fix(cat): break the bootstrap deadlock that would have kept @cat inert

[catomean]

Caught by checking production rather than reading the code: the queue had deployed, and the Cat still had no account. Following it through, it never would have got one.

The circularity

resolveMentions can only flag @cat when a Cat profile exists → with no account, nothing is ever queued. And the worker called ensureCatAccount after its empty-queue early return → an empty queue established nothing.

nothing queued → nothing established → nothing queued

A freshly deployed platform would sit there with @cat resolving to nobody — looking exactly like a working feature nobody had used yet. Which is the worst kind of broken, because there's nothing to notice.

The worker now establishes the account before it looks at the queue. One primary-key lookup per tick when it's a no-op — every tick after the first — and the every-minute timer becomes what brings the Cat into existence.

The second half, in the timer

Persistent=true only replays a run missed while the machine was down. A timer enabled for the first time simply waits for the next OnCalendar — for a daily timer, up to 24 hours.

Production confirmed exactly that:

NEXT                            LEFT   LAST
Thu 2026-08-27 00:06:55 UTC     12h    -        orangecat-cron@cat-account.timer

Installed, enabled, never run, next run half a day away. OnActiveSec=1min makes a freshly deployed Cat exist within the minute.

Pinned so it can't be tidied back

The test asserts the ordering, not just that the call happens:

expect(order).toEqual(['ensure', 'claim']);

Proven by restoring the old arrangement — two tests go red, including "establishes the account even when the queue is empty".

Verification

• npm run verify — exit 0 (2364 tests)
• 5 new tests; deadlock reproduced and re-fixed to confirm they catch it

🤖 Generated with Claude Code