deploy the tag, and stop spending a minute on a host that is known to be down

Two things the 2026.08.23.01 rollout showed.

`edge-pertento-bridge` is down and staying down for some days, and the deploy
agent had no way to know: it spent four attempts and up to sixty seconds apiece
before reporting it unreachable. Correct behaviour against a list that had not
been told, so `docs/servers.md` now has a Deliberately skipped section, with the
host's row kept verbatim inside it so restoring it is one move. A host there is
named as skipped in the report and costs nothing else.

And the procedure said `git pull --ff-only`, which follows `master` rather than
the tag being deployed. A docs commit landed mid-rollout, so every host came up on
`e6f1388a` — one past `deploy/2026.08.23.01` — and "deployed the tag" was true of
none of them. Harmless this time, and it need not have been: it is now fetch plus
`merge --ff-only <tag>`. A host that is AHEAD of the tag is reported, never reset.

Also lands the report itself, which the agent wrote and could not push.

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

docs/servers.md

@@ -29,13 +29,32 @@ Seven, all running.
 | `alpha`                      | 100.64.0.1  | `pastilhas` | `~/officerdev/platform`             | `officer.pastilhas.dev`           |
 | `fofos`                      | 100.64.0.17 | `pastilhas` | `~/officerdev/platform`             | `officer.fofosfluffybastards.com` |
 | `macbookpro`                 | 100.64.0.9  | `pastilhas` | `~/projects/officer-suite/platform` | `macbookpro.pastilhas.dev`        |
-| `edge-pertento-bridge`       | 100.64.0.15 | `pastilhas` | `~/officerdev/platform`             | `edge.pertento.ai`                |
 | `production-pertento-bridge` | 100.64.0.12 | `pastilhas` | `~/officerdev/platform`             | `officer.pertento.ai`             |
 | `deadpool-rezio-bridge`      | 100.64.0.21 | **`br`**    | `/home/br/officerdev/platform`      | `officer.rezio.dev` `[pending]`   |
 
 Only `platform.officer.dev` is public (77.42.39.155). The rest resolve to tailnet addresses and are
 reachable from inside only.
 
+## Deliberately skipped
+
+A host here is NOT a deploy target. A rollout names it as skipped and moves on — it is not a failure,
+and it must not be reported as one.
+
+| Host                   | Since      | Why                                                              |
+| ---------------------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `edge-pertento-bridge` | 2026-08-23 | Down, and staying down for some days. Owner's call, not a fault. |
+
+Its row, kept so restoring it is one move:
+
+```
+| `edge-pertento-bridge`       | 100.64.0.15 | `pastilhas` | `~/officerdev/platform`             | `edge.pertento.ai`                |
+```
+
+On 2026-08-23 the deploy agent spent four attempts and up to 60s per try on this host before reporting
+it unreachable — TCP on 22 accepted, then no SSH banner. That work was correct and entirely wasted, which
+is what this section exists to prevent: a host that is known to be down should cost a line in a report,
+not a retry budget.
+
 ### Names that disagree with themselves
 
 Three hosts answer to more than one name, and `tailscale status` is not always the one in use:

prompts/deploy-commander.md

@@ -136,6 +136,11 @@ That document holds every machine, its tailnet name, **its login user**, its che
 platform runs on it. Read it at the start of every deploy, and treat the hosts marked as having no
 platform as out of scope.
 
+It also has a **Deliberately skipped** section. A host listed there is not a target: name it as skipped
+in the report and spend nothing on it. On 2026-08-23 a host that was known to be down cost four attempts
+and a minute apiece before being reported unreachable — correct behaviour against a list that had not been
+told. Read that section before you try to reach anything.
+
 **The login is not always `pastilhas`.** `deadpool-rezio-bridge` runs as `br`, permanently, and more will.
 Take the user from the table — an orchestrator that hard-codes one fails on that host silently, because
 `Permission denied (publickey)` looks like a broken key rather than a wrong username.
@@ -163,7 +168,15 @@ assemble at the end from memory is a report that will be wrong about the host th
    `--porcelain` counts untracked files, and on 2026-08-21 that skipped a host over one stray script a
    fast-forward could never have touched. Untracked files get a note in the report, not a skip. Never
    discard someone's work to ship a release.
-2. `git pull --ff-only`. A non-fast-forward means that checkout has diverged: skip and report.
+2. **`git fetch origin --tags` then `git merge --ff-only <tag>`** — the TAG you are deploying, not
+   `master`. `git pull --ff-only` follows the branch, so a commit pushed while you are rolling out lands
+   on some hosts and not others, and "deployed the tag" stops being true of any of them. That happened on
+   2026-08-23: every host came up one commit past the tag because a docs commit landed mid-rollout. It was
+   harmless and it need not have been.
+
+   A non-fast-forward means that checkout has diverged: skip and report. A tag that will not fast-forward
+   because the host is AHEAD is the same answer — report it, do not reset.
+
 3. **Update the plugins.** `bun run plugins:update`. Sequential by design, one plugin failing does not
    stop the rest, and it exits non-zero if any did — so a failure is something you report rather than
    something you have to notice. A failure here is usually an uncommitted change in that plugin's own