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Codeman/docs/reliable-input-delivery.md
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Codeman maintainer 70fc6b32d5 docs: record the dup/last input ACK, Shift+drag and right-click copy, and multi-case adopted containers
Three behaviours landed from #375 without their doc entries: the
duplicate input ACK now carries `dup:true` and the server's watermark
(`docs/reliable-input-delivery.md` still described a bare ACK), Shift+drag
and right-click copy in the terminal (the shortcut list did not know
them), and one adopted container backing several cases at different
in-container directories (the Docker cases paragraph still implied one
case per container for adopted containers too).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-14 23:56:19 +02:00

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# Reliable input delivery (exactly-once, durable)
## The bug this fixes
With local echo on, pressing Enter cleared the overlay and then sent the prompt
over the WebSocket **fire-and-forget** (`ws.send({t:'i',d})`). On a flaky link
(e.g. a moving train) the socket is frequently *half-open*: `readyState === OPEN`
so `ws.send()` does **not** throw, but the underlying TCP is dead, so the frame is
silently discarded. Nothing was enqueued (the send "succeeded"), the on-screen
prompt was already wiped, and `navigator.onLine` stays `true` — so a long typed
prompt vanished with no trace and no resend.
## The guarantee
Every byte of user input is **recorded durably before delivery** and **only
dropped once the server ACKs it** — so a half-open socket, a reconnect, or a page
reload can never lose input. Redelivery is **exactly-once**: the server applies
each `(clientId, seq)` at most once, so a resend can't type the prompt twice.
## How it works
### Client (`app.js`)
- A stable **`clientId`** (`localStorage['codeman:clientId']`) identifies this
browser to the server's dedup across reconnects and reloads.
- Each input frame gets a **monotonic per-session `seq`**. Frame records
(`{seq,data,useMux,ts,tries,sentAt}`) live in `_pendingDeliveries`
(`Map<sessionId, record[]>`), persisted (debounced, + flushed on `pagehide`/
`visibilitychange`) to `localStorage['codeman:pendingInput']`. The seq counters
persist too, so seqs stay monotonic across reloads (never reset — a reset would
let the server treat fresh input as an already-applied duplicate).
- **Delivery** (`_drainSession`):
- **WS path** — when the socket is `OPEN` for the session, send each not-yet-sent
record (`sentAt === 0`) in seq order over the single ordered stream. Records
stay pending until the server's `{t:'ia',seq}` ACK removes them.
- **POST path** — when no WS, POST records in order, awaiting each (the HTTP 2xx
*is* the ACK). A 404/410 (session gone) drops the record rather than retry
forever.
- **Half-open recovery** (`_redeliverSweep`, every 2s): if the active WS session's
oldest record is unacked past `_reliableAckTimeoutMs` (4s), the socket is assumed
dead — `ws.close()` forces a fast reconnect; `onopen` (`_onWsReady`) resets
`sentAt = 0` and re-sends everything pending. Also re-drains background sessions
over POST, and fires on SSE-reconnect / `online`.
- The connection indicator shows pending count/bytes (`_pendingBytes`).
### Server
- **`Session.shouldApplyInput(clientId, seq)`** — returns `true` exactly once per
`(clientId, seq)`: the first time a seq strictly greater than that client's
last-applied is seen. A replayed/lower seq returns `false`. Bounded MRU map
(`MAX_INPUT_DEDUP_CLIENTS = 256`).
- **WS route** (`ws-routes.ts`) — parses optional `cid`/`seq` on `{t:'i'}`; applies
via `shouldApplyInput`. An applied frame is ACKed with `{t:'ia',seq}`; a duplicate is
ACKed as `{t:'ia',seq,dup:true,last:<watermark>}`, where `last` is the server's
highest applied seq for that `clientId` (`Session.lastInputSeq`). The client drops
the record either way, and on `dup` it lifts its own counter to `last` first and
re-sends a FIRST-attempt record (a retry being called a duplicate is the mechanism
working: the original landed). Without `last`, a tab killed between a send and the
persisted counter write came back counting BELOW the server's watermark, and every
later keystroke was dropped-but-ACKed: a silently dead terminal a reload could not
fix, since the stale counter was restored from localStorage too. The client now
persists the counter synchronously on every send for the same reason. Untagged
frames apply unconditionally (no behavior change).
- **POST route** (`/api/sessions/:id/input`) — optional `seq`/`clientId` in
`SessionInputWithLimitSchema`; a deduped duplicate returns 200 without writing
(the 200 is the client's ACK). `curl`/legacy callers omit the fields and always
apply.
## Known limitation
Dedup state is in-memory on the server. A **server restart** between a write and
the client's redelivery of that same seq could re-apply it (a rare duplicate).
This is a deliberate trade-off: favor *never losing input* over a rare duplicate
across the narrow restart window.
## Tests
- `test/reliable-input-dedup.test.ts` — `Session.shouldApplyInput` exactly-once
semantics (monotonic, per-client, gap-tolerant, eviction-safe).
- `test/routes/session-routes.test.ts` — POST `/input` applies a tagged
`(clientId, seq)` once on redelivery; untagged input always applies.