bug(store): #1840 dedup-replay snapshot fix applied only to MCP path, not offline/HTTP — entity_snapshot_after still stripped on the offline transport

[markmhendrickson]

Summary

The #1840 fix (PR #1852, commit 1289cc123) — populate entity_snapshot_after + add a deduplicated marker on a deduplicated observation replay — was applied only to src/server.ts (the MCP path). The offline/local HTTP path (src/actions.ts) still returns a stripped entry on the idempotency-replay early-return, so entity_snapshot_after is empty there.

This means #1840 is not fixed on the offline/local SQLite transport, which is the only deployment mode the original reporter (an external evaluator running Neotoma as an offline audit ledger) uses. v0.18.4 reports it fixed; it is fixed on MCP, not on the reporter's actual transport.

How it was found

The new offline-transport-parity CI gate (PR #1858) caught it on first run: behavior cell #3 (dedup response) passes on the MCP surface but the offline/HTTP surface returns a stripped entry. The gate currently documents this as an MCP-only divergence rather than failing green main; this issue is to actually close the gap so the parity cell can be promoted to a hard dual-transport assertion.

Verification

• git show 1289cc123 --stat → touches src/server.ts + one test only; src/actions.ts (the HTTP/offline store handler) was not changed.
• src/server.ts populates entity_snapshot_after + deduplicated on the replay path; the equivalent offline/HTTP replay path in src/actions.ts does not.

Fix

Mirror the #1840 fix into the offline/HTTP store path in src/actions.ts: on a deduplicated/idempotency-replay store, read the persisted snapshot into entity_snapshot_after and set deduplicated: true, matching src/server.ts. Then promote the transport-parity gate's dedup cell (PR #1858) from MCP-only to a hard MCP↔offline parity assertion so this can't regress.

Acceptance

• A deduplicated store over the offline/HTTP path returns a populated entity_snapshot_after (equal to getEntitySnapshot) and deduplicated: true, with observation count staying 1.
• The transport-parity dedup cell asserts identical effect on both transports (no documented MCP-only divergence).

Meta

This is a textbook case of the exact failure the v0.18.4 hardening work targets: a fix verified on one transport while the reporter runs another. Pairs with task_policy reproduce_reporter_environment_before_fixed and the offline-parity gate.

[neotoma-agent]

🤖 Lanius — Ateles swarm, issue triage
COMMENT

Triage & Gate-Status Board

Gate	Status
pm	pending
ux	pending
arch	pending
impl	pending
pr_review	pending
qa	pending
legal	not_required

Owner: Pavo (Phase 1 PM scoping)
Next Phase: UX + Arch review (Phase 2)

Labels applied: lanius-triage (best-effort)

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Issue triaged. Pavo has been assigned as PM owner for Phase 1 scoping.

[neotoma-agent]

🤖 Pavo — Ateles swarm, pm gate owner

COMMENT

Pre-Registration: PM Review Expectations

review_expectation (pm) — what Pavo will verify when a PR addresses this issue:

• Deduplicated store via offline/HTTP path populates entity_snapshot_after field (equal to getEntitySnapshot result)
• Response includes deduplicated: true flag on the replay
• Observation count remains 1 (no duplicate observations created on idempotency replay)
• Transport-parity CI gate (PR test(ci): offline/local-transport parity gate #1858) dedup cell passes on both MCP and offline/HTTP surfaces
• Parity gate promoted from "MCP-only divergence documented" to "hard MCP ↔ offline assertion"
• Implementation in src/actions.ts mirrors src/server.ts pattern from store response returns empty entity_snapshot_after on deduplicated observation replay #1840 with no unrequested scope

Scope & Priority: Localized transport-parity fix. Unblocks the offline-parity CI gate and validates the hardening approach for reporter-environment matching (task_policy reproduce_reporter_environment_before_fixed).

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📎 Neotoma: issue ent_c17ba1b9583c1e0e6584d0e7 · plan_contribution ent_3262e98ca65f3f88fd85161c

[neotoma-agent]

🤖 Pavo — Ateles swarm, pm gate owner

PM-Gate Scoping: SIGNED OFF ✅

Decision Framed

Scope: Apply #1840 dedup-replay snapshot fix to offline/HTTP transport (src/actions.ts) and promote transport-parity gate to hard assertion.

Validation Results

1. Intent — Problem Clarity ✅

• Root cause identified: PR fix(store): populate entity_snapshot_after + deduplicated marker on dedup replay (#1840) #1852 (commit 1289cc1) fixed entity_snapshot_after + deduplicated on MCP path only; offline/HTTP path in src/actions.ts was not updated
• Evidence: Offline-transport-parity CI gate (PR test(ci): offline/local-transport parity gate #1858) caught this divergence on first run; behavior cell Feature unit FU-112 completion #3 passes on MCP but fails on offline
• Impact: v0.18.4 appears fixed but only on MCP transport; external evaluator (reporter) using offline-only mode still sees unfixed behavior
• Reproducibility: Deterministic across all deduplicated store calls on offline transport

2. Acceptance Criteria — Concrete & Verifiable ✅

• Criterion 1: Offline store returns populated entity_snapshot_after (equals getEntitySnapshot), deduplicated: true, observation count = 1
  • Verifiable via unit + integration test assertion
• Criterion 2: Transport-parity dedup cell enforces MCP ↔ offline parity
  • Verifiable via CI gate promotion to hard dual-transport assertion

3. Scope — Bounded & Complete ✅

• What's in: Mirror snapshot + deduplicated logic from src/server.ts into src/actions.ts idempotency-replay path; promote CI gate; add offline-specific tests
• What's out: Data model, snapshots schema, API contract, dedup logic itself, other transports
• Complexity: LOW (copy-paste pattern, one code path)

4. Blockers ✅

• No blockers identified
• Code locations clear (src/server.ts reference, src/actions.ts target)
• Reference fix documented (PR fix(store): populate entity_snapshot_after + deduplicated marker on dedup replay (#1840) #1852, commit 1289cc1)
• Test coverage mechanism in place (PR test(ci): offline/local-transport parity gate #1858 gate)

Sign-Off

This issue is SCOPED and READY for architecture → implementation.

A straightforward transport parity fix: low implementation complexity, high reproducibility confidence, and regression prevention (parity gate prevents future MCP-only fixes from shipping).

Current Owner: pm (Pavo)
Next Owner: arch (architecture/implementation phase)
Gate Status: signed_off
Timestamp: 2026-06-30T19:25:42Z