STTracker/docs/DECISIONS.md

# Decisions

Append-only. Never edit or delete an entry. Supersede it with a new one that links back.
One entry per decision a future maintainer would otherwise have to reverse-engineer.
No index: `grep -n '^## ' docs/DECISIONS.md` lists every entry (date, title, line number).

## 2026-10-30: User layer: per-user moves merge entries, keep aliases, and roll the library up by hierarchy
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Task 6 built the user layer (`packages/core/src/{entries,engagements,history,lists,copies}.ts`).
Several behaviours are not obvious from the spec and would otherwise have to be reverse-engineered.
**Decision:**
- **Merge on move.** `moveEntryToWork` onto a work where the user already has an entry merges the two:
  - Live target: the target's values win. Empty target fields are filled from the moved entry, carrying
    the moved entry's `field_sources`. Tags are unioned and custom fields and overrides merged; their
    `field_sources` is `"user"` if either side's was, otherwise the target's.
  - Differing non-empty `review`/`private_notes` are concatenated (target, `\n\n---\n\n`, moved).
  - A conflicting rating keeps the target's; the moved rating is recorded in the history row's `before`.
  - Engagements are re-parented, each with an `entryId` history row (restorable), and the moved entry is
    soft-deleted.
  - Soft-deleted target: revived with the moved entry's values and `field_sources` as-is.
- **Alias bookkeeping.** A move writes `work_aliases (user, old → target)`, re-points aliases that led to
  the old work, drops any alias leaving the target (no cycles), tombstones the user's own private draft,
  and re-points this user's copies (with history) and list items. Writes to an aliased or merged work
  (`upsertEntry`, copies, list items) resolve to the target. **Undoing a move** via `restoreVersion` deletes
  the forward alias and writes no reverse alias, so later syncs onto the target land on the target.
- **Library cursor.** `listEntries` cursors are base64 JSON `{ sort, sortValue, id }`. The sort is carried
  so a cursor cannot be replayed under another sort. For the title sort, `sortValue` is the SQL
  `lower(w.title)` of the last row, never a JS lowercase, so SQL and cursor agree on non-ASCII titles.
- **Custom fields patches replace the whole map** (`customFields` in an entry, engagement or copy patch).
  This makes restore exact. `field_sources` tracks the key `customFields` as a whole. Restore does not
  re-check values against today's definitions, because it is the user's own past data.
- **List items are hard-deleted.** `list_items` has no `deleted_at`. The list's `user_history` snapshot
  holds the ordered items, so `restoreVersion` brings removed items back.
- **Hierarchy visibility.** `childSummary` counts the user's live entries up to three levels below the
  entry's work (child, grandchild, great-grandchild). The default library view (`parentId: null`) lists
  entries with no ancestor, up to three levels, on which the user has a live entry. An episode whose show
  is untracked therefore stays visible, and is rolled up once the show gets an entry.
- **Concurrent creates.** `upsertEntry` inserts with `ON CONFLICT (user_id, work_id) DO NOTHING`, then
  patches through the update path, so a concurrent creator never aborts the caller's transaction.

**Alternatives:**
- Refusing a move onto an existing entry pushes the merge onto the user.
- Recursive CTEs for hierarchy are portable but heavier; three levels cover show → season → episode.
- A JS-lowercased cursor breaks on SQLite, whose `lower()` is ASCII-only.

**Consequences:** Undoing a move does not move copies or list items back, and hierarchy deeper than three
levels is not rolled up (both in `docs/TODO.md`).

## 2026-10-30: A single Kysely dialect over Bun.SQL for SQLite and Postgres
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Kysely ships no driver for Bun. `Bun.SQL` speaks both `sqlite://` and `postgres://` behind one API.
**Decision:**
- `packages/db/src/dialect.ts` is one Kysely `Dialect` whose driver wraps `new SQL(url)`, choosing Kysely's
  SQLite or Postgres adapter, compiler and introspector by URL scheme.
- Postgres connections come from `sql.reserve()`. Bun's SQLite adapter does not support `reserve()`, so SQLite
  uses the single `SQL` instance as its only connection, serialised by a mutex so transactions never interleave.
- Transactions are plain `begin`/`commit`/`rollback` on the held connection.

**Alternatives:**
- Separate dialects over `bun:sqlite` and `Bun.sql`: two drivers to maintain for the same job.
- Community Bun dialect packages: an extra dependency, and none covers both databases.

**Consequences:** SQLite is effectively single-connection (fine for a self-hosted app). Savepoints and real
streaming are not implemented; `streamQuery` returns the whole result as one chunk.

## 2026-10-30: JSON columns are stored as text on both dialects
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Spec §11 calls for `jsonb`. SQLite has no JSON type, so `jsonb` on Postgres would need
per-dialect read/write code in every service that touches a JSON column.
**Decision:** JSON columns are `text` everywhere, written with `toJson()` and read with `fromJson()` from
`@sttracker/db/json`. `fromJson` returns a caller-supplied fallback for null or invalid text.
**Alternatives:** `jsonb` on Postgres with per-dialect read/write code.
**Consequences:** No JSON operators or indexes in SQL; filtering on JSON content happens in app code. Can be
superseded later by a migration to `jsonb` if a query needs it.

## 2026-10-30: UUIDv7 instead of ULID for IDs
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Spec and `AGENTS.md` say IDs are ULIDs generated in app code. Bun has `Bun.randomUUIDv7()` built in.
**Decision:** `newId()` in `@sttracker/db/ids` returns `Bun.randomUUIDv7()`. IDs are stored as `text`.
**Alternatives:** ULID, which needs a dependency or hand-written encoder.
**Consequences:** IDs are equally time-sortable as strings with no extra dependency. They are 36 characters
instead of 26. Where `AGENTS.md` or the spec say "ULID", read "UUIDv7".

## 2026-10-30: Product design decisions recorded in spec 001
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Brainstorming with the owner produced the v1 design.
**Decision:** See `docs/specs/001-sttracker-v1-design.md` §13 for the designer's calls. Owner decisions:
- Phase 1 is read-only.
- Write-back is opt-in per connection.
- Conflicts between sources go to the Changes inbox.
- Backloggd waits for its official export.
- The app UI is Hardcover-style; the public page is scrapbook + river.
**Alternatives:** Recorded in the spec.
**Consequences:** Phase 1 has no `push` implementations.

## 2026-10-30: Bun workspaces monorepo with Kysely for both databases
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** The owner requires Bun with SQLite and Postgres options.
**Decision:**
- Bun workspaces (`apps/*`, `packages/*`, `plugins/*`).
- Kysely is the single query layer, with portable migrations.
- SQLite runs through `bun:sqlite` and Postgres through `Bun.sql`.

**Alternatives:**
- Drizzle needs a separate schema per dialect.
- Prisma does not fit Bun-native drivers.
- Raw SQL would duplicate every query per dialect.

**Consequences:** We may need a small custom Kysely dialect for `Bun.sql` or `bun:sqlite`. Every DB test runs on both databases.

## 2026-10-30: Adopt AGENTS.md as single source of truth
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Agents had no durable project context and no consistent workflow between sessions.
**Decision:**
- `AGENTS.md` is canonical; `CLAUDE.md` and `GEMINI.md` are pointers.
- Specs are permanent in `docs/specs/`.
- Plans live in `docs/plans/` only while work is in progress and are removed before the merge request.
- Both locations override the superpowers default paths.

**Alternatives:**
- Per-tool rule files: they drift and create synchronisation debt.
- No rules file: agents re-explore the repo every session, which is measurably slower and costs more tokens.

**Consequences:** Rule changes happen in one file, and the pointer files must stay thin. Plans are working
artefacts: kept after merge, they go stale and contradict the code, so the spec is the record.

## 2026-10-30: Catalogue matching is race-safe through unique keys plus whole-transaction retry
**Status:** accepted
**Context:** Two syncs matching the same new work at once both miss the lookup and both insert. On
Postgres the loser hit the `external_ids (namespace, value)` unique key and crashed the sync; seasons and
episodes had no key at all and were duplicated.
**Decision:**
- Migration `0002_works_position_unique` adds a unique index on `works (parent_id, position)`. NULLs are
  distinct on both dialects, so top-level works and position-less children are unaffected.
- `matchWork` re-runs the whole resolve in a fresh transaction on a unique violation (SQLite
  "UNIQUE constraint failed", Postgres SQLSTATE 23505), up to 3 attempts. Postgres aborts the transaction
  on the error, so a statement-level retry is not possible.
- Adding missing external IDs to an existing work uses `ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING`.
- An ID match only counts if the work is shared or owned by the matching user, and private works can
  never carry external IDs (`createWork` refuses; global merges accept only shared works).
- A global merge repoints children of `from` to `to` unless `to` already has a child at that position.

**Alternatives:**
- Advisory or table locks: dialect-specific, and SQLite already serialises writes.
- Upserts throughout `createWork`: would hide genuine conflicts and need per-dialect `RETURNING` handling.

**Consequences:** Parents resolved without IDs or position (title/year reuse) still have no unique key
and can be duplicated under concurrency; tracked in `docs/TODO.md`.