fix(brain-repo): watcher must observe install_dir, not brain_repo_dir

[mt-alarcon]

Summary

• BrainRepoWatcher.start() was scheduling its watchdog observers on brain_repo_dir/{memory,workspace,customizations,config-safe} (the sync target), not on install_dir/... (the source where users actually edit).
• Result: auto-sync silently went dormant. The observer would only fire when job_runner.copytree modified the destination — i.e. when a sync was already in progress — so external edits to the working tree never enqueued a sync.
• One-line semantic fix: swap self._brain_repo_dir → self._install_dir on line 108 of dashboard/backend/brain_repo/watcher.py.

Symptoms before the fix

Reproduced on a production install (mt-alarcon, 2026-05-14):

• Last auto-commit on the brain repo dated from the previous day even though hours of edits had accumulated in the working tree.
• git status on dashboard/data/brain-repos/evo-nexus-brain always reported "clean" until sync_force ran manually.
• No BrainRepoWatcher started log line was missing — the observer started normally, just on the wrong paths.
• On dev reloads / repeated boots, watchdog raised RuntimeError: Cannot add watch ... already scheduled because the destination paths overlapped with previously-registered observers in the same process.

Why the original code looked correct

The constructor docs and field names already imply the right contract:

def __init__(
    self,
    install_dir: Path,         # workspace root, where the user edits
    brain_repo_dir: Path,      # mirror destination, where copytree writes
    ...
):

The _install_dir field is even passed to _ChangeHandler (line 100), but the loop a few lines below uses _brain_repo_dir. Likely an early copy-paste from the sync code path that mutates the destination — never caught because the observer does fire when the mirror writes, so a manual sync_force looks like it works.

The fix

         watched_any = False
         for rel_path in WATCH_PATHS:
-            watch_target = self._brain_repo_dir / rel_path
+            # Watch the SOURCE (install_dir / working tree) — that's where the user
+            # actually edits files. Pre-fix this pointed at brain_repo_dir, which is
+            # the SYNC TARGET and only changes when copytree runs (no useful signal),
+            # so auto-sync never fired for user edits.
+            watch_target = self._install_dir / rel_path
             if watch_target.exists():

No API change, no migration, no schema touch.

Test plan

• Restart dashboard with the fix applied (launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.mta.evonexus).
• Create a sentinel file in the working tree: echo test > <install>/memory/.watcher_test.md.
• Wait ~30 s (debounce) + commit/push window.
• Confirm a new auto: file watcher sync commit landed in the brain repo within ~36 s and was pushed to origin.
• Cleanup: git rm the sentinel from the brain repo (sync is one-way / copy-only, so deletions in the source don't propagate — separate issue, not addressed here).

Notes for reviewers

• Sync is still one-way (copytree with dirs_exist_ok=True, no --delete). Removing files from the working tree does not propagate to the brain repo — that's a separate behavior worth a follow-up but unrelated to this fix.
• The RuntimeError: already scheduled traceback was a symptom of the wrong path, not a separate bug. Once the observer points at the correct source paths, the conflict disappears (the destination paths are no longer registered).

Summary by Sourcery

Bug Fixes:

• Ensure BrainRepoWatcher observes the install_dir source paths so changes in the working tree correctly trigger auto-sync instead of only reacting to mirror writes.

[sourcery-ai]

Reviewer's guide (collapsed on small PRs)

Reviewer's Guide

BrainRepoWatcher now correctly observes the install_dir (user-edited source workspace) instead of the brain_repo_dir (sync destination), restoring automatic sync triggering on user edits without changing any external APIs or schemas.

File-Level Changes

Change	Details	Files
Fix BrainRepoWatcher to watch the source working tree instead of the mirror destination so file-edit events correctly enqueue syncs.	In the BrainRepoWatcher.start() loop, changed the watch root from the brain repo mirror path to the install_dir working tree for all WATCH_PATHS. Added an inline comment explaining the rationale: install_dir is the source where users edit, while brain_repo_dir is the sync target updated by copytree, which previously caused the watcher to only fire during sync operations.	dashboard/backend/brain_repo/watcher.py

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