plat 270

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PLAT-270 — Protected live SQLite databases made configured backups impossible and wrongly suppressed publish

Coordination	Value
Assigned agent	Codex
Ticket state	implemented; runtime reverify pending
Last synchronized	2026-09-01

• Priority: backup/data durability, severity high.
• Origin: the rtslatency scheduled finalizer reported a partial backup because db/db.sqlite returned Operation not permitted; it then skipped an otherwise valid report publish. The manifest explicitly declared db-sqlite coverage, while the same platform correctly forbids agents from reading the live SQLite file and WAL sidecars directly.

Problem

The backup contract told the parent agent to stage a protected runtime file. That could never work reliably: direct shell/file access is intentionally blocked, and copying only the main file can omit committed rows still present in WAL. The finalizer also coupled unrelated operations by stating that it must not publish after backup failure, leaving public reports stale even when their own verification and deployment path were healthy.

Resolution

• Added trusted workspace operation POST /api/db/backup-snapshot and the no-argument Builder/Pulse tool create_workflow_database_snapshot.
• The workspace service resolves only Workflow/<id>/db/db.sqlite, creates a SQLite-engine snapshot with VACUUM INTO, includes committed WAL state, runs PRAGMA integrity_check, hashes and fsyncs the image, then atomically publishes the fixed restore artifact at backup/database/db.sqlite plus a stable checksum sidecar. Callers cannot choose a destination.
• Backup freshness hashing includes the managed snapshot rather than the protected live DB, so DB-only changes cannot be incorrectly skipped as already current. Legacy repositories remove live DB/WAL/SHM paths from the Git index without deleting them and track the managed snapshot instead.
• Scheduled/manual finalization deterministically creates that image before the agent backup when the due backup destination covers db-sqlite; the agent stages the snapshot and never the live database.
• Backup, Publish, and Notify retain ordered receipts but independent failure semantics. A partial/failed backup no longer suppresses a valid publish or notification.

Verification

• Workspace tests cover committed WAL rows, integrity, read-only output, atomic replacement on the next snapshot, and arbitrary-path rejection.
• Tool tests cover registry exposure and denial inside workflow step sessions.
• Scheduler contract tests cover trigger/coverage selection and ensure both Pulse and ordinary finalizers explicitly decouple Publish from Backup.