fix(rules): the staleness signal must not wait for prior art to match (#3244)

CI caught two things, and the first is the feature not working rather than a
test being wrong.

THE SIGNAL WAS GATED ON A COINCIDENCE. build_write_path_hint returns early
when no prior art, stamp, divergence or derive matched, and that guard sat
ABOVE the new arm — so a session whose rules had changed was told only if the
file it happened to be editing also matched something else. A staleness
signal that fires on that coincidence is not a staleness signal. The arm now
runs above the guard, collecting into its own list that `lines` is seeded
from, and the guard accounts for it.

The standing-rule arm (milestone 307) is deliberately LEFT below that guard,
and this is a finding rather than a fix: it has the same gating and probably
should not, but it runs a SEMANTIC search, so lifting it would put an
embedding query on every write in every session. That is a cost decision, not
a bug fix, and not this task's to make.

THE MARKER MUST NOT BREAK THE PAYLOAD IT DECORATES. rules_etag is computed on
the SessionStart path, where `max()` raising costs the whole context payload
— every rule title, the project, all of it — to save a hint. A row with no
usable timestamp is now skipped and a set with none degrades to a count-only
marker, which still catches a rule added or deleted and only loses edits.
That is the right way round to lose information. CI found it because
build_session_context's tests pass MagicMock rules and `max()` over those
raises TypeError.

Also: list_always_on_rules on an install with no always-on rulebooks returns
`rules_etag: "empty|0"`. Its exact-dict test is updated rather than loosened
— the key being present on an empty install is the behaviour, not noise.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/scribe/mcp/tools/milestones.py

@@ -137,11 +137,17 @@ async def delete_milestone(milestone_id: int) -> dict:
     """Move a milestone to the trash (recoverable). Its tasks go with it as one batch.
     Restore via restore(batch_id)."""
     uid = current_user_id()
+    # Read the title BEFORE the delete: afterwards the row is trashed and the
+    # confirmation could only echo the number back. A deletion the operator
+    # cannot recognise is one they cannot tell was the wrong one.
+    doomed = await milestones_svc.get_milestone(uid, milestone_id)
+    title = getattr(doomed, "title", "") if doomed else ""
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "milestone", milestone_id)
     if batch is None:
         raise ValueError(f"milestone {milestone_id} not found")
-    return {"deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Milestone {milestone_id} + its tasks moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": milestone_id, "title": title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Milestone {milestone_id} ("{title}") and its tasks '
+                       f"moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 def register(mcp) -> None:

src/scribe/mcp/tools/notes.py

@@ -324,11 +324,17 @@ async def find_duplicate_records(kind: str = "note", threshold: float = 0.0) ->
 async def delete_note(note_id: int) -> dict:
     """Move a Scribe note to the trash (recoverable). Restore via restore(batch_id)."""
     uid = current_user_id()
+    # Read the title BEFORE the delete: afterwards the row is trashed and the
+    # confirmation could only echo the number back. A deletion the operator
+    # cannot recognise is one they cannot tell was the wrong one.
+    loaded = await notes_svc.get_note_for_user(uid, note_id)
+    title = getattr(loaded[0], "title", "") if loaded else ""
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "note", note_id)
     if batch is None:
         raise ValueError(f"note {note_id} not found")
-    return {"deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Note {note_id} moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": note_id, "title": title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Note {note_id} ("{title}") moved to trash. '
+                       f"Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 async def notes_due_for_verification(

src/scribe/mcp/tools/rulebooks.py

@@ -122,8 +122,9 @@ async def delete_rulebook(rulebook_id: int, confirmed: bool = False) -> dict:
             "confirmed_required": True,
         }
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "rulebook", rulebook_id)
-    return {"deleted": rulebook_id, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": rulebook_id, "title": rb.title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Rulebook {rulebook_id} ("{rb.title}") moved to trash. '
+                       f"Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 # ── Topic CRUD ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -192,8 +193,9 @@ async def delete_topic(topic_id: int, confirmed: bool = False) -> dict:
             "confirmed_required": True,
         }
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "topic", topic_id)
-    return {"deleted": topic_id, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": topic_id, "title": topic.title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Topic {topic_id} ("{topic.title}") moved to trash. '
+                       f"Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 # ── Rule CRUD ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -602,8 +604,10 @@ async def rule_history(rule_id: int, version_id: int = 0) -> dict:
     versions = await rulebooks_svc.list_rule_versions(rule_id, uid)
     if versions is None:
         raise ValueError(f"rule {rule_id} not found")
+    rule = await rulebooks_svc.get_rule(rule_id, uid)
     return {
         "rule_id": rule_id,
+        "title": rule.title if rule else "",
         "versions": [v.to_dict(include_text=False) for v in versions],
         "total": len(versions),
         # Said in-band because an empty list is the ordinary case and reads
@@ -632,8 +636,9 @@ async def delete_rule(rule_id: int, confirmed: bool = False) -> dict:
             "confirmed_required": True,
         }
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "rule", rule_id)
-    return {"deleted": rule_id, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": rule_id, "title": rule.title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Rule {rule_id} ("{rule.title}") moved to trash. '
+                       f"Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 # ── Subscriptions ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────

src/scribe/mcp/tools/snippets.py

@@ -494,9 +494,13 @@ async def delete_snippet(snippet_id: int) -> dict:
     that should survive, prefer merge_snippets — that keeps the call sites.
     """
     uid = current_user_id()
+    # Read before deleting so the confirmation can NAME what went — an id
+    # alone leaves the operator unable to tell which snippet this was.
+    doomed = await snippets_svc.get_snippet(uid, snippet_id)
+    title = getattr(doomed, "title", "") if doomed else ""
     if not await snippets_svc.delete_snippet(uid, snippet_id):
         raise ValueError(f"snippet {snippet_id} not found")
-    return {"deleted": True, "id": snippet_id}
+    return {"deleted": True, "id": snippet_id, "title": title}
 
 
 async def merge_snippets(target_id: int, source_ids: list[int]) -> dict:

src/scribe/mcp/tools/tasks.py

@@ -364,11 +364,17 @@ async def delete_task(task_id: int) -> dict:
     """Move a Scribe task (or plan) to the trash (recoverable). Sub-tasks go with it.
     Restore via restore(batch_id)."""
     uid = current_user_id()
+    # Read the title BEFORE the delete: afterwards the row is trashed and the
+    # confirmation could only echo the number back. A deletion the operator
+    # cannot recognise is one they cannot tell was the wrong one.
+    loaded = await notes_svc.get_note_for_user(uid, task_id)
+    title = getattr(loaded[0], "title", "") if loaded else ""
     batch = await trash_svc.delete(uid, "task", task_id)
     if batch is None:
         raise ValueError(f"task {task_id} not found")
-    return {"deleted_batch_id": batch,
-            "message": f"Task {task_id} moved to trash. Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
+    return {"deleted": task_id, "title": title, "deleted_batch_id": batch,
+            "message": f'Task {task_id} ("{title}") moved to trash. '
+                       f"Restore with restore('{batch}')."}
 
 
 def register(mcp) -> None: