session-history/0010/SESSION-0010.0-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-27T23-50--2026-05-28T03-20.md

Session J — Transcript

Date: 2026-05-27 → 2026-05-28 Goal: Answer an operator UX question ("what's the difference between admin and owner?" — surfaced by the /admin/users role-change dropdown), translate the answer into public-facing documentation reachable from the live deployment, ship it as a focused rfc-app release, and deploy it via flotilla to OHM. Concurrent with the Session-I driver run that was advancing the roadmap; the two sessions ran in parallel on the same laptop with the operator pivoting between them.

Outcome: Shipped.

• rfc-app v0.14.0 released, tagged, pushed to both remotes (origin = git.wiggleverse.org, benstull = git.benstull.org). New DOCS.md at the repo root, new backend/app/docs.py loader, new GET /api/docs endpoint, new frontend/src/components/Docs.jsx route, new "Docs" header link alongside "About". 605-line user guide covering roles & permissions (the original admin-vs-owner question), proposing, contributing, branches & PRs, graduation, discussion vs contribution, AI in the chat, notifications, write-mute vs notification mutes. Framework-neutral, no deployment names baked in. Mirrors the /philosophy shape end-to-end.
• OHM live on v0.14.0 (deploys.id=14, all 9 phases green, verify 2.5s). /api/health returns {"version":"0.14.0","status":"ok"}.
• Two prior failed deploys recorded (id=12, id=13) — both failed at phase 3 because the production VM's origin is git.benstull.org/benstull/rfc-app.git, NOT the pin-source URL git.wiggleverse.org/ben.stull/rfc-app.git. The two Gitea remotes are linked but not auto-mirrored; my push had only landed on origin. Fix: push tag + main to benstull as well. New §19.2 candidate spawned as a follow-up task (a flotilla preflight that resolves the VM-side origin and checks the target tag is reachable there before starting phase 3).

Three findings worth flagging:

1. The operator hand-off recovery gesture (git stash push -u → git reset --hard main → git stash pop) doesn't undo a ghost-revert state. The hand-off prompt described this gesture as the way to reconcile a working tree that diffs against a git update-ref-advanced HEAD. In practice the stash captures the full working-tree-vs-HEAD diff, including the ghost-revert appearance; reset --hard main brings the tree to current HEAD; stash pop then replays the same ghost-revert diff back on top. Exit code 0, stash dropped, end state indistinguishable from start. What actually worked: git restore . (wipes all tracked-file modifications, leaves the 3 untracked docs-feature files alone), then manually re-applying the 3 wiring edits against the live v0.10.0 versions of api.py, App.jsx, and api.js. Worth a §19.3 rule-2 correction to the SESSION-PROTOCOL.md or to whatever operating-instructions document carries this recovery recipe — the stash route is a trap when the working tree's "modifications" are actually "this file held an earlier version's bytes."

2. The pin-source URL and the VM's actual origin URL can diverge silently. The flotilla deployment show output names the pin-source host (https://git.wiggleverse.org) but doesn't surface what the VM is actually fetching from. In OHM's case /opt/ohm-app/.git has origin = https://git.benstull.org/benstull/rfc-app.git — a separate Gitea instance. Tags land on the VM-side remote via whatever mirror sync runs between the two hosts (the historical tags v0.4.0–v0.13.0 are all there), but the sync is not real-time: a push-to-origin + immediate flotilla deploy hits a window where the target tag exists on the pin source but not on the VM origin. The failure message ("pathspec did not match") doesn't name the mismatch, so an operator first hitting this has to SSH in and discover it manually. Two-push discipline (git push origin … && git push benstull …) works around it; flotilla preflight + GCP-side mirror config are the two structural fixes. Follow-up task chip spawned in-session.

3. v0.14.0 collided with the roadmap's reservation for #12 Owner-only invite. The version-target table in ohm-rfc/ROADMAP.md had reserved v0.14.0 for #12. My docs release was not a roadmap item — it was operator-driven from a UX question. I claimed the next clean-sequential slot (v0.14.0) when picking the version, matching the operator's prompt option ("v0.14.0 — clean sequential"). Item #12 now has to bump to the next free slot (v0.16.0 — v0.15.0 is reserved for #13 Amplitude). The roadmap edit at end-of-session records both: a new struck-through row #15 capturing what shipped, and a noted update to row #12's target version.

One §19.3 rule-2 spec correction landed in rfc-app/SPEC.md (none — the docs feature is downstream of existing SPEC sections, no spec contract changed). The framework-neutrality rule from CLAUDE.md shaped the content of DOCS.md: no deployment names ("Wiggleverse Open Human Model", "OHM"), no corpus references ("vocabulary", "Human"), but the framework name ("Wiggleverse RFC") does appear per the CLAUDE.md exception.

rfc-app/CLAUDE.md Session-protocol section was again deferred (Session I had also deferred it for the same reason — the working tree was unstable). I did not add it because the working tree was clean by the time I shipped v0.14.0, but I deprioritized it in the rush to deploy. The next OHM-touching rfc-app session should add the Session-protocol section per ohm-rfc/CLAUDE.md's shape.

---

Pre-session state

• rfc-app on main at 55beba5 (Release 0.10.0 — most recent shipped by SESSION-I). VERSION and frontend/package.json at 0.10.0.
• ohm-rfc at a97a10e (the Session-I CLAUDE.md Session-protocol pointer commit). .rfc-app-version at 0.10.0.
• flotilla v1.0.1, OHM live on v0.10.0 (deploys.id=11).
• This session's docs-feature work — DOCS.md, backend/app/docs.py, frontend/src/components/Docs.jsx, plus edits to api.py / App.jsx / api.js — predated Session J's explicit arc and was the "operator-in-progress" state Session-I observed in /Users/benstull/git/rfc-app (Arc 8 of that transcript). The two sessions overlapped temporally; Session I routed around the in-progress files via throwaway worktrees + git update-ref refs/heads/main while Session J continued building the docs feature in the main checkout.
• The operator was driving both sessions, pivoting between them as each surfaced something needing a human decision.

The git status Session J inherited at its first significant checkpoint showed the Session-I-induced ghost-revert: 28 staged "modifications" (actually the diff between the v0.7.0-era working- tree files and the post-update-ref v0.10.0 HEAD) plus my 3 untracked files. The driver in Session I had documented this exact shape in its Arc-15 "cross-session staged state question" section — I inherited the artifact.

---

Turn-by-turn arc

Arc 1 — The admin-vs-owner question

The operator opened the session with a screenshot of the /admin/users page mid-click on the role-change dropdown. The dropdown showed Contributor / Admin / Owner with Owner already selected, and a warning "Use the explicit succession path to change your own role." Question: "What is the difference between admin and owner?"

I read rfc-app/SPEC.md §6.1 (Four roles, each a strict superset of the one below) and §6.2 (write-mute), summarized:

• Admin = everything contributor can do, plus framework-wide acting authority: merge any PR, graduate any super-draft, set branch visibility on anyone's behalf, write-mute / restore contributors, grant or revoke the admin role itself, withdraw or reopen entries.
• Owner = everything admin can do, plus the two things admins can't: grant or revoke the owner role itself, disable an account entirely.

The practical difference: admin is the operational tier; owner is the tier that controls the admin tier. The succession-path warning on the dropdown is the framework refusing to let the last owner silently demote themselves.

Arc 2 — Public docs scope question

The operator's follow-up: "We'll need documentation on all of this that's publicly facing, not just the spec. Can you do that?"

I surveyed frontend/src/components/Philosophy.jsx + backend/app/philosophy.py + the /philosophy route registration in App.jsx to understand the existing pattern. Asked the operator two scoping questions via AskUserQuestion:

1. Doc scope: roles-only / all operator-admin surfaces / full user guide. Operator picked full user guide.
2. Location: new /docs route in-app / extend /philosophy / in-context Admin help. Operator picked new /docs route — the recommended option that mirrors the /philosophy shape.

Arc 3 — Pre-flight repo check, in-progress 0.7.0 rebase discovered

Before any edits I ran git status on rfc-app to confirm a clean baseline. The git-status snapshot in the session-start context had said "clean" but the actual state was mid-rebase: HEAD detached on feature/v0.7.0-email-otc, picked commit 2590c24 halted with conflicts on CHANGELOG.md, SPEC.md, VERSION, frontend/package.json, frontend/package-lock.json. The frontend/package.json file literally had <<<<<<< HEAD / ======= / >>>>>>> conflict markers from the v0.7.0 release pick.

This was the parallel Session-I driver's interrupted state. I paused, surfaced the discovery, and asked the operator how to proceed. Three options offered; operator picked write docs only; skip version bump — I'd write DOCS.md, wire the endpoint and the route, but not touch VERSION / package.json / CHANGELOG.md / SPEC.md / package-lock.json. The version-bump and changelog entry would land later, against whatever resolved tree the other session produced.

Arc 4 — Wrote the docs feature

In one batch:

• DOCS.md at the repo root (605 lines). Plain-prose user guide. Sections: reading without signing in, signing in, proposing an RFC, what a super-draft is, what an active RFC is, discussion vs contribution, working on a branch (contribute mode, AI proposals, manual edits, flags, branch visibility, contribute grants, hygiene), opening and reviewing PRs, graduation, withdrawal and reopening, AI in the chat, notifications and watch states, roles & permissions (the four app-wide roles including the original admin-vs-owner answer, per-RFC owners and arbiters, per-branch contribute grants, the write-mute, the three structurally distinct "mutes"), where to learn more. Framework-neutral per CLAUDE.md's separation-of-concerns rule — no deployment-specific names; "Wiggleverse RFC framework" does appear per the CLAUDE.md exception for framework references.
• backend/app/docs.py — 61 lines. Mirrors philosophy.py: disk-first load, in-process cache, refresh() on demand, optional DOCS_PATH env override, loud-failure placeholder if DOCS.md is absent at process start.
• backend/app/api.py — two additive edits. Added docs as docs_mod to the relative-import block alongside philosophy; added GET /api/docs handler immediately after GET /api/philosophy (same shape, same anonymous-readable contract).
• frontend/src/api.js — added getDocs() exported helper alongside getPhilosophy().
• frontend/src/components/Docs.jsx — 51 lines. Mirrors Philosophy.jsx: chrome with Back / "USER GUIDE" / Home affordances, body rendered through MarkdownPreview.
• frontend/src/App.jsx — four additive edits. New Docs import; new "Docs" header link alongside "About"; new /docs route alongside /philosophy; new DocsWithSidebar chrome wrapper alongside PhilosophyWithSidebar.

Three of the four App.jsx edits hit a "file has been modified since read" error mid-batch (the parallel Session-I driver was touching files), forcing a re-read and re-application. No content lost; just ceremony.

Arc 5 — Preview verification, backend down

preview_start launched the existing frontend Vite server. Navigated to /docs via preview_eval. The snapshot showed the chrome rendered correctly (header brand + About + Docs nav links, page chrome with "USER GUIDE" / Back / Home, body with "Could not load the guide: Failed to execute 'text' on 'Response': body stream already read"). The fetch error was the FastAPI backend not running in this preview environment (every /api/* call returned 502 including /api/auth/me and /api/rfcs), not a bug in my code. I confirmed by also navigating to /philosophy — same error shape, same backend-down symptom — proving the two routes were wired symmetrically.

Could not boot the FastAPI backend cleanly during this preview window because the parallel session had requirements.txt and auth.py and migration 012_otc.sql mid-rebase; starting the backend would have surfaced spurious errors that weren't about my docs work.

Verified the backend module's load path directly via python3 -c "from app import docs; r = docs.load(); print(r['path'], len(r['body']))" — DOCS.md loaded, 24,597 bytes, first line # Using the RFC app.

Also verified the api.py wiring with ast-style grep: the docs_mod import landed, the /api/docs handler is defined, the docs_mod.load() call is present.

Arc 6 — Long pause, parallel session continued

Operator: "ok, will let you know when we're ready for that" — for the version bump + changelog entry. I waited.

Arc 7 — Operator returned, state still in flux

Operator: "I think we're ready - go ahead and check."

Re-ran git status. The state had changed but was still mid-revert: HEAD had advanced from the v0.7.0 rebase target to 8aa6501 (Release 0.13.0), and a 17-file staged change set was sitting uncommitted — an exact inverse of the 0.13.0 commit (same files, same line counts flipped). The staged commit would assert "we are 0.7.0 again." My docs files were still safely uncommitted on top.

I surfaced the picture in detail and asked the operator how to proceed. Three options; operator selected "Other → Tell me more about the staged revert." I described the staged revert precisely (one commit between 0.7.0 and HEAD, the staged diff is its exact inverse — effectively git revert HEAD, semver-unusual because VERSION walks backward), then re-asked. Operator selected "Other → Hang tight - sounds like we aren't done in another session. Will let you know when we're ready." Waited again.

Arc 8 — Multiple check-ins, parallel session kept advancing

Operator: "ok let's try again." State still mid-revert, now expanded: HEAD at 55beba5 (Release 0.10.0), 28-file staged change set inversing the 0.13.0 + 0.10.0 + 0.8.0 deltas. Same constraint as before, surfaced again, operator paused again.

Operator: "How's it looking now?" Same 28-file staged state, same report.

Arc 9 — Hand-off prompt with recovery gesture

Operator finally pasted a long hand-off prompt explaining the actual state: SESSION-I's driver had been advancing local main via git update-ref refs/heads/main refs/remotes/origin/main to avoid disturbing the operator-in-progress working tree. Side effect: my working tree (based on v0.7.0 where my docs work was authored) now diffed against v0.10.0 HEAD, so every v0.6.0/v0.8.0/v0.10.0/ v0.13.0 file appears as "D" (staged-for-deletion) and every file modified since v0.7.0 appears as "M" (staged-modification). Nothing actually got removed; the index is just out of sync with the working tree.

Prescribed recovery gesture:

git status --short | wc -l                            # ~28 lines, expected
git stash push -u -m "docs-feature wip pre-rebase"    # captures tracked + untracked
git status --short                                    # should be empty now
git reset --hard main                                 # working tree = v0.10.0 main, clean
git stash pop                                         # bring back docs work, now diffed vs v0.10.0
git status --short                                    # should show 3 M + 3 ??, NO staged revert

With the expectation that the stash pop would hit merge conflicts on api.py / App.jsx / api.js (small, additive, resolvable "keep both sides").

Arc 10 — The recovery gesture didn't work

Ran the gesture step by step. Counts and reset checked out cleanly. The stash pop exit code was 0, no merge conflicts reported, stash dropped. But the resulting working tree was the same 28-file "revert" state I'd started with.

The reason: git stash push -u captures the full diff of the working tree against HEAD, including the ghost-revert appearance. After git reset --hard main brought the working tree to v0.10.0, the stash pop simply replayed that same ghost-revert diff back on top — no conflicts because every line in the stash was an unambiguous replacement of the current line. The end state was indistinguishable from the start, except my docs edits were now entangled with the ghost-revert deletions in the same M rows of api.py / App.jsx / api.js. The stash was dropped, so no recovery via stash was possible.

Surfaced this to the operator with three forward paths. Operator selected "Discard everything, re-apply my docs edits manually."

Arc 11 — Manual recovery

git restore . wiped all tracked-file modifications (the 28-file ghost-revert plus my entangled docs edits). The 3 untracked files (DOCS.md, backend/app/docs.py, frontend/src/components/Docs.jsx) survived. VERSION and package.json were at 0.10.0. Clean v0.10.0 baseline.

Read the current v0.10.0 versions of api.py, App.jsx, api.js to find the right anchor points for my re-application. The v0.10.0 files had grown (beta-access columns in /api/auth/me response, passcode endpoints, beta-pending viewer prop, login multi-step flow), so the surrounding context was different from v0.7.0 but the anchors I needed (the philosophy block in api.py, the getPhilosophy() export in api.js, the <PhilosophyWithSidebar> pattern in App.jsx) were still present in the same form.

Re-applied the 7 edits via Edit. Final state:

• 3 M (backend/app/api.py +12 lines, frontend/src/App.jsx +13 lines, frontend/src/api.js +4 lines). All purely additive; zero deletions.
• 3 ?? (DOCS.md, backend/app/docs.py, frontend/src/components/Docs.jsx).
• VERSION and package.json unchanged at 0.10.0.

Verified in the running preview: /docs route rendered with the v0.13.0 cookie-consent banner also rendering underneath, proving that the cookie-consent files (CookieConsentBanner.jsx, Privacy.jsx, Cookies.jsx, lib/consent.js) were intact in the restored tree. The same backend-down error showed on /docs as before; that's a separate concern.

Stale Vite HMR error logs from the ghost-revert window (timestamped t=1779962572215) were not regenerating; new error log lines after the reload were absent. The getDocs export was confirmed present via preview_eval reading the live /src/api.js body.

Arc 12 — Release as v0.14.0

Operator: "ok, go ahead and release."

Picked v0.14.0 as the version. The operator had earlier prompted with two options: v0.9.0 (fill the gap left by item #7 Admin user-management page) or v0.14.0 (clean sequential after 0.13.0). v0.14.0 is also a reserved slot in the roadmap (#12 Owner-only invite), but the "clean sequential" framing won — claim the next gap-free slot, let #12 reshuffle later.

Bumped VERSION to 0.14.0, frontend/package.json#version to 0.14.0, prepended a CHANGELOG entry matching the established descending-version-order layout (73 lines: Added / Changed / Upgrade steps (from 0.13.0)). Staged the 9 files explicitly by name. Committed:

de28272 Release 0.14.0: public /docs user guide (DOCS.md served at /docs)
9 files changed, 821 insertions, 2 deletions

821 = 605 (DOCS.md) + 73 (CHANGELOG entry) + 61 (docs.py) + 51 (Docs.jsx) + 12 (api.py) + 13 (App.jsx) + 4 (api.js) + 1 (VERSION bump) + 1 (package.json bump). Math checked.

Did NOT touch SPEC.md — the docs feature is downstream of existing spec sections, doesn't introduce a new spec contract. Offered to draft a SPEC amendment as a follow-up if the operator wants DOCS.md named alongside §14.2's /philosophy; operator hasn't asked for one.

Did NOT update frontend/.env.example for the new optional DOCS_PATH env var — the framework default (reading from repo root) works without it; the CHANGELOG "Upgrade steps (from 0.13.0)" documents the optional override.

Did NOT update rfc-app/CLAUDE.md to add the Session-protocol section that Session I had deferred — deprioritized in the rush to deploy. Noted in §19.2 below.

The commit landed with committer Ben Stull <benstull@mac.lan> — git's auto-generated identity from username + hostname. Memory says canonical is ben@wiggleverse.org. Surfaced to the operator; did not touch git config (per safety rules).

Arc 13 — Push

Operator: "you can git push." Pushed main to origin — 55beba5..de28272 main -> main. Did not push the tag yet (Arc 14 catches this).

Arc 14 — Deploy attempt 1 + 2: VM origin mismatch

Operator: "and then use the flotilla to deploy."

Inspected the flotilla CLI surface (/Users/benstull/projects/wiggleverse/ohm-rfc-app-flotilla/.venv/bin/ohm-rfc-app-flotilla). The deploy gesture is flotilla deploy ohm-rfc-app (top-level command, not a subcommand of deploy — that namespace's subcommands are abort/log/status/watch for observing deploys, not initiating them).

Read the operator-guide flow: bump .rfc-app-version in the corpus repo → flotilla pin check ohm-rfc-app → flotilla deploy --dry-run → real deploy.

Bumped the corpus pin. Edited /Users/benstull/projects/wiggleverse/ohm-rfc/.rfc-app-version from 0.10.0 to 0.14.0. Committed (d6af91f), pushed.

Pin check confirmed the pin resolves to 0.14.0, AHEAD of last deploy.

Dry-run preview showed the 9-phase plan clean. Plan named git checkout v0.14.0 at phase 3, which requires a git tag — and I hadn't created one yet. Read the existing tag convention (annotated tags like v0.13.0 with subject "Release X.Y.Z: ..."), created v0.14.0 on commit de28272, pushed to origin.

Deploy attempt 1 (deploys.id=12) — failed at phase 3:

[3/9] fetch+checkout: FAILED — git fetch/checkout failed: error:
  pathspec 'v0.14.0' did not match any file(s) known to git

Three seconds elapsed in phase 3 — suspiciously fast for a real fetch over the network. First hypothesis: transient Gitea tag propagation lag. Retried.

Deploy attempt 2 (deploys.id=13) — same failure, same 3 seconds. Not transient.

Verified the tag was definitely on the pin-source Gitea via git ls-remote --tags origin v0.14.0 → ce4d9af refs/tags/v0.14.0. So Gitea-the-pin-source had the tag.

Arc 15 — Diagnosis: VM origin is a different Gitea host

Read ohm_rfc_app_flotilla/deploy.py lines 368–388 (the phase-3 implementation). The SSH command is well-formed:

sudo -u ohm-app sh -c 'cd /opt/ohm-app && git fetch --tags && git
checkout v0.14.0 && head=$(git rev-parse HEAD) && tagsha=$(git
rev-parse v0.14.0^{commit}) && [ "$head" = "$tagsha" ] && echo
"HEAD=$head"'

No obvious bug. Asked the operator how to diagnose; operator selected "SSH into the VM, inspect git remote + try a manual fetch."

Read-only diagnostic via gcloud compute ssh:

git remote -v          → origin    https://git.benstull.org/benstull/rfc-app.git
git config --get remote.origin.fetch
                       → +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
git fetch --tags --verbose
                       → all tags up through v0.13.0 listed as "[up to date]";
                         v0.14.0 absent
git tag --list v0.14.*
                       → (empty)

Root cause: the VM's /opt/ohm-app has origin set to https://git.benstull.org/benstull/rfc-app.git — a different Gitea host than the flotilla's pin_source_host (https://git.wiggleverse.org). The two hosts are linked (every historical tag eventually propagates to the VM origin via some mirror sync) but the sync is not real-time. My push to git.wiggleverse.org had not yet landed on git.benstull.org.

Arc 16 — Fix + deploy

Inspected my local rfc-app remotes:

benstull  git@git.benstull.org:benstull/rfc-app.git
origin    https://git.wiggleverse.org/ben.stull/rfc-app.git

benstull is the VM-origin-matching remote, already configured. Pushed both main and the v0.14.0 tag to it:

git push benstull main      → 55beba5..de28272 main -> main
git push benstull v0.14.0   → [new tag] v0.14.0 -> v0.14.0

Deploy attempt 3 (deploys.id=14):

[1/9] validate: ok
[2/9] preflight: ok
[3/9] fetch+checkout: ok
[4/9] backend deps: ok
[5/9] frontend build: ok
[6/9] write .env: ok
[7/9] restart: ok
[8/9] verify /api/health: ok
[9/9] finalize: ok
ohm: deployed v0.14.0 (deploys.id=14)
ohm: deployed v0.14.0 (verify took 2.5s)

Final verification: flotilla deploy status ohm-rfc-app → HTTP 200 version=0.14.0 status=ok.

Arc 17 — Follow-up task spawned

Surfaced the root cause to the operator as a footgun worth fixing structurally. Two options: a flotilla preflight that resolves the VM-side origin and ls-remotes it for the target tag, OR a Gitea mirror config between the two hosts. The preflight is defense-in-depth and survives future mirror lag or a different deployment's remote drift.

Operator said: "yes, go for it." Spawned a follow-up session task via mcp__ccd_session__spawn_task rooted in the flotilla repo (cwd: /Users/benstull/projects/wiggleverse/ohm-rfc-app-flotilla). Title: "Add VM-origin preflight to flotilla deploy." The spawned session's prompt is self-contained: full incident context, files to touch (deploy.py ~lines 351–388, SPEC.md §8, tests/, CHANGELOG.md, VERSION), pseudo-shape for the new check, the alternative-Gitea-mirror consideration, two "don't do" guardrails (don't change pin-source resolution; don't auto-push the tag from the flotilla), and a verify-when-done list.

The operator can one-click-spin-it-up in a fresh worktree, or dismiss the chip.

Arc 18 — Transcript

Operator asked for this transcript per the standing protocol. Read SESSION-I-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-27T23-30--2026-05-28T03-15.md to match shape and voice. Read the publish-transcript script to understand the filename regex and idempotency contract. Read ohm-rfc/ROADMAP.md to figure out which row to strike — and discovered that no row exists for the docs feature; my v0.14.0 release was operator-driven, not roadmap-driven. The ROADMAP edit plan (Arc 19 below) reflects this: add a new row #15 to capture what shipped, and update row #12's target version to reflect the slot collision.

Arc 19 — ROADMAP edit + publish

ohm-rfc/ROADMAP.md got two surgical edits:

1. New row #15 in the version-target table: "Public user guide (DOCS.md + /docs route)" targeting v0.14.0, struck through with a link to the v0.14.0 tag and deploys.id=14.
2. Row #12 (Owner-only invite) target version changed from v0.14.0 (needs v0.5.0 + v0.7.0) to v0.16.0 (needs v0.5.0 + v0.7.0; v0.14.0 slot was claimed out-of-band by item #15 per Session J) to record the slot reshuffling explicitly. v0.15.0 remains reserved for #13 Amplitude, so #12 jumps to v0.16.0.

Committed to ohm-rfc/main as 4c89179 and pushed (d6af91f..4c89179 main -> main).

Transcript written. The filename SESSION-J-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-27T23-50--2026-05-28T03-20.md matches the convention. Published via ~/git/ohm-infra/scripts/publish-transcript.sh at commit 44995c9 on wiggleverse/ohm-session-history (179c1ea..44995c9 main -> main).

Arc 20 — Operator-requested transcript update + re-publish

Operator: "update the transcript." Re-read the just-published Arc 19 against the post-write commit SHAs I'd captured but only described in forward-looking voice, and updated the section to record the actual results: 4c89179 for the ROADMAP commit, 44995c9 for the publish-script's commit on ohm-session-history. Also tightened the cut-state table's ohm-rfc + ohm-session-history rows to name those SHAs concretely.

This Arc 20 itself is the second self-reference: writing it changes the transcript, so re-running publish-transcript.sh produces a new "update SESSION-J-…" commit on wiggleverse/ohm-session-history carrying this section. Session-I's Arc 16c noted the same publish-cycle self-referentiality is now a regular feature — every transcript extension after publish triggers a re-publish, and the script's idempotency contract handles the round-trip cleanly.

---

Cut state (end of session)

flotilla	Unchanged. v1.0.1 installed; deployment registered; 3 new deploys rows added this session (id=12 failed, id=13 failed, id=14 succeeded — all v0.14.0).
rfc-app	de28272 tag v0.14.0. Pushed to origin = git.wiggleverse.org/ben.stull/rfc-app AND benstull = git.benstull.org/benstull/rfc-app. VERSION = 0.14.0, frontend/package.json#version = 0.14.0. CHANGELOG.md has a new top entry. CLAUDE.md Session-protocol pointer still deferred — Session I also deferred this.
ohm-rfc	4c89179 (.rfc-app-version bumped to 0.14.0 via d6af91f; ROADMAP edited via 4c89179 with new row #15 struck through and row #12's target version bumped v0.14.0 → v0.16.0).
OHM live	deploys.id=14, v0.14.0, healthy. /api/health returns {"version":"0.14.0","status":"ok"}. /docs reachable anonymously and serves the new user guide.
ohm-infra	New transcript: SESSION-J-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-27T23-50--2026-05-28T03-20.md. No other changes to scripts or protocol.
ohm-session-history	This transcript first published at 44995c9 (add); Arc-20 update will re-publish as an "update SESSION-J-…" commit when the operator runs publish-transcript.sh again (idempotent — diff push, not a duplicate add). Adds one new file alongside Sessions A–I.
Spawned task	One chip showing for the operator: "Add VM-origin preflight to flotilla deploy" — cwd-rooted in the flotilla repo.

This session's ledger	Status
Docs feature shipped	✅ rfc-app v0.14.0 + OHM deploys.id=14. Not a roadmap item; operator-driven from the admin-vs-owner UX question.
ROADMAP collision	v0.14.0 slot was reserved for #12 Owner-only invite; that row's target version bumped to v0.16.0 in this session's ROADMAP edit.
CLAUDE.md update	Deferred. (Same as Session I.)

---

§19.2 candidates surfaced

1. git stash push -u + reset --hard main + stash pop is a trap for ghost-revert recovery. When a working tree's "modifications" are actually "files held an earlier version's bytes after git update-ref advanced HEAD," the stash captures the full ghost-revert diff and the pop replays it. End state identical to start state. What works: git restore . to wipe all tracked modifications (untracked files survive), then manual re-application of any genuine edits. Worth recording in SESSION-PROTOCOL.md or CLAUDE.md as a recipe — future driver sessions hitting the same shape (a parallel-session update-ref-advanced HEAD against a working tree that lagged) will reach for the same wrong gesture otherwise.

2. flotilla preflight should verify the VM's actual origin URL has the target tag. The pin source (named in deployment show) and the VM's git remote get-url origin can diverge silently. When they do, the deploy fails at phase 3 with "pathspec did not match" — uninformative. Already spawned as a follow-up session task with full context. The alternative is GCP-side Gitea mirror config; the flotilla preflight is defense-in-depth.

3. SESSION-PROTOCOL.md could note the "claim the next free sequential slot" tradeoff for non-roadmap-driven releases. This session shipped v0.14.0 out-of-band, colliding with #12's reservation. The roadmap edit at end-of-session captured the collision and shifted #12 → v0.16.0. The discipline question: is "claim sequential slot, document the bump" the canonical move, or should out-of-band releases claim a post-roadmap slot (e.g. v0.99.0) to avoid shuffling reserved slots? Either is workable; the protocol document doesn't currently take a position.

4. rfc-app/CLAUDE.md Session-protocol section is now deferred twice. Session I deferred it because the working tree was unstable. Session J deferred it because the deploy was the priority and the tree only stabilized late. The third rfc-app-touching session should make the addition non-deferrable (e.g. fail the end-of-session checklist if rfc-app's CLAUDE.md doesn't carry the Session-protocol pointer).

5. The flotilla deployment show output should surface the VM's actual origin URL, not just the pin source URL. Even with the preflight from candidate #2 above, a quick deployment show visual scan should make the divergence (if any) visible without having to SSH in. Cosmetic surface change; small.

---

What lands on the operator's plate

1. Follow-up task chip: "Add VM-origin preflight to flotilla deploy." One click spins it up in a fresh flotilla worktree. Dismiss if you'd prefer to configure Gitea mirroring instead.

2. rfc-app CLAUDE.md Session-protocol section is still missing. Either add it manually now (one-paragraph pointer to ~/git/ohm-infra/SESSION-PROTOCOL.md, matching flotilla/CLAUDE.md shape) or assign it to the next rfc-app-touching session.

3. Two failed deploys rows (id=12, id=13) sit in the flotilla history. Audit-trail only; not actionable. The same info is captured in this transcript so the rows can stay or be pruned at operator discretion.

4. Local git committer identity is still Ben Stull <benstull@mac.lan> per the auto-generated username+hostname; memory says canonical is ben@wiggleverse.org. Surfaced; not fixed in-session.

5. #12 Owner-only invite target version moved from v0.14.0 to v0.16.0. When that item's session runs (Wave 5 per the existing plan), the dispatched subagent should be given the updated target.

6. Roadmap Wave 4 was Session-I's next focus but did not run this session (this session was operator-driven, not roadmap-driven). Wave 4 lineup unchanged from Session-I's closing prompt: #7 (v0.9.0), #9 (v0.11.0), #10 (v0.12.0).

---

Prompt the operator can paste into the next Claude Code session

You are the OHM roadmap driver. Two sessions just closed in
parallel: Session I shipped rfc-app v0.4.0 / v0.5.0 / v0.6.0 /
v0.7.0 / v0.8.0 / v0.10.0 / v0.13.0 to OHM, and Session J shipped
rfc-app v0.14.0 (DOCS.md + /docs public user guide; not a
roadmap item — operator-driven from a UX question) to OHM
(deploys.id=14). OHM is currently serving v0.14.0. Read
~/git/ohm-infra/SESSION-PROTOCOL.md at session start for the
binding end-of-session discipline.

Read /Users/benstull/projects/wiggleverse/ohm-rfc/ROADMAP.md
end-to-end and execute Wave 4 per the "Operating instructions
for the next session" section. The Wave 4 lineup per the
roadmap text:
- Session κ (Track C1): #7 Admin user-management page → v0.9.0
- Session λ (Track C2): #9 Device trust 30d → v0.11.0
- Session μ (Track C): #10 CloudFlare verification → v0.12.0
  (CAUTION: requires operator-provided CLOUDFLARE_TURNSTILE_SECRET.
  Subagent CHANGELOG MUST step pauses the wave; do not invent the
  secret. Operator must `flotilla secret set ohm-rfc-app
  CLOUDFLARE_TURNSTILE_SECRET` before the v0.12.0 deploy.)

Same constraints as Sessions H + I: dispatch parallelizable items
as forked subagents in a single message, serialize the deploys,
verify each, strikethrough the version-target table when an item
ships, commit + push ohm-rfc, write the session transcript per
~/git/ohm-infra/SESSION-PROTOCOL.md at end-of-session. Stop and
wait for the operator if a deploy fails, a release's Upgrade
steps require an operator-provided secret, or you encounter
cross-repo ambiguity.

Session-I + Session-J lessons to apply automatically:

- **VM origin vs pin source divergence (Session J)**: after pushing
  a rfc-app tag to `origin = git.wiggleverse.org`, ALSO push to
  `benstull = git.benstull.org`. The production VM at /opt/ohm-app
  fetches from git.benstull.org, not git.wiggleverse.org; the two
  Gitea hosts are linked but not real-time mirrored. Missing this
  causes phase-3 "pathspec did not match" failures. A follow-up
  task to add a flotilla preflight check is in flight; until it
  lands, the two-push discipline is the workaround:
    git push origin main && git push origin vX.Y.Z
    git push benstull main && git push benstull vX.Y.Z

- **Ghost-revert recovery (Session J)**: if you find a working tree
  whose `git status` shows 20+ files as staged-deletions/
  modifications that don't match your session's edits, the cause
  is a prior session's `git update-ref refs/heads/main` advancing
  HEAD past a working tree that held older bytes. DO NOT use
  `git stash push -u` + `git reset --hard main` + `git stash pop`
  — the stash captures the ghost-revert and the pop replays it.
  Instead: `git restore .` to wipe tracked modifications
  (untracked files survive), then manually re-apply any genuine
  edits against the current HEAD's file structure.

- **Subagents push feature branches only (Session I)**. Driver
  tags, bumps the ohm-rfc pin, and runs the deploy. Do NOT have
  subagents bump the pin themselves.

- **Cross-repo subagents** must create their own `git worktree add`
  in the target repo. The `Agent` tool's `isolation:` flag applies
  only to the driver's CWD.

- **Migration numbers**: pre-allocate slots per subagent in the
  prompt. Session I used 014 for #6 and 015 for #8. Next free is
  016 — check `ls /Users/benstull/git/rfc-app/backend/migrations/`
  before dispatching to confirm.

- **Phase-7 SSH timeout (60s)** can fire while uvicorn is still in
  SIGTERM-grace waiting for SSE clients. If the deploy logs
  `failed` or `in_progress` at phase 7, check `/api/health` first
  — the service likely restarted fine. If so, `flotilla deploy
  abort` to clear the in-flight row.

- **CHANGELOG.md must be strictly version-descending.** If a
  subagent inserts at the top out of order, fix it during
  integration.

- **Item #12 Owner-only invite** has been re-targeted from v0.14.0
  to v0.16.0 per Session J's docs-release slot collision. Update
  any upgrade-from anchors accordingly.

- **Item #1 VM rename** and operator-provided secrets stay
  operator territory unless the operator explicitly clears them.

- **rfc-app/CLAUDE.md Session-protocol section** is still missing
  (Sessions I + J both deferred it). If this session's first
  rfc-app gesture has a clean working tree, add it before doing
  anything else, matching flotilla/CLAUDE.md's shape.