From 801351daf153525ed96eb55d3dba9eab1bf530df Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 21:57:40 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 01/10] chore(ci): buildx artifact handoff + base-image cache +
 pytest-xdist
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Optimizes the two longest CI jobs to bring smoke under its 15min ceiling
(was timing out on PR #290 after the docker bumps invalidated the
implicit Docker layer cache).

Three changes bundled:

  1. Buildx artifact handoff (~5min off smoke). The `docker` job already
     builds the API image; add a parallel `docker-ui` job for the UI
     image. Both upload tars via actions/upload-artifact. Smoke
     `needs: [docker, docker-ui]`, downloads + docker-loads both before
     `make up`. RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1 makes install.sh skip its
     `docker compose build` step (new escape hatch in install.sh step 6);
     RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA picks up the loaded images by tag.

  2. Base-image cache (~1-2min off smoke on hit). actions/cache keyed on
     hashFiles('docker-compose.yml'). On miss: docker pull + save the 4
     service-container images. On hit: docker load each tar — ~5s vs
     60-90s for pull.

  3. pytest-xdist parallel execution (~3min off backend full + ~15s off
     backend-unit-fast). pytest-xdist>=3.6 added to dev deps; `-n auto
     --dist worksteal` passed to backend pytest commands.

Expected impact: smoke 13-15min → ~7-9min; backend full 8m 36s → ~4-5min.
Total ~7-10min saved per PR run.

See chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md for the
risk analysis (xdist DB collisions, artifact overhead, cache key
staleness) and the not-in-scope follow-ups.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 .github/workflows/pr.yml                      | 136 +++++++++++++++++-
 docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md                 |   2 +-
 docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md            |  39 ++---
 docs/00_overview/dashboard.html               |   2 +-
 docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html          |  21 ++-
 .../idea.md                                   | 105 ++++++++++++++
 pyproject.toml                                |   5 +
 scripts/install.sh                            |  12 +-
 uv.lock                                       |  24 ++++
 9 files changed, 319 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md

diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
index 167fc589..fc517fcd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ jobs:
         run: uv sync --frozen
 
       - name: pytest backend/tests/unit/
-        run: uv run pytest backend/tests/unit/ --no-cov -q
+        run: uv run pytest backend/tests/unit/ -n auto --no-cov -q
 
   backend:
     name: backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage)
@@ -221,7 +221,15 @@ jobs:
           # behavior is acceptable until the deploy workflow exists.
           RELYLOOP_API_URL: http://localhost:8000
         run: |
+          # CI-perf #3: -n auto enables parallel test execution via pytest-xdist
+          # (1 worker per CPU core). Cuts the pytest step from ~6min serial to
+          # ~3min on the standard GitHub-hosted ubuntu-latest runner (2-core).
+          # --dist worksteal is the modern default for mixed-duration test mix;
+          # short tests fill in around long ones (better than the older
+          # round-robin `loadfile` distribution). See
+          # chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
           uv run pytest backend/tests/ \
+            -n auto --dist worksteal \
             --cov=backend \
             --cov-report=xml \
             --cov-report=term-missing
@@ -307,6 +315,13 @@ jobs:
     name: smoke (operator-path tutorial flow)
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 15
+    # Depend on the parallel `docker` (API) + `docker-ui` jobs so both image
+    # artifacts are ready before `make up`. Pre-bumps this PR was paying ~10min
+    # for `docker compose up -d` (image pulls + API + UI builds inside the
+    # step). The artifact handoff (API + UI) + base-image cache + SKIP_BUILD
+    # below cut that to ~2-3min on a warm cache. See
+    # chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
+    needs: [docker, docker-ui]
     permissions:
       contents: read
     steps:
@@ -365,7 +380,70 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
 
+      # CI-perf #1: download the pre-built API + UI images from the parallel
+      # docker / docker-ui jobs so `make up` skips both in-step `docker build`s
+      # (saves ~5min). Combined with RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1 (which makes
+      # install.sh skip its `docker compose build` step) compose just `up`s
+      # the loaded images. RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA below picks them up by tag.
+      - name: Download pre-built API image
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: relyloop-api-image-${{ github.sha }}
+          path: /tmp/
+
+      - name: Download pre-built UI image
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: relyloop-ui-image-${{ github.sha }}
+          path: /tmp/
+
+      - name: Load pre-built API + UI images into Docker
+        run: |
+          docker load -i /tmp/relyloop-api-image.tar
+          docker load -i /tmp/relyloop-ui-image.tar
+          docker image ls 'relyloop/*'
+
+      # CI-perf #2: cache the base service-container images (postgres / redis /
+      # elasticsearch / opensearch) keyed on their tags. On cache hit we
+      # `docker load` 4 tars in ~5s vs ~60-90s for `docker pull` on miss.
+      # Key changes whenever any of the image tags in docker-compose.yml change
+      # (forces re-pull on a bump PR, hit on subsequent runs).
+      - name: Cache base service-container images
+        id: base-image-cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v5
+        with:
+          path: /tmp/docker-base-images
+          key: docker-base-images-v1-${{ hashFiles('docker-compose.yml') }}
+
+      - name: Pre-pull + save base images on cache miss
+        if: steps.base-image-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p /tmp/docker-base-images
+          for img in postgres:17 redis:8 elasticsearch:9.4.1 opensearchproject/opensearch:3.6.0; do
+            docker pull "$img"
+            safe=$(echo "$img" | tr '/:' '__')
+            docker save "$img" -o "/tmp/docker-base-images/${safe}.tar"
+          done
+
+      - name: Load base images on cache hit
+        if: steps.base-image-cache.outputs.cache-hit == 'true'
+        run: |
+          for tar in /tmp/docker-base-images/*.tar; do
+            docker load -i "$tar"
+          done
+          docker image ls
+
+      # Compose's `image:` lines reference `relyloop/api:${RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA:-dev}`
+      # and `relyloop/ui:${RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA:-dev}` — setting RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA
+      # here makes compose pick up the loaded images instead of trying to
+      # build/pull them. RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1 also makes install.sh skip its
+      # explicit `docker compose build` step (added 2026-05-28; see install.sh
+      # step 6). Together these eliminate the API + UI build duplication in
+      # smoke that was eating ~5min per run.
       - name: Bring up the stack
+        env:
+          RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
+          RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD: "1"
         run: make up
 
       - name: Wait for /healthz
@@ -545,3 +623,59 @@ jobs:
               exit 1
             }
           '
+
+      # Export the built API image as a tar so the smoke job can `docker load`
+      # it instead of rebuilding (which costs ~2-3min inside `make up`). See
+      # chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md for the
+      # smoke-pace context. compression-level: 0 because docker save already
+      # produces a compressed tar (re-compressing wastes ~30s with no win).
+      - name: Export API image as tar for smoke job
+        run: docker save relyloop/api:${{ github.sha }} -o /tmp/relyloop-api-image.tar
+
+      - name: Upload API image artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: relyloop-api-image-${{ github.sha }}
+          path: /tmp/relyloop-api-image.tar
+          retention-days: 1
+          compression-level: 0
+
+  docker-ui:
+    name: docker buildx (relyloop/ui)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # Parallel to `docker` (API buildx). Symmetric pattern: builds + uploads
+    # the UI image as a tar so the smoke job can `docker load` it instead of
+    # rebuilding inside `make up`. Reused via `needs: [docker, docker-ui]` on
+    # the smoke job + `RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1` to bypass install.sh's build step.
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v4
+
+      - name: Build relyloop/ui (no push, load into local daemon)
+        uses: docker/build-push-action@v7
+        with:
+          context: ./ui
+          file: ui/Dockerfile
+          push: false
+          load: true
+          tags: relyloop/ui:${{ github.sha }}
+          # The compose service bakes NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL into the bundle
+          # at build time (Next.js inlines it at `next build`). Match the value
+          # docker-compose.yml line 183 sets so the smoke run uses the same URL.
+          build-args: |
+            NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000
+          cache-from: type=gha,scope=ui
+          cache-to: type=gha,scope=ui,mode=max
+
+      - name: Export UI image as tar for smoke job
+        run: docker save relyloop/ui:${{ github.sha }} -o /tmp/relyloop-ui-image.tar
+
+      - name: Upload UI image artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: relyloop-ui-image-${{ github.sha }}
+          path: /tmp/relyloop-ui-image.tar
+          retention-days: 1
+          compression-level: 0
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md b/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
index 5b79a63c..f3c7a999 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
+++ b/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ _Top-level index across MVP1 → GA v1+ as of **2026-05-28**. Click a release na
 
 | Release | Theme | Progress | Status |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| [MVP1 / v0.1](MVP1_DASHBOARD.md) | The Loop | 88 / 89 scoped done · 16 remaining | **In progress** |
+| [MVP1 / v0.1](MVP1_DASHBOARD.md) | The Loop | 88 / 89 scoped done · 17 remaining | **In progress** |
 | MVP1.5 / v0.1.5 | Real Signals | — | **Not yet scoped** |
 | [MVP2 / v0.2](MVP2_DASHBOARD.md) | Observable | 1 / 1 scoped done · 1 remaining | **In progress** |
 | MVP3 / v0.3 | Production Stacks | — | **Not yet scoped** |
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md b/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
index 46a6b1a4..c0b6cc1f 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
+++ b/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
@@ -21,13 +21,13 @@ Implementation in progress — resume to finish
 | Metric | Value |
 |---|---|
 | Scoped items done | **88 / 89** (99%) — feat_/infra_/chore_/epic_ past idea stage |
-| Pending work | **18** items (every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities) |
+| Pending work | **19** items (every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities) |
 | → P0 — do next | **0** unblocking / paying daily cost |
-| → P1 | **6** high-value, ready when P0 clears |
+| → P1 | **7** high-value, ready when P0 clears |
 | → P2 (default) | 10 important to file, not blocking |
 | → Backlog | 2 captured for record, not planned |
 | Open bugs | 5 |
-| Legacy "Path to MVP1" | 16 items — scoped-not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas) |
+| Legacy "Path to MVP1" | 17 items — scoped-not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas) |
 | Backlog ideas | 2 idea-only feat/infra (not yet scoped into MVP1) |
 | In flight | 1 feature(s) actively shipping |
 
@@ -171,27 +171,28 @@ _None._
 
 _None._
 
-### Idea (17)
+### Idea (18)
 
 | # | Priority | Feature | Type | One-liner | Depends on | Status |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | P1 | [feat_ubi_judgments](../02_product/planned_features/feat_ubi_judgments/idea.md) | Feature | MVP1 ships with **LLM-as-judge** as the only authoritative judgment source. The architecture anticipated this would change — the `judgments.source` CHECK already accepts `click`… | — | Idea — bundled with [`infra_adapter_solr`](../infra_adapter_solr/idea.md) into MVP2 / v0.2 "Three-Engine + Real Signals" |
 | 2 | P1 | [infra_smoke_job_chronic_flake](../02_product/planned_features/infra_smoke_job_chronic_flake/idea.md) | Infra | Recent `pr.yml` runs on `main` (newest first): | — | Idea — captured during feat_index_document_browser CI watch (PR #285) |
-| 3 | P1 | [chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci](../02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md) | Chore | The smoke job in `.github/workflows/pr.yml` ran three seed steps before the smoke test + Playwright E2E suite: | — | Idea — landed bundled with PR #290 (docker-image-bumps) |
-| 4 | P1 | [chore_drop_fusion_scope](../02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_fusion_scope/idea.md) | Chore | The prior umbrella spec ([`docs/00_overview/relyloop-spec.md`](relyloop-spec.md)) planned Lucidworks Fusion as the MVP3 engine target and Apache Solr as a v2+ "architectural reference, not v1 scope" a | — | Idea — scope decision, paired with [`infra_adapter_solr`](../infra_adapter_solr/idea.md) |
-| 5 | P1 | [chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist](../02_product/planned_features/chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist/idea.md) | Chore | The `chore_oss_launch_prep` PR adds the foundational governance / security / contributor files that prospective contributors and enterprise reviewers look for first. Three remaining items are gates on | — | Idea — captured during `chore_oss_launch_prep` (the PR that added SECURITY.md / GOVERNANCE.md / MAINTAINERS.md / CODEOWNERS / issue + PR templates and replaced the Code of Conduct) |
-| 6 | P1 | [bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure](../02_product/planned_features/bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure/idea.md) | Bug | There is at least one untrapped exception path in `backend/workers/demo_reseed.py:run_demo_reseed`'s pre-main-body initialization that: | — | Idea — bug captured during PR #286 first-run testing |
-| 7 | P2 | [chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite](../02_product/planned_features/chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite/idea.md) | Chore | The async flow's contract: | — | Idea — chore captured during PR #286 |
-| 8 | P2 | [chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction/idea.md) | Chore | Five sites in three e2e specs concatenate `API_BASE` with a path string: | — | Idea — surfaced during Gemini Code Assist review on PR #273 (`chore_clone_narrow_bounds_full_roundtrip_e2e`). |
-| 9 | P2 | [chore_state_md_size_compression](../02_product/planned_features/chore_state_md_size_compression/idea.md) | Chore | `state.md` is structured around two concerns conflated into one file: | — | Idea — tangential observation surfaced during `/impl-execute` for `infra_agent_sibling_worktree_isolation` (Phase 1, this PR). |
-| 10 | P2 | [chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture](../02_product/planned_features/chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture/idea.md) | Chore | The studies POST handler at [`backend/app/api/v1/studies.py:307`](../../backend/app/api/v1/studies.py#L307) calls `await _enqueue_start_study(request, study_id)` after a successful create. The helper  | — | Idea — surfaced during `feat_study_preflight_overlap_probe` (PR ___) phase-gate review |
-| 11 | P2 | [chore_template_library_expansion](../02_product/planned_features/chore_template_library_expansion/idea.md) | Chore | Three connected gaps: | — | Idea — surfaced during a UX review of parameter-tuning ergonomics on 2026-05-19. |
-| 12 | P2 | [bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction](../02_product/planned_features/bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction/idea.md) | Bug | The `CEILING` badge in [`studies-table.column-config.tsx:METRIC_CEILING_THRESHOLD`](../ui/src/components/studies/studies-table.column-config.tsx) flags rows where `best_metric >= 0.99`. The threshold  | — | — |
-| 13 | P2 | [bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake](../02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake/idea.md) | Bug | [`ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts:20-40`](../../ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts#L20-L40): | — | Idea — surfaced during PR #273 CI watch. |
-| 14 | P2 | [bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests](../02_product/planned_features/bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests/idea.md) | Bug | There is shared state somewhere in starlette / FastAPI that is mutated by `Request(scope={"type": "http", ...})` and breaks subsequent `Depends` resolution. Possible suspects: | — | Idea — bug captured during feat_index_document_browser Story 2.1 |
-| 15 | P2 | [bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive](../02_product/planned_features/bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive/idea.md) | Bug | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. | — | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. |
-| 16 | Backlog | [chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock](../02_product/planned_features/chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock/idea.md) | Chore | The shipped `feat_auto_followup_studies` worker uses a two-layer idempotency scheme: | — | Idea — captured as a standalone file to resolve broken cross-references in `feat_auto_followup_studies` D-11 + plan F2 + `bug_auto_followup_completed_parent_stop_chain_race/idea.md`. The slug was coined 2026-05-24 in D-11 but only existed as descriptive prose across other documents until now. |
-| 17 | Backlog | [chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead/idea.md) | Chore | `seedAcmeProductsChain` is a 140-line helper that constructs a cluster + query_set + template + judgment_list + study + optional proposal/digest chain "Acme Products" demo scenario. The function is co | — | Closed (2026-05-25) — superseded by guide-06 spec wiring (commit `2cbcb93b`, 2026-05-22). Real caller: `ui/tests/e2e/guides/06_create_and_monitor_study.spec.ts`. No further action beyond the coverage-audit refresh that ships in the same PR. |
+| 3 | P1 | [chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist](../02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md) | Chore | PR #290's smoke job ran for 15m 22s and was killed by `timeout-minutes: 15`. Per-step breakdown: | — | Idea — landed as the next PR after PR #290 (docker-image-bumps) |
+| 4 | P1 | [chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci](../02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md) | Chore | The smoke job in `.github/workflows/pr.yml` ran three seed steps before the smoke test + Playwright E2E suite: | — | Idea — landed bundled with PR #290 (docker-image-bumps) |
+| 5 | P1 | [chore_drop_fusion_scope](../02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_fusion_scope/idea.md) | Chore | The prior umbrella spec ([`docs/00_overview/relyloop-spec.md`](relyloop-spec.md)) planned Lucidworks Fusion as the MVP3 engine target and Apache Solr as a v2+ "architectural reference, not v1 scope" a | — | Idea — scope decision, paired with [`infra_adapter_solr`](../infra_adapter_solr/idea.md) |
+| 6 | P1 | [chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist](../02_product/planned_features/chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist/idea.md) | Chore | The `chore_oss_launch_prep` PR adds the foundational governance / security / contributor files that prospective contributors and enterprise reviewers look for first. Three remaining items are gates on | — | Idea — captured during `chore_oss_launch_prep` (the PR that added SECURITY.md / GOVERNANCE.md / MAINTAINERS.md / CODEOWNERS / issue + PR templates and replaced the Code of Conduct) |
+| 7 | P1 | [bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure](../02_product/planned_features/bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure/idea.md) | Bug | There is at least one untrapped exception path in `backend/workers/demo_reseed.py:run_demo_reseed`'s pre-main-body initialization that: | — | Idea — bug captured during PR #286 first-run testing |
+| 8 | P2 | [chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite](../02_product/planned_features/chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite/idea.md) | Chore | The async flow's contract: | — | Idea — chore captured during PR #286 |
+| 9 | P2 | [chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction/idea.md) | Chore | Five sites in three e2e specs concatenate `API_BASE` with a path string: | — | Idea — surfaced during Gemini Code Assist review on PR #273 (`chore_clone_narrow_bounds_full_roundtrip_e2e`). |
+| 10 | P2 | [chore_state_md_size_compression](../02_product/planned_features/chore_state_md_size_compression/idea.md) | Chore | `state.md` is structured around two concerns conflated into one file: | — | Idea — tangential observation surfaced during `/impl-execute` for `infra_agent_sibling_worktree_isolation` (Phase 1, this PR). |
+| 11 | P2 | [chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture](../02_product/planned_features/chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture/idea.md) | Chore | The studies POST handler at [`backend/app/api/v1/studies.py:307`](../../backend/app/api/v1/studies.py#L307) calls `await _enqueue_start_study(request, study_id)` after a successful create. The helper  | — | Idea — surfaced during `feat_study_preflight_overlap_probe` (PR ___) phase-gate review |
+| 12 | P2 | [chore_template_library_expansion](../02_product/planned_features/chore_template_library_expansion/idea.md) | Chore | Three connected gaps: | — | Idea — surfaced during a UX review of parameter-tuning ergonomics on 2026-05-19. |
+| 13 | P2 | [bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction](../02_product/planned_features/bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction/idea.md) | Bug | The `CEILING` badge in [`studies-table.column-config.tsx:METRIC_CEILING_THRESHOLD`](../ui/src/components/studies/studies-table.column-config.tsx) flags rows where `best_metric >= 0.99`. The threshold  | — | — |
+| 14 | P2 | [bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake](../02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake/idea.md) | Bug | [`ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts:20-40`](../../ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts#L20-L40): | — | Idea — surfaced during PR #273 CI watch. |
+| 15 | P2 | [bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests](../02_product/planned_features/bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests/idea.md) | Bug | There is shared state somewhere in starlette / FastAPI that is mutated by `Request(scope={"type": "http", ...})` and breaks subsequent `Depends` resolution. Possible suspects: | — | Idea — bug captured during feat_index_document_browser Story 2.1 |
+| 16 | P2 | [bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive](../02_product/planned_features/bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive/idea.md) | Bug | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. | — | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. |
+| 17 | Backlog | [chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock](../02_product/planned_features/chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock/idea.md) | Chore | The shipped `feat_auto_followup_studies` worker uses a two-layer idempotency scheme: | — | Idea — captured as a standalone file to resolve broken cross-references in `feat_auto_followup_studies` D-11 + plan F2 + `bug_auto_followup_completed_parent_stop_chain_race/idea.md`. The slug was coined 2026-05-24 in D-11 but only existed as descriptive prose across other documents until now. |
+| 18 | Backlog | [chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead/idea.md) | Chore | `seedAcmeProductsChain` is a 140-line helper that constructs a cluster + query_set + template + judgment_list + study + optional proposal/digest chain "Acme Products" demo scenario. The function is co | — | Closed (2026-05-25) — superseded by guide-06 spec wiring (commit `2cbcb93b`, 2026-05-22). Real caller: `ui/tests/e2e/guides/06_create_and_monitor_study.spec.ts`. No further action beyond the coverage-audit refresh that ships in the same PR. |
 
 ## Dependency graph
 
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html b/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
index b4b1eccd..f818f8c5 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
+++ b/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ <h2>Releases</h2>
 <div class="roadmap-row">
   <div class="release-name"><a href="mvp1_dashboard.html">MVP1 / v0.1</a></div>
   <div class="theme">The Loop</div>
-  <div class="progress">88 / 89 scoped done · 16 remaining</div>
+  <div class="progress">88 / 89 scoped done · 17 remaining</div>
   <span class="state-pill in_progress">In progress</span>
 </div>
 
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html b/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
index 10b13456..66d59364 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
+++ b/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi warn">
       <div class="label">Pending work</div>
-      <div class="value">18</div>
+      <div class="value">19</div>
       <div class="sub">every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities</div>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi bug">
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
   <div class="kpi-row">
     <div class="kpi">
       <div class="label">P1</div>
-      <div class="value">6</div>
+      <div class="value">7</div>
       <div class="sub">high-value, ready when P0 clears</div>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi">
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi">
       <div class="label">Legacy "Path to MVP1"</div>
-      <div class="value">16</div>
+      <div class="value">17</div>
       <div class="sub">scoped not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas)</div>
     </div>
   </div>
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ <h2>Pipeline</h2>
   </div>
   <div class="kanban">
 <div class="col idea">
-  <h3>Idea <span class="count">17</span></h3>
+  <h3>Idea <span class="count">18</span></h3>
 
 <div class="card feat" data-prefix="feat" data-priority="P1">
   <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/feat_ubi_judgments">Ubi Judgments</a></div>
@@ -491,6 +491,19 @@ <h3>Idea <span class="count">17</span></h3>
 </div>
 
 
+<div class="card chore" data-prefix="chore" data-priority="P1">
+  <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist">Ci Perf Buildx Artifact Image Cache Xdist</a></div>
+  <div class="meta">
+    <span class="badge chore">Chore</span>
+    <span class="badge priority" data-priority="P1">P1</span>
+
+  </div>
+  <div class="one-liner">PR #290&#x27;s smoke job ran for 15m 22s and was killed by `timeout-minutes: 15`. Per-step breakdown:</div>
+
+
+</div>
+
+
 <div class="card chore" data-prefix="chore" data-priority="P1">
   <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci">Drop Demo Seed From Ci</a></div>
   <div class="meta">
diff --git a/docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md b/docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..79f23394
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+# CI-perf: docker-buildx artifact handoff + base-image cache + pytest-xdist
+
+**Date:** 2026-05-28
+**Status:** Idea — landed as the next PR after PR #290 (docker-image-bumps)
+**Priority:** P1 — addresses the smoke job hitting its `timeout-minutes: 15` ceiling, which was rendering it unmergeable on PR #290 (had to admin-merge)
+**Origin:** Operator question during PR #290 CI watch: "we need to optimize these actions ... take a good look at the 2 longest running actions and analyze what we can do to reduce how long these take. This is just way too long." Real-timing analysis showed:
+  - `smoke (operator-path tutorial flow)` — 15m 22s, **timing out at the 15min ceiling**
+  - `backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage)` — 8m 36s
+**Depends on:** PR #290 (`414c783f`) — uses the docker-bumped image tags as the cache key.
+
+## Problem
+
+PR #290's smoke job ran for 15m 22s and was killed by `timeout-minutes: 15`. Per-step breakdown:
+
+| Step | Time | Note |
+|---|---|---|
+| Setup + checkout + uv + deps | ~10s | already fast |
+| **`docker compose up -d` (Bring up the stack)** | **10m 5s** | image pulls + API build + UI build inside the step |
+| Wait for /healthz | 1s | |
+| Migrations + seeds | 12s | |
+| Smoke test (LLM round-trip) | 33s | |
+| Verify UI + pnpm/Node setup + Playwright install | ~16s | |
+| Run Playwright E2E | TBD (~3-5 min historically) | killed at the 15min ceiling |
+
+The dominant cost is the 10-minute `make up` step, of which the API + UI Docker builds are ~5 minutes total. The dedicated `docker buildx (relyloop/api)` job is already building the API image (1m 32s) but smoke duplicates the work.
+
+Similarly, `backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage)` runs `pytest backend/tests/ --cov` serially for 6m 1s on a 2-core GitHub-hosted runner. Parallelizing with `pytest-xdist -n auto` cuts this roughly in half.
+
+## Proposed action
+
+Three changes bundled into one CI-perf PR:
+
+### #1 Reuse docker-buildx artifacts in smoke (~5min savings)
+
+- Add a `Export API image as tar for smoke job` step to the existing `docker` job that `docker save`s the built API image as a tar.
+- Add a `Upload API image artifact` step that uploads the tar via `actions/upload-artifact@v7` with `compression-level: 0` (the tar is already compressed by `docker save` — re-compressing wastes ~30s with no win).
+- Add a parallel `docker-ui` job (symmetric to `docker`) that builds + uploads the UI image as a tar. UI build is its own bottleneck (~2-3min via `next build`) — pre-building in parallel matters as much as API.
+- Make smoke `needs: [docker, docker-ui]` so it waits for both artifacts.
+- Smoke downloads both artifacts + `docker load`s them into the local Docker daemon BEFORE `make up`.
+- Set `RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA=${{ github.sha }}` env on the `Bring up the stack` step so compose picks up the loaded images via the `image: relyloop/api:${RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA:-dev}` references.
+
+### #2 Cache base service-container images (~1-2min savings on cache hit)
+
+- Add an `actions/cache@v5` step keyed on `hashFiles('docker-compose.yml')` (so any image-tag bump in compose = cache miss; otherwise hit).
+- On miss: `docker pull` each of `postgres:17`, `redis:8`, `elasticsearch:9.4.1`, `opensearchproject/opensearch:3.6.0`, then `docker save` each tar into `/tmp/docker-base-images/`.
+- On hit: iterate the tars and `docker load` each. ~5s for all 4 vs ~60-90s for `docker pull` on miss.
+
+### #3 pytest-xdist + parallel test execution (~3min off backend full)
+
+- Add `pytest-xdist>=3.6` to `[dependency-groups] dev` in pyproject.toml.
+- Pass `-n auto --dist worksteal` to the backend full pytest call. `-n auto` runs 1 worker per CPU core (2 on ubuntu-latest); `--dist worksteal` is the modern default for mixed test durations (short tests fill in around long ones).
+- Also add `-n auto` to the existing `backend-unit-fast` job for symmetry (~33s → ~15s).
+
+### Supporting change: `RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1` escape hatch in install.sh
+
+- `scripts/install.sh` step 6 calls `docker compose build` unconditionally to keep operator-pulled code in sync with the running image. In CI we pre-built both images via the buildx jobs, so this would be ~3-5min of pure duplication.
+- Add a guard: `if [[ "${RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD:-0}" != "1" ]]; then docker compose build; else echo "..."; fi`.
+- Smoke sets `RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD: "1"` on the `Bring up the stack` step.
+
+## Expected impact
+
+Combined savings:
+
+| Job | Before | After (estimate) |
+|---|---|---|
+| smoke | 13-15min (timing out at 15min ceiling) | **~7-9 min** |
+| backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage) | 8m 36s | **~4-5 min** |
+| backend-unit-fast | 33s | ~15s |
+
+Total wall-clock saved per PR run: **~7-10 min**.
+
+The smoke job goes from "timing out, cannot merge without admin override" to "comfortably under the 15min ceiling with margin." Subsequent operations stop being held hostage by the slow path.
+
+## Scope signals
+
+- **Backend:** 1 LOC in pyproject.toml (`pytest-xdist>=3.6` dep).
+- **Frontend:** 0 LOC.
+- **CI workflow:** ~70 lines added across `.github/workflows/pr.yml`:
+  - `docker` job: +12 lines (export tar + upload artifact)
+  - new `docker-ui` job: +30 lines (parallel buildx + export + upload)
+  - smoke job: +35 lines (download artifacts + load + base-image cache + env vars)
+  - backend pytest commands: +5 lines (added `-n auto --dist worksteal` flags)
+- **`scripts/install.sh`:** ~5 lines (the SKIP_BUILD escape hatch).
+- **Migration:** none.
+- **Audit events:** N/A.
+- **Tests:** the `-n auto` change may surface DB-collision flakes in integration tests that were previously serialized. First CI run on the PR is the validation; mark any specific collisions with `@pytest.mark.xdist_group("group_name")` to serialize within a worker.
+
+## What is NOT changed in this PR (possible follow-ups)
+
+- **Lower `timeout-minutes` on smoke from 15 → 10.** The optimizations should bring smoke well under 10min, but leave the ceiling at 15min for safety during the transition. Lower it in a follow-up after we see 3-5 PR runs come in under target.
+- **Shard backend tests across 2 parallel jobs (#5 from the analysis).** Only worth doing if `-n auto` doesn't get us under 5min on backend full. Additional runner-minutes for additional wall-clock savings.
+- **Coverage on PRs vs nightly.** Coverage instrumentation adds ~10-15% pytest overhead. Could split: uncovered tests on PRs, full coverage on nightly + main. Trade-off: PR doesn't see coverage delta until merge.
+- **Pull Playwright browser binary cache to actions/cache via lockfile hash.** Already cached via the existing `Cache Playwright browsers` step; minor follow-up if any drift surfaces.
+
+## Risks
+
+- **pytest-xdist DB collisions.** Integration tests that share DB state (Optuna RDB co-tenant, shared sequences, fixture-seeded rows) may collide under parallel execution. Mitigation: first CI run is the validation; mark collisions with `@pytest.mark.xdist_group` if they surface.
+- **Artifact upload/download overhead.** API + UI tars are ~200-500MB combined. Upload + download adds ~30-60s. Net savings vs in-step build (~5min) is positive but verify on first run.
+- **Cache key staleness.** `hashFiles('docker-compose.yml')` rehashes when ANY line of the compose file changes — including non-image-related changes. Acceptable: cache miss = `docker pull` runs once, populates cache. Worst case is a one-run penalty.
+
+## Relationship to other work
+
+- **Follows PR #290** (docker-image-bumps) which surfaced the smoke timeout by adding new image tags that invalidated the implicit Docker layer cache.
+- **Closes the timeout-related portion of `bug_smoke_followup_clone_e2e_flakes`** — once the smoke job has comfortable headroom, intermittent E2E flakes stop hitting the timeout ceiling and surface as proper failures the bug tracker can investigate.
+- **Composes with [`chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci`](../chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md)** (also shipped in PR #290) — that one shaved ~60s by removing the demo seed; this one shaves the bigger chunk by removing the docker-build duplication.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index aa1d1753..f5566d0c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ dev = [
     "pytest-cov>=6.0",
     "pytest-mock>=3.14",
     "pytest-recording>=0.13",
+    # pytest-xdist enables `-n auto` parallel test execution. CI-perf only:
+    # the workflow passes `-n auto` to the backend full pytest call, cutting
+    # backend job time roughly in half. Local devs can opt in similarly.
+    # See chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
+    "pytest-xdist>=3.6",
     # NB: the parity test at backend/tests/unit/eval/test_scoring_parity.py
     # does `import pytrec_eval` and compares its output side-by-side with
     # ir_measures. That `pytrec_eval` module is provided by
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 30a7059c..2a147dab 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -73,7 +73,17 @@ docker compose config --quiet
 #    No-args = build every service that declares a `build:` block. The earlier
 #    hardcoded `api worker` list silently skipped the `ui` service after it
 #    joined Compose, leaving frontend changes invisible until manual rebuild.
-docker compose build
+#
+#    CI escape hatch: set `RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1` to skip this step. CI pre-
+#    builds the API + UI images in parallel `docker` + `docker-ui` jobs and
+#    `docker load`s them before calling `make up`, so a second `docker compose
+#    build` here would be ~3-5min of pure duplication. See
+#    chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
+if [[ "${RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD:-0}" != "1" ]]; then
+  docker compose build
+else
+  echo "RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1 set — skipping 'docker compose build' (CI artifact-handoff path)"
+fi
 
 # 7. Bring the stack up. `docker compose up -d` is itself idempotent.
 #    `--wait` blocks until every container's healthcheck passes (or fails) —
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 8a93cff4..1b9654f4 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -418,6 +418,15 @@ wheels = [
     { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/e3/26/57c6fb270950d476074c087527a558ccb6f4436657314bfb6cdf484114c4/docker-7.1.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:c96b93b7f0a746f9e77d325bcfb87422a3d8bd4f03136ae8a85b37f1898d5fc0", size = 147774, upload-time = "2024-05-23T11:13:55.01Z" },
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "execnet"
+version = "2.1.2"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/bf/89/780e11f9588d9e7128a3f87788354c7946a9cbb1401ad38a48c4db9a4f07/execnet-2.1.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:63d83bfdd9a23e35b9c6a3261412324f964c2ec8dcd8d3c6916ee9373e0befcd", size = 166622, upload-time = "2025-11-12T09:56:37.75Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ab/84/02fc1827e8cdded4aa65baef11296a9bbe595c474f0d6d758af082d849fd/execnet-2.1.2-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:67fba928dd5a544b783f6056f449e5e3931a5c378b128bc18501f7ea79e296ec", size = 40708, upload-time = "2025-11-12T09:56:36.333Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fastapi"
 version = "0.136.1"
@@ -1419,6 +1428,19 @@ wheels = [
     { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/42/c2/ce34735972cc42d912173e79f200fe66530225190c06655c5632a9d88f1e/pytest_recording-0.13.4-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:ad49a434b51b1c4f78e85b1e6b74fdcc2a0a581ca16e52c798c6ace971f7f439", size = 13723, upload-time = "2025-05-08T10:41:09.684Z" },
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "pytest-xdist"
+version = "3.8.0"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+dependencies = [
+    { name = "execnet" },
+    { name = "pytest" },
+]
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/78/b4/439b179d1ff526791eb921115fca8e44e596a13efeda518b9d845a619450/pytest_xdist-3.8.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:7e578125ec9bc6050861aa93f2d59f1d8d085595d6551c2c90b6f4fad8d3a9f1", size = 88069, upload-time = "2025-07-01T13:30:59.346Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/ca/31/d4e37e9e550c2b92a9cbc2e4d0b7420a27224968580b5a447f420847c975/pytest_xdist-3.8.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:202ca578cfeb7370784a8c33d6d05bc6e13b4f25b5053c30a152269fd10f0b88", size = 46396, upload-time = "2025-07-01T13:30:56.632Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "python-dateutil"
 version = "2.9.0.post0"
@@ -1578,6 +1600,7 @@ dev = [
     { name = "pytest-cov" },
     { name = "pytest-mock" },
     { name = "pytest-recording" },
+    { name = "pytest-xdist" },
     { name = "ruff" },
     { name = "testcontainers" },
     { name = "types-pyyaml" },
@@ -1617,6 +1640,7 @@ dev = [
     { name = "pytest-cov", specifier = ">=6.0" },
     { name = "pytest-mock", specifier = ">=3.14" },
     { name = "pytest-recording", specifier = ">=0.13" },
+    { name = "pytest-xdist", specifier = ">=3.6" },
     { name = "ruff", specifier = ">=0.8" },
     { name = "testcontainers", extras = ["postgresql"], specifier = ">=4.9" },
     { name = "types-pyyaml", specifier = ">=6.0" },

From e327f3ab8dc08b4c826c7582ca4c3472261f68de Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 22:07:34 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 02/10] fix(ci): revert -n auto on backend jobs (xdist DB
 collisions)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291 first CI run surfaced an integration-test FK collision under
parallel pytest execution:

  IntegrityError: update or delete on table "clusters" violates foreign
  key constraint "query_sets_cluster_id_fkey" on table "query_sets"

Triggered at teardown of TestClusterRepoBasics.test_create_then_fetch_round_trip
when a parallel xdist worker held an FK reference to a cluster being
deleted in another worker's teardown. The integration test layer isn't
isolated enough at the DB level for parallel execution against a shared
Postgres.

Reverting `-n auto` on both backend jobs:
- backend-unit-fast: was 33s baseline, went to 43s with -n auto (xdist
  worker-startup overhead exceeded parallelism savings on the 2-core
  runner for an already-fast test suite). Revert is a net win.
- backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage): was 6m 1s baseline,
  parallel execution introduced FK collisions. Revert restores
  correctness.

Keeping pytest-xdist in dev deps for local opt-in (the unit-only path
is parallel-safe locally where the runner has more cores; the
worker-startup overhead is dominated by 1500+ unit tests on 8+ cores).

Follow-up captured in chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist
§"What is NOT changed in this PR": split the backend job into a
parallel-safe "unit + contract" lane (where -n auto helps) + a serial
"integration" lane (where collisions live) to recover #3's intended
savings without the correctness risk.

CI-perf #1 (buildx artifact handoff) + #2 (base-image cache) are
unaffected and remain the actual smoke-pace wins.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 .github/workflows/pr.yml | 22 +++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
index fc517fcd..e837cea2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ jobs:
         run: uv sync --frozen
 
       - name: pytest backend/tests/unit/
-        run: uv run pytest backend/tests/unit/ -n auto --no-cov -q
+        run: uv run pytest backend/tests/unit/ --no-cov -q
 
   backend:
     name: backend (lint + typecheck + tests + coverage)
@@ -221,15 +221,19 @@ jobs:
           # behavior is acceptable until the deploy workflow exists.
           RELYLOOP_API_URL: http://localhost:8000
         run: |
-          # CI-perf #3: -n auto enables parallel test execution via pytest-xdist
-          # (1 worker per CPU core). Cuts the pytest step from ~6min serial to
-          # ~3min on the standard GitHub-hosted ubuntu-latest runner (2-core).
-          # --dist worksteal is the modern default for mixed-duration test mix;
-          # short tests fill in around long ones (better than the older
-          # round-robin `loadfile` distribution). See
-          # chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
+          # CI-perf #3 (pytest-xdist `-n auto`) was attempted on the first
+          # PR #291 CI run and reverted: the integration test layer hit FK
+          # collisions (query_sets_cluster_id_fkey violation when parallel
+          # tests held a FK reference to a cluster being deleted in another
+          # worker's teardown). pytest-xdist remains in dev deps for local
+          # opt-in (`pytest -n auto` works fine on the unit-test layer);
+          # CI-perf #1 + #2 (buildx artifact handoff + base-image cache)
+          # are the actual smoke-pace wins. A follow-up may split the
+          # backend job into a parallel-safe "unit + contract" lane + a
+          # serial "integration" lane to recover #3's savings. See
+          # chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md
+          # §"What is NOT changed in this PR".
           uv run pytest backend/tests/ \
-            -n auto --dist worksteal \
             --cov=backend \
             --cov-report=xml \
             --cov-report=term-missing

From 0faaa14880076c57fb7b1c871ce53642d75afa39 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 22:21:25 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 03/10] fix(ci): seed_es shard race + verify-script tolerates
 indented build line
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Two follow-up fixes for PR #291 surfaced by the 2nd CI run:

1. seed_es.py: ES 9.x single-node shard race
   ---------------------------------------
   The faster stack-up (~3min vs ~10min baseline) stopped masking a
   latent race: seed_es creates the products index then immediately
   bulk-indexes. ES 9.x default `number_of_replicas: 1` tries to
   allocate a replica that can never bind on a one-node cluster,
   leaving the primary itself in an INITIALIZING → STARTED race that
   surfaces as `unavailable_shards_exception: [products][0] primary
   shard is not active Timeout: [1m]` on the bulk-index call.

   Fix:
   - Set `number_of_replicas: 0` in the index create call (single-node
     hygiene; the previous default-1 left an unallocatable replica)
   - Add an explicit `_cluster/health/{index}?wait_for_active_shards=1`
     poll between create and bulk so the failure mode (if it ever
     resurfaces) gives a clean error instead of the 1-min ES bulk-side
     timeout

2. scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh: regex too strict
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   PR #291 added a RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD=1 escape hatch in install.sh
   that wraps `docker compose build` in an `if [[ ... ]]; then` block.
   The line is now indented 2 spaces. The verify script's anchor
   `^docker compose build` no longer matched, so the check failed
   "no 'docker compose build' line found" even though the line was
   present (just indented).

   Fix:
   - Allow leading whitespace in the grep + the sed strip:
     `^[[:space:]]*docker compose build( .*)?$`
   - Indentation is irrelevant to the drift this gate exists to catch;
     what matters is that the args list covers every buildable service.

Both surfaced by PR #291 CI but trace back to existing behavior
(seed_es race was masked by previous slow stack-up; verify script
became incompatible with the conditional wrapper). Local verify of
each:
- bash scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh → "OK (no-args
  = builds all)"
- seed_es.py change is straight schema-additive (settings block) +
  one extra GET call; no behavior change on multi-node clusters

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py                | 21 ++++++++++++++++++-
 .../ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh  | 12 ++++++++---
 2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
index 543b878f..7aab20be 100644
--- a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
@@ -58,9 +58,19 @@ async def main() -> int:
             return 1
 
         # Create with mapping derived from the products schema.
+        #
+        # number_of_replicas=0 is required for single-node ES (local dev +
+        # CI). The default (1) tries to allocate a replica that can never
+        # bind on a one-node cluster, leaving the primary itself in an
+        # INITIALIZING → STARTED race that surfaces as an
+        # `unavailable_shards_exception` on the immediately-following
+        # bulk-index. Visible in PR #291 CI run after the faster stack-up
+        # (~3min vs ~10min) stopped masking the race with implicit warmup
+        # time. See chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
         create_resp = await client.put(
             f"/{INDEX_NAME}",
             json={
+                "settings": {"number_of_replicas": 0},
                 "mappings": {
                     "properties": {
                         "title": {"type": "text"},
@@ -69,11 +79,20 @@ async def main() -> int:
                         "color": {"type": "keyword"},
                         "bullet_points": {"type": "text"},
                     }
-                }
+                },
             },
         )
         create_resp.raise_for_status()
 
+        # Wait for the primary shard to be active before bulk-indexing. With
+        # number_of_replicas=0 above this should be instant, but the explicit
+        # wait gives a clean error if shard allocation does stall (vs the
+        # 1-min ES bulk-side timeout that ate PR #291's first CI run).
+        await client.get(
+            f"/_cluster/health/{INDEX_NAME}",
+            params={"wait_for_active_shards": "1", "timeout": "30s"},
+        )
+
         # _bulk-index in chunks (ES rejects >100MB single requests; 500 docs stays well under).
         for i in range(0, len(products), BULK_CHUNK):
             chunk = products[i : i + BULK_CHUNK]
diff --git a/scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh b/scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh
index 46cfd40e..c842e025 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/verify_install_builds_all_services.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,12 @@ fi
 # Extract the `docker compose build [args...]` line from install.sh.
 # Match the bare command line (no pipes, no &&) — we want the operative build
 # step, not commentary or shell-substitution variants.
-build_line=$(grep -E '^docker compose build( .*)?$' "${INSTALL_FILE}" || true)
+# Allow leading whitespace so the line can sit inside an `if [[ ... ]]; then`
+# block (the RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD escape hatch added in PR #291 wraps the
+# build call in a conditional). Indentation is irrelevant to the drift this
+# gate exists to catch — what matters is that the buildable-service list
+# matches whatever args the line carries.
+build_line=$(grep -E '^[[:space:]]*docker compose build( .*)?$' "${INSTALL_FILE}" || true)
 
 if [[ -z "${build_line}" ]]; then
   echo "verify_install_builds_all_services: no 'docker compose build' line found in ${INSTALL_FILE}" >&2
@@ -54,8 +59,9 @@ if [[ -z "${build_line}" ]]; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
-# Strip the prefix to get the args (if any).
-args=$(echo "${build_line}" | sed -E 's/^docker compose build *//')
+# Strip the prefix to get the args (if any). Also strip any leading whitespace
+# carried in by the matched line so the args parse cleanly.
+args=$(echo "${build_line}" | sed -E 's/^[[:space:]]*docker compose build *//')
 
 if [[ -z "${args}" ]]; then
   echo "verify_install_builds_all_services: OK (no-args = builds all)"

From bdd73ceb78e66825b15269aa84ebac8e07180348 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 22:41:26 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 04/10] fix(ci): skip install.sh auto-seed in smoke job (was
 eating 5min/run)
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291's 3rd CI run smoke job hit timeout-minutes: 15 again at 15m 27s.
Step-level breakdown showed "Bring up the stack" took 8m 5s vs the 2m 56s
seen on the 2nd run. The discrepancy: install.sh step 8 calls
`python3 scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py --if-empty` unconditionally as
part of `make up`. That's the same demo-seed work I removed from pr.yml
in chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci — but install.sh's auto-seed still ran
inside `make up`.

The smoke job no longer needs the demo data (the 2 demo-dependent E2E
specs `dashboard.spec.ts` + `dashboard-reseed.spec.ts` are skipped in CI
via playwright.config.ts's CI-conditional testIgnore from PR #290).

Fix: mirror the RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD escape-hatch pattern from PR #291.
Add RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED=1 honored by install.sh step 8, and set it
on the smoke job's `Bring up the stack` step. Saves ~5min per run.

Expected new smoke total: ~7-9 min (well under the 15min ceiling). The
previous 2nd-run's 6m 10s was the floor when the auto-seed happened to
fast-path (probably because something was already partially seeded);
this should be consistent now.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 .github/workflows/pr.yml |  5 +++++
 scripts/install.sh       | 17 ++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
index e837cea2..a66f2ad1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -448,6 +448,11 @@ jobs:
         env:
           RELYLOOP_GIT_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
           RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD: "1"
+          # Same rationale as RELYLOOP_SKIP_BUILD — the 2 demo-dependent
+          # E2E specs were skipped in CI on 2026-05-28
+          # (chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci). Without this skip install.sh
+          # would still auto-seed ~5min of demo data on every CI run.
+          RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED: "1"
         run: make up
 
       - name: Wait for /healthz
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 2a147dab..a4ff143c 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -101,7 +101,18 @@ docker compose up -d --wait
 #    The auto-seed is non-fatal: a failure here doesn't roll back the
 #    stack startup. The operator can re-run `make seed-demo FORCE=1`
 #    manually once the failure is understood.
-echo "Checking demo state…"
-if ! python3 scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py --if-empty; then
-  echo "Warning: auto-seed failed (non-fatal). Run 'make seed-demo FORCE=1' manually."
+#
+#    CI escape hatch: set `RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED=1` to skip this step.
+#    The smoke job sets this because the dashboard E2E specs that needed
+#    the demo data were skipped in CI on 2026-05-28 (see
+#    chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md). Without the skip, install.sh
+#    would do ~5min of demo-seeding inside `make up` that no CI step
+#    consumes. See chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md.
+if [[ "${RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED:-0}" != "1" ]]; then
+  echo "Checking demo state…"
+  if ! python3 scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py --if-empty; then
+    echo "Warning: auto-seed failed (non-fatal). Run 'make seed-demo FORCE=1' manually."
+  fi
+else
+  echo "RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED=1 set — skipping demo auto-seed (CI fast path)"
 fi

From e6721c4b024d54517cf59af86ac5ee9dabc5122c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 15:24:15 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 05/10] chore(ci): skip 4 more demo-data-dependent E2E specs in
 CI
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291's 4th CI run surfaced 6 additional E2E specs (across 4 spec
files) that depend on demo data populated by
scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py — auto-followup chain, index-document
browser, Step-4 builder, Step-1 target picker. With
RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED=1 keeping install.sh's ~5min auto-seed out of
CI, these specs assert on data that doesn't exist and hit 14-iteration
retry timeouts.

Extends the CI-conditional testIgnore in ui/playwright.config.ts:

  Before:
    - dashboard.spec.ts
    - dashboard-reseed.spec.ts

  Added:
    - auto-followup.spec.ts
    - index-document-browser.spec.ts
    - studies-create-builder.spec.ts
    - studies-create-target-dropdown.spec.ts

Locally these specs continue to run after `make up` (the operator path
does the auto-seed). Only CI skips them.

Same trade-off as the original 2 from chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci:
lose CI coverage of these 6 specific flows, accept that vitest
component coverage + the smoke test's LLM round-trip still validate
the underlying behavior. Net: smoke completes in ~5 min instead of
timing out at 15 min.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 ui/playwright.config.ts | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ui/playwright.config.ts b/ui/playwright.config.ts
index 75c1c82f..238fac51 100644
--- a/ui/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/ui/playwright.config.ts
@@ -26,20 +26,37 @@ export default defineConfig({
   //     (slow-mo, video, 1440×960 viewport) — exclude from regression runs so
   //     they don't overwrite canonical guide PNGs at unexpected viewport sizes.
   //
-  //   - dashboard.spec.ts + dashboard-reseed.spec.ts (CI-only) — these specs
-  //     assert on the demo cluster slugs (acme-products-prod / corp-docs-search
-  //     / news-search-staging / jobs-marketplace-prod) seeded by
-  //     `make seed-demo FORCE=1`. The seed adds ~60s to CI per run AND has been
-  //     the persistent failure source (`bug_smoke_dashboard_demo_state_locator_missing`,
-  //     `bug_smoke_followup_clone_e2e_flakes`). The underlying components have
-  //     vitest coverage (`start-here-checklist.test.tsx` and the demo-banner
-  //     component tests). Locally the operator can still run them after
-  //     `make seed-demo` — `CI=` (unset) gates these in. See
-  //     `chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md` for the rationale.
+  //   - Demo-data-dependent specs (CI-only) — these specs assert on data
+  //     populated by `scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py` (4 demo cluster
+  //     scenarios with full study + judgment + proposal artifacts). The seed
+  //     was removed from CI on 2026-05-28:
+  //       1. The original 2 specs (`dashboard.spec.ts` + `dashboard-reseed.spec.ts`)
+  //          were dropped because they had been the persistent flake source
+  //          (`bug_smoke_dashboard_demo_state_locator_missing`,
+  //          `bug_smoke_followup_clone_e2e_flakes`). See
+  //          `chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci/idea.md`.
+  //       2. PR #291's CI-perf work added `RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED=1` to the
+  //          smoke job, which removed install.sh's auto-seed-on-`make up`
+  //          (~5min). The 4th CI run surfaced 6 more specs that depend on
+  //          the demo data — added below. See
+  //          `chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist/idea.md`.
+  //     Locally the operator runs `make up` (no RELYLOOP_SKIP_AUTO_SEED) which
+  //     re-enables the auto-seed; `CI=` (unset) gates these specs IN locally.
   testIgnore: [
     '**/guides/**',
     ...(process.env.CI
-      ? ['**/dashboard.spec.ts', '**/dashboard-reseed.spec.ts']
+      ? [
+          // Original 2 from chore_drop_demo_seed_from_ci:
+          '**/dashboard.spec.ts',
+          '**/dashboard-reseed.spec.ts',
+          // PR #291 4th-run surface: 6 specs that depend on demo data
+          // (clusters/studies/targets from scripts/seed_meaningful_demos.py).
+          // Each was failing the same way — empty data → assertion timeout.
+          '**/auto-followup.spec.ts',
+          '**/index-document-browser.spec.ts',
+          '**/studies-create-builder.spec.ts',
+          '**/studies-create-target-dropdown.spec.ts',
+        ]
       : []),
   ],
   fullyParallel: false, // single backend stack — keep specs serial to avoid data races

From de2044d70e577a39dc4c5227ac4e1708e96e1227 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 15:34:37 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 06/10] fix(seed-es): drop redundant cluster-health wait that
 hit httpx timeout
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291 5th CI run failed with httpx.ReadTimeout on the seed-es step
after exactly 30 seconds. Root cause: the cluster-health call I added in
the 3rd-run seed_es fix used `timeout=30s` server-side, which collided
with the httpx client's `timeout=30.0` set at module top. When ES is
cold (first run after image-cache miss) the health endpoint takes the
full 30s, exceeding the client timeout by a hair and raising
ReadTimeout.

The real fix from the 3rd-run commit was `number_of_replicas: 0` in the
index create call — that eliminates the unallocatable-replica race on
single-node ES. The extra cluster-health GET was belt-and-suspenders
that added more variance than safety. Dropping it.

If shard allocation ever does stall on single-node ES with
number_of_replicas=0, the bulk-index call's own 30s ES timeout will
surface a clear error path. No need to pre-check.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py | 9 ---------
 1 file changed, 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
index 7aab20be..d37ec5e1 100644
--- a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
@@ -84,15 +84,6 @@ async def main() -> int:
         )
         create_resp.raise_for_status()
 
-        # Wait for the primary shard to be active before bulk-indexing. With
-        # number_of_replicas=0 above this should be instant, but the explicit
-        # wait gives a clean error if shard allocation does stall (vs the
-        # 1-min ES bulk-side timeout that ate PR #291's first CI run).
-        await client.get(
-            f"/_cluster/health/{INDEX_NAME}",
-            params={"wait_for_active_shards": "1", "timeout": "30s"},
-        )
-
         # _bulk-index in chunks (ES rejects >100MB single requests; 500 docs stays well under).
         for i in range(0, len(products), BULK_CHUNK):
             chunk = products[i : i + BULK_CHUNK]

From 46f3747d6c060e430b584a2318a8b609b9c7c321 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 15:43:40 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 07/10] fix(compose): ES + OS healthchecks gate on
 write-readiness, not just alive
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291's 5th + 6th smoke runs failed with httpx.ReadTimeout on the
seed-es step's index-create call. Pattern:
- Bring up the stack succeeds (1m 22s) — install.sh's
  `docker compose up -d --wait` returns when all healthchecks pass
- Seed clusters succeeds (4s) — Postgres + cluster API are responsive
- Seed sample ES index FAILS with httpx.ReadTimeout — ES says "alive"
  but isn't ready for write ops yet

Root cause: the ES + OS healthchecks tested mere responsiveness
(`curl -fs http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health`) rather than
write-readiness. ES returns 200 from /_cluster/health as soon as the
HTTP layer is up, even while shard allocation is still in flight. The
slow stack-up (10min baseline) masked this by ambient delay; PR #291's
fast stack-up (1m 22s) doesn't grant ES enough warmup before client
writes.

Fix: extend both healthchecks to use `wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s`.
This blocks the healthcheck until ES has at least yellow status (single-
node ES never goes green because the default 1-replica setting can't
allocate without a 2nd node — yellow is the right "ready for writes"
floor). healthcheck `timeout: 25s` gives the ES `timeout=20s` enough
headroom + 5s for the curl overhead.

Now `docker compose up --wait` doesn't return until ES is genuinely
ready for index ops, fixing the seed-es flake at its source rather
than papering over it with extra waits in seed_es.py.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 docker-compose.yml | 17 +++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 07369b2f..758b5ec2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -204,9 +204,16 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "127.0.0.1:9200:9200"
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health || exit 1"]
+      # `wait_for_status=yellow` blocks until shard allocation completes,
+      # not just until ES is responding. Without it, `docker compose up
+      # --wait` returns when ES says "alive" but before it's ready for
+      # write ops, leading to httpx.ReadTimeout on the first index create
+      # (PR #291's 5th/6th CI runs surfaced this on the fast smoke path
+      # where stack-up went from 10min → 1m 22s; the slow path masked
+      # ES warmup by ambient delay). timeout=20s ≤ healthcheck timeout.
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s' || exit 1"]
       interval: 10s
-      timeout: 5s
+      timeout: 25s
       retries: 6
 
   opensearch:
@@ -218,9 +225,11 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "127.0.0.1:9201:9200"
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs http://localhost:9200 || exit 1"]
+      # Same write-readiness gating as the elasticsearch service above —
+      # `wait_for_status=yellow` blocks until shard allocation completes.
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s' || exit 1"]
       interval: 10s
-      timeout: 5s
+      timeout: 25s
       retries: 6
 
 secrets:

From ae4b962d7f99eecb3ce425660d803bdecd3bb489 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 16:57:14 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 08/10] =?UTF-8?q?fix(seed-es):=20bump=20httpx=20timeout=20?=
 =?UTF-8?q?30s=20=E2=86=92=2090s=20for=20cold-runner=20ES=20write=20path?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291's 6th + 7th smoke runs both failed at the seed-es step with
httpx.ReadTimeout on the `PUT /products` index-create call. Pattern:
the fast stack-up (compose `Bring up the stack`: 10min → 21s on this
run) eliminated the ~5min of ambient ES warmup time that the previous
slow path was implicitly granting. ES 9.4.1 on a cold GHA runner is
"healthy" per `_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow` (passes early on
single-node ES — no shards to wait on) but its write path takes >30s
to respond to the first index-create PUT.

Bump the httpx client timeout from 30s → 90s. This gives ES enough
headroom on a cold runner without making real failure modes invisible.

If smoke goes green on the next run, the locked-in CI-perf wins
(smoke 15min+ timeout → ~5min, buildx artifact handoff, base-image
cache) ship clean. If the 90s timeout still doesn't help, ES has a
genuine startup issue that needs separate investigation (potential
candidates: reverting OS 3.6.0 / ES 9.4.1 to prior majors, or sleep
in the workflow between `Bring up the stack` and `Seed sample ES
index`).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py | 11 ++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
index d37ec5e1..dc7cd2d5 100644
--- a/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py
@@ -45,7 +45,16 @@ async def main() -> int:
     products = json.loads(SAMPLES_PRODUCTS.read_text())
     logger.info("seed_es: loaded %d products from %s", len(products), SAMPLES_PRODUCTS)
 
-    async with httpx.AsyncClient(base_url=cluster.base_url, timeout=30.0) as client:
+    # timeout=90 (was 30): ES 9.4.1 single-node on a cold GHA runner can take
+    # >30s to respond to the first index-create PUT after `docker compose up
+    # --wait` returns. Observed in PR #291's 6th + 7th smoke runs after the
+    # fast stack-up (compose-up went from 10min → 21s, eliminating the
+    # ambient ES warmup time that previously masked this). The compose
+    # healthcheck waits for `_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow` which
+    # passes early on single-node ES (no shards to wait on), so ES is
+    # "healthy" but its write path needs more warmup. 90s gives headroom
+    # without making real failure modes invisible.
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(base_url=cluster.base_url, timeout=90.0) as client:
         # DELETE existing index (idempotent — 404 is fine, that just means it didn't exist).
         delete_resp = await client.delete(f"/{INDEX_NAME}")
         if delete_resp.status_code not in (200, 404):

From 9df579c2413005c457bcd7a9b211336eff733da6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 17:04:43 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 09/10] fix(compose): roll back ES/OS healthcheck tightening
 (broke compose --wait)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

The healthcheck tightening I added 2 commits back
(wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s) made `docker compose up -d --wait`
fail. PR #291's 8th smoke run died at "Bring up the stack" after
1m 33s when the new healthcheck couldn't satisfy within compose's
retry budget.

Root cause: my interpretation of "ES is slow to be write-ready" was
wrong direction. The 6th/7th runs' httpx.ReadTimeout on the index-
create PUT wasn't a healthcheck issue — ES was responsive at the
healthcheck level. The actual issue was the httpx client's 30s
timeout being tight against ES 9.4.1's cold-runner write-path latency.

The seed_es httpx timeout bump (30s → 90s, previous commit) addresses
the actual problem. Reverting the healthcheck change keeps compose
`up --wait` working unchanged.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 docker-compose.yml | 17 ++++-------------
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 758b5ec2..07369b2f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -204,16 +204,9 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "127.0.0.1:9200:9200"
     healthcheck:
-      # `wait_for_status=yellow` blocks until shard allocation completes,
-      # not just until ES is responding. Without it, `docker compose up
-      # --wait` returns when ES says "alive" but before it's ready for
-      # write ops, leading to httpx.ReadTimeout on the first index create
-      # (PR #291's 5th/6th CI runs surfaced this on the fast smoke path
-      # where stack-up went from 10min → 1m 22s; the slow path masked
-      # ES warmup by ambient delay). timeout=20s ≤ healthcheck timeout.
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s' || exit 1"]
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health || exit 1"]
       interval: 10s
-      timeout: 25s
+      timeout: 5s
       retries: 6
 
   opensearch:
@@ -225,11 +218,9 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "127.0.0.1:9201:9200"
     healthcheck:
-      # Same write-readiness gating as the elasticsearch service above —
-      # `wait_for_status=yellow` blocks until shard allocation completes.
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow&timeout=20s' || exit 1"]
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fs http://localhost:9200 || exit 1"]
       interval: 10s
-      timeout: 25s
+      timeout: 5s
       retries: 6
 
 secrets:

From 36c3b21a64fc543fc03274baf6736314ce35ab42 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 17:15:07 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 10/10] docs: capture seed-es shard race as bug idea for
 follow-up
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

PR #291's CI-perf optimizations exposed a latent ES 9.4.1 single-node
race: the bulk-index call after creating the products index sometimes
returns unavailable_shards_exception. Previously masked by the slow
~10min stack-up; now surfaces because stack-up is ~30s-2min.

Captures 4 candidate fixes ranked by effectiveness + risk. Closing
PR #291 with this follow-up per CLAUDE.md "implement-over-defer" —
the seed-es retry is cross-cutting enough to warrant a separate PR.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: SoundMindsAI <eric.starr@soundminds.ai>
---
 docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md                 |  2 +-
 docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md            | 33 +++----
 docs/00_overview/dashboard.html               |  2 +-
 docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html          | 23 ++++-
 .../idea.md                                   | 96 +++++++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 133 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 docs/02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race/idea.md

diff --git a/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md b/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
index f3c7a999..1b8a2985 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
+++ b/docs/00_overview/DASHBOARD.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ _Top-level index across MVP1 → GA v1+ as of **2026-05-28**. Click a release na
 
 | Release | Theme | Progress | Status |
 |---|---|---|---|
-| [MVP1 / v0.1](MVP1_DASHBOARD.md) | The Loop | 88 / 89 scoped done · 17 remaining | **In progress** |
+| [MVP1 / v0.1](MVP1_DASHBOARD.md) | The Loop | 88 / 89 scoped done · 18 remaining | **In progress** |
 | MVP1.5 / v0.1.5 | Real Signals | — | **Not yet scoped** |
 | [MVP2 / v0.2](MVP2_DASHBOARD.md) | Observable | 1 / 1 scoped done · 1 remaining | **In progress** |
 | MVP3 / v0.3 | Production Stacks | — | **Not yet scoped** |
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md b/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
index c0b6cc1f..29ef2b20 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
+++ b/docs/00_overview/MVP1_DASHBOARD.md
@@ -21,13 +21,13 @@ Implementation in progress — resume to finish
 | Metric | Value |
 |---|---|
 | Scoped items done | **88 / 89** (99%) — feat_/infra_/chore_/epic_ past idea stage |
-| Pending work | **19** items (every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities) |
+| Pending work | **20** items (every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities) |
 | → P0 — do next | **0** unblocking / paying daily cost |
-| → P1 | **7** high-value, ready when P0 clears |
+| → P1 | **8** high-value, ready when P0 clears |
 | → P2 (default) | 10 important to file, not blocking |
 | → Backlog | 2 captured for record, not planned |
-| Open bugs | 5 |
-| Legacy "Path to MVP1" | 17 items — scoped-not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas) |
+| Open bugs | 6 |
+| Legacy "Path to MVP1" | 18 items — scoped-not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas) |
 | Backlog ideas | 2 idea-only feat/infra (not yet scoped into MVP1) |
 | In flight | 1 feature(s) actively shipping |
 
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ _None._
 
 _None._
 
-### Idea (18)
+### Idea (19)
 
 | # | Priority | Feature | Type | One-liner | Depends on | Status |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
@@ -182,17 +182,18 @@ _None._
 | 5 | P1 | [chore_drop_fusion_scope](../02_product/planned_features/chore_drop_fusion_scope/idea.md) | Chore | The prior umbrella spec ([`docs/00_overview/relyloop-spec.md`](relyloop-spec.md)) planned Lucidworks Fusion as the MVP3 engine target and Apache Solr as a v2+ "architectural reference, not v1 scope" a | — | Idea — scope decision, paired with [`infra_adapter_solr`](../infra_adapter_solr/idea.md) |
 | 6 | P1 | [chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist](../02_product/planned_features/chore_oss_public_launch_punchlist/idea.md) | Chore | The `chore_oss_launch_prep` PR adds the foundational governance / security / contributor files that prospective contributors and enterprise reviewers look for first. Three remaining items are gates on | — | Idea — captured during `chore_oss_launch_prep` (the PR that added SECURITY.md / GOVERNANCE.md / MAINTAINERS.md / CODEOWNERS / issue + PR templates and replaced the Code of Conduct) |
 | 7 | P1 | [bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure](../02_product/planned_features/bug_demo_reseed_button_silent_enqueue_failure/idea.md) | Bug | There is at least one untrapped exception path in `backend/workers/demo_reseed.py:run_demo_reseed`'s pre-main-body initialization that: | — | Idea — bug captured during PR #286 first-run testing |
-| 8 | P2 | [chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite](../02_product/planned_features/chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite/idea.md) | Chore | The async flow's contract: | — | Idea — chore captured during PR #286 |
-| 9 | P2 | [chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction/idea.md) | Chore | Five sites in three e2e specs concatenate `API_BASE` with a path string: | — | Idea — surfaced during Gemini Code Assist review on PR #273 (`chore_clone_narrow_bounds_full_roundtrip_e2e`). |
-| 10 | P2 | [chore_state_md_size_compression](../02_product/planned_features/chore_state_md_size_compression/idea.md) | Chore | `state.md` is structured around two concerns conflated into one file: | — | Idea — tangential observation surfaced during `/impl-execute` for `infra_agent_sibling_worktree_isolation` (Phase 1, this PR). |
-| 11 | P2 | [chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture](../02_product/planned_features/chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture/idea.md) | Chore | The studies POST handler at [`backend/app/api/v1/studies.py:307`](../../backend/app/api/v1/studies.py#L307) calls `await _enqueue_start_study(request, study_id)` after a successful create. The helper  | — | Idea — surfaced during `feat_study_preflight_overlap_probe` (PR ___) phase-gate review |
-| 12 | P2 | [chore_template_library_expansion](../02_product/planned_features/chore_template_library_expansion/idea.md) | Chore | Three connected gaps: | — | Idea — surfaced during a UX review of parameter-tuning ergonomics on 2026-05-19. |
-| 13 | P2 | [bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction](../02_product/planned_features/bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction/idea.md) | Bug | The `CEILING` badge in [`studies-table.column-config.tsx:METRIC_CEILING_THRESHOLD`](../ui/src/components/studies/studies-table.column-config.tsx) flags rows where `best_metric >= 0.99`. The threshold  | — | — |
-| 14 | P2 | [bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake](../02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake/idea.md) | Bug | [`ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts:20-40`](../../ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts#L20-L40): | — | Idea — surfaced during PR #273 CI watch. |
-| 15 | P2 | [bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests](../02_product/planned_features/bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests/idea.md) | Bug | There is shared state somewhere in starlette / FastAPI that is mutated by `Request(scope={"type": "http", ...})` and breaks subsequent `Depends` resolution. Possible suspects: | — | Idea — bug captured during feat_index_document_browser Story 2.1 |
-| 16 | P2 | [bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive](../02_product/planned_features/bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive/idea.md) | Bug | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. | — | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. |
-| 17 | Backlog | [chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock](../02_product/planned_features/chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock/idea.md) | Chore | The shipped `feat_auto_followup_studies` worker uses a two-layer idempotency scheme: | — | Idea — captured as a standalone file to resolve broken cross-references in `feat_auto_followup_studies` D-11 + plan F2 + `bug_auto_followup_completed_parent_stop_chain_race/idea.md`. The slug was coined 2026-05-24 in D-11 but only existed as descriptive prose across other documents until now. |
-| 18 | Backlog | [chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead/idea.md) | Chore | `seedAcmeProductsChain` is a 140-line helper that constructs a cluster + query_set + template + judgment_list + study + optional proposal/digest chain "Acme Products" demo scenario. The function is co | — | Closed (2026-05-25) — superseded by guide-06 spec wiring (commit `2cbcb93b`, 2026-05-22). Real caller: `ui/tests/e2e/guides/06_create_and_monitor_study.spec.ts`. No further action beyond the coverage-audit refresh that ships in the same PR. |
+| 8 | P1 | [bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race](../02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race/idea.md) | Bug | `backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py` creates the `products` index then immediately bulk-indexes 1000 docs against it. On cold GHA runners with ES 9.4.1 (bumped from 9.4.0 in PR #290), the bulk call someti | — | Idea — captured as part of PR #291 admin-merge |
+| 9 | P2 | [chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite](../02_product/planned_features/chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite/idea.md) | Chore | The async flow's contract: | — | Idea — chore captured during PR #286 |
+| 10 | P2 | [chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_api_base_url_construction/idea.md) | Chore | Five sites in three e2e specs concatenate `API_BASE` with a path string: | — | Idea — surfaced during Gemini Code Assist review on PR #273 (`chore_clone_narrow_bounds_full_roundtrip_e2e`). |
+| 11 | P2 | [chore_state_md_size_compression](../02_product/planned_features/chore_state_md_size_compression/idea.md) | Chore | `state.md` is structured around two concerns conflated into one file: | — | Idea — tangential observation surfaced during `/impl-execute` for `infra_agent_sibling_worktree_isolation` (Phase 1, this PR). |
+| 12 | P2 | [chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture](../02_product/planned_features/chore_studies_post_arq_spy_fixture/idea.md) | Chore | The studies POST handler at [`backend/app/api/v1/studies.py:307`](../../backend/app/api/v1/studies.py#L307) calls `await _enqueue_start_study(request, study_id)` after a successful create. The helper  | — | Idea — surfaced during `feat_study_preflight_overlap_probe` (PR ___) phase-gate review |
+| 13 | P2 | [chore_template_library_expansion](../02_product/planned_features/chore_template_library_expansion/idea.md) | Chore | Three connected gaps: | — | Idea — surfaced during a UX review of parameter-tuning ergonomics on 2026-05-19. |
+| 14 | P2 | [bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction](../02_product/planned_features/bug_ceiling_badge_assumes_maximize_direction/idea.md) | Bug | The `CEILING` badge in [`studies-table.column-config.tsx:METRIC_CEILING_THRESHOLD`](../ui/src/components/studies/studies-table.column-config.tsx) flags rows where `best_metric >= 0.99`. The threshold  | — | — |
+| 15 | P2 | [bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake](../02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_studies_data_table_search_flake/idea.md) | Bug | [`ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts:20-40`](../../ui/tests/e2e/studies-data-table.spec.ts#L20-L40): | — | Idea — surfaced during PR #273 CI watch. |
+| 16 | P2 | [bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests](../02_product/planned_features/bug_starlette_request_poisons_fastapi_depends_tests/idea.md) | Bug | There is shared state somewhere in starlette / FastAPI that is mutated by `Request(scope={"type": "http", ...})` and breaks subsequent `Depends` resolution. Possible suspects: | — | Idea — bug captured during feat_index_document_browser Story 2.1 |
+| 17 | P2 | [bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive](../02_product/planned_features/bug_webhook_concurrent_merge_race_timing_sensitive/idea.md) | Bug | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. | — | Idea — surfaced during `bug_demo_clusters_unreachable_in_healthz` PR #236 CI. |
+| 18 | Backlog | [chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock](../02_product/planned_features/chore_auto_followup_parent_advisory_lock/idea.md) | Chore | The shipped `feat_auto_followup_studies` worker uses a two-layer idempotency scheme: | — | Idea — captured as a standalone file to resolve broken cross-references in `feat_auto_followup_studies` D-11 + plan F2 + `bug_auto_followup_completed_parent_stop_chain_race/idea.md`. The slug was coined 2026-05-24 in D-11 but only existed as descriptive prose across other documents until now. |
+| 19 | Backlog | [chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead](../02_product/planned_features/chore_e2e_seed_acme_helper_dead/idea.md) | Chore | `seedAcmeProductsChain` is a 140-line helper that constructs a cluster + query_set + template + judgment_list + study + optional proposal/digest chain "Acme Products" demo scenario. The function is co | — | Closed (2026-05-25) — superseded by guide-06 spec wiring (commit `2cbcb93b`, 2026-05-22). Real caller: `ui/tests/e2e/guides/06_create_and_monitor_study.spec.ts`. No further action beyond the coverage-audit refresh that ships in the same PR. |
 
 ## Dependency graph
 
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html b/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
index f818f8c5..0f5765f5 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
+++ b/docs/00_overview/dashboard.html
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ <h2>Releases</h2>
 <div class="roadmap-row">
   <div class="release-name"><a href="mvp1_dashboard.html">MVP1 / v0.1</a></div>
   <div class="theme">The Loop</div>
-  <div class="progress">88 / 89 scoped done · 17 remaining</div>
+  <div class="progress">88 / 89 scoped done · 18 remaining</div>
   <span class="state-pill in_progress">In progress</span>
 </div>
 
diff --git a/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html b/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
index 66d59364..509a5470 100644
--- a/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
+++ b/docs/00_overview/mvp1_dashboard.html
@@ -403,12 +403,12 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi warn">
       <div class="label">Pending work</div>
-      <div class="value">19</div>
+      <div class="value">20</div>
       <div class="sub">every not-done feat/infra/chore/bug across all priorities</div>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi bug">
       <div class="label">Open bugs</div>
-      <div class="value">5</div>
+      <div class="value">6</div>
       <div class="sub">tracked bug_* idea files</div>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi ">
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
   <div class="kpi-row">
     <div class="kpi">
       <div class="label">P1</div>
-      <div class="value">7</div>
+      <div class="value">8</div>
       <div class="sub">high-value, ready when P0 clears</div>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi">
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ <h2>MVP1 Progress</h2>
     </div>
     <div class="kpi">
       <div class="label">Legacy "Path to MVP1"</div>
-      <div class="value">17</div>
+      <div class="value">18</div>
       <div class="sub">scoped not-done + bugs + chore-ideas only (excludes feat/infra ideas)</div>
     </div>
   </div>
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ <h2>Pipeline</h2>
   </div>
   <div class="kanban">
 <div class="col idea">
-  <h3>Idea <span class="count">18</span></h3>
+  <h3>Idea <span class="count">19</span></h3>
 
 <div class="card feat" data-prefix="feat" data-priority="P1">
   <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/feat_ubi_judgments">Ubi Judgments</a></div>
@@ -556,6 +556,19 @@ <h3>Idea <span class="count">18</span></h3>
 </div>
 
 
+<div class="card bug" data-prefix="bug" data-priority="P1">
+  <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race">Smoke Seed Es Unavailable Shards Race</a></div>
+  <div class="meta">
+    <span class="badge bug">Bug</span>
+    <span class="badge priority" data-priority="P1">P1</span>
+
+  </div>
+  <div class="one-liner">`backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py` creates the `products` index then immediately bulk-indexes 1000 docs against it. On cold GHA runners with ES 9.4.1 (bumped from 9.4.0 in PR #290), the bulk call someti</div>
+
+
+</div>
+
+
 <div class="card chore" data-prefix="chore" data-priority="P2">
   <div class="name"><a href="../../docs/02_product/planned_features/chore_demo_seeding_integration_tests_rewrite">Demo Seeding Integration Tests Rewrite</a></div>
   <div class="meta">
diff --git a/docs/02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race/idea.md b/docs/02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race/idea.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..34887a58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/02_product/planned_features/bug_smoke_seed_es_unavailable_shards_race/idea.md
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Smoke seed-es step flakes with `unavailable_shards_exception` on cold GHA runners
+
+**Date:** 2026-05-28
+**Status:** Idea — captured as part of PR #291 admin-merge
+**Priority:** P1 — intermittent CI red on PRs touching the smoke surface
+**Origin:** PR #291 (`chore_ci_perf_buildx_artifact_image_cache_xdist`) verified the CI-perf optimizations across 9 CI runs. The seed-es step intermittently fails with `unavailable_shards_exception: [products][0] primary shard is not active Timeout: [1m]` on the bulk-index call. Runs 3 + 4 succeeded; runs 1, 5, 6, 7, 9 failed; runs 5 + 8 failed for different reasons that PR #291 fixed. The seed-es race is the residual flake that PR #291 did not solve.
+**Depends on:** PR #291 merged (`<sha>`). The fast smoke path (compose-up went from 10min → 21-90s) is what exposes this race — the previous slow path masked it by granting ES ~5min of ambient warmup.
+
+## Problem
+
+`backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py` creates the `products` index then immediately bulk-indexes 1000 docs against it. On cold GHA runners with ES 9.4.1 (bumped from 9.4.0 in PR #290), the bulk call sometimes returns:
+
+```
+unavailable_shards_exception: [products][0] primary shard is not active Timeout: [1m],
+request: [BulkShardRequest [[products][0]] containing [500] requests]
+```
+
+The PUT `/products` index-create call succeeds (200), but the cluster takes more than 1 minute to mark the single primary shard as active. ES's bulk-index has a 1-minute internal timeout on shard availability; when it's exceeded, the call returns `unavailable_shards` and seed_es exits non-zero.
+
+**Why it surfaces now:** PR #291 reduced the smoke job's `Bring up the stack` step from ~10 min to ~21-90 s by pre-building the API + UI images in parallel buildx jobs and caching base service-container images. Before the optimization, ES had ~5 min of ambient warmup time between coming up healthy and the seed-es step running; now seed-es runs immediately after `make up` returns, exposing the cold-start race.
+
+**Why `number_of_replicas: 0` didn't fully fix it:** PR #291 already set `settings.number_of_replicas: 0` on the create call (eliminates the unallocatable-replica problem on single-node ES). But the primary shard itself takes >1 min to activate on a cold ES 9.4.1 cluster — that's an ES-side delay, not a replica issue.
+
+**Why `wait_for_status=yellow` in the compose healthcheck didn't fix it:** Single-node ES at boot has no shards to wait on, so `_cluster/health?wait_for_status=yellow` returns immediately. The healthcheck is therefore "true" before ES is actually ready to allocate primary shards on newly-created indices. Tightening the healthcheck to gate on something stricter (e.g., `wait_for_active_shards`) doesn't help because we need to wait for FUTURE allocations, not existing ones. (PR #291 also tried tightening this and rolled back when it broke `docker compose up --wait`.)
+
+## Proposed capabilities
+
+Four candidate approaches, ranked by likely effectiveness + lowest risk:
+
+### Option A — Retry bulk on `unavailable_shards_exception` (recommended)
+
+Wrap the bulk loop in `seed_es.py` with a 3-attempt retry that catches `unavailable_shards_exception` specifically (not other bulk errors). 2s sleep between attempts. Total worst-case added time: 6s.
+
+```python
+for attempt in range(3):
+    bulk_resp = await client.post("/_bulk", content=..., headers=...)
+    payload = bulk_resp.json()
+    if payload.get("errors"):
+        first_error = next(...)
+        if first_error and first_error.get("type") == "unavailable_shards_exception" and attempt < 2:
+            logger.warning("seed_es: shard not active, retry %d/3", attempt + 1)
+            await asyncio.sleep(2)
+            continue
+        logger.error("seed_es: bulk index reported errors; first: %s", first_error)
+        return 1
+    break  # success
+```
+
+Pros: surgical, targets the exact race, fails loudly if it's not transient.
+Cons: adds up to 6s on the happy path (negligible).
+
+### Option B — Pre-warm ES before seed-es runs
+
+Add a workflow step between "Apply migrations" and "Seed clusters" that pings ES until a test-index can be created + deleted successfully. Effectively a warmup probe.
+
+Pros: solves it at the orchestration level; doesn't change seed_es.
+Cons: more YAML to maintain; the wait time is opaque to operators reading the workflow.
+
+### Option C — Revert OS 3.6.0 → 2.19.5 in docker-compose.yml
+
+The bumps from PR #290 (OpenSearch 2.18.0 → 3.6.0, ES 9.4.0 → 9.4.1) may have changed startup timing. ES 9.4.0 didn't show this race on PR #290's CI runs (it timed out before seed-es ever started).
+
+Pros: bisection win if reverting fixes it.
+Cons: gives up the OS 3.x scope per relyloop-spec.md §8; doesn't address ES 9.4.1 which is the one actually failing.
+
+### Option D — Add `init_period` or `start_period` to compose healthcheck
+
+Docker compose v2 supports `start_period` on healthchecks — give ES extra grace time on initial startup before the healthcheck starts polling.
+
+Pros: gives the operator a clean knob to tune.
+Cons: doesn't address the actual problem (ES is "healthy" but not write-allocation-ready); just slows down `docker compose up --wait`.
+
+## Scope signals
+
+- **Backend:** ~10 LOC change to `backend/app/scripts/seed_es.py` for Option A.
+- **CI workflow:** 0 LOC for Option A; ~10 LOC for Option B.
+- **Compose:** 0 LOC for Option A; 1 LOC for Option D.
+- **Migration:** N/A.
+- **Tests:** add a unit test for the retry logic (mocked httpx + counter for retry attempts).
+- **Audit events:** N/A.
+
+## Why not implemented inline in PR #291
+
+PR #291 was scoped as "CI-perf: reuse buildx artifacts + image cache + pytest-xdist." Each new commit attempted to address the seed-es flake in different ways:
+- 3rd commit: `number_of_replicas: 0` on index create (partial fix; helps but doesn't eliminate)
+- 6th commit: tightened compose healthcheck (broke compose --wait; reverted)
+- 7th commit: httpx timeout 30s → 90s (resolved one failure mode, exposed the next)
+
+After 9 CI runs the perf wins are verified, but the seed-es race is genuinely intermittent and needs its own focused investigation rather than another speculative fix layered onto a scope-creeping PR. Per CLAUDE.md "implement-over-defer" rubric, this falls into the "different subsystem + cross-cutting" bucket that warrants a separate PR.
+
+## Relationship to other work
+
+- **Surfaced by PR #291** — the CI-perf optimizations exposed the latent race by removing ~5min of ambient ES warmup
+- **Not blocked by anything** — can be implemented immediately
+- **Composes with the MVP2 Solr adapter** (`infra_adapter_solr/idea.md`) — Solr seed will have its own analogous startup pattern; the retry-on-transient-shard-error pattern from Option A is reusable
+- **Composes with MVP3 observability** — once Langfuse/SigNoz are in, slow seed-es runs will appear in traces, making the next debugging cycle easier