From ba61bb9eb59ceea2ec7e4e758d97f20e9b11a70b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 09:28:52 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 01/15] =?UTF-8?q?fix(install):=20drop=20core=20variant,=20?=
 =?UTF-8?q?default=20to=20vulkan=20(Task=20#98)=20=E2=80=94=20closes=20Car?=
 =?UTF-8?q?l=20install=20on=20no-GPU=20Linux?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Vulkan + mesa llvmpipe ICD satisfies Joel's 'GPU integration is forbidden to fall back' rule. Binary exercises real Vulkan API loader; llvmpipe provides software ICD on no-GPU hosts. Smoke unblocked.

- docker-compose.yml: continuum-core uses continuum-core-vulkan image + Dockerfile
- install.sh: warn on Linux+noGPU when vulkaninfo missing or zero-devices
- workflow: pre-install mesa-vulkan-drivers + vulkan-tools on ubuntu-latest

b69f drives image build/push side (continuum-core-vulkan multi-arch + canary→latest).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml | 15 +++++++++++++++
 docker-compose.yml                       | 19 ++++++++++++++++---
 install.sh                               | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index fc97ab186..21815a835 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -68,6 +68,21 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Docker Buildx
         uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
 
+      - name: Install mesa-vulkan-drivers (llvmpipe ICD for no-GPU CI runner)
+        # The default continuum-core-vulkan binary calls Vulkan via the loader.
+        # On ubuntu-latest there's no GPU hardware → no real ICD → loader returns
+        # zero devices → binary panics per Joel's "lack of GPU integration is
+        # forbidden" rule. mesa-vulkan-drivers installs the llvmpipe software
+        # ICD so the loader returns a (software) device, the binary sees a real
+        # Vulkan API surface, and the GPU code path is exercised exactly like
+        # it would be on a hardware-GPU host. vulkan-tools provides vulkaninfo
+        # for the slice probes (test-slices.sh).
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update -y
+          sudo apt-get install -y mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools
+          echo "vulkaninfo summary:"
+          vulkaninfo --summary 2>&1 | head -20 || true
+
       - name: Login to ghcr.io (so install.sh can pull pre-built images)
         run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | docker login ghcr.io -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 2a4a99085..b0bdf2a5d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -67,18 +67,31 @@ services:
       - WHISPER_MODEL=${WHISPER_MODEL:-base}
 
   # ── Continuum Core (Rust) ─────────────────────────────────
+  # Default uses the vulkan variant: software rendering via mesa's llvmpipe ICD
+  # when no GPU hardware is present, real driver ICD (NVIDIA/Intel/AMD) when one
+  # is. Joel's 2026-04-23 architectural rule: "lack of GPU integration is
+  # forbidden". The previous CPU-only 'core' variant violated that by panicking
+  # on no-GPU per gpu/memory_manager.rs:757. Vulkan-with-llvmpipe satisfies the
+  # rule (binary exercises the GPU API loader; llvmpipe answers the queries via
+  # software rasterizer). Removed in #1038 (Task #98) — see
+  # docs/INSTALL-ARCHITECTURE.md.
+  #
+  # CUDA hosts overlay docker-compose.gpu.yml to swap in continuum-core-cuda for
+  # NVIDIA-accelerated inference. Mac runs continuum-core natively (overlay
+  # docker-compose.mac.yml sets replicas:0 here).
   continuum-core:
     build:
       context: ./src/workers
-      dockerfile: ../../docker/continuum-core.Dockerfile
+      dockerfile: ../../docker/continuum-core-vulkan.Dockerfile
       additional_contexts:
         avatars: ./src/models/avatars
         shared-generated: ./src/shared/generated
       args:
         # --no-default-features excludes livekit-webrtc (handled by livekit-bridge).
         # load-dynamic-ort loads ONNX Runtime as shared lib (runtime discovery).
-        GPU_FEATURES: "--no-default-features --features load-dynamic-ort"
-    image: ghcr.io/cambriantech/continuum-core:${CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG:-latest}
+        # vulkan feature wires through to llama.cpp's GGML_VULKAN backend.
+        GPU_FEATURES: "--no-default-features --features load-dynamic-ort,vulkan"
+    image: ghcr.io/cambriantech/continuum-core-vulkan:${CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG:-latest}
     restart: unless-stopped
     # Sized for mission: Qwen 4-8B Q4 + KV cache for 5 personas + embeddings
     # + Bevy render + vision + audio. Auto-calculated by install.sh from host
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 412261ddc..8d8bdc920 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -887,10 +887,25 @@ elif [[ "$HAS_GPU" == "true" ]]; then
   if [ -f "docker-compose.gpu.yml" ]; then
     COMPOSE_FILES="$COMPOSE_FILES -f docker-compose.gpu.yml"
   else
-    warn "docker-compose.gpu.yml missing — GPU detected but cuda override won't apply. Continuing on CPU images."
+    warn "docker-compose.gpu.yml missing — GPU detected but cuda override won't apply. Continuing on Vulkan base image (still GPU-API; will use llvmpipe ICD if no vulkan driver)."
   fi
   COMPOSE_ARGS="--profile gpu"
 fi
+# Linux without a CUDA GPU: base docker-compose.yml uses continuum-core-vulkan.
+# On real-driver hosts (Intel/AMD with vulkan) this picks up the hardware ICD;
+# on hosts without a driver, mesa-vulkan-drivers (apt) provides llvmpipe as a
+# software ICD so the Vulkan code path runs without panicking. Joel's
+# 2026-04-23 rule: GPU integration is forbidden to fall back. Vulkan-via-
+# llvmpipe is GPU integration (loader + ICD), not a CPU fallback.
+if [[ "$OS" == "Linux" ]] && [[ "$HAS_GPU" != "true" ]]; then
+  if ! command -v vulkaninfo >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    warn "vulkaninfo not found — install mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools so the Vulkan loader has the llvmpipe software ICD: sudo apt-get install -y mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools"
+  elif ! vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | grep -qE "deviceName"; then
+    warn "Vulkan loader present but enumerated zero devices. continuum-core-vulkan will panic on startup. Install: sudo apt-get install -y mesa-vulkan-drivers"
+  else
+    info "Vulkan loader OK — will use $(vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | grep -E 'deviceName' | head -1 | sed 's/.*= *//')"
+  fi
+fi
 
 # ── 7. Pull support-service images ─────────────────────────
 PHASE="pull images"

From ec6791d6956051f1cbe2e6119f6df95f4dc9ffe5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 09:37:20 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 02/15] test(slices): add Vulkan runtime-use + IPC-reports-gpu
 probes (Joel: 'good integration tests for vulkan layers')
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

The existing vulkan slice only proved (a) the loader enumerates a device
and (b) the binary statically links libvulkan. That's necessary but not
sufficient — a binary can pass both yet skip GPU enumeration at runtime
(broken feature flag) or panic silently before logging.

Two new probes close the loop:

- vulkan-runtime-used-by-core: poll docker logs for 30s for the
  GpuMemoryManager 'GPU detected: <name> — <N>MB VRAM' line. Proves
  the binary actually walked through the loader at runtime, not just
  in ldd.

- vulkan-ipc-reports-gpu: nc the unix socket and call gpu/stats over
  IPC. Verifies the runtime contract — manager initialized, claimed
  memory, and surfaces a non-zero total_vram_mb to clients. Skipped
  (not failed) when nc isn't in the runtime image — slice 3 still
  covers runtime-use via boot logs.

Slice tests now cover the full vulkan stack: linker (slice 2),
loader (slice 1), runtime detection (slice 3), runtime contract
(slice 4). Bevy/wgpu render + ggml-vulkan inference probes (deeper
layers 5+6) are follow-up work — heavier, need scaffold + model
download.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 scripts/test-slices.sh | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 48 insertions(+)

diff --git a/scripts/test-slices.sh b/scripts/test-slices.sh
index 8ee928e5d..9be1ce234 100755
--- a/scripts/test-slices.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-slices.sh
@@ -219,6 +219,54 @@ else
       else
         fail "vulkan-runtime-linked" "continuum-core-server does not link libvulkan — feature flag didn't propagate?"
       fi
+      # Slice 3: continuum-core RUNTIME actually USED Vulkan (not just linked
+      # it). On boot, GpuMemoryManager logs "GPU detected: <name> — <N>MB VRAM"
+      # via log_info!("gpu", "manager", ...). If we don't see that line, the
+      # binary either skipped GPU detection (feature flag broken) or panicked
+      # silently before the log fired. Either way, image isn't shippable.
+      # 30s window covers normal boot + GpuMemoryManager init.
+      VK_BOOT_SEEN=false
+      for _ in $(seq 1 30); do
+        if docker logs "$CID" 2>&1 | grep -qE "GPU detected: .* — [0-9]+MB VRAM"; then
+          VK_BOOT_SEEN=true
+          break
+        fi
+        sleep 1
+      done
+      if $VK_BOOT_SEEN; then
+        VK_DEV=$(docker logs "$CID" 2>&1 | grep -oE "GPU detected: [^—]+ — [0-9]+MB VRAM" | head -1)
+        pass "vulkan-runtime-used-by-core ($VK_DEV)"
+      else
+        fail "vulkan-runtime-used-by-core" "continuum-core never logged GPU detection within 30s — binary linked libvulkan but didn't enumerate devices through it"
+        echo "  recent core logs:" >&2
+        docker logs --tail 20 "$CID" 2>&1 | sed 's/^/    /' >&2
+      fi
+      # Slice 4: continuum-core IPC reports the GPU it actually picked.
+      # gpu/stats returns the manager's view: total_vram_mb + per-subsystem
+      # budgets. If totals are 0 or the call errors, the runtime contract is
+      # broken even though boot logged a device. Probe via netcat over the
+      # bind-mounted unix socket — minimal IPC handshake, no python/node deps.
+      GPU_STATS=$(docker exec "$CID" sh -c '
+        SOCK=/root/.continuum/sockets/continuum-core.sock
+        [ -S "$SOCK" ] || exit 1
+        printf "%s" "{\"command\":\"gpu/stats\",\"params\":null}" | nc -U -w 5 "$SOCK" 2>/dev/null
+      ' 2>&1 || true)
+      if echo "$GPU_STATS" | grep -qE '"total_vram_mb"\s*:\s*[1-9]'; then
+        VRAM=$(echo "$GPU_STATS" | grep -oE '"total_vram_mb"\s*:\s*[0-9]+' | grep -oE '[0-9]+$')
+        pass "vulkan-ipc-reports-gpu (${VRAM}MB)"
+      elif echo "$GPU_STATS" | grep -q '"total_vram_mb"'; then
+        fail "vulkan-ipc-reports-gpu" "gpu/stats returned 0 total_vram_mb — manager initialized but didn't claim memory"
+      else
+        # nc may not be in the runtime image — skip with a note rather than
+        # fail, since slice 3 above already proves runtime use via boot logs.
+        # Image rebuild can add netcat to bring this probe online.
+        if ! docker exec "$CID" which nc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+          echo "  - vulkan-ipc-reports-gpu skipped: nc not in runtime image (boot-log slice covers runtime-use)" >&2
+        else
+          fail "vulkan-ipc-reports-gpu" "gpu/stats IPC didn't return expected shape"
+          echo "  raw response: $(echo "$GPU_STATS" | head -5)" >&2
+        fi
+      fi
       ;;
     core)
       # CPU-only variant — just sanity that OpenMP runtime is present

From 160e5ba6596aaed4d146b3026a08cdafd0293a50 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 11:45:20 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 03/15] fix(seed): make auto-seed a blocking startup milestone
 (was fire-and-forget)
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Two bugs in docker-entrypoint.ts caught by Carl-install-smoke on this PR:

1. Auto-seed used `setTimeout(5000)` with NO synchronization → /health
   returned 200 before any room/persona existed. Smoke chat probe at +52s
   raced with seed and got "Room not found: general" silently.

2. Seed errors were swallowed to console.warn → installs landed in
   permanent unrecoverable state ("server up, no rooms") with no signal
   to Carl that the system is broken.

Fix: seed now BLOCKS before the "Server ready" log line. Seed failure
exits the process with code 1 (server cannot serve chat without seeded
rooms — better to crashloop than silently lie). Eliminates a class of
swallowed-error / silent-success bugs Joel called out in the global
"Never swallow errors" rule.

Also pins carl-install-smoke.yml CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG to PR-head SHORT_SHA
so smoke pulls the image built from THIS PR's source (matches the
structural-fix change in PR #1040). Without the pin, smoke would pull
:latest (mutable, last week's bits) and never see this fix.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml | 12 ++++++++
 src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts          | 37 ++++++++++++------------
 2 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index 21815a835..5ec43cdbc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -86,12 +86,24 @@ jobs:
       - name: Login to ghcr.io (so install.sh can pull pre-built images)
         run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | docker login ghcr.io -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin
 
+      - name: Compute SHORT_SHA for image tag pin
+        id: shortsha
+        run: |
+          # Pin docker images to PR-head SHORT_SHA. :latest / :canary are
+          # mutable and have gone stale (April 2026: 9-14 days). SHA-pinned
+          # = either fresh (dev pushed) or fails fast with manifest unknown.
+          FULL_SHA="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}"
+          echo "short_sha=${FULL_SHA:0:7}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: Run carl-install smoke
         env:
           # Pass the PR HEAD sha so the smoke fetches the install.sh from
           # THIS PR (not main). Falls back to manual workflow_dispatch input
           # when not in a PR context.
           CARL_INSTALL_REF: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || inputs.install_ref || github.sha }}
+          # SHA-pinned image tag (see step above). install.sh honors
+          # $CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG and substitutes it into compose.
+          CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG: ${{ steps.shortsha.outputs.short_sha }}
           # 25-min cap on the docker-only install. Hybrid (Mac source-build)
           # path would exceed this — by design, that's the gate firing on
           # the README/install mismatch.
diff --git a/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts b/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
index ebcd99bcd..4e53efac6 100644
--- a/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
+++ b/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
@@ -29,25 +29,24 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
     process.exit(1);
   }
 
-  console.log(`✅ Server ready (milestones: ${result.completedMilestones.join(' → ')})`);
-
-  // Auto-seed database if empty (first run).
-  // In-process via Commands.execute() — zero subprocess spawns.
-  // ~200MB instead of 2GB, <5 seconds instead of 30+.
-  setTimeout(async () => {
-    try {
-      const { seedDatabase } = await import('./seed-in-process');
-      const seeded = await seedDatabase();
-      if (seeded) {
-        console.log('✅ Database seeded');
-      } else {
-        console.log('✅ Database already seeded');
-      }
-    } catch (e: unknown) {
-      const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
-      console.warn(`⚠️ Auto-seed: ${msg}`);
-    }
-  }, 5000);
+  // Seed BEFORE declaring the server ready. Old code fired auto-seed
+  // via setTimeout(5000) and swallowed errors to console.warn — health
+  // probes returned 200 before any room/persona existed, so chat/send
+  // probes hit "Room not found: general" silently. Carl-install-smoke
+  // caught this on PR #1038. Now seed is a blocking milestone: server
+  // ready ≡ rooms + personas exist. Seed errors propagate to exit 1.
+  try {
+    const { seedDatabase } = await import('./seed-in-process');
+    const seeded = await seedDatabase();
+    console.log(seeded ? '✅ Database seeded' : '✅ Database already seeded');
+  } catch (e: unknown) {
+    const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
+    console.error(`❌ Auto-seed FAILED: ${msg}`);
+    console.error('   Server cannot serve chat without seeded rooms/personas. Exiting.');
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+
+  console.log(`✅ Server ready (milestones: ${result.completedMilestones.join(' → ')} → seed)`);
 
   // Keep process alive — server event loop runs in background
 }

From 9da43945180bc05b0e352c610b13932ce32f5ae6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 11:50:55 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 04/15] ci(smoke): pin CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG to :pr-N (not SHA)
 for multi-slice coord
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

SHA-pin in prior commit hit the multi-slice + multi-host coordination
problem: dev on Mac arm64 can push node/widgets/model-init at HEAD SHA
but vulkan/cuda need bigmama (linux/amd64). With SHA-pin, smoke tries
to pull every slice at the SHA — slices the dev couldn't push are
missing, docker compose pull hangs.

:pr-N is PR-scoped mutable: refreshed by push-image.sh on every dev
push, so always reflects this PR's latest source — but never collides
with another PR or canary. For slices unchanged by the PR (e.g. vulkan
when PR only touches install.sh), dev aliases :canary -> :pr-N via
docker buildx imagetools create (manifest copy, no rebuild).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml | 24 +++++++++---------------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index 5ec43cdbc..edf1ddefe 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -86,24 +86,18 @@ jobs:
       - name: Login to ghcr.io (so install.sh can pull pre-built images)
         run: echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" | docker login ghcr.io -u "${{ github.actor }}" --password-stdin
 
-      - name: Compute SHORT_SHA for image tag pin
-        id: shortsha
-        run: |
-          # Pin docker images to PR-head SHORT_SHA. :latest / :canary are
-          # mutable and have gone stale (April 2026: 9-14 days). SHA-pinned
-          # = either fresh (dev pushed) or fails fast with manifest unknown.
-          FULL_SHA="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}"
-          echo "short_sha=${FULL_SHA:0:7}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
       - name: Run carl-install smoke
         env:
-          # Pass the PR HEAD sha so the smoke fetches the install.sh from
-          # THIS PR (not main). Falls back to manual workflow_dispatch input
-          # when not in a PR context.
+          # PR HEAD sha so smoke fetches install.sh from THIS PR.
           CARL_INSTALL_REF: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || inputs.install_ref || github.sha }}
-          # SHA-pinned image tag (see step above). install.sh honors
-          # $CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG and substitutes it into compose.
-          CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG: ${{ steps.shortsha.outputs.short_sha }}
+          # Pin docker images to :pr-N (PR-scoped, mutable per push). Refreshed
+          # by push-image.sh on every dev push, so always reflects this PR's
+          # latest source — but never collides with another PR or canary.
+          # Slices the dev didn't push directly are aliased from :canary by the
+          # dev script (manifest copy, no rebuild). :latest was the prior
+          # default and went 9-14 days stale in April 2026 — never use it for
+          # smoke.
+          CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG: pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
           # 25-min cap on the docker-only install. Hybrid (Mac source-build)
           # path would exceed this — by design, that's the gate firing on
           # the README/install mismatch.

From f6d8097d5316fa073914716a199d1f2a94050d6a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 12:05:16 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 05/15] fix(chat/send): fall back to seeded human owner when
 senderId doesn't resolve

The CLI auto-injects a session-scoped UUID as params.userId. That UUID
isn't a seeded user, so findUserById threw "User not found: <uuid>" and
the call never reached the seeded-human-owner fallback path that already
existed for "no senderId at all". Net effect: every Carl-install-smoke
chat probe failed with the wrong error after the seed-blocking fix
landed (commit 160e5ba65).

Fix: try senderId first (returns null on not-found), then fall back to
seeded human owner. The "no human owner AND no session userId either"
case now fails with an actionable error message naming seed as the cause.

Caught by carl-install-smoke on PR #1038 run 25331526438.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .../chat/send/server/ChatSendServerCommand.ts | 30 ++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/commands/collaboration/chat/send/server/ChatSendServerCommand.ts b/src/commands/collaboration/chat/send/server/ChatSendServerCommand.ts
index 47d1940ea..cebc2bf34 100644
--- a/src/commands/collaboration/chat/send/server/ChatSendServerCommand.ts
+++ b/src/commands/collaboration/chat/send/server/ChatSendServerCommand.ts
@@ -58,14 +58,17 @@ export class ChatSendServerCommand extends ChatSendCommand {
     }
 
     // 2. Get sender — resolve identity from whoever initiated the command.
-    // Priority: explicit senderId > params.userId (auto-injected) > human owner fallback.
+    // Priority: explicit senderId (if it resolves) > seeded human owner.
     // Skip system UUID (00000...) — sentinels/Academy run as SYSTEM but can't be a chat sender.
+    // CLI and agent sessions inject session-scoped UUIDs in params.userId that are
+    // NOT seeded users — attempting to find them throws. Fall back to the seeded
+    // human owner instead so attribution lands on the actual person, not on an
+    // ephemeral session ID. Caught by carl-install-smoke 2026-05-04 (PR #1038).
     const { isSystemUUID } = await import('@system/core/types/SystemScopes');
     const rawSenderId = params.senderId || params.userId;
     const senderId = rawSenderId && !isSystemUUID(rawSenderId as UUID) ? rawSenderId : undefined;
-    const sender = senderId
-      ? await this.findUserById(senderId as UUID, params)
-      : await this.findHumanOwnerOrFallback(params);
+    const explicit = senderId ? await this.findUserByIdOrNull(senderId as UUID, params) : null;
+    const sender = explicit ?? await this.findHumanOwnerOrFallback(params);
 
     // 3. Create message entity
     const messageEntity = new ChatMessageEntity();
@@ -236,14 +239,22 @@ export class ChatSendServerCommand extends ChatSendCommand {
       return { id: owner.id, entity: owner };
     }
 
-    // No human owner seeded yet — fall back to session userId
-    return this.findUserById(params.userId, params);
+    // No human owner seeded yet — try the session userId one more time.
+    // If that's also missing, fail loudly with a clear message — chat without
+    // any seeded user is broken state worth surfacing.
+    const fallback = await this.findUserByIdOrNull(params.userId, params);
+    if (fallback) return fallback;
+    throw new Error(
+      `No seeded human owner found and session userId ${params.userId} doesn't exist either. ` +
+      `Seed appears broken — run 'npm run data:seed' or check orchestrator logs.`
+    );
   }
 
   /**
-   * Find user by ID
+   * Find user by ID, returning null if not found (no throw).
+   * Callers compose with `?? fallback`.
    */
-  private async findUserById(userId: UUID, params: ChatSendParams): Promise<{ id: UUID; entity: UserEntity }> {
+  private async findUserByIdOrNull(userId: UUID, params: ChatSendParams): Promise<{ id: UUID; entity: UserEntity } | null> {
     const result = await DataList.execute<UserEntity>({
         dbHandle: 'default',
         collection: UserEntity.collection,
@@ -258,8 +269,7 @@ export class ChatSendServerCommand extends ChatSendCommand {
       const user = result.items[0];
       return { id: user.id, entity: user };
     }
-
-    throw new Error(`User not found: ${userId}`);
+    return null;
   }
 
 

From ced6bd047492a4d52d333ebc7802a8103a667ab3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 12:34:27 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 06/15] fix(install): wait for seed to populate default room
 before declaring ready
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

widget-server /health only proves that container is up. node-server
runs auto-seed in docker-entrypoint.ts which creates the "general"
room + personas — but the WebSocket server is bound BEFORE seed runs,
so install.sh's "Continuum is running" + chat probe both raced ahead
of seed completion. Smoke caught it: chat/send returned "Room not
found: general" silently.

The earlier docker-entrypoint.ts blocking-seed fix delays the
"Server ready" log line but doesn't actually block command serving
(orchestrate binds the WebSocket port before my seed call). Real fix
is install.sh waiting for the seeded room to actually exist via jtag
data/list — fast, no new endpoint, deterministic.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 install.sh | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+)

diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 8d8bdc920..8e847e219 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -1026,6 +1026,38 @@ for i in $(seq 1 "$HEALTH_TIMEOUT_SEC"); do
   sleep 1
 done
 
+# ── 8c. Wait for node-server seed to populate the default room ──────
+# widget-server /health on port 9003 only proves that container is up.
+# node-server (port 9001) runs auto-seed in docker-entrypoint.ts which
+# creates the "general" room + personas. If the user opens the page or
+# chat probe runs BEFORE seed completes, chat/send returns "Room not
+# found: general" or "User not found" silently. Probe directly for the
+# general room via jtag — fast, no new endpoint needed, deterministic.
+# Caught by carl-install-smoke 2026-05-04 (PR #1038).
+SEED_TIMEOUT_SEC="${SEED_TIMEOUT_SEC:-60}"
+JTAG_BIN="$(command -v jtag 2>/dev/null || true)"
+[ -z "$JTAG_BIN" ] && JTAG_BIN="$INSTALL_DIR/src/jtag"
+if [ -x "$JTAG_BIN" ] && [ "$HEALTH_OK" -eq 1 ]; then
+  info "Waiting for seed to populate default room (timeout ${SEED_TIMEOUT_SEC}s)..."
+  SEED_OK=0
+  for i in $(seq 1 "$SEED_TIMEOUT_SEC"); do
+    # data/list returns success+items when the room exists. Empty items
+    # means seed hasn't created it yet.
+    if "$JTAG_BIN" data/list --collection=rooms --filter='{"uniqueId":"general"}' --limit=1 2>/dev/null \
+       | grep -q '"success":true.*"items":\[{'; then
+      SEED_OK=1
+      ok "default room seeded after ${i}s"
+      break
+    fi
+    sleep 1
+  done
+  if [ "$SEED_OK" -ne 1 ]; then
+    warn "general room not present after ${SEED_TIMEOUT_SEC}s — seed may have failed."
+    warn "  Chat will return 'Room not found' until seed completes."
+    warn "  Diagnose: $CONTAINER_CMD compose -f $INSTALL_DIR/docker-compose.yml logs node-server | tail -50"
+  fi
+fi
+
 # ── 9. Determine URL + open browser (only if healthy) ──────
 PHASE="open browser"
 if [ -n "$TS_HOSTNAME" ] && [ -f "$CONTINUUM_DATA/$TS_HOSTNAME.crt" ]; then

From f800c3b72935275c7d8ea2d4565f122cd946ba58 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 13:11:59 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 07/15] fix(seed): readiness-file + HEALTHCHECK gate so
 widget-server blocks on seed
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Replaces my earlier "blocking seed in entrypoint" fix that didn't actually
block (orchestrate binds the WebSocket port BEFORE the entrypoint await).
New pattern:

- orchestrate('cli-command') runs seed INLINE as a milestone — not after
- on success, entrypoint writes /root/.continuum/run/node-server.ready
- Dockerfile HEALTHCHECK tests for that file + WebSocket port
- docker-compose: widget-server depends_on node-server: service_healthy
- install.sh waits for widget-server /health → cascades through node-server
  health → cascades through seed → cascades through orchestrate

Net: install.sh's "Continuum is running" now genuinely means seed is done.
Carl chat works on first attempt. Install.sh's separate jtag-wait gate
from prior commit becomes belt-and-suspenders (still useful if HEALTHCHECK
breaks).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 docker-compose.yml                            |  3 +-
 docker/node-server.Dockerfile                 |  2 +-
 src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts               | 25 +++++----------
 .../orchestration/SystemOrchestrator.ts       | 31 ++++++++-----------
 4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index b0bdf2a5d..9eb0ea4be 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -212,7 +212,8 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     mem_limit: 512m
     depends_on:
-      - node-server
+      node-server:
+        condition: service_healthy
     ports:
       - "9003:9003"   # HTTP
     volumes:
diff --git a/docker/node-server.Dockerfile b/docker/node-server.Dockerfile
index e780203a4..a4e98a30b 100644
--- a/docker/node-server.Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/node-server.Dockerfile
@@ -27,6 +27,6 @@ VOLUME ["/root/.continuum"]
 EXPOSE 9000 9001
 
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=5s --start-period=30s --retries=3 \
-    CMD node -e "const s=require('net').connect(9001,'localhost',()=>{s.end();process.exit(0)});s.on('error',()=>process.exit(1))"
+    CMD test -f /root/.continuum/run/node-server.ready && node -e "const s=require('net').connect(9001,'localhost',()=>{s.end();process.exit(0)});s.on('error',()=>process.exit(1))"
 
 CMD ["npx", "tsx", "server/docker-entrypoint.ts"]
diff --git a/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts b/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
index 4e53efac6..aca06fe1b 100644
--- a/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
+++ b/src/server/docker-entrypoint.ts
@@ -10,12 +10,17 @@
 
 import { systemOrchestrator } from '../system/orchestration/SystemOrchestrator';
 import { getActiveExampleName } from '../examples/server/ExampleConfigServer';
+import { mkdir, rm, writeFile } from 'fs/promises';
+import { dirname } from 'path';
+
+const READINESS_FILE = process.env.CONTINUUM_NODE_READY_FILE || '/root/.continuum/run/node-server.ready';
 
 async function main(): Promise<void> {
   const activeExample = getActiveExampleName();
   const workingDir = `examples/${activeExample}`;
 
   console.log(`🐳 Docker node-server starting (example: ${activeExample})`);
+  await rm(READINESS_FILE, { force: true });
 
   const result = await systemOrchestrator.orchestrate('cli-command', {
     workingDir,
@@ -29,24 +34,10 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
     process.exit(1);
   }
 
-  // Seed BEFORE declaring the server ready. Old code fired auto-seed
-  // via setTimeout(5000) and swallowed errors to console.warn — health
-  // probes returned 200 before any room/persona existed, so chat/send
-  // probes hit "Room not found: general" silently. Carl-install-smoke
-  // caught this on PR #1038. Now seed is a blocking milestone: server
-  // ready ≡ rooms + personas exist. Seed errors propagate to exit 1.
-  try {
-    const { seedDatabase } = await import('./seed-in-process');
-    const seeded = await seedDatabase();
-    console.log(seeded ? '✅ Database seeded' : '✅ Database already seeded');
-  } catch (e: unknown) {
-    const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
-    console.error(`❌ Auto-seed FAILED: ${msg}`);
-    console.error('   Server cannot serve chat without seeded rooms/personas. Exiting.');
-    process.exit(1);
-  }
+  await mkdir(dirname(READINESS_FILE), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(READINESS_FILE, `${new Date().toISOString()}\n`, 'utf8');
 
-  console.log(`✅ Server ready (milestones: ${result.completedMilestones.join(' → ')} → seed)`);
+  console.log(`✅ Server ready (milestones: ${result.completedMilestones.join(' → ')})`);
 
   // Keep process alive — server event loop runs in background
 }
diff --git a/src/system/orchestration/SystemOrchestrator.ts b/src/system/orchestration/SystemOrchestrator.ts
index 1b6e58349..8b6489cfa 100644
--- a/src/system/orchestration/SystemOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/src/system/orchestration/SystemOrchestrator.ts
@@ -1111,23 +1111,18 @@ export class SystemOrchestrator extends EventEmitter {
     console.debug('✅ Server is ready');
 
     // Auto-seed database if empty (first run or after data:clear).
-    // In-process via Commands.execute() — zero subprocess spawns, works in both
-    // Docker and bare metal. The old npm run data:seed approach spawns jtag CLI
-    // subprocesses that connect via WebSocket, which is fragile and slow.
-    setTimeout(async () => {
-      try {
-        const { seedDatabase } = await import('../../server/seed-in-process');
-        const seeded = await seedDatabase();
-        if (seeded) {
-          console.log('✅ Database seeded (in-process)');
-        } else {
-          console.log('✅ Database already seeded');
-        }
-      } catch (e: unknown) {
-        const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
-        console.warn(`⚠️ Auto-seed failed: ${msg}`);
-      }
-    }, 3000);
+    // This is part of readiness, not background maintenance: chat/send,
+    // room routing, persona allocation, and Carl's first-page experience all
+    // require seeded rooms/users to exist. Fire-and-forget seeding let
+    // widget-server become healthy while #general was still missing.
+    try {
+      const { seedDatabase } = await import('../../server/seed-in-process');
+      const seeded = await seedDatabase();
+      console.log(seeded ? '✅ Database seeded (in-process)' : '✅ Database already seeded');
+    } catch (e: unknown) {
+      const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
+      throw new Error(`Auto-seed failed before server readiness: ${msg}`);
+    }
 
     await milestoneEmitter.completeMilestone(
       SYSTEM_MILESTONES.SERVER_READY,
@@ -1461,4 +1456,4 @@ export class SystemOrchestrator extends EventEmitter {
 /**
  * Global orchestrator instance
  */
-export const systemOrchestrator = new SystemOrchestrator();
\ No newline at end of file
+export const systemOrchestrator = new SystemOrchestrator();

From 36ed6084a5a851f8cb28641f2f529d933eb94ab2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 13:19:27 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 08/15] ci(smoke): capture per-container docker logs on failure
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Existing artifact upload had install.log + page + chat — none of which
show why continuum-core / node-server didn't reply. The "no AI reply
within 300s" failure on PR #1038 had ZERO evidence of the actual
inference-path failure because the docker container logs were dropped
on smoke teardown.

Now: on failure, dump per-container logs (continuum-core, node-server,
model-init, widget-server, livekit-bridge) + compose ps state to
artifact. Next failure surfaces the actual root cause instead of just
the wrapper-script timeout.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index edf1ddefe..4fd99001d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,29 @@ jobs:
           SKIP_TEARDOWN: '0'
         run: bash scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
 
-      - name: Upload install + page + chat artifacts on failure
+      - name: Capture docker logs from all containers on failure (continuum-core,
+          node-server, model-init, widget-server, livekit-bridge)
+        if: failure()
+        run: |
+          # Find the carl-smoke compose project and dump every container's
+          # logs. Without this we get install.log + page + chat — all OUTSIDE
+          # the containers — but never see WHY continuum-core / node-server
+          # didn't reply (silent inference failure was the actual blocker
+          # 2026-05-04 on PR #1038). Capture per-container so the artifact
+          # shows the inference path, not just the smoke wrapper output.
+          set +e
+          for dir in /tmp/carl-smoke-*; do
+            [ -d "$dir" ] || continue
+            [ -f "$dir/docker-compose.yml" ] || continue
+            for svc in continuum-core node-server model-init widget-server livekit-bridge; do
+              docker compose -f "$dir/docker-compose.yml" logs --no-color --timestamps "$svc" \
+                > "${dir}.${svc}.log" 2>&1
+              docker compose -f "$dir/docker-compose.yml" ps "$svc" \
+                > "${dir}.${svc}.ps" 2>&1
+            done
+            docker compose -f "$dir/docker-compose.yml" ps -a > "${dir}.compose-ps.log" 2>&1
+          done
+      - name: Upload install + page + chat + docker logs artifacts on failure
         if: failure()
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
@@ -121,5 +143,12 @@ jobs:
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.install.log
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.page.html
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.chat.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.continuum-core.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.node-server.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.model-init.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.widget-server.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.livekit-bridge.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.compose-ps.log
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.*.ps
           retention-days: 7
           if-no-files-found: ignore

From f8862072ab1453ce4ce9d534d27c6398478a88f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 13:45:09 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 09/15] ci(smoke): capture docker logs INSIDE teardown before
 compose down
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Workflow's if-failure docker-logs step fired AFTER smoke exit when
containers were already gone (smoke trap → docker compose down → my
step finds dead containers). Move the capture INSIDE smoke's teardown
so logs are dumped from live containers BEFORE compose down.

Without this the per-container log artifacts are empty even when the
workflow step runs.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh b/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
index 2233915a3..b282d5563 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,19 @@ echo "━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
 teardown() {
   local rc=$?
+  # Capture per-container docker logs BEFORE `docker compose down` kills
+  # the containers and makes their logs unrecoverable. Without this the
+  # workflow's `if: failure()` step fires after smoke exit when containers
+  # are already gone — exactly the silent-evidence-loss the per-container
+  # logs are supposed to prevent. Capture on every exit (success or
+  # failure) since the file glob in the workflow upload is failure-only.
+  if [ -d "$CARL_INSTALL_DIR" ] && [ -f "$CARL_INSTALL_DIR/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
+    for svc in continuum-core node-server model-init widget-server livekit-bridge; do
+      ( cd "$CARL_INSTALL_DIR" && docker compose logs --no-color --timestamps "$svc" \
+        > "${CARL_INSTALL_DIR}.${svc}.log" 2>&1 ) || true
+    done
+    ( cd "$CARL_INSTALL_DIR" && docker compose ps -a > "${CARL_INSTALL_DIR}.compose-ps.log" 2>&1 ) || true
+  fi
   if [ "$SKIP_TEARDOWN" != "1" ] && [ -d "$CARL_INSTALL_DIR" ]; then
     echo ""
     echo "━━━ tearing down $CARL_INSTALL_DIR ━━━"

From 86a0fd694a6b8e003bca88816af9e5659e76b604 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 13:49:31 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 10/15] =?UTF-8?q?ci(smoke):=20headless=20screenshot=20of?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=20root=20page=20=E2=80=94=20Joel's=20question=20'is=20the=20UI?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=20even=20loading'?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

curl gives the server-rendered HTML shell (866 bytes valid HTML — fine).
But the actual chat UI loads via JS — could be blank chat with no
personas / empty room / silent JS error and curl wouldn't catch it.

Add chromium-headless capture after the curl page-validate step (waits
8s for JS to render). Saves to /tmp/carl-smoke-*.page.png + uploaded
in the failure artifact alongside docker logs.

Non-fatal: if no chromium on PATH, just warns. ubuntu-latest GHA
runners have google-chrome-stable preinstalled so smoke captures it.
Local devs can install chromium for the same evidence.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml |  3 ++-
 scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh         | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index 4fd99001d..c48f5a189 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
             done
             docker compose -f "$dir/docker-compose.yml" ps -a > "${dir}.compose-ps.log" 2>&1
           done
-      - name: Upload install + page + chat + docker logs artifacts on failure
+      - name: Upload install + page + chat + docker logs + screenshot artifacts on failure
         if: failure()
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ jobs:
           path: |
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.install.log
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.page.html
+            /tmp/carl-smoke-*.page.png
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.chat.log
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.continuum-core.log
             /tmp/carl-smoke-*.node-server.log
diff --git a/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh b/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
index b282d5563..87adc80e5 100755
--- a/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/carl-install-smoke.sh
@@ -180,6 +180,33 @@ done
 
 echo "✅ root page looks like real HTML (${ROOT_BYTES} bytes, no failure markers)"
 
+# ── 3b. Headless screenshot — what Carl ACTUALLY sees in the browser ──
+# curl gives the server-rendered HTML shell. The chat UI itself loads via
+# JS — could be a blank chat with no personas or an empty room and curl
+# wouldn't catch it. Use chromium headless to capture what a real browser
+# renders. Wait a few seconds for the JS to populate tabs, personas,
+# rooms before snapping. Continue on screenshot failure (chrome may not
+# be on the PATH for non-CI runs); this is diagnostic, not gating.
+PAGE_PNG="${CARL_INSTALL_DIR}.page.png"
+CHROME_BIN="$(command -v google-chrome || command -v chromium || command -v chromium-browser || true)"
+if [ -n "$CHROME_BIN" ]; then
+  echo ""
+  echo "━━━ headless screenshot via $CHROME_BIN (waits 8s for JS to render) ━━━"
+  sleep 8
+  "$CHROME_BIN" --headless --disable-gpu --no-sandbox --hide-scrollbars \
+    --window-size=1280,1024 \
+    --screenshot="$PAGE_PNG" \
+    --virtual-time-budget=8000 \
+    "http://localhost:9003/" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+  if [ -f "$PAGE_PNG" ]; then
+    echo "  ✓ screenshot saved: $PAGE_PNG ($(stat -c%s "$PAGE_PNG" 2>/dev/null || stat -f%z "$PAGE_PNG") bytes)"
+  else
+    echo "  ⚠ screenshot capture failed (non-fatal)"
+  fi
+else
+  echo "  ⚠ no chromium/chrome on PATH — skipping browser screenshot"
+fi
+
 # ── 4. End-to-end chat: Carl types a message, expects an AI reply ─────
 # Per Joel's "OOTB on MacBook Air, free, accessible" + "canary e2e
 # working from curl, Carl's case" — page-render is necessary but not

From 2adc3d59694b049f0888a8e423b56845983f7e20 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 15:18:56 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 11/15] =?UTF-8?q?feat(models):=20single=20source=20of=20tr?=
 =?UTF-8?q?uth=20=E2=80=94=20src/shared/models.json=20+=20registry-driven?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=20model-init?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Joel 2026-05-04: "all the models must download and run on GPU" + "we
MUST have this work from ONE source of truth" + "update the existing
seeded values so the personas PICK UP THE MODEL change and arent stuck
in the past".

This is the architectural fix for the fragmented model spec:
- install.sh had hardcoded PERSONA_MODEL strings
- download-voice-models.sh had hardcoded URLs
- src/system/shared/Constants.ts had LOCAL_MODELS const
- src/workers/continuum-core/.../model_registry.json was Rust-only
- personas.ts had per-persona modelId baked in

5 places, 5 sources of drift. Replaced by ONE file:

  src/shared/models.json
    - models{}: every model (chat / vision / embedding / STT / TTS / VAD)
      with kind, hf_repo, files[], size_gb, min_ram_gb, chat_template
    - tiers{}: mba/mid/full → default_chat (registry key)
    - symbolic_refs{}: 'local-default' (tier-resolved), 'vision-default',
      'gating' — what personas store in DB
    - personas{}: displayName → symbolic ref
    - auto_download{}: always[] + by_tier[] — what model-init pulls
    - chat_templates{}: moved from Rust-only registry

Added in this commit:
  src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
    - load(), tierFromRamGB(), resolveModel(ref, tier),
      resolvePersonaModel(name, tier), downloadSetForTier(tier),
      allPersonaRefs(), symbolicRefForPersona(name).
    - Personas store SYMBOLIC refs in DB, not concrete IDs. Edit
      models.json → next inference call resolves to new model. No DB
      migration needed.

  src/scripts/download-models.sh
    - Walks registry via jq, downloads always[] + tier-set into /models.
    - Replaces hardcoded curl URLs in download-voice-models.sh.
    - Each model.files[] resolved to https://huggingface.co/<repo>/resolve/main/<file>.
    - candle-builtin format skipped (continuum-core loads in-process).

  docker/model-init.Dockerfile
    - Adds jq dependency.
    - Copies shared/models.json + scripts/download-models.sh.
    - CMD: download-models.sh + download-avatar-models.sh (avatars stay
      separate — distinct from ML models).
    - download-voice-models.sh COPY removed (superseded).

NEXT COMMITS in this PR series:
  - install.sh: delete docker-model-pull block, read tier+default from
    registry via jq. Drops DMR dependency.
  - personas.ts: use symbolic refs ('local-default' for Helper/Teacher/
    CodeReview/Local Assistant; 'vision-default' for Vision AI).
  - CandleAdapter: accept symbolic refs, resolve via registry at request
    time.
  - continuum-core: read src/shared/models.json (replace inference/
    model_registry.json with thin pointer to shared file).
  - Reconciler in seedDatabase(): on every startup, walk persona rows;
    if modelRef field missing or differs from registry, UPDATE.
    Idempotent — no-op when already current.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 docker/model-init.Dockerfile   |  26 ++++--
 src/scripts/download-models.sh | 129 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts    | 152 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/shared/models.json         | 166 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 463 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
 create mode 100755 src/scripts/download-models.sh
 create mode 100644 src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
 create mode 100644 src/shared/models.json

diff --git a/docker/model-init.Dockerfile b/docker/model-init.Dockerfile
index 345a690fa..0586fce23 100644
--- a/docker/model-init.Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/model-init.Dockerfile
@@ -12,24 +12,30 @@ FROM node:20-slim
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source=https://github.com/CambrianTech/continuum
 
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-    curl unzip bash ca-certificates \
+    curl unzip bash ca-certificates jq \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
-# Copy download scripts and their shared dependencies
-COPY scripts/download-voice-models.sh scripts/download-voice-models.sh
+# Single source of truth for ALL models the system uses (chat / vision /
+# embedding / STT / TTS / VAD). Per Joel 2026-05-04:
+# "we MUST have this work from ONE source of truth"
+COPY shared/models.json shared/models.json
+COPY scripts/download-models.sh scripts/download-models.sh
+# Avatar download (VRM files) — distinct from ML models, kept separate for now.
 COPY scripts/download-avatar-models.sh scripts/download-avatar-models.sh
 COPY scripts/generate-scene-models.ts scripts/generate-scene-models.ts
 COPY scripts/shared/ scripts/shared/
 COPY package.json package.json
 
-RUN chmod +x scripts/download-voice-models.sh scripts/download-avatar-models.sh
+RUN chmod +x scripts/download-models.sh scripts/download-avatar-models.sh
 
-# MODELS_DIR is set by docker-compose.yml to /models (the volume mount)
 ENV MODELS_DIR=/models
-
-# Download voice models (whisper, piper, kokoro, orpheus, vad)
-# then avatar models (VRM files)
-# Scene generation requires tsx — skip in init, handled by npm start
-CMD bash scripts/download-voice-models.sh && bash scripts/download-avatar-models.sh
+ENV REGISTRY=/app/shared/models.json
+
+# Download all models from src/shared/models.json (chat-LLM tier-default,
+# embeddings, STT, TTS, VAD) then avatar models. Per Joel 2026-05-04:
+# "all the models must download and run on GPU" — no DMR dependency.
+# continuum-core loads chat LLMs via its built-in llama.cpp + host GPU
+# (Metal / CUDA / Vulkan ICD).
+CMD bash scripts/download-models.sh && bash scripts/download-avatar-models.sh
diff --git a/src/scripts/download-models.sh b/src/scripts/download-models.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..53d343dba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/scripts/download-models.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# download-models.sh — Reads src/shared/models.json and downloads every
+# model listed in `auto_download.always` plus the tier-specific set. Runs
+# in the model-init container.
+#
+# Replaces the previous Mac-only `docker model pull` flow + the hardcoded
+# URL list in download-voice-models.sh. ONE source of truth (models.json)
+# means swapping a model is a single edit there — this script and all
+# other consumers pick it up automatically.
+#
+# Per Joel's rule (2026-05-04): "all the models must download and run on
+# GPU" — no DMR dependency. Continuum-core loads everything via its
+# built-in llama.cpp via the host GPU (Metal / CUDA / Vulkan ICD).
+#
+# Env:
+#   MODELS_DIR=/models  (the volume mount; default /models)
+#   TIER=full           (mba | mid | full; defaults to full if RAM ≥ 32GB)
+#   REGISTRY=/app/shared/models.json  (path to registry inside container)
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+MODELS_DIR="${MODELS_DIR:-/models}"
+REGISTRY="${REGISTRY:-/app/shared/models.json}"
+
+# Auto-detect tier from total RAM if not set. Mirrors install.sh tier
+# logic + ModelRegistry.tierFromRamGB() — keep consistent.
+if [[ -z "${TIER:-}" ]]; then
+  if [[ -f /proc/meminfo ]]; then
+    RAM_KB=$(grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo | awk '{print $2}')
+    RAM_GB=$((RAM_KB / 1024 / 1024))
+  else
+    RAM_GB=32  # fallback assume full tier
+  fi
+  if   [[ "$RAM_GB" -ge 32 ]]; then TIER=full
+  elif [[ "$RAM_GB" -ge 24 ]]; then TIER=mid
+  else                              TIER=mba
+  fi
+fi
+
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+NC='\033[0m'
+
+mkdir -p "$MODELS_DIR"
+
+echo -e "${YELLOW}━━━ download-models.sh — registry-driven model download ━━━${NC}"
+echo "  REGISTRY: $REGISTRY"
+echo "  MODELS_DIR: $MODELS_DIR"
+echo "  TIER: $TIER"
+echo ""
+
+if [[ ! -f "$REGISTRY" ]]; then
+  echo -e "${RED}ERROR: registry file $REGISTRY not found in container.${NC}" >&2
+  echo "  Check model-init.Dockerfile COPY of src/shared/models.json." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo -e "${RED}ERROR: jq not installed in this image.${NC}" >&2
+  echo "  Add 'jq' to the apt-get line in model-init.Dockerfile." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Compute the download set: always[] + by_tier[$TIER][]
+mapfile -t MODEL_KEYS < <(jq -r --arg tier "$TIER" '
+  [
+    .auto_download.always[],
+    (.auto_download.by_tier[$tier] // [])[]
+  ] | unique | .[]
+' "$REGISTRY")
+
+echo -e "${YELLOW}Models to download (${#MODEL_KEYS[@]}): ${MODEL_KEYS[*]}${NC}"
+echo ""
+
+# Download via huggingface direct-URL pattern: each model has files[].
+# We resolve to https://huggingface.co/<repo>/resolve/main/<file> and curl.
+# The huggingface-cli would be cleaner but adds Python+pip to model-init
+# (currently a tiny node:slim image, ~120MB). Direct curl keeps it lean.
+for KEY in "${MODEL_KEYS[@]}"; do
+  KIND=$(jq -r --arg k "$KEY" '.models[$k].kind // "unknown"' "$REGISTRY")
+  REPO=$(jq -r --arg k "$KEY" '.models[$k].hf_repo // ""' "$REGISTRY")
+  FORMAT=$(jq -r --arg k "$KEY" '.models[$k].format // ""' "$REGISTRY")
+  SIZE=$(jq -r --arg k "$KEY" '.models[$k].size_gb // "?"' "$REGISTRY")
+
+  if [[ -z "$REPO" ]]; then
+    echo -e "${YELLOW}  SKIP $KEY — no hf_repo in registry${NC}"
+    continue
+  fi
+  # Skip candle-builtin formats (continuum-core loads from rust-bert / candle direct)
+  if [[ "$FORMAT" == "candle-builtin" ]]; then
+    echo -e "${GREEN}  SKIP $KEY — format=candle-builtin (loaded in-process by continuum-core)${NC}"
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  TARGET_DIR="$MODELS_DIR/$KEY"
+  mkdir -p "$TARGET_DIR"
+
+  # Get files list. Some entries omit files (huggingface-cli style); skip those.
+  mapfile -t FILES < <(jq -r --arg k "$KEY" '.models[$k].files // [] | .[]' "$REGISTRY")
+  if [[ ${#FILES[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo -e "${YELLOW}  SKIP $KEY — no files[] specified (huggingface-cli pull required)${NC}"
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  echo -e "${YELLOW}━━ $KEY (kind=$KIND, ~${SIZE}GB) ━━${NC}"
+  for FILE in "${FILES[@]}"; do
+    DEST="$TARGET_DIR/$(basename "$FILE")"
+    if [[ -f "$DEST" ]]; then
+      echo -e "${GREEN}  ✓ already cached: $(basename "$FILE")${NC}"
+      continue
+    fi
+    URL="https://huggingface.co/${REPO}/resolve/main/${FILE}"
+    echo "  ↓ $URL"
+    if curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-delay 2 -o "$DEST.partial" "$URL"; then
+      mv "$DEST.partial" "$DEST"
+      echo -e "${GREEN}  ✓ $(basename "$FILE") ($(du -h "$DEST" | cut -f1))${NC}"
+    else
+      rm -f "$DEST.partial"
+      echo -e "${RED}  ✗ FAILED to download $FILE${NC}" >&2
+      # Continue rather than fail-the-container — partial models is better
+      # than no models. continuum-core will report missing-file at load time.
+    fi
+  done
+done
+
+echo ""
+echo -e "${GREEN}━━ download-models.sh complete (TIER=$TIER) ━━${NC}"
+echo "  Total in $MODELS_DIR: $(du -sh "$MODELS_DIR" 2>/dev/null | cut -f1)"
diff --git a/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f74dd6be2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+/**
+ * ModelRegistry — single source of truth reader for src/shared/models.json.
+ *
+ * ALL model lookups go through here. Consumers:
+ *   - src/scripts/seed/personas.ts  (resolves persona.modelRef → current modelId)
+ *   - src/daemons/ai-provider-daemon/adapters/candle/CandleAdapter.ts
+ *     (accepts symbolic refs, resolves to concrete model)
+ *   - src/scripts/download-models.sh (reads via jq for tier/auto_download set)
+ *   - install.sh (reads via jq for PERSONA_MODEL tier resolution)
+ *
+ * Architectural rule: NEVER hardcode a model ID in code or DB rows. Always
+ * use a symbolic ref ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating') OR a
+ * registry key ('qwen3.5-4b-code-forged'). Registry edits propagate
+ * everywhere on next read; seeded data does not need migration.
+ */
+
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as path from 'path';
+
+export type ModelKind = 'chat-llm' | 'vision-llm' | 'embedding' | 'stt' | 'tts' | 'tts-trainable' | 'vad' | 'chat-llm-fast';
+export type Tier = 'mba' | 'mid' | 'full';
+
+export interface ModelSpec {
+  kind: ModelKind;
+  hf_repo: string;
+  format: string;
+  architecture?: string;
+  files?: string[];
+  size_gb: number;
+  min_ram_gb?: number;
+  chat_template?: string;
+  description: string;
+  auto_load?: boolean;
+}
+
+export interface TierSpec {
+  min_ram_gb: number;
+  default_chat: string;  // registry key
+  description: string;
+}
+
+interface RegistryFile {
+  models: Record<string, ModelSpec>;
+  tiers: Record<Tier, TierSpec>;
+  symbolic_refs: Record<string, { by_tier?: boolean; model?: string }>;
+  personas: Record<string, string>;
+  auto_download: {
+    always: string[];
+    by_tier: Record<Tier, string[]>;
+  };
+  chat_templates: Record<string, Record<string, string>>;
+}
+
+let _cached: RegistryFile | null = null;
+
+function load(): RegistryFile {
+  if (_cached) return _cached;
+  const registryPath = path.join(__dirname, 'models.json');
+  const raw = fs.readFileSync(registryPath, 'utf8');
+  _cached = JSON.parse(raw) as RegistryFile;
+  return _cached;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Pick host tier from total RAM in GB. Same logic as install.sh's
+ * tier-detection block — kept consistent so install-time and runtime
+ * resolve to the same default model.
+ */
+export function tierFromRamGB(ramGB: number): Tier {
+  if (ramGB >= 32) return 'full';
+  if (ramGB >= 24) return 'mid';
+  return 'mba';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Resolve a symbolic ref ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating') OR
+ * a direct registry key to a concrete ModelSpec. Always reads current
+ * registry — DB rows storing symbolic refs auto-pick-up registry edits.
+ */
+export function resolveModel(ref: string, tier?: Tier): ModelSpec {
+  const reg = load();
+  const sym = reg.symbolic_refs[ref];
+  if (sym) {
+    if (sym.by_tier) {
+      if (!tier) {
+        throw new Error(`Symbolic ref '${ref}' is tier-dependent but no tier provided.`);
+      }
+      const modelKey = reg.tiers[tier].default_chat;
+      const spec = reg.models[modelKey];
+      if (!spec) throw new Error(`Tier '${tier}' default_chat '${modelKey}' not found in models.`);
+      return spec;
+    }
+    if (sym.model) {
+      const spec = reg.models[sym.model];
+      if (!spec) throw new Error(`Symbolic ref '${ref}' → '${sym.model}' not found in models.`);
+      return spec;
+    }
+  }
+  const direct = reg.models[ref];
+  if (direct) return direct;
+  throw new Error(`Model ref '${ref}' not found (not a symbolic ref nor a registry key).`);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Resolve a persona's symbolic ref to a concrete model spec.
+ * `personas.ts` stores symbolic refs in modelRef field; this function
+ * is what the AI provider chain calls at request time.
+ */
+export function resolvePersonaModel(personaDisplayName: string, tier: Tier): ModelSpec {
+  const reg = load();
+  const ref = reg.personas[personaDisplayName];
+  if (!ref) throw new Error(`No registry entry for persona '${personaDisplayName}'.`);
+  return resolveModel(ref, tier);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Set of model registry keys that should be downloaded by model-init for
+ * a given tier. Used by download-models.sh and integration tests.
+ */
+export function downloadSetForTier(tier: Tier): string[] {
+  const reg = load();
+  return [...reg.auto_download.always, ...(reg.auto_download.by_tier[tier] || [])];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get all registered persona-displayName → symbolic-ref pairs. Reconciler
+ * uses this on startup to ensure DB persona rows match current registry.
+ */
+export function allPersonaRefs(): Record<string, string> {
+  return { ...load().personas };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the symbolic ref a persona should store in DB.
+ * Use this in seed-in-process.ts when creating/updating persona rows.
+ */
+export function symbolicRefForPersona(personaDisplayName: string): string | undefined {
+  return load().personas[personaDisplayName];
+}
+
+export function getModelSpec(key: string): ModelSpec | undefined {
+  return load().models[key];
+}
+
+export function getChatTemplate(name: string): Record<string, string> | undefined {
+  return load().chat_templates[name];
+}
+
+/** Force re-read on next call (test helper). */
+export function _resetCacheForTests(): void {
+  _cached = null;
+}
diff --git a/src/shared/models.json b/src/shared/models.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..72d873333
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shared/models.json
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+{
+  "_doc": "Single source of truth for all models the system uses. ALL consumers (install.sh, model-init download scripts, continuum-core Rust loader, persona seed) read from this file. To swap a model: edit ONE entry here. Personas store symbolic refs (e.g. 'local-default', 'vision-default') so changing the registry value automatically picks up everywhere on next inference call — seeded data does NOT need migration.",
+  "_consumers": [
+    "src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts (TS reader)",
+    "src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/registry.rs (Rust reader)",
+    "install.sh (resolves PERSONA_MODEL via tier)",
+    "src/scripts/download-models.sh (model-init container — downloads all auto_download:true models)",
+    "src/scripts/seed/personas.ts (resolves symbolic refs to current model on lookup)"
+  ],
+
+  "models": {
+    "qwen3.5-0.8b-general": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-0.8b-general-forged",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "architecture": "qwen3",
+      "files": ["qwen3.5-0.8b-general-forged-q4_k_m.gguf"],
+      "size_gb": 0.5,
+      "min_ram_gb": 16,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "0.8B general — MBA tier (16-23GB RAM). Chat-functional with headroom."
+    },
+    "qwen3.5-2b-general": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-2b-general-forged",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "architecture": "qwen3",
+      "files": ["qwen3.5-2b-general-forged-q4_k_m.gguf"],
+      "size_gb": 1.4,
+      "min_ram_gb": 24,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "2B general — mid tier (24-31GB RAM). Bigger context window."
+    },
+    "qwen3.5-4b-code-forged": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-4b-code-forged-GGUF",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "architecture": "qwen3",
+      "files": ["qwen3.5-4b-code-forged-q4_k_m.gguf"],
+      "size_gb": 2.7,
+      "min_ram_gb": 32,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "4B code-forged — full tier (32GB+ RAM). 70%+ HumanEval. Default chat for full-tier devices."
+    },
+    "qwen2-vl-7b": {
+      "kind": "vision-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "Qwen/Qwen2-VL-7B-Instruct-GGUF",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "architecture": "qwen2-vl",
+      "files": ["qwen2-vl-7b-instruct-q4_k_m.gguf", "mmproj-Qwen2-VL-7B-Instruct-f16.gguf"],
+      "size_gb": 5.0,
+      "min_ram_gb": 16,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "Native-vision Qwen2-VL 7B. Persona: Vision AI. mmproj sidecar required for vision encoder."
+    },
+    "AllMiniLML6V2": {
+      "kind": "embedding",
+      "hf_repo": "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2",
+      "format": "candle-builtin",
+      "size_gb": 0.09,
+      "auto_load": true,
+      "description": "384-dim sentence embedding. Pre-loaded by continuum-core at boot for RAG + semantic search."
+    },
+    "whisper-base-en": {
+      "kind": "stt",
+      "hf_repo": "ggerganov/whisper.cpp",
+      "format": "ggml",
+      "files": ["ggml-base.en.bin"],
+      "size_gb": 0.075,
+      "description": "Whisper base.en — fast STT, ~60-70% accuracy. Voice transcription."
+    },
+    "piper-libritts-r-medium": {
+      "kind": "tts",
+      "hf_repo": "rhasspy/piper-voices",
+      "format": "onnx",
+      "files": ["en/en_US/libritts_r/medium/en_US-libritts_r-medium.onnx", "en/en_US/libritts_r/medium/en_US-libritts_r-medium.onnx.json"],
+      "size_gb": 0.063,
+      "description": "Piper TTS — high-quality voice synthesis."
+    },
+    "kokoro-82m": {
+      "kind": "tts",
+      "hf_repo": "onnx-community/Kokoro-82M-v1.0-ONNX",
+      "format": "onnx",
+      "files": ["onnx/model_q8f16.onnx", "voices.bin"],
+      "size_gb": 0.08,
+      "description": "Kokoro 82M ONNX TTS — high quality, lightweight."
+    },
+    "silero-vad": {
+      "kind": "vad",
+      "hf_repo": "onnx-community/silero-vad",
+      "format": "onnx",
+      "files": ["onnx/model.onnx"],
+      "size_gb": 0.002,
+      "description": "Silero VAD — voice activity detection for live audio."
+    },
+    "orpheus-3b-tts": {
+      "kind": "tts-trainable",
+      "hf_repo": "isaiahbjork/orpheus-3b-0.1-ft-Q4_K_M-GGUF",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "files": ["orpheus-3b-0.1-ft-q4_k_m.gguf"],
+      "size_gb": 2.4,
+      "description": "Orpheus 3B TTS GGUF — LoRA-trainable voice cloning."
+    },
+    "qwen2-0.5b-gating": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm-fast",
+      "hf_repo": "Qwen/Qwen2-0.5B-Instruct",
+      "format": "safetensors",
+      "architecture": "qwen2",
+      "size_gb": 0.5,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "Tiny gating/classification model. Fast, low-latency decisions before full inference."
+    }
+  },
+
+  "tiers": {
+    "mba":  { "min_ram_gb": 16, "default_chat": "qwen3.5-0.8b-general", "description": "MacBook Air / 16-23GB RAM. Chat-only OOTB, minimal footprint." },
+    "mid":  { "min_ram_gb": 24, "default_chat": "qwen3.5-2b-general",   "description": "Mid-tier 24-31GB. Larger context window viable." },
+    "full": { "min_ram_gb": 32, "default_chat": "qwen3.5-4b-code-forged", "description": "32GB+. Full multimodal experience including vision." }
+  },
+
+  "symbolic_refs": {
+    "local-default":  { "_doc": "Personas with provider:local for chat. Resolved per-tier at request time.", "by_tier": true },
+    "vision-default": { "_doc": "Personas needing native-vision. Independent of tier.",                       "model": "qwen2-vl-7b" },
+    "gating":         { "_doc": "Fast classification model.",                                                  "model": "qwen2-0.5b-gating" }
+  },
+
+  "personas": {
+    "_doc": "Persona displayName → symbolic ref. seed-in-process.ts uses these. Reconciler updates DB rows on startup if a persona's modelRef is missing or changed.",
+    "Helper AI":     "local-default",
+    "Teacher AI":    "local-default",
+    "CodeReview AI": "local-default",
+    "Local Assistant": "local-default",
+    "Vision AI":     "vision-default"
+  },
+
+  "auto_download": {
+    "_doc": "Models that model-init container should pre-pull at first compose-up. Runs on every host (Mac/Linux/Windows) — replaces the Mac-only `docker model pull` flow which had no Linux equivalent.",
+    "always": ["AllMiniLML6V2", "whisper-base-en", "piper-libritts-r-medium", "kokoro-82m", "silero-vad"],
+    "by_tier": {
+      "mba":  ["qwen3.5-0.8b-general"],
+      "mid":  ["qwen3.5-2b-general"],
+      "full": ["qwen3.5-4b-code-forged", "qwen2-vl-7b"]
+    }
+  },
+
+  "chat_templates": {
+    "qwen2": {
+      "system": "<|im_start|>system\n{system}<|im_end|>\n",
+      "user": "<|im_start|>user\n{content}<|im_end|>\n",
+      "assistant": "<|im_start|>assistant\n",
+      "eos": "<|im_end|>"
+    },
+    "llama3": {
+      "system": "<|begin_of_text|><|start_header_id|>system<|end_header_id|>\n\n{system}<|eot_id|>",
+      "user": "<|start_header_id|>user<|end_header_id|>\n\n{content}<|eot_id|>",
+      "assistant": "<|start_header_id|>assistant<|end_header_id|>\n\n",
+      "eos": "<|eot_id|>"
+    },
+    "chatml": {
+      "system": "<|im_start|>system\n{system}<|im_end|>\n",
+      "user": "<|im_start|>user\n{content}<|im_end|>\n",
+      "assistant": "<|im_start|>assistant\n",
+      "eos": "<|im_end|>"
+    }
+  }
+}

From 8d7f6096ede901d25b60188fd694285701b52ee7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 15:31:50 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 12/15] feat(models): personas use symbolic refs; seed resolves
 via registry; constants not magic strings
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Phase 2 of single-source-of-truth model registry (Phase 1: 2adc3d59).

src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts:
  - Add SYMBOLIC_REFS const enum (LOCAL_DEFAULT, VISION_DEFAULT, GATING) +
    TIERS const (MBA/MID/FULL). Joel rule 2026-05-04: "define constants
    not magic strings". Code uses these — never hardcode the bare strings.

src/scripts/seed/personas.ts:
  - PersonaConfig adds modelRef?: string field (symbolic ref into
    src/shared/models.json).
  - Helper / Teacher / CodeReview / Local Assistant: switch from
    `modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT` to `modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.LOCAL_DEFAULT`.
  - Vision AI: `modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.VISION_DEFAULT`.
  - Old modelId field kept as legacy/cached. CandleAdapter (next commit)
    will prefer modelRef and resolve via registry at request time.

src/server/seed-in-process.ts:
  - Resolves config.modelRef → concrete hf_repo via ModelRegistry at seed
    time. Stores resolved value in users.modelConfig.model so existing
    CandleAdapter unchanged. When src/shared/models.json edits the
    underlying model for a tier, every startup re-resolves and the
    refresh-on-mismatch path UPDATES the persona row. No DB migration
    script needed — seeded personas auto-update when registry changes.

install.sh:
  - Removed two `docker model pull` calls (DMR persona model + MLX vLLM
    variant). Both supersede by model-init container reading
    src/shared/models.json. Per Joel 2026-05-04: "all the models must
    download and run on GPU" — no DMR dependency. KV-cache cap and vLLM
    install blocks remain (still useful tuning when DMR present, no-op
    otherwise).

Remaining phases:
  - CandleAdapter: prefer modelRef, resolve at request time (eliminates
    every cached-modelId codepath once stable).
  - Rust continuum-core: read src/shared/models.json instead of the
    Rust-only inference/model_registry.json.
  - download-voice-models.sh: delete (superseded by download-models.sh).
  - LOCAL_MODELS const in Constants.ts: reduce to thin re-export of
    SYMBOLIC_REFS.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 install.sh                    | 23 +++++++++++----------
 src/scripts/seed/personas.ts  | 21 +++++++++++++------
 src/server/seed-in-process.ts | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts   | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 88 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 8e847e219..b0fdece7f 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -425,12 +425,14 @@ EOF
   esac
   case "$IC_GPU_PATH" in
     dmr-*)
-      if ! docker model ls 2>/dev/null | grep -q "qwen3.5-4b-code-forged"; then
-        info "Pulling default persona model into Docker Model Runner (~2.7GB, first install only)..."
-        docker model pull "$PERSONA_MODEL" || warn "Model pull failed — chat will error until model is available. Retry: docker model pull $PERSONA_MODEL"
-      else
-        ok "Persona model already in DMR: $PERSONA_MODEL"
-      fi
+      # Per Joel 2026-05-04: "all the models must download and run on GPU"
+      # + "we MUST have this work from ONE source of truth". DMR's
+      # `docker model pull` was the Mac-only path that didn't work on
+      # Linux. Models now download via the model-init container reading
+      # src/shared/models.json — same path on Mac/Linux/Windows. The DMR
+      # branch here remains for KV-cache-config + vLLM-MLX install (which
+      # are still useful tuning), but no longer pulls the model.
+      ok "Persona model download deferred to model-init container (reads src/shared/models.json)"
       # Cap llama-server's per-slot KV cache reservation, sized to actual
       # physical RAM. Without this cap each slot reserves the full model
       # context (262144 tokens for Qwen3.5), ballooning
@@ -483,11 +485,10 @@ EOF
             # Pull MLX-format Qwen3.5-4B for vllm-metal routing.
             # DMR auto-routes MLX models to vllm-metal when installed.
             MLX_MODEL="hf.co/mlx-community/Qwen3.5-4B-MLX-4bit"
-            if ! docker model ls 2>/dev/null | grep -q "Qwen3.5-4B-MLX"; then
-              info "Pulling MLX-format Qwen3.5-4B (~2.5GB, for 3x faster inference)..."
-              docker model pull "$MLX_MODEL" \
-                || warn "MLX model pull failed. GGUF via llama.cpp will be used instead."
-            fi
+            # MLX-format model also moves to registry-driven download.
+            # Add MLX entry to src/shared/models.json + auto_download.always
+            # if/when we want vllm-metal to find it on disk.
+            ok "MLX model download deferred to model-init (add to src/shared/models.json to enable)"
           else
             warn "vLLM install failed (requires Docker Desktop 4.62+). llama.cpp Metal will be used."
           fi
diff --git a/src/scripts/seed/personas.ts b/src/scripts/seed/personas.ts
index f9a28a49c..f0dcd047a 100644
--- a/src/scripts/seed/personas.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/seed/personas.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 import { generateUniqueId } from '../../system/data/utils/UniqueIdUtils';
 import { LOCAL_MODELS } from '../../system/shared/Constants';
+import { SYMBOLIC_REFS } from '../../shared/ModelRegistry';
 import { execSync } from 'child_process';
 
 export interface PersonaConfig {
@@ -24,7 +25,15 @@ export interface PersonaConfig {
   provider?: string;
   type: 'agent' | 'persona';
   voiceId?: string;  // TTS speaker ID (0-246 for LibriTTS multi-speaker model)
-  modelId?: string;  // AI model ID (e.g., 'qwen3-omni-flash-realtime' for audio-native)
+  modelId?: string;  // Concrete AI model ID — LEGACY/cached. Prefer modelRef.
+  modelRef?: string;  // Symbolic ref into src/shared/models.json
+                     // ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating'). Resolved
+                     // at request time by ModelRegistry → current registry
+                     // value picks up automatically when models.json changes.
+                     // Per Joel 2026-05-04: "update the existing seeded values
+                     // so the personas PICK UP THE MODEL change and arent
+                     // stuck in the past." Symbolic refs eliminate stale-DB
+                     // drift entirely.
   isAudioNative?: boolean;  // True if model supports direct audio I/O (no STT/TTS needed)
   apiKeyEnv?: string;  // Environment variable name for the API key (e.g., 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY')
   minVramGB?: number;  // Minimum VRAM in GB for local inference (candle provider)
@@ -56,9 +65,9 @@ export const PERSONA_CONFIGS: PersonaConfig[] = [
   // error if neither is available. Never silent Candle-CPU fallback.
   // 4B GGUF is the universal default — fits every supported machine, fast
   // on Metal/Vulkan/CUDA. Power users upgrade to 27B manually (HF-gated).
-  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Helper'), displayName: 'Helper AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '50', minVramGB: 3, modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT },
-  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Teacher'), displayName: 'Teacher AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '75', minVramGB: 5, modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT },
-  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('CodeReview'), displayName: 'CodeReview AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '100', minVramGB: 5, modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT },
+  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Helper'), displayName: 'Helper AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '50', minVramGB: 3, modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.LOCAL_DEFAULT },
+  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Teacher'), displayName: 'Teacher AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '75', minVramGB: 5, modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.LOCAL_DEFAULT },
+  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('CodeReview'), displayName: 'CodeReview AI', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '100', minVramGB: 5, modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.LOCAL_DEFAULT },
 
   // Cloud provider personas (each needs its own API key)
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('DeepSeek'), displayName: 'DeepSeek Assistant', provider: 'deepseek', type: 'persona', voiceId: '125', apiKeyEnv: 'DEEPSEEK_API_KEY' },
@@ -68,7 +77,7 @@ export const PERSONA_CONFIGS: PersonaConfig[] = [
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Grok'), displayName: 'Grok', provider: 'xai', type: 'persona', voiceId: '220', apiKeyEnv: 'XAI_API_KEY' },
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Together'), displayName: 'Together Assistant', provider: 'together', type: 'persona', voiceId: '30', apiKeyEnv: 'TOGETHER_API_KEY' },
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Fireworks'), displayName: 'Fireworks AI', provider: 'fireworks', type: 'persona', voiceId: '60', apiKeyEnv: 'FIREWORKS_API_KEY' },
-  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Local'), displayName: 'Local Assistant', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '90', minVramGB: 4, modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT },
+  { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Local'), displayName: 'Local Assistant', provider: 'local', type: 'persona', voiceId: '90', minVramGB: 4, modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.LOCAL_DEFAULT },
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Sentinel'), displayName: 'Sentinel', provider: 'sentinel', type: 'persona', voiceId: '240' },
   { uniqueId: generateUniqueId('Gemini'), displayName: 'Gemini', provider: 'google', type: 'persona', voiceId: '115', apiKeyEnv: 'GOOGLE_API_KEY' },
 
@@ -91,7 +100,7 @@ export const PERSONA_CONFIGS: PersonaConfig[] = [
     type: 'persona',
     voiceId: '105',
     minVramGB: 5,
-    modelId: LOCAL_MODELS.VISION,
+    modelRef: SYMBOLIC_REFS.VISION_DEFAULT,
   },
 
   // Audio AI persona is intentionally NOT seeded yet. The Qwen2-Audio-7B
diff --git a/src/server/seed-in-process.ts b/src/server/seed-in-process.ts
index 456c88f90..6dfdaba9d 100644
--- a/src/server/seed-in-process.ts
+++ b/src/server/seed-in-process.ts
@@ -295,15 +295,31 @@ async function syncPersonaProviders(_seeder: DatabaseSeeder): Promise<void> {
       // Vision AI on docker carl ended up running a code model with no
       // vision capability — see #957. Pass config.modelId through so the
       // persona seed's declared model survives every resync.
+      //
+      // 2026-05-04: PersonaConfig now prefers symbolic modelRef (e.g.
+      // 'local-default', 'vision-default') over hardcoded modelId. This
+      // resolves to the CURRENT registry value at seed time so changing
+      // src/shared/models.json automatically updates seeded personas
+      // ("update the existing seeded values so the personas PICK UP THE
+      // MODEL change and arent stuck in the past" — Joel 2026-05-04).
+      // The reconciler check below + this resolve will UPDATE existing
+      // rows when the registry changes.
       const currentModelId = (user as Record<string, unknown>).modelConfig
         ? ((user as Record<string, unknown>).modelConfig as Record<string, unknown>).model
         : undefined;
-      const desiredModelId = config.modelId;
+      let desiredModelId = config.modelId;
+      if (!desiredModelId && config.modelRef) {
+        const { resolveModel, tierFromRamGB } = await import('../shared/ModelRegistry');
+        const ramGB = Math.round((require('os').totalmem() / 1024 / 1024 / 1024));
+        const tier = tierFromRamGB(ramGB);
+        const spec = resolveModel(config.modelRef, tier);
+        desiredModelId = spec.hf_repo;
+      }
       const providerChanged = currentProvider !== config.provider;
       const modelChanged = desiredModelId !== undefined && currentModelId !== desiredModelId;
 
       if (providerChanged || modelChanged) {
-        const newConfig = getModelConfigForProvider(config.provider, config.modelId);
+        const newConfig = getModelConfigForProvider(config.provider, desiredModelId);
         await DataUpdate.execute({
           collection: 'users',
           dbHandle: 'default',
@@ -381,14 +397,31 @@ export async function seedDatabase(): Promise<boolean> {
   const localModel = selectLocalModel(0);
   const created: Map<string, UserEntity> = new Map();
 
+  // Resolve symbolic modelRef → concrete modelId via ModelRegistry. Each
+  // persona's stored modelId stays synced with src/shared/models.json so
+  // changing the registry value updates seeded personas on next startup
+  // (Joel 2026-05-04: "personas PICK UP THE MODEL change and arent stuck
+  // in the past").
+  const { resolveModel, tierFromRamGB } = await import('../shared/ModelRegistry');
+  const seedRamGB = Math.round(require('os').totalmem() / 1024 / 1024 / 1024);
+  const seedTier = tierFromRamGB(seedRamGB);
+
   for (const config of personas) {
     try {
+      let resolvedModelId = config.modelId;
+      if (!resolvedModelId && config.modelRef) {
+        try {
+          resolvedModelId = resolveModel(config.modelRef, seedTier).hf_repo;
+        } catch (e) {
+          console.warn(`  ⚠️ ${config.displayName}: modelRef '${config.modelRef}' did not resolve: ${e}`);
+        }
+      }
       const user = await seeder.findOrCreateUser(
         config.uniqueId,
         config.displayName,
         config.type === 'agent' ? 'agent' : 'persona',
         config.provider,
-        config.modelId,
+        resolvedModelId,
       );
       created.set(config.uniqueId, user);
     } catch (err) {
diff --git a/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
index f74dd6be2..38f207bb7 100644
--- a/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
+++ b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,31 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 export type ModelKind = 'chat-llm' | 'vision-llm' | 'embedding' | 'stt' | 'tts' | 'tts-trainable' | 'vad' | 'chat-llm-fast';
 export type Tier = 'mba' | 'mid' | 'full';
 
+/**
+ * Canonical symbolic refs that personas store in DB. Code reads these
+ * constants — never hardcode the underlying strings. Joel rule
+ * 2026-05-04: "define constants not magic strings".
+ *
+ * Adding a new symbolic ref: add the constant here, add the entry to
+ * src/shared/models.json `symbolic_refs{}`, document below.
+ */
+export const SYMBOLIC_REFS = {
+  /** Local chat model — tier-resolved. Resolves to tiers[host_tier].default_chat. */
+  LOCAL_DEFAULT: 'local-default',
+  /** Native-vision model. Currently bound to qwen2-vl-7b. */
+  VISION_DEFAULT: 'vision-default',
+  /** Fast classification/gating model. */
+  GATING: 'gating',
+} as const;
+export type SymbolicRef = typeof SYMBOLIC_REFS[keyof typeof SYMBOLIC_REFS];
+
+/** Tier constants — code uses these instead of bare 'mba' / 'mid' / 'full' strings. */
+export const TIERS = {
+  MBA: 'mba' as const,
+  MID: 'mid' as const,
+  FULL: 'full' as const,
+};
+
 export interface ModelSpec {
   kind: ModelKind;
   hf_repo: string;

From 342075a60e196bfbcc8ca1c4d9b3441bde3f5383 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 18:28:47 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 13/15] feat(models): CandleAdapter resolves symbolic refs at
 request time

Phase 3 of the SSoT model registry work. CandleAdapter now accepts:
  - symbolic refs ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating')
  - registry keys ('qwen3.5-4b-code-forged')
  - legacy short names ('llama3.2:3b')
  - raw HF IDs

All resolved per-request through ModelRegistry.resolveModel(), so DB
rows storing symbolic refs auto-pick-up registry edits without
migration. Tier resolved once at construction from totalmem().

Also: build-with-loud-failure copies shared/models.json into dist/
so __dirname-relative reads resolve at runtime (tsc skips JSON).

Joel rule 2026-05-04: "we MUST have this work from ONE source of truth".
---
 .../adapters/candle/shared/CandleAdapter.ts   | 53 +++++++++++++++++--
 src/scripts/build-with-loud-failure.ts        | 15 ++++++
 2 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/daemons/ai-provider-daemon/adapters/candle/shared/CandleAdapter.ts b/src/daemons/ai-provider-daemon/adapters/candle/shared/CandleAdapter.ts
index 22d2d8a35..6e30cc976 100644
--- a/src/daemons/ai-provider-daemon/adapters/candle/shared/CandleAdapter.ts
+++ b/src/daemons/ai-provider-daemon/adapters/candle/shared/CandleAdapter.ts
@@ -25,8 +25,14 @@ import type {
 } from '../../../shared/AIProviderTypesV2';
 import { InferenceGrpcClient } from '../../../../../system/core/services/InferenceGrpcClient';
 import { LOCAL_MODELS } from '../../../../../system/shared/Constants';
+import {
+  resolveModel as registryResolveModel,
+  tierFromRamGB,
+  type Tier,
+} from '../../../../../shared/ModelRegistry';
 import { existsSync } from 'fs';
 import { resolve } from 'path';
+import { totalmem } from 'os';
 
 // ============================================================================
 // Types
@@ -83,6 +89,7 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
   private loadedModels: Set<string> = new Set();
   private loadedAdapters: Map<string, LoadedAdapterInfo[]> = new Map(); // modelId -> adapters
   private maxInputTokens: number;
+  private hostTier: Tier;
 
   constructor(config: CandleAdapterConfig = {}) {
     super();
@@ -90,6 +97,11 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
     // Use gRPC client (replaces Unix socket)
     this.client = InferenceGrpcClient.sharedInstance();
 
+    // Tier is fixed at process start — RAM doesn't change, and resolving
+    // the same symbolic ref to different models mid-process would defeat
+    // the gRPC server's preload contract.
+    this.hostTier = tierFromRamGB(Math.round(totalmem() / 1024 / 1024 / 1024));
+
     this.defaultModel = config.defaultModel || LOCAL_MODELS.DEFAULT;
     this.baseTimeout = config.timeout || 180000; // 180s to handle model download + generation
     // Q8_0 quantized model can handle ~1500 tokens input reliably
@@ -100,6 +112,32 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
     // Note: Model is pre-loaded by gRPC server at startup
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Resolve a model identifier to a concrete HuggingFace ID.
+   *
+   * Handles three input shapes (in order):
+   *   1. Symbolic ref ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating') →
+   *      ModelRegistry resolves via src/shared/models.json (current registry).
+   *   2. Registry key ('qwen3.5-4b-code-forged', 'qwen2-vl-7b') →
+   *      ModelRegistry returns concrete hf_repo.
+   *   3. Legacy short name ('llama3.2:3b') OR raw HF ID →
+   *      LOCAL_MODELS.mapToHuggingFace fallback.
+   *
+   * This is the boundary that lets persona DB rows store stable symbolic
+   * refs while every request still resolves to whatever the registry
+   * declares "current" — no DB migration when we swap underlying models.
+   */
+  private resolveModelId(requestedModel: string): string {
+    try {
+      const spec = registryResolveModel(requestedModel, this.hostTier);
+      return spec.hf_repo;
+    } catch {
+      // Not in registry — fall through to legacy mapping (which assumes
+      // raw HF ID if no match).
+      return LOCAL_MODELS.mapToHuggingFace(requestedModel);
+    }
+  }
+
   // Note: Model is pre-loaded by gRPC server at startup, not by TypeScript
 
   // ============================================================================
@@ -114,13 +152,18 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
 
     this.log(request, 'info', `🔧 TRACE-1: generateTextImpl START (requestId=${requestId.slice(0,8)})`);
 
-    // Determine model to use - map legacy names to HuggingFace via central config
+    // Determine model to use. Accepts symbolic refs ('local-default',
+    // 'vision-default', 'gating'), registry keys ('qwen3.5-4b-code-forged'),
+    // legacy short names ('llama3.2:3b'), or raw HF IDs. ModelRegistry is
+    // the source of truth — DB rows storing symbolic refs auto-pick-up
+    // registry edits without migration. Joel rule 2026-05-04:
+    // "we MUST have this work from ONE source of truth".
     const requestedModel = request.model || this.defaultModel;
-    const modelId = LOCAL_MODELS.mapToHuggingFace(requestedModel);
+    const modelId = this.resolveModelId(requestedModel);
 
     // Log mapping if different
     if (modelId !== requestedModel) {
-      this.log(request, 'info', `Model mapped: ${requestedModel} → ${modelId}`);
+      this.log(request, 'info', `Model resolved: ${requestedModel} → ${modelId} (tier=${this.hostTier})`);
     }
 
     // Model is pre-loaded by gRPC server at startup
@@ -344,7 +387,7 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
     adapterName: string;
     applyImmediately?: boolean;
   }): Promise<void> {
-    const modelId = LOCAL_MODELS.mapToHuggingFace(skillImplementation.modelId);
+    const modelId = this.resolveModelId(skillImplementation.modelId);
     const { adapterName, adapterPath } = skillImplementation;
 
     this.log(null, 'info', `🧬 applySkill: Loading adapter "${adapterName}" from ${adapterPath}`);
@@ -592,7 +635,7 @@ export class CandleAdapter extends BaseAIProviderAdapter {
    * STUBBED: gRPC server preloads model at startup
    */
   async preloadModel(requestedModelId: string): Promise<void> {
-    const modelId = LOCAL_MODELS.mapToHuggingFace(requestedModelId);
+    const modelId = this.resolveModelId(requestedModelId);
     this.log(null, 'info', `preloadModel: Model ${modelId} is preloaded by gRPC server`);
     this.loadedModels.add(modelId);
   }
diff --git a/src/scripts/build-with-loud-failure.ts b/src/scripts/build-with-loud-failure.ts
index 20a375bb4..e12a8893d 100644
--- a/src/scripts/build-with-loud-failure.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/build-with-loud-failure.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
  */
 
 import { execSync } from 'child_process';
+import { copyFileSync, mkdirSync, existsSync } from 'fs';
+import { dirname } from 'path';
 
 console.log('🔨 Building TypeScript with strict error checking...\n');
 
@@ -16,6 +18,19 @@ try {
     encoding: 'utf-8'
   });
 
+  // Copy non-TS runtime assets that ModelRegistry / scripts read by path.
+  // tsc doesn't copy JSON — anything that ships next to .ts and is read
+  // at runtime via __dirname must be replicated into dist/.
+  const assets: Array<[string, string]> = [
+    ['shared/models.json', 'dist/shared/models.json'],
+  ];
+  for (const [src, dest] of assets) {
+    if (!existsSync(src)) continue;  // Optional asset — skip if absent.
+    mkdirSync(dirname(dest), { recursive: true });
+    copyFileSync(src, dest);
+    console.log(`📦 Copied asset: ${src} → ${dest}`);
+  }
+
   console.log('\n✅ TypeScript compilation succeeded');
   process.exit(0);
 

From a928f692f44d51b24ec90e8fd7966ad257460cd7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Mon, 4 May 2026 18:37:18 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 14/15] =?UTF-8?q?feat(models):=20Rust=20reads=20same=20src?=
 =?UTF-8?q?/shared/models.json=20=E2=80=94=20one=20SSOT=20for=20both=20run?=
 =?UTF-8?q?times?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Phase 4 of the model-registry SSOT collapse (Joel 2026-05-04: "we MUST have
this work from ONE source of truth").

continuum-core's inference/candle_adapter no longer ships its own embedded
model_registry.json. The same src/shared/models.json that TS, install.sh, and
download-models.sh consume is now embedded into the Rust binary at compile
time via include_str!. resolve_model_id() understands symbolic refs
('local-default' / 'vision-default' / 'gating') and resolves them via
tiers + symbolic_refs identical to ModelRegistry.ts. Tier auto-detected from
host RAM (Linux: /proc/meminfo, macOS: sysctl hw.memsize, fallback: mba).

Schema:
- ModelRegistryEntry renames repo→hf_repo and min_memory_gb→min_ram_gb to
  match the SSOT shape. Legacy field names accepted via #[serde(alias = ...)]
  so any out-of-tree consumer of the old embedded JSON keeps deserializing.
- New fields kind / files / size_gb / auto_load reflect the SSOT, all
  optional.
- Extra top-level keys (tiers / symbolic_refs / personas / auto_download /
  chat_templates) silently ignored by ModelRegistry's serde shape but
  consumed by the internal FullRegistry view used for symbolic resolution.

Compatibility:
- Added 'coder' and 'coder-bf16' entries to src/shared/models.json so live
  callers (LocalModelRouter via LOCAL_MODELS.CODING_AGENT) keep resolving.
- Removed dead 'smollm2' / 'llama3.2:3b' assertions from
  test_resolve_chat_template (callers were docs-only).
- Added test_resolve_model_id_symbolic_refs covering all three symbolic
  refs + direct registry-key lookup + raw HF passthrough.

Build:
- Deleted workers/continuum-core/src/inference/model_registry.json (dead).
- TS bindings regenerated: ModelRegistryEntry.ts now exports hf_repo,
  min_ram_gb, kind, files, size_gb, auto_load (no TS consumer references
  the old field names — verified via grep).
- cargo test --lib --features metal,accelerate inference::candle_adapter
  → 10/10 pass including the new resolution test.
- npm run build:ts clean.

Net: persona DB rows storing 'local-default' resolve through the same
JSON whether the request enters via TS CandleAdapter or Rust
candle_adapter — registry edits propagate everywhere on next inference
call without DB migration.
---
 src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts                   |  24 +-
 .../generated/inference/ModelRegistry.ts      |   4 +-
 .../generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts |  42 +++-
 src/shared/models.json                        |  20 ++
 .../src/inference/candle_adapter.rs           | 232 +++++++++++++++---
 .../src/inference/model_registry.json         |  97 --------
 6 files changed, 283 insertions(+), 136 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/model_registry.json

diff --git a/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
index 38f207bb7..128b4175d 100644
--- a/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
+++ b/src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts
@@ -80,8 +80,28 @@ let _cached: RegistryFile | null = null;
 
 function load(): RegistryFile {
   if (_cached) return _cached;
-  const registryPath = path.join(__dirname, 'models.json');
-  const raw = fs.readFileSync(registryPath, 'utf8');
+  // Resolve registry across three runtime shapes:
+  //   1. Compiled: __dirname=dist/shared, JSON copied alongside by build script.
+  //   2. tsx dev: __dirname=src/shared, JSON sits next to ModelRegistry.ts.
+  //   3. dist-without-copy: __dirname=dist/shared, source JSON at ../../src/shared/.
+  // Try each in order so the first one that exists wins. Surface a clear
+  // error if none — no silent fallback to default model.
+  const candidates = [
+    path.join(__dirname, 'models.json'),
+    path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'src', 'shared', 'models.json'),
+    path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', '..', 'src', 'shared', 'models.json'),
+  ];
+  let found: string | undefined;
+  for (const p of candidates) {
+    if (fs.existsSync(p)) { found = p; break; }
+  }
+  if (!found) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `ModelRegistry: models.json not found. Tried: ${candidates.join(', ')}. ` +
+      `Build script must copy shared/models.json → dist/shared/models.json.`
+    );
+  }
+  const raw = fs.readFileSync(found, 'utf8');
   _cached = JSON.parse(raw) as RegistryFile;
   return _cached;
 }
diff --git a/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistry.ts b/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistry.ts
index 322c928b2..077d3548e 100644
--- a/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistry.ts
+++ b/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistry.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 import type { ModelRegistryEntry } from "./ModelRegistryEntry";
 
 /**
- * Full model registry — maps aliases to model entries.
+ * Full model registry — mirrors `src/shared/models.json` SSOT shape.
+ * Extra fields (`personas`, `auto_download`, `chat_templates`) are
+ * silently ignored by serde for the in-Rust subset we consume here.
  */
 export type ModelRegistry = { models: { [key in string]: ModelRegistryEntry }, };
diff --git a/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts b/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts
index 297f7b1d1..a7646e83b 100644
--- a/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts
+++ b/src/shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts
@@ -3,14 +3,27 @@
 /**
  * Single source of truth for local model metadata.
  *
- * Model registry entry loaded from model_registry.json (embedded at compile time).
- * TypeScript gets these types via ts-rs — NO hand-written duplicates.
+ * Model registry entry deserialized from src/shared/models.json (embedded at
+ * compile time). TypeScript gets these types via ts-rs — NO hand-written
+ * duplicates.
+ *
+ * **Schema mirrors `src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts`'s `ModelSpec`** so both
+ * runtimes read the same JSON. Field names use the new SSOT shape
+ * (`hf_repo`, `min_ram_gb`); legacy aliases (`repo`, `min_memory_gb`)
+ * kept via `serde(alias = ...)` so any third-party consumer of the old
+ * embedded JSON keeps working until it migrates.
  */
 export type ModelRegistryEntry = { 
 /**
- * HuggingFace repo ID (canonical source)
+ * HuggingFace repo ID (canonical source).
+ * New SSOT field name; `repo` accepted as legacy alias.
+ */
+hf_repo: string, 
+/**
+ * Model kind: "chat-llm", "vision-llm", "embedding", "stt", "tts", "vad".
+ * Optional for back-compat with the legacy schema.
  */
-repo: string, 
+kind?: string, 
 /**
  * Serialization format: "gguf" or "safetensors"
  */
@@ -19,15 +32,28 @@ format?: string,
  * Model architecture: "qwen2", "llama", "phi", etc.
  */
 architecture?: string, 
+/**
+ * Files belonging to this model (relative to repo root).
+ */
+files?: Array<string>, 
+/**
+ * Approximate disk footprint in GB.
+ */
+size_gb?: number, 
+/**
+ * Minimum host RAM in GB to run this model.
+ * New SSOT field name; `min_memory_gb` accepted as legacy alias.
+ */
+min_ram_gb?: number, 
 /**
  * Human-readable description
  */
 description?: string, 
 /**
- * Minimum GPU memory in GB to run this model
+ * Chat template name: "qwen2", "llama3", "chatml"
  */
-min_memory_gb?: number, 
+chat_template?: string, 
 /**
- * Chat template name: "qwen2", "llama3", "chatml"
+ * Whether this model is auto-loaded at startup (informational).
  */
-chat_template?: string, };
+auto_load?: boolean, };
diff --git a/src/shared/models.json b/src/shared/models.json
index 72d873333..5bcd6aa21 100644
--- a/src/shared/models.json
+++ b/src/shared/models.json
@@ -109,6 +109,26 @@
       "size_gb": 0.5,
       "chat_template": "qwen2",
       "description": "Tiny gating/classification model. Fast, low-latency decisions before full inference."
+    },
+    "coder": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-14b-compacted",
+      "format": "gguf",
+      "architecture": "qwen2",
+      "size_gb": 9.0,
+      "min_ram_gb": 12,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "Coding agent — Qwen2.5-Coder-14B compacted (Q5_K_S, 9GB). Used by LocalModelRouter via LOCAL_MODELS.CODING_AGENT."
+    },
+    "coder-bf16": {
+      "kind": "chat-llm",
+      "hf_repo": "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-14b-compacted",
+      "format": "safetensors",
+      "architecture": "qwen2",
+      "size_gb": 28.0,
+      "min_ram_gb": 32,
+      "chat_template": "qwen2",
+      "description": "Coding agent BF16 batch-prefill variant — explicitly selects safetensors backend (32GB+)."
     }
   },
 
diff --git a/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/candle_adapter.rs b/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/candle_adapter.rs
index 19d188d62..f95f9ec04 100644
--- a/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/candle_adapter.rs
+++ b/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/candle_adapter.rs
@@ -951,34 +951,84 @@ impl AIProviderAdapter for CandleAdapter {
 
 /// Single source of truth for local model metadata.
 ///
-/// Model registry entry loaded from model_registry.json (embedded at compile time).
-/// TypeScript gets these types via ts-rs — NO hand-written duplicates.
+/// Model registry entry deserialized from src/shared/models.json (embedded at
+/// compile time). TypeScript gets these types via ts-rs — NO hand-written
+/// duplicates.
+///
+/// **Schema mirrors `src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts`'s `ModelSpec`** so both
+/// runtimes read the same JSON. Field names use the new SSOT shape
+/// (`hf_repo`, `min_ram_gb`); legacy aliases (`repo`, `min_memory_gb`)
+/// kept via `serde(alias = ...)` so any third-party consumer of the old
+/// embedded JSON keeps working until it migrates.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize, ts_rs::TS)]
 #[ts(
     export,
     export_to = "../../../shared/generated/inference/ModelRegistryEntry.ts"
 )]
 pub struct ModelRegistryEntry {
-    /// HuggingFace repo ID (canonical source)
-    pub repo: String,
+    /// HuggingFace repo ID (canonical source).
+    /// New SSOT field name; `repo` accepted as legacy alias.
+    #[serde(alias = "repo")]
+    pub hf_repo: String,
+    /// Model kind: "chat-llm", "vision-llm", "embedding", "stt", "tts", "vad".
+    /// Optional for back-compat with the legacy schema.
+    #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub kind: Option<String>,
     /// Serialization format: "gguf" or "safetensors"
     #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub format: Option<String>,
     /// Model architecture: "qwen2", "llama", "phi", etc.
     #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub architecture: Option<String>,
+    /// Files belonging to this model (relative to repo root).
+    #[ts(optional, type = "Array<string>")]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub files: Option<Vec<String>>,
+    /// Approximate disk footprint in GB.
+    #[ts(optional, type = "number")]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub size_gb: Option<f64>,
+    /// Minimum host RAM in GB to run this model.
+    /// New SSOT field name; `min_memory_gb` accepted as legacy alias.
+    #[ts(optional, type = "number")]
+    #[serde(default, alias = "min_memory_gb")]
+    pub min_ram_gb: Option<f64>,
     /// Human-readable description
     #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub description: Option<String>,
-    /// Minimum GPU memory in GB to run this model
-    #[ts(optional, type = "number")]
-    pub min_memory_gb: Option<f64>,
     /// Chat template name: "qwen2", "llama3", "chatml"
     #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub chat_template: Option<String>,
+    /// Whether this model is auto-loaded at startup (informational).
+    #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub auto_load: Option<bool>,
 }
 
-/// Full model registry — maps aliases to model entries.
+/// Tier specification used by symbolic-ref resolution.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, serde::Deserialize, Default)]
+#[serde(default)]
+struct TierSpec {
+    pub default_chat: String,
+}
+
+/// Symbolic ref: either tier-bound (resolves via `tiers[host_tier].default_chat`)
+/// or model-bound (resolves to the named registry key directly).
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, serde::Deserialize, Default)]
+#[serde(default)]
+struct SymbolicRefSpec {
+    pub by_tier: bool,
+    pub model: Option<String>,
+}
+
+/// Full model registry — mirrors `src/shared/models.json` SSOT shape.
+/// Extra fields (`personas`, `auto_download`, `chat_templates`) are
+/// silently ignored by serde for the in-Rust subset we consume here.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize, ts_rs::TS)]
 #[ts(
     export,
@@ -988,40 +1038,134 @@ pub struct ModelRegistry {
     pub models: HashMap<String, ModelRegistryEntry>,
 }
 
-/// Load the model registry from the embedded JSON.
-pub fn load_registry() -> ModelRegistry {
-    let json = include_str!("model_registry.json");
-    serde_json::from_str(json).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
-        runtime::logger("candle").error(&format!("Failed to parse model registry: {e}"));
-        ModelRegistry {
+/// Internal full-shape view used for symbolic-ref + tier resolution.
+/// Not exported to TS (TS has its own ModelRegistry.ts reader for this).
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, serde::Deserialize)]
+struct FullRegistry {
+    pub models: HashMap<String, ModelRegistryEntry>,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub tiers: HashMap<String, TierSpec>,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub symbolic_refs: HashMap<String, SymbolicRefSpec>,
+}
+
+/// Embedded SSOT registry. Path is relative to *this file*:
+///   workers/continuum-core/src/inference/candle_adapter.rs
+///   → ../../../../shared/models.json (= src/shared/models.json)
+/// Joel rule 2026-05-04: "we MUST have this work from ONE source of truth".
+const REGISTRY_JSON: &str = include_str!("../../../../shared/models.json");
+
+fn load_full_registry() -> FullRegistry {
+    serde_json::from_str(REGISTRY_JSON).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+        runtime::logger("candle").error(&format!(
+            "Failed to parse src/shared/models.json: {e}"
+        ));
+        FullRegistry {
             models: HashMap::new(),
+            tiers: HashMap::new(),
+            symbolic_refs: HashMap::new(),
         }
     })
 }
 
+/// Load the model registry from the embedded JSON (legacy public API —
+/// returns the lower-fidelity `ModelRegistry` view for back-compat).
+pub fn load_registry() -> ModelRegistry {
+    ModelRegistry {
+        models: load_full_registry().models,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Pick host tier from total RAM. Mirrors the TS `tierFromRamGB` logic
+/// in `src/shared/ModelRegistry.ts` so install-time and runtime resolve
+/// to the same default model.
+fn tier_from_host_ram() -> &'static str {
+    let bytes = sysinfo_total_memory_bytes();
+    let gb = (bytes / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) as u32;
+    if gb >= 32 {
+        "full"
+    } else if gb >= 24 {
+        "mid"
+    } else {
+        "mba"
+    }
+}
+
+/// Total host memory in bytes. Cheap to call repeatedly; caller decides cache.
+fn sysinfo_total_memory_bytes() -> u64 {
+    // Minimal probe — avoids pulling in a sysinfo dep just for this.
+    // Linux: /proc/meminfo. macOS: sysctl hw.memsize. Fallback: 16GB so
+    // we land on the "mba" tier (smallest model) rather than crashing.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    {
+        if let Ok(s) = std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/meminfo") {
+            for line in s.lines() {
+                if let Some(rest) = line.strip_prefix("MemTotal:") {
+                    if let Some(kb_str) = rest.trim().split_whitespace().next() {
+                        if let Ok(kb) = kb_str.parse::<u64>() {
+                            return kb * 1024;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        use std::process::Command;
+        if let Ok(out) = Command::new("sysctl").args(["-n", "hw.memsize"]).output() {
+            if let Ok(s) = String::from_utf8(out.stdout) {
+                if let Ok(b) = s.trim().parse::<u64>() {
+                    return b;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    16 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024
+}
+
 pub fn resolve_model_id(requested: &str) -> String {
-    // Already a HuggingFace repo ID
+    // Already a HuggingFace repo ID — pass through.
     if requested.contains('/') {
         return requested.to_string();
     }
 
     let normalized = requested.trim().to_lowercase();
-    let registry = load_registry();
+    let reg = load_full_registry();
+
+    // 1. Symbolic ref ('local-default', 'vision-default', 'gating') — resolve
+    //    via tiers + symbolic_refs. Reads current registry on every call so
+    //    DB rows storing symbolic refs auto-pick-up registry edits.
+    if let Some(sym) = reg.symbolic_refs.get(&normalized) {
+        if sym.by_tier {
+            let tier = tier_from_host_ram();
+            if let Some(t) = reg.tiers.get(tier) {
+                if let Some(entry) = reg.models.get(&t.default_chat) {
+                    return entry.hf_repo.clone();
+                }
+            }
+        } else if let Some(model_key) = sym.model.as_deref() {
+            if let Some(entry) = reg.models.get(model_key) {
+                return entry.hf_repo.clone();
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
-    // Look up in registry (supports "coder", "smollm2:1.7b", "llama3.2:3b", etc.)
-    if let Some(entry) = registry.models.get(&normalized) {
-        return entry.repo.clone();
+    // 2. Direct registry key lookup ('coder', 'qwen2-vl-7b', 'qwen3.5-4b-code-forged').
+    if let Some(entry) = reg.models.get(&normalized) {
+        return entry.hf_repo.clone();
     }
 
-    // Try with common alias patterns: "smollm2-1.7b" → "smollm2:1.7b"
+    // 3. Common alias pattern: 'smollm2-1.7b' → 'smollm2:1.7b'.
     let dash_to_colon = normalized.replacen('-', ":", 1);
-    if let Some(entry) = registry.models.get(&dash_to_colon) {
-        return entry.repo.clone();
+    if let Some(entry) = reg.models.get(&dash_to_colon) {
+        return entry.hf_repo.clone();
     }
 
-    // Fallback: treat as HF repo ID
+    // 4. Fallback: treat as HF repo ID. Loud so unknown models stay diagnosable.
     runtime::logger("candle").warn(&format!(
-        "Model '{}' not in registry — treating as HuggingFace repo ID",
+        "Model '{}' not in registry (no symbolic ref, no key match) — \
+         treating as HuggingFace repo ID",
         requested
     ));
     requested.to_string()
@@ -1502,11 +1646,43 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_resolve_chat_template() {
+        // Live registry keys (post-SSOT migration to src/shared/models.json).
         assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("coder"), "qwen2");
-        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("coder-14b"), "qwen2");
-        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("coder-32b"), "qwen2");
-        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("llama3.2:3b"), "llama3");
-        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("smollm2"), "chatml");
+        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("coder-bf16"), "qwen2");
+        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("qwen3.5-4b-code-forged"), "qwen2");
+        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("qwen2-vl-7b"), "qwen2");
+        // Heuristic fallback: name-based inference for unknown models.
+        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("some-qwen-thing"), "qwen2");
+        assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("smollm2-future"), "chatml");
         assert_eq!(resolve_chat_template("unknown-model"), "llama3"); // default fallback
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_resolve_model_id_symbolic_refs() {
+        // Symbolic refs resolve via src/shared/models.json. Tier resolves
+        // from host RAM at runtime — we only assert that resolution
+        // succeeds (non-passthrough) for tier-bound refs and that
+        // model-bound refs always resolve to the same concrete model.
+        let local = resolve_model_id("local-default");
+        assert_ne!(local, "local-default", "local-default must resolve to a concrete repo");
+        assert!(local.contains('/'), "resolved model must look like an HF repo: got {local}");
+
+        let vision = resolve_model_id("vision-default");
+        assert_eq!(vision, "Qwen/Qwen2-VL-7B-Instruct-GGUF");
+
+        let gating = resolve_model_id("gating");
+        assert_eq!(gating, "Qwen/Qwen2-0.5B-Instruct");
+
+        // Direct registry-key lookup.
+        assert_eq!(
+            resolve_model_id("coder"),
+            "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-14b-compacted"
+        );
+
+        // Pass-through for raw HF IDs.
+        assert_eq!(
+            resolve_model_id("Qwen/Qwen2-7B-Instruct"),
+            "Qwen/Qwen2-7B-Instruct"
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/model_registry.json b/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/model_registry.json
deleted file mode 100644
index c3f77c944..000000000
--- a/src/workers/continuum-core/src/inference/model_registry.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,97 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "_comment": "Model registry: aliases → HuggingFace repos. Continuum auto-downloads on first use.",
-  "models": {
-    "coder": {
-      "repo": "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-14b-compacted",
-      "format": "gguf",
-      "architecture": "qwen2",
-      "description": "14B coding model, compacted (25Q/5KV), Q5_K_S. Fits 16GB MacBook Air.",
-      "min_memory_gb": 12,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    },
-    "coder-14b": {
-      "repo": "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-14b-compacted",
-      "format": "gguf",
-      "architecture": "qwen2",
-      "description": "14B coding model for 16GB+ devices",
-      "min_memory_gb": 12,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    },
-    "coder-32b": {
-      "repo": "continuum-ai/qwen2.5-coder-32b-compacted",
-      "format": "gguf",
-      "architecture": "qwen2",
-      "description": "32B coding model for 32GB+ devices. Needs QAT for full quality.",
-      "min_memory_gb": 20,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    },
-    "smollm2": {
-      "repo": "HuggingFaceTB/SmolLM2-135M-Instruct",
-      "format": "safetensors",
-      "architecture": "llama",
-      "description": "135M tiny model for testing",
-      "min_memory_gb": 1,
-      "chat_template": "chatml"
-    },
-    "smollm2:1.7b": {
-      "repo": "HuggingFaceTB/SmolLM2-1.7B-Instruct",
-      "format": "safetensors",
-      "architecture": "llama",
-      "description": "1.7B small model",
-      "min_memory_gb": 4,
-      "chat_template": "chatml"
-    },
-    "llama3.2:3b": {
-      "repo": "unsloth/Llama-3.2-3B-Instruct",
-      "format": "safetensors",
-      "architecture": "llama",
-      "description": "3B general model",
-      "min_memory_gb": 6,
-      "chat_template": "llama3"
-    },
-    "qwen2.5-coder:32b": {
-      "repo": "Qwen/Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct",
-      "format": "safetensors",
-      "architecture": "qwen2",
-      "description": "Full 32B (uncompacted, needs 80GB+)",
-      "min_memory_gb": 70,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    },
-    "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-4b-code-forged": {
-      "repo": "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-4b-code-forged-GGUF",
-      "format": "gguf",
-      "architecture": "qwen3",
-      "description": "4B code model, forged with experiential plasticity. 70%+ HumanEval. 2.6GB Q4_K_M.",
-      "min_memory_gb": 3,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    },
-    "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-27b-code-forged": {
-      "repo": "continuum-ai/qwen3.5-27b-code-forged",
-      "format": "safetensors",
-      "architecture": "qwen3",
-      "description": "27B code model, forged with experiential plasticity. Needs 17GB+ VRAM.",
-      "min_memory_gb": 17,
-      "chat_template": "qwen2"
-    }
-  },
-  "chat_templates": {
-    "qwen2": {
-      "system": "<|im_start|>system\n{system}<|im_end|>\n",
-      "user": "<|im_start|>user\n{content}<|im_end|>\n",
-      "assistant": "<|im_start|>assistant\n",
-      "eos": "<|im_end|>"
-    },
-    "llama3": {
-      "system": "<|begin_of_text|><|start_header_id|>system<|end_header_id|>\n\n{system}<|eot_id|>",
-      "user": "<|start_header_id|>user<|end_header_id|>\n\n{content}<|eot_id|>",
-      "assistant": "<|start_header_id|>assistant<|end_header_id|>\n\n",
-      "eos": "<|eot_id|>"
-    },
-    "chatml": {
-      "system": "<|im_start|>system\n{system}<|im_end|>\n",
-      "user": "<|im_start|>user\n{content}<|im_end|>\n",
-      "assistant": "<|im_start|>assistant\n",
-      "eos": "<|im_end|>"
-    }
-  }
-}

From e440e1c953da108fd3c3105eed62a70e31cd2516 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Test <test@test.com>
Date: Tue, 5 May 2026 16:34:37 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 15/15] ci(carl-install-smoke): fix workflow_dispatch tag
 resolution + add image_tag input
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

The bare interpolation `pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}` resolved
to `pr-` (empty after dash) on workflow_dispatch, since there's no PR
context. install.sh then couldn't find the tag in the registry, fell
through to its 'will build locally' branch, and ran a full Rust compile
of continuum-core-vulkan on the no-GPU ubuntu-latest runner — which hit
the 25-min runner cap (observed in run 25400718464).

Resolution priority is now: PR# > input.image_tag > 'canary'. Manual
triggers from the workflow UI default to ':canary' (the cadence we
publish on) and accept an `image_tag` input override for testing
specific tags (':latest', ':pr-N', or sha-prefix).

Diagnosis + patch shape from continuum-8e97 on Windows after they hit
the regression while running (c) carl-install-smoke from this PR's tip
342075a60. YAML-only change, no behavior shift for PR-triggered runs.

Co-Authored-By: continuum-8e97 <continuum-8e97@cambriantech.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
index c48f5a189..27c563935 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/carl-install-smoke.yml
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ on:
         description: 'Git ref to fetch install.sh from (sha / branch / tag)'
         required: false
         default: ''
+      image_tag:
+        description: 'Docker image tag to pull (default: canary). Useful values: canary, latest, pr-<N>, <sha-prefix>.'
+        required: false
+        default: 'canary'
 
 jobs:
   carl-install-smoke-amd64:
@@ -97,7 +101,17 @@ jobs:
           # dev script (manifest copy, no rebuild). :latest was the prior
           # default and went 9-14 days stale in April 2026 — never use it for
           # smoke.
-          CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG: pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
+          #
+          # Resolution priority: PR# > input.image_tag > 'canary'.
+          # On workflow_dispatch (no PR context) the bare `pr-${{ ... }}`
+          # interpolated to 'pr-' (empty after dash), causing install.sh to
+          # miss the registry and fall back to 'will build locally' — which
+          # then ran a full Rust compile of continuum-core-vulkan on the
+          # no-GPU runner and hit the 25-min runner cap (observed run
+          # 25400718464). The conditional below makes manual triggers
+          # default to the canary tag (the cadence we publish on) and lets
+          # operators override via the image_tag input from the UI.
+          CONTINUUM_IMAGE_TAG: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number && format('pr-{0}', github.event.pull_request.number) || inputs.image_tag || 'canary' }}
           # 25-min cap on the docker-only install. Hybrid (Mac source-build)
           # path would exceed this — by design, that's the gate firing on
           # the README/install mismatch.