one attempt per release, and the rule is code rather than a paragraph

The first watcher had an unbounded retry in it. A release whose deploy failed left no .done file, so the
next poll two minutes later spawned a fresh headless agent, and the one after that, all night, each one
costing money. The loop was careful and its logging was honest; the defect was structural.

It is structural because the loop is written FRESH by an agent every time one arms. A rule that lives only
in the prompt gets re-implemented from scratch each time, and the wrong implementation is the one that
looks right: test the .done file. That file only exists on success, so testing it is exactly the retry
storm.

So scripts/deploy-claim.sh owns it. `claim <version>` exits 0 once and 1 for ever after, whatever became
of the attempt that held it — a failed release is not retried, it is looked at. Handing the claim back is
`rm -rf` by a person, on purpose; a loop cannot undo its own claim, which is what makes the storm
impossible rather than unlikely.

Three choices in it worth keeping:

- `mkdir` is the claim. One atomic syscall that both tests and takes, with no window between checking and
  acting — two pollers a second apart is not hypothetical when a watcher gets restarted.
- Bash, not bun. The thing that stops a retry storm must not need a healthy checkout; a deploy that dies
  on `bun install` is precisely when it has to work.
- A version is digits and dots or it is refused. It arrives off a git tag and is concatenated into a path.

A pre-existing .done with no claim beside it still counts as deployed, so deploy/2026.08.21.01 — rolled
out by hand before any of this existed — is not re-attempted.

docs/servers.md corrected from the commander's own report, which was right and specific: on macbookpro
APPEND /opt/homebrew/bin for bun rather than replacing the PATH (this file said "do not help the PATH",
which is right for pm2 and is what made plugins:update fail there), `ls` is aliased to an eza that is not
installed, plugins:update bounces every sidecar before the plan's own restart step, and fofos cannot
publish affordances for what is probably the same ownership problem as its capabilities sync.

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

docs/servers.md

@@ -60,13 +60,27 @@ All verified, none cosmetic.
   _login_ shell does not read. Use `ssh <host> '$SHELL -ic "pm2 jlist"'`. `-lc` is **not** enough — it
   reports "command not found" on machines where pm2 is plainly running, which cost two wrong conclusions
   on 2026-08-21.
-- **On `macbookpro`, do not help the PATH.** Exporting one to reach `bun` breaks `pm2`, which is only on
+- **On `macbookpro`, APPEND to the PATH for `bun`. Never replace it.** This said "do not help the PATH"
-  the interactive shell's. `$SHELL -ic` and nothing else.
+  until 2026-08-21, and that was half right in a way that cost a deploy step: `pm2` is only on the
+  interactive shell's PATH, so replacing it breaks `pm2` — but `bun` is at `/opt/homebrew/bin/bun` and
+  `.zshrc` does not put that directory on the interactive PATH either, so `bun run plugins:update` fails
+  `command not found` before it runs a line. `export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin` for that one command
+  shadows nothing: `pm2` stays at `~/.local/bin/pm2` and `node` at `node@22`. Run `pm2` as a separate
+  command.
+- **`$SHELL -ic` on `macbookpro` aliases `ls` to `eza`, which is not installed.** A probe using `ls`
+  reports a missing file that is plainly there. Use `command ls`, or a non-interactive shell for file tests.
 - **The git remotes differ.** `fofos` pulls over HTTPS; the others over SSH. Never assume a URL — pull in
   place.
 - **A "dirty tree" means TRACKED changes.** `git status --porcelain` counts untracked files, and a stray
   script a fast-forward could never touch is not a reason to skip a host. Use `--untracked-files=no`.
 - **`macbookpro` is a laptop.** It may be asleep. Unreachable is a skip with a note, not a failed deploy.
+- **`bun run plugins:update` restarts sidecars itself**, printing `sidecar: started` per plugin — on
+  `alpha` that is twelve processes bouncing during the plugins step, before any restart the plan asked for.
+  Not a fault, but a deploy report that lists only `officer` under "restarted" is understating what moved.
+- **`fofos` cannot sync its capabilities**, and could not publish gitea affordances on 2026-08-21:
+  `dubious ownership` from git and `EACCES … mkdir '…/capabilities/affordances/officerdev'`. Both point at
+  that capabilities checkout being owned by somebody other than `pastilhas`. Deliberately not papered over
+  with a `safe.directory` entry until somebody has run one `stat` on it. **Unexplained.**
 
 ## Not platforms — ignore for now
 

prompts/deploy-commander.md

@@ -30,6 +30,37 @@ names its own version, and `git ls-remote` answers "is there one" in a single ca
 - **No untagged release** → say "no release pending" and stop. Do not pull, do not touch a server.
 - **A `deploy/*` tag with no local record** → that is the release. Continue.
 
+### One attempt per release, and you do not enforce that yourself
+
+**Before you spawn or run anything for a version, claim it:**
+
+```bash
+scripts/deploy-claim.sh claim <version>   # exit 0 = it is yours, exit 1 = do not proceed
+```
+
+Exit 1 means somebody already attempted this release. **Stop. Do not retry it, do not deploy it, and do
+not decide the previous attempt does not count.** Say what the script said and move on.
+
+On success, record it through the same script:
+
+```bash
+scripts/deploy-claim.sh done <version>
+```
+
+**Why this is a script and not a rule you follow.** A watcher loop is written fresh each time one arms, so
+a rule that lives only in this file gets re-implemented from scratch every time — and the wrong version of
+it looks right: test for the `.done` file, which exists only on SUCCESS. Write that and a failing release
+spawns a new agent every poll, all night, each one costing money. That is not hypothetical. It is what the
+first watcher did on 2026-08-21: a careful loop, honest logging, and an unbounded retry inside it.
+
+So the rule is code. `mkdir` is the claim — atomic, one syscall that both tests and takes, no window
+between checking and acting. The script refuses a second claim and keeps refusing, whatever happened to the
+first attempt.
+
+**A failed release is therefore not retried. It is looked at.** Clearing a claim is a deliberate human act
+(`rm -rf …/<version>.claim`) or a new tag. A loop cannot undo its own claim, which is the property that
+makes the storm impossible rather than unlikely.
+
 ### The record is LOCAL, not in git
 
 ```
@@ -155,7 +186,24 @@ that are hard to reconstruct afterwards.
 
 ---
 
-## What is missing, as of writing
+## Being woken
 
-**Nothing wakes you yet.** A watcher, a cron entry or a repeating prompt has to exist and does not. Until
+A background job does it, armed from the composer's background-job dialog with **Exit and hand back to the
-then this runs when a person starts it.
+agent, then re-arm**. The wait happens in the shell, not in a model tick — a loop polling
+`git ls-remote`, which is one network call and no tokens.
+
+The loop cannot do a deploy: it cannot read a plan, judge a host or write a report. So on firing it spawns
+a headless agent — `claude -p "<read this file and follow it>" --dangerously-skip-permissions
+--output-format=stream-json --verbose` — and pipes the events through `jq` so the job panel shows progress
+instead of a blank box for twenty minutes.
+
+Two things that loop must get right, both learned by getting them wrong on 2026-08-21:
+
+- **Claim the version first**, per the section above. This is the one that costs money when missed.
+- **Set `OFFICER_ROOT` explicitly.** It is empty in the sidecar's environment, so the lock path resolves to
+  `/data/deploys` and the release looks permanently undeployed.
+
+The deploy therefore runs in a **separate** agent, not in the commander's own conversation: no Command HQ
+row, no cost on the commander's line, and its reasoning lives in that child's transcript. That is the price
+of putting the wait in the shell, and it is worth it — a model-side tick that re-reads a whole conversation
+to learn nothing is the thing being avoided.

scripts/deploy-claim.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# One attempt per release, enforced by the filesystem.
+#
+# A watcher loop asks this before it spawns anything. Exit 0 means "you have the claim, go". Exit 1 means
+# "somebody already had it" — and that answer never changes back, whatever happened to the attempt that
+# held it. A release that fails is not retried; it is looked at.
+#
+# WHY THIS IS A SCRIPT AND NOT A PARAGRAPH IN prompts/deploy-commander.md
+#
+# The watcher loop is written fresh by an agent each time it arms, so a rule that lives only in prose is
+# re-implemented from scratch on every arming, and "skip a version already attempted" has a wrong version
+# that looks right: test the .done file, which only exists on SUCCESS. Write that and a failing deploy
+# spawns a fresh agent every poll, all night, each one costing money. That is exactly what happened on
+# 2026-08-21 — the loop was careful, logged honestly, and still had an unbounded retry in it.
+#
+# WHY BASH AND NOT bun
+#
+# The thing that stops a retry storm must not depend on the checkout being healthy. A deploy that dies on
+# `bun install` is precisely when this has to work.
+#
+# WHY mkdir
+#
+# It is atomic on every POSIX filesystem and it fails if the target exists — one syscall that both tests
+# and claims. `[ -f x ] && ...` is two steps with a race between them, and two pollers a second apart is
+# not a hypothetical when a watcher is restarted.
+set -u
+
+DEPLOYS_DIR="${DEPLOYS_DIR:-$HOME/officer-dev/data/deploys}"
+
+usage() {
+  cat >&2 <<'USAGE'
+usage: deploy-claim.sh claim <version>    take the one attempt for this release (exit 0 = yours, 1 = taken)
+       deploy-claim.sh done  <version>    record that the attempt succeeded
+       deploy-claim.sh state <version>    print unclaimed | claimed | done
+       deploy-claim.sh list               every release this host knows about
+
+To retry a release deliberately: rm -rf <deploys-dir>/<version>.claim
+That is a human act on purpose. A loop cannot undo its own claim.
+USAGE
+  exit 2
+}
+
+version_ok() {
+  # The version reaches here from a git tag, so it is attacker-adjacent input used to build a path.
+  case "$1" in
+    *[!0-9.]* | '' | *..*) return 1 ;;
+    *) return 0 ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+CMD="${1:-}"
+[ -n "$CMD" ] || usage
+
+case "$CMD" in
+  list)
+    mkdir -p "$DEPLOYS_DIR"
+    found=0
+    for d in "$DEPLOYS_DIR"/*.claim; do
+      [ -e "$d" ] || continue
+      found=1
+      v=$(basename "$d" .claim)
+      if [ -f "$DEPLOYS_DIR/$v.done" ]; then s="done"; else s="claimed, no success recorded"; fi
+      printf '%-16s %s\n' "$v" "$s"
+    done
+    [ "$found" = 1 ] || echo "no releases attempted on this host"
+    ;;
+
+  claim | done | state)
+    V="${2:-}"
+    [ -n "$V" ] || usage
+    version_ok "$V" || { echo "deploy-claim: refusing a version that is not digits and dots: $V" >&2; exit 2; }
+    mkdir -p "$DEPLOYS_DIR" || exit 2
+    CLAIM="$DEPLOYS_DIR/$V.claim"
+    DONE="$DEPLOYS_DIR/$V.done"
+
+    case "$CMD" in
+      state)
+        if [ -f "$DONE" ]; then echo done
+        elif [ -d "$CLAIM" ]; then echo claimed
+        else echo unclaimed; fi
+        ;;
+      claim)
+        # A pre-existing .done with no .claim is a release deployed before this script existed. Honour it.
+        if [ -f "$DONE" ]; then
+          echo "deploy-claim: $V is already deployed" >&2
+          exit 1
+        fi
+        if mkdir "$CLAIM" 2>/dev/null; then
+          printf '%s claimed on %s by pid %s\n' "$(date -Iseconds)" "$(hostname)" "$$" > "$CLAIM/by"
+          echo "deploy-claim: $V is yours"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+        printf 'deploy-claim: %s was already attempted — %s\n' "$V" "$(cat "$CLAIM/by" 2>/dev/null || echo 'claim exists')" >&2
+        echo "deploy-claim: NOT retrying. Look at what failed, then rm -rf $CLAIM to allow another attempt." >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+      done)
+        [ -d "$CLAIM" ] || echo "deploy-claim: warning — recording success for $V that was never claimed" >&2
+        printf '%s succeeded on %s\n' "$(date -Iseconds)" "$(hostname)" >> "$DONE"
+        echo "deploy-claim: $V recorded as deployed"
+        ;;
+    esac
+    ;;
+
+  *) usage ;;
+esac

scripts/deploy-claim.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'bun:test';
+import { existsSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+const SCRIPT = join(import.meta.dir, 'deploy-claim.sh');
+let dir: string;
+
+const run = (...args: string[]) => {
+  const p = Bun.spawnSync([SCRIPT, ...args], { env: { ...process.env, DEPLOYS_DIR: dir } });
+  return { code: p.exitCode, out: p.stdout.toString(), err: p.stderr.toString() };
+};
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'deploy-claim-'));
+});
+afterEach(() => rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+
+// The whole point of this script is that the SECOND caller is refused. Everything else is scaffolding.
+describe('deploy-claim', () => {
+  it('grants once and refuses after, whatever the outcome was', () => {
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.09.01.01').code).toBe(0);
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.09.01.01').code).toBe(1);
+    // Still refused after a failure — no .done was ever written. This is the retry storm not happening.
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.09.01.01').code).toBe(1);
+    expect(run('state', '2026.09.01.01').out.trim()).toBe('claimed');
+  });
+
+  it('refuses a release already deployed, even with no claim beside it', () => {
+    // A release deployed by hand before this script existed. `deploy/2026.08.21.01` is exactly this case.
+    writeFileSync(join(dir, '2026.08.21.01.done'), 'deployed by hand\n');
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.08.21.01').code).toBe(1);
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.08.21.01').err).toContain('already deployed');
+  });
+
+  it('lets a human hand the claim back, and only a human', () => {
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.09.01.02').code).toBe(0);
+    rmSync(join(dir, '2026.09.01.02.claim'), { recursive: true });
+    expect(run('claim', '2026.09.01.02').code).toBe(0);
+  });
+
+  it('records success separately from the claim', () => {
+    run('claim', '2026.09.01.03');
+    run('done', '2026.09.01.03');
+    expect(run('state', '2026.09.01.03').out.trim()).toBe('done');
+    expect(existsSync(join(dir, '2026.09.01.03.done'))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  // The version comes off a git tag, and it is concatenated into a path.
+  it('refuses anything that is not digits and dots', () => {
+    for (const bad of ['../../etc/passwd', 'x; rm -rf /', '2026.08.21.01/..', '', 'v1']) {
+      expect(run('claim', bad).code).toBe(2);
+    }
+    expect(existsSync(join(dir, '..', 'etc'))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('says so plainly when nothing has been attempted', () => {
+    expect(run('list').out).toContain('no releases attempted');
+  });
+});