docs(tech-debt): flag stale contract status in app picker UI

docs/tech-debt.md

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Tech Debt
+
+Tracked items from bugs, code reviews, and UX gaps that should be revisited
+but don't block current work.
+
+---
+
+## CLI `compute app upgrade` / `stop` / etc. show stale on-chain status instead of current runtime status
+
+**Source:** Production observation, 2026-05-02.
+
+### Symptom
+
+`ecloud compute app upgrade` presents a picker like:
+
+```
+? Select app: sample-eigencompute-app (sepolia:0x297E26c626372a6333fD1d339Ef9854Afc49609f) - Started
+```
+
+The `- Started` suffix is misleading. For the app above:
+
+- `ecloud compute app list` reported `Status: Created` (never deployed, no
+  instance, no IP).
+- Picker said `Started` at the same moment.
+
+Both come from the same CLI session against the same backend, seconds apart.
+A user who sees "Started" in the picker reasonably assumes the app is running
+and picks it to `stop` or `upgrade`, then hits errors downstream because the
+app has never been deployed.
+
+### Root cause
+
+Two different status vocabularies wired to two different sources:
+
+1. **`compute app list`** reads status from the ecloud-platform / compute-tee
+   API response, which is the runtime/DB status. Possible values include
+   `Created`, `Deploying`, `Running`, `Stopped`, `Suspended`, `Terminated`,
+   `Failed`, `Upgrading`, etc.
+2. **The app picker** (used by `upgrade`, `stop`, `start`, `info`, `logs`,
+   `releases`, `set profile for`) reads status directly from the
+   `AppController` contract's `AppConfig.status` field via
+   `appController.getAppConfigs(addresses)`. That enum only defines four
+   non-zero values:
+
+   | Value | Meaning (on-chain)             |
+   | ----- | ------------------------------ |
+   | `1`   | Started                        |
+   | `2`   | Stopped                        |
+   | `3`   | Terminated                     |
+   | `4`   | Suspended                      |
+
+   The contract has no `Created` state — a freshly-created app with no
+   release yet still reports `AppConfig.status == 1` because the contract
+   initializes it that way on `createApp`, long before any runtime deploy
+   has happened.
+
+`packages/cli/src/utils/prompts.ts:1250` appends
+`getContractStatusString(status)` to each picker row, so any freshly-created
+app is labeled `Started` regardless of whether it has ever been deployed.
+
+### Fix sketch
+
+Pick one. Option A is the cheapest.
+
+- **A. Enrich the picker with runtime status from the same `/info` or
+  `/apps/:id` response the `list` command uses.** Fall back to the contract
+  status string only when the runtime call fails. Keeps the picker fast
+  (single batched call) and makes it consistent with `list` + `info`. ~15
+  lines in `getAppIDInteractive`-adjacent code, plus a request to whichever
+  endpoint backs `list`.
+- **B. Special-case "has a release" in the picker.** If
+  `AppConfig.latestReleaseTimestamp == 0` (or the equivalent "no release
+  ever published" sentinel the contract exposes), render the status as
+  `Created` instead of `Started`. Narrower change but leaks contract
+  semantics up to the user; doesn't fix the reverse case (app is
+  `Terminated` at runtime but contract still says `Stopped`).
+- **C. Hide status from the picker entirely.** Simplest, but loses
+  information that *is* useful when it's accurate (e.g., distinguishing
+  `Started` vs `Stopped` when deciding what to pass to `start` / `stop`).
+
+Recommended: A. The `list` path already successfully hits the API — reuse
+that same call.
+
+### Scope
+
+`packages/cli/src/utils/prompts.ts` (`getAppIDInteractive` and
+`getContractStatusString` call sites around lines 1217-1295). No other
+files need to change for option A; the ecloud-platform / compute-tee API
+already exposes the richer status.
+
+### Priority
+
+Low — no functional bug, picker still sorts sensibly and the downstream
+`upgrade` command works. But it's an actively misleading UX string, and any
+new user seeing "Started" on an app that has never been deployed will waste
+time trying to stop something that isn't running.