it would also be prunable under the
+# registry's keep_pattern (#3157), so the cache would silently expire.
+#
+# A published image with no such label reads as a MISS and rebuilds. That is
+# the migration path, not a fault: `imagetools create` copies a manifest and
+# config labels are not manifest annotations, so the reuse path cannot stamp
+# one and there is nothing to backfill. Each artifact pays one rebuild, once.
+cmd_revision() {
+  echo "$(newest "$1")" | cut -d' ' -f2 | cut -c1-12
+}
+
+# The VERSION: `YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM`, zero-padded, UTC. One shape across the whole
+# family (note #3127 §1, rule 148) — the number an instance reports about
+# itself, and, with a `v` in front, the release tag naming the same build.
+#
+# Zero-padded since 2026-08-28. This stripped leading zeros until then, on the
+# reasoning that every segment should read as a plain integer — which never
+# held, since comparison strips them on parse anyway. Padding costs nothing,
+# sorts lexically as well as numerically, and keeps this project emitting the
+# same string as its siblings: unpadded, a `2026.8.28.1432` here sits beside a
+# `2026.08.28.1432` there, two shapes one character apart. Two obviously
+# different formats are safer than two nearly identical ones.
+#
+# Comparison is numeric per dot-segment, so `08` and `8` are equal and nothing
+# already published is reordered by the change.
+#
+# HHMM is not decoration: it is what makes the value unique per build with no
+# lookup. A date alone collides on the second build of a day, and resolving
+# that needs a `.N` suffix, which needs asking the registry what already
+# exists — at which point two lanes derive different answers for one source
+# and the shared-signature property is lost.
+cmd_version() {
+  # The extension is the one artifact this script does not FORMAT, only route.
+  # AMO's version grammar forbids leading zeros, so the extension emits the
+  # same numbers unpadded (#3138) — a rendering exception, documented in
+  # packaging.sh beside the signing step that has to obey it. Delegating keeps
+  # one answer per artifact: `artifacts.sh version extension` and
+  # `packaging.sh version` cannot drift into two.
+  #
+  # The direction is deliberate. artifacts.sh already asks packaging.sh for the
+  # extension's PATH SET (ext_paths above), so the version has to flow the same
+  # way; reversing it would have packaging.sh call back into this script, which
+  # would call packaging.sh for the paths again.
+  if [ "$1" = extension ]; then
+    sh "$ROOT/extension/scripts/packaging.sh" version
+    return
+  fi
+  sha=$(echo "$(newest "$1")" | cut -d' ' -f2)
+  # One git call for the whole string rather than four and a sed. git's
+  # format-local takes the complete format, and doing it in pieces was only
+  # ever there to strip the padding between them.
+  fmt "$sha" '%Y.%m.%d.%H%M'
+}
+
+[ $# -ge 2 ] || usage
+case "$1" in
+  paths)    cmd_paths "$2" ;;
+  revision) cmd_revision "$2" ;;
+  version)  cmd_version "$2" ;;
+  *)        usage ;;
+esac

scripts/release_notes.py

@@ -0,0 +1,312 @@
+"""Publish a Forgejo release whose body is derived from git, not written by hand.
+
+Milestone 318 step 2 took the build consequence away from a `v*` tag: `main`
+has already built and published the commit by the time anyone tags it, and
+rebuilding would re-push `:c-<sha>`, which rule 145 forbids even when the bytes
+match. That left the tag with nothing to do. This gives it the job it has left.
+
+**The half of the question a version string cannot answer.** Step 6 puts
+`2026.08.28.2208` in the Settings footer, so an operator can say which build
+they are running. They still cannot say what is in it that was not in the one
+they ran last month. A dated release carrying the commits since the previous
+one is the object that interprets the identifier (note #3127 §5).
+
+**Derived, so it cannot drift.** The alternative is a hand-maintained
+`CHANGELOG.md`, which goes aspirational the first time someone forgets — and
+nothing ever catches it, because there is no second source to disagree with.
+Every line below comes out of `git log` at publish time.
+
+**Optional by construction.** Release tags are bookmarks: cut one when you will
+want to point at that day by name, otherwise don't. FC went twelve weeks
+without one and nothing was wrong (note #3127 §0). This runs on a tag push and
+on nothing else — deliberately no schedule and no auto-tag on merge, either of
+which would turn an optional bookmark back into ceremony.
+
+## Finding the previous release
+
+`git describe --exclude <this tag>`, which walks ANCESTRY, not a sorted list.
+That is not fussiness: this repo's existing tags are the old `v26.05.22.0`
+shape and the next one will be rule 148's `v2026.08.28.2208`. Lexicographically
+`v2026...` sorts BEFORE `v26...` — every release from here on would report its
+predecessor as itself-or-nothing and emit a changelog covering the entire
+history. Ancestry is immune to the shape change, and it is also the more honest
+question: "what is in this that was not in the last one" IS a reachability
+question.
+
+## Re-runs update, they do not fall through
+
+Note #3127 §6.7: a publisher that POSTs and recovers the id from a `409` never
+rewrites the body, so a re-run silently keeps the first version. Harmless for a
+`v*` tag created once — and wrong the moment anything re-points. This one GETs
+first and PATCHes when the release exists, so it is correct either way rather
+than correct by luck (ThoughtSync #2182 is the same bug).
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import urllib.error
+import urllib.request
+
+API = "https://git.fabledsword.com/api/v1/repos/bvandeusen/FabledCurator"
+
+IMAGES = (
+    "git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator",
+    "git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator-ml",
+    "git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledcurator-agent",
+)
+
+# Rule 148: `v` + the artifact's own version, zero-padded, no `.N`, no lookup.
+RULE_148 = re.compile(r"^v\d{4}\.\d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{4}$")
+
+# Past this, the list has stopped being something anyone reads. It is reached
+# in exactly one situation — no previous tag is reachable, so the span is the
+# whole history — which happens on a genuine first release and on a tag cut
+# somewhere `main`'s tags cannot be seen from. Truncating says so; emitting
+# 1100 lines would bury the note explaining why there are 1100 of them.
+MAX_COMMITS = 200
+
+
+def git(*args: str) -> str:
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["git", *args], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True
+    ).stdout.strip()
+
+
+def git_ok(*args: str) -> str | None:
+    """Run git, returning None instead of raising when it fails.
+
+    Used for the questions that legitimately have no answer — no previous tag,
+    no local `main` — where the absence is information rather than a fault.
+    """
+    try:
+        return git(*args)
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        return None
+
+
+def previous_tag(ref: str, tag: str | None) -> str | None:
+    """The most recent `v*` tag reachable from `ref`, excluding `tag` itself.
+
+    `--exclude` rather than `<ref>^` so this is the same call whether or not
+    `ref` is the tag being released — and so it does not blow up on a root
+    commit that has no parent to walk to.
+    """
+    args = ["describe", "--tags", "--abbrev=0", "--match", "v*"]
+    if tag:
+        args += ["--exclude", tag]
+    return git_ok(*args, ref)
+
+
+def commits(previous: str | None, ref: str) -> list[str]:
+    """The subjects between the previous release and this one.
+
+    `--no-merges` because rule 153 merges `dev` into `main` with a plain merge
+    commit, so `main`'s first-parent view is a list of "Merge pull request #N"
+    and nothing else. The work is in the commits under those merges.
+    """
+    span = f"{previous}..{ref}" if previous else ref
+    out = git("log", "--no-merges", "--format=%s (%h)", span)
+    return [line for line in out.split("\n") if line.strip()]
+
+
+def truncate(log: list[str]) -> tuple[list[str], str | None]:
+    if len(log) <= MAX_COMMITS:
+        return log, None
+    return log[:MAX_COMMITS], (
+        f"{len(log)} commits in this span — more than a changelog is for. "
+        f"Listing the newest {MAX_COMMITS}. This usually means no previous "
+        f"`v*` tag was reachable from here."
+    )
+
+
+def render(tag: str, sha: str, previous: str | None, log: list[str], notes: list[str]) -> str:
+    short = sha[:7]
+    parts = []
+
+    if notes:
+        # Anything the derivation could not stand behind goes at the TOP, not
+        # in a footnote. A release that quietly names a build nobody can find
+        # is the failure this whole milestone is about.
+        parts.append("\n".join(f"> **Note:** {n}" for n in notes))
+
+    parts.append(
+        f"Built from `{short}`. The rollback unit is the immutable `:c-` tag "
+        f"(rule 145) — these three move together:\n\n```\n"
+        + "\n".join(f"{image}:c-{short}" for image in IMAGES)
+        + "\n```"
+    )
+
+    heading = f"## Changes since {previous}" if previous else "## Changes"
+    if log:
+        parts.append(heading + "\n\n" + "\n".join(f"- {line}" for line in log))
+    else:
+        parts.append(
+            heading
+            + "\n\n_No non-merge commits since the previous release. This tag "
+            "names the same source under a new name._"
+        )
+
+    span = f"{previous}..{tag}" if previous else tag
+    parts.append(
+        f"---\n\n_Derived at publish time from `git log --no-merges {span}`. "
+        f"Nothing here is hand-maintained._"
+    )
+    return "\n\n".join(parts)
+
+
+def cross_checks(tag: str, sha: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Everything the derivation knows that would make the release a lie.
+
+    Reported rather than enforced. The tag is already pushed by the time this
+    runs, so failing here would leave the operator with a tag and no release
+    and nothing but a red lane to explain it — while the release itself is
+    still the useful object. Say what is wrong, on the release, and publish.
+    """
+    notes = []
+
+    if not RULE_148.match(tag):
+        notes.append(
+            f"`{tag}` is not rule 148's `vYYYY.MM.DD.HHMM` shape. Published "
+            f"anyway — the old `v26.*` tags predate the rule."
+        )
+    else:
+        derived = artifact_version("web")
+        if derived and derived != tag[1:]:
+            notes.append(
+                f"This tag names `{tag[1:]}`, but the web image built from "
+                f"`{sha[:7]}` reports `{derived}`. The Settings footer will not "
+                f"match this release's name."
+            )
+
+    # `:c-<sha>` only exists if `main` built this commit. Checking costs one
+    # git call; claiming it without checking costs a rollback that 404s at the
+    # moment someone needs it.
+    main = git_ok("rev-parse", "--verify", "-q", "refs/remotes/origin/main")
+    if main is None:
+        notes.append(
+            "Could not resolve `origin/main` here, so the `:c-` tags above are "
+            "unverified — they exist only if `main` built this commit."
+        )
+    elif subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "merge-base", "--is-ancestor", sha, main], capture_output=True
+    ).returncode != 0:
+        notes.append(
+            f"`{sha[:7]}` is not on `main`, so no `:c-{sha[:7]}` images were "
+            f"ever published. The refs above will not pull."
+        )
+
+    return notes
+
+
+def artifact_version(artifact: str) -> str | None:
+    """What `artifacts.sh` derives for one artifact in the CURRENT checkout.
+
+    It takes no ref because `artifacts.sh` takes none — it walks history from
+    HEAD. That is right here only because a tag push checks out the tagged
+    commit; calling this after `--dry-run some-other-ref` would compare the
+    tag against the working tree, which is why the mismatch note below is
+    reported and not enforced.
+
+    Returns None rather than raising if the script is missing or unhappy: a
+    cross-check that cannot run should not take the release down with it.
+    """
+    root = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+    try:
+        return subprocess.run(
+            ["sh", os.path.join(root, "scripts", "artifacts.sh"), "version", artifact],
+            capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=root,
+        ).stdout.strip()
+    except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, OSError):
+        return None
+
+
+def api(method: str, path: str, token: str, payload: dict | None = None) -> dict | None:
+    body = json.dumps(payload).encode() if payload is not None else None
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
+        API + path, data=body, method=method,
+        headers={
+            "Authorization": "token " + token,
+            "Content-Type": "application/json",
+        },
+    )
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=30) as resp:
+            return json.load(resp)
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
+        if exc.code == 404:
+            return None
+        sys.exit(f"release: {method} {path} failed with HTTP {exc.code}: {exc.read()!r}")
+
+
+def publish(tag: str, name: str, body: str, token: str) -> None:
+    existing = api("GET", f"/releases/tags/{tag}", token)
+    if existing:
+        api("PATCH", f"/releases/{existing['id']}", token, {"name": name, "body": body})
+        print(f"release: updated existing release {existing['id']} for {tag}")
+    else:
+        api("POST", "/releases", token, {"tag_name": tag, "name": name, "body": body})
+        print(f"release: created release for {tag}")
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    ap.add_argument(
+        "ref", nargs="?", default=None,
+        help="tag or commit to release. Defaults to GITHUB_REF's tag, else HEAD.",
+    )
+    ap.add_argument(
+        "--dry-run", action="store_true",
+        help="render the body to stdout and publish nothing. Needs no token, "
+             "so it also works as a preview before you decide to cut the tag.",
+    )
+    args = ap.parse_args()
+
+    github_ref = os.environ.get("GITHUB_REF", "")
+    if args.ref:
+        ref = args.ref
+    elif github_ref.startswith("refs/tags/"):
+        ref = github_ref[len("refs/tags/"):]
+    else:
+        ref = "HEAD"
+
+    # A tag only if git knows it as one — `HEAD` and a raw sha are refs to
+    # release FROM, never the name to exclude or to publish under.
+    tag = ref if git_ok("rev-parse", "--verify", "-q", f"refs/tags/{ref}") else None
+    sha = git("rev-parse", ref)
+    previous = previous_tag(ref, tag)
+
+    print(f"release: ref={ref} sha={sha[:12]} previous={previous or '<none>'}")
+
+    notes = cross_checks(tag, sha) if tag else [
+        f"Rendered for `{ref}`, which is not a tag. Nothing was published."
+    ]
+    for note in notes:
+        print(f"release: NOTE {note}")
+
+    log = commits(previous, ref)
+    print(f"release: {len(log)} non-merge commits in the span")
+    log, overflow = truncate(log)
+    if overflow:
+        print(f"release: NOTE {overflow}")
+        notes.append(overflow)
+    body = render(tag or ref, sha, previous, log, notes)
+
+    if args.dry_run or not tag:
+        print("--- body ---")
+        print(body)
+        return
+
+    token = os.environ.get("RELEASE_TOKEN") or os.environ.get("TOKEN")
+    if not token:
+        sys.exit("release: no RELEASE_TOKEN in the environment")
+    publish(tag, f"FabledCurator {tag[1:]}", body, token)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

tests/test_api_extension.py

@@ -383,6 +383,53 @@ async def test_extension_manifest_returns_metadata_when_xpi_present(client, monk
     assert body["sha256"] == hashlib.sha256(b"fake-xpi-content").hexdigest()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_extension_manifest_reports_the_channel_the_image_declares(
+    client, monkeypatch, tmp_path
+):
+    """The channel travels BESIDE the version, never inside it.
+
+    Folding it in as a `1.0.3499884-dev` suffix is the failure this design
+    exists to avoid: the extension's comparator parses each dotted segment as
+    an integer, so a suffixed segment collapses to 0 and every dev build
+    compares equal to every other — "no update available" and "I cannot read
+    this version" stop being distinguishable. Asserting the two are separate
+    keys is what keeps a future edit from merging them.
+    """
+    (tmp_path / "fabledcurator-1.2.3.xpi").write_bytes(b"x")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(extension_module, "XPI_DIR", tmp_path)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(extension_module, "FC_CHANNEL", "dev")
+    resp = await client.get("/api/extension/manifest")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    body = await resp.get_json()
+    assert body["channel"] == "dev"
+    assert body["version"] == "1.2.3"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_extension_manifest_omits_the_channel_when_the_image_declares_none(
+    client, monkeypatch, tmp_path
+):
+    """A local build, or any image from before the field existed.
+
+    The key must be ABSENT rather than present-and-empty: absence is the state
+    every consumer already handles (an older image conveys it by not having the
+    key at all), so a blank channel reuses that path instead of introducing a
+    second spelling of "unknown" for each reader to special-case.
+    """
+    (tmp_path / "fabledcurator-1.2.3.xpi").write_bytes(b"x")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(extension_module, "XPI_DIR", tmp_path)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(extension_module, "FC_CHANNEL", "")
+    resp = await client.get("/api/extension/manifest")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    body = await resp.get_json()
+    assert "channel" not in body
+    # Everything else still answers — an image with no channel is not a
+    # degraded one, it just cannot say which channel it came from.
+    assert body["installed"] is True
+    assert body["latest_url"] == "/extension/fabledcurator-latest.xpi"
+
+
 # --- /extension/<filename> -----------------------------------------
 
 

tests/test_artifact_identity.py

@@ -0,0 +1,236 @@
+"""The two values `artifacts.sh` derives, and what each of them promises.
+
+`revision` decides whether a build gets skipped; `version` is what an instance
+reports about itself and what a release tag is named after. Neither has a
+consumer that would notice it going subtly wrong.
+
+## revision
+
+Milestone 318 step 3: each image carries its revision as an `fc.revision`
+label, and build.yml reads that label back off the moving channel tag. Equal
+to the derived revision means the bytes this push would produce are already
+published, so the build is skipped.
+
+That makes the revision load-bearing in a way a version string is not — it is
+compared for equality against a value stamped into a real published artifact.
+Both ways of getting it wrong are silent:
+
+* **it does not identify the content** — a revision that moves when the source
+  did not (a HEAD-derived value, say) never matches, nothing is ever skipped,
+  and the mechanism quietly buys nothing while every lane stays green.
+* **it identifies the wrong content** — a revision that holds still when the
+  source DID change matches a stale label, the build is skipped, and the
+  channel serves bytes that do not correspond to the commit. This is the
+  dangerous direction, and it is what `test_artifact_paths.py` guards from the
+  other side by pinning the path sets.
+
+This module owns the narrower claim: whatever the path sets say, the revision
+is genuinely the commit those paths last changed in.
+
+## version
+
+`YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM`, zero-padded, UTC — one shape across the family (note #3127
+§1, rule 148), so the string this project emits is the same string its siblings
+emit. Two nearly-identical formats are more dangerous than two obviously
+different ones, and the only thing keeping them identical is a test.
+
+**The extension is the one exception, and it is a rendering exception only.**
+AMO's version grammar forbids a leading zero, so the extension emits the same
+numbers unpadded — `2026.8.29.201` where the family says `2026.08.29.0201`
+(#3138, milestone 318 step 8). Rule 148 defines comparison as numeric per
+dot-segment, under which the two are equal, so this is pinned in both
+directions below: the extension must satisfy AMO's grammar, and every artifact
+must derive the same NUMBERS its own commit stamps. An exception left as "the
+extension is different" would drift into being differently different.
+
+The identity-TAG tests this file used to hold are gone with the tag. There is
+no longer a `CHANNELLED` list to drift (the channel is which tag you inspect),
+and no `identity` subcommand to refuse an unqualified call.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+ARTIFACTS = ("web", "ml", "agent", "extension")
+
+# 12 hex chars — the prefix build.yml stamps and compares.
+_REVISION = re.compile(r"^[0-9a-f]{12}$")
+
+# YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM, every segment zero-padded to its full width.
+_VERSION = re.compile(r"^\d{4}\.\d{2}\.\d{2}\.\d{4}$")
+
+# The artifacts that cannot use the padded rendering. Exactly one, and the
+# reason is external: `packaging.sh` derives the extension's version and AMO
+# refuses to sign a padded one.
+AMO_UNPADDED = frozenset({"extension"})
+
+# Mozilla's published grammar for addons.mozilla.org, transcribed from MDN's
+# manifest.json/version page. A segment is the single digit `0` or starts 1-9,
+# and there are at most four. This is the constraint the exception exists for,
+# so it is what the exception is tested against — `2026.08.29.0201` fails it.
+_AMO = re.compile(r"^(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})(\.(0|[1-9][0-9]{0,8})){0,3}$")
+
+# YYYY.M.D.HHMM — four segments, none of them zero-padded.
+_UNPADDED = re.compile(r"^\d{4}(\.(0|[1-9]\d*)){3}$")
+
+
+def segments(value: str) -> tuple[int, ...]:
+    """A version as the numbers it denotes, which is how rule 148 says to
+    compare one. `2026.08.29.0201` and `2026.8.29.201` are one value here."""
+    return tuple(int(part) for part in value.split("."))
+
+
+# Everything here goes through artifacts.sh rather than importing a sibling
+# test module. That is the interface build.yml actually calls, so the tests
+# exercise the contract instead of a Python re-implementation of it — and no
+# other test module in this repo imports another, so a cross-test import would
+# be a new convention introduced for no gain.
+def artifacts(*args: str) -> str:
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["sh", str(ROOT / "scripts" / "artifacts.sh"), *args],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=ROOT,
+    ).stdout
+
+
+def revision(artifact: str) -> str:
+    return artifacts("revision", artifact).strip()
+
+
+def newest_by_commit_time(artifact: str) -> str:
+    """The full SHA of the newest commit touching this artifact's shipped set.
+
+    Ordered by committer TIME, matching what artifacts.sh means. Deliberately
+    not `git log -1`: git's default order is reverse-chronological only within
+    topological constraints, so on a merged history it can name a different
+    commit than the newest timestamp does. They agree on this repo today, and
+    a test that silently depends on them continuing to agree would be a flake
+    waiting for the branch shape that separates them.
+    """
+    paths = artifacts("paths", artifact).split()
+    log = subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "log", "--format=%ct %H", "HEAD", "--", *paths],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=ROOT,
+    ).stdout.split("\n")
+    commits = [line.split(" ", 1) for line in log if line.strip()]
+    assert commits, (
+        f"no commit in this history touches the {artifact} path set — the "
+        f"derivation has nothing to stand on"
+    )
+    return max(commits, key=lambda c: int(c[0]))[1]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", ARTIFACTS)
+def test_revision_is_the_commit_its_own_shipped_files_last_changed_in(artifact):
+    """The claim the whole skip decision rests on.
+
+    Computed from git rather than asked of the script, so it fails if the
+    derivation ever stops meaning what it says — switching to HEAD, to a build
+    clock, or to a path set it did not actually use. Each of those still
+    produces a plausible 12-hex value, which is why this is worth asserting
+    rather than eyeballing.
+    """
+    expected = newest_by_commit_time(artifact)
+    got = revision(artifact)
+    assert expected.startswith(got), (
+        f"{artifact} derives {got!r}, but the newest commit touching its "
+        f"shipped files is {expected[:12]!r}. The label stamped into the image "
+        f"would not identify its own content."
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", ARTIFACTS)
+def test_revision_is_a_legal_label_value_and_is_stable(artifact):
+    """It is stamped as a docker label and compared for string equality, so a
+    stray newline or a varying value breaks the comparison rather than the
+    build — the mechanism would simply stop hitting, silently."""
+    first = revision(artifact)
+    assert _REVISION.match(first), f"{first!r} is not a 12-char hex revision"
+    assert first == revision(artifact), "revision is not stable across calls"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", sorted(set(ARTIFACTS) - AMO_UNPADDED))
+def test_version_is_zero_padded_calver(artifact):
+    """The family shape, pinned.
+
+    Padding was stripped until 2026-08-28 on the reasoning that each segment
+    should read as a plain integer — which never held, since comparison strips
+    leading zeros on parse anyway. What it did do was make this project emit
+    `2026.8.28.1432` while a sibling emitted `2026.08.28.1432`: two shapes one
+    character apart, which is the hard kind of difference to notice.
+
+    Also catches the midnight case. A `%H%M` of `0322` must survive as `0322`;
+    the old strip-leading-zeros helper turned it into `322`, silently changing
+    a four-digit field into three.
+    """
+    value = artifacts("version", artifact).strip()
+    assert _VERSION.match(value), (
+        f"{artifact} derives {value!r}, which is not zero-padded "
+        f"YYYY.MM.DD.HHMM. Note #3127 §1 and rule 148 both specify the padded "
+        f"form, and a release tag is this string with a `v` in front."
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", sorted(AMO_UNPADDED))
+def test_the_unpadded_artifacts_derive_something_amo_will_sign(artifact):
+    """The other half of the family shape: the documented exception, tested
+    against the constraint that justifies it rather than against itself.
+
+    A padded value passes `_UNPADDED` on any date with no leading zeros, so
+    that pattern alone would let a regression sit unnoticed until the first
+    single-digit month — at which point the failure is a burned AMO version,
+    not a red lane. AMO's grammar is the assertion that fires immediately.
+    """
+    value = artifacts("version", artifact).strip()
+    assert _AMO.match(value), (
+        f"{artifact} derives {value!r}, which AMO refuses: a segment must be "
+        f"the single digit `0` or start 1-9, and there are at most four. "
+        f"Almost certainly a zero-padded segment — the family pads and this "
+        f"artifact must not (#3138). AMO 409s on re-signing, so a version it "
+        f"rejects is burned."
+    )
+    assert _UNPADDED.match(value), (
+        f"{artifact} derives {value!r}, which is not YYYY.M.D.HHMM. AMO would "
+        f"also accept the pre-318 `1.0.<minutes>`, and that orders below every "
+        f"ext-2026.* release already signed."
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", ARTIFACTS)
+def test_version_and_revision_describe_the_same_commit(artifact):
+    """They are derived independently and must not be able to disagree.
+
+    A build reports the version and skips on the revision, so a divergence
+    would mean an instance naming one commit while carrying another's bytes —
+    unfalsifiable from outside, since both values look perfectly well-formed.
+    """
+    sha = newest_by_commit_time(artifact)
+    stamped = subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "show", "-s", "--format=%cd", "--date=format-local:%Y.%m.%d.%H%M", sha],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=ROOT,
+        env={"TZ": "UTC", "PATH": os.environ.get("PATH", "")},
+    ).stdout.strip()
+    derived = artifacts("version", artifact).strip()
+
+    # Compared as NUMBERS, which is how rule 148 defines comparison and the
+    # only way one assertion can cover both renderings. This is what makes the
+    # extension's exception cosmetic rather than semantic: it must denote
+    # exactly the value its own commit stamps, whatever the padding.
+    assert segments(derived) == segments(stamped), (
+        f"{artifact} derives {derived!r}, but its newest shipped commit "
+        f"{sha[:12]} is {stamped!r}. The instance would name one commit while "
+        f"carrying another's bytes."
+    )
+    if artifact not in AMO_UNPADDED:
+        assert derived == stamped, (
+            f"{artifact} derives {derived!r} where the family shape is "
+            f"{stamped!r} — same numbers, wrong rendering. Only the artifacts "
+            f"in AMO_UNPADDED may differ here."
+        )
+    assert sha.startswith(revision(artifact))

tests/test_artifact_paths.py

@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+"""`scripts/artifacts.sh` path sets must match what the Dockerfiles copy.
+
+Each published artifact's version derives from the newest commit touching its
+own shipped file set (milestone 313). The whole scheme rests on those sets
+being right, and both ways of being wrong are silent:
+
+* **too narrow** — a file ships but is not in the set, so the version does not
+  move when the content does, and a pin serves stale bytes. This is the
+  dangerous direction and the one this module exists for.
+* **too wide** — a file is in the set but never reaches the image, so the
+  artifact re-versions and rebuilds for a change it does not ship.
+
+Nothing else notices either. The version still derives, CI still goes green,
+and the mismatch only surfaces as "I pinned that build and got the wrong
+bytes". So the Dockerfiles are read here and compared against the declaration.
+
+The COPY list is not the whole answer, though. A file that DECIDES what an
+artifact reports belongs in its set even though it is copied into nothing —
+see DERIVERS below, where the same finding is recorded twice (#3156, #3202).
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+# artifact -> (dockerfile, build context relative to the repo root)
+ARTIFACTS = {
+    "web": ("Dockerfile", ""),
+    "ml": ("Dockerfile.ml", ""),
+    "agent": ("agent/Dockerfile", "agent"),
+}
+
+# COPY --from=<stage> copies from an earlier build stage, not from the build
+# context, so its source is not a repo path and cannot be in a path set.
+_COPY = re.compile(r"^\s*COPY\s+(?!--from=)(?P<args>.+)$", re.MULTILINE)
+
+
+def declared_paths(artifact: str) -> list[str]:
+    out = subprocess.run(
+        ["sh", str(ROOT / "scripts" / "artifacts.sh"), "paths", artifact],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=ROOT,
+    ).stdout
+    return out.split()
+
+
+def includes(artifact: str) -> list[str]:
+    """The set minus its `:(exclude)…` entries."""
+    return [p for p in declared_paths(artifact) if not p.startswith(":(exclude)")]
+
+
+def copy_sources(dockerfile: str, context: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Repo-relative sources of every context COPY in a Dockerfile."""
+    text = (ROOT / dockerfile).read_text()
+    sources: list[str] = []
+    for m in _COPY.finditer(text):
+        args = m.group("args").split()
+        # Last arg is the destination; everything before it is a source.
+        for src in args[:-1]:
+            # `frontend/package-lock.json*` — the glob is an optional-file
+            # idiom; the directory it sits in is what matters for coverage.
+            src = src.rstrip("*")
+            sources.append(f"{context}/{src}" if context else src)
+    return sources
+
+
+def covered_by(path: str, include: str) -> bool:
+    """`path` ships if an include names it or one of its ancestors."""
+    path = path.rstrip("/").lstrip("./")
+    include = include.rstrip("/")
+    return path == include or path.startswith(include + "/")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", sorted(ARTIFACTS))
+def test_every_copied_path_is_in_the_artifacts_path_set(artifact):
+    """The too-narrow direction — the one that serves stale bytes on a pin."""
+    dockerfile, context = ARTIFACTS[artifact]
+    inc = includes(artifact)
+    for src in copy_sources(dockerfile, context):
+        assert any(covered_by(src, i) for i in inc), (
+            f"{dockerfile} copies {src!r} into the {artifact} image, but no "
+            f"include in scripts/artifacts.sh covers it. The {artifact} "
+            f"version will not move when that file changes, so a pinned build "
+            f"will serve stale bytes. Add it to the path set.\n"
+            f"  declared includes: {inc}"
+        )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("artifact", sorted(ARTIFACTS))
+def test_the_dockerfile_itself_is_in_the_path_set(artifact):
+    """Changing a base image or a RUN changes the artifact as surely as
+    changing a source file, so each set must include its own Dockerfile."""
+    dockerfile, _ = ARTIFACTS[artifact]
+    assert any(covered_by(dockerfile, i) for i in includes(artifact)), (
+        f"{dockerfile} is not in the {artifact} path set — a base-image bump "
+        f"would not move the version."
+    )
+
+
+def test_the_web_image_versions_on_an_extension_change():
+    """The web image bundles the signed XPI, so the extension's packaged files
+    are part of what it ships. Miss this and `:latest` serves a NEW extension
+    under an unchanged web version — a pin that quietly disagrees with itself.
+    """
+    inc = includes("web")
+    assert any(covered_by("extension/background/background.js", i) for i in inc), (
+        "the web path set does not cover the extension's packaged files, but "
+        "build.yml downloads the signed XPI into frontend/public/extension/ "
+        "before the docker build"
+    )
+
+
+# A file that DECIDES an artifact's identity is part of what that artifact is
+# built from, even though it is copied into no image. Both entries here are the
+# same finding twice — #3156 for packaging.sh, #3202 for artifacts.sh — and
+# both were latent for the same reason: the version has no backstop.
+#
+# The revision does. Change how a REVISION is computed and the derived value
+# stops matching the label on the published image, which forces a rebuild; the
+# mechanism self-corrects because it compares against a string stamped into a
+# real artifact. Nothing compares a version to anything, so a version-only
+# derivation change is invisible unless the deriver is in the set.
+DERIVERS = [
+    # packaging.sh decides the version build.yml stamps into the packaged
+    # manifest.json, so changing it changes the shipped bytes. Left out,
+    # milestone 313 step 4 turns silent: the new version misses the
+    # ext-<version> cache and gets signed, while web's revision has not moved,
+    # so the reuse path republishes the old image and the fresh signature is
+    # orphaned. Guarded for web too, since web bundles what the extension makes.
+    ("extension/scripts/packaging.sh", ("extension", "web")),
+    # artifacts.sh decides the FC_VERSION baked into the web image (#3202).
+    # Web only, and deliberately: ml and agent ask this script for `revision`
+    # alone, so they are covered by the self-correcting path above, and the
+    # extension takes its version from packaging.sh. Milestone 318 step 5 is
+    # the worked instance — b3989d0 and 5771fd5 share revision fb2c4d5b80be
+    # while the version moved 2026.8.28.1249 -> 2026.08.28.1249. It was
+    # harmless only because FC_VERSION did not exist until one commit later.
+    ("scripts/artifacts.sh", ("web",)),
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("path, artifacts", DERIVERS, ids=lambda v: str(v))
+def test_a_version_deriver_is_in_the_set_of_what_it_decides(path, artifacts):
+    for artifact in artifacts:
+        inc = includes(artifact)
+        excluded = [
+            p[len(":(exclude)"):] for p in declared_paths(artifact)
+            if p.startswith(":(exclude)")
+        ]
+        assert any(covered_by(path, i) for i in inc), (
+            f"{path} decides the version {artifact} reports, but is not in the "
+            f"{artifact} path set. A change to the derivation would leave the "
+            f"revision untouched, the build skipped, and the published image "
+            f"reporting the old version — with nothing to disagree with it."
+        )
+        assert not any(
+            covered_by(path, e.rstrip("*").rstrip("/")) for e in excluded
+        ), (
+            f"{path} is excluded from the {artifact} path set, so a change to "
+            f"how the version is derived would not move the version — and "
+            f"step 4 would reuse the image that carries the old one"
+        )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "artifact, path",
+    [
+        # Deliberate exclusions — the too-wide direction. Each of these lives
+        # beside shipped code but never reaches an image, and including it
+        # would re-version the artifact for a change it does not carry.
+        #
+        # "Never reaches an image" is the test, not "is not source": DERIVERS
+        # above are also copied into nothing and DO belong in their sets,
+        # because they decide what the image reports. The line between the two
+        # lists is whether the file has a say in the artifact's identity.
+        ("agent", "agent/README.md"),
+        ("agent", "agent/ruff.toml"),
+        ("agent", "agent/docker-compose.yml"),
+        # vite builds from src/, index.html and public/; it never reads test/,
+        # so a frontend test change cannot reach `dist`.
+        ("web", "frontend/test/gallery.spec.js"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_files_that_never_reach_an_image_do_not_version_it(artifact, path):
+    paths = declared_paths(artifact)
+    excluded = [p[len(":(exclude)"):] for p in paths if p.startswith(":(exclude)")]
+    inc = [p for p in paths if not p.startswith(":(exclude)")]
+
+    included = any(covered_by(path, i) for i in inc)
+    exempted = any(covered_by(path, e.rstrip("*").rstrip("/")) for e in excluded)
+    assert not included or exempted, (
+        f"{path} is in the {artifact} path set but is not copied into the "
+        f"image — it would re-version and rebuild {artifact} for a change it "
+        f"does not ship."
+    )

tests/test_health.py

@@ -9,3 +9,63 @@ async def test_health_returns_ok(client):
     assert response.status_code == 200
     body = await response.get_json()
     assert body == {"status": "ok"}
+
+
+# --- build identity (milestone 318 step 6) --------------------------------
+#
+# With no version image tags left, /api/health is the only place an instance
+# says which build it is. Both fields are OMITTED when unset rather than sent
+# empty: absence already means "cannot say" — an image predating the field
+# says exactly that by not having the key — and a second spelling would make
+# every reader special-case it (note #3127 §7).
+#
+# The test above is load-bearing for that: it asserts the body is EXACTLY
+# {"status": "ok"} when nothing is stamped, so a well-meaning `or ""` default
+# fails it.
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_health_reports_the_build_it_is(client, monkeypatch):
+    from backend.app.api import health
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_VERSION", "2026.08.28.1249")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_CHANNEL", "dev")
+
+    body = await (await client.get("/api/health")).get_json()
+    assert body == {
+        "status": "ok",
+        "version": "2026.08.28.1249",
+        "channel": "dev",
+    }
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_health_keeps_the_channel_out_of_the_version(client, monkeypatch):
+    """Rule 149, asserted rather than assumed.
+
+    The tempting shortcut is a `-dev` suffix on the version. The extension's
+    comparator parses each dotted segment with `parseInt`, so a suffixed
+    segment reads as 0 and every dev build compares equal to every other —
+    #2993 exactly. Two separate keys cannot express that mistake.
+    """
+    from backend.app.api import health
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_VERSION", "2026.08.28.1249")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_CHANNEL", "dev")
+
+    body = await (await client.get("/api/health")).get_json()
+    assert body["version"] == "2026.08.28.1249"
+    assert "dev" not in body["version"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_health_omits_a_channel_it_cannot_name(client, monkeypatch):
+    """A locally-built image has a version but no channel. It must not gain an
+    empty one — the key's absence is the answer."""
+    from backend.app.api import health
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_VERSION", "2026.08.28.1249")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(health, "FC_CHANNEL", "")
+
+    body = await (await client.get("/api/health")).get_json()
+    assert body == {"status": "ok", "version": "2026.08.28.1249"}

tests/test_release_notes.py

@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+"""What the release changelog promises, and the way it would lie quietly.
+
+A changelog has no consumer that checks it. If it lists the wrong span nothing
+fails — the release publishes, reads perfectly, and tells the operator that a
+month of work landed in a build that never contained it. That is the same
+silent-and-plausible failure class as a revision that identifies the wrong
+content (`test_artifact_identity.py` guards the other side of it), so the span
+selection is asserted rather than eyeballed.
+
+Everything runs the script the way `release.yml` runs it — as a subprocess,
+through `--dry-run`. That is the same code path as a real publish right up to
+the HTTP call, so these exercise the interface CI uses instead of a Python
+re-implementation of it.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+SCRIPT = ROOT / "scripts" / "release_notes.py"
+
+
+def notes(*args: str, cwd: Path | None = None) -> str:
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["python3", str(SCRIPT), "--dry-run", *args],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=cwd or ROOT,
+    ).stdout
+
+
+def body_of(out: str) -> str:
+    assert "--- body ---" in out, f"no body was rendered:\n{out}"
+    return out.split("--- body ---", 1)[1]
+
+
+def git(repo: Path, *args: str) -> str:
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "-c", "user.email=ci@example.invalid", "-c", "user.name=ci",
+         "-c", "commit.gpgsign=false", *args],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, cwd=repo,
+    ).stdout.strip()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def shaped_history(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
+    """Three releases spanning the rule 148 tag-shape change.
+
+    Ancestry order is `v26.06.04.0` → `v2026.08.28.2208` → `v2026.08.29.1000`,
+    which is the exact arrangement where walking ancestry and sorting a list
+    disagree — see the test below. Synthetic rather than taken from this repo's
+    own tags so it holds whether or not CI's checkout brought the tags along:
+    a span test that quietly skips is the one outcome worse than a failing one.
+    """
+    repo = tmp_path / "shaped"
+    repo.mkdir()
+    git(repo, "init", "-q", "-b", "main")
+    for i, tag in enumerate(("v26.06.04.0", "v2026.08.28.2208", "v2026.08.29.1000")):
+        (repo / "f.txt").write_text(f"{i}\n")
+        git(repo, "add", "f.txt")
+        git(repo, "commit", "-q", "-m", f"work landing in {tag}")
+        git(repo, "tag", tag)
+    # One more commit and a merge, so the merge-exclusion test has something to
+    # exclude that a first-parent listing would otherwise show.
+    git(repo, "checkout", "-q", "-b", "side")
+    (repo / "g.txt").write_text("side\n")
+    git(repo, "add", "g.txt")
+    git(repo, "commit", "-q", "-m", "feat: work done on the side branch")
+    git(repo, "checkout", "-q", "main")
+    git(repo, "merge", "-q", "--no-ff", "side", "-m", "Merge pull request #999 from side")
+    git(repo, "tag", "v2026.08.30.0900")
+    return repo
+
+
+def test_the_previous_release_is_found_by_ancestry_not_by_sorting(shaped_history):
+    """The trap this repo is standing in right now.
+
+    Rule 148 moved the tag shape from `v26.05.22.0` to `v2026.08.28.2208`.
+    Lexicographically `v2026...` sorts BEFORE `v26...` — the third character is
+    `0` against `6` — so a sorted-list implementation reaches back past every
+    new-shape tag to the newest OLD-shape one and emits months of commits as
+    "changes since". It looks entirely correct on any repo whose tags share a
+    single shape, which is every repo until the day the shape changes.
+
+    Here, ancestry says `v2026.08.28.2208` and sorting says `v26.06.04.0`.
+    """
+    out = notes("v2026.08.29.1000", cwd=shaped_history)
+    assert "previous=v2026.08.28.2208" in out
+    assert "v26.06.04.0" not in out
+
+
+def test_the_body_names_the_span_it_actually_listed(shaped_history):
+    """A body whose heading says "since X" over commits computed from Y is
+    unfalsifiable from outside — both halves read fine on their own."""
+    body = body_of(notes("v2026.08.29.1000", cwd=shaped_history))
+    assert "## Changes since v2026.08.28.2208" in body
+    assert "v2026.08.28.2208..v2026.08.29.1000" in body
+    assert "work landing in v2026.08.29.1000" in body
+    assert "work landing in v2026.08.28.2208" not in body
+
+
+def test_merges_are_excluded_so_the_list_is_the_work(shaped_history):
+    """Rule 153 merges dev into main with a plain merge commit, so `main`'s
+    first-parent view is nothing but "Merge pull request #N". Including those
+    would publish a changelog of PR numbers over the actual changes."""
+    body = body_of(notes("v2026.08.30.0900", cwd=shaped_history))
+    assert "feat: work done on the side branch" in body
+    assert "Merge pull request #999" not in body
+
+
+def test_the_first_release_still_renders_with_nothing_behind_it(shaped_history):
+    """No previous tag is reachable from the oldest one. That is a real state,
+    not an error, and it must not take the release down with it."""
+    out = notes("v26.06.04.0", cwd=shaped_history)
+    assert "previous=<none>" in out
+    assert "## Changes" in body_of(out)
+
+
+def test_a_non_tag_ref_renders_but_refuses_to_claim_it_published():
+    """`--dry-run HEAD` is the operator's preview before deciding to cut a tag
+    at all. It must not describe itself as a release that happened."""
+    out = notes("HEAD")
+    assert "which is not a tag" in out
+    body_of(out)
+
+
+def test_the_rollback_refs_name_all_three_images():
+    """Rule 145: `:c-<sha>` is the rollback unit, and the three images move
+    together. A release listing only the web image sends an operator into a
+    rollback that leaves ml and agent on the newer build — the exact mismatch
+    build.yml builds all three on every push to avoid."""
+    body = body_of(notes("HEAD"))
+    for image in ("fabledcurator", "fabledcurator-ml", "fabledcurator-agent"):
+        assert f"bvandeusen/{image}:c-" in body, f"{image} missing from the rollback refs"
+
+
+def test_an_unbounded_span_is_truncated_and_says_so():
+    """With no reachable previous tag the span is the whole history. Emitting
+    eleven hundred lines would bury the one line explaining why there are
+    eleven hundred of them, so the cap is part of the message, not a silent
+    slice."""
+    out = notes("HEAD")
+    if "previous=<none>" not in out:
+        pytest.skip("a previous tag is reachable from HEAD in this checkout")
+    body = body_of(out)
+    listed = [ln for ln in body.split("\n") if ln.startswith("- ")]
+    assert len(listed) <= 200
+    assert "more than a changelog is for" in body