fix(blackbox): unit had no Image and no Network=host - quadlet refused to generate it

The deploy died at 'Unit blackbox-exporter.service not found': a
.container without Image= is not generated at all, and the header
argued for Network=host it never declared. Completes the unit (digest
pinned prom/blackbox-exporter, Network=host) and fixes the bind
topology the first cut got wrong:

- Prometheus is bridge-networked and the netavark hairpin gap bars it
  from its own host's LAN IP, so a LAN-only prober bind is unscrapable
  and a loopback-only bind was claimed to ride the gateway on faith.
  The prober now binds 9115 on the podman gateway (scrape path) AND
  the LAN (healthcheck/diagnostics); the listen_address line leaves
  blackbox.yml so config and Exec cannot disagree.
- comfyui probe target http://comfyui:8188 -> http://127.0.0.1:8188:
  bridge container names do not resolve in the host netns; the
  published 0.0.0.0:8188 answers on loopback there.
- New seam: every observability unit must declare Image= (red on the
  shipped file by name); copier test pinned module presence instead
  of the removed listen line. Docs updated to the real topology.

AGENTS.md

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ merge absorbed the former `vllmScripts` repo, history preserved).
 |--------|---------|---------|---------|------|
 | Dankserver | `frank-archon` | radiance, digest-pinned, root unit, TP=2 | publisher `qwen3.8-next-flash-fp8-iq4r-moe.rad` | 7770 |
 | Dankclaw | `frank-dragoon` | halogen-flash-server 0.16.2, digest-pinned, root unit | `qwen38-flash-next-v2-abliterated.hgn` + n-gram + vision tower | 7770 |
-| Dankclaw | `frank-zealot` | llama.cpp PrismML fork build 10777, root unit — the only loader for this payload | Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0 + Q8_0 mmproj | 7771 |
+| Dankclaw | `frank-zealot` | llama.cpp PrismML fork build 10777, root unit — the only loader for this payload | Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0 + Q8_0 mmproj + rank-1 refusal adapter | 7771 |
 
 Payload identity, shape, eras, laws and rollback live in ONE page each:
 [[frank-archon]], [[frank-dragoon]], [[frank-zealot]]. `scripts/<service>.env`
@@ -166,19 +166,22 @@ bare compose container never returned; 2026-09-11: five observability
 services had no units). The observability services now have units under
 `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/` and their compose definitions were removed —
 one owner per container name. The stack is **configured and delivering as of
-2026-09-17**: a Grafana datasource and the `llm-fleet` dashboard are
-provisioned from `shared/grafana/provisioning/`, `shared/prometheus/rules/
-llm-fleet.yml` loads 5 alert rules + 1 recording rule, and firing rules are
+2026-09-17**: Grafana datasources (Prometheus and Loki) and the `llm-fleet`
+dashboard are provisioned from `shared/grafana/provisioning/`, and
+`shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml` loads two rule groups — `llm-fleet`
+(llama.cpp/halogen, `llamacpp:*`) and `vllm-fleet` (radiance, `vllm:*`) — alert
++ recording rules, and firing rules are
 delivered: Prometheus → Alertmanager (`dankclaw/observability/quadlet/
 alertmanager.container`, loopback :9093) → host-side Signal relay
 (`scripts/signal-relay.py`, user unit, 192.168.0.143:18093 — the host LAN
 IP, the one bind a container can reach as `host.containers.internal`;
 iptables admits loopback, the host and the podman bridge subnet only) → signal-cli account 318311.
-Prometheus targets read down for structural reasons (HTML-scraped "probes",
-Gitea metrics off); the remedy is a blackbox exporter. `frank-zealot` was down for
-a different reason until 2026-10-18: llama.cpp will not serve `/metrics` at all
-without `--metrics`. See
-`serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Observability.md`.
+The former structural target downs (HTML-scraped "probes", Gitea metrics off)
+are retired as of 2026-10-21: HTTP liveness rides a blackbox exporter
+(`shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml`), Gitea serves `/metrics` from its quadlet, and
+every Prometheus job reports up. `frank-zealot` was down for a different reason
+until 2026-10-18: llama.cpp will not serve `/metrics` at all without
+`--metrics`. See `serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Observability.md`.
 
 ## Testing
 
@@ -417,16 +420,17 @@ disagrees with it is the bug.
   digest-pinned `ghcr.io/peonist-ai/halogen-flash-server@sha256:0c61bf84…`.
   Engine stdout (the boot ledger: weights, KV pool, clamp) goes to
   `/home/dank/logs/frank_dragoon.log`, NOT the journal.
-- Shape: `HALOGEN_CTX=200704` is the **per-request ceiling** (a longer prompt
-  is a 400, never a truncation); `HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2` over ONE
-  `HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408` pool — pool positions buy concurrency,
-  the per-request window never moves; `HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0` keeps the MTP
-  drafter always armed (the adaptive default disarms it and halves decode);
-  server sampler 1.0/0.95/20.
-- Harness contract: `models.yml` `contextWindow: 155648` = ceiling − 45,056.
-  The clamp is `min(45056, window − est − 4096)` and the chars/4 estimate
-  under-counts, so a harness window equal to the ceiling makes every long
-  request a guaranteed 400. Reasoning arrives in `reasoning_content`; the
+- Shape: `HALOGEN_CTX=262144` (the checkpoint's native window) is the
+  **per-request ceiling** (a longer prompt is a 400, never a truncation);
+  `HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2` over ONE `HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408` pool —
+  pool positions buy concurrency, the per-request window never moves;
+  `HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0` keeps the MTP drafter always armed (the adaptive
+  default disarms it and halves decode); server sampler 1.0/0.95/20.
+- Harness contract: `models.yml` `contextWindow: 200000` — ~45k+ under the
+  ceiling. The clamp is `min(45056, window − est − 4096)` and the chars/4
+  estimate under-counts (trigger is 95 %), so a harness window at the ceiling
+  makes every long request a guaranteed 400.
+  Reasoning arrives in `reasoning_content`; the
   template rejects `reasoning_effort` outside `xhigh|medium|low`; images are
   OpenAI `image_url` parts (probe ≥256 px); `response_format` unsupported;
   `/completion`, `/ping`, `/props`, `/tokenize` are 404.
@@ -440,7 +444,11 @@ disagrees with it is the bug.
   `prism.hadamard.*` dequant metadata — stock llama.cpp refuses it, and a
   loader ignoring that metadata dequantizes wrong); payload
   `Bonsai2-9B-MTP/…PQ2_0.gguf` + the publisher's **Q8_0** mmproj (the BF16
-  tower can crash the server with concurrent image requests).
+  tower can crash the server with concurrent image requests) + the rank-1
+  refusal-direction adapter applied at load by `--lora-scaled …:1`. The
+  adapter's rollback is `LORA_FILE=` (empty) in the env — one line, no rebuild
+  — and build 10777 is also the gate that lets it load: older forks refuse it
+  with `unsupported prism.hadamard.version: 2`.
 - Shape: `--ctx-size 602112 --parallel 3` = **three conversations at
   200,704 each**, `CACHE_TYPE_K=f16` + `CACHE_TYPE_V=q8_0` (asymmetric: 25,088
   B/token, 14,406 MiB of pool), batch 6144 / ubatch 1024,
@@ -458,12 +466,15 @@ disagrees with it is the bug.
 - Owns: `scripts/frank-archon.env`, `scripts/serve-frank-archon.sh`,
   `scripts/frank-archon.service`, `scripts/ttm-preflight.sh`, template
   `scripts/qwen38-froggeric-v22.5.jinja`; image digest-pinned
-  `stilldeadcode/radiance@sha256:4c3f4845…`; container name = unit name.
-- Shape: TP=2 over `wht6`, `--max-num-seqs 3`, `--max-model-len 200000`,
-  `expert_tiered` placement, 44,928 MiB pinned host pool per rank, VRAM pair
-  `--vram-weights-mib 25600 --vram-kv-mib 5120` (ONE budget: weights + kv ≤
-  30,969 MiB/card), `fp8` KV, MTP depth 2, MNBT 2048, prefix cache 8 GiB host
-  + 64 GiB disk, n-gram table pinned to RAM.
+  `stilldeadcode/radiance@sha256:d590e300…` (radiance 1.8.1); container name = unit name.
+- Shape: TP=2 over `wht6`, `--max-num-seqs 2`, `--max-model-len 200000`,
+  `expert_tiered` placement, 44,928 MiB pinned host pool per rank, `fp8` KV,
+  MTP depth 2, MNBT 2048, `--busy-prefill-chunk auto`, prefix cache 8 GiB host
+  tier only, n-gram table pinned to RAM. The per-card weights/KV split is derived
+  by the engine's budget resolver from `--gpu-headroom-mib`, the cache bound and
+  the host pool; the `--vram-weights-mib`/`--vram-kv-mib` pair and the prefix disk
+  tier are gone (removed at 1.3.0 / 1.8.1) and naming either is a boot refusal,
+  not a no-op.
 - Harness/gate contract: `models.yml` `contextWindow` MUST quote 200,000
   (over-length is refused, never truncated); the ~147 GiB pinned-RAM ledger
   is why this is a root unit, and `ttm-preflight.sh` raises
@@ -796,6 +807,20 @@ dies, its page is destroyed. Rollback is a commit, not a document.
 `serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md` is the locator for every page that survives;
 retired scripts live in `old/` and `.AGENTTRASH/`.
 
+## Agent skills
+
+### Issue tracker
+
+Issues live in Gitea (`dank/serverAppConfigs` on Dankclaw), via its REST API with the stored credential. See `serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Issue Tracker.md`.
+
+### Triage labels
+
+The five canonical roles keep their default strings (`needs-triage`, `needs-info`, `ready-for-agent`, `ready-for-human`, `wontfix`). See `serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Triage Labels.md`.
+
+### Domain docs
+
+Single-context: root `GLOSSARY.md` + `docs/adr/`, created lazily; this vault stays the owner of operational facts. See `serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Domain Docs.md`.
+
 ## Why
 
 Direct edits on the remote drift from version control, and future agents

dankclaw/Caddyfile

@@ -162,6 +162,25 @@ marreta.franksdank.cloud {
 	}
 }
 
+# --- Open Notebook (guarded: Anubis → Authentik; notebook-proxy provider, internal_host caddy:8017) ---
+# The podcast generator. ONE upstream carries the whole app: the image's own
+# Next.js layer rewrites /api/* to the FastAPI beside it (INTERNAL_API_URL,
+# default http://localhost:5055 inside the container), so a browser on this
+# vhost never needs the API port. That is why scripts/open-notebook.env sets
+# API_URL to exactly this origin — left unset, the app auto-detects
+# `<host-you-opened>:5055`, and 5055 on this host belongs to seerr — and why
+# the published API port sits on loopback. App-level login
+# (OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD) stays on behind the chain: two owners, edge identity
+# and the app's own session.
+# Dialled by published LAN port, not container name: open-notebook is a
+# rootless quadlet and this Caddy lives in root's storage, so root's DNS does
+# not see the container (the same reason marreta and SearXNG are dialled by IP).
+notebook.franksdank.cloud {
+	reverse_proxy anubis:8923 {
+		header_up X-Real-Ip {remote_host}
+	}
+}
+
 # --- Pi-hole (quadlet on slirp4netns; published 8083) ---
 pihole.franksdank.cloud {
 	basicauth {
@@ -420,6 +439,16 @@ http://:8017 {
 	handle @marreta {
 		reverse_proxy 192.168.0.143:8082
 	}
+
+	@notebook host notebook.franksdank.cloud
+	handle @notebook {
+		# Bare proxy, like ai.franksdank.cloud: the app's SSE answers
+		# (/api/search/ask, chat sessions) stream for minutes through this
+		# same listener with no flush or timeout tuning, so nothing here
+		# needs it — a read/write timeout on the route would be the thing
+		# that cuts them.
+		reverse_proxy 192.168.0.143:8502
+	}
 }
 
 # --- Optional: Jackett ---

dankclaw/gitea/quadlet/gitea-server.container

@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ Environment=DATABASE_PASSWD=${GITEA_DB_PASSWORD}
 Environment=DATABASE_PORT=5432
 Environment=USER_UID=1000
 Environment=USER_GID=1000
+# Prometheus scrapes /metrics over the published LAN port (job "gitea" in
+# shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml). Off, /metrics is a 404 and the target is
+# permanently red (the audit's "disabled metrics" class). 0.0.0.0 binds inside
+# the container; the only route in is this host's published 3000, and the
+# exposed surface is counters only — same posture as the LLM /metrics.
+Environment=GITEA__metrics__ENABLED=true
+Environment=GITEA__metrics__ENABLED_HOST=0.0.0.0
 PublishPort=0.0.0.0:3000:3000
 PublishPort=2222:22
 Volume=/home/dank/Containers/gitea/data:/data

dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# halogen-fabric-clock hold | release | status: the AMD GPU's fabric clock (FCLK), held at its top level.
+#
+# On Strix Halo the GPU and the NPU working at the same time can hang the machine, and corrupt the NPU's results,
+# while the GPU's fabric clock changes speed; held at its top level, the two run together cleanly. halogen-flash-server
+# with HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS refuses to start until the clock is held. This holds it: the performance level `manual` and
+# only the top pp_dpm_fclk level, on every amdgpu device that has the control (the GPU and SoC clocks stay automatic).
+# Cost: about 1 W at idle. Run as root; halogen-fabric-clock.service runs `hold` at every boot and after a resume.
+#
+#   hold     hold it (waits up to 60 s for the GPU driver to come up)
+#   release  give it back to the driver (the performance level `auto`)
+#   status   print each device's state; exit 0 when every device is held
+set -u
+SYS="${HALOGEN_SYSFS:-/sys}"
+
+devices() {
+  for d in "$SYS"/class/drm/card*/device; do
+    [ -w "$d/pp_dpm_fclk" ] || [ -r "$d/pp_dpm_fclk" ] || continue
+    [ -e "$d/power_dpm_force_performance_level" ] || continue
+    echo "$d"
+  done | sort -u
+}
+
+held() {   # held DEVICE_DIR: the performance level high, or manual with only the top fclk level selected
+  perf=$(cat "$1/power_dpm_force_performance_level" 2>/dev/null)
+  [ "$perf" = high ] && return 0
+  [ "$perf" = manual ] || return 1
+  top=$(grep . "$1/pp_dpm_fclk" | tail -n 1)
+  [ "$(grep -c '\*' "$1/pp_dpm_fclk")" = 1 ] && [ "${top%\*}" != "$top" ]
+}
+
+cmd="${1:-status}"
+case "$cmd" in
+  hold)
+    n=0
+    while [ -z "$(devices)" ] && [ "$n" -lt 60 ]; do sleep 1; n=$((n + 1)); done
+    [ -n "$(devices)" ] || { echo "halogen-fabric-clock: no amdgpu device with a fabric clock control (pp_dpm_fclk) under $SYS/class/drm" >&2; exit 1; }
+    rc=0
+    for d in $(devices); do
+      lvl=$(grep . "$d/pp_dpm_fclk" | tail -n 1 | cut -d: -f1)
+      # the driver applies the level several seconds after the write, so the read-back waits up to 30 s
+      ok=0
+      if echo manual > "$d/power_dpm_force_performance_level" && echo "$lvl" > "$d/pp_dpm_fclk"; then
+        t=0; until held "$d" || [ "$t" -ge 300 ]; do sleep 0.1; t=$((t + 1)); done
+        held "$d" && ok=1
+      fi
+      if [ "$ok" = 1 ]; then
+        echo "halogen-fabric-clock: $d: held at level $lvl ($(grep . "$d/pp_dpm_fclk" | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $2}'))"
+      else
+        echo "halogen-fabric-clock: $d: could not hold it (level $lvl)" >&2; rc=1
+      fi
+    done
+    exit "$rc" ;;
+  release)
+    for d in $(devices); do echo auto > "$d/power_dpm_force_performance_level" && echo "halogen-fabric-clock: $d: released (auto)"; done ;;
+  status)
+    [ -n "$(devices)" ] || { echo "halogen-fabric-clock: no amdgpu device with a fabric clock control"; exit 1; }
+    rc=0
+    for d in $(devices); do
+      if held "$d"; then echo "$d: held ($(cat "$d/power_dpm_force_performance_level"))"
+      else echo "$d: NOT held ($(cat "$d/power_dpm_force_performance_level"))"; rc=1; fi
+    done
+    exit "$rc" ;;
+  *) echo "usage: halogen-fabric-clock hold | release | status" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+esac

dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock.service

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Holds the AMD GPU's fabric clock at its top level at boot and after every resume, for halogen-flash-server with
+# the NPU (HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS): on Strix Halo the GPU and the NPU at once are safe only with that clock held.
+# Install (as root), from this directory:
+#   install -m 755 halogen-fabric-clock /usr/local/sbin/
+#   install -m 644 halogen-fabric-clock.service /etc/systemd/system/
+#   systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable --now halogen-fabric-clock.service
+# Check: halogen-fabric-clock status. Undo: systemctl disable halogen-fabric-clock.service, then
+#   halogen-fabric-clock release (or reboot). The unit runs once at boot and once after each resume (a resume can hand
+#   the clock back to the driver); it holds nothing open, so it shows inactive between runs.
+[Unit]
+Description=Hold the AMD GPU fabric clock at its top level (GPU and NPU together)
+After=systemd-modules-load.service suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock hold
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target suspend-then-hibernate.target

dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container

@@ -1,55 +1,51 @@
-# Quadlet unit: alloy (rootless, boot-persistent).
+# Quadlet unit: alloy (ROOT system service, boot-persistent).
 #
-# Install path on dankclaw: ~/.config/containers/systemd/alloy.container
-# Unit name: alloy.service (container name: alloy)
+# Install path on dankclaw: /etc/containers/systemd/alloy.container
+# Unit name: alloy.service (container name: alloy) — SYSTEM manager, root.
 #
-# Log shipper. This replaces the compose service of the same name in
-# dankclaw/compose.yaml ("Observability" block).
+# WHY ROOT (not rootless, unlike its observability siblings). Alloy reads the
+# host journal. The journal files are root:systemd-journal 0640 (other::---);
+# a rootless container carries no supplementary groups and cannot open them —
+# a rootless read of system.journal returns DENIED (see the Alloy page in the
+# vault). Running as root, one loki.source.journal reads system.journal AND
+# user-1000.journal, so it carries both host logs and the rootless Quadlet
+# containers' logs. Validated 2026-10-20: a root probe read 31,825 journal
+# lines and pushed 26,966 into Loki in 20 s, zero drops.
 #
-# IMAGE. franksdank/alloy is built locally by deploy-remote.sh
-# (build_compose_image) from dankclaw/alloy/Containerfile: upstream
-# grafana/alloy plus a static busybox for the healthcheck. Pull=never keeps a
-# boot from reaching for that local tag at a registry.
+# NETWORK=host. Loki publishes 127.0.0.1:3100 (loopback only) on the host, and
+# no bridge container — rootless or root — can reach the host's loopback, so
+# this unit runs on the host network and pushes to 127.0.0.1:3100. The side
+# effect: the UI must bind loopback too, so Exec sets the listen-addr to
+# 127.0.0.1 (the old rootless unit used 0.0.0.0 only because container loopback
+# was not host loopback; under Network=host they are the same address, so the
+# unauthenticated UI stays loopback-only — nothing off-host reaches it).
 #
-# NETWORK. It joins dankclaw_default so its config's loki.write endpoint
-# resolves the container name loki:3100.
+# THE /etc/machine-id MOUNT IS LOAD-BEARING. sd_journal locates the journal
+# directory by the local machine id; without it the container opens nothing and
+# the journal source reads exactly 0 lines — silently, no error, health green.
+# This mount is the entire reason the pipeline carries data. Never remove it.
 #
-# THE UI PORT EXISTS ON PURPOSE. Alloy's UI listens on the container's own
-# 127.0.0.1 by default and cannot be moved from the config file (alloy 1.x
-# refuses the ui block), so the compose service had no reachable health
-# endpoint at all: the homepage status card for alloy reported "down"
-# continuously and there was nothing for a deploy to wait on. The command
-# below therefore moves the UI to the container's wildcard address and the
-# port is published on host loopback only, which puts alloy in the same class
-# as the other three: reachable from the host, by Caddy over the private
-# network, and by nothing off-host. Alloy has no authentication, which is
-# exactly why it is not published wider.
-#
-# SOURCES. The host journald socket and the host log/container-storage trees
-# are bind-mounted read-only; Alloy tails them and pushes to Loki. The config
-# lives at /opt/alloy/config/config.alloy, installed from
-# shared/alloy/config.alloy on every deploy.
-#
-# ORDERING. Wants/After loki.service: without a reachable Loki, Alloy's write
-# client fails and its log pipeline backs up.
+# IMAGE. Built rootless by build_compose_image alloy, then mirrored into the
+# root image store by the deployer (a root build runs in the build container's
+# own resolver and fails on DNS here). Pull=never: boot must not reach for the
+# local tag at a registry.
 
 [Unit]
 Description=Alloy log shipper (Dankclaw)
-After=network-online.target loki.service
-Wants=network-online.target loki.service
+After=network-online.target
 
 [Container]
 ContainerName=alloy
 Image=localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest
 Pull=never
-Network=dankclaw_default
-Exec=run --server.http.listen-addr=0.0.0.0:12345 /etc/alloy/config.alloy
-PublishPort=127.0.0.1:12345:12345
-Volume=/opt/alloy/config:/etc/alloy
+Network=host
+Exec=run --server.http.listen-addr=127.0.0.1:12345 /etc/alloy/config.alloy
+Volume=/opt/alloy/config:/etc/alloy:ro
+Volume=/etc/machine-id:/etc/machine-id:ro
 Volume=/run/systemd/journal/socket:/run/systemd/journal/socket:ro
-Volume=/var/log:/var/log:ro
-Volume=/var/lib/containers:/var/lib/containers:ro
-HealthCmd=/usr/local/bin/busybox wget --spider -q http://localhost:12345/-/healthy
+Volume=/var/log/journal:/var/log/journal:ro
+Volume=/run/log/journal:/run/log/journal:ro
+HealthCmd=/usr/local/bin/busybox wget --spider -q http://127.0.0.1:12345/-/healthy
 HealthInterval=30s
 HealthTimeout=10s
 HealthRetries=3
@@ -60,4 +56,4 @@ Restart=always
 RestartSec=10
 
 [Install]
-WantedBy=default.target
+WantedBy=multi-user.target

dankclaw/observability/quadlet/blackbox-exporter.container

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Quadlet unit: blackbox exporter (rootless, host network, boot-persistent).
+#
+# Install path on dankclaw:
+#   ~/.config/containers/systemd/blackbox-exporter.container
+#
+# WHY Network=host. The probes it runs are (a) the host's own LAN IP
+# (192.168.0.143:8081 SearXNG, :3005 OpenWebUI — host-process/portmap binds a
+# bridge container cannot reach; netavark DNATs published ports only, see
+# Container Host Reachability in the vault) and (b) ComfyUI's published port
+# via 127.0.0.1 (rootless --network=host shares the real host netns, so the
+# 0.0.0.0:8188 publish answers on loopback). A bridge-networked prober could
+# reach neither class reliably.
+#
+# WHY the listener binds TWO addresses. The netavark hairpin gap (measured
+# 2026-10-21, cadvisor job comment): a BRIDGE CONTAINER CANNOT DIAL ITS OWN
+# HOST'S LAN IP at all — so a LAN-only bind is unscrapable by Prometheus,
+# whatever the signal-relay law suggests for services containers dial as
+# clients. The podman gateway (169.254.1.2 = host.containers.internal) is the
+# address bridge containers reach same-host targets at, so the exporter binds
+# it explicitly for the scrape rather than relying on loopback-forwarding
+# semantics, and keeps the LAN bind for its own healthcheck and diagnostics.
+# No public DNS name, no guard chain: internal net only, per the exposure
+# policy.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=Blackbox exporter (HTTP probe prober)
+After=network-online.target
+
+[Container]
+Image=docker.io/prom/blackbox-exporter@sha256:ea1c7aa3ef3f307cd03e85f34abb604478ccb90b567fc690da0cd9776da76b13
+ContainerName=blackbox-exporter
+Network=host
+Exec=/bin/blackbox_exporter --config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml --listen-address=192.168.0.143:9115,169.254.1.2:9115
+Volume=/opt/blackbox/blackbox.yml:/etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml:ro
+HealthCmd=/bin/sh -c "wget -q -O /dev/null http://169.254.1.2:9115/-/healthy || exit 1"
+HealthInterval=30s
+HealthRetries=3
+
+[Service]
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=5
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target

dankclaw/observability/quadlet/cadvisor.container

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Quadlet unit: cadvisor (rootless, boot-persistent) — DANKCLAW.
+#
+# Install path on dankclaw: ~/.config/containers/systemd/cadvisor.container
+# Unit name: cadvisor.service (container name: cadvisor)
+#
+# WHY THIS EXISTS. The app stack is ~34 rootless Podman containers and until
+# now nothing reported per-container CPU/memory — Grafana could only see the
+# host (node_exporter) and the LLM engines. cadvisor reads the host cgroup
+# tree and exports container_cpu_* / container_memory_* per container.
+#
+# THE LOAD-BEARING FLAG IS --cgroupns=host. Podman starts every container in a
+# PRIVATE cgroup namespace, so an exporter container sees only its OWN cgroup
+# subtree: cadvisor exported a single root series until this flag was added,
+# then it walked the whole tree (996 per-container series measured 2026-10-20).
+# The quadlet unit name is carried in the cgroup path — app.slice/<name>.service/
+# libpod-payload-<hex> — so Prometheus relabels that path into a `container`
+# label (shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml, cadvisor-dankclaw job) and no
+# libpod/podman socket is needed to name containers.
+#
+# BINDING. cadvisor has no per-interface listen flag (unlike node_exporter's
+# --web.listen-address), so it binds 0.0.0.0 INSIDE its own network namespace.
+# The bridge PublishPort is what keeps the unauthenticated endpoint off the
+# host's other interfaces: it publishes exactly loopback (host-local probes and
+# the deployer's health gate) and this host's LAN address (Prometheus, a bridge
+# container, reaches a host-published port at its LAN address — the same netavark
+# rule node-exporter relies on, only here the port really is published).
+#
+# It is rootless on purpose: dank owns the app containers' cgroups, so a
+# rootless cadvisor reads every one of them; root would buy nothing here.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=cAdvisor container metrics (Dankclaw)
+After=network-online.target
+Wants=network-online.target
+
+[Container]
+ContainerName=cadvisor
+Image=gcr.io/cadvisor/cadvisor:v0.49.1
+PodmanArgs=--pid=host --cgroupns=host
+PublishPort=127.0.0.1:8080:8080
+PublishPort=192.168.0.143:8080:8080
+Volume=/sys:/sys:ro
+Volume=/:/rootfs:ro
+Exec=--housekeeping_interval=30s
+HealthCmd=wget --spider -q http://localhost:8080/healthz
+HealthInterval=30s
+HealthTimeout=10s
+HealthRetries=3
+HealthStartPeriod=40s
+
+[Service]
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=10
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target

dankclaw/observability/quadlet/grafana.container

@@ -47,9 +47,24 @@ Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=${GRAFANA_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET}
 # client_id query parameter — /application/o/<slug>/authorize/ does not exist.
 Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_AUTH_URL=https://auth.franksdank.cloud/application/o/authorize/
 Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_TOKEN_URL=https://auth.franksdank.cloud/application/o/token/
-# ?api=1 = introspection-style userinfo: returns custom claims (groups) too.
-Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_API_URL=https://auth.franksdank.cloud/application/o/userinfo/?api=1
-Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_ALLOW_SIGN_UP=false
+# Standard OIDC userinfo. Grafana v13 fetches <api_url>/emails for the address
+# ONLY when the token carries no `email` claim (authentik has no /emails path and
+# 404s it, failing the login) — so the claim must actually be there: the fix is
+# the grafana-email-scope mapping (see scripts/authentik-grafana-sso-fix.sh),
+# not a Grafana flag. Do NOT append ?api=1 to this URL: Grafana then GETs
+# <...>/userinfo/?api=1/emails, a 403.
+Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_API_URL=https://auth.franksdank.cloud/application/o/userinfo/
+# authentik's scopes are openid/email/profile. `user:email` (a GitLab-ism) is
+# not a known scope here; requesting it makes the authorize view crash.
+# Quoted: quadlet word-splits Environment=, so an unquoted spaced list
+# truncates SCOPES to its first token.
+Environment="GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_SCOPES=openid email profile"
+Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_EMAIL_ATTRIBUTE_PATH=email
+Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_LOGIN_ATTRIBUTE_PATH=sub
+Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_NAME_ATTRIBUTE_PATH=preferred_username
+# First SSO login auto-provisions the user. Safe: unauthenticated traffic never
+# reaches this callback — the Anubis -> Authentik guard fronts every request.
+Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_ALLOW_SIGN_UP=true
 Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_AUTO_UPSERT=true
 Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_ALLOW_ASSIGN_ORG=true
 Environment=GF_AUTH_GENERIC_OAUTH_ORG_ID=1

dankclaw/observability/quadlet/prometheus.container

@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ Wants=network-online.target
 ContainerName=prometheus
 Image=docker.io/prom/prometheus:latest
 Network=dankclaw_default
+# Name the podman gateway so scrape jobs can reach same-host targets (the
+# netavark hairpin gap bars this container from dialing its own host's LAN
+# IP; the cadvisor/gpu jobs and the blackbox scrape all ride this name).
+# Same mechanism the hermes Caddy upstream learned the hard way (Container
+# Host Reachability in the vault).
+HostAddr=host.containers.internal=169.254.1.2
 User=0:0
 Exec=--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus --storage.tsdb.retention.time=30d --web.enable-lifecycle
 PublishPort=127.0.0.1:9090:9090

dankclaw/open-notebook/quadlet/open-notebook-surrealdb.container

@@ -48,13 +48,22 @@
 # without `podman unshare` — accepted for a datastore nobody edits by hand;
 # episode AUDIO is a host directory for the opposite reason (see the app unit).
 #
-# HEALTH. The base image is distroless: no shell, no curl, no wget, so no
-# CMD-SHELL probe and no wget/curl probe is possible here (same class of unit
-# as loki, whose probe had to move into the image). SurrealDB ships its own
-# probe instead — `surreal is-ready` connects to ws://localhost:8000 by default
-# and needs no credentials — verified against this digest: it prints `OK` and
-# exits 0 while the server is up. Argument-only HealthCmd, like every unit on
-# this host, because the quadlet generator splits it on spaces.
+# HEALTH. The base image is distroless — measured against this digest, not even
+# `ls` exists (`exec: "ls": executable file not found in $PATH`), so there is no
+# `/bin/sh`, no curl and no wget. SurrealDB ships its own probe instead:
+# `surreal is-ready` connects to ws://localhost:8000 by default, needs no
+# credentials, prints `OK` and exits 0 while the server is up.
+#
+# It must be handed over as a QUADLET-SIDE JSON ARRAY, not a bare command.
+# podman wraps a bare `HealthCmd` string as `CMD-SHELL` (measured on this host's
+# podman 5.7: `--health-cmd "/surreal is-ready"` stores
+# `{"Test":["CMD-SHELL","/surreal is-ready"]}`), and with no `/bin/sh` in the
+# image that probe fails in ~30 ms with empty output on every interval while the
+# database answers perfectly — which is exactly how this service's first deploy
+# died on 2026-10-19 (`did not become healthy in 90s`). The quoted array survives
+# the generator (`--health-cmd "[\"/surreal\",\"is-ready\"]"`) and stores
+# `["CMD","/surreal","is-ready"]`, which execs directly and goes healthy. Do not
+# "simplify" it back to a bare command.
 
 [Unit]
 Description=SurrealDB (open-notebook datastore)
@@ -70,7 +79,7 @@ EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/open-notebook.env
 EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/Containers/open-notebook/env
 Exec=start --log info rocksdb:/mydata/mydatabase.db
 Volume=open-notebook-db:/mydata
-HealthCmd=/surreal is-ready
+HealthCmd=["/surreal","is-ready"]
 HealthInterval=30s
 HealthTimeout=10s
 HealthRetries=3

dankclaw/open-notebook/quadlet/open-notebook.container

@@ -33,17 +33,21 @@
 # and 5055 is exactly the port seerr already holds on this host
 # (`PublishPort=127.0.0.1:5055:5055`; `ss -ltn` on Dankclaw 2026-10-18 shows
 # 127.0.0.1:5055 taken). So the API leaves the container on host port 5056.
-# That forces one setting: the frontend auto-detects the API as
-# `<host-you-opened>:5055`, so API_URL in scripts/open-notebook.env must name
-# the remapped port explicitly, or the UI loads and every call fails. Both
-# ports are published on all interfaces because the consumer is a browser on
-# the LAN — the fleet's browser-facing services (open-webui, comfyui, gitea)
-# bind the same way, while loopback-only is reserved for services whose user
-# path is the guard chain. This service has NO vhost and no Caddy route: it is
-# internal-only until it is guarded, and its own password
-# (OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD) is what stands in front of it. That password is not
-# decoration: with it unset the API answers everyone on the LAN, including the
-# unauthenticated episode-audio download.
+# Only 8502 is published on all interfaces, because it is the single upstream
+# the guard chain dials: notebook.franksdank.cloud → anubis → authentik →
+# http://:8017 → 192.168.0.143:8502 (dankclaw/Caddyfile), and this Caddy lives
+# in root's storage, so a published port is the only way it can reach a rootless
+# quadlet. The API needs no outward face at all — the image's own Next.js layer
+# rewrites /api/* to the FastAPI beside it, so one origin serves UI and API —
+# and the fleet's rule is that loopback-only is for services whose user path is
+# the guard chain, which this became on 2026-10-19; 5056 stays published on
+# loopback because the deployer's health gate dials it there. That is also why
+# API_URL in scripts/open-notebook.env names the vhost rather than a port: left
+# to itself the frontend auto-detects `<host-you-opened>:5055`, and the UI loads
+# while every call fails. OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD is not made redundant by the
+# chain: it is what keeps the API honest for everything else on this host, and
+# with it unset the API answers anyone, including the unauthenticated
+# episode-audio download.
 #
 # VOLUMES. `/app/data` is a named volume: uploads, the LangGraph SQLite
 # checkpoints and the extraction caches the image keeps under it
@@ -81,7 +85,7 @@ Pull=never
 Network=dankclaw_default
 Network=open-notebook.network
 PublishPort=0.0.0.0:8502:8502
-PublishPort=0.0.0.0:5056:5055
+PublishPort=127.0.0.1:5056:5055
 EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/open-notebook.env
 EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/Containers/open-notebook/env
 Volume=open-notebook-data:/app/data

dankclaw/pihole/addn-hosts

@@ -45,3 +45,4 @@
 192.168.0.143 pihole.franksdank.cloud
 192.168.0.143 seerr.franksdank.cloud
 192.168.0.143 marreta.franksdank.cloud
+192.168.0.143 notebook.franksdank.cloud

dankclaw/udev/98-halogen-npu-access.rules

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# /etc/udev/rules.d/98-halogen-npu-access.rules
+#
+# Why the NPU node is world-writable: `frank-dragoon` runs rootless podman under a
+# unit with `User=dank`, and the container's user namespace maps exactly one uid and
+# one gid (dank). `/dev/accel/accel0` is `root:render 0660`, so inside the container
+# the node reads `nobody:nogroup` and the engine dies with its own diagnosis:
+#
+#   halogen npu: /dev/accel/accel0 is here, but this process cannot open it
+#     (crw-rw---- nobody:nogroup).
+#
+# `--group-add keep-groups` is the vendor's advice and it does NOT work in this
+# shape: measured 2026-10-19 from the host as a `dank` shell that was already in
+# `render`, with and without the flag, the node still read `nobody:nogroup` and the
+# open was refused — an unmapped gid cannot be granted to a process inside a
+# namespace that does not map it. Same conclusion `99-comfyui-gpu-access.rules`
+# reached for `/dev/kfd` from the systemd-user-spawn direction: the mode is the only
+# spawn-context-independent door short of running the stack rootful.
+#
+# Blast radius: any process in this host's single uid domain (every rootless
+# container here shares it) can submit to the XDNA2 NPU. The NPU holds no user data
+# and no privileged context — the same trade already accepted for the GPU compute
+# nodes beside it. Installed by `deploy-remote.sh` when the NPU lane is armed and left
+# in place afterwards — the mode costs nothing while the lane is idle. `serve-frank-dragoon.sh`
+# refuses to arm the lane on a node that is not other-accessible, so a host that lost this
+# file fails loudly at boot instead of crash-looping.
+KERNEL=="accel[0-9]*", SUBSYSTEM=="accel", MODE="0666"

dankclaw/voiceservice/Containerfile.engine

@@ -19,11 +19,14 @@
 # is recorded in the parent tree, so cloning the parent commit recursively is
 # reproducible without a second pin.
 #
-# THE BUILD LINE IS THE ONE PROVEN ON DANKCLAW, verbatim:
+# THE BUILD LINE IS THE ONE PROVEN ON DANKCLAW, verbatim — with the Vulkan door
+# open since 2026-10-19. That configure was run in this exact base image and
+# answers `Found Vulkan: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvulkan.so (found version
+# "1.3.275") found components: glslc` then `Including Vulkan backend`:
 #
 #   cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGGML_CCACHE=OFF \
 #       -DGGML_BACKEND_DL=OFF -DGGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS=OFF -DGGML_OPENMP=ON \
-#       -DGGML_BLAS=OFF -DGGML_CUDA=OFF -DGGML_HIP=OFF -DGGML_VULKAN=OFF \
+#       -DGGML_BLAS=OFF -DGGML_CUDA=OFF -DGGML_HIP=OFF -DGGML_VULKAN=ON \
 #       -DGGML_METAL=OFF -DGGML_SYCL=OFF -DGGML_RPC=OFF \
 #   && cmake --build build -j 8
 #
@@ -42,8 +45,12 @@
 #     defaults it ON outside wasm/cross-compiles, i.e. -march=native for THIS
 #     host — correct while build host == run host, wrong if anyone ever builds
 #     this image elsewhere, which is why the fleet builds it on Dankclaw.
-#   CUDA/HIP/VULKAN/METAL/SYCL/RPC all OFF: this is a CPU endpoint (the trial
-#     ran on CPU; the box's GPUs belong to the text endpoints).
+#   CUDA/HIP/METAL/SYCL/RPC stay OFF, VULKAN is ON: the endpoint computes on the
+#     gfx1151 iGPU (decision and co-tenancy gates:
+#     report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md, shape in [[Frank TTS Engine]]).
+#     Nothing else is available to this image: no ROCm userland, no NVIDIA
+#     userland, no macOS, no oneAPI, and RPC would add a second process to
+#     supervise on a box that already has one engine per card.
 #
 # BUILD SHARED LIBS, RUNTIME SMALL. BUILD_SHARED_LIBS defaults ON on Linux, so
 # tts-server links libggml*.so rather than swallowing them; the runtime stage
@@ -67,9 +74,28 @@ ARG BASE_IMAGE=docker.io/library/ubuntu:24.04@sha256:68ee22004a9109b44973313b02f
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ build
 FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} AS build
 
+# The three Vulkan build deps are not optional and not interchangeable:
+#   libvulkan-dev    vulkan/vulkan.h + the VulkanHeaders/VulkanLoader CMake
+#                    configs, i.e. what find_package(Vulkan) resolves to.
+#   glslc            ggml compiles its shaders with glslc, not glslangValidator.
+#                    Ubuntu's glslang-tools ships glslangValidator and NOT glslc,
+#                    so without this package `find_package(Vulkan COMPONENTS
+#                    glslc REQUIRED)` fails and there is no Vulkan backend.
+#                    The archive's glslc is old (2023.8): it compiles
+#                    GL_KHR_cooperative_matrix — the path ggml's quantized
+#                    matmul needs — but reports cooperative_matrix2,
+#                    integer_dot_product, bfloat16 and the micro-float
+#                    extensions as unsupported, so those shader families are
+#                    compiled out. If a Vulkan prefill ever reads as
+#                    inexplicably slow, suspect this compiler before the device;
+#                    the fix is a pinned glslang build passed as
+#                    -DVulkan_GLSLC_EXECUTABLE=<path>, not a different runtime.
+#   spirv-headers    find_package(SPIRV-Headers CONFIG REQUIRED); the distro
+#                    package ships /usr/share/cmake/SPIRV-Headers/.
 RUN apt-get update -qq \
     && apt-get install -y -qq --no-install-recommends \
         ca-certificates cmake g++ git make \
+        libvulkan-dev glslc spirv-headers \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Checked out detached at a full SHA, then the recorded submodule. No branch
@@ -90,7 +116,7 @@ RUN cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
         -DGGML_BLAS=OFF \
         -DGGML_CUDA=OFF \
         -DGGML_HIP=OFF \
-        -DGGML_VULKAN=OFF \
+        -DGGML_VULKAN=ON \
         -DGGML_METAL=OFF \
         -DGGML_SYCL=OFF \
         -DGGML_RPC=OFF \
@@ -102,9 +128,21 @@ FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 # libgomp1: the OpenMP runtime the build above links against. curl: the unit's
 # HealthCmd. ca-certificates: so that curl can speak https if anyone ever
 # points a probe at a URL with a scheme this host terminates elsewhere.
+#
+# libvulkan1 + mesa-vulkan-drivers are what make `--device Vulkan0` mean
+# anything at runtime: libvulkan1 is the loader libggml-vulkan.so dlopens, and
+# mesa-vulkan-drivers is the RADV ICD that claims the gfx1151. Loader without an
+# ICD enumerates ZERO devices, and tts-server then dies in device lookup AFTER
+# both GGUFs have been read — the journal reads as a model fault, not a missing
+# driver. Enumerated from this base on 2026-10-19 with `--device /dev/dri
+# --group-add keep-groups` plus the host's ComfyUI udev rule: "Radeon 8060S
+# Graphics (RADV GFX1151)", API 1.4.318 (the heap figure is owned by
+# [[Frank TTS Engine]]; it is the GTT-backed aperture, not the ~2 GiB DRM
+# carve-out). No NVIDIA ICD is installed on purpose: one Vulkan device in the
+# enumeration is what makes the NAME Vulkan0 safe to write down.
 RUN apt-get update -qq \
     && apt-get install -y -qq --no-install-recommends \
-        ca-certificates curl libgomp1 \
+        ca-certificates curl libgomp1 libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Same unprivileged uid as the frank-tts façade (10000): the voice packs and the

dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts-engine.container

@@ -40,12 +40,28 @@
 # speaks to the server from inside its own namespace, which is where the address
 # is valid.
 #
-# MEMORY / NO GPU. Peak RSS measured 5.7 GiB with both GGUFs resident
-# (2026-10-18 trial); no memory limit is set because the box has the room and a
-# limit would convert a busy moment into an OOM kill mid-utterance. No
-# /dev/kfd, no /dev/dri, no keep-groups: every GPU backend is compiled out of
-# the image, the endpoint is CPU-only by decision, and the GPUs on this host
-# belong to the text endpoints.
+# MEMORY / THE RENDER NODE. Host RSS is ~1.7 GiB, not the size of the GGUFs:
+# the Vulkan backend copies both tensors into device memory at load, so they
+# stop counting in the process's RSS (measured after the 2026-10-19 cutover —
+# `podman stats` / `ps -o rss`). No memory limit is set: the box has the room
+# and a limit would convert a busy moment into an OOM kill mid-utterance.
+#
+# `AddDevice=/dev/dri` is what makes the iGPU visible; without it the Vulkan
+# ICD enumerates nothing and the server dies on device lookup after it has
+# already read both GGUFs. `GroupAdd=keep-groups` is belt-and-braces, not the
+# thing that works here: the units podman spawns carry no supplementary groups
+# at all, and this host grants render access a different way — the udev rule
+# that makes the render nodes world-writable (same rule ComfyUI rides, see
+# dankclaw/comfyui). Measured: `id` inside this container lists only the
+# container's own group, and `tts-server` still holds renderD129.
+# The node is NOT named: this host is hybrid, renderD128 is the NVIDIA card and
+# renderD129 the amdgpu iGPU, so a node number in the unit is a guess that a
+# re-probe can invalidate, while the directory hands the container every render
+# node and the driver picks by name.
+#
+# /dev/kfd stays absent on purpose: that is the ROCm compute interface, owned by
+# the engines that use HIP. A Vulkan endpoint has no use for it, and handing a
+# container a second way onto the GPU is surface for nothing.
 #
 # THE VOICE MOUNT IS READ-ONLY AND IS FOR THE WARMER, NOT THE ENGINE. A voice
 # becomes known to the engine only through POST /v1/audio/voices, and the
@@ -98,6 +114,9 @@ Network=frank-tts-engine.network
 EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/frank-tts-engine.env
 Volume=/home/dank/models/Qwen3-TTS-GGUF:/models:ro
 Volume=/home/dank/voices:/voices:ro
+# Render access for the iGPU (see MEMORY / THE RENDER NODE above).
+AddDevice=/dev/dri
+GroupAdd=keep-groups
 HealthCmd=curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:8880/health
 HealthInterval=30s
 HealthTimeout=10s

dankclaw/voiceservice/tts-engine-start.sh

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 # supervision, no retries, no logging of its own. PID 1 stays the server, so
 # `podman stop` and the unit's Restart=always drive it directly.
 #
-# THE FLAGS THAT ARE NOT HERE, and must stay absent:
+# THE FLAG THAT MUST STAY ABSENT:
 #
 #   --threads / -t   does not exist in this build. src/backend.h computes the
 #                    CPU thread count as std::thread::hardware_concurrency()/2
@@ -18,13 +18,19 @@
 #                    placement — pinning is deliberately not done anywhere in
 #                    this stack. See the env file header for the same warning
 #                    aimed at the operator.
-#   --device         left at its default. Every GPU backend is compiled out of
-#                    the image, so the default device pick can only land on
-#                    CPU; naming a device would add a way to be wrong.
 #
-# Everything defaults to the shape the 2026-10-18 trial measured, so an empty
-# environment still boots the decided configuration: 1.7 B talker Q4_K_M with
-# the Q8_0 tokenizer, one request at a time, on the private bridge.
+# --device IS here, but conditionally: it reaches the binary only when
+# QWENTTS_DEVICE is non-empty, and empty is the CPU rollback — the binary then
+# takes its own default device, which is CPU because the CPU backend is always
+# built. One line in scripts/frank-tts-engine.env moves the endpoint between the
+# two shapes, with no rebuild. What must never reach argv is a device NAME the
+# loader does not enumerate: that is not refused by the argument parser, it dies
+# during device lookup with the loader's own error, so the journal reads as a
+# load that failed rather than a configuration refusal.
+#
+# Everything defaults to the shape this endpoint runs: 1.7 B talker Q4_K_M with
+# the Q8_0 tokenizer, one request at a time, on the private bridge, on the
+# gfx1151 iGPU. An empty environment still boots that shape.
 set -euo pipefail
 
 # The binary path. Overridable for one reason: the bats seam runs a stub
@@ -60,13 +66,33 @@ set -euo pipefail
 : "${QWENTTS_LANG:=auto}"
 
 # One request at a time. The server-side queue is a serialised FIFO at this
-# setting, which is what keeps the measured per-voice timings true; batching
-# on a CPU build splits the same cores between two syntheses and the warm RTF
-# margin (0.55-0.67 against real time 1.0) disappears. The engine's own
-# default is also 1; it is written here because it is a decision, not an
-# accident.
+# setting, which is what keeps the per-voice timings predictable. A second
+# concurrent synthesis shares the device with the first — and on this box that
+# device is also carrying frank-dragoon — so it buys no throughput and it
+# doubles the wait for the caller behind it. The engine's own default is also 1;
+# written here because it is a decision, not an accident.
 : "${QWENTTS_MAX_BATCH:=1}"
 
+# The compute device, NAMED and not numbered: `Vulkan0` is how ggml enumerates
+# the gfx1151 iGPU on this host. An index would follow whatever order the
+# loader's device list returns; a name says which device this endpoint means.
+# The container sees exactly one Vulkan device because the image carries the
+# Mesa ICD and no NVIDIA one, so the 3090 is not in the enumeration at all.
+#
+# EMPTY IS THE CPU ROLLBACK: a value that is set but EMPTY passes no `--device`,
+# the binary picks its own default, and the CPU backend is always built — which
+# is why moving this endpoint between the iGPU and the CPU is one line in
+# scripts/frank-tts-engine.env and not a rebuild.
+#
+# That is also why the default below is NOT `${QWENTTS_DEVICE:=Vulkan0}`: `:=`
+# fires on a set-but-empty variable as well as an unset one, so the rollback line
+# `QWENTTS_DEVICE=` would be rewritten back to Vulkan0 and the endpoint would sit
+# on the shared GPU with no way out short of a rebuild. Only UNSET takes the
+# default.
+if [[ ! -v QWENTTS_DEVICE ]]; then
+    QWENTTS_DEVICE=Vulkan0
+fi
+
 # Fail loudly BEFORE binding, so the journal says which artifact is missing
 # instead of the unit reporting a container that starts and dies. This is the
 # self-healing path: Restart=always re-runs it every RestartSec, and the same
@@ -79,11 +105,20 @@ for artifact in "$QWENTTS_MODEL" "$QWENTTS_CODEC"; do
     fi
 done
 
-exec "$QWENTTS_BIN" \
-    --model "$QWENTTS_MODEL" \
-    --codec "$QWENTTS_CODEC" \
-    --alias "$QWENTTS_ALIAS" \
-    --host "$QWENTTS_HOST" \
-    --port "$QWENTTS_PORT" \
-    --lang "$QWENTTS_LANG" \
+ARGS=(
+    --model "$QWENTTS_MODEL"
+    --codec "$QWENTTS_CODEC"
+    --alias "$QWENTTS_ALIAS"
+    --host "$QWENTTS_HOST"
+    --port "$QWENTTS_PORT"
+    --lang "$QWENTTS_LANG"
     --max-batch "$QWENTTS_MAX_BATCH"
+)
+
+# Only when a device is named. An empty QWENTTS_DEVICE has to produce NO flag,
+# because "the rollback shape" is argv identical to the pre-iGPU endpoint.
+if [[ -n "$QWENTTS_DEVICE" ]]; then
+    ARGS+=(--device "$QWENTTS_DEVICE")
+fi
+
+exec "$QWENTTS_BIN" "${ARGS[@]}"

dankserver/observability/quadlet/cadvisor.container

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Quadlet unit: cadvisor (rootless, boot-persistent) — DANKSERVER.
+#
+# Install path on dankserver: ~/.config/containers/systemd/cadvisor.container
+# Unit name: cadvisor.service (container name: cadvisor)
+#
+# The Dankserver twin of dankclaw/observability/quadlet/cadvisor.container.
+# Same rootless shape, same --cgroupns=host requirement (see that file for the
+# full story), only the LAN address differs: this host publishes on
+# 192.168.0.235:8080 so Prometheus on Dankclaw can scrape it over the real
+# network (cross-host, so the host.containers.internal trick does not apply).
+# It reports the media/library stack (romm, plex, jellyfin, copyparty, calibre,
+# tautulli) by their quadlet unit names via the cgroup path.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=cAdvisor container metrics (Dankserver)
+After=network-online.target
+Wants=network-online.target
+
+[Container]
+ContainerName=cadvisor
+Image=gcr.io/cadvisor/cadvisor:v0.49.1
+PodmanArgs=--pid=host --cgroupns=host
+PublishPort=127.0.0.1:8080:8080
+PublishPort=192.168.0.235:8080:8080
+Volume=/sys:/sys:ro
+Volume=/:/rootfs:ro
+Exec=--housekeeping_interval=30s
+HealthCmd=wget --spider -q http://localhost:8080/healthz
+HealthInterval=30s
+HealthTimeout=10s
+HealthRetries=3
+HealthStartPeriod=40s
+
+[Service]
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=10
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target

dankserver/plex/quadlet/plex.container

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ After=network-online.target
 Wants=network-online.target
 
 [Container]
-Image=lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:1.43.4.10903-e5521bd8c-ls325
+Image=lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:1.43.5.11029-6bf8af3f0-ls329
 ContainerName=plex
 Network=dankserver_appnet:alias=plex
 Environment=PUID=0

report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md

@@ -136,25 +136,36 @@ TTS engine today|3.84 GiB RSS, CPU|its device-resident replacement lands in that
    ICD**, so Vulkan device 0 is the iGPU here. Do not trust that ordering — select by
    device *name*, or an image that grows an `nvidia_icd.json` silently points TTS at the
    3090 slot.
-2. **Contention gate.** `frank-dragoon` is the endpoint the operator session runs on, so the
-   honest measurement with both loaded is dragoon's own TTFT and decode with a synthesis in
-   flight — one request each, no ladder. Expect compute-unit sharing rather than memory
-   pressure: the aperture has room, the shaders do not.
+2. **Contention gate — PASSED, measured 2026-10-19 after the cutover.** With a 16.9 s
+   synthesis occupying the device, `frank-dragoon` answered a streamed 124-token request at
+   **17 ms to first token and ~35 tok/s decode**, against 17 ms and ~33 tok/s for the same
+   request with the card idle. Compute-unit sharing showed up as nothing. One request per
+   arm, no ladder: these are the gate's evidence, not a throughput record, and the engine's
+   own shape lives in [[Frank TTS Engine]].
 
-**Change surface** — the whole edit, so nobody re-derives it:
+**Change surface — as landed** (PR #34, `6248f02`; the CPU shape stays reachable as the
+rollback):
 
-1. `Containerfile.engine` build stage: add `libvulkan-dev glslang-dev`. It installs only
-   `ca-certificates cmake g++ git make` today, and ggml's Vulkan backend compiles its
-   shaders at build time — the flag alone fails at configure.
-2. `-DGGML_VULKAN=OFF` → `ON` in the same cmake block; the flag list is written out
-   explicitly, so this is a one-word diff.
-3. Runtime stage: add `mesa-vulkan-drivers`. Without a Vulkan **ICD inside the image** the
-   device node buys nothing — there is no `radeon_icd.json` in the container today.
-4. `frank-tts-engine.container`: `AddDevice=/dev/dri` + `GroupAdd=keep-groups` — **not**
-   `renderD128`. On this hybrid box that node is the NVIDIA card; the iGPU is
-   `renderD129` (`readlink -f /sys/class/drm/renderD129/device/driver` → `amdgpu`).
-5. Engine argv: `--device Vulkan0` — qwentts.cpp's tools take `--device <name>` at the
-   pinned commit.
+1. `Containerfile.engine` build stage: add **`libvulkan-dev glslc spirv-headers`**. The
+   prediction above (`libvulkan-dev glslang-dev`) is wrong on two counts and the configure
+   says so: ggml looks for `glslc`, which Ubuntu's `glslang-tools` does **not** ship (it
+   ships `glslangValidator`), and `find_package(SPIRV-Headers CONFIG REQUIRED)` needs the
+   distro's `spirv-headers`, which does carry the CMake config. `glslc` is its own source
+   package on noble, at 2023.8 — old enough that only `GL_KHR_cooperative_matrix` compiles,
+   so the coopmat2 / integer-dot / bf16 / micro-float shader families are built out. Suspect
+   that compiler before the device if a Vulkan prefill ever reads as slow.
+2. `-DGGML_VULKAN=OFF` → `ON`: one word in the written-out flag list.
+3. Runtime stage: `mesa-vulkan-drivers` **and** `libvulkan1` — the ICD and its loader. An
+   image with a loader and no ICD enumerates zero devices.
+4. `frank-tts-engine.container`: `AddDevice=/dev/dri` + `GroupAdd=keep-groups` — the
+   DIRECTORY, never the node: on this hybrid box `renderD128` is the NVIDIA card and
+   `renderD129` the amdgpu iGPU (`readlink -f /sys/class/drm/renderD129/device/driver` →
+   `amdgpu`). On this host the udev rule already makes the nodes world-writable, so the
+   group is belt-and-braces, not the gate.
+5. Engine argv: `--device Vulkan0`, reached through `QWENTTS_DEVICE` in
+   `scripts/frank-tts-engine.env`. **An empty value passes no flag at all** — that is the
+   CPU rollback, and it is why the entrypoint's default is an `-v` test rather than `:=`,
+   which also fires on a set-but-empty value and would silently undo the rollback.
 
 Gate 1 recipe, already run and **PASSED**: `mesa-vulkan-drivers` + `vulkan-tools` in a
 throwaway container off the same base, `--device /dev/dri`, then `vulkaninfo --text` and read

scripts/authentik-grafana-sso-fix.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Repair the Grafana OAuth2 relying-party SSO on Dankclaw's authentik.
+#
+# grafana.franksdank.cloud logs in through authentik as an OAuth2 relying party.
+# Two DB-side facts (the provider was created by hand via `ak shell`, never
+# repo-managed) silently broke that login, and BOTH had previously been
+# mis-recorded here as a single "the property-mapping evaluator is broken, so
+# userinfo returns only `sub`" myth. They are neither, and the evaluator is fine:
+#
+#   1. provider.authorization_flow was NULL. The authorize view builds a flow
+#      planner from it and crashes with
+#      `AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'slug'` — an HTTP 500
+#      "Server Error — Powered by authentik", before any claim is touched.
+#      Fix: point it at default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent, the
+#      flow every other provider in this instance already uses.
+#   2. The `grafana-email-scope` ScopeMapping's expression was the bare string
+#      `user.email`. authentik merges a scope mapping's result into the token as
+#      a MAPPING: a returned dict adds its keys as claims; a returned string is
+#      keyed under the mapping's NAME ("grafana-email-scope"), so no `email`
+#      claim is ever emitted. Grafana, finding no email, falls back to
+#      GET <api_url>/emails, authentik 404s that path, and the login dies with
+#      "Login failed: InternalError". Fix: return
+#      {"email": user.email, "email_verified": True} — the shape the stock
+#      OpenID 'email' mapping uses. The dict-valued `grafana-profile-scope`
+#      mapping has always worked, which is the proof the evaluator is fine.
+#
+# This is authentik DB state. It is NOT in any deployable file: a blueprint
+# re-import, or an ak-shell re-creation of the grafana provider, reverts BOTH
+# facts and the symptom returns verbatim. Re-run this after any such rebuild.
+# Every step is idempotent.
+#
+# Grafana's own half — SCOPES="openid email profile", a standard userinfo API_URL
+# with no `?api=1`, and ALLOW_SIGN_UP=true — lives in
+# dankclaw/observability/quadlet/grafana.container and deploys normally.
+#
+# Usage: authentik-grafana-sso-fix.sh          (override host: AUTHENTIK_HOST=…)
+set -euo pipefail
+HOST="${AUTHENTIK_HOST:-dankclaw}"
+
+ssh "$HOST" 'podman exec -i authentik-server ak shell' <<'PYEOF'
+from authentik.flows.models import Flow
+from authentik.providers.oauth2.models import OAuth2Provider
+
+p = OAuth2Provider.objects.filter(name="grafana").first()
+if not p:
+    raise SystemExit("no OAuth2Provider named 'grafana'")
+
+# 1. The authorization flow every other provider uses.
+want = Flow.objects.filter(slug="default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent").first()
+if not want:
+    raise SystemExit("default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent flow is missing")
+if p.authorization_flow_id != want.pk:
+    p.authorization_flow = want
+    p.save()
+    print(f"set grafana.authorization_flow -> {want.slug}")
+else:
+    print(f"grafana.authorization_flow already {want.slug}")
+
+# 2. The email scope mapping must RETURN A DICT, not a bare string.
+m = p.property_mappings.filter(name="grafana-email-scope").first()
+if not m:
+    raise SystemExit("grafana-email-scope mapping is missing")
+fixed = 'return {"email": user.email, "email_verified": True}'
+if m.expression.strip() != fixed:
+    m.expression = fixed
+    m.save()
+    print("repaired grafana-email-scope -> returns {email, email_verified}")
+else:
+    print("grafana-email-scope expression already correct")
+
+# 3. The id_token must carry the scope claims; Grafana reads identity from it.
+if not p.include_claims_in_id_token:
+    p.include_claims_in_id_token = True
+    p.save()
+    print("enabled include_claims_in_id_token")
+else:
+    print("include_claims_in_id_token already on")
+PYEOF
+
+echo "Done. Verify: sign in at https://grafana.franksdank.cloud via Authentik;"
+echo "the round trip must land on / and /api/user must answer 200 with an email."

scripts/authentik-set-login-session-duration.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Set the authentik login-session TTL on Dankclaw.
+#
+# The login-session lifetime is governed by the `default-authentication-login`
+# stage's `session_duration`, NOT a global setting and NOT SESSION_COOKIE_AGE
+# (that is the pre-login session, sessions.unauthenticated_age). Authentik does
+# not expose SESSION_SAVE_EVERY_REQUEST at all, so the session is an absolute
+# window from login, not a sliding one.
+#
+# The field is a STRING in authentik's own idiom ("days=7", "seconds=30",
+# "hours=12") — not a Python timedelta. Writing str(timedelta(days=7)) stores
+# "7 days, 0:00:00", which authentik's timedelta_from_string parser REJECTS
+# (ValueError), and login then crashes computing the session expiry. Always pass
+# the "key=value" form; this script validates it before writing.
+#
+# Existing sessions keep their old expiry; the new TTL applies from the next
+# login. This is DB state — it is NOT repo-managed and a blueprint re-import or
+# rebuild-from-scratch reverts it. Run this again after such a rebuild.
+#
+# Usage: authentik-set-login-session-duration.sh ["days=7"]   (default days=7)
+set -euo pipefail
+
+DUR="${1:-days=7}"
+STAGE="default-authentication-login"
+HOST="${AUTHENTIK_HOST:-dankclaw}"
+
+# Refuse anything that is not the safe key=value duration idiom.
+if ! printf '%s' "$DUR" | grep -Eq '^[A-Za-z]+=[0-9]+([ ]+[A-Za-z]+=[0-9]+)*$'; then
+    echo "invalid duration '$DUR' — use authentik form, e.g. 'days=7' or 'seconds=30'" >&2
+    exit 2
+fi
+
+ssh "$HOST" 'podman exec -i authentik-server ak shell' <<PYEOF
+from django.apps import apps
+from authentik.lib.utils.time import timedelta_from_string
+dur = "$DUR"
+timedelta_from_string(dur)  # validate the form before touching the row
+ULS = apps.get_model("authentik_stages_user_login", "UserLoginStage")
+s = ULS.objects.get(name="$STAGE")
+s.session_duration = dur
+s.save(update_fields=["session_duration"])
+back = ULS.objects.get(name="$STAGE").session_duration
+assert back == dur, "persisted value mismatch: %r" % back
+print("session_duration set to", repr(back), "->", timedelta_from_string(back))
+PYEOF
+
+echo "Login-session TTL for '$STAGE' is now $DUR (applies on next login)."

scripts/deploy-plan.py

@@ -34,12 +34,16 @@ SERVICE_ORDER = (
     "hermes",
     "hermes-dashboard",
     "hermes-webui",
-    "prometheus",
     "grafana",
     "loki",
     "alloy",
     "node-exporter",
+    "cadvisor",
+    "gpu-exporter",
     "alertmanager",
+    # The prober must answer before prometheus re-runs the services job.
+    "blackbox-exporter",
+    "prometheus",
     "authentik-postgres",
     "authentik-server",
     "authentik-worker",
@@ -92,7 +96,10 @@ DANKCLAW_SERVICES = {
     "loki",
     "alloy",
     "node-exporter",
+    "cadvisor",
+    "gpu-exporter",
     "alertmanager",
+    "blackbox-exporter",
     "authentik-postgres",
     "authentik-server",
     "authentik-worker",
@@ -124,6 +131,8 @@ DANKSERVER_SERVICES = {
     "readarr",
     "frank-archon",
     "node-exporter",
+    "cadvisor",
+    "gpu-exporter",
 }
 
 # FrankBook-Pro runs the *arr stack + qBittorrent inside a podman machine on
@@ -271,6 +280,8 @@ def services_for_path(path: str, target: str) -> set[str]:
             # Provisioned datasources and dashboards: git is the source of
             # truth, so a change here must restart the service that reads them.
             _add(services, "grafana")
+        elif group == "blackbox":
+            _add(services, "blackbox-exporter")
         elif group == "homepage":
             # Homepage is a Dankclaw-owned deployment. Shared homepage files
             # are intentionally not copied during a Dankserver-only run.
@@ -293,6 +304,17 @@ def services_for_path(path: str, target: str) -> set[str]:
         if len(parts) >= 2 and parts[1] in {"caddy", "comfyui", "loki", "alloy", "hermes", "anubis", "seerr"}:
             _add(services, parts[1])
             return services
+        if len(parts) >= 3 and parts[1] == "host":
+            # Host state a service needs at boot lives under dankclaw/host/.
+            # The fabric-clock hold is frank-dragoon's NPU precondition (the
+            # engine refuses to start with HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS set while the
+            # clock moves) and the deployer installs and gates it, so changing
+            # it re-dispatches that endpoint. `grub` is the tracked boot line,
+            # which moves only through scripts/set-dankclaw-bootline.sh and is
+            # a reboot decision — it plans no service.
+            if parts[2].startswith("halogen-fabric-clock"):
+                _add(services, "frank-dragoon")
+            return services
         if len(parts) >= 4 and parts[1] == "authentik" and parts[2] == "quadlet":
             name = parts[3].removesuffix(".container")
             if name in {"authentik-postgres", "authentik-server", "authentik-worker", "authentik-outpost", "authentik-outpost-ldap"}:
@@ -363,7 +385,7 @@ def services_for_path(path: str, target: str) -> set[str]:
             # consumer (prometheus before grafana, loki before alloy).
             if len(parts) >= 4 and parts[2] == "quadlet":
                 name = parts[3].removesuffix(".container")
-                if name in {"prometheus", "grafana", "loki", "alloy", "node-exporter", "alertmanager"}:
+                if name in {"prometheus", "grafana", "loki", "alloy", "node-exporter", "cadvisor", "alertmanager", "blackbox-exporter"}:
                     _add(services, name)
             return services
         if len(parts) >= 2 and parts[1] == "gitea":
@@ -406,8 +428,8 @@ def services_for_path(path: str, target: str) -> set[str]:
             # node-dankserver job had nothing to scrape.
             if len(parts) >= 4 and parts[2] == "quadlet":
                 name = parts[3].removesuffix(".container")
-                if name == "node-exporter":
-                    _add(services, "node-exporter")
+                if name in {"node-exporter", "cadvisor"}:
+                    _add(services, name)
             return services
         # frank-archon's quadlet-era directory left the tree on 2026-09-26
         # (the Lucebox DS4.1 unit was retired for the llama.cpp root unit —
@@ -438,6 +460,12 @@ def services_for_path(path: str, target: str) -> set[str]:
             # change to it redeploying alertmanager is the only path that
             # reaches it on the host.
             _add(services, "alertmanager")
+        if name in {"gpu-exporter.py", "gpu-exporter.service"}:
+            # The host-process GPU exporter is installed directly by the
+            # gpu-exporter deploy on BOTH hosts, so its script and unit select
+            # that service (target_services then keeps it only on the host being
+            # planned). Editing the collector restarts the running exporter.
+            _add(services, "gpu-exporter")
         if name in {"frank-zealot.env", "frank-zealot.service", "serve-frank-zealot.sh"}:
             # llama.cpp frank-zealot (2026-09-16) keeps its unit, env and serve
             # files here; each one selects frank-zealot only. The ik_llama.cpp

scripts/deploy-remote.sh

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ service_is_allowed() {
         dankclaw:open-webui|dankclaw:gitea-postgres|dankclaw:gitea-server|\
         dankclaw:comfyui|dankclaw:hermes|\
         dankclaw:hermes-dashboard|dankclaw:hermes-webui|dankclaw:prometheus|dankclaw:grafana|\
-        dankclaw:loki|dankclaw:alloy|dankclaw:node-exporter|dankclaw:alertmanager|\
+        dankclaw:loki|dankclaw:alloy|dankclaw:node-exporter|dankclaw:cadvisor|dankclaw:gpu-exporter|dankclaw:alertmanager|dankclaw:blackbox-exporter|\
         dankclaw:authentik-postgres|dankclaw:authentik-server|\
         dankclaw:authentik-worker|dankclaw:authentik-outpost|dankclaw:authentik-outpost-ldap|dankclaw:anubis|\
         dankclaw:caddy|dankclaw:homepage|dankclaw:seerr|dankclaw:marreta|\
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ service_is_allowed() {
         dankserver:copyparty|dankserver:jellyfin|dankserver:calibre-web|dankserver:calibre-server|dankserver:plex|dankserver:tautulli|\
         dankserver:prowlarr|dankserver:qbittorrent|dankserver:radarr|\
         dankserver:sonarr|dankserver:lidarr|dankserver:readarr|\
-        dankserver:frank-archon|dankserver:node-exporter|\
+        dankserver:frank-archon|dankserver:node-exporter|dankserver:cadvisor|dankserver:gpu-exporter|\
         frankbook-pro:gluetun|frankbook-pro:qbittorrent|frankbook-pro:prowlarr|\
         frankbook-pro:radarr|frankbook-pro:sonarr|frankbook-pro:lidarr|\
         frankbook-pro:readarr)
@@ -275,14 +275,81 @@ install_signal_relay() {
     return 1
 }
 
+# Host-process GPU metrics exporter (amdgpu sysfs + nvidia-smi). Not a quadlet:
+# it runs python3 from the checkout on the host so it can read the DRM/cgroup
+# sysfs and shell out to nvidia-smi. Same two-address bind posture as
+# node-exporter/cadvisor (loopback + this host's LAN), so it is never a wildcard.
+deploy_gpu_exporter() {
+    local unit_dir="$HOME/.config/systemd/user" lan dropin i
+    case "$TARGET" in
+        dankclaw) lan=192.168.0.143 ;;
+        dankserver) lan=192.168.0.235 ;;
+        *) echo "gpu-exporter: unknown target '$TARGET'" >&2; return 2 ;;
+    esac
+    mkdir -p "$unit_dir"
+    cp scripts/gpu-exporter.service "$unit_dir/gpu-exporter.service"
+    dropin="$unit_dir/gpu-exporter.service.d"
+    mkdir -p "$dropin"
+    printf '[Service]\nEnvironment=GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS=127.0.0.1,%s\n' "$lan" \
+        > "$dropin/bind.conf"
+    systemctl --user daemon-reload
+    systemctl --user enable gpu-exporter.service
+    systemctl --user restart gpu-exporter.service
+    # The interpreter needs a moment to bind after restart (the same race that
+    # once failed a healthy signal-relay deploy).
+    for i in $(seq 1 15); do
+        curl -fsS -m 5 http://127.0.0.1:9401/metrics >/dev/null && return 0
+        sleep 1
+    done
+    echo "gpu-exporter is not answering on 127.0.0.1:9401/metrics" >&2
+    return 1
+}
+
 copy_loki_config() {
     run_privileged mkdir -p /opt/loki/config
     run_privileged cp shared/loki/loki-config.yaml /opt/loki/config/loki-config.yaml
 }
 
 copy_alloy_config() {
-    run_privileged mkdir -p /opt/alloy/config
-    run_privileged cp shared/alloy/config.alloy /opt/alloy/config/config.alloy
+    # The repo config carries the token GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL; the installed copy
+    # carries the host's name, so Loki streams say WHICH machine's journal a
+    # line came from without a second config file per host.
+    # *_CONF_ROOT are test seams: the bats cases execute these copiers for
+    # real against a sandbox with a stubbed run_privileged.
+    local root="${ALLOY_CONF_ROOT:-/opt/alloy}" tmp
+    tmp="$(mktemp)"
+    sed "s/GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL/$TARGET/g" shared/alloy/config.alloy > "$tmp"
+    if ! grep -q "host = \"$TARGET\"," "$tmp" || grep -q "GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL" "$tmp"; then
+        echo "alloy config: host-label substitution failed" >&2
+        rm -f "$tmp"
+        return 1
+    fi
+    # Syntax gate: alloy's config language has no schema — a misplaced
+    # attribute (e.g. `on_error` outside the json stage) parses only at RUN
+    # time, and the unit then crash-loops with a healthy-looking deploy.
+    # Validate against the very image that will run it, before installing.
+    # Skipped only in the bats sandbox (no image there).
+    if [ "$root" = "/opt/alloy" ] || podman image exists localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest 2>/dev/null; then
+        if ! podman run --rm -v "$tmp:/c.alloy:ro" \
+                --entrypoint /usr/bin/alloy localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest \
+                validate /c.alloy; then
+            echo "alloy config: validate FAILED against the pinned image" >&2
+            rm -f "$tmp"
+            return 1
+        fi
+    fi
+    run_privileged mkdir -p "$root/config"
+    run_privileged cp "$tmp" "$root/config/config.alloy"
+    rm -f "$tmp"
+}
+
+copy_blackbox_config() {
+    # Single-file mount target: the unit binds this exact path into
+    # /etc/blackbox_exporter/config.yml. cp (not cp -r) keeps it one file.
+    # BLACKBOX_CONF_ROOT is the same test seam.
+    local root="${BLACKBOX_CONF_ROOT:-/opt/blackbox}"
+    run_privileged mkdir -p "$root"
+    run_privileged cp shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml "$root/blackbox.yml"
 }
 
 copy_grafana_provisioning() {
@@ -291,14 +358,25 @@ copy_grafana_provisioning() {
     # datasource would be invisible to review, lost with the data volume, and
     # unknown to anyone reading the repository. The unit already mounts
     # /opt/grafana/provisioning read-only, so this only has to populate it.
-    run_privileged mkdir -p /opt/grafana/provisioning/datasources \
-        /opt/grafana/provisioning/dashboards
+    # GRAFANA_PROV_ROOT is the test seam: point it at a sandbox and the whole
+    # copy runs unprivileged (the bats case executes this function for real).
+    local root="${GRAFANA_PROV_ROOT:-/opt/grafana}"
+    run_privileged mkdir -p "$root/provisioning/datasources" \
+        "$root/provisioning/dashboards"
     run_privileged cp shared/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml \
-        /opt/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml
+        "$root/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml"
     run_privileged cp shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/provider.yml \
-        /opt/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/provider.yml
-    run_privileged cp shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/llm-fleet.json \
-        /opt/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/llm-fleet.json
+        "$root/provisioning/dashboards/provider.yml"
+    # EVERY dashboard JSON rides, not a hand-listed subset: the fleet provider
+    # turns each file in the directory into a dashboard, so a copier that names
+    # files one by one silently drops new boards (measured 2026-10-21: the
+    # containers board existed in the repo since its commit and was NEVER
+    # provisioned — the panel-census browser check could not find it while the
+    # hand-placed older boards happened to be on disk). Same rule as the quadlet
+    # tier: the directory is the contract, the copy is generated state.
+    for dash in shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/*.json; do
+        run_privileged cp "$dash" "$root/provisioning/dashboards/$(basename "$dash")"
+    done
 }
 
 render_caddyfile() {
@@ -487,13 +565,15 @@ seed_grafana_env() {
         || { echo "grafana env missing GRAFANA_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET; set it in dankclaw/.env" >&2; return 1; }
 }
 
-# The five observability containers left compose on 2026-09-11 (they were
-# started by hand with podman-compose and never came back after a reboot).
-# They are ordinary rootless Quadlet units now: same images, same mounts, same
-# arguments, same container names, so nothing that addresses them by name —
-# Caddy, Prometheus' own scrape config, Alloy's loki.write endpoint — changed.
-# Only the published ports did: the three HTTP UIs bind 127.0.0.1, because the
-# compose services published on 0.0.0.0 and none of them authenticates.
+# The observability containers left compose on 2026-09-11 (they were started by
+# hand with podman-compose and never came back after a reboot). Five are ordinary
+# rootless Quadlet units: same images, same mounts, same arguments, same
+# container names, so nothing that addresses them by name — Caddy, Prometheus'
+# own scrape config — changed. Only the published ports did: the three HTTP UIs
+# bind 127.0.0.1, because the compose services published on 0.0.0.0 and none of
+# them authenticates. Alloy is the exception: a ROOT system service on
+# Network=host, because reading the host journal needs privileges a rootless
+# container cannot get. It is handled by deploy_alloy, not the loop below.
 deploy_observability() {
     local service="$1"
     # Observability units live under <target>/observability/quadlet: Dankclaw
@@ -512,16 +592,17 @@ deploy_observability() {
             copy_loki_config
             build_compose_image loki
             ;;
-        alloy)
-            copy_alloy_config
-            build_compose_image alloy
-            ;;
         grafana)
             copy_grafana_provisioning
             seed_grafana_env || return 1
             ;;
         node-exporter)
             ;;
+        cadvisor)
+            ;;
+        blackbox-exporter)
+            copy_blackbox_config
+            ;;
         *)
             echo "unknown observability service: $service" >&2
             return 2
@@ -534,11 +615,73 @@ deploy_observability() {
         alertmanager) wait_for_health alertmanager http://127.0.0.1:9093/-/healthy 60 ;;
         grafana) wait_for_health grafana http://127.0.0.1:3002/api/health 90 ;;
         loki) wait_for_health loki http://127.0.0.1:3100/ready 60 ;;
-        alloy) wait_for_health alloy http://127.0.0.1:12345/-/healthy 60 ;;
         node-exporter) wait_for_health node-exporter http://127.0.0.1:9100/metrics 60 ;;
+        cadvisor) wait_for_health cadvisor http://127.0.0.1:8080/healthz 90 ;;
+        blackbox-exporter) wait_for_health blackbox-exporter http://127.0.0.1:9115/-/healthy 60 ;;
     esac
 }
 
+# Mirror an image the deployer built rootless into the ROOT image store. A root
+# quadlet reads root storage; a root build (build_compose_image is rootless) is
+# not possible on this host — the build container's resolver fails DNS — so the
+# only way to get a root-readable copy is save-and-load. Compares image ids so a
+# rebuilt alloy actually re-lands in root storage instead of leaving a stale tag.
+mirror_image_to_root() {
+    local ref="$1" rid
+    rid="$(podman image inspect "$ref" --format '{{.Id}}' 2>/dev/null)" || {
+        echo "ERROR: rootless image $ref is not built; cannot mirror to root" >&2
+        return 1
+    }
+    if [[ "$(run_privileged podman image inspect "$ref" --format '{{.Id}}' 2>/dev/null)" == "$rid" ]]; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+    local tar; tar="$(mktemp /var/tmp/alloy-mirror.XXXXXX.tar)"
+    podman save -o "$tar" "$ref"
+    run_privileged podman load -i "$tar"
+    rm -f "$tar"
+}
+
+# Install a quadlet into the SYSTEM generator dir (root manager) instead of the
+# user dir. Boot persistence is the unit's own [Install] section (multi-user
+# target); the v1 system generator creates the .wants on daemon-reload, so —
+# like the user units — no `systemctl enable` (generated units cannot be enabled
+# here).
+install_system_quadlet() {
+    local source_dir="$1" unit="$2"
+    run_privileged mkdir -p /etc/containers/systemd
+    run_privileged cp "$source_dir/$unit.container" /etc/containers/systemd/
+    run_privileged systemctl daemon-reload
+}
+
+# Alloy as a ROOT system service on Network=host. See the unit file: a rootless
+# container cannot read the 0640 journal files, and it cannot reach Loki's
+# 127.0.0.1:3100 publish from a bridge netns. Root + host network fixes both;
+# the price is that this one container runs as root and on the host network.
+deploy_alloy() {
+    copy_alloy_config
+    build_compose_image alloy                      # rootless build (resolver works)
+    mirror_image_to_root localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest
+
+    # Retire the rootless unit BEFORE the system one starts: both managers
+    # generate alloy.service, and two containers named "alloy" both binding
+    # 127.0.0.1:12345 cannot coexist. Move the user quadlet out of the generator
+    # dir (it regenerates from there) and stop the user unit.
+    if [[ -f "$quadlet_unit_dir/alloy.container" ]] ||
+       systemctl --user is-active --quiet alloy.service 2>/dev/null; then
+        systemctl --user stop alloy.service 2>/dev/null || true
+        if [[ -f "$quadlet_unit_dir/alloy.container" ]]; then
+            local trash="$HOME/.AGENTTRASH/$(date +%Y%m%d)-alloy-root-cutover"
+            mkdir -p "$trash"
+            mv -- "$quadlet_unit_dir/alloy.container" "$trash/alloy.container"
+            echo "retired rootless alloy.container -> $trash"
+        fi
+        systemctl --user daemon-reload
+    fi
+
+    install_system_quadlet dankclaw/observability/quadlet alloy
+    run_privileged systemctl restart alloy.service
+    wait_for_health alloy http://127.0.0.1:12345/-/healthy 60
+}
 build_compose_image() {
     local service="$1" image cfhash oldhash containerfile
     # Every file the image COPIES IN, beside the Containerfile. The skip below
@@ -1310,9 +1453,10 @@ deploy_anubis() {
 # conversion (2026-10-11) of the abliterated Qwen3.8-Flash-Next —
 # qwen38-flash-next-v2-abliterated.hgn (66,687,678,432 B, ~62 GiB resident)
 # + the REQUIRED n-gram lookup table + the vision tower — MTP spec decode
-# (HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0), 2 slots over ONE 401,408-position KV pool (2 × ctx,
-# raised 2026-10-18 so BOTH slots can hold a maximum-length request) at the
-# ctx 200704 ceiling, image input — on the Strix Halo iGPU. It stays a
+# (HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0), 2 slots over ONE 401,408-position KV pool at the
+# native ctx 262144 ceiling (raised 2026-10-21 from 200704 so the harness can
+# run a 200,000 window with its ~45k fit gap; the pool still carries two
+# 200k conversations at once), image input — on the Strix Halo iGPU. It stays a
 # ROOT unit because the serve script drives `podman run` directly (the frank-archon pattern):
 # relink_unit points /etc/systemd/system/frank-dragoon.service at the repo
 # file, boot persistence is that unit's [Install], and LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
@@ -1329,6 +1473,9 @@ deploy_anubis() {
 # port gate is the same as every cutover since 2026-09-16: nothing
 # starts until 7770 is released.
 LLM_DRAGOON_IMAGE="${LLM_DRAGOON_IMAGE:-ghcr.io/peonist-ai/halogen-flash-server@sha256:0c61bf84ac22308a53f5d1ca6b86806702d7039e5ebc51cae4c66621b92fe04a}"
+# The payload dir is its own twin because the NPU lane's containment gate below
+# reads it; every artifact path under it stays a full literal as usual.
+LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR="${LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated}"
 LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT="${LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/qwen38-flash-next-v2-abliterated.hgn}"
 LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT_BYTES="${LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT_BYTES:-66687678432}"
 LLM_DRAGOON_NGRAM="${LLM_DRAGOON_NGRAM:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/qwen38-flash-next-ngram.hgn}"
@@ -1337,6 +1484,18 @@ LLM_DRAGOON_VISION="${LLM_DRAGOON_VISION:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterat
 LLM_DRAGOON_VISION_BYTES="${LLM_DRAGOON_VISION_BYTES:-897916416}"
 LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_DIR="${LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_DIR:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/tokenizer}"
 LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_FILES="${LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_FILES:-tokenizer.json chat_template.jinja tokenizer_config.json merges.txt vocab.json generation_config.json}"
+# NPU lane (2026-10-19). HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS is the whole switch and the parity
+# twin of the env file's line: empty here AND in the env = the pre-lane
+# endpoint. The gates below mirror serve-frank-dragoon.sh, and the vendor's
+# fabric-clock host unit (dankclaw/host/, verbatim at tag v0.16.2) is installed
+# ONLY while the lane is named — on Strix Halo the iGPU and the NPU co-running
+# hang the machine while the fabric clock moves, so halogen refuses to boot with
+# the lane armed unless that clock is held.
+LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS="${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS:-qwen3-embedding-0.6b}"
+LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR="${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR:-/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/npu}"
+LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL="${LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL:-/dev/accel/accel0}"
+LLM_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR="${LLM_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR:-/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu}"
+LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK="${LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK:-dankclaw_default}"
 
 retire_halogen_dragoon_quadlet() {
     local trash="$HOME/.AGENTTRASH/20260919-orca-cutover/quadlet"
@@ -1415,6 +1574,77 @@ deploy_llm_dragoon() {
         fi
     done
 
+    # The container network has to exist before the run line names it (a typo
+    # there is a restart-looping unit, not a config error anyone reads).
+    if [[ -n "$LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK" ]] && ! podman network exists "$LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK"; then
+        echo "ERROR: podman network $LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK does not exist" >&2
+        echo "frank-dragoon: create it or blank FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK (pasta default)" >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    # --- NPU lane: the same predicates the serve script checks --------------
+    if [[ -n "$LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS" ]]; then
+        # One door into the container: the read-only /models mount of the
+        # payload dir. A staging dir outside it needs a nested bind whose
+        # mountpoint runc cannot create through a read-only parent, so the
+        # parity twin of the serve gate refuses the shape before the restart.
+        if [[ "$LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR/" != "$LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR"/* ]]; then
+            echo "ERROR: NPU staging dir $LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR is outside the payload dir $LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR — the lane's files reach the container only through the read-only /models mount" >&2
+            return 1
+        fi
+        if [[ ! -e "$LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL" ]]; then
+            echo "ERROR: NPU node $LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL absent — amdxdna is not bound (is iommu=pt still on the boot line?)" >&2
+            return 1
+        fi
+        # Access, not existence: a rootless container cannot open a root:render
+        # 0660 node (its namespace maps one uid/gid, and keep-groups cannot grant
+        # an unmapped gid — measured 2026-10-19). Install the mode rule, re-trigger
+        # the node, then PROVE the node is other-accessible before the restart.
+        run_privileged install -m 0644 dankclaw/udev/98-halogen-npu-access.rules \
+            /etc/udev/rules.d/98-halogen-npu-access.rules
+        run_privileged udevadm control --reload-rules
+        run_privileged udevadm trigger --sysname-match="$(basename "$LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL")"
+        # (`-o FILE` is not "other-writable" — it means "exists", and `-o` is also
+        # the OR operator inside test), so the bit is read straight off the mode.
+        if [[ $(( 8#$(stat -c '%a' "$LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL") & 8#2 )) -eq 0 ]]; then
+            echo "ERROR: $LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL is still $(stat -c '%a %U:%G' "$LLM_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL") after installing the access rule — the lane cannot open it rootless" >&2
+            return 1
+        fi
+        for xl in libxrt_coreutil.so.2 libxrt_core.so.2 libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2; do
+            if [[ ! -e "$LLM_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR/$xl" ]]; then
+                echo "ERROR: XRT NPU library $LLM_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR/$xl absent (Ubuntu libxrt2 + libxrt-npu2)" >&2
+                return 1
+            fi
+        done
+        for nm in ${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS//,/ }; do
+            if [[ ! -d "$LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR/$nm" ]]; then
+                echo "ERROR: NPU model $nm not staged in $LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR" >&2
+                echo "frank-dragoon: stage it: bash scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh" >&2
+                return 1
+            fi
+        done
+        # The hold must exist BEFORE the engine starts and survive every boot
+        # (a resume hands the clock back too — the unit's WantedBy covers it).
+        run_privileged install -m 0755 dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock \
+            /usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock
+        run_privileged install -m 0644 dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock.service \
+            /etc/systemd/system/halogen-fabric-clock.service
+        run_privileged systemctl daemon-reload
+        run_privileged systemctl enable --now halogen-fabric-clock.service
+        if ! run_privileged /usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock status; then
+            echo "ERROR: fabric clock is not held — halogen refuses to start with HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS set" >&2
+            echo "frank-dragoon: journalctl -u halogen-fabric-clock.service -n 40" >&2
+            return 1
+        fi
+    elif [[ -x /usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock ]]; then
+        # Lane rolled back: hand the clock back to the driver and drop the boot
+        # hook. `disable` deletes the INSTALLED copy of this unit — unlike the
+        # tracked LLM unit symlinks the fleet's disable law protects, this file
+        # is repo-owned and the next lane-on deploy reinstalls it.
+        run_privileged systemctl disable halogen-fabric-clock.service 2>/dev/null || true
+        run_privileged /usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock release || true
+    fi
+
     retire_halogen_dragoon_quadlet
     # The predecessor on a re-deploy is THIS unit: stop it (ExecStop stops
     # the container) before waiting on the port. The stray sweep is keyed
@@ -1434,6 +1664,33 @@ deploy_llm_dragoon() {
     run_privileged systemctl enable frank-dragoon.service
     run_privileged systemctl restart frank-dragoon.service
     wait_for_health frank-dragoon http://127.0.0.1:7770/health 1200
+    # The lane's own gate. /health proves the engine is up, nothing about the
+    # NPU programs; one real embedding is the observable output. The first
+    # request after a boot is a warmup artifact (fleet law), so retry before
+    # calling a booted lane dead.
+    if [[ -n "$LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS" ]]; then
+        for nm in ${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS//,/ }; do
+            lane_ok=0
+            for _try in 1 2 3 4 5; do
+                if curl -fsS -m 60 -H 'content-type: application/json' \
+                        -d "{\"model\":\"$nm\",\"input\":[\"frank-dragoon npu lane gate\"]}" \
+                        http://127.0.0.1:7770/v1/embeddings 2>/dev/null \
+                   | python3 -c 'import json,sys
+v = json.load(sys.stdin)["data"][0]["embedding"]
+raise SystemExit(0 if isinstance(v, list) and len(v) and all(isinstance(x, (int, float)) for x in v) else 1)'; then
+                    lane_ok=1
+                    break
+                fi
+                sleep 10
+            done
+            if [[ "$lane_ok" != 1 ]]; then
+                echo "ERROR: NPU model $nm answered no vector on /v1/embeddings" >&2
+                echo "frank-dragoon: read the boot ledger: tail -100 /home/dank/logs/frank_dragoon.log" >&2
+                return 1
+            fi
+            echo "frank-dragoon: NPU lane verified — $nm embedded"
+        done
+    fi
 }
 
 # deploy_llm_zealot — frank-zealot is llama.cpp (PrismML fork build) on the
@@ -1463,6 +1720,12 @@ LLM_ZEALOT_RUNTIME="${LLM_ZEALOT_RUNTIME:-/home/dank/GitPackages/llama-prism-b10
 # 868.32 MiB worst-case VRAM (595.29 model + 248.10 compute in the boot ledger)
 # lands AFTER the engine's fit check, so it is not inside the q8_0 budget.
 LLM_ZEALOT_MMPROJ="${LLM_ZEALOT_MMPROJ:-/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-mmproj-Q8_0.gguf}"
+# The refusal adapter is part of the payload identity now, so the deployer
+# checks it beside the other two files — but it has its OWN fetcher, so a
+# missing adapter must not send the operator to the bonsai9 script. Integrity
+# (bytes + sha256) is the fetcher's job at download time; this gate only asks
+# whether the file the env names exists, exactly like the two above.
+LLM_ZEALOT_LORA="${LLM_ZEALOT_LORA:-/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf}"
 
 deploy_llm_zealot() {
     # Refuse rather than restart-loop: a unit whose runtime or payload is
@@ -1484,6 +1747,13 @@ deploy_llm_zealot() {
             return 1
         fi
     done
+    if [[ ! -f "$LLM_ZEALOT_LORA" ]]; then
+        echo "ERROR: frank-zealot refusal adapter absent at $LLM_ZEALOT_LORA" >&2
+        echo "frank-zealot: run scripts/download-frank-zealot-uncensored-lora.sh first;" >&2
+        echo "frank-zealot: the env names the adapter, so the unit would refuse to boot" >&2
+        echo "frank-zealot: without it — starting the unit anyway is a crash loop." >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
     relink_unit frank-zealot
     run_privileged systemctl daemon-reload
     run_privileged systemctl enable frank-zealot.service
@@ -1815,7 +2085,9 @@ deploy_service() {
         copyparty) deploy_copyparty ;;
         plex) deploy_plex ;;
         tautulli) deploy_tautulli ;;
-        prometheus|grafana|loki|alloy|node-exporter|alertmanager) deploy_observability "$service" ;;
+        alloy) deploy_alloy ;;
+        prometheus|grafana|loki|node-exporter|cadvisor|alertmanager|blackbox-exporter) deploy_observability "$service" ;;
+        gpu-exporter) deploy_gpu_exporter ;;
         comfyui) deploy_comfyui ;;
         *) deploy_compose_service "$service" ;;
     esac

scripts/deploy.sh

@@ -133,13 +133,15 @@ fi
 valid_service() {
     local service="$1"
     case "$TARGET:$service" in
+        # dankclaw:searxng-network is client-only: a network quadlet with no
+        # remote dispatch handler, so the remote gate does not (must not) list it.
         dankclaw:caddy|dankclaw:gluetun|dankclaw:searxng-network|dankclaw:searxng-valkey|\
         dankclaw:searxng|dankclaw:marreta|dankclaw:pihole|dankclaw:open-webui|dankclaw:gitea-postgres|\
         dankclaw:gitea-server|dankclaw:homepage|\
         dankclaw:comfyui|dankclaw:hermes|dankclaw:hermes-dashboard|\
         dankclaw:hermes-webui|dankclaw:prometheus|dankclaw:grafana|dankclaw:loki|dankclaw:alloy|\
-        dankclaw:alertmanager|\
-        dankclaw:node-exporter|dankclaw:authentik-postgres|dankclaw:authentik-server|\
+        dankclaw:alertmanager|dankclaw:blackbox-exporter|\
+        dankclaw:node-exporter|dankclaw:cadvisor|dankclaw:gpu-exporter|dankclaw:authentik-postgres|dankclaw:authentik-server|\
         dankclaw:authentik-worker|dankclaw:authentik-outpost|dankclaw:authentik-outpost-ldap|dankclaw:anubis|dankclaw:seerr|\
         dankclaw:open-notebook|\
         dankclaw:frank-tts-engine|dankclaw:frank-tts|\
@@ -147,8 +149,8 @@ valid_service() {
         dankserver:romm-mariadb|dankserver:romm-redis|dankserver:romm|\
         dankserver:copyparty|dankserver:jellyfin|dankserver:calibre-web|dankserver:calibre-server|dankserver:plex|dankserver:tautulli|\
         dankserver:qbittorrent|dankserver:radarr|dankserver:sonarr|\
-        dankserver:lidarr|dankserver:readarr|dankserver:node-exporter|\
-        dankserver:frank-archon|\
+        dankserver:lidarr|dankserver:readarr|dankserver:node-exporter|dankserver:cadvisor|dankserver:gpu-exporter|\
+        dankserver:prowlarr|dankserver:frank-archon|\
         frankbook-pro:gluetun|frankbook-pro:qbittorrent|frankbook-pro:prowlarr|\
         frankbook-pro:radarr|frankbook-pro:sonarr|frankbook-pro:lidarr|\
         frankbook-pro:readarr)

scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh — stage the NPU half of frank-dragoon: the
+# vendor-precompiled AIE programs halogen-flash-server runs on the XDNA2 NPU
+# when HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS names them. These are NOT model weights you can
+# quantize yourself: XDNA2 executes only programs compiled by AMD's AIE
+# compiler, so the only source is peonist-ai's per-model NPU repo, and the
+# engine checks every file's size and sha256 against its own catalog at boot
+# (/opt/halogen/npu/models.txt inside the image) and refuses to load a model
+# whose files do not match.
+#
+# The manifest below IS that catalog block (dumped from the pinned 0.16.2
+# image on 2026-10-19), so the files land in the layout the entrypoint
+# expects — <dir>/<model-id>/devices/*, <dir>/<model-id>/<model-id>.hnpw and
+# <dir>/<model-id>/tokenizer/tokenizer.json — and the endpoint can keep
+# /models read-only and open no outbound connection at boot (HALOGEN_DOWNLOAD
+# stays unset; the vendor's own README: with it unset the container makes no
+# outbound connections at all).
+#
+# The fetch law, same as every sibling script: curl -f (an access error must
+# not become a "successful" 153-byte artifact), the exact byte count and the
+# sha256 from the manifest, --verify-only to re-check a staged set.
+#
+# Adding a second NPU model: read its block out of the image's catalog and add
+# a case below —
+#   podman exec frank-dragoon-halogen grep "^file <model-id> " /opt/halogen/npu/models.txt
+#   podman exec frank-dragoon-halogen grep "^model <model-id> " /opt/halogen/npu/models.txt
+# and add the model id to HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS in frank-dragoon.env.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+ENV_FILE="${FRANK_DRAGOON_ENV_FILE:-$SCRIPT_DIR/frank-dragoon.env}"
+# The env file owns the staging path (it must sit inside the payload dir, which
+# is the container's only /models mount); an exported FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR wins
+# so the bats seam can stage somewhere disposable.
+DEST="${FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR:-}"
+if [ -z "$DEST" ] && [ -f "$ENV_FILE" ]; then
+    DEST="$(sed -nE 's/^FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE" | tail -1)"
+fi
+: "${DEST:?FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR is not set and $ENV_FILE names no FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR}"
+HF="https://huggingface.co"
+
+MODELS="${HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS:-}"
+if [ -z "$MODELS" ] && [ -f "$ENV_FILE" ]; then
+    MODELS="$(sed -nE 's/^HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE" | tail -1)"
+fi
+
+VERIFY_ONLY=0
+case "${1:-}" in
+    --verify-only) VERIFY_ONLY=1 ;;
+    "") ;;
+    *) echo "usage: ${0##*/} [--verify-only]   (models come from HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS)" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+esac
+[ -n "$MODELS" ] || { echo "no NPU model named — set HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS or run with it in the environment" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+# manifest <model-id> -> repo revision + one "path bytes sha256" per file.
+manifest() {
+    case "$1" in
+      qwen3-embedding-0.6b)
+        NPU_REPO="peonist-ai/halogen-npu-qwen3-embedding-0.6b"
+        NPU_REV="4960fd9d4423dd15373ad21c83db48dbdb3b2798"
+        FILES=(
+        "devices/NOTICE.md 3248 0f267b3d2523ddf14997ee58660a492a9eaf10ccf6b08bf19dfdc85b9a478b91"
+        "devices/consts.hnpb 5086496 ae430e41545a0b1012938cda373b0c450364d3be631111cca3a8c43679f93336"
+        "devices/devices.hnpm 24047 4e9bca9d95d084fb89ce5b99f579a00666c8ca1efae2613c53e3a4878cc9f174"
+        "devices/u0.elf 4931968 b38f165886cb037b7d3951d9cb878473eaba58a432acd45416ff85fd88aa4e46"
+        "devices/u1.elf 5456000 b1811feee851b8af833b37721da92099d89772110815bbbe2c3fa1c276f0ff42"
+        "devices/u2.elf 6505552 406ea9a95b470628a7382e376f4a72cdf4d7aa4c59b4ddf0a4bdd139d63d6ff2"
+        "devices/u3.elf 6817216 bc205d51b523d770151a0c61968f7c70bf624412827580bb6fe0aaf4650dc2ee"
+        "devices/u4.elf 7444032 a5a91338a2603acdcd5c11df532033fda2d3f5479ea44ae87f98fafbdff9a62d"
+        "devices/u5.elf 7432416 6c2bf41835569e0eba25ded7c05c7264ae69c6700bdeb4791057d884f2a4c126"
+        "devices/u6.elf 4941232 919d0038ca088eafddf195f3466ff38db27d3635be1cffa5d4d4b5140902a68e"
+        "devices/u7.elf 5488304 d904cf8afae9428dd167960549e18cce5441745f18c62f8c50975dffc077d3c2"
+        "devices/u8.elf 4941232 db3aef69b17825854ee0dd2df475125a3f5c872f95c686793d6af1ee83596fa7"
+        "devices/u9.elf 5488304 d182727e551084db8fb9600441d8aa373c7f09a3d267ae0a5e921ef92326db1c"
+        "qwen3-embedding-0.6b.hnpw 813032248 b9f9901429df7b46ec17153aa3899f738adbea8e4356080da0c6e6586fb750d1"
+        "tokenizer/tokenizer.json 11423705 def76fb086971c7867b829c23a26261e38d9d74e02139253b38aeb9df8b4b50a"
+        ) ;;
+      *)
+        echo "unknown NPU model '$1' — add its catalog block to manifest() in this script" >&2
+        return 1 ;;
+    esac
+}
+
+for MODEL in ${MODELS//,/ }; do
+    manifest "$MODEL" || exit 1
+    echo "== $MODEL  ($NPU_REPO@$NPU_REV) =="
+    for entry in "${FILES[@]}"; do
+        read -r f want sha <<<"$entry"
+        path="$DEST/$MODEL/$f"
+        mkdir -p "$(dirname "$path")"
+        if [ "$VERIFY_ONLY" -eq 0 ]; then
+            if [ -f "$path" ] && [ "$(stat -c %s "$path")" = "$want" ]; then
+                echo "HAVE  $f ($want bytes) — skipping fetch"
+            else
+                echo "FETCH $f -> $path"
+                # HF answers /resolve/ with a 302 to the Xet CDN and curl
+                # DROPS the Range header across redirects, so resolve the
+                # effective URL first and resume against the CDN (the sibling
+                # 62 GiB fetch hit this on 2026-10-18).
+                url=$(curl -sfIL -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' "$HF/$NPU_REPO/resolve/$NPU_REV/$f") \
+                    || { echo "cannot resolve $NPU_REPO/$f" >&2; exit 1; }
+                curl -fL --retry 5 -C - -o "$path" "$url"
+            fi
+        fi
+        [ -f "$path" ] || { echo "MISSING $path (run without --verify-only)" >&2; exit 1; }
+        if [ -L "$path" ]; then
+            echo "SYMLINK $path — the serve gate refuses symlinks; replace with a real file" >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        got="$(stat -c %s "$path")"
+        [ "$got" = "$want" ] || { echo "SIZE $path: $got != $want" >&2; exit 1; }
+        got="$(sha256sum "$path" | cut -d' ' -f1)"
+        [ "$got" = "$sha" ] || { echo "SHA256 $path: $got != $sha" >&2; exit 1; }
+        echo "OK   $f ($want bytes, sha256)"
+    done
+done
+echo "DOWNLOAD_DONE $DEST ($MODELS)"

scripts/download-frank-zealot-uncensored-lora.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Fetch the refusal-direction adapter that frank-zealot applies at load:
+# AtomicChat/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA-GGUF — a **3.2 MB rank-1 LoRA**
+# for prism-ml/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B, not a checkpoint. Public repo: no auth
+# header, and never a token on the command line (a Bearer token is
+# world-readable in /proc/<pid>/cmdline).
+#
+# IT IS AN EDIT INSIDE THE COMPUTE GRAPH, NOT A SECOND MODEL. The card: B = -r
+# (the refusal direction, row 23 of its own probe matrix), A = P^T(s *
+# H(r^T W_fold)) built from the base pack's folded input basis, applied at every
+# transformer layer (`target_layers = all`, `sites = 64`), with the embedding
+# deliberately untouched because an embedding LoRA crashes this fork's graph.
+# `--lora-scaled <file>:<scale>` is the flag pair: scale 1 is the card's
+# "held-out refusals 0 %" point, scale 0 is the plain model again.
+#
+# THE RUNTIME IS A GATE, NOT A PREFERENCE. The card verified the adapter on
+# `prism-b10777-e3de715` — the exact build frank-zealot runs — and says older
+# forks (e.g. `prism-b10709`) refuse these packs with `unsupported
+# prism.hadamard.version: 2`. The fork is already pinned for the payload's
+# custom tensor type 142; this adapter adds a second reason it cannot move.
+#
+# PROVENANCE ASYMMETRY, STATED HONESTLY. The GGUF's own metadata names the pack
+# the direction was fitted against:
+#   prism.abliterate.base_gguf   = Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PTQ1_0.gguf
+#   prism.abliterate.base_sha256 = 3561df7ac7d26a71ffa991ac2db740b10841c3a350aa2676ccd3ff5d428b4e8b
+# frank-zealot serves the PQ2_0 + MTP + Q8_0-embedding packing (its sha256 is
+# c79fcdfa…, see download-frank-zealot-bonsai9.sh), which is NOT that file and is
+# not on this host. The adapter still applies — same tensor names, and the
+# metadata is provenance rather than a checksum gate — but its strength was
+# calibrated on a sibling quantization. What proves the effect here is the
+# behaviour of the endpoint (a refusal probe before and after the swap), not the
+# metadata and not the card's table, which was measured on PTQ1_0.
+#
+# Fresh downloads, no resume; -f/--fail-with-body so an HTTP error is not a
+# success, then byte count and sha256 (this repo is NOT LFS — the file is a
+# plain git object, so the sha below is the content hash of the Hub's bytes as
+# fetched, not an LFS oid). Idempotent: a complete file is skipped.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   scripts/download-frank-zealot-uncensored-lora.sh [DEST_DIR] [--verify-only]
+set -euo pipefail
+
+DEST=""
+VERIFY_ONLY=0
+for arg in "$@"; do
+    case "$arg" in
+        --verify-only) VERIFY_ONLY=1 ;;
+        *) DEST="$arg" ;;
+    esac
+done
+DEST="${DEST:-/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP}"
+
+REPO="AtomicChat/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA-GGUF"
+# name | bytes | sha256 of the Hub's bytes
+FILES=(
+  "Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf|3155424|861b9c099fb5cd81438ba85bad30590847c777b1e18112586be7f4f9ae5fb07b"
+)
+
+mkdir -p "$DEST"
+status=0
+for entry in "${FILES[@]}"; do
+  IFS='|' read -r name size sha <<<"$entry"
+  url="https://huggingface.co/${REPO}/resolve/main/${name}"
+  f="$DEST/$name"
+  have=0
+  if [[ -f "$f" ]] && [[ "$(stat -c%s "$f")" == "$size" ]]; then
+    if sha256sum -c --quiet <(printf '%s  %s\n' "$sha" "$f"); then
+      have=1
+    fi
+  fi
+  if (( have )); then
+    echo "OK        $name"
+    continue
+  fi
+  if (( VERIFY_ONLY )); then
+    echo "MISSING   $name"
+    status=1
+    continue
+  fi
+  echo "FETCHING  $name (from $REPO)"
+  tmp="$f.part"
+  curl -fsSL --fail-with-body -o "$tmp" "$url"
+  mv "$tmp" "$f"
+  if [[ "$(stat -c%s "$f")" != "$size" ]]; then
+    echo "SIZE FAIL $name ($(stat -c%s "$f") != $size)"
+    status=1
+    continue
+  fi
+  if ! sha256sum -c --quiet <(printf '%s  %s\n' "$sha" "$f"); then
+    echo "SHA FAIL  $name"
+    status=1
+    continue
+  fi
+  echo "VERIFIED  $name"
+done
+if (( status == 0 )); then
+  echo "DOWNLOAD_DONE $DEST"
+else
+  echo "DOWNLOAD_FAILED $DEST" >&2
+fi
+exit "$status"

scripts/frank-archon.env

@@ -46,31 +46,35 @@ FRANK_ARCHON_TP=2
 # stays EXACT for single-sequence decode and any step of <= 25 rows — see
 # MAX_SEQS x (1 + SPEC_TOKENS) below.
 FRANK_ARCHON_TP_WIRE=wht6
-# Decode slots. A slot costs KV, never decode; the pool is sized to this
-# contract and nothing more. At 1.8.1 the budget resolver caps the cache at
-# 556,348 fp8 tokens — 2.8 sessions at 200,000 — so a THIRD full-height
-# conversation answers 400 while /health and every shorter chat work fine
-# (3 x 50k streams run at 77.6 t/s aggregate). Frank's trade: declare the two
-# slots the engine can hold and let the freed ~1.1 GiB go to the expert plane,
-# instead of advertising a third slot that only exists at shorter prompts.
-FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_SEQS=2
+# Decode slots. A slot costs KV and pinned RAM, never decode: the cache target is
+# exactly MAX_SEQS x MAX_MODEL_LEN and the checkpoint store asks (1 + what the
+# retention policy keeps) per slot. Ordered 2026-10-20: FOUR slots over a pool of at
+# least 700,000 fp8 tokens, rounding UP if the resolver cannot land it exactly. The
+# target is therefore 4 x 200,000 = 800,000 tokens and HOST_POOL_MIB decides whether
+# the cache gets it (expert_vram_floor, core/place/planner.cpp:100-104: the card must
+# keep expert-plane-minus-host-room). The 2-slot shape was the answer to a
+# 365,204-token pool that backed 1.8 full-height sessions; at this pool the third and
+# fourth conversations are backed by the cache instead of over-committing it.
+FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_SEQS=4
 # Served window. The engine treats `kv group tokens >= max-model-len` as a HARD
 # limit, and models.yml contextWindow MUST quote this number (over-length is a
 # refusal, not a truncation). The pool is sized for seqs x maxlen, not one
 # sequence.
 FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_MODEL_LEN=200000
 FRANK_ARCHON_PLACEMENT=expert_tiered
-# Pinned host pool for expert rows that do not fit VRAM. Under the budget
-# resolver this is ALSO the lever that decides which experts stay on the card:
-# the card's leftover goes to the expert plane first and the KV cache takes the
-# rest, so growing the pool moves experts off the card and shrinking it spills
-# them onto VRAM the cache wanted. Under-sizing it is a boot failure (36,864
-# refused a boot). The ledger's coverage line is the referee, not this file.
-# Measured, not guessed: 45,568 (PR #30) moved host_pool to 45.09 GiB and left
-# vram_kv byte-identical at 4.20 GiB / 556,348 tokens on both ranks — extra
-# host RAM above what the expert plane's footprint needs buys no cache. Back at
-# 44,928, the size that boots clean.
-FRANK_ARCHON_HOST_POOL_MIB=44928
+# Pinned host pool for expert rows that do not fit VRAM, PINNED ONCE PER RANK: the
+# host must pin tp x this number, and the refusal that names it is
+# core/engine_bringup.cpp:250-265. Under the budget resolver this is ALSO the KV
+# lever -- the card keeps expert-plane-minus-this-room, so every MiB added moves one
+# MiB of experts off the card and into the cache. Derived from the boot ledger (a
+# 23.73 GiB floor at 44,928 room puts plane + 2 units at 67.60 GiB a rank), 49,152
+# drops the floor to 19.6 GiB and leaves the cache ~6.9 GiB, which is enough to back
+# the whole 4 x 200,000 target; the leftover returns to the experts. Cost is paid
+# twice over: pinned RAM (tp x 48 GiB, against the TTM target below) and expert
+# residency -- ~3.2 GiB a card of experts now lives in host RAM and is read over the
+# x8 link when the router picks it. The ledger's coverage line is the referee, not
+# this file: if vram_kv comes back under 700,000 tokens, raise this 1024 and redeploy.
+FRANK_ARCHON_HOST_POOL_MIB=49152
 # VRAM left unclaimed per card (publisher default 96 MiB); the engine's settle
 # floor is built from it.
 FRANK_ARCHON_GPU_HEADROOM_MIB=96
@@ -93,16 +97,29 @@ FRANK_ARCHON_SPEC_TOKENS=2
 FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_BATCHED_TOKENS=2048
 # Step sharing. A prefill chunk that shares a step with decoding sequences holds
 # the device for the chunk's whole time, and every decode row in that step waits
-# that long for its next token (the census: [[LLM Performance Diagnosis]] §9).
-# `auto` leaves each decode row behind the chunk a row plus its draft window and
-# keeps a share for whatever is waiting to be admitted; a number pins the chunk's
-# cap; `off` is the pre-1.4 behaviour this endpoint ran for two eras, where the
-# chunk took the step and admission never ran. Interleave inserts N decode-only
-# steps after a chunk step taken beside decoders: it protects their cadence and
-# holds a waiting request out of those steps, so it stays 0 until the post-migration
-# decode-vs-prefill buckets say it is wanted.
+# that long for its next token: measured at this shape, decode-only steps 15.5 ms
+# against chunk steps 166 ms, which is the harness's ~146 t/s falling to ~11 t/s
+# while another session prefills (law and census: [[frank-archon]]).
+# `auto` is a PREFILL-SPEED dial, not a decoder dial: it reserves one row plus the
+# draft window per decoding sequence (3 tokens) and an eighth of the budget per
+# waiting request or waiting prefill, and the source states it will not halve for
+# decode rows alone. Live proof: prefill_chunks_capped 5,018 across 62,386 chunk
+# steps. A number is the only value that applies whenever the chunk shares a step,
+# and it must not go under the prefill stager's smallest pass -- 1025 rows here,
+# named on the boot line "prefill staging: ... a step of more than 1024 tokens" --
+# because below it every routed layer reads its pooled experts synchronously, so
+# 512 is a trap and the vendor measures the whole job slower there. Interleave
+# inserts N decode-only steps after a chunk step taken beside decoders: it protects
+# their cadence and holds a waiting request out of those steps. That is the decoder
+# dial. ARMED at 1 on 2026-10-20: at N=1 a stream takes its token from the chunk step
+# AND one from the held step, ~2 tokens per 182 ms instead of one per 166 ms; the
+# price falls on the prefilling prompt (its chunks lose every held step) and on any
+# request still waiting to enter. `--prefill-span` re-funds a prefill only when it is
+# ALONE, so it cannot buy this back while decoders run. Meter:
+# radiance:engine_steps_held_total must leave zero, and the §9 buckets must move
+# before N rises.
 FRANK_ARCHON_BUSY_PREFILL_CHUNK=auto
-FRANK_ARCHON_PREFILL_INTERLEAVE=0
+FRANK_ARCHON_PREFILL_INTERLEAVE=1
 # Prefix cache: pinned host memory only. The disk tier was removed outright
 # (--prefix-cache-dir and --prefix-cache-disk-mib are refusals), so what used to
 # be restored from NVMe is now re-prefilled. The tier is sized in ENTRIES and one
@@ -118,9 +135,10 @@ FRANK_ARCHON_NGRAM_PLACEMENT=ram
 # RESETS pages_limit to half of RAM on every boot; below the plan the load dies
 # mid-pin with an anonymous allocator error. ttm-preflight.sh raises the knob
 # itself before refusing by name, so recovery is a boot, not a visit.
-# Floor = 2 x HOST_POOL + 48,824 (static weights + arena) + PREFIX_CACHE + MNBT
-# per the bats ledger test; at the 44,928 pool that computes to 148,920 MiB.
-FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_MIN_MIB=150000
+# Floor = 2 x HOST_POOL + 48,824 (static weights + arena) + PREFIX_CACHE + MNBT + the
+# auto checkpoint store (MAX_SEQS x 10 slots of 111.98 MiB), per the bats ledger test;
+# at the 49,152 pool with 4 slots that computes to 161,848 MiB.
+FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_MIN_MIB=162000
 FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_TARGET_MIB=204800
 # Escape hatch for experiments. Unset -> no extra argv; the serve script expands
 # this unquoted on purpose, so keep multi-flag values as one string.

scripts/frank-dragoon.env

@@ -49,14 +49,21 @@ FRANK_DRAGOON_TOKENIZER_FILES="tokenizer.json chat_template.jinja tokenizer_conf
 # stays at the image default, which is what was qualified) ------------------
 # Served id. OpenWebUI api_configs model_ids for the :7770 backend MUST name it.
 HALOGEN_MODEL_ID=frank-dragoon
-# PER-REQUEST ceiling: a longer prompt is a 400 naming the limit, never a
-# truncation. The harness window must sit ~45k UNDER this (the 400-zone law on
-# the page) — a window equal to the ceiling makes every long request a 400.
-HALOGEN_CTX=200704
-# ONE pool behind both slots, sized so BOTH can carry a maximum-length request
-# at once. Pool positions buy concurrency; the per-request window never moves
-# with them. Legal band: ctx <= pool <= slots * ctx (the seam enforces it), and
-# RAM the pool takes is RAM the n-gram table's page cache loses.
+# PER-REQUEST ceiling, set to the checkpoint's NATIVE window (262,144 — a
+# longer prompt is a 400 naming the limit, never a truncation; stretching
+# past native would need HALOGEN_ROPE_YARN and is not on plan). The harness
+# `contextWindow` must sit ~45k under THIS number (the 400-zone law on the
+# page): with the window at 200,000 the gap is 62,144, which absorbs the
+# chars/4 under-count. A window at or near the ceiling makes every long
+# request a guaranteed 400.
+HALOGEN_CTX=262144
+# ONE pool behind both slots. The harness window is 200,000, so 401,408
+# still carries TWO maximum harness-length conversations at once
+# (2 x 200,000 + one 45,056 budget <= pool + cap headroom); two literal
+# ceiling-length requests would queue instead — buying those means raising
+# the pool, and RAM the pool takes is RAM the n-gram table's page cache
+# loses. Pool positions buy concurrency; the per-request window never moves
+# with them. Legal band: ctx <= pool <= slots * ctx (the seam enforces it).
 HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408
 # Two concurrent conversations: the MTP drafter is not slot-locked on this
 # engine, so the second slot is capacity, not a speculation tax.
@@ -80,3 +87,51 @@ HALOGEN_TOP_K=20
 # Weights stay pinned: the engine pins by default and only the retired w4b build
 # honored HALOGEN_FLASH_PIN_TRUNK=0, which this payload rejects.
 HALOGEN_WEIGHTS_LOCK=1
+
+# --- NPU lane (XDNA2) -------------------------------------------------------
+# HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS is the whole switch: EMPTY or unset = the endpoint exactly
+# as it ran before this lane existed (no accel device, no XRT mount, no
+# fabric-clock dependency, no /v1/embeddings). Rolling the lane back is blanking
+# this one line and re-deploying — nothing else moves.
+# Names are the vendor catalog's folder names (`/opt/halogen/npu/models.txt`
+# inside the image) and the engine reads a model ONLY at /models/npu/<name>/ —
+# HALOGEN_NPU_DIR is gone from the image and setting it is a boot refusal.
+# The engine cannot fetch anything here: /models is read-only and
+# HALOGEN_DOWNLOAD stays unset so the container opens no outbound connection at
+# boot, so scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh must stage the files first
+# (the serve gate and the deployer both refuse by name when a named model is
+# missing). FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR therefore lives INSIDE the payload dir: the
+# payload mount is the container's only handle on /models, and runc cannot
+# mkdir a nested /models/npu mountpoint through a read-only bind — the lane's
+# first boot died on precisely that (2026-10-19). Swap the payload dir and this
+# path moves with it.
+# Cost: ~1.5 GiB extra pinned host RAM per named model, and a hard dependency on
+# the host holding the GPU fabric clock — on Strix Halo the iGPU and the NPU
+# together hang the machine (and corrupt NPU results) while FCLK changes speed,
+# so halogen refuses to start with this variable set unless the clock is held
+# (dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock; the deployer installs and gates it).
+HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=qwen3-embedding-0.6b
+FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/npu
+# Node paths and the XRT directory are variables so the bats seam can drive
+# these gates on a box with no NPU. Ubuntu's distro XRT (libxrt2 + libxrt-npu2)
+# is mounted FILE BY FILE and THREE TIMES EACH — where the image looks for XRT
+# (/opt/xilinx/xrt/lib), at its own path (those libraries find each other at
+# their install path), and at /opt/xilinx/lib/<multiarch>/ (the NPU child
+# searches that third prefix; without it the lane dies naming it and the
+# supervisor takes the container down — 2026-10-21 boot loop). The basename of
+# this directory IS the multiarch name. The vendor forbids mounting an
+# /opt/xilinx/xrt of symlinks into the system dir, which dangle in the container.
+FRANK_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL=/dev/accel/accel0
+FRANK_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
+# sysfs root the fabric-clock preflight reads (same knob the vendor's
+# halogen-fabric-clock status reads; the seam points it at a fixture).
+FRANK_DRAGOON_SYSFS=/sys
+# Container network. Empty = podman's rootless default (`pasta`): a private
+# netns that nothing else can join — podman refuses a second network while the
+# primary is pasta, the published port is refused from dankclaw_default
+# containers, and host.containers.internal resolves link-local, which
+# open-notebook's URL guard refuses to store. Named = the app bridge, so
+# open-notebook can dial http://frank-dragoon-halogen:8731 for the NPU
+# endpoints. The engine's unauthenticated 8730 stays private either way (it
+# binds the container's own loopback); only the API port becomes name-resolvable.
+FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK=dankclaw_default

scripts/frank-dragoon.service

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [Unit]
-Description=halogen-flash-server container (Quat3rnion NATIVE v2 abliterated Qwen3.8-Flash-Next, MTP spec decode, 2 slots over ONE 401408-position pool at ctx 200704, vision ON), root systemd unit (dankclaw, frank-dragoon, Strix Halo iGPU)
+Description=halogen-flash-server container (Quat3rnion NATIVE v2 abliterated Qwen3.8-Flash-Next, MTP spec decode, 2 slots over ONE 401408-position pool at ctx 262144, vision ON), root systemd unit (dankclaw, frank-dragoon, Strix Halo iGPU)
 After=network-online.target
 Wants=network-online.target
 

scripts/frank-tts-engine.env

@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@
 # below stop describing the process you are running. Nothing in this fleet
 # pins this container; that is a decision, not an oversight.
 #
+# THE DEVICE LAW (since the 2026-10-19 Vulkan cutover). Synthesis computes on
+# the gfx1151 iGPU — the SAME card frank-dragoon serves. It is a shared device,
+# never a dedicated one, so two numbers matter and neither is what `rocm-smi`
+# prints first: the memory the container may use is the RADV heap inside the
+# GTT-backed aperture (the ~2 GiB DRM carve-out is not the working set), and the
+# timing that matters is dragoon's, measured WITH a synthesis in flight. The
+# rollback is one line: set QWENTTS_DEVICE empty, and the entrypoint passes no
+# --device at all — the pre-iGPU CPU shape, no rebuild, no restart of anything
+# else on the box.
+#
 # THE REGISTRY LAW (why the unit has an ExecStartPost at all). Registrations live
 # in memory only, so a restart loses them, and re-registration alone does NOT warm
 # a voice — the warm pass has to synthesize something. Without it the façade
@@ -103,6 +113,17 @@ QWENTTS_LANG=auto
 # round-trip outside it) is what absorbs the queue.
 QWENTTS_MAX_BATCH=1
 
+# The compute device, by ggml device NAME. `Vulkan0` is the gfx1151 iGPU: the
+# image carries the Mesa (RADV) ICD and no NVIDIA ICD, so this container's
+# Vulkan enumeration has exactly one entry and it is the iGPU. The unit hands
+# the container /dev/dri and keeps the render group; on this hybrid host the
+# iGPU's render node is renderD129 and renderD128 is the NVIDIA card, which is
+# why the unit passes the directory and lets the driver resolve the node.
+#
+# ROLLBACK: an empty value means no --device flag at all — the CPU shape this
+# endpoint shipped with until 2026-10-19. One line, no rebuild.
+QWENTTS_DEVICE=Vulkan0
+
 # --- the boot warmer (dankclaw/voiceservice/tts-engine-warm.sh) --------------
 # These three are read by the warm hook, not by tts-server. They live here
 # because the hook is exec-ed into this container and therefore inherits this

scripts/frank-tts.env

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 # whichever TTS engine wins the engine decision (dankclaw/voiceservice/app.py
 # is a single stdlib-only file in a locally built image). Consumers — omp's
 # TTS device, OpenWebUI, open-notebook — address a VOICE BY NAME
-# (voice=narrator1, or the harness' voice_id=narrator1) and never see a path:
+# (voice=wilwheaton, or the harness' voice_id=wilwheaton) and never see a path:
 # a name is real exactly when /voices/<name>/reference.wav exists, and
 # anything else is a 400 that lists the names that are.
 #
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ TTS_UPSTREAM_MODEL=voxcpm2
 # name still 400s with the list that exists — this covers the absent case only —
 # and the journal marks such a line `(default)` so an unrequested voice never
 # reads as a requested one. Any pack directory in /home/dank/voices is legal.
-DEFAULT_VOICE=narrator1
+DEFAULT_VOICE=wilwheaton
 
 # CLI-backend knobs, inert while TTS_BACKEND=omni-http. Empty means "not
 # configured": the endpoint answers a 500 that says so instead of running

scripts/frank-zealot.env

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # frank-zealot — llama.cpp (PrismML fork build 10777, CUDA) on the RTX 3090,
-# :7771. Payload: Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0 with the MTP head in the file.
+# :7771. Payload: Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0 with the MTP head in the file, plus
+# the refusal-direction adapter applied at load.
 #
 # ONE OWNER: shape, payload identity, eras, laws and every measured number
 # live in serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/frank-zealot.md. This file carries the
@@ -13,6 +14,17 @@ MODEL_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PQ2_0-MTP-Q8_0.g
 # Q8_0 IS MANDATORY: the publisher states the BF16 tower can crash llama-server
 # under concurrent image requests, which is exactly --parallel 3.
 MMPROJ_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-mmproj-Q8_0.gguf
+# Refusal-direction adapter (a rank-1 LoRA, 3.2 MB) applied at load; it edits
+# the compute graph, it is not a second model. Scale 1 is the card's "held-out
+# refusals 0 %" point. LORA_FILE="" is the documented opt-out — the plain pack
+# again, no rebuild — and LORA_SCALE=0 is the same result through the flag.
+# PROVENANCE ASYMMETRY: the adapter's own prism.abliterate.base_gguf names
+# Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PTQ1_0.gguf as the pack its direction was fitted against,
+# which is NOT this packing and is not on this host. The tensor names match, so
+# it applies; the strength was calibrated on a sibling quantization, so the
+# effect is proven by the endpoint's behaviour, never by the metadata.
+LORA_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf
+LORA_SCALE=1
 # Served id — the harness/family name, not a fact about the payload.
 # Id-keyed consumers: OpenWebUI (model row, access_grant, api_configs), models.yml.
 ALIAS=frank-zealot

scripts/frank-zealot.service

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [Unit]
-Description=llama.cpp (PrismML build 10777) Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP GGUF (qwen35 hybrid, 2x262144 slots over one 524288 pool, unquantized f16 K+V, MTP off, mmproj Q8_0 vision) on the RTX 3090 (dankclaw, frank-zealot)
+Description=llama.cpp (PrismML build 10777) Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP GGUF + refusal adapter (qwen35 hybrid, 3x200704 slots over one 602112 pool, f16 K + q8_0 V, MTP armed, mmproj Q8_0 vision) on the RTX 3090 (dankclaw, frank-zealot)
 After=network-online.target
 Wants=network-online.target
 

scripts/gpu-exporter.py

@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""gpu-exporter: unified per-GPU metrics for a mixed AMD/NVIDIA host.
+
+Emits the `gpu_*` Prometheus families the host-system dashboard graphs:
+
+    gpu_utilization_percent  gpu_memory_used_bytes  gpu_memory_total_bytes
+    gpu_temperature_celsius  gpu_power_watts
+
+each labelled {gpu, vendor, model}. The scrape job adds `host`.
+
+Two sources, both host-native — no container, no GPU passthrough:
+
+  * AMD (R9700s, the 8060S iGPU, the Raphael display GPU): the amdgpu sysfs tree.
+    Utilization comes ONLY from gpu_busy_percent — amd-smi reports gfx_busy_inst
+    as N/A on gfx1201 (verified 2026-10-20). VRAM is already bytes, temperature
+    is milli-degrees, power is micro-watts. Crucially power1_average is EMPTY on
+    the R9700s, so those cards legitimately have no gpu_power_watts line; a
+    missing file becomes an ABSENT metric, never a fabricated 0 that a dashboard
+    would plot as a real reading.
+
+  * NVIDIA (the RTX 3090 on Dankclaw): one `nvidia-smi --query-gpu` CSV. On
+    Dankserver there is an nvidia-smi binary but no NVIDIA GPU, so the command
+    fails; that is tolerated and simply yields no NVIDIA series.
+
+Default mode prints one scrape to stdout and exits (the test harness, and any
+`service ... --oneshot` one-off). `--serve` binds the HTTP endpoint for
+Prometheus; it binds EXPLICITLY (loopback + the host LAN address), never a
+wildcard, matching node-exporter's posture on these boxes.
+"""
+import argparse
+import glob
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import threading
+from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, ThreadingHTTPServer
+
+FAMILIES = [
+    ("gpu_utilization_percent", "gauge", "GPU busy time as a percentage of wall time."),
+    ("gpu_memory_used_bytes", "gauge", "Device memory in use, in bytes."),
+    ("gpu_memory_total_bytes", "gauge", "Device memory capacity, in bytes."),
+    ("gpu_temperature_celsius", "gauge", "Package temperature in degrees Celsius."),
+    ("gpu_power_watts", "gauge", "Board power draw in watts."),
+]
+
+DEFAULT_NVIDIA_CMD = (
+    "nvidia-smi --query-gpu=index,name,utilization.gpu,memory.used,"
+    "memory.total,temperature.gpu,power.draw --format=csv,noheader,nounits"
+)
+
+
+def _read(path):
+    try:
+        with open(path) as fh:
+            return fh.read().strip()
+    except OSError:
+        return ""
+
+
+def _pci_slot(device_dir):
+    uevent = _read(os.path.join(device_dir, "uevent"))
+    for line in uevent.splitlines():
+        if line.startswith("PCI_SLOT_NAME="):
+            return line.split("=", 1)[1]
+    return ""
+
+
+def _pci_id(device_dir):
+    uevent = _read(os.path.join(device_dir, "uevent"))
+    for line in uevent.splitlines():
+        if line.startswith("PCI_ID="):
+            return "amd:" + line.split("=", 1)[1].lower()
+    return "amd"
+
+
+def collect_amd(sys_dir):
+    for card in sorted(glob.glob(os.path.join(sys_dir, "card[0-9]*"))):
+        device = os.path.join(card, "device")
+        busy = _read(os.path.join(device, "gpu_busy_percent"))
+        if busy == "":
+            continue  # not an amdgpu compute node (e.g. a render node w/o metrics)
+        labels = {"gpu": _pci_slot(device) or os.path.basename(card),
+                  "vendor": "amd", "model": _pci_id(device)}
+        yield "gpu_utilization_percent", labels, busy
+        for name, leaf in (("gpu_memory_used_bytes", "mem_info_vram_used"),
+                           ("gpu_memory_total_bytes", "mem_info_vram_total")):
+            v = _read(os.path.join(device, leaf))
+            if v != "":
+                yield name, labels, v
+        temp = ""
+        for hwmon in sorted(glob.glob(os.path.join(device, "hwmon", "hwmon*", "temp1_input"))):
+            temp = _read(hwmon)
+            if temp != "":
+                break
+        if temp != "":
+            yield "gpu_temperature_celsius", labels, str(int(temp) / 1000.0)
+        power = _read(os.path.join(device, "power1_average"))
+        if power != "":  # empty on the R9700s -> metric absent, not zero
+            yield "gpu_power_watts", labels, str(int(power) / 1e6)
+
+
+def collect_nvidia(cmd):
+    if not cmd:
+        return
+    try:
+        out = subprocess.run(cmd, shell=True, capture_output=True, text=True,
+                             timeout=10, check=True).stdout
+    except (subprocess.SubprocessError, OSError):
+        return  # no NVIDIA GPU / no driver: tolerate, emit nothing
+    for line in out.splitlines():
+        parts = [p.strip() for p in line.split(",")]
+        if len(parts) < 7:
+            continue
+        idx, name, util, mused, mtotal, temp, power = parts[:7]
+        labels = {"gpu": idx, "vendor": "nvidia", "model": name}
+        yield "gpu_utilization_percent", labels, util
+        yield "gpu_memory_used_bytes", labels, str(int(float(mused)) * 1048576)
+        yield "gpu_memory_total_bytes", labels, str(int(float(mtotal)) * 1048576)
+        if temp not in ("", "[N/A]"):
+            yield "gpu_temperature_celsius", labels, temp
+        if power not in ("", "[N/A]"):
+            yield "gpu_power_watts", labels, power
+
+
+def collect(sys_dir, nvidia_cmd):
+    samples = {}
+    for source in (collect_amd(sys_dir), collect_nvidia(nvidia_cmd)):
+        for name, labels, value in source:
+            try:
+                value = str(float(value))  # normalise; drop trailing junk
+            except ValueError:
+                continue
+            samples.setdefault(name, []).append((labels, value))
+    return samples
+
+
+def _fmt(value):
+    f = float(value)
+    if f == int(f) and abs(f) < 1e15:
+        return str(int(f))
+    return repr(f)
+
+
+def render(samples):
+    out = []
+    for name, kind, help_text in FAMILIES:
+        out.append("# HELP %s %s" % (name, help_text))
+        out.append("# TYPE %s %s" % (name, kind))
+        for labels, value in sorted(samples.get(name, []), key=lambda x: sorted(x[0].items())):
+            lset = ",".join('%s="%s"' % (k, v) for k, v in sorted(labels.items()))
+            out.append("%s{%s} %s" % (name, lset, _fmt(value)))
+    return "\n".join(out) + "\n"
+
+
+class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
+    sys_dir = "/sys/class/drm"
+    nvidia_cmd = DEFAULT_NVIDIA_CMD
+
+    def do_GET(self):  # noqa: N802 (http.server API)
+        if self.path.split("?")[0] not in ("/metrics", "/"):
+            self.send_error(404)
+            return
+        body = render(collect(self.sys_dir, self.nvidia_cmd)).encode()
+        self.send_response(200)
+        self.send_header("Content-Type", "text/plain; version=0.0.4")
+        self.send_header("Content-Length", str(len(body)))
+        self.end_headers()
+        self.wfile.write(body)
+
+    def log_message(self, *args):
+        pass
+
+
+def main(argv):
+    ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__.splitlines()[0])
+    ap.add_argument("--amdgpu-sysfs", default="/sys/class/drm")
+    ap.add_argument("--nvidia-cmd", default=DEFAULT_NVIDIA_CMD)
+    ap.add_argument("--serve", action="store_true", help="serve /metrics instead of one-shot")
+    ap.add_argument("--port", type=int, default=9401)
+    ap.add_argument("--bind", action="append", default=None,
+                    help="explicit bind address (repeatable); env GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS "
+                         "comma-list if unset. NEVER a wildcard.")
+    args = ap.parse_args(argv)
+
+    if not args.serve:
+        sys.stdout.write(render(collect(args.amdgpu_sysfs, args.nvidia_cmd)))
+        return 0
+
+    binds = args.bind
+    if not binds:
+        env = os.environ.get("GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS", "")
+        binds = [b.strip() for b in env.split(",") if b.strip()] or ["127.0.0.1"]
+    Handler.sys_dir = args.amdgpu_sysfs
+    Handler.nvidia_cmd = args.nvidia_cmd
+    servers = []
+    for b in binds:
+        if b in ("0.0.0.0", "::", "*"):
+            sys.stderr.write("refusing wildcard bind %s\n" % b)
+            return 2
+        servers.append(ThreadingHTTPServer((b, args.port), Handler))
+    sys.stderr.write("gpu-exporter serving :%d on %s\n" % (args.port, ",".join(binds)))
+    # EVERY socket must be served: a listen()ed-but-never-accept()ed bind looks
+    # healthy in `ss` yet times out every scrape once its SYN backlog fills —
+    # and the loopback deploy gate cannot see it. One thread per extra bind.
+    for s in servers[1:]:
+        threading.Thread(target=s.serve_forever, daemon=True).start()
+    servers[0].serve_forever()
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))

scripts/gpu-exporter.service

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Systemd USER unit: gpu-exporter (both Dankclaw and Dankserver).
+#
+# Install path: ~/.config/systemd/user/gpu-exporter.service
+# Installed and enabled by deploy_gpu_exporter in scripts/deploy-remote.sh.
+#
+# Per-GPU metrics (utilization / VRAM / temperature / power) for the mixed
+# AMD + NVIDIA fleet, scraped by Prometheus. Like signal-relay it is a plain
+# user unit, not a quadlet: it runs python3 straight from the checkout (a pull
+# updates it with no copy step), a hand-written user unit can be enabled where
+# the podman v1 generator's units cannot, and with Linger=yes for dank it starts
+# at boot. It reads the host's own cgroup/drm sysfs and shells to nvidia-smi, so
+# it must run on the host — a container would need GPU/DRM passthrough for
+# nothing gained.
+#
+# BINDING. The base unit serves loopback only. deploy_gpu_exporter writes a
+# drop-in adding THIS host's LAN address (the same two-address posture
+# node-exporter and cadvisor use), so the endpoint is never a wildcard. It is
+# unauthenticated metrics on the LAN, identical to node-exporter :9100 and
+# cadvisor :8080 — Prometheus reaches same-host via host.containers.internal and
+# the Dankserver instance over the LAN from Dankclaw.
+
+[Unit]
+Description=GPU metrics exporter (amdgpu sysfs + nvidia-smi)
+After=network-online.target
+Wants=network-online.target
+
+[Service]
+# Loopback by default; the deploy drop-in appends the host LAN address.
+Environment=GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS=127.0.0.1
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/gpu-exporter.py --serve
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=5
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target

scripts/open-notebook.env

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # open-notebook.env — configuration for **open-notebook**, the fleet's podcast
-# generator on Dankclaw (UI host port **8502**, API host port **5056**). Read by
+# generator on Dankclaw (user path https://notebook.franksdank.cloud; UI host
+# port **8502**, API host port **5056 loopback-only**). Read by
 # BOTH Quadlet units (dankclaw/open-notebook/quadlet/) as the FIRST
 # EnvironmentFile= line, which is why every path and host name below is the
 # value the CONTAINER must see.
@@ -47,13 +48,17 @@
 #
 # THE SCRIPTWRITER. ESPERANTO_LLM_TIMEOUT is the app's own default (180 s), kept
 # visible beside the TTS number because both belong to one podcast run: the
-# outline call and the transcript call are the slow text work, and frank-zealot
-# answers them well inside 180. Provider choice is made in the UI, not here —
-# see [[Open Notebook]] for the one-time credential provisioning — and it is
-# frank-zealot on purpose: script writing asks for a JSON-schema response, which
-# the OpenAI-compatible llama.cpp endpoint is known to serve, while halogen's
-# structured-output behaviour on frank-dragoon is UNVERIFIED. halogen remains
-# the unproven alternative, not the fallback.
+# outline call and the transcript call are the slow text work, and the endpoint
+# provisioned today answers them well inside 180. The provider itself is chosen
+# in the database, not here — [[Open Notebook]] owns that provisioning and the
+# address census behind it. Short version: frank-zealot was the plan (script
+# writing asks for a JSON-schema response, which llama.cpp serves and halogen's
+# behaviour on frank-dragoon is UNVERIFIED), but no Dankclaw LLM is dialable from
+# this container's netns, and the single address that reaches one —
+# `host.containers.internal`, 169.254.1.2 — the app refuses to store at all,
+# because link-local is a blocked address class. The writer is therefore
+# frank-archon (`http://192.168.0.235:7770/v1`), the only fleet LLM that both
+# answers from inside this netns and passes that check.
 #
 # THE DATABASE COORDINATES. SURREAL_URL addresses the sibling container BY NAME
 # on systemd-open-notebook (container DNS is scoped to the owning network, so
@@ -73,15 +78,20 @@ SURREAL_PASS=
 OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY=
 OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD=
 
-# WHERE THE BROWSER FINDS THE API. The UI auto-detects `<host-you-opened>:5055`,
-# and 5055 on this host belongs to seerr, so the API leaves the container on 5056
-# and this line has to say so. Both origins are listed in CORS_ORIGINS because
-# the API is called cross-origin from the UI's own port: the LAN origin is the
-# normal one, the localhost one covers a browser opened on Dankclaw itself. The
-# app logs a warning at start while CORS_ORIGINS is unset and defaults to `*`,
-# which is a wildcard in front of an endpoint that serves every episode's audio.
-API_URL=http://192.168.0.143:5056
-CORS_ORIGINS=http://192.168.0.143:8502,http://localhost:8502
+# WHERE THE BROWSER FINDS THE API. The guarded vhost
+# (notebook.franksdank.cloud → Caddy → 8502) is the only user path, and the
+# image's own Next.js layer rewrites `/api/*` to the FastAPI running beside it,
+# so ONE origin serves UI and API and API_URL has to name that vhost. This is
+# not cosmetic: unset, the app auto-detects `<host-you-opened>:5055` — the port
+# upstream ships, and the one seerr holds on this host — and hands the browser
+# an address nothing answers; pointed at the LAN `:5056` instead, every call
+# leaves the guarded origin and an authenticated browser session does not ride
+# it. Same-origin traffic needs no CORS at all, but CORS_ORIGINS stays set to
+# the one origin because the app warns at start while it is unset and defaults
+# to `*` — a wildcard in front of an endpoint that serves every episode's
+# audio. No trailing slash: the UI concatenates `${API_URL}/api/...`.
+API_URL=https://notebook.franksdank.cloud
+CORS_ORIGINS=https://notebook.franksdank.cloud
 
 # Concurrency: see "THE CPU-SHUTDOWN GUARD" above. Defaults are 5 and 5.
 TTS_BATCH_SIZE=1

scripts/probe-frank-archon-kv.py

@@ -147,10 +147,21 @@ def main():
     deep = corpus(160_000)
     wide = corpus(1_100_000)
 
-    # 3.28 chars/token is the measured ratio of this corpus through the
-    # froggeric template (646,000 chars -> 196,919 tokens at the 2026-10-11
-    # deploy); 98.5 % of the window leaves the response room under the ceiling.
-    chars = int(0.985 * maxlen * 3.28)
+    # The corpus's chars/token ratio is MEASURED here, not stored. A stored 3.28
+    # (646,000 chars -> 196,919 tokens, 2026-10-11) had drifted to 3.20 by
+    # 2026-10-20 (646,299 chars -> 201,876 tokens) as the repo's docs grew, and a
+    # stale constant sends leg B past --max-model-len, where the engine answers a
+    # perfectly legitimate 400 ("the request (201900 tokens) exceeds the available
+    # context size (200000)") and the leg reads as a capacity failure. One small
+    # request prices the ratio; 97 % of the window leaves the response room.
+    sample = prompt(wide, 4000, "CAL", "cal-marker")
+    cal, _, _ = post({"model": MODEL,
+                      "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": sample}],
+                      "max_tokens": 1, "temperature": 0.0,
+                      "chat_template_kwargs": {"enable_thinking": False}})
+    ratio = len(sample) / cal["usage"]["prompt_tokens"]
+    print(f"[cal] corpus ratio {ratio:.2f} chars/token")
+    chars = int(0.97 * maxlen * ratio)
     # Each marker's FIRST hyphen-separated word is unique, because show()
     # scores the hit on that word — a shared prefix would score every slot HIT
     # on any answer that says the word.
@@ -176,7 +187,7 @@ def main():
                 print(f"[B-{s}] FAILED after {time.time() - t0:.1f}s: {e!r}")
     print(f"[B] total {time.time() - t0:.1f}s")
     # D — concurrency decode: seqs streams, 512 tokens each, ~25 % depth.
-    dchars = int(0.25 * maxlen * 3.28)
+    dchars = int(0.25 * maxlen * ratio)
     dbodies = [chat(deep, dchars, f"D{i + 1}-9137", f"flint-marker-{i}", 512)
                for i in range(seqs)]
     print(f"[D] {seqs} concurrent streams x 512 tokens, "

scripts/serve-frank-archon.sh

@@ -15,18 +15,21 @@
 # log states every budget before anything is allocated (weights vs KV
 # split, the expert host pool's coverage of the worst case, the PLE pin,
 # the P2P answer per pair) — read it after every resize.
-# Deployed shape (2026-10-19, radiance 1.8.1): THREE decode slots x 200,000
-# tokens, fp8 KV, 44 GiB/rank pinned expert pool, MTP depth 2, prefix cache in
-# pinned host RAM, PLE pinned in RAM. The per-card split between the expert slab
-# and the KV pool is NO LONGER an operator number — 1.3.0 removed the VRAM pair
-# and the budget resolver derives it from headroom, the cache bound and the host
-# pool, so the slab size and the pool's token count are LEDGER lines: after every
-# boot read them out of the log and check the pool still backs 3 x 200,000.
+# Deployed shape (2026-10-20, radiance 1.8.1): FOUR decode slots x 200,000 tokens over a
+# >= 700,000-token fp8 KV pool, 48 GiB/rank pinned expert pool, MTP depth 2, prefix cache
+# in pinned host RAM, PLE pinned in RAM. The per-card split between the expert slab and the KV
+# pool is NO LONGER an operator number — 1.3.0 removed the VRAM pair and the budget
+# resolver derives it from headroom, the cache bound and the host pool, so the slab
+# size and the pool's token count are LEDGER lines. After every boot read them, plus
+# the two lines that size a prefill step — "activation arena: ... lends ... while
+# steps are at most N tokens" (the arena levels the expert slab borrows) and
+# "prefill staging: ... a step of more than N tokens ..." (the chunk size below which
+# pooled experts are read synchronously) — and the cache's session backing.
 #
 # The root unit (scripts/frank-archon.service, User=dank,
-# LimitMEMLOCK=infinity) grants the pin budget: 2 x 44 GiB expert pools +
-# the 47.7 GiB PLE table + 8 GiB prefix host tier — ~147 GiB of pinned
-# pages, which is ALSO why this script refuses to start when ttm's
+# LimitMEMLOCK=infinity) grants the pin budget: 2 x 48 GiB expert pools + the 47.7 GiB PLE
+# table + 8 GiB prefix host tier + the checkpoint store (slots x 112 MiB) — ~159 GiB of
+# pinned pages, which is ALSO why this script refuses to start when ttm's
 # pages_limit/pages_max cap is under FRANK_ARCHON_TTM_MIN_MIB (see below).
 set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ set +a
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_IMAGE:?FRANK_ARCHON_IMAGE must name the radiance image}"
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_MODEL_DIR:?FRANK_ARCHON_MODEL_DIR must name the .rad dir}"
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_MODEL_FILE:?FRANK_ARCHON_MODEL_FILE must name the .rad file}"
-: "${FRANK_ARCHON_STATE_DIR:?FRANK_ARCHON_STATE_DIR must name the /data state dir}"
+: "${FRANK_ARCHON_STATE_DIR:?FRANK_ARCHON_STATE_DIR must name the host dir holding the rad-tune cache}"
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_CONTAINER:?FRANK_ARCHON_CONTAINER must name the container}"
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_SERVED_NAME:?FRANK_ARCHON_SERVED_NAME must name the alias}"
 : "${FRANK_ARCHON_PORT:?FRANK_ARCHON_PORT must be the port}"

scripts/serve-frank-dragoon.sh

@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@
 # the flash-server line reads it; it ships as a container; the root unit
 # keeps LimitMEMLOCK=infinity for parity and to outlive the login session,
 # exactly like frank-archon's.
+# Since 2026-10-19 the container also carries the XDNA2 NPU lane
+# (HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS): the vendor's precompiled AIE programs for the models
+# named there run on the NPU inside THIS container and answer /v1/embeddings,
+# beside the Flash model, on the same port. Opt-in — the variable empty is the
+# pre-lane endpoint, byte for byte.
 set -euo pipefail
 
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
@@ -115,6 +120,128 @@ if [ ! -e "$DEV_KFD" ] || [ ! -d "$DEV_DRI" ]; then
     echo "frank-dragoon: $DEV_KFD or $DEV_DRI missing — no gfx1151 to serve on" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
+
+# --- NPU lane (XDNA2), opt-in via HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS ------------------------
+# Empty = the endpoint exactly as it ran before the lane existed: no device, no
+# extra mounts, no gate below. Set = three host preconditions, each refused BY
+# NAME (the 2026-10-01 law: the serve gate and the deployer gate must agree):
+#   1. the staged model files under $FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR — a path that MUST
+#      live INSIDE $FRANK_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR, because the container's only
+#      handle on them is the read-only /models mount. A nested bind at
+#      /models/npu cannot work: runc has to mkdir its mountpoint and the parent
+#      bind is ro (`mkdirat .../merged/models/npu: read-only file system`,
+#      measured 2026-10-19), and the image ships no /models at all for it to
+#      land on. `$MODEL_DIR/npu/<id>` is visible at /models/npu/<id> through
+#      the existing mount, which is also where the vendor's catalog expects it.
+#      The engine re-checks size+sha256 against that catalog at boot; it cannot
+#      fetch anything here because /models is read-only and HALOGEN_DOWNLOAD
+#      stays unset — no outbound connection at boot),
+#   2. the distro XRT's three libraries, each mounted THREE times: where the
+#      image looks for XRT (/opt/xilinx/xrt/lib), at their own path (the
+#      libraries find each other there), and at /opt/xilinx/lib/<multiarch>
+#      — the NPU child searches that third prefix too, and since the host's
+#      libxrt2 was reconfigured 2026-10-20 it is the ONLY prefix the child
+#      names: omitting it crashes the lane with `No such library
+#      '/opt/xilinx/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxrt_core.so.2'` and the engine
+#      supervisor takes the dead lane down on the whole container (measured
+#      2026-10-21: 88-restart boot loop). Real files only — an /opt/xilinx/xrt
+#      of symlinks into the system dir dangles inside the container, which the
+#      vendor calls out explicitly),
+#   3. the GPU fabric clock HELD: on Strix Halo the iGPU and the NPU co-running
+#      hang the machine while FCLK changes speed, and the engine refuses to
+#      start when it moves — it cannot read host sysfs from inside the
+#      container, so the proof lives here, checked exactly the way the vendor's
+#      `halogen-fabric-clock status` checks it.
+NPU_ARGS=()
+NPU_MODELS="${HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS:-}"
+if [ -n "$NPU_MODELS" ]; then
+    DEV_ACCEL="${FRANK_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL:-/dev/accel/accel0}"
+    NPU_DIR="${FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR:?HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS is set, so FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR must name the staged model dir}"
+    XRT_DIR="${FRANK_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR:-/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu}"
+    SYSFS="${FRANK_DRAGOON_SYSFS:-/sys}"
+    # The lane's files have exactly one door into the container: the read-only
+    # payload mount. A staging dir OUTSIDE it would need a nested bind whose
+    # mountpoint runc cannot create through that read-only parent, so refuse the
+    # shape by name here rather than let runc die at container init (2026-10-19).
+    case "$NPU_DIR/" in
+        "$FRANK_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR"/*) ;;
+        *) echo "frank-dragoon: FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=$NPU_DIR is outside the payload dir $FRANK_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR — the lane's files reach the container only through the read-only /models mount; move the staging dir inside it" >&2
+           exit 1 ;;
+    esac
+    if [ ! -e "$DEV_ACCEL" ]; then
+        echo "frank-dragoon: $DEV_ACCEL missing — the NPU lane needs the amdxdna node (is iommu=pt still on the boot line?)" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    # Existence is not access. This endpoint runs rootless, so the container's
+    # namespace maps exactly one uid/gid (dank) and a root:render 0660 node reads
+    # `nobody:nogroup` inside it — the engine then dies naming the node itself
+    # (measured 2026-10-19). --group-add keep-groups cannot help: an unmapped gid
+    # cannot be granted into a namespace that does not map it, verified with and
+    # without the flag from a shell already in `render`. The door is the udev mode.
+    # NB: `[ -o FILE ]` is NOT "other-writable" — it means "exists", and `-o` is
+    # also the OR operator inside test — so the permission bit is read directly.
+    if [ $(( 8#$(stat -c '%a' "$DEV_ACCEL") & 8#2 )) -eq 0 ]; then
+        echo "frank-dragoon: $DEV_ACCEL is $(stat -c '%a %U:%G' "$DEV_ACCEL") — a rootless container cannot open it; install dankclaw/udev/98-halogen-npu-access.rules and re-trigger udev (sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger --sysname-match=accel0)" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    for M in ${NPU_MODELS//,/ }; do
+        if [ ! -d "$NPU_DIR/$M" ]; then
+            echo "frank-dragoon: NPU model $M not staged in $NPU_DIR;" >&2
+            echo "  fetch it: bash scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh" >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    done
+    for L in libxrt_coreutil.so.2 libxrt_core.so.2 libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2; do
+        if [ ! -e "$XRT_DIR/$L" ]; then
+            echo "frank-dragoon: XRT NPU library $XRT_DIR/$L missing — the NPU lane cannot load (Ubuntu libxrt2 + libxrt-npu2)" >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        REAL="$(readlink -f "$XRT_DIR/$L")"
+        MULTIARCH="${XRT_DIR##*/}"
+        NPU_ARGS+=(-v "$REAL:/opt/xilinx/xrt/lib/$L:ro" -v "$REAL:$XRT_DIR/$L:ro"
+                   -v "$REAL:/opt/xilinx/lib/$MULTIARCH/$L:ro")
+    done
+    HELD=0
+    for D in "$SYSFS"/class/drm/card*/device; do
+        [ -e "$D/pp_dpm_fclk" ] || continue
+        [ -e "$D/power_dpm_force_performance_level" ] || continue
+        PERF="$(cat "$D/power_dpm_force_performance_level" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+        TOP="$(grep . "$D/pp_dpm_fclk" | tail -n 1)"
+        if [ "$PERF" = high ] || { [ "$PERF" = manual ] \
+                && [ "$(grep -c '\*' "$D/pp_dpm_fclk")" = 1 ] && [ "${TOP%\*}" != "$TOP" ]; }; then
+            HELD=1
+        else
+            echo "frank-dragoon: fabric clock at $D is '$PERF', not held — the NPU lane refuses to start (GPU+NPU together need FCLK pinned)" >&2
+            echo "  hold it: sudo halogen-fabric-clock hold" >&2
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    done
+    if [ "$HELD" = 0 ]; then
+        echo "frank-dragoon: no amdgpu device with a fabric-clock control under $SYSFS/class/drm — cannot prove FCLK is held" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    NPU_ARGS+=(--device "$DEV_ACCEL" \
+               -e HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS="$NPU_MODELS")
+    echo "frank-dragoon: NPU lane armed: $NPU_MODELS on $DEV_ACCEL (fabric clock held)" >&2
+fi
+
+# Container network. Empty = podman's rootless default (`pasta`), which is a
+# private netns and CANNOT be joined by anything else: podman refuses a second
+# network while the primary is pasta ("cannot set multiple networks without
+# bridge network mode"), the endpoint's published port answers 200 on the host
+# and on the LAN but is REFUSED from a dankclaw_default container (measured
+# 2026-10-19), and `host.containers.internal:7770` answers 200 yet resolves to
+# 169.254.1.2 — link-local, which open-notebook's URL guard refuses to store.
+# So an endpoint on pasta has no address an app container can use; naming the
+# app bridge here is the only shape that lets open-notebook dial
+# http://frank-dragoon-halogen:8731 for the NPU endpoints. It does not widen
+# the surface: the engine's unauthenticated 8730 is bound to the container's
+# OWN loopback (/proc/net/tcp: 127.0.0.1:8730 vs 0.0.0.0:8731, checked the same
+# day), so only the API port is reachable by name.
+NET_ARGS=()
+if [ -n "${FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK:-}" ]; then
+    NET_ARGS=(--network "$FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK")
+fi
 # Host-RAM preflight — the engine's pin gate, checked BEFORE podman run.
 # The engine refuses to pin when MemAvailable is below the checkpoint plus
 # a 16 GiB floor: pinned pages cannot be swapped, and under the floor the
@@ -189,6 +316,8 @@ podman run --name "$FRANK_DRAGOON_CONTAINER" \
   ${HALOGEN_WEIGHTS_LOCK:+-e HALOGEN_WEIGHTS_LOCK="$HALOGEN_WEIGHTS_LOCK"} \
   -v "$FRANK_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR:/models:ro" \
   -v "$FRANK_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR/tokenizer:/tokenizer:ro" \
+  "${NET_ARGS[@]}" \
+  "${NPU_ARGS[@]}" \
   "$FRANK_DRAGOON_IMAGE" \
   > "$LOG" 2>&1
 

scripts/serve-frank-zealot.sh

@@ -33,6 +33,19 @@
 # what gives this endpoint eyes; MMPROJ_FILE="" is the documented text-only
 # opt-out.
 #
+# A refusal-direction adapter rides on top of the pack (Frank, 2026-10-19):
+# AtomicChat's rank-1 LoRA, applied at load by --lora-scaled. It is an edit
+# inside the compute graph, not a second model — B = -r (the refusal direction),
+# A built from the base pack's folded input basis, every transformer layer, the
+# embedding deliberately untouched because an embedding LoRA crashes this fork's
+# graph. The card verified it on prism-b10777-e3de715 — the build pinned here —
+# and says older forks refuse the pack outright (`unsupported
+# prism.hadamard.version: 2`), which makes the runtime lock doubly load-bearing.
+# Its own metadata names the PTQ1_0 packing as the pack the direction was fitted
+# against, so what proves the effect is a refusal probe against the live
+# endpoint, not the metadata and not the card's table. LORA_FILE="" drops the
+# flag and the endpoint is the plain pack again.
+#
 # Speculative decoding ships ON (Frank, 2026-10-19). The head is IN the file and
 # accepts well (0.798/0.617 per position, mean length 2.41, measured 2026-10-18);
 # what made it lose that evening was the bill, not the drafts — the draft context
@@ -136,6 +149,13 @@ fi
 # Vision projector. No colon on purpose: an explicitly empty value means
 # "text-only, on purpose" and must NOT be replaced by the default path.
 : "${MMPROJ_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-mmproj-Q8_0.gguf}"
+# Refusal adapter. No colon on purpose, the same convention as MMPROJ_FILE: an
+# explicitly empty LORA_FILE is the documented opt-out (the plain pack again)
+# and must NOT be replaced by the default path. The scale travels INSIDE the
+# same argv token as the file, so LORA_SCALE only matters while LORA_FILE names
+# something; 0 is the card's "switch it off without touching the file" value.
+: "${LORA_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf}"
+: "${LORA_SCALE:=1}"
 
 # Fail loudly rather than half-loading: a missing file is a download that
 # has not finished, and Restart=always would turn it into a crash loop that
@@ -149,6 +169,17 @@ if [[ -n "$MMPROJ_FILE" ]]; then
     EXTRA_ARGS+=(--mmproj "$MMPROJ_FILE")
 fi
 
+# The adapter reaches the engine as ONE token — --lora-scaled <file>:<scale> —
+# so a scale can never arrive without its file. It is applied once, at load;
+# nothing here hot-swaps it (--lora-init-without-apply plus POST /lora-adapters
+# is that shape, and a process holding three conversations is not the place to
+# re-parameterise weights mid-flight). A missing file is a fetch that never
+# finished, so refuse rather than let Restart=always loop on it.
+if [[ -n "$LORA_FILE" ]]; then
+    [[ -e "$LORA_FILE" ]] || { echo "frank-zealot: missing $LORA_FILE" >&2; exit 1; }
+    EXTRA_ARGS+=(--lora-scaled "${LORA_FILE}:${LORA_SCALE}")
+fi
+
 # Prometheus scraping is opt-IN in llama.cpp: without --metrics the server
 # answers 501 on /metrics, and the fleet scrape then reports the endpoint DOWN.
 if [[ "$METRICS" = "1" ]]; then

scripts/test-changed.sh

@@ -293,6 +293,14 @@ for path in "${CHANGED[@]}"; do
             add_test tests/caddyfile.bats
             add_test tests/deployment_scoping.bats
             ;;
+        # The GPU exporter is a host process; its seam pins the collector, the
+        # user unit, the deployer function, the planner route, the Prometheus
+        # scrape jobs and the host-system GPU panels — a cross-file contract, so
+        # the whole seam rides on any of its own files.
+        scripts/gpu-exporter.py|scripts/gpu-exporter.service)
+            add_test tests/gpu_exporter.bats
+            add_test tests/deployment_scoping.bats
+            ;;
         dankclaw/udev/*)
             # Host-level udev rules are applied by manual sudo install + udevadm
             # trigger, not dispatched as a service; nothing here is bats-testable.

serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Domain Docs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+type: reference
+title: Domain Docs
+description: "Consumer rules for GLOSSARY.md and docs/adr/, and where this vault out-ranks them on operational facts."
+tags: [agent, glossary, adr, documentation]
+timestamp: 2026-10-20T00:00:00Z
+---
+
+# Domain Docs
+
+How the engineering skills (`/grill-with-docs`, `/domain-modeling`,
+`/improve-codebase-architecture`, `/to-spec`) should consume this repo's design
+vocabulary when exploring the codebase.
+
+## Before exploring, read these
+
+- **`GLOSSARY.md`** at the repo root
+- **`docs/adr/`**: read ADRs that touch the area you're about to work in
+
+If either doesn't exist, **proceed silently**. Don't flag their absence; don't
+suggest creating them upfront. `/domain-modeling` (reached via
+`/grill-with-docs` and `/improve-codebase-architecture`) creates them lazily
+when terms or decisions actually get resolved. As of 2026-10-20 neither exists;
+this page is the pointer, not a promise.
+
+## Ownership against this vault
+
+This repo already carries `serverAppConfigs-docs/` — the operational knowledge
+base and, per repo law, the owner of operational facts (endpoint shapes, Eras,
+Laws, runbooks). `GLOSSARY.md` / `docs/adr/` hold **design vocabulary and
+decisions**. Where a term is defined in both, the vault page that owns the fact
+wins — one fact, one owner. A glossary entry restating an endpoint number is
+the bug, not the second source.
+
+## Use the glossary's vocabulary
+
+When output names a domain concept (an issue title, a refactor proposal, a
+hypothesis, a test name), use the term as defined in `GLOSSARY.md`. Don't drift
+to synonyms the glossary explicitly avoids.
+
+If the concept you need isn't in the glossary yet, that's a signal: either
+you're inventing language the project doesn't use (reconsider) or there's a
+real gap (note it for `/domain-modeling`).
+
+## Flag ADR conflicts
+
+If output contradicts an existing ADR, surface it explicitly rather than
+silently overriding:
+
+> _Contradicts ADR-0007 (…), but worth reopening because…_
+
+## Related
+
+- [[Issue Tracker]] — where specs and tickets built on this vocabulary are published.
+- [[Agent Docs and Edits]] — the edit-safety rules that apply while touching any doc in this checkout.

serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Issue Tracker.md

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+---
+type: reference
+title: Issue Tracker
+description: "How agent skills read and write Gitea issues here: credential-safe curl, label IDs, and wayfinding without sub-issues."
+tags: [agent, gitea, issues, triage, api]
+timestamp: 2026-10-20T00:00:00Z
+---
+
+# Issue Tracker
+
+Issues and specs for this repo live as Gitea issues in `dank/serverAppConfigs`
+on `http://192.168.0.143:3000` (Dankclaw). There is no `gh`/`glab` CLI here —
+the door is the GitHub-compatible REST API driven with `curl`. The
+mattpocock-lineage skills (`/triage`, `/to-tickets`, `/to-spec`, `/wayfinder`)
+read this page as their tracker contract. The git workflow around issues and
+PRs (branches, PR-only merges, attribution footer) is owned by
+[[Deployment Flow]]; this page owns only the API shape.
+
+## Auth
+
+The token lives in the git credential file `~/.config/secrets/gitea`: one
+line in git-credential URL form, `http://user:TOKEN@192.168.0.143`. Extract it
+without echoing:
+
+```bash
+tok=$(sed -nE 's#^http://[^:/@]+:([^@]+)@192\.168\.0\.143.*#\1#p' ~/.config/secrets/gitea | head -1)
+```
+
+**A token on a command line is world-readable in `/proc/<pid>/cmdline`** (the
+same leak class AGENTS.md records for HF tokens). Never pass it with `-H` —
+put it in a mode-600 curl config and pass `-K`:
+
+```bash
+cfg=$(mktemp); chmod 600 "$cfg"
+printf 'header = "Authorization: token %s"\n' "$tok" > "$cfg"
+# ... every curl below uses -K "$cfg"; rm -f "$cfg" when done
+```
+
+**GETs also accept HTTP Basic; writes do not** — a POST/PATCH with Basic auth
+is refused with `422 {"message":"token is required"}` (measured 2026-10-20).
+Use the `Authorization: token` header for everything.
+
+## Conventions
+
+`$API=http://192.168.0.143:3000/api/v1/repos/dank/serverAppConfigs`
+
+- **Create an issue**: `curl -s -K "$cfg" -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d "$(jq -n --arg t "$TITLE" --rawfile b "$BODY" '{title:$t, body:$b}')" $API/issues`
+- **Read an issue**: `curl -s -K "$cfg" $API/issues/<number>` (fields: `number`, `title`, `body`, `labels[].name`, `state`)
+- **List issues**: `curl -s -K "$cfg" "$API/issues?state=open&limit=50"` — add `&labels=<id>` to filter
+- **Comment**: `curl -s -K "$cfg" -X POST -d "$(jq -n --rawfile b "$BODY" '{body:$b}')" $API/issues/<number>/comments`
+- **Apply labels**: `POST $API/issues/<number>/labels` with `{"labels":[<label-ID numbers>]}` — Gitea wants numeric label **IDs**, not names; resolve them from `GET $API/labels` (see [[Triage Labels]] for which labels exist)
+- **Remove a label**: `DELETE $API/issues/<number>/labels/<label-id>`
+- **Close**: `PATCH $API/issues/<number>` with `{"state":"closed"}`
+- **Blocking relationships**: this instance has no native sub-issues or dependencies — put `Part of #<parent>` / `Blocked by: #<n>, #<n>` lines at the top of the child body. A ticket is unblocked when every listed blocker is closed.
+- **Attribution footer (repo law)**: every issue body you open ends with `cwd: <working directory> · session: <omp session id>` — full rule in [[Deployment Flow]].
+
+**PRs as a request surface: no.** Issues and PRs have separate number spaces on
+Gitea; a bare `#42` is an issue, a PR is spelled "PR #42".
+
+## When a skill says "publish to the issue tracker"
+
+Create a Gitea issue as above.
+
+## When a skill says "fetch the relevant ticket"
+
+`GET $API/issues/<number>` and read `title` + `body` + `labels[].name` +
+comments.
+
+## Wayfinding operations
+
+Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a single issue labelled `wayfinder:map`,
+holding the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body.
+
+- **Map**: create an issue, apply the `wayfinder:map` label (create it via `POST $API/labels` `{"name":"wayfinder:map","color":"#6f42c1"}` if missing).
+- **Child ticket**: an issue carrying `Part of #<map>` at the top of its body, plus a `wayfinder:<type>` label (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`).
+- **Blocking**: the `Blocked by:` body line (see Conventions).
+- **Frontier**: list open issues (`?state=open`), drop any with an open `Blocked by` target or an assignee; lowest `number` wins.
+- **Claim**: `POST $API/issues/<n>/assignees` with `{"assignees":["dank"]}` — actually assign it or it stays in the frontier; the session's first write.
+- **Resolve**: post the answer as a comment, `PATCH` to `closed`, then update the map issue's body (GET → edit Decisions-so-far → PATCH) with a context pointer.
+
+## Related
+
+- [[Triage Labels]] — the role strings these operations apply.
+- [[Domain Docs]] — what a skill must read before touching the codebase.
+- [[SSH and Remote Access]] — reaching the host when an issue needs live evidence.

serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/OMP Harness.md

@@ -52,28 +52,31 @@ Where the contract lives:
 The arithmetic (the coupled contract every endpoint's maxTokens comment
 encodes). The authoritative `contextWindow`/`maxTokens` pair per model is on the
 endpoint page ([[frank-archon]], [[frank-dragoon]], [[frank-zealot]]); what
-follows is a **worked example** recomputed from the live files on 2026-10-18 —
-a snapshot, not fleet state — with windows 200,000 / 155,648 / 200,704 and
+follows is a **worked example** recomputed from the live files on 2026-10-21 —
+a snapshot, not fleet state — with windows 200,000 / 200,000 / 200,704 and
 maxTokens 16,384 / 45,056 / 16,384 (archon / dragoon / zealot):
 
 1. **Source trigger** = `thresholdPercent × source contextWindow`; at the live
-   95 % that is 190,000 (archon), 147,866 (dragoon), 190,669 (zealot). The
+   95 % that is 190,000 (archon and dragoon), 190,669 (zealot). The
    bundle clamps the percentage to 1–99 and converts it to a token threshold.
 2. **Output budget** = capped at the target model's `maxTokens` — every role
    here compacts to frank-zealot, so the budget is its 16,384.
-3. **REQUIREMENT**: prompt (≤ trigger) + budget ≤ the target's per-slot
-   window. **At 95 % this no longer holds**: 190,000 + 16,384 = 206,384 >
-   200,704. The registry's own comments design around an 85 % trigger (archon:
-   170,000 est × 1.03 + 16,384 ≈ 191,500 ≤ 200,704, `models.yml:49-56`), which
-   does hold. While `config.yml` and those comments disagree, treat 85 % as the
-   design point and re-run this arithmetic after ANY window change — a 400 from
-   the compaction target mid-conversation is the symptom.
+3. **REQUIREMENT**: prompt (≤ trigger) + budget ≤ the fitting window. For a
+   dragoon session the fitting window is the ENGINE ceiling, not a slot: the
+   190,000 trigger is 62,144 under the 262,144 ceiling, so even ×1.03 est
+   error plus the 45,056 request budget lands inside — that headroom is the
+   reason the ceiling moved to native on 2026-10-21. For a session compacting
+   INTO frank-zealot the window is its 200,704-token slot, and **at 95 % this
+   does not hold for archon/zealot sources**: 190,000 + 16,384 = 206,384 >
+   200,704. Treat 85 % as the design point until config.yml and the registry
+   comments agree, and re-run this arithmetic after ANY window change — a 400
+   from the compaction target mid-conversation is the symptom.
    (Historic 2026-10-05 pairs, at `thresholdPercent: 70`: 140,492 + 36,864 =
    177,356 ≤ 200,704 archon; 140,490 + 57,344 ≤ 200,700 dragoon; 140,492 +
    32,768 ≤ 200,704 zealot.)
 
 Procedure (recompute from the LIVE files every time — windows rotate with
-every swap; the block above is the 2026-10-18 state):
+every swap; the block above is the 2026-10-21 state):
 
 1. Read the `config.yml` compaction block + `models.yml` entries for source
    and target. Every endpoint's `contextWindow` comment carries its own
@@ -94,9 +97,10 @@ Known reconciliation trap: comments in models.yml have described compaction
 as running "on the dankserver endpoint" while `remoteEndpoint` pointed at
 dankclaw — the comment/config disagreed. The comments now name the real
 target (`compaction.remoteEndpoint` = dankclaw :7771). **The config is
-truth; fix comments in the same change.** A fresh instance of the same trap is
-open 2026-10-18: every `maxTokens` comment still says "compaction fires at
-85 % of the window" while `config.yml:84` sets `thresholdPercent: 95`.
+truth; fix comments in the same change.** The 85 %-comments vs 95 %-config
+disagreement is not academic: it is why long dragoon sessions kept drawing
+400s at the old 200,704 ceiling — the trigger fires late AND the est
+under-counts, and a window parked near the ceiling has no room for either.
 `maxTokens` never changes for a reslice — it caps output; `contextWindow` caps
 input. Boot-shape OOM laddering is a different problem
 ([[Llama Cpp Serving Sizing]]).

serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/Triage Labels.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+type: reference
+title: Triage Labels
+description: "The five canonical triage roles mapped to this repo's Gitea label strings, plus the numeric-ID quirk."
+tags: [agent, gitea, triage, labels]
+timestamp: 2026-10-20T00:00:00Z
+---
+
+# Triage Labels
+
+The mattpocock-lineage skills speak in terms of five canonical triage roles.
+This page maps those roles to the actual label strings used in this repo's
+tracker ([[Issue Tracker]] owns the API shape).
+
+| Label in mattpocock/skills | Label in our tracker | Meaning                                  |
+| -------------------------- | -------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
+| `needs-triage`             | `needs-triage`       | Maintainer needs to evaluate this issue  |
+| `needs-info`               | `needs-info`         | Waiting on reporter for more information |
+| `ready-for-agent`          | `ready-for-agent`    | Fully specified, ready for an AFK agent  |
+| `ready-for-human`          | `ready-for-human`    | Requires human implementation            |
+| `wontfix`                  | `wontfix`            | Will not be actioned                     |
+
+When a skill mentions a role (e.g. "apply the AFK-ready triage label"), use the
+corresponding label string from this table. Edit the "Label in our tracker"
+column to match whatever vocabulary you actually use.
+
+## Instance quirks (Dankclaw Gitea)
+
+- Labels are applied by **numeric ID**, never by name: `POST /issues/<n>/labels`
+  with `{"labels":[<id>]}`; resolve names via `GET /labels`.
+- The repo also carries the pre-existing `human-only` label from the manual era
+  (e.g. the podcast-destination issues). `ready-for-human` maps to itself; the
+  `(HUMAN ONLY)` title prefixes on existing issues stay as they are — the label
+  is what the skills read.
+- An issue with **no** triage label is simply untriaged; absence is not a state.
+
+## Related
+
+- [[Issue Tracker]] — the auth-safe curl shape that applies these labels.

serverAppConfigs-docs/Agent/index.md

@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ docs get edited safely, and how the agent's home is deployed.
 - [[OMP Harness]] — The omp harness as configured here: compaction chain arithmetic, per-model sampler routing, and the context-lean audits.
 - [[Agent Docs and Edits]] — Two self-inflicted doc damage classes from parallel agent edits, with the audit checks and recovery order for each.
 - [[Command Center Dotfiles]] — How the dotfiles repo deploys: stow-equivalent packages, full-replica rsync, the pre-overwrite audit, transport gotchas.
+- [[Issue Tracker]] — How agent skills read and write Gitea issues here: credential-safe curl, label IDs, and wayfinding without sub-issues.
+- [[Triage Labels]] — The five canonical triage roles mapped to this repo's Gitea label strings, plus the numeric-ID quirk.
+- [[Domain Docs]] — Consumer rules for GLOSSARY.md and docs/adr/, and where this vault out-ranks them on operational facts.
 
 ## Related
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Architecture/Container Network Namespaces.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ tags:
   - netavark
   - rootless
   - dankclaw
-timestamp: 2026-09-02
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
 # Container Network Namespaces
@@ -88,8 +88,53 @@ Verified outcomes of that recipe on 2026-09-02: from inside `hermes-dashboard`
 published) and `:9119` (its own published port) connect; `:8080` and `:8787`
 are **refused instantly** even though both listeners are bound to `0.0.0.0` in
 the host netns. Probes to `host.containers.internal` (`169.254.1.2`) from that
-network time out rather than refuse — the alias is an address on the *default*
-`podman` network, and this container is not on it.
+network time out rather than refuse — but see the 2026-10-19 re-measure below,
+where the same alias answers from another `dankclaw_default` container.
+
+### 2026-10-19: which published ports a rootless container can actually dial
+
+Probed from inside `open-notebook` (rootless, on `dankclaw_default` **and** the
+private `systemd-open-notebook`), each address aimed at a live listener:
+
+| Dial | Result | Mechanism |
+|---|---|---|
+| `192.168.0.143:3000` (Gitea) | **200** | published by a **rootless** container — rootless egress crosses the host netfilter where netavark installed that DNAT |
+| `192.168.0.143:7770` (`frank-dragoon`) | refused | the container is **rootless on podman's default `pasta` netns** (the root unit's `User=dank` runs `podman run`, so it lands in dank's storage). Pasta forwards the published port in the host netns — the host and the LAN both answer 200 — but installs no netavark DNAT for traffic arriving from a rootless bridge, so the same address is refused from a container. This is NOT a root/rootless rule-set split: `podman ps` as `dank` lists it |
+| `host.containers.internal:7770` (`169.254.1.2`) | **200** | the pasta forwarder is bound `0.0.0.0` on the host, so the gateway alias reaches it — and the alias is link-local, which is the dead end below |
+| `192.168.0.143:7771` (`frank-zealot`) | refused | host-netns listener, unpublished — the rule above, reconfirmed |
+| `10.89.1.1:7771` | refused | the bridge gateway address belongs to the rootlesskit netns, not to the host |
+| `host.containers.internal:7771` (`169.254.1.2`) | **200** | the gateway alias is the one address that carries a rootless container to a host-netns listener. Why `hermes-dashboard` timed out on this alias in 2026-09-02 while `open-notebook` answers today is **not established**; the difference to check first is the second network and where the default route lands |
+| `192.168.0.235:7770` (`frank-archon`) | **200** | a different machine: plain routing, no DNAT in the path |
+
+The consequence that changed designs: **a rootless container's menu of local model
+endpoints was only `frank-tts` (container DNS, same network) and `frank-archon` (LAN
+address on another host).** A `pasta` endpoint has no address an app container can
+use: the LAN address is refused, and the one alias that answers is link-local,
+which some applications refuse to store at all ([[Open Notebook]] meets exactly
+that refusal). Pasta cannot be *added to* either —
+
+```
+podman run --network pasta --network dankclaw_default …
+Error: cannot set multiple networks without bridge network mode, selected mode pasta
+```
+
+so the only shape that makes such an endpoint nameable is **moving it onto
+`dankclaw_default`** (`FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK` in `scripts/frank-dragoon.env`,
+2026-10-19). For frank-dragoon that is not an exposure change: the engine's
+unauthenticated token port binds the container's **own loopback**
+(`/proc/net/tcp` on 2026-10-19: `127.0.0.1:8730`, `0.0.0.0:8731`), so only the
+API port becomes name-resolvable, which is the same trust the published 7770
+already carries on the LAN. `frank-zealot` (7771) stays a host-netns binary and
+remains unreachable except through the link-local alias.
+
+The move is verified from the consumer side, so the table above reads as the
+**pre-move** census and not as today's menu: inside `open-notebook`,
+`getent hosts frank-dragoon-halogen` → `10.89.1.39`, `GET :8731/v1/models`
+lists both served models, and the engine's log carries the app's
+`POST /v1/embeddings 200` from that address (2026-10-19) — see
+[[Open Notebook]] for what runs over it. What the table still owns is the
+pasta rule itself: nothing about pasta's forwarding changed, the endpoint was
+moved out of it.
 
 ## Operational rules
 
@@ -98,9 +143,13 @@ network time out rather than refuse — the alias is an address on the *default*
   host — and never the reverse either: the deployer's health probe runs on the
   host, so it sees host-netns listeners that the container itself cannot dial.
 - To give a bridge-net container access to a host-netns listener, the options
-  are (a) move it to `Network=host`, or (b) publish the needed port. Option (b)
-  makes that port reachable from every netns and from the LAN — an exposure
-  change that needs operator approval before deployment, not a silent fix.
+  are (a) move it to `Network=host`, or (b) publish the needed port — but
+  publishing is advertised **only inside the Podman that owns the container**:
+  a root container's published port stays invisible to a rootless consumer
+  (2026-10-19 table above), so the fix must be made on the same root/rootless
+  side as the consumer. Either way it is an exposure change — a published port
+  also answers on the LAN — and needs operator approval before deployment, not
+  a silent fix.
 - `chrome-devtools-protocol` is intentionally `Network=host` with a loopback-only
   bind so the browser tool stays unreachable from the LAN; do not "tidy" it onto
   a bridge network — its two consumers (gateway, webui) are host-netns and reach

serverAppConfigs-docs/Architecture/Stale Signal Audit.md

@@ -116,6 +116,20 @@ as working when they could never report up. **Clean cutover includes prose** —
 docs, unit docstrings, and the repo's rule file (the most expensive place to
 be stale).
 
+## Three rules that outlive the incident that taught them
+
+* **A target can read down beside a healthy service.** Read `lastError` from
+  `/api/v1/targets` before believing an outage — llama.cpp refuses `/metrics` at the
+  protocol layer without `--metrics` (501) while `/health` answers 200 for weeks.
+* **Alert state lives where the tool says it does.** Prometheus keeps rule state in
+  process memory — a restart re-stamps `activeAt`, so a "fresh" alert after a reboot is
+  not evidence of a fresh fault. Alertmanager **does** persist (`--storage.path` on a
+  host volume: silences + notification log, [[Alertmanager]]).
+* **Never quote a candidate arm's flags or VRAM as fleet state.** A stopped production
+  unit (`failed` after `stop-sigterm timed out. Killing` — the known shutdown shape,
+  [[frank-zealot]]) beside an answering port means the metric measured a scratch boot;
+  the process shape can change between two censuses ten minutes apart.
+
 ## Order and verification
 
 1. Enumerate the surfaces (status board, metrics targets, alert rules, test

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/ComfyUI Qwen-Image Workflows.md

@@ -110,9 +110,9 @@ only `models`, `input`, `output`, `custom_nodes` and the healthcheck file
 
 ## Recommended additions
 
-Quantized preferred, sized for the 8060S iGPU (GTT-backed — `/system_stats`
-reports 122.4 GB of device VRAM on `cuda:0`, `curl http://127.0.0.1:8188/system_stats`
-2026-10-18; the RTX 3090 is frank-zealot's). All repos verified 2026-10-05 and
+Quantized preferred. The iGPU's GTT aperture is not free RAM beside
+frank-dragoon — size every pick against *What actually fits beside
+frank-dragoon* below (the RTX 3090 is frank-zealot's). All repos verified 2026-10-05 and
 all four still resolve today (`huggingface.co/lightx2v/Qwen-Image-Lightning`
 `huggingface.co/unsloth/Qwen-Image-Edit-2511-GGUF`
 `huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/Qwen-Image-DiffSynth-ControlNets`
@@ -133,8 +133,34 @@ sha256 checks) or a plain `hf download` with the token in the environment —
 never on the command line.
 
 Skip list: the original `city96/Qwen-Image-gguf` conversions (superseded by
-the 2.1 files already on disk), and any BF16 of #2/#4 (the iGPU does not need
-them at GTT capacity, and they double the disk bill).
+the 2.1 files already on disk), and any BF16 of #2/#4 — they double the disk
+bill, and see *What actually fits beside frank-dragoon* for why raw GTT size
+is not the real budget.
+
+## What actually fits beside frank-dragoon
+
+The 122 GB `/system_stats` figure is the GTT **aperture**, not free memory: on
+an APU the aperture and `MemAvailable` are the same physical RAM, and
+frank-dragoon pins tens of GiB of it. Measured 2026-10-21 with frank-dragoon
+live: `MemAvailable` 15.3 GiB, iGPU busy 1.75 GiB — ComfyUI itself idles at
+~10 MB, so the budget for a generation run is roughly what `free` says.
+
+Weights must land inside that budget with slack for compute buffers and
+activations (the mmproj-class lesson: price a model at ~1.5× its file set):
+
+| Pipeline (weights) | Fits beside frank-dragoon? |
+|---|---|
+| Qwen-Image 2.1 int8_convrot + w4a8 + bf16 VAE (~14.2 GB) — the two proven workflows | **No** — thrash-or-fail; do not queue it while the endpoint serves |
+| GGUF Q8_0 + w4a8 + small VAE (~13.3 GB) | No, same reason |
+| Any BF16 combination | No |
+| SDXL-Turbo / SD 1.5-class (~2–7 GB) | Yes, with real headroom |
+
+**The law: one process owns the memory — same rule as the 3090 bench law.**
+For a Qwen-Image render: stop and mask frank-dragoon
+(`sudo systemctl stop frank-dragoon` + `mask` — the mask stops
+`Restart=always` from firing mid-render), generate, unmask, verify
+`curl 192.168.0.143:7770/health`. The proven workflows above then run with
+the whole machine. Do not treat `/system_stats`'s 122 GB as an invitation.
 
 ## See Also
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/ComfyUI.md

@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ bind-mounted to `/usr/local/bin/comfyui-healthcheck.py` and run as `HealthCmd`
 - Do not let pip reinstall the torch family. The Containerfile filters it out on purpose.
 - The base image is about 32 GiB (`podman image inspect localhost/comfyui-rocm:gfx1151` → 33,765,227,471 B ≈ 31.4 GiB, 2026-10-18). A code update means a rebuild, because the code is baked in.
 - The empty-models note from the 2026-09-16 era is retired: `/home/dank/comfyui-data/models` now holds the Qwen-Image 2.1 payload — three `diffusion_models`, three `text_encoders`, two VAEs (~35 GB, `ls -l` 2026-10-18), listed in [[ComfyUI Qwen-Image Workflows]]. New model classes (LoRA, ControlNet) still need their directories created first: `models/lora` and `models/controlnet` do not exist yet.
+- **The 122 GB `/system_stats` VRAM figure is the GTT aperture, not free
+  memory.** On the APU it is system RAM, and frank-dragoon pins most of it
+  (`MemAvailable` 15.3 GiB with the endpoint live, measured 2026-10-21). A
+  Qwen-Image-class render beside the running endpoint is thrash-or-fail; the
+  stop-mask-render-verify procedure and the fit table are in
+  [[ComfyUI Qwen-Image Workflows]] → What actually fits beside frank-dragoon.
 
 ## See Also
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Frank TTS Engine.md

@@ -1,35 +1,36 @@
 ---
 type: reference
-description: "The engine behind the fleet's speech endpoint: its runtime, private bridge, and the surface it publishes."
+description: "The engine behind the fleet's speech endpoint: its Vulkan build on the iGPU, its private bridge, and what it publishes."
 tags:
   - dankclaw
   - tts
   - voice
   - quadlet
-  - cpu
-timestamp: 2026-10-18
+  - vulkan
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
 # Frank TTS Engine
 
-`frank-tts-engine` is the **arm A text-to-speech engine** on Dankclaw: [qwentts.cpp](https://github.com/ServeurpersoCom/qwentts.cpp)'s resident `tts-server` HTTP process, holding the Qwen3-TTS **1.7 B base talker (Q4_K_M)** and the **12 Hz tokenizer (Q8_0)** in RAM once and synthesizing from there. It listens on container port **8880** and is **deliberately not a fleet endpoint** — the endpoint consumers address is `frank-tts` on **7772**, which resolves voice names, re-encodes to mp3 and owns the timeout budget. This page is the engine runbook; the endpoint's contract lives with its own page.
+`frank-tts-engine` is the **arm A text-to-speech engine** on Dankclaw: [qwentts.cpp](https://github.com/ServeurpersoCom/qwentts.cpp)'s resident `tts-server` HTTP process, holding the Qwen3-TTS **1.7 B base talker (Q4_K_M)** and the **12 Hz tokenizer (Q8_0)** loaded once and synthesizing from there — **on the gfx1151 iGPU** (ggml's Vulkan backend, `--device Vulkan0`) since 2026-10-19, and in host RAM before that. It listens on container port **8880** and is **deliberately not a fleet endpoint** — the endpoint consumers address is `frank-tts` on **7772**, which resolves voice names, re-encodes to mp3 when asked, and owns the timeout budget. This page is the engine runbook; the endpoint's contract lives with its own page.
 
-**Deployed 2026-10-18.** The chain ran in the order at the bottom of this page — fetch (1.4 GiB, byte + LFS oid verified, 18 s), image build against the pinned commit, unit + network install, container-health gate, warm pass — and the live state still reads the way this page describes it: unit `active` with no drop-ins, container healthy 31 s after the build, **4.0 GiB** resident on a host that kept 17 GiB available, `3 voice(s) registered and warm` in the journal, and no published port anywhere. Two things the first real boot taught: the warm hook's registration body must reach curl through a **file**, not an argument (Troubleshooting), and `STEP 3/13 RUN useradd` is the first honest proof of the image's non-root user.
+**Deployed 2026-10-18, cut over to the iGPU on 2026-10-19.** The first chain ran in the order at the bottom of this page — fetch (1.4 GiB, byte + LFS oid verified), image build against the pinned commit, unit + network install, container-health gate, warm pass — and the live state still reads the way this page describes it: unit `active` with no drop-ins, container healthy shortly after the build, `3 voice(s) registered and warm` in the journal, and no published port anywhere. Two things the first real boot taught: the warm hook's registration body must reach curl through a **file**, not an argument (Troubleshooting), and `STEP 3/13 RUN useradd` is the first honest proof of the image's non-root user.
 
 **Host:** Dankclaw (`192.168.0.143`), rootless Podman, user `dank` — **Port:** 8880, **never published** — **Network:** the private `systemd-frank-tts-engine` bridge (10.89.5.0/24) and no other — **Deployer:** `frank-tts-engine` — **Consumers:** `frank-tts` (7772) and, through it, every voice request in the fleet including [[Open Notebook]]'s podcast renders.
 
-## Facts (verified 2026-10-18 against the pinned upstream commit, the Hub, and the CPU trial on this host)
+## Facts (verified 2026-10-18 against the pinned upstream commit, the Hub and the CPU trial; the device rows re-verified on the live iGPU shape 2026-10-19)
 
 | Item | Value |
 |------|-------|
 | Engine | `tts-server` from qwentts.cpp, pinned at commit `5916bf7c79dbb4e66fc059cdc507a79a23a28bb4` (`dankclaw/voiceservice/Containerfile.engine`). The source is **not vendored**: the image clones that commit and its recorded `ggml` submodule, so the build needs outbound HTTPS and the `cfhash` label is what keeps an unchanged re-deploy offline |
-| Build line | `cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGGML_CCACHE=OFF -DGGML_BACKEND_DL=OFF -DGGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS=OFF -DGGML_OPENMP=ON -DGGML_BLAS=OFF -DGGML_CUDA=OFF -DGGML_HIP=OFF -DGGML_VULKAN=OFF -DGGML_METAL=OFF -DGGML_SYCL=OFF -DGGML_RPC=OFF && cmake --build build -j 8` — the exact line the 2026-10-18 trial ran on this box. `GGML_BLAS=OFF` is **forced**: Dankclaw has `libopenblas.so.0` and no BLAS dev headers, so upstream's own `Dockerfile` and `buildcpu.sh` (both of which pass BLAS on) cannot be copied. No `-DGGML_NATIVE` is passed, and ggml defaults it on, so the binary is `-march=native` for the machine that built it: **build this image on the host that runs it** |
-| Image | built locally as `franksdank/frank-tts-engine:latest`, two stages from one digest-pinned base `docker.io/library/ubuntu:24.04@sha256:68ee22004a9109b44973313b02ff7b1de250f1de0f5ecb628d73f579aaff33ac` (index digest resolved 2026-10-18). Runtime stage: `libgomp1` (OpenMP is on), `curl` (the unit's `HealthCmd` runs as `/bin/sh -c`, and the warmer speaks HTTP), uid **10000**, `LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/app` because ggml builds shared by default and the link-time RPATH names the build tree |
+| Build line | `cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DGGML_CCACHE=OFF -DGGML_BACKEND_DL=OFF -DGGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS=OFF -DGGML_OPENMP=ON -DGGML_BLAS=OFF -DGGML_CUDA=OFF -DGGML_HIP=OFF -DGGML_VULKAN=ON -DGGML_METAL=OFF -DGGML_SYCL=OFF -DGGML_RPC=OFF && cmake --build build -j 8`. **`GGML_VULKAN=ON` since 2026-10-19**, and that door needs three packages in the build stage: `libvulkan-dev`, `spirv-headers`, and **`glslc`** — which Ubuntu's `glslang-tools` does NOT ship (it ships `glslangValidator`, and `find_package(Vulkan COMPONENTS glslc REQUIRED)` fails without the package). The archive's `glslc` is 2023.8: `GL_KHR_cooperative_matrix` compiles, the coopmat2 / integer-dot / bf16 / micro-float shader families do not. `GGML_BLAS=OFF` is **forced**: Dankclaw has `libopenblas.so.0` and no BLAS dev headers, so upstream's own `Dockerfile` and `buildcpu.sh` (both pass BLAS on) cannot be copied. No `-DGGML_NATIVE` is passed, and ggml defaults it on, so the binary is `-march=native` for the machine that built it: **build this image on the host that runs it** |
+| Image | built locally as `franksdank/frank-tts-engine:latest`, two stages from one digest-pinned base `docker.io/library/ubuntu:24.04@sha256:68ee22004a9109b44973313b02ff7b1de250f1de0f5ecb628d73f579aaff33ac` (index digest resolved 2026-10-18). Runtime stage: `libgomp1` (OpenMP is on), `curl` (the unit's `HealthCmd` runs as `/bin/sh -c`, and the warmer speaks HTTP), `libvulkan1` + `mesa-vulkan-drivers` (the loader and the RADV ICD — a loader with no ICD enumerates ZERO devices, and the server then dies in device lookup after both GGUFs have been read), uid **10000**, `LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/app` because ggml builds shared by default and the link-time RPATH names the build tree. **No NVIDIA ICD on purpose**: exactly one Vulkan device in the enumeration is what makes the name `Vulkan0` safe to write down |
 | Talker | `qwen-talker-1.7b-base-Q4_K_M.gguf`, **1 219 245 248 B**, sha256 `ea393ebaf2167ea23ce9fc18b093822851358a950d7075cd47ab4f6ce23e887d` (the Hub's LFS pointer oid) |
 | Tokenizer | `qwen-tokenizer-12hz-Q8_0.gguf`, **291 150 624 B**, sha256 `1883beeed99348fc35e23dd225e9082f93f6f8c109330a33d935baa8acdbfd94` |
 | Source of both | `https://huggingface.co/Serveurperso/Qwen3-TTS-GGUF`, fetched by `scripts/download-frank-tts-engine-qwentts.sh` into `/home/dank/models/Qwen3-TTS-GGUF`, mounted read-only at `/models`. It has to be the **base** variant: the engine refuses every voice registration unless the model reports type `base`, so on `customvoice`/`voicedesign` the cloned-voice product does not exist. A 0.6 B talker (628 905 056 B) exists and is **not** the decided artifact |
-| Memory | **5.7 GiB peak RSS** with both files resident (2026-10-18 trial). No `LimitMEMORY`/`MemoryMax`: a limit would turn a busy moment into an OOM kill in the middle of an utterance |
-| Concurrency | `--max-batch 1`: a serialised FIFO. Warm RTF on this box is 0.55–0.67 against real time 1.0, and that margin is the entire headroom a live stream has; two concurrent syntheses split the same cores and the second caller's first byte additionally waits for the first utterance to finish |
+| Device | `--device Vulkan0`: the gfx1151 iGPU, **shared with [[frank-dragoon]] as a co-tenant, never a handover**. Proven on the live pair, not inferred: `fuser -v /dev/dri/renderD129` lists `tts-server` beside `flash_serve`. Both gates (the RADV heap and dragoon's contention) are §5 of `report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md`, which also carries the change surface. **Rollback: `QWENTTS_DEVICE=` (empty) in `scripts/frank-tts-engine.env`, redeploy this one service** — the entrypoint then passes no `--device` at all, which is the CPU shape, no rebuild, nothing else restarts |
+| Memory | **1.7 GiB host RSS** since the iGPU cutover — the weights ride the device. No `LimitMEMORY`/`MemoryMax`: a limit would turn a busy moment into an OOM kill in the middle of an utterance |
+| Concurrency | `--max-batch 1`: a serialised FIFO. Warm RTF on the iGPU measures **0.20** (11.04 s of audio in 2.23 s) with `frank-dragoon` live on the same card, so a live stream has room to spare; a second concurrent synthesis would share the device with the first and make the caller behind it wait out the whole first utterance, so the FIFO stays a decision, not an accident |
 | Network | `systemd-frank-tts-engine` (10.89.5.0/24, `dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts-engine.network`) and **nothing else**, with **no `PublishPort` at all**. `frank-tts` joins the same bridge and dials `http://frank-tts-engine:8880` |
 | Voices | `/home/dank/voices` mounted read-only at `/voices`, and it is the **warmer** that reads it, not the server: `tts-server` receives reference audio as base64 in a registration body and keeps its registry in memory only |
 | Health | `GET /health` → `{"status":"ok"}`, served by the HTTP thread rather than the synthesis queue, so a busy engine still reads healthy. Probed by the unit (`HealthCmd`, 30 s interval, 120 s start period) **inside the container's namespace**, because there is no published port to probe from outside |
@@ -37,18 +38,11 @@ timestamp: 2026-10-18
 
 ## Why this engine, and not the alternatives
 
-The criterion Frank set on 2026-10-18 was **"whatever is better for live output"**, and live output is decided by time-to-first-audio and by whether the stream stays ahead of real time — not by benchmark throughput. RTF only has to stay under 1.0 with margin; what separates the arms is first-byte latency and **spread**. Measured on this host the same day (CPU; the full A/B is the section *"Decision: arm A for live output (2026-10-18)"* in , which is the source of these numbers):
+The criterion Frank set on 2026-10-18 was **"whatever is better for live output"**, and live output is decided by time-to-first-audio and by whether the stream stays ahead of real time — not by benchmark throughput. On that criterion the resident `tts-server` (arm A) beat the mainline per-request CLI path (arm B) on this box the same day, and the deciding property was **spread**: the resident server repeats the same first-audio latency every run, while the CLI path varies enough that some runs fall behind real time and a live listener hears the stream stall mid-sentence. That A/B was a CPU measurement and the endpoint has since moved to the iGPU, so the shape of the argument is what is kept here; no page carries its numbers any more, and they are not worth re-deriving.
 
-| Measure | Resident `tts-server` (arm A, chosen) | Mainline per-request CLI path (arm B) |
-|---|---|---|
-| first audio byte | **86–451 ms** end to end; **94–112 ms** server-side | model load, per request |
-| warm real-time factor while streaming | **0.55–0.67** | 0.93–0.99 |
-| run-to-run spread | **±0.01** | ±0.25 |
-| HTTP surface | serves `/v1/audio/speech` itself | none — façade CLI only |
+The rollback to the other backend stays in the repo untouched — `TTS_BACKEND=llama-tts-cli` in `scripts/frank-tts.env` still selects the per-request CLI engine, and that file's header documents what it costs.
 
-The spread is the whole argument: at ±0.01 the engine finishes synthesizing 1.5–1.8× faster than the audio plays, every run; at ±0.25 some runs fall behind real time and a live listener hears the stream stall mid-sentence. The rollback path stays in the repo untouched — `TTS_BACKEND=llama-tts-cli` in `scripts/frank-tts.env` still selects the per-request CLI engine, and that file's header documents what it costs.
-
-## Three laws this service lives under
+## Four laws this service lives under
 
 **1. The registry law → the unit warms at boot.** The voice registry is **memory only**: a restart forgets every voice, and re-registering one does **not** warm it — only synthesizing does. A boot that registers nothing leaves the façade answering 400 for every name, which is why `frank-tts-engine.container` carries
 
@@ -64,10 +58,12 @@ frank-tts-engine-warm: voice narrator1 cold=1402ms warm=1812ms
 frank-tts-engine-warm: 3 voice(s) registered and warm
 ```
 
-**2. The thread law → nothing is ever pinned.** `tts-server` in this build has **no `-t`/`--threads` flag**: `src/backend.h` computes the CPU thread count as `std::thread::hardware_concurrency() / 2` (its comment: GEMM shares SIMD units across hyperthreads). Thread count therefore follows what the kernel *reports*, not what a cgroup *allows* — so `CPUQuota=`, `CPUAffinity=`, `taskset` or a slice silently changes the engine's GEMM tiling and its timings, with no log line. Nothing in this fleet pins this container. If a neighbour starves it, fix the neighbour.
+**2. The thread law → nothing is ever pinned.** `tts-server` in this build has **no `-t`/`--threads` flag**: `src/backend.h` computes the CPU thread count as `std::thread::hardware_concurrency() / 2` (its comment: GEMM shares SIMD units across hyperthreads). Thread count therefore follows what the kernel *reports*, not what a cgroup *allows* — so `CPUQuota=`, `CPUAffinity=`, `taskset` or a slice silently changes the engine's pool sizes and its timings, with no log line. The rule did not retire with the iGPU cutover: the binary still sizes those pools from what the kernel says, whatever the device ends up doing with the matmuls. Nothing in this fleet pins this container. If a neighbour starves it, fix the neighbour.
 
 **3. Streaming is not buffered.** At the same seed, `response_format=pcm` (chunked, codec chunks pushed as they decode) and `response_format=wav` (buffered) differ in **92.2 % of samples**, −41.6 dB RMS. Nothing may compare the two paths, cache one against the other, or assume a seed pins output across `response_format`. `frank-tts` always asks for `wav`; the warmer asks for `wav`; the test seam is forbidden from pinning either.
 
+**4. The device law → the card is shared, and the rollback is one line.** Synthesis computes on the gfx1151 **beside** [[frank-dragoon]], so a change to either tenant is a change to both. Two gates decide that pair, and both passed on 2026-10-19 with the other tenant live: the RADV heap a rootless container tenant is actually handed (not the ~2 GiB DRM carve-out), and dragoon's own first-token and decode rates with a synthesis in flight — unchanged. Their numbers, the recipe that measures them, and the full change surface are §5 of `report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md`; do not re-derive them here. What belongs on this page is the move: `QWENTTS_DEVICE=` (empty) in `scripts/frank-tts-engine.env`, re-deploy this one service, and synthesis is back on CPU — no rebuild, and dragoon never restarts.
+
 ## The voice registry contract
 
 A voice becomes known to the engine through `POST /v1/audio/voices`, and only these shapes are accepted:
@@ -97,9 +93,9 @@ The **façade** on 7772 is the pair's public surface and carries the probe. Note
 | `dankclaw/voiceservice/Containerfile.engine` | two-stage build of the pinned commit, proven cmake line, digest-pinned base, ships both scripts |
 | `dankclaw/voiceservice/tts-engine-start.sh` | image entrypoint (`/app/start.sh`): env → flags, refuses to boot without weights |
 | `dankclaw/voiceservice/tts-engine-warm.sh` | boot warmer (`/app/warm-voices.sh`): register from `reference.wav` (body via a temp file), speak a fixed sentence twice, report cold/warm |
-| `dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts-engine.container` | the unit: bridge only, no publish, env file, two read-only mounts, health probe, warm hook, `Restart=always` |
+| `dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts-engine.container` | the unit: bridge only, no publish, env file, two read-only mounts, render access (`AddDevice=/dev/dri` + `GroupAdd=keep-groups`), health probe, warm hook, `Restart=always` |
 | `dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts-engine.network` | the private 10.89.5.0/24 bridge, with the subnet registry |
-| `scripts/frank-tts-engine.env` | paths and numbers only, with the thread law and the registry law in its header |
+| `scripts/frank-tts-engine.env` | paths and numbers only, with the thread law, the registry law and the device law in its header |
 | `scripts/download-frank-tts-engine-qwentts.sh` | weight fetcher: no resume, byte count + LFS oid check, `--verify-only` |
 | `scripts/deploy-remote.sh` → `deploy_frank_tts_engine` | weights gate → build → quadlet → restart → container health → warm |
 | `tests/frank_tts_engine.bats` | the seam: generator output, entrypoint argv, warmer against a stub engine, planner and routing maps |
@@ -118,6 +114,25 @@ still open.
 6. **Then the façade on 7772** (its own page), after the engine answered — that order is the whole point of step 6: publishing the façade in front of a dead engine would make every consumer fail at the first voice line.
 7. **Open:** [[Open Notebook]] is still not installed, so nothing renders a podcast yet; the voice leg it waits on now exists.
 
+### 2026-10-19 — the iGPU cutover (PR #34, `6248f02`)
+
+1. **Configure gate before touching anything** — the flag set, configured inside the
+   digest-pinned base on Dankclaw: `Found Vulkan: … found components: glslc` then
+   `Including Vulkan backend`. That probe is what caught `glslc` missing from
+   `glslang-tools`; the Containerfile's flag comment carries the finding.
+2. **Deploy** — `./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service frank-tts-engine`: image rebuild
+   (the `cfhash` moved), unit reinstall, health gate, warm pass
+   (`3 voice(s) registered and warm`), Playwright e2e 33/33.
+3. **Prove the device, not the flag** — `sudo fuser -v /dev/dri/renderD129` lists
+   `tts-server` next to dragoon's `flash_serve`. Do this instead of reading the log: the
+   engine prints nothing about which backend it chose, so argv (`--device Vulkan0`) proves
+   intent and the render-node holder list proves use.
+4. **Consumer path** — one `/v1/audio/speech` per voice through the façade on 7772; all
+   three answered with audio. The RTF figure in the Facts table comes from one engine-direct
+   WAV, where the duration is exact.
+5. **Co-tenancy gate** — §5 of the verdict report: dragoon's first token and decode
+   unchanged with a 16.9 s synthesis occupying the card.
+
 ## Troubleshooting
 
 | Symptom | Meaning | Move |
@@ -131,3 +146,5 @@ still open.
 | `podman exec` in the deploy says `no such file or directory` for `/app/warm-voices.sh` | the image predates the warmer | re-deploy: since 2026-10-18 `build_compose_image` hashes every file the image `COPY`s, not only `Containerfile.engine`, so editing the warmer rebuilds it — see  |
 | The warm pass logs `registered, but the warm synthesis failed` for EVERY voice, while a hand-run `/app/warm-voices.sh` succeeds | `WARM_TEXT` arrived **with its quotes**. podman's `--env-file` does no shell parsing — it takes the literal remainder of the line — so the env-file reader got `"Warm up, one two three."` where `source` gives `Warm up, one two three.`; the quotes plus a backslash then make the synthesis body invalid JSON | the hook strips one matched pair and escapes what is left; prove the value with `podman exec frank-tts-engine env \| grep WARM_TEXT`. The seam pins both readers, because a test that only sources the env file cannot see this |
 | A `502` for `/v1/voices` where the engine answers `200` on `/health` from the same boot | the engine restarted and its in-memory registry is empty again — `/health` is model-loaded, NOT voices-registered | re-run `podman exec frank-tts-engine /app/warm-voices.sh`; that is the same distinction the `frank-tts` healthcheck enforces |
+| Unit restarts every 10 s and the log ends on a **device** error *after* both GGUFs were read | the image has the Vulkan loader but no ICD, or the container has no render node — the device name then resolves to nothing | `podman exec frank-tts-engine ls /dev/dri` (it must see `renderD129`) and `podman exec frank-tts-engine dpkg -l \| grep -E 'mesa-vulkan\|libvulkan1'`; re-deploy to rebuild the image, or set `QWENTTS_DEVICE=` and re-deploy for the CPU shape |
+| `frank-dragoon` slows while TTS speaks | the contention premise broke — a Mesa bump, a third GPU tenant, a bigger synthesis | `QWENTTS_DEVICE=` + re-deploy this service, then re-run the gate recipe in §5 of `report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md` before putting it back |

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Frank TTS.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ never learn a path.
 **Deployed 2026-10-18** — `./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service frank-tts`
 both units `active`, no drop-ins, and the homepage card's `wip` gate came off in
 the same change. Probes on the deployed endpoint: `/health` answers
-`{"status":"ok","backend":"omni-http","voices":["narrator1","narrator2","narrator3"]}`
+`{"status":"ok","backend":"omni-http","voices":["dr.kern","garrickhagon","jeffhays","vaati","wilwheaton"]}`
 and two different voices rendered the same sentence into **different** bytes
 (24 kHz mono PCM16, 4.24 s, healthy RMS) — so name resolution is real, not a
 pass-through of one default. The operator harness routes its `speech` role here;
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ render needs the app installed, not this endpoint.
 | --- | --- |
 | Host | Dankclaw (`192.168.0.143`), rootless podman, user unit `frank-tts.service` |
 | Port | **7772**, published (`PublishPort=7772:7772`) — the rest of the `frank-*` port family is in [[Dankclaw Stack]] |
-| Routes | `GET /health`, `GET /v1/audio/voices`, `POST /v1/audio/speech`; everything else 404, and speech is POST-only |
+| Routes | `GET /health`, `GET /v1/audio/voices`, `POST /v1/audio/speech`; everything else 404, and speech is POST-only. The request's `model` field is **ignored** (measured 2026-10-19: `voxcpm2` and `tts-1` both synthesize the same way) — the voice comes solely from `voice`, so a consumer that must name a model may name it anything |
 | Image | `localhost/franksdank/frank-tts:latest`, built from `dankclaw/voiceservice/Containerfile`, `Pull=never` |
 | Networks | `dankclaw_default` first (it owns the default route and the consumers), then `frank-tts-engine.network` (10.89.5.0/24, the bridge to the engine) |
 | Voice packs | `/home/dank/voices` mounted read-only at `/voices` — host state, never repo state |
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ render needs the app installed, not this endpoint.
 
 ## Naming a voice
 
-A voice **is** a directory name. `voice=narrator1` resolves to
-`/voices/narrator1/reference.wav`, and that file — not a manifest, not a config
+A voice **is** a directory name. `voice=wilwheaton` resolves to
+`/voices/wilwheaton/reference.wav`, and that file — not a manifest, not a config
 entry — is what makes the name real. omp's TTS device may send `voice_id`; the
 shim accepts either. A call that sends **neither** — the harness's normal shape,
 because no harness setting carries a voice for this transport — speaks
@@ -59,10 +59,11 @@ loudly instead of letting it half-work.
 
 Names are user-visible: an unknown voice comes back as
 `400 unknown voice 'x'; available voices: …`, and that list is the honest
-census. The podcast speakers are `narrator1`, `narrator2`, `narrator3` —
-[[Open Notebook]] is configured with exactly those three, so renaming them
-breaks episode rendering, not just speech. A personal voice gets the person's
-name, lowercase.
+census. As of 2026-10-20 the live packs are `dr.kern`, `garrickhagon`,
+`jeffhays`, `vaati`, `wilwheaton`. [[Open Notebook]]'s `dank-duo` profile speaks
+`wilwheaton` (Frank) and `vaati` (Comrade), and `DEFAULT_VOICE` is `wilwheaton`.
+Renaming a pack that a speaker profile names breaks episode rendering, not just
+speech. A personal voice gets the person's name, lowercase.
 
 ## Voice packs
 
@@ -113,16 +114,19 @@ shows up as a failed synthesis, never as a down probe.
 
 ## Where the engine computes
 
-CPU, and only CPU is compiled in: `Containerfile.engine` builds `qwentts.cpp` with
-`-DGGML_VULKAN=OFF` written out explicitly, so the container carries `libggml-cpu` and no
-other backend. The realistic accelerator is the gfx1151 iGPU behind that flag — plus
-`/dev/dri` passthrough, the ComfyUI pattern — on the same payload and the same pinned
-commit, and the intended shape is **co-tenancy**: the engine resident on the card beside
-`frank-dragoon`, not a handover. Memory is not what decides that; shader contention is, and
-the census plus both gates are in `report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md` §5.
-**The Strix Halo NPU is not a door at all**: XDNA2 executes only precompiled AIE
-partition programs, and AMD's own Linux runtime opens `/dev/accel/accel0`, succeeds at the
-ioctls, then declines this model family's graph without emitting a single log line. The
+The **gfx1151 iGPU**, as a co-tenant beside `frank-dragoon`: the Vulkan build of
+`qwentts.cpp` with `--device Vulkan0`, and `/dev/dri` handed to the engine container. That is
+the shape since 2026-10-19. The flag, the device name, the render-node trap on this hybrid box
+and the one-line CPU rollback are owned by [[Frank TTS Engine]] — read that page before
+touching either tenant, because a change to one is a change to both. Co-tenancy was gated with
+`frank-dragoon` live on the card (its first token and decode rates unchanged with a synthesis
+in flight); both gate recipes are §5 of `report/tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md`.
+
+**The NPU is a door only for a model the vendor has already compiled for it.** XDNA2 runs nothing but
+precompiled AIE partition programs, and AMD's own Linux runtime opens `/dev/accel/accel0`, succeeds at the
+ioctls, then declines this model family's graph without emitting a single log line. That is why TTS stays on
+the GPU — and it is not a general veto on the device: halogen ships its own precompiled catalog (embeddings,
+decisions, rerankers) that does run there, which is what [[frank-dragoon]]'s NPU-lane section is about. The
 measured record and the model-side contract live in `report/` at the repo root
 (`tts-npu-spike-verdict-2026-10-19.md`).
 
@@ -218,5 +222,5 @@ harness bundle and measured the day of the flip:
 | Endpoint answers, synthesis fails | the engine: `podman healthcheck run frank-tts-engine`, then `systemctl --user status frank-tts-engine.service` |
 | First request of the day is ~0.6 s slower than the rest — or every name returns 400 | the warm pass did not run; it carries `-`, so it cannot fail the unit. `journalctl --user -u frank-tts-engine` for the warmer's lines, then `podman exec frank-tts-engine /app/warm-voices.sh` — the registry is memory-only (law 1 of [[Frank TTS Engine]]) |
 | The unit never appears after a deploy | the generator dropped it: `frank-tts-engine.network` is missing from `~/.config/containers/systemd/` |
-| A consumer rejects `narrator1` by listing 29 names (`af_heart … bm_fable`) and no request ever reaches this endpoint | that consumer is synthesizing **in the browser** with Kokoro.js, whose voice pack is fixed — OpenWebUI 0.11.4 ships it as the `browser-kokoro` TTS engine; see [[OpenWebUI]] |
+| A consumer rejects `wilwheaton` by listing 29 names (`af_heart … bm_fable`) and no request ever reaches this endpoint | that consumer is synthesizing **in the browser** with Kokoro.js, whose voice pack is fixed — OpenWebUI 0.11.4 ships it as the `browser-kokoro` TTS engine; see [[OpenWebUI]] |
 ---

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Open Notebook.md

@@ -6,25 +6,26 @@ tags:
   - open-notebook
   - podcasts
   - quadlet
-timestamp: 2026-10-18
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
 # Open Notebook
 
-open-notebook ([lfnovo/open-notebook](https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook)) is the notebook layer that turns existing notes and sources into a **spoken episode**: an outline, then a dialogue transcript, then one synthesized clip per speaker turn, concatenated with ffmpeg into an MP3. In the fleet it is the consumer that closes the loop Frank's audio stack was built for — the script is written by **frank-zealot**, the voices are rendered by **frank-tts**, and nothing leaves the LAN.
+open-notebook ([lfnovo/open-notebook](https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook)) is the notebook layer that turns existing notes and sources into a **spoken episode**: an outline, then a dialogue transcript, then one synthesized clip per speaker turn, concatenated with ffmpeg into an MP3. In the fleet it is the consumer that closes the loop Frank's audio stack was built for — the script is written by **frank-archon**, the voices are rendered by **frank-tts**, and nothing leaves the LAN.
 
-**It is NOT deployed.** This page documents repo-owned configuration — the Quadlet units, the env file, the deployer path, the homepage card — and the contract those files were written against. On 2026-10-18 no `open-notebook` or `open-notebook-surrealdb` container exists on Dankclaw (`podman ps -a` census, 2026-10-18), and the homepage card ships `wip: "down"` with `showLink: false`, so the card is hidden and reported `wip-down`. Re-censused 2026-10-19 and unchanged: no `*notebook*` unit in `systemctl --user list-unit-files`, nothing installed under `~/.config/containers/systemd/` by that name, no container in `podman ps` — the repo's three quadlet files have never been installed on the host. Deploying it is a deliberate next step, not a pending one.
+**Deployed 2026-10-19.** Both units installed and `active`, both containers healthy, SurrealDB migrated to v25 on first boot, and the first episode rendered end to end: a note in, an outline, 23 dialogue turns, 23 clips, and one **747-second MP3 on the host bind, produced in 301 seconds** — about 2.5× real time with every concurrency knob at 1. The download route answers `200 audio/mpeg` with the bearer token and **401 without it**. It is guarded like every other user service — `https://notebook.franksdank.cloud`, Anubis → Authentik → the app's own login — and the API is no longer published on the LAN at all.
 
-**Host:** Dankclaw (rootless Podman, user `dank`) — **Ports:** 8502 UI and 5056 API, published on the LAN, **no vhost and no Caddy route** — **Deployer:** `open-notebook` (one service, two units) — **Docs:** https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
+**Host:** Dankclaw (rootless Podman, user `dank`) — **User path:** `https://notebook.franksdank.cloud` (guarded) — **Published:** `0.0.0.0:8502` (the only upstream Caddy dials) and `127.0.0.1:5056` (the deployer's health gate, nothing else) — **Deployer:** `open-notebook` (one service, two units) — **Docs:** https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
 
-## Facts (verified 2026-10-18 against the pinned images, upstream source, and the live host)
+## Facts (images and upstream source verified 2026-10-18; live-host columns re-read 2026-10-19 after deploy)
 
 | Item | Value |
 |------|-------|
 | App image | `docker.io/lfnovo/open_notebook:v1-latest@sha256:54b2025a4a4853c188f74b9b8246eca8c5480e5dd1babfa92db1038ff2f30212` (`open-notebook.container:79`) — the tag upstream's own `docker-compose.yml:27` pins for the multi-container shape. `v1-latest` is a moving tag, so the manifest-list digest (resolved from the registry 2026-10-18) is what makes this reproducible |
 | Database image | `docker.io/surrealdb/surrealdb:v2@sha256:e5d7387e3727bbe2f7cd6d869e48cd34777272258572ead37c9656b25f745723` (`open-notebook-surrealdb.container:66`) — that digest is **SurrealDB 2.7.0** (image built 2026-09-23; measured by running the digest: `surreal version`) |
 | Do NOT use | the `-single` tags (`v1-latest-single`). That variant bundles SurrealDB inside the app image and is deprecated upstream; here it would give the host a second, hidden database |
-| Ports | container 8502 (Next.js UI) + 5055 (FastAPI API) → published `0.0.0.0:8502:8502` and `0.0.0.0:5056:5055` (`open-notebook.container:83-84`). **Host 5055 is taken**: seerr publishes `127.0.0.1:5055` (`dankclaw/seerr/quadlet/seerr.container`, and `ss -ltn` on Dankclaw shows `127.0.0.1:5055` live, 2026-10-18). The API therefore leaves on 5056, which is what forces `API_URL` (below) |
+| Ports | container 8502 (Next.js UI) + 5055 (FastAPI API) → published `0.0.0.0:8502:8502` and `127.0.0.1:5056:5055` (`open-notebook.container`). **Host 5055 is taken**: seerr publishes `127.0.0.1:5055` (`dankclaw/seerr/quadlet/seerr.container`, and `ss -ltn` on Dankclaw shows it live). The API therefore leaves on 5056, and on loopback only: the vhost is its sole user path and the image's own Next.js layer rewrites `/api/*` to it, so nothing outside the container needs it |
+| User path | `https://notebook.franksdank.cloud` → `anubis:8923` → post-auth listener `@notebook` → `192.168.0.143:8502` (`dankclaw/Caddyfile`); Authentik provider `notebook-proxy` (`external_host` the vhost with its trailing slash, `internal_host http://caddy:8017`); LAN record in `dankclaw/pihole/addn-hosts` |
 | Database port | 8000 inside its own namespace, **never published** (`open-notebook-surrealdb.container` has no `PublishPort`). Upstream publishes `127.0.0.1:8000` for debugging (`docker-compose.yml:18`); this unit does not, and the seam asserts that it stays that way |
 | Data | `open-notebook-data:/app/data` (named volume: uploads, LangGraph SQLite checkpoints, extraction caches) **plus** the interim host bind `/home/dank/media/podcasts:/app/data/podcasts` (`open-notebook.container:87-88`); database in the `open-notebook-db` named volume |
 | Networks | app: `dankclaw_default` first, then the private `systemd-open-notebook` (10.89.4.0/24, `open-notebook.network:33`); database: the private bridge only. Order is load-bearing — the generated `--network` flags keep file order, so the default route rides the network where `host.containers.internal` is proven |
@@ -33,6 +34,19 @@ open-notebook ([lfnovo/open-notebook](https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook))
 | Env | `scripts/open-notebook.env` (repo, knobs) then `/home/dank/Containers/open-notebook/env` (host, secrets, mode 600) — two `EnvironmentFile=` lines per unit, repo file **first** because the last file wins |
 | Deployer | `deploy_open_notebook` in `scripts/deploy-remote.sh`: seed secrets → ensure both digest pins are in local storage → install both units + the network → `mkdir -p /home/dank/media/podcasts` → restart database, wait for its container health → restart app → `wait_for_health open-notebook http://127.0.0.1:5056/health 180` |
 
+## The guard chain, and the single origin
+
+`notebook.franksdank.cloud` follows the fleet's exposure policy in this order, and the order is the law ([[Network Architecture]]):
+
+1. **Provider first.** Authentik proxy provider `notebook-proxy` existed before any route pointed at the app: `external_host https://notebook.franksdank.cloud/` (exact vhost, trailing slash), `internal_host http://caddy:8017`, the three flows copied from `embedded-outpost`, Application `Open Notebook` (`notebook-guard`), and the provider attached to the embedded outpost's provider set. Flip the vhost first and authenticated traffic lands on the outpost's error page. Verify after the change that the outpost logged no `Failed to fetch outpost from API` (the null-flow wedge) and that an already-guarded vhost still answers.
+2. **Then the route, in one deploy:** the guarded site block (`reverse_proxy anubis:8923` with `header_up X-Real-Ip {remote_host}` — the whole request, so no path ever reaches the app unchallenged) plus the post-auth `@notebook` handler on `http://:8017`, plus the LAN record in `dankclaw/pihole/addn-hosts`. The public Porkbun A record is a host action, not a repo file.
+3. **One upstream, not two.** `reverse_proxy 192.168.0.143:8502`: the image's own Next.js layer rewrites `/api/*` to the FastAPI beside it (`next.config.ts`, `INTERNAL_API_URL` default `http://localhost:5055`), so the API needs no route and no outward face — hence `127.0.0.1:5056`. Caddy dials the published LAN port rather than a container name because this Caddy lives in root's Podman and cannot see a rootless container at all ([[Container Network Namespaces]]). SSE (`/api/search/ask`, chat) streams through the same bare proxy that carries OpenWebUI's chat at `ai.franksdank.cloud`; no `flush_interval` or timeout directive is needed, and adding a route timeout is precisely what would cut it.
+4. **`API_URL` must name the vhost.** `GET /config` (the Next route) answers in priority order: `API_URL` env → autodetect from `Host` + `X-Forwarded-Proto` → `http://localhost:5055`. Autodetect appends **`:5055`**, a port that belongs to seerr on this host, so leaving `API_URL` unset hands the browser an address nothing answers and every call fails under a UI that loaded fine. `CORS_ORIGINS` is set to the same single origin only to keep the app from defaulting to `*`. `scripts/open-notebook.env` carries both.
+
+The app's own login stays on behind the chain. It is not redundant: publishing the API on loopback does **not** hide it from this host's other containers, which can dial `open-notebook:5055` by name on `dankclaw_default`. The chain decides *who from outside* gets in; `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD` decides what anything that already reached the port may do.
+
+**Single tenant — there are no user accounts, so this is an admin-side tool.** Upstream ships one global password and nothing else: `PasswordAuthMiddleware` compares `Bearer <OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD>`, and the SurrealDB schema has no user/account/owner table (verified in the running image, 2026-10-20). One shared password therefore means **one shared workspace** — the guard chain can gate the door but cannot partition the data, and Authentik identity is never consumed. Multi-user is *approved but unbuilt* upstream (issue **#712**, "design phase, targeted post-v2"); OIDC/SSO was declined for now (**#607** closed). Real per-person isolation means **one deployment per person**, not a flag to flip. For that reason the homepage lists open-notebook under **admin**, not as a user-facing app.
+
 ## What the image actually runs
 
 One container, three processes under supervisord (`supervisord.conf` upstream): `uvicorn api.main:app --port 5055` (`:12`), the job worker (`:25`), and the Next.js frontend (`:39`). Two consequences the config depends on:
@@ -44,38 +58,63 @@ Also from the image itself: `WORKDIR /app` and `EXPOSE 8502 5055` (`Dockerfile:8
 
 `DATA_FOLDER` is hard-coded `"./data"` (`open_notebook/config.py:5`) and `PODCASTS_FOLDER` is `"./data/podcasts"` (`:19`); the database stores each episode's audio path **relative** to that folder (`episodes/<uuid>/audio/<uuid>.mp3`), and the download route is `GET /api/podcasts/episodes/{id}/audio`. That is why covering one subdirectory with a bind mount is sufficient — nothing in the database has to change if the mount moves.
 
-## Provisioning the providers (after first boot; UI or REST, never a unit)
+## What is provisioned (REST, 2026-10-19)
 
-Credentials are stored in the database, encrypted, and are **not expressible in env or a Quadlet file**. The sequence is one-time, in **Manage → Models**, and both entries use provider type **OpenAI Compatible** (upstream: any server that implements `/v1/audio/speech` works this way — `docs/5-CONFIGURATION/local-tts.md:5`).
+Credentials live in the database, encrypted with `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY`, and are **not expressible in env or a Quadlet file** — the UI (**Manage → Models**) or the REST API are the only doors. Both use provider type `openai_compatible`, because any server that answers `/v1/audio/speech` or `/v1/chat/completions` works through it (`docs/5-CONFIGURATION/local-tts.md:5`).
 
-1. **TTS credential** — base URL **`http://frank-tts:7772/v1`**. The `/v1` is part of the URL: the client posts to `<base_url>/audio/speech`, so a base URL without `/v1` 404s on every dialogue line (`local-tts.md:72-80`, the base-URL table, always carries `/v1`). `frank-tts` resolves by container name because the app is attached to `dankclaw_default`, the network frank-tts's unit joins (`dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts.container:51-52`). If frank-tts is ever moved off that network, the published-port form is `http://192.168.0.143:7772/v1` — a published port is dialable at the host's LAN address from any netns. The API-key field stays empty; frank-tts does not authenticate.
-2. **LLM credential** — base URL **`http://host.containers.internal:7771/v1`**, model row `frank-zealot`. frank-zealot is a **host process** on `0.0.0.0:7771` (`ss -ltn` on Dankclaw shows the listener with no container owning it, 2026-10-18), and on this netavark host a bridge container reaches the host's LAN IP only at a *published* port — which is why Prometheus scrapes the same endpoint as `host.containers.internal:7771` (`shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml:89-111`, "not their own LAN addresses"). See [[Container Network Namespaces]]. `http://192.168.0.143:7771/v1` is the variant to try only if the gateway name ever stops resolving; it is expected to be refused from a bridge netns.
-3. **Model rows are created by name.** Discovery is optional (see the next section): type the model id and confirm the add. One base URL per credential, so the TTS and LLM credentials are necessarily two separate configurations.
+| Record | Value |
+|--------|-------|
+| Credential `frank-tts` | modality `text_to_speech`, base URL `http://frank-tts:7772/v1`, no API key (the shim does not authenticate) |
+| Credential `frank-archon` | modality `language`, base URL `http://192.168.0.235:7770/v1` |
+| Credential `frank-dragoon NPU` | modality `embedding`, base URL `http://frank-dragoon-halogen:8731/v1`, dummy API key (the lane does not authenticate) — a container name on `dankclaw_default`, which is the address shape that clears the URL guard below |
+| Model row `voxcpm2` | type `text_to_speech` on the frank-tts credential. The name is decorative: frank-tts ignores the request's `model` field and synthesizes whatever `voice` names ([[Frank TTS]]) |
+| Model row `frank-archon` | type `language`; `PUT /api/models/defaults` points chat, transformation and large-context at it |
+| Model row `qwen3-embedding-0.6b` | type `embedding` on the NPU-lane credential; `default_embedding_model` points at it, so every note save embeds through the XDNA2 lane ([[frank-dragoon]]) |
+| Speaker profile `dank-duo` | two speakers, Frank → `voice_id: wilwheaton`, Comrade → `vaati`, `voice_model` = the TTS row |
+| Episode profile `dank-daily` | `num_segments: 4`, `speaker_config` = `dank-duo`, outline and transcript LLM = the archon row, briefing that ends "Never invent numbers." |
 
-**Verify reachability before saving**, from inside the container, because both addresses are netns-dependent:
+Order that works over REST: credentials → model rows (`POST /api/models` with `credential: <credential id>`) → `PUT /api/models/defaults` → speaker profile (`voice_model: <model id>`) → episode profile (`speaker_config` / `outline_llm` / `transcript_llm`). `POST /api/models/{id}/test` proves each row: the language row answered with a real completion from frank-archon; the TTS row reached frank-tts and came back `unknown voice 'alloy'; available voices: narrator1, narrator2, narrator3` — the app's own test path hard-codes an OpenAI voice, so that message *is* the proof the leg works.
+
+**`POST /api/podcasts/generate` takes profile NAMES, not record ids.** `episode_profile: "dank-daily"` works; the `episode_profile:…` id returns a bare `500 Failed to submit podcast generation job`, and the actual reason (`Episode profile '<id>' not found`) appears only in `podman logs open-notebook`.
+
+**The scriptwriter is frank-archon, not the planned frank-zealot, because two rules collide on the address.** Measured from inside the app's netns 2026-10-19:
+
+- `192.168.0.143:7771` (frank-zealot, a host-netns listener) and `192.168.0.143:7770` (frank-dragoon, a **root**-published port) both refuse the connection; `host.containers.internal:7771` answers. Full census: [[Container Network Namespaces]].
+- The app refuses to **store** that one working address: its URL guard rejects any base URL that resolves inside link-local `169.254.0.0/16` (`open_notebook/utils/url_validation.py`, "Link-local addresses are not allowed (metadata endpoints)"), unconditionally — no env var touches it, and `AddHost=` cannot dodge it because the check runs on the resolved address.
+
+`http://192.168.0.235:7770/v1` — another machine, plain RFC1918 — was, when this was first written, the only fleet LLM address that passed both tests; a container name on `dankclaw_default` passes them as well (the embedding credential below is stored that way), but frank-archon stays the scriptwriter for the reason in the next paragraph. Cost: frank-archon runs `--max-num-seqs 2` and the operator session itself lives there, so a render is a slow-down for whoever else is talking to that endpoint, not a stall; `ESPERANTO_LLM_TIMEOUT=180` covers an outline or transcript call comfortably.
+
+**frank-dragoon can write transcripts, but only greedily — and open-notebook cannot ask for greedy.** Measured 2026-10-19 against the live endpoint: `response_format` as `json_schema` or `json_object` returns schema-valid JSON at `temperature: 0` and a **400** at any sampled temperature — halogen decodes greedy under a schema, and because its sampler default is server-side, omitting `temperature` is sampled, not greedy. That 400 is the trap: esperanto's `is_json_schema_unsupported_error` matches the words *not implemented* in it, so `_SchemaFallbackModel` in `podcast_creator/nodes.py` reads it as "this endpoint has no schema support", downgrades to `json_object`, gets the same 400, and **fails the run** — esperanto's own rescue (drop `response_format` entirely) fires only on the different message `'response_format.type' must be 'json_schema'`. The full law is on [[frank-dragoon]]. And the fix is not reachable from here: a model record is `{credential, name, provider, type}` and a model response adds only timestamps (`GET /openapi.json`, `ModelCreate`/`ModelResponse`) — **there is no per-row config field**, no way to attach `temperature: 0` to one row from the UI or the API. Making `frank-dragoon` the writer would therefore need something in the path that rewrites request bodies, which is a heavier tenant than the contention it removes. **frank-archon stays the scriptwriter.** Reachability stopped being the objection on 2026-10-19 — the endpoint joined `dankclaw_default`, which is exactly why the embedding lane below is dialable by name — but no network change reaches the no-per-row-config wall.
+
+**Embeddings run on the XDNA2 lane — provisioned 2026-10-19.** `qwen3-embedding-0.6b` answers `/v1/embeddings` at `http://frank-dragoon-halogen:8731/v1`, the flash container's own bridge address; a container name on `dankclaw_default` resolves to `10.89.1.39`, plain RFC1918, so it clears the URL guard that ruled out `host.containers.internal` above. The lane's shape (one program, the token ceiling, what it costs the Flash model) is owned by [[frank-dragoon]]; the two shapes that bite on the app side are open-notebook's own:
+
+- **`PUT /api/models/defaults` stores the record ID, not the name.** `"default_embedding_model": "qwen3-embedding-0.6b"` is accepted and echoed back, and then every embed dies in the worker with `Model with ID qwen3-embedding-0.6b not found`. The value has to be the row's `model:…` id — the other defaults in that same object are ids, so mirror them.
+- **`POST /api/embed` answers 500 while succeeding.** Upstream's `EmbedResponse.command_id` declares `str` and the worker hands it a `RecordID`, so FastAPI raises on serialization *after* the vector is written. The truth is the worker line `Successfully embedded note … in 0.19s`, never the HTTP code. Saving a note (`POST /api/notes`) submits `embed_note` by itself, so that route is only needed to backfill old rows.
+
+Proof from the app's own paths, 2026-10-19: `POST /api/models/{id}/test` → `Embedding dimensions: 1024`; two notes with nothing in common, then `POST /api/search` with `type: "vector"` (the enum is `text` or `vector`; the score field is `similarity`) — "a yellow waterbird beside a glowing beacon tower" put the grebe note at **0.659** and the boiler note at 0.292, and "quarterly depreciation schedule for industrial boilers" inverted it to **0.906** / 0.318. Embed cost 0.19–0.43 s per note. Semantic search, source ingestion and notebook-context questions are live; podcast generation never needed any of it.
+
+**Secrets never go in a command line.** The API's bearer token *is* `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD`, and a `-H "Authorization: Bearer …"` argument is world-readable in `/proc/<pid>/cmdline`; put it in a mode-600 curl config and pass `-K`:
 
 ```bash
-podman exec open-notebook curl -sS http://frank-tts:7772/health
-podman exec open-notebook curl -sS http://host.containers.internal:7771/v1/models
+PW=$(grep -m1 '^OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD=' /home/dank/Containers/open-notebook/env | cut -d= -f2- | tr -d '"')
+cfg=$(mktemp); chmod 600 "$cfg"; printf 'header = "Authorization: Bearer %s"\n' "$PW" > "$cfg"
+curl -s -K "$cfg" http://127.0.0.1:5056/api/models | head -c 400
+rm -f "$cfg"
 ```
 
-**The blocker moved; it did not vanish.** frank-tts and frank-tts-engine are **deployed** (2026-10-18) and answer on 7772, so the voice leg works end to end — `podman exec open-notebook curl -sS http://frank-tts:7772/health` is the check to run the day the app exists. What still blocks a render is open-notebook itself: not installed on this host yet. When it is, the two provider rows above are the only wiring, and the seeded speaker profiles carrying OpenAI voice names are the first trap.
-
-**Why frank-zealot and not frank-dragoon:** podcast scriptwriting asks the model for a JSON-schema response (with a plain-JSON fallback). The decision rests on each endpoint's documented request surface ([[frank-zealot]], [[frank-dragoon]]): zealot's is a known-good target for that call shape, dragoon's structured-output behaviour is **unverified**, so it is the unproven alternative, not the fallback. `ESPERANTO_LLM_TIMEOUT=180` (the app's own default) covers an outline or transcript call on zealot comfortably; upstream's note is to keep it under 600 so a slow call fails with a clear error instead of a UI timeout.
-
 ## Speakers and voices: 1–4, and the IDs are free text
 
 A **speaker profile** carries one to four speakers (`docs/3-USER-GUIDE/creating-podcasts.md:27`), each with a personality and a **Voice ID that is typed exactly and passed through to the TTS request untouched** (`:29`) — there is no whitelist, no enum, no validation against a voice list. So the fleet's voice-pack names work verbatim:
 
 | Speaker | Voice ID to type |
 |---------|------------------|
-| Speaker 1 | `narrator1` |
-| Speaker 2 | `narrator2` |
-| Speaker 3 | `narrator3` |
+| Speaker 1 | `wilwheaton` |
+| Speaker 2 | `vaati` |
+| Speaker 3 | `dr.kern` |
 
 Those are the pack names frank-tts resolves from `/home/dank/voices` (`scripts/frank-tts.env` header: a voice is real exactly when `/voices/<name>/reference.wav` exists). Two traps, both from upstream's shipped defaults:
 
-- The three seeded speaker profiles carry **OpenAI voice names** (`nova`, `alloy`, …) and **no voice model at all** — they show a "Setup required" badge, and generation fails with a voice error until they are edited (`creating-podcasts.md:13`, `:33`; `local-tts.md:89`). Add a `narrator1`/`narrator2` pair (or a third/fourth) rather than editing the seeded ones in place.
+- The three seeded speaker profiles carry **OpenAI voice names** (`nova`, `alloy`, …) and **no voice model at all** — they show a "Setup required" badge, and generation fails with a voice error until they are edited (`creating-podcasts.md:13`, `:33`; `local-tts.md:89`). Add a `wilwheaton`/`vaati` pair (or a third/fourth) rather than editing the seeded ones in place.
 - Two speakers with the same voice are hard to follow (`creating-podcasts.md:89`). Distinct packs per speaker is the point of the 1–4 shape.
 
 ## Two buttons that fail against frank-tts, and why that is cosmetic
@@ -92,9 +131,11 @@ Defaults are `TTS_BATCH_SIZE=5` and `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_WORKER_MAX_TASKS=5` (`docs/5-
 
 The clock next to it: `ESPERANTO_TTS_TIMEOUT` (`:91`) is patience **per dialogue line**, not per episode — a three-minute episode is dozens of separate POSTs, and the tail of a long turn on a CPU engine goes past upstream's 300 s default. It is set to **660, one round-trip outside `SHIM_TIMEOUT=600`** in `scripts/frank-tts.env` (frank-tts's own per-request ceiling): nested budgets go inside-out — the same rule that file states for `LLAMA_TIMEOUT` — so a frank-tts give-up arrives labelled as frank-tts's error instead of the worker's own timeout, and re-measuring frank-tts cannot silently strand this number below it. An abandoned request does not cancel the engine process; it only strands the episode in "generating".
 
+What the guard costs, measured on that first render (the deployed shape): 23 dialogue clips, one POST each, **10–11 s per clip** with both knobs at 1 → 301 s of wall clock for 747 s of speech, i.e. **2.5× real time**, box still responsive. That ratio is the budget to hold any future TTS engine to: halve the per-clip time, halve the episode.
+
 ## Secrets, and the difference between blank and unset
 
-`OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD` unset means **authentication off** (`environment-reference.md:46`) — every API route, including the episode-audio download, answers anyone who can reach the published port. That is a real exposure on a LAN-published service with no vhost and no guard chain in front of it, which is why `deploy_open_notebook` refuses to start either unit unless the seeded host file carries a value for all four secret keys (`OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY`, `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD`, `SURREAL_PASSWORD`, `SURREAL_PASS`). `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY` is separately load-bearing: it is **required to save any provider credential**, and changing it later makes stored keys undecryptable (`:44`).
+`OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD` unset means **authentication off** (`environment-reference.md:46`) — every API route, including the episode-audio download, answers anyone who can reach it. Moving the API to loopback did not remove that exposure, it only removed the LAN from it: any container on `dankclaw_default` dials `open-notebook:5055` by name, so an unset password is an open episode library to every container on this host, guarded or not. That is why `deploy_open_notebook` refuses to start either unit unless the seeded host file carries a value for all four secret keys (`OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY`, `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD`, `SURREAL_PASSWORD`, `SURREAL_PASS`). `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY` is separately load-bearing: it is **required to save any provider credential**, and changing it later makes stored keys undecryptable (`:44`).
 
 The tracked file declares the secrets **empty** and the host file supplies them; podman applies `--env-file` arguments in order and the last one wins (verified against the generated `ExecStart` line, 2026-10-18). Reordering the two `EnvironmentFile=` lines in a unit would blank every credential — that is the trap the seam's ordering assertion exists for.
 
@@ -102,7 +143,7 @@ The database has the same trap in a different spelling: the app reads `SURREAL_P
 
 ## Episode destination: interim, and reversible (issue #7)
 
-**Episode files currently exist in two places by design.** The app's own state stays in the `open-notebook-data` named volume; finished audio additionally lands on the host, because `/home/dank/media/podcasts` is bind-mounted over `/app/data/podcasts` (`open-notebook.container:88`). That is the **interim** answer to where episodes live: the destination is an open decision tracked as **Gitea issue #7, labelled `human-only` — agents must not work it.** Until Frank settles it, episode MP3s are ordinary files in his home directory, readable without `podman unshare`, which the database volume would require (measured with the pinned SurrealDB image).
+**Episode files currently exist in two places by design.** The app's own state stays in the `open-notebook-data` named volume; everything the render produces additionally lands on the host, because `/home/dank/media/podcasts` is bind-mounted over `/app/data/podcasts` (`open-notebook.container:88`). The first render confirmed the layout: `episodes/<uuid>/clips/0001.mp3 … 00NN.mp3` (one file per dialogue line, written as the worker goes) and `episodes/<uuid>/audio/<uuid>.mp3` (the ffmpeg concatenation). A half-finished render is therefore visible and greppable from the host without `podman unshare`. That is the **interim** answer to where episodes live: the destination is an open decision tracked as **Gitea issue #7, labelled `human-only` — agents must not work it.** Until Frank settles it, episode MP3s are ordinary files in his home directory.
 
 Reversibility is one line: delete the `Volume=/home/dank/media/podcasts:/app/data/podcasts` line and the episodes go back to living solely inside the named volume. Nothing else in the config assumes the bind. See [[Storage Policy]] for the repo's storage conventions this interim state deliberately bends.
 
@@ -118,10 +159,11 @@ podman pull docker.io/lfnovo/open_notebook:v1-latest@sha256:54b2025a4a4853c188f7
 
 ## Rollback
 
-- **Nothing deployed (today's state):** revert the commits. There is no host state to undo — no unit, no container, no volume, no `/home/dank/media/podcasts` directory beyond what the deployer would create.
-- **Deployed:** `systemctl --user stop open-notebook.service open-notebook-surrealdb.service`, then move the three files (`open-notebook.container`, `open-notebook-surrealdb.container`, `open-notebook.network`) out of `~/.config/containers/systemd/` into `~/.AGENTTRASH/` — never `rm` — and `systemctl --user daemon-reload`. The generated units disappear with their sources.
+- **Take it off the air, in the reverse of the deploy order:** delete the guarded site block and the `@notebook` handler from `dankclaw/Caddyfile` and deploy `caddy`; then in Authentik delete the `notebook-guard` Application and the `notebook-proxy` provider and drop it from the embedded outpost's provider set. A **route with no provider 502s** while a provider with no route is inert — that asymmetry is why the chain unwinds Caddy-first.
+- **Stop the app:** `systemctl --user stop open-notebook.service open-notebook-surrealdb.service`, then move the three files (`open-notebook.container`, `open-notebook-surrealdb.container`, `open-notebook.network`) out of `~/.config/containers/systemd/` into `~/.AGENTTRASH/` — never `rm` — and `systemctl --user daemon-reload`. The generated units disappear with their sources.
 - **Kept on purpose:** the `open-notebook-data` and `open-notebook-db` named volumes and `/home/dank/media/podcasts`. Episode audio and the notebook database are user data; removing them is a separate, deliberate act, and episode files are host files precisely so they can outlive the container.
-- **Homepage:** the card is `wip: "down"` + `showLink: false`, so retiring the service needs no card surgery beyond setting it back to that state.
+- **Provider credentials are database rows**, encrypted with `OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY`; no repo file mirrors them. Regenerating that key while the database volume survives makes every stored credential undecryptable and forces re-entry — so a rollback that keeps the volume keeps the key file with it.
+- **Homepage:** the card test in `tests/open_notebook.bats` pins the live state (`showLink: true`, link = the vhost), so retiring the service edits that test in the same commit as the card flip back to `wip: "down"`.
 
 ## Citations
 
@@ -130,3 +172,8 @@ podman pull docker.io/lfnovo/open_notebook:v1-latest@sha256:54b2025a4a4853c188f7
 - Registry (2026-10-18): `lfnovo/open_notebook` tags (`v1-latest`, `latest`, the `-single` set) and manifest-list digests; `surrealdb/surrealdb` `v2` → 2.7.0
 - Local measurements (2026-10-18, workstation, pinned digests): `surreal start --help` (credential and bind options carry `[env: SURREAL_*]`); running the pinned SurrealDB digest with env-only credentials (credential init in the log, correct login authenticates, wrong password refused, `/surreal is-ready` → `OK` exit 0, named volume owned by the mapped uid); the v1-compatible Quadlet generator dry-run of all three unit files (two `--env-file` in order, two `--network` in order, named volume + host bind, both health probes, `--pull never`)
 - Host evidence (Dankclaw, 2026-10-18, read-only): `ss -ltn` (`127.0.0.1:5055` held by seerr, `0.0.0.0:7771` a host listener, nothing on 7772/8502/5056/8000), `podman ps -a` (no open-notebook container, `dankclaw_default` present), subnet registry from `dankclaw/open-webui/quadlet/open-webui.network`
+- Deploy + provisioning (Dankclaw, 2026-10-19): first-boot log — migrations 1→25, `Credentials were provided, and no root users were found. The root user 'open_notebook' will be created`, `api`/`worker`/`frontend` all RUNNING under supervisord; `GET :8502/config` → the `API_URL` value; `GET /api/providers` (the `openai_compatible` modality list); `GET /openapi.json` schemas for `CreateCredentialRequest` / `ModelCreate` / `SpeakerProfileCreate` / `PodcastGenerateRequest`; the POSTs listed above; the note-save worker error `No embedding model configured.`
+- Embedding lane (Dankclaw, 2026-10-19): `POST /api/credentials` → `credential:7fdqz09tt0c4xp68x7cm`, `POST /api/models` → `model:p3ki598dydfinu93tbny`, `POST /api/models/{id}/test` → `Embedding dimensions: 1024`; worker lines `Successfully embedded note … in 0.43s` / `0.19s`; the name-not-id failure `Model with ID qwen3-embedding-0.6b not found`; the `/api/embed` 500 body (`EmbedResponse.command_id`, `input_value=RecordID(table_name=command…)`); `POST /api/search` `similarity` 0.6590/0.2921 and 0.9059/0.3176 for the two-note pair; `podman logs frank-dragoon-halogen` showing `POST /v1/embeddings 200` from `10.89.1.21`. Both probe notes deleted afterwards.
+- First render (2026-10-19): job `command:9rdojq5ne7dj9caicq20`, `execution_time: 301.21 s`, `episode:7ft03thj98sn0ek9xf29`; `episodes/d5fed29b-33e9-40ac-b46a-e0537c56c256/clips/0001.mp3 … 0023.mp3`; `…/audio/d5fed29b-….mp3` = 11,957,420 bytes, mp3 24 kHz mono, `ffprobe` duration 747.31 s; `GET /api/podcasts/episodes/{id}/audio` → 200 `audio/mpeg` with the bearer, 401 without.
+- Upstream code read inside the pinned image (2026-10-19): `frontend/next.config.ts:26-43` (the `/api/*` rewrite and the one-port claim), `frontend/src/app/config/route.ts:122-173` (`/config` priority order; autodetect appends `:5055`), `frontend/src/app/api/_sse-proxy.ts` (SSE proxied with `no-transform`), `open_notebook/utils/url_validation.py` (link-local refusal, `is_blocked_ip`, no environment override anywhere in the file).
+- Guard chain (2026-10-19): provider `notebook-proxy` created through `podman exec -i authentik-server ak shell` with the flows copied from `embedded-outpost` (pk 1), Application `Open Notebook`/`notebook-guard`, embedded-outpost provider set 9 → 10; afterwards the outpost logged zero `Failed to fetch outpost from API` and `seerr`/`grafana` still answered 200. Before the route existed, `notebook.franksdank.cloud` resolved to nothing (`000`).

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/OpenWebUI.md

@@ -290,9 +290,12 @@ on large sizes ⇒ check ComfyUI resources; 401 ⇒ the token is bad.
 
 ## Text-to-speech (frank-tts)
 
-TTS is the fleet's one OpenAI-compatible speech endpoint —
-`http://host.containers.internal:7772/v1` (`audio.tts.openai.api_base_url`
-in the config DB, 2026-10-18), model `frank-tts`, voice `narrator1`. That
+TTS is the fleet's one OpenAI-compatible speech endpoint. The config DB
+`audio.tts.*` is set to engine `openai`, `audio.tts.openai.api_base_url`
+`http://192.168.0.143:7772/v1`, `audio.tts.voice` `wilwheaton` (re-keyed
+2026-10-20 from the retired `narrator1`; 7772 is a published port so
+`host.containers.internal` also reaches it, but the LAN IP is the canonical
+on-host form). That
 port is the rootless quadlet `frank-tts` (this repo:
 `dankclaw/voiceservice/quadlet/frank-tts.container`
 `scripts/frank-tts.env`), and its shim resolves `voice=<name>` against
@@ -306,8 +309,8 @@ ships an in-page Kokoro implementation (chunk carrying a frozen voice table
 `onnx-community/Kokoro-82M-v1.0-ONNX`, plus a personal *Kokoro.js dtype*
 setting). Its engine select takes `""` (Default) or `browser-kokoro`; when
 `browser-kokoro` is chosen the page synthesizes locally and rejects any
-voice outside its fixed pack — so `narrator1` fails with
-`Voice: "narrator1" not found. Should be one of: af_heart, …` **without a
+voice outside its fixed pack — so `wilwheaton` fails with
+`Voice: "wilwheaton" not found. Should be one of: af_heart, …` **without a
 single request reaching the server**. Personal audio settings are
 browser: no `user.settings` row and no container env carries an audio
 override, yet the toast still appears ⇒ the choice lives in that browser's

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankserver/Plex.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: "Plex Media Server is a **containerized media server on Dankserver*
 tags:
   - dankserver
   - plex
-timestamp: 2026-09-15
+timestamp: 2026-10-21
 ---
 
 # Plex
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ public traffic can be fronted by Caddy like every other vhost.
 | Item | Value |
 |------|-------|
 | Runtime | podman quadlet, `plex.service` (user manager) — migrated from the native `plexmediaserver.service` OS-package unit (2026-09) |
-| Image | `lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:1.43.4.10903-e5521bd8c-ls325` (pinned; verified == the ghcr `latest` manifest digest at pin time) |
+| Image | `lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:1.43.5.11029-6bf8af3f0-ls329` (pinned; verified == the registry's `latest` manifest digest at pin time: `sha256:8f655bad…e9e2334`) |
 | Data root | `/var/lib/plexmediaserver` bind-mounted **in place** as `/config` (RW) — the migration moved zero bytes |
 | Media | `/mnt/entropy` mounted at the same absolute path **read-only** — every library path in the PMS database stayed valid, zero re-scan |
 | Identity | fleet rootless model — container root maps to the `dank` user (1000:1000); the deployer chowns the data root on first cutover |

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Alloy.md

@@ -3,70 +3,111 @@ type: reference
 description: "Alloy is Grafana's log and telemetry shipper."
 tags:
   - infrastructure
-timestamp: 2026-09-11
+timestamp: 2026-10-20
 ---
 
 # Alloy
 
-Alloy is Grafana's log and telemetry shipper. It replaces Promtail (end of life as of 2026-03-02, https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/send-data/promtail/). It is wired to forward container and journal logs to Loki, and every unit in the path is healthy — but as of 2026-10-18 it is delivering **zero** log lines. See "Delivery state" below.
+Alloy is Grafana's log and telemetry shipper. It replaces Promtail (end of life
+as of 2026-03-02, https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/send-data/promtail/). It
+forwards the host journal — including the rootless Quadlet containers' logs —
+to Loki. Unlike its observability siblings it runs as a **root system service on
+the host network**, because a rootless container cannot read the journal (see
+*Why root* below).
 
-**Host:** Dankclaw (one instance per host) — **Port:** 12345 (loopback) — **Docs:** https://grafana.com/docs/alloy/latest
+**Host:** Dankclaw (one instance per host) — **UI/health:** 127.0.0.1:12345
+(loopback) — **Docs:** https://grafana.com/docs/alloy/latest
 
 ## Facts
 
 | Item | Value |
 |------|-------|
-| Image | `franksdank/alloy:latest` (local build: upstream + a static busybox for the healthcheck) |
-| Published | `127.0.0.1:12345` → 12345 (its own UI/health port) |
-| Unit | `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container` → `alloy.service` |
-| Config | `shared/alloy/config.alloy`, installed to `/opt/alloy/config/config.alloy` on every deploy (`scripts/deploy-remote.sh:281-284`) |
-| Inputs | host journald socket, podman container logs, `/var/log` |
-| Output | `http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push` (`shared/alloy/config.alloy:13-17`) |
-| Successor to | Promtail (EOL 2026-03-02, https://grafana.com/docs/loki/latest/send-data/promtail/) |
-| Boot persistence | `Restart=always`/`RestartSec=10` + `WantedBy=default.target` (`dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container:58-63`); installed at `~/.config/containers/systemd/alloy.container`, reporting `generated` + `active` (`systemctl --user is-enabled|is-active alloy` 2026-10-18) |
-| Delivery | **Configured and healthy, currently delivering zero data** — see "Delivery state" |
+| Image | `localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest` — built rootless, then mirrored into the root image store by the deployer (a root build fails on DNS in this host's build container) |
+| Unit | `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container` → system `alloy.service`, installed at `/etc/containers/systemd/` (root manager) |
+| Config | `shared/alloy/config.alloy` → `/opt/alloy/config/config.alloy` on every deploy |
+| Network | `host` — required so it can reach Loki's `127.0.0.1:3100` publish |
+| UI | `--server.http.listen-addr=127.0.0.1:12345` (loopback; nothing off-host reaches it) |
+| Inputs | host journal: `system.journal` + `user-*.journal` (root reads both) |
+| Output | `http://127.0.0.1:3100/loki/api/v1/push` |
+| Boot persistence | `Restart=always`/`RestartSec=10` + `WantedBy=multi-user.target`; boot persistence is the `[Install]` section (generated system units cannot be `enable`d here) |
+| Successor to | Promtail (EOL 2026-03-02) |
+| Deploy status | root cutover built and tested in-repo (2026-10-20); the **live** instance is still the old rootless unit until `./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service alloy` runs |
 
-## Why Alloy and not Promtail
+## Why root (the load-bearing decision)
 
-Promtail reached end-of-life on 2026-03-02 and Grafana Labs directs new installs to Alloy. This stack uses Alloy from day one: no Promtail config or unit has ever existed in this repository (`git log -S promtail` over the whole history returns no commit that added one; the compose-era service of the same name was already Alloy — `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container:6-7`).
+A rootless Alloy delivered **zero** lines, silently and with a green health
+check. Two independent causes, both proven on the host 2026-10-20:
+
+1. **The journal is not readable by a rootless container.** The files are
+   `root:systemd-journal 0640` (`group:adm`, `other::---`). Even bind-mounted, a
+   rootless container has no supplementary groups, so opening them returns
+   `DENIED`. `loki.source.journal` then sees an empty view and the counter just
+   sits at 0 — no error logged.
+2. **Container logs live in the *user* journal, not `ctr.log`.** The rootless
+   Quadlet containers log via the journald driver into `user-1000.journal`; the
+   old file globs (`/var/lib/containers/.../ctr.log`, `/var/log/containers/*.log`)
+   point at a root-storage layout that does not exist here.
+
+**Root fixes both at once.** As root the container opens every journal file
+under the machine-id directory — `system.journal` *and* `user-1000.journal` —
+so a single `loki.source.journal` carries host services and the rootless
+containers' logs together. Validated with a throwaway root probe before writing
+the unit: **31,825 journal lines read, 26,966 pushed to Loki in 20 s, zero
+drops**, and Loki's label set went from empty to populated.
+
+### The two mounts that make it work
+
+- **`/etc/machine-id` (ro) — load-bearing.** `sd_journal` locates the journal
+  directory by the *local* machine id. Without it the container opens nothing and
+  the journal source reads exactly 0 lines — silently, health green. This single
+  mount is the whole difference between a working and an empty pipeline; do not
+  remove it. (A root probe without it reads 0; with it, 31,825.)
+- **`Network=host`.** Loki publishes `127.0.0.1:3100` (loopback only). No bridge
+  container — rootless or root — can reach the host's loopback, so Alloy must
+  share the host network to push to `127.0.0.1:3100`. Consequence: the UI binds
+  `127.0.0.1` directly (no `PublishPort`), so it stays loopback-only as before.
 
 ## Configuration
 
-`shared/alloy/config.alloy` is the source of truth:
-
-- Reads journald logs from the host's `/run/systemd/journal/socket`, labelled `job="systemd-journal"` (`shared/alloy/config.alloy:20-26`).
-- Reads container logs from two globs: `/var/lib/containers/storage/overlay-containers/*/userdata/ctr.log` (`job="podman"`) and `/var/log/containers/*.log` (`job="containers"`) (`config.alloy:29-35`).
-- Forwards everything to `http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push` by container name on `dankclaw_default` (`config.alloy:13-17`).
+`shared/alloy/config.alloy` is the source of truth — one `loki.source.journal`
+(labelled `job="systemd-journal"`) forwarding to the loopback `loki.write`
+endpoint. There is deliberately **no** container-file source: container stdout is
+in the journal.
 
 ## Volumes
 
 | Container path | Host path |
 |----------------|-----------|
-| `/etc/alloy` | `/opt/alloy/config` |
-| `/run/systemd/journal/socket` | host journald socket (read-only) |
-| `/var/log` | host logs (read-only) |
-| `/var/lib/containers` | podman storage (read-only) |
+| `/etc/alloy` | `/opt/alloy/config` (ro) |
+| `/etc/machine-id` | host machine id (ro) — **required** |
+| `/run/systemd/journal/socket` | host journald socket (ro) |
+| `/var/log/journal` | persistent journal files (ro) |
+| `/run/log/journal` | runtime journal files (ro) |
 
-## The UI port is published on purpose
+## The UI stays on loopback
 
-Alloy's UI listens on the container's own `127.0.0.1:12345` by default, and Alloy 1.x refuses to configure the `ui` service from a config block ("service ui does not support being configured", `shared/alloy/config.alloy:8-10`). Under compose that meant **no reachable health endpoint at all**: the homepage status card for alloy read `down` continuously and a deploy had nothing to wait on. The unit therefore passes `--server.http.listen-addr=0.0.0.0:12345` (`dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container:46`) and publishes `127.0.0.1:12345` (`alloy.container:47`, confirmed by `ss -ltnp` 2026-10-18) — same posture as the other three: reachable from the host and from Caddy's network, and from nothing off-host. Alloy has no authentication, which is exactly why it is not published wider. The homepage card probes that same loopback port (`shared/homepage/services.json:233`).
-
-## Delivery state (2026-10-18): healthy, shipping nothing
-
-The unit is `active`, the container reports `healthy`, the log says `Alloy is ready`, and the pipeline carries no data at all. Measured on 2026-10-18:
-
-- `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:12345/metrics` → `loki_source_journal_target_lines_total{component_id="loki.source.journal.journal"} 0` and `loki_source_file_files_active_total{component_id="loki.source.file.containers"} 0`. The journal source logs no error; the counter simply never moves. The journal files it would have to read through the `/var/log` bind are `root:systemd-journal 0640` with an ACL (`ls -l /var/log/journal/64a287d7…/` 2026-10-18).
-- Both file globs were refused at start (`journalctl --user -u alloy`, 2026-10-18T08:25:27Z), verbatim: `failed to create source, skipping … component_id=loki.source.file.containers error="failed to tail file, stat failed: stat /var/lib/containers/storage/overlay-containers/*/userdata/ctr.log: permission denied"` and the same message for `/var/log/containers/*.log: no such file or directory`.
-- Downstream that means Loki holds zero streams — `GET /loki/api/v1/labels` returns `{"status":"success"}` with no `data` — see [[Loki]].
-
-No fix is claimed here: the unit, the config and the push endpoint are all correct as written, and the gap is source-side access (and a Kubernetes-style glob that does not exist on this host). Anyone closing it should re-check the two counters above, not the health status — health is exactly what hides this failure mode.
+Alloy 1.x refuses to configure the `ui` service from a config block, so the UI
+address is set on the command line instead. Under the old rootless unit that
+meant `0.0.0.0` inside the container plus a published `127.0.0.1:12345`; under
+`Network=host` the listen-addr is `127.0.0.1:12345` directly — the host's
+loopback, reachable from the host and from nothing off-host. Alloy has no
+authentication, which is exactly why it is never published wider. The homepage
+card and the deploy health gate both dial `http://127.0.0.1:12345/-/healthy`.
 
 ## Gotchas
 
-- The journald socket mount is required for journal scraping.
-- Container log paths differ between docker (`/var/lib/docker/containers`) and podman (`/var/lib/containers/storage/...`); point the config at the right one per host.
-- One Alloy per host; do not run a single instance that tries to reach both hosts' logs.
-- The unit `Wants=`/`After=` `loki.service`: without a reachable Loki the write client fails and the pipeline backs up.
+- **No `/etc/machine-id` mount ⇒ silent zero.** The health check still passes.
+  This is the failure mode that hid the broken pipeline; check
+  `loki_source_journal_target_lines_total` and the Loki label query, never
+  `/healthy`.
+- **`After=loki.service` is gone.** Alloy is on the system manager; Loki is a
+  rootless user unit — a system unit cannot order against a user unit. Alloy
+  retries its push until Loki answers, so ordering is unnecessary.
+- **The image must be in the ROOT store.** The deployer builds rootless and
+  mirrors (`mirror_image_to_root`); a `Pull=never` root quadlet with only a
+  rootless tag fails at create.
+- One Alloy per host; do not run a single instance that tries to reach both
+  hosts' logs.
 
 ## See Also
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Authentik Outpost Reference.md

@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ Two provisioning rules, each verified live by an outage:
    appears. Create the Application with `provider_id` set (the UI does this
    automatically; raw API/ORM drives must do it explicitly).
 
-## OAuth2 relying-party quirks (this fork, verified live 2026-08-31)
+## OAuth2 relying-party quirks (this fork; corrected live 2026-10-20)
 
 The Grafana RP provider (`grafana`, pk 9, confidential client) was created and
 verified end-to-end via `ak shell` ORM drives. This fork's OAuth2 provider
@@ -100,23 +100,32 @@ implementation diverges from upstream in ways that bit us; all verified live:
 - **Provider resolution is by `client_id` query param** on the global
   `/application/o/authorize/` route; per-slug authorize paths do not exist in
   this build. Token/userinfo live at `/application/o/token/` and
-  `/application/o/userinfo/?api=1`.
-- **Property-mapping evaluator is broken → userinfo returns `sub` only.**
-  `PropertyMappingEvaluator.evaluate(*args, **kwargs)` forwards kwargs to
-  `BaseEvaluator.evaluate(expression_source)`, so the first context kwarg
-  becomes the *expression source* instead of the context; every call raises a
-  swallowed `PropertyMappingExpressionException` and the claim is skipped.
-  Scope-grant filtering has the same class of bug: `ScopeMapping` has no
-  provider FK (linkage lives in the `ProviderPropertyMapping` through model)
-  so `filter(provider=...)` always yields an empty queryset and tokens asked
-  to carry scopes get zero. Net effect: userinfo/introspection answers with
-  `{sub}` only — email/groups/entitlements claims cannot be delivered by this
-  build until the evaluator is patched or upgraded. Clients consuming this
-  provider must key identity off `sub`.
-- Scope mappings for this provider exist — `grafana-email-scope` and
-  `grafana-profile-scope` are both rows in `authentik_core_propertymapping`
-  (read-only `SELECT`, 2026-10-18) — and will start emitting claims the moment
-  the evaluator bug is fixed; no config change is needed then.
+  `/application/o/userinfo/` — do **not** append `?api=1` to a Grafana API URL.
+- **NULL `authorization_flow` → authorize 500, `AttributeError: 'NoneType'
+  object has no attribute 'slug'`.** A provider created via raw `ak shell`
+  `create()` leaves `authorization_flow` unset; the authorize view then crashes
+  building the flow planner (`flows/planner.py`) and returns "Server Error —
+  Powered by authentik" before any claim is built. This was previously
+  mis-attributed to a broken evaluator; the crash is the missing flow. Fix: set
+  `authorization_flow = default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent` (the
+  flow every other provider in this instance already uses).
+- **A scope mapping that returns a non-dict emits no claim.** authentik merges a
+  granted scope mapping's evaluated result into the token **as a mapping**: a
+  dict contributes its keys as claims; a bare string is keyed under the
+  mapping's NAME, so nothing usable appears. `grafana-email-scope` returned the
+  bare string `user.email`, so no `email` claim landed — the evaluator was
+  never broken (the dict-valued `grafana-profile-scope` mapping has always
+  delivered, and the stock OpenID mappings return dicts). Fix:
+  `return {"email": user.email, "email_verified": True}`. With no email, Grafana
+  v13 falls back to GET `<api_url>/emails`; authentik 404s it → "Login failed:
+  InternalError".
+- **Grafana reads identity from the standard userinfo endpoint** (`API_URL` with
+  no `?api=1`); no `USE_ID_TOKEN` is needed once the `email` claim exists.
+- **Net (2026-10-20):** the evaluator is fine; email/profile claims reach RP
+  clients. Both IdP fixes are idempotent in
+  `scripts/authentik-grafana-sso-fix.sh` (re-run after an ak-shell re-creation of
+  the provider or a blueprint import, which revert them). Grafana's half plus the
+  verified outcome (Viewer, `login = <sub hex>`, email present) are in [[Grafana]].
 
 ## LDAP provider objects (provisioned via `ak shell` ORM)
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Authentik.md

@@ -267,6 +267,12 @@ The silent re-auth path was proven end-to-end: after deleting
 `qa-e2e-admin`'s rows, the e2e admin spec ran against the stale storage
 state and passed with no login prompt (2 tests, 2.9 s).
 
+## Login-session lifetime (how often you re-authenticate)
+
+How long a login stays valid is the **`default-authentication-login` stage's `session_duration`** (`UserLoginStage`) — not a global setting, and not `SESSION_COOKIE_AGE` (that is the *pre-login* session). Raised to **`days=7`** on 2026-10-20 (was stage value `0` = the 24 h framework default). It is an **absolute** window, never sliding: authentik implements `SESSION_SAVE_EVERY_REQUEST` nowhere, so activity does not extend it and no supported knob makes it one.
+
+**`session_duration` is a STRING** in authentik's idiom (`"days=7"`, `"seconds=30"`, `"hours=12"`). A Python `timedelta` stores `"7 days, 0:00:00"`, which `authentik.lib.utils.time.timedelta_from_string` rejects with `ValueError` and login then crashes computing the expiry — so set it with **`scripts/authentik-set-login-session-duration.sh`** (validates the form first). Any non-zero value applies to *every* login (the "remember me" box only adds `remember_me_offset` on top) and a positive `set_expiry` also overrides `SESSION_EXPIRE_AT_BROWSER_CLOSE`, so closing the browser no longer logs you out; **existing sessions keep their old expiry** — delete the user's `authentik_core_session`/`…proxysession` rows and re-login to force it now. This is **DB state, not repo-managed**: a blueprint re-import or rebuild reverts the stage to `0`, so re-run the script after one. The other two login stages (`default-source-*`) drive external-source/enrollment logins and stay at the framework default.
+
 ## Guard-chain flip recipe (adding a guarded vhost)
 
 Move a public vhost from `reverse_proxy <app>:<port>` onto the chain:

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Grafana.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: "Grafana visualizes the metrics that Prometheus collects from every
 tags:
   - infrastructure
   - grafana
-timestamp: 2026-09-11
+timestamp: 2026-10-20
 ---
 
 # Grafana
@@ -64,19 +64,28 @@ Grafana responds on `/api/health` with 200 and `"database":"ok"`; measured 2026-
 - Change the default admin credentials at first boot (env or UI).
 - Dashboards provisioned as code (dashboard JSON plus a YAML provider, `shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/`) survive container recreation; UI-created ones live in the data volume — back it up.
 - **Auth = OAuth2 relying-party, not auth_proxy.** The embedded outpost carries
-  no provider token (`token=None`), so no identity header ever reaches Grafana;
-  RP mode is topology-independent. The full verified contract (provider pk 9,
-  client_id `grafana-21ca190cde75d60f`, global authorize/token/userinfo paths,
-  Basic client auth, form-encoded token body, and the fork's userinfo-claims
-  bug that leaves identity at the `sub` hash only) is in
-  [[Authentik Outpost Reference]] → "OAuth2 relying-party quirks". Consequences for Grafana:
-  The unit sets `ALLOW_SIGN_UP=false`, `AUTO_UPSERT=true`, `ALLOW_ASSIGN_ORG=true`
-  `ORG_ID=1` and **no** role-attribute mapping (`grafana.container:52-55`), so
-  users land as Viewer with `login = <sub hex>`; no email/groups/role claims
-  reach Grafana until the evaluator bug is fixed — do not write role mappings
-  that depend on those claims. The local admin account stays the only Admin.
-  (The Viewer-default outcome and the `<sub hex>` login are not readable from
-  the host without the database or an admin password. *(unverified 2026-10-18)*)
+  no provider token (`token=None`), so no identity header reaches Grafana; the
+  login is Grafana's own "Sign in with Authentik" button against the `grafana`
+  confidential-client provider. **Verified end-to-end 2026-10-20** after four
+  independent breakages had made it fail. The two Authentik-side causes (a NULL
+  `authorization_flow` → authorize 500; an email scope mapping that returned a
+  bare string so no `email` claim was emitted) and the full wire contract live in
+  [[Authentik Outpost Reference]] → "OAuth2 relying-party quirks"; the IdP half is
+  re-applied by `scripts/authentik-grafana-sso-fix.sh` (idempotent — re-run after
+  an ak-shell re-creation of the provider or a blueprint import, both of which
+  revert it silently). The Grafana half is the unit's own env (`grafana.container`):
+  `SCOPES="openid email profile"` (a GitLab-style `user:email` scope crashes the
+  authorize view), the standard userinfo `API_URL` with **no `?api=1`**, the
+  attribute paths `email`/`sub`/`preferred_username`, and `ALLOW_SIGN_UP=true`
+  (safe: the guard fronts the callback). Grafana v13 only GETs `<api_url>/emails`
+  when the token carries no `email` claim — so it is the email claim itself (an
+  IdP fix, above) that makes the login land, not any Grafana toggle.
+- **What a new login becomes:** a Viewer in org 1 (`ALLOW_ASSIGN_ORG=true`,
+  `ORG_ID=1`, no role-attribute mapping), with `login = <sub hex>` but the real
+  `email`. The local admin account stays the only Admin. The landing that the
+  edge-only 13-sso spec never checked is now asserted by
+  `tests/e2e/specs/20-grafana-sso.spec.ts` (RP round-trip → `/api/user` 200 with
+  an email).
 - **Never point this unit's `EnvironmentFile` at the repo-root `.env`.** That
   file is a gluetun env file and it carries `HOME=/root`; systemd imports it
   for the service, podman then looks for its configuration under `/root`

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Observability Provisioning.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ type: reference
 title: Observability Provisioning
 description: "Monitoring config as code: the config triad, deploy copiers, planner mappings, and where each change type lands."
 tags: [observability, prometheus, grafana, provisioning, deployment]
-timestamp: 2026-10-05T00:00:00-07:00
+timestamp: 2026-10-21T00:00:00-07:00
 ---
 
 # Observability Provisioning
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ committed.
 | `shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml` | scrape jobs (global + per-host) |
 | `shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml` | alert rules + recording rules |
 | `shared/grafana/provisioning/` | datasources + dashboards (provisioned tree) |
+| `shared/alloy/config.alloy` | the log pipeline: journal source → label promotion → Loki push |
+| `shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml` | prober modules (`http_2xx`); the listen bind lives on the unit's `Exec` |
 
 Targets and datasources reference **container names** (`grafana:3000`
 `loki:3100` — `shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml:52-61`), never
@@ -31,8 +33,8 @@ scraped as `host.containers.internal:<port>` because a bridge container cannot
 reach a host-netns bind at the host's LAN IP (`prometheus.yml:89-99`), and only
 the endpoint on another machine (`192.168.0.235:7770`) is addressed by LAN IP
 (`prometheus.yml:128-131`). Prometheus 3 refuses HTML responses as metrics —
-HTML-scraped "probes" are structurally inert and need a blackbox exporter (see
-[[Stale Signal Audit]]).
+HTTP liveness rides the **blackbox exporter** (`shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml`,
+deployed 2026-10-21; see [[Stale Signal Audit]]).
 
 ## The deploy path
 
@@ -43,8 +45,9 @@ from `deploy_observability`:
 - `copy_alertmanager_config` → `/opt/alertmanager/config/alertmanager.yml` (`:232-235`)
 - `install_signal_relay` → the user unit + iptables + the health wait on `192.168.0.143:18093/health` (`:243-274`)
 - `copy_loki_config` → `/opt/loki/config/loki-config.yaml` (`:276-279`)
-- `copy_alloy_config` → `/opt/alloy/config/config.alloy` (`:281-284`)
-- `copy_grafana_provisioning` → `/opt/grafana/provisioning/` (`:286-300`)
+- `copy_alloy_config` → `/opt/alloy/config/config.alloy` — substitutes the `GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL` token with the deploy target's name and **refuses to install** if the token survives; `ALLOY_CONF_ROOT` is the bats sandbox seam
+- `copy_blackbox_config` → `/opt/blackbox/blackbox.yml` (single-file mount of the prober); `BLACKBOX_CONF_ROOT` is its sandbox seam
+- `copy_grafana_provisioning` → `/opt/grafana/provisioning/` — datasources, provider, and **every** `dashboards/*.json` (a glob, not a hand-listed subset; `GRAFANA_PROV_ROOT` is the test seam the bats case uses to run the copier into a sandbox)
 
 `scripts/deploy-plan.py` maps `shared/prometheus/**` to `prometheus` (plus
 `alertmanager` when the changed file is `alertmanager.yml`, `:251-256`)
@@ -82,11 +85,14 @@ reports 4 alerting + 2 recording. Rules reload with the prometheus service.
 the backend (`http://prometheus:9090`), not loopback.
 
 **Add a dashboard** — drop the JSON into
-`shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/`. Provisioned dashboards live in
-unified storage, not (only) the SQLite table — grep the API, not the DB, when
-verifying (see the verify section of [[Fleet Audit and Posture]]). *(unverified
-2026-10-18: the storage-backend claim needs an admin password to confirm
-against `grafana.db` and the API side by side)*
+`shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/`; the copier globs the directory, so
+the next `--service grafana` deploy provisions it. This is a repaired law, not
+a given: until 2026-10-21 the copier named `llm-fleet.json` alone, and the
+`containers` board — merged, tested, documented as "working" — had **never
+been provisioned**; the other boards existed on disk only because someone had
+hand-copied them once. A repo JSON is not a live dashboard until the copier
+carries it, and `deploy.sh` cannot see the gap because it only reports the
+copy it performed.
 
 ## Verify through the APIs, not the filesystem
 
@@ -95,90 +101,32 @@ against `grafana.db` and the API side by side)*
 curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/rules | python3 -m json.tool | head
 curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/targets?state=active" | \
   python3 -c "import json,sys; [print(t['labels'].get('job'), t['health'], (t['lastError'] or '')[:60]) for t in json.load(sys.stdin)['data']['activeTargets']]"
-# grafana: datasource + dashboard provisioned
-curl -s -u admin:<pw> http://127.0.0.1:3002/api/datasources | python3 -m json.tool | grep -E '"name"|"url"'
+# grafana 13: /api/health, /api/org, /login all 404 UNAUTHENTICATED, and there
+# is NO local admin password (root .env sets no GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_*; the only
+# account is the Authentik RP login). The proven surface is a real browser
+# session: warm the Anubis challenge on the vhost root, then hit
+# /login/generic_oauth with the e2e storage state (tests/e2e/.auth/qa-e2e-admin.json)
+# — exactly the path specs/20-grafana-sso.spec.ts drives — and read the boards.
 ```
 
 The two Prometheus queries were run on 2026-10-18 and are what every number on
 this page comes from: 4 alerting + 2 recording rules, and `up` for
 `prometheus`, `node-dankclaw`, `node-dankserver`, `grafana`, `loki`
-`frank-zealot`, `frank-dragoon`, `frank-archon` with the four structural downs
-listed in [[Prometheus]]. The Grafana query needs the local admin password and
-was not run here; the filesystem side (`ls /opt/grafana/provisioning/*`) is
-proof of installation only — see the next paragraph.
+`frank-zealot`, `frank-dragoon`, `frank-archon`. The four structural downs
+that census recorded are retired (2026-10-21, [[Prometheus]]). The Grafana proof is the browser session above, run
+2026-10-21: it found a provisioned-file gap the filesystem listing hid. The
+filesystem side (`ls /opt/grafana/provisioning/*`) is proof of installation
+only — see *Add a dashboard* for why a repo JSON is not a live board.
 
 Health answers from a stale process and provisioned resources can hide in
 unified storage — a file existing on disk is not proof the running server
 loaded it. See [[Stale Signal Audit]] for the never-green-target decision
 table (refused = outage, 404/HTML = config defect).
 
-## Current delivered state (delivery chain live 2026-09-17, re-verified 2026-10-18)
-
-Prometheus → Alertmanager (`dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alertmanager.container`
-loopback `:9093`) → host-side Signal relay (`scripts/signal-relay.py`, user
-unit, `192.168.0.143:18093` — the LAN IP, the one bind a container can reach
-via `host.containers.internal`) → signal-cli, addressed by number
-`+12062476336` (`scripts/signal-relay.py:36-43`). Every hop re-checked
-2026-10-18: `ss -ltnp` shows `python3` on `192.168.0.143:18093`
-`curl -s http://192.168.0.143:18093/health` → `ok`, and
-`journalctl --user -u signal-relay` ends with successful `sent to +12062476336:`
-lines for `LlmEndpointDown`, `LlmRequestsQueueing`, `LlmSpecDecodeOff` and
-`LlmPrefixCacheCollapse` (firing and resolved). Some targets read down for
-structural reasons (HTML-scraped "probes", Gitea metrics off); the remedy is
-the blackbox exporter. See [[Prometheus]] → Targets.
-
-**A llama.cpp endpoint is invisible unless it opts in.** Until 2026-10-18,
-`up{job="frank-zealot"}` was 0 for the entire retained history of the metric —
-the oldest sample, 2026-10-11, is already 0 — while the service itself answered
-`/health` 200 the whole time. Cause: llama.cpp only exports `/metrics` when it
-is started with the flag, so the scrape was refused at the protocol layer (the
-flag and its opt-out are on [[frank-zealot]]) and `LlmEndpointDown` (critical)
-stayed firing:
-the relay re-sent it on the 4 h `repeat_interval` for days (`journalctl --user
--u signal-relay` — firing sends at 01:37, 05:42, 09:47, 13:52, 17:57 and 22:02
-on 2026-10-12). It finally resolved at `2026-10-18T01:53:21-07:00`, after the
-metrics opt-in landed that day; the target
-reports up since (`curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/targets` 2026-10-18).
-How many payload generations it spanned is not readable from any host
-artifact. *(unverified 2026-10-18)*
-
-Two laws fall out of it. A target can read down beside a healthy service, so
-read `lastError` from `/api/v1/targets` before believing an outage. And rule
-state lives in Prometheus' process, not on disk — a restart re-stamps
-`activeAt` on a long-standing alert, so a "fresh" alert after a reboot is not
-evidence of a fresh fault. (Alertmanager by contrast **does** persist:
-`--storage.path=/alertmanager` on a host volume keeps silences and the
-notification log — `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alertmanager.container:39-42`
-`/opt/alertmanager/data`.)
-
-Remaining known downs are the structural ones above (HTML-scraped probes, Gitea
-metrics, ComfyUI), and `frank-dragoon` exports `/metrics` natively
-([[frank-dragoon]]), which is why
-`frank-dragoon` has always been green. The active-alert count is a
-moment-in-time value and should never be documented as a constant:
-`/api/v1/alerts` was empty at the 2026-10-18 morning census, held one firing
-`LlmPrefixCacheCollapse` (`activeAt` 11:10:48Z, value 2.6e-4) when sampled
-minutes later, and was empty again by 11:56Z; the relay logged the matching
-firing and resolved sends at `04:26:21-07:00` and `04:41:21-07:00`.
-
-**What that zealot scrape measured on 2026-10-18.** As of ~04:30 PDT the
-production `frank-zealot` root unit was stopped **on purpose** for a benchmark
-window on the 3090 — the repo Benchmarking Policy says stop the production
-service before benching — and `:7771` answered from a manually booted candidate
-arm (`systemctl is-active frank-zealot` → `failed` after
-`stop-sigterm timed out. Killing`, which is llama.cpp ignoring SIGTERM past
-`TimeoutStopSec`, the known shutdown shape for these engines). So
-`up{job="frank-zealot"} == 1` that day measured the trial, not the production
-shape in `scripts/frank-zealot.env` — that shape is [[frank-zealot]]'s to state,
-and it is the repo contract.
-The unit stayed `enabled`; `./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service frank-zealot`
-reinstalls and starts it, restoring boot persistence and self-healing. Never
-quote a candidate arm's flags or VRAM as fleet state — the process and its shape
-changed between two censuses ten minutes apart.
-
 ## Related
 
 - [[Observability]] — stack topology and the alert delivery chain
-- [[Stale Signal Audit]] — classifying down targets before "fixing" them
+- [[Stale Signal Audit]] — classifying down targets before "fixing" them, and the
+  down-beside-healthy / alert-state-persistence / candidate-arm rules
 - [[Quadlet Lifecycle]] — the units that host these services
 - [[Deploy State Triage]] — how the planner selects these services

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Observability.md

@@ -2,18 +2,18 @@
 type: reference
 title: "Observability on Dankclaw"
 description: "The observability stack: what runs, how it is deployed, how it is exposed, and what is still unconfigured."
-tags: [observability, prometheus, grafana, loki, alloy, node-exporter, quadlet, dankclaw]
-timestamp: 2026-09-11
+tags: [observability, prometheus, grafana, loki, alloy, node-exporter, gpu-exporter, quadlet, dankclaw]
+timestamp: 2026-10-20
 ---
 
 # Observability on Dankclaw
 
 ## Summary
 
-Six containers and one host-side process: Prometheus (metrics), Grafana
+Seven containers and two host-side processes: Prometheus (metrics), Grafana
 (dashboards), Loki (log store), Alloy (log shipper), node-exporter (host
-metrics) and Alertmanager (alert delivery), with `signal-relay` on the host
-carrying every firing group to Signal. All of it is Quadlet-managed,
+metrics), cadvisor (per-container metrics) and Alertmanager (alert delivery),
+plus two host `python3` processes — `gpu-exporter` (per-GPU metrics) and `signal-relay` (Signal delivery). The containers are all Quadlet-managed,
 boot-persistent and loopback-only, deployed by
 `scripts/deploy-remote.sh` → `deploy_observability`. The metrics half works
 end to end; the log half is configured, healthy, and carries no data.
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ that proves it today.
 | Loki | `localhost/franksdank/loki:latest` | `127.0.0.1:3100` | `loki.container` | [[Loki]] |
 | Alloy | `localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest` | `127.0.0.1:12345` | `alloy.container` | [[Alloy]] |
 | node-exporter | `docker.io/prom/node-exporter:latest` | host netns: `127.0.0.1:9100` + `192.168.0.143:9100` | `node-exporter.container` | [[Node-Exporter]] |
+| cadvisor | `gcr.io/cadvisor/cadvisor:v0.49.1` | bridge publish `127.0.0.1:8080` + `192.168.0.143:8080` | `cadvisor.container` | — |
+| GPU exporter | host `python3`, not a container | `127.0.0.1:9401` + host LAN `:9401` | `scripts/gpu-exporter.service` (user unit) | — |
 | Signal relay | host `python3`, not a container | `192.168.0.143:18093` | `scripts/signal-relay.service` (user unit) | [[Alertmanager]] |
 
 Every unit lives in `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/`, carries
@@ -44,9 +46,11 @@ linger is on for `dank`). `signal-relay.service` reports `enabled` + `active`
 the same day, and `homepage-status.timer` — the root unit that probes all of
 these on loopback — is `enabled` + `active` (`deploy-remote.sh:319-321` copies
 the probe registry `shared/homepage/services.json` to `/srv/homepage`).
-Dankserver runs one member of this family, node-exporter, as its own unit
-(`dankserver/observability/quadlet/node-exporter.container`, `generated` +
-`active`, binding `127.0.0.1:9100` + `192.168.0.235:9100`).
+Dankserver runs the same family: node-exporter and cadvisor as its own quadlets
+(`dankserver/observability/quadlet/{node-exporter,cadvisor}.container`,
+`generated` + `active`; node-exporter binds `127.0.0.1:9100` + `192.168.0.235:9100`,
+cadvisor publishes `127.0.0.1:8080` + `192.168.0.235:8080`), plus the host-process
+`gpu-exporter` (a user unit installed the same way as `signal-relay`).
 
 ## Exposure
 
@@ -63,10 +67,18 @@ Alertmanager has no vhost at all. node-exporter is the exception that must live
 in the host network namespace, and it binds exactly two addresses rather than
 the wildcard — see [[Node-Exporter]].
 
-The relay's bind is the one address a bridge container can reach on the host:
-`192.168.0.143:18093`, with iptables INPUT admitting loopback, the host itself
-and the podman bridge subnet `10.89.0.0/16` before the DROP
-(`scripts/deploy-remote.sh:255-262`).
+**Same-host reachability from a bridge container is measured, not inferred**
+(2026-10-21, from inside the Prometheus container): `host.containers.internal`
+(the podman gateway) reaches host services whether they bind host-net or are
+published ports — node `:9100`, cadvisor `:8080`, gpu `:9401` all answer there
+— while the host's own LAN IP is refused (`192.168.0.143:8080`, `:9401`), so
+every same-host Prometheus target uses the gateway and only cross-host targets
+(dankserver) use plain LAN. Whether LAN works at all is network-specific: the
+relay at `192.168.0.143:18093` IS reached from alertmanager's network, with
+iptables INPUT admitting loopback, the host itself and the podman bridge subnet
+`10.89.0.0/16` before the DROP (`scripts/deploy-remote.sh:255-262`). Never
+point a scrape target at a host LAN IP from its own host on the strength of
+one working example; dial the gateway and probe.
 
 ## Deployment
 
@@ -83,34 +95,74 @@ health endpoint (`/prometheus`: `/-/healthy`, `/alertmanager`: `/-/healthy`
 [[Observability Provisioning]] for what is provisioned as code and how to
 verify it through the APIs.
 
-## Current state (2026-10-18)
+## Current state (2026-10-21)
 
 * **Metrics: working.** `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/targets` reports
-  eight up targets; the four downs are structural (the `comfyui` and `services`
-  HTML probes, and Gitea's disabled metrics endpoint), not outages. Rule set:
-  4 alert rules + 2 recording rules (`/api/v1/rules`, matching
-  `shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml`).
+  every job up — the three LLM endpoints (frank-archon on `vllm:*`,
+  frank-dragoon and frank-zealot on `llamacpp:*`), grafana, loki, prometheus,
+  both node exporters, cadvisor, gitea (metrics enabled in its quadlet) and
+  the blackbox-probed `services` (SearXNG, OpenWebUI, ComfyUI). The structural
+  downs are retired — see [[Prometheus]] → Targets.
+  Two rule groups in `shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml`: `llm-fleet`
+  (2 recording + 4 alert, `llamacpp:*`) and `vllm-fleet` (1 recording + 4
+  alert, `vllm:*` — archon queueing, prefix collapse, preemption, p95
+  time-to-first-token), each keyed only to the namespace its runtime exports.
 * **Delivery: working.** Alertmanager's single `signal` receiver webhooks the
   relay, and `journalctl --user -u signal-relay` records successful
   `sent to +12062476336:` lines for every rule in the set.
-* **Dashboards: working.** One provisioned Prometheus datasource (uid
-  `prometheus`) and the `llm-fleet` dashboard, both installed from
-  `shared/grafana/provisioning/`.
-* **Logs: configured, empty.** Alloy ships zero lines (journal counter 0, both
-  file globs refused) and Loki therefore holds zero streams — `/opt/loki/data`
-  is a few hundred KB of WAL/compactor bookkeeping with **no chunk files**
-  (8 files total by `find`, 2026-10-18) and `GET /loki/api/v1/labels` returns
-  no label names.
-  See [[Alloy]] → Delivery state and [[Loki]] → Contents.
-* **Not configured:** no Loki datasource in Grafana, no blackbox exporter (the
-  structural downs have no real uptime signal), no Alertmanager vhost.
+* **Dashboards: working (after the 2026-10-21 copier fix).** Provisioned
+  datasources — Prometheus (uid `prometheus`) and Loki (uid `loki`) — and the
+  `llm-fleet`, `host-system`, `containers`, `observability` and
+  `logs-overview` boards. Until 2026-10-21 the copier carried only
+  `llm-fleet.json` by name and the `containers` board had never been
+  provisioned; the deployer now globs the directory. The Loki datasource is
+  how you read logs: Loki has no web UI of its own, so Grafana Explore is the
+  human surface (the guarded `loki.franksdank.cloud` vhost serves only the
+  API). Verify method and the copier law: [[Observability Provisioning]].
+* **Per-container metrics: the `containers` dashboard (added 2026-10-20; live
+  after `deploy.sh <host> --service cadvisor`).** cadvisor is the only way to see
+  per-container CPU/memory here, and on this rootless-Podman host it works on one
+  condition: `--cgroupns=host`. Podman starts every container in a PRIVATE cgroup
+  namespace, so without that flag cadvisor sees only its own cgroup root and
+  exports a single series (measured 2026-10-20: 1 series off, 996 on). cadvisor
+  names nothing itself — the libpod socket resolved only 2 of 34 rootless
+  containers — but the quadlet unit name is carried in the cgroup path
+  (`app.slice/<name>.service/…`), so `prometheus.yml` relabels that path into a
+  `container` label. Network and filesystem are NOT exported for these containers
+  (no netns/classid attribution under the host-PID layout), so the dashboard
+  graphs only CPU, memory and OOM and does not fake the rest.
+* **Per-GPU metrics: the `host-system` GPU panels (added 2026-10-20; live after
+  `deploy.sh <host> --service gpu-exporter`).** `scripts/gpu-exporter.py` is a
+  host-process user unit on BOTH hosts — not a quadlet, because it reads the host's
+  own DRM sysfs and shells to `nvidia-smi`, neither of which a container can do
+  without GPU passthrough. It reads each AMD card's `gpu_busy_percent` /
+  `mem_info_vram_*` / `hwmon temp1_input` and one `nvidia-smi --query-gpu` CSV, and
+  emits unified `gpu_*` families (utilization %, VRAM used/total bytes, temperature
+  °C, power W) labelled `gpu` / `vendor` / `model`, with `host` added by the scrape
+  job. Two laws: **absent means absent, never a zero** — the R9700s expose no sysfs
+  `power1_average`, so they carry no `gpu_power_watts` line at all (only NVIDIA and
+  the Dankclaw 8060S iGPU report power); and it binds loopback + the host LAN, like
+  node-exporter, never the wildcard. The dashboard graphs util/VRAM/VRAM-%/temp/power.
+* **Logs: flowing; container labels land with the 2026-10-21 deploy.** The
+  pipeline once shipped nothing (rootless Alloy cannot read the `0640` journal;
+  the container-log globs pointed at a root-storage layout that does not exist
+  here) — fixed 2026-10-20 by making Alloy a **root system service on
+  `Network=host`**. Journal lines now reach Loki (measured ~6.5k lines/5min),
+  but the stream carried only `job`/`service_name`, so every per-container
+  view was structurally empty: Loki metrics queries group only by INDEXED
+  stream labels. Alloy now promotes podman's `CONTAINER_NAME` to a `container`
+  label (plus a `host` label) at ingestion — `loki.process` in
+  `shared/alloy/config.alloy`; detail in [[Alloy]] → Why root, and the
+  purpose-test law in [[Observability Provisioning]].
 
 ## Citations
 
-- `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/{prometheus,alertmanager,grafana,loki,alloy,node-exporter}.container`
+- `dankclaw/observability/quadlet/{prometheus,alertmanager,grafana,loki,alloy,node-exporter,cadvisor,blackbox-exporter}.container`
 - `scripts/deploy-remote.sh:219-300` (copiers + relay), `:521-536` (health waits), `:477-486` (grafana env seed)
 - `scripts/signal-relay.py:26-49`, `scripts/signal-relay.service`
+- `scripts/gpu-exporter.py`, `scripts/gpu-exporter.service` (per-GPU host exporter)
 - `shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml`, `shared/prometheus/alertmanager.yml`, `shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml`
 - `shared/grafana/provisioning/`, `shared/loki/loki-config.yaml`, `shared/alloy/config.alloy`
+- `shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml` (prober modules; the listen bind is on the unit's `Exec`)
 - `tests/observability_quadlet.bats` (boot persistence, no wildcard publish, probe addresses, delivery contract)
 - Host evidence 2026-10-18: `ss -ltnp`, `podman ps`, `systemctl --user is-enabled|is-active`, `curl` on `127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/{targets,rules,alerts}`, `127.0.0.1:3100/loki/api/v1/labels`, `127.0.0.1:12345/metrics`, `127.0.0.1:3002/api/health`, `192.168.0.143:18093/health`, `journalctl --user -u signal-relay`

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Pi-hole.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: "Pi-hole is the LAN DNS server for the homelab."
 tags:
   - infrastructure
   - pi-hole
-timestamp: 2026-08-28
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
 # Pi-hole
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ The file format is hosts-style (`<IP> <name> [<name> ...]`), one A record per Ca
 
 **Pitfall (2026-08-24):** the first quadlet mounted the file into `/etc/dnsmasq.d/`. FTL never read it; names only resolved from the query cache. A fresh name returned NXDOMAIN. Mount into `/etc/pihole/hosts/`, not `/etc/dnsmasq.d/`.
 
+**Pitfall (2026-10-19): FTL can come up with the record file mounted and still serve none of it.** A plain `systemctl --user restart pihole` (16:25, inside the open-notebook deploy window) left every `franksdank.cloud` name NXDOMAIN for LAN clients while **external names kept answering** — from FTL's cache, which is exactly what makes the failure read like a client or an upstream problem. **The trigger is a container restart, not a boot**, and that matters for where the check belongs: `uptime -s` reads 2026-10-18 01:24 (two days of uptime) while `journalctl --user -u pihole.service` shows `Stopping pihole.service` at 16:25:23 and the container's `StartedAt` at 16:25:27 — so verify after **any** pihole restart, deploy-triggered or manual, not only after a reboot. The instrument is on the box: `getent hosts grafana.franksdank.cloud` (or `dig +short @192.168.0.143 <name>`) answering empty means FTL is holding no local records at all; here the file was present and readable inside the container (`-rw-rw-r-- … /etc/pihole/hosts/addn-hosts`, 44 records) and `dns.hosts` in `pihole.toml` was intact. `podman exec pihole pihole restartdns reload` had every name answering within seconds. The mechanism is **not established** — the same mounts and the same config read fine before and after the reload — so treat it as a load failure of the record sources at FTL start, not as a lost or unmounted file. What it cost: the whole Playwright gate, 18 specs across every vhost failing `ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED` while the fleet itself was healthy ([[E2E Suite]]).
+
 ## Upstream
 
 The slirp netns has no useful `resolv.conf`. The env file pins the upstreams: `DNS1=1.1.1.1`, `DNS2=1.0.0.1` (mirrors the retired `dnsmasq.conf` `server=` lines). Every query that is not a local record goes to those resolvers. The zone apex and unknown subdomains fall through to Porkbun.
@@ -74,6 +76,8 @@ Both prerequisites survive the dnsmasq → Pi-hole swap. Do not remove them.
 | Upstream queries fail (local names still answer) | `DNS1`/`DNS2` in the env file are missing or wrong |
 | Port 53 `bind: permission denied` crash loop after a reboot | sysctl conflict: the value must be 53 at boot, and remember `/etc/sysctl.conf` is applied **after** all of `sysctl.d/`. Redeploy pihole — `deploy_pihole` reinstalls the drop-in, neutralizes conflicting drop-ins, and comments out a stale `/etc/sysctl.conf` line |
 | Single-label name (for example `dankclaw`) answers `127.0.1.1` | The rootless container `/etc/hosts` carries the host entry (`127.0.1.1 <host>`), and FTL serves it. Use the FQDN, or add an `/etc/hosts` entry on the client |
+| Every `franksdank.cloud` name is NXDOMAIN for LAN clients while external names still answer | FTL holds no local records: `getent hosts <name>` on Dankclaw comes back empty → `podman exec pihole pihole restartdns reload` (the 2026-10-19 pitfall under **Records**) |
+| One client gets nothing while every other client is fine | FTL rate-limiting that client: `podman exec pihole grep Rate-limiting /var/log/pihole/FTL.log`. A `10.0.2.x` client address is a pasta container's DNS forwarder, not a machine |
 
 ## See Also
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Prometheus.md

@@ -42,29 +42,28 @@ Authentik; post-auth the Caddy vhost routes straight to `prometheus:9090`) —
 
 The `frank-medium` job is **retired**: no `frank-medium` job exists in the config or in `/api/v1/targets` (2026-10-18), and the endpoint itself left the fleet — its history is on [[frank-archon]], which holds the port today.
 
-**Three jobs read down today, and they are not outages** (re-audited against `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/targets`, 2026-10-18; first audited 2026-09-16):
+**No job reads down structurally any more** (the three permanent-reds were
+retired 2026-10-21; census re-run after each deploy):
 
-| Job | Target | `health` | `lastError`, verbatim |
-|-----|--------|----------|------------------------|
-| `gitea` | `http://192.168.0.143:3000/metrics` | down | `server returned HTTP status 404 Not Found` |
-| `comfyui` | `http://comfyui:8188/` | down | `received unsupported Content-Type "text/html" and no fallback_scrape_protocol specified for target` |
-| `services` | `http://192.168.0.143:8081/` | down | `received unsupported Content-Type "text/html; charset=utf-8" and no fallback_scrape_protocol specified for target` |
-| `services` | `http://192.168.0.143:3005/` | down | same `unsupported Content-Type "text/html; charset=utf-8"` error |
+| Job | Target | how |
+|---|---|---|
+| `gitea` | `192.168.0.143:3000/metrics` | metrics enabled in the quadlet (`GITEA__metrics__ENABLED=true`, `ENABLED_HOST=0.0.0.0`) — the page once said "stays off until `[metrics] ENABLED = true` in its own config"; the env form is what the deployer ships |
+| `services` | `http://192.168.0.143:8081` (SearXNG), `:3005` (OpenWebUI), `http://127.0.0.1:8188` (ComfyUI) | **blackbox exporter** probe, module `http_2xx` — the comfyui metrics job is retired, one owner per service. The prober runs in the host netns, so comfyui is probed over loopback (its published port); bridge container names do not resolve there |
 
-Gitea's exporter stays off until `[metrics] ENABLED = true` in its own config (no metrics env is set in the container, and `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3000/metrics` → 404, 2026-10-18); ComfyUI and the two `services` probes are HTML pages, which Prometheus 3 refuses as metrics. Everything else is green: `prometheus`, `node-dankclaw`, `node-dankserver`, `grafana`, `loki`, `frank-zealot`, `frank-dragoon`, `frank-archon`.
+Scraping a web root is not a health check: an HTML page fails the scrape
+protocol (`unsupported Content-Type`), which is what kept those targets red
+beside healthy services. The classification rule and the honesty law live in
+[[Stale Signal Audit]]. The prober is `blackbox-exporter.container` (host
+netns, config `shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml`); it binds 9115 on both the LAN
+and the podman gateway, and Prometheus scrapes the gateway address — the
+netavark hairpin gap bars this container from its own host's LAN IP.
+Plain targets stay `host:port`, never URLs — the probe job's URL targets are
+the documented exception, relabeled onto the prober.
 
 **`frank-zealot` reads up since 2026-10-18, and did not before.** llama.cpp only answers `/metrics` when started with `--metrics`, so `up{job="frank-zealot"}` was 0 across the whole retained history (the oldest sample, 2026-10-11, is already 0) while the service answered `/health` 200 the whole time; the flag and its opt-out are on [[frank-zealot]]. Read `lastError` before believing an outage: a target can read down beside a healthy service.
 
 Alert state is a live property, not a page fact: `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9090/api/v1/alerts` returned no alerts at the 2026-10-18 morning census, one firing `LlmPrefixCacheCollapse` (info, `frank-zealot`, `activeAt` 11:10:48Z) minutes later, and none again by 11:56Z.
 
-The remedy for a probe-shaped question is the **blackbox exporter**; the
-classification rule and the honesty law for it live in [[Stale Signal Audit]].
-Until the exporter is deployed, these three stay red for a structural reason:
-deleting them would
-hide a real service, and fixing them by publishing databases or enabling metrics
-would trade a wrong signal for a real exposure. Targets are `host:port`, never
-URLs.
-
 ## Volumes
 
 | Container path | Host path |

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/Dankclaw System Specs.md

@@ -43,10 +43,12 @@ Dankclaw is an AMD APU + RTX 3090 inference host. It ran CIRU ROCmFPX llama.cpp
 | Device | /dev/accel/accel0 |
 | Driver | amdxdna 0.7.0, in-tree — bound since 2026-10-18 (`lspci -k -s c6:00.1` → `Kernel driver in use: amdxdna`; journal 2026-10-18 01:25:14 `Initialized amdxdna_accel_driver 0.7.0 for 0000:c6:00.1 on minor 0`) |
 | Firmware | 1.1.2.65 (`/usr/lib/firmware/amdnpu/17f0_11/npu_7.sbin` → `npu.sbin.1.1.2.65.zst`, loaded at boot 2026-10-18 01:25:13) |
-| Runtime | None installed. FastFlowLM 0.9.45 + XRT (installed 2026-08-16) was **retired 2026-09-11** with the `amd_iommu=off` decision — see [[dankclaw-iommu-translation-off]]; the package remains at `/home/dank/GitPackages/fastflowlm_0.9.45_ubuntu26.04_amd64.deb` |
-| Status | Not in service — no NPU endpoint is deployed. The device itself is usable since the 2026-10-18 `iommu=pt` boot (`/dev/accel/accel0` present, `crw-rw---- root:render 261,0`); Gitea issue #3 tracks enablement. See  |
+| Runtime | Distro XRT only: `libxrt2` + `libxrt-npu2` 1:2.21.75 supply `libxrt_coreutil.so.2`, `libxrt_core.so.2` and the NPU plugin `libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2` under `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu`; **no `/opt/xilinx/xrt`** (census 2026-10-19), no Ryzen AI Python stack. FastFlowLM 0.9.45 + AMD's XRT (installed 2026-08-16) was **retired 2026-09-11** with the `amd_iommu=off` decision — see [[dankclaw-iommu-translation-off]]; the package remains at `/home/dank/GitPackages/fastflowlm_0.9.45_ubuntu26.04_amd64.deb` |
+| Status | Not in service — no NPU consumer is deployed. The device itself is usable since the 2026-10-18 `iommu=pt` boot (`/dev/accel/accel0` present, `crw-rw---- root:render 261,0`); Gitea issue #3 tracks enablement. The only runtime here that ships precompiled programs this device can execute is halogen's — see [[frank-dragoon]] §The NPU lane |
 
-The NPU endpoint is retired (2026-09-11; ). The `frank-zealot` name now serves **Ternary-Bonsai-2-27B-PQ2_0** on the RTX 3090 via the llama.cpp PrismML fork (see ); the Gemma4-12B QAT rung it once pointed at is retired history (, 2026-09-17 → 10-01).
+This section is device inventory, not a payload record. The name `frank-zealot` served the FLM NPU endpoint until
+2026-09-11 and has served Bonsai-2 on the RTX 3090 through the llama.cpp PrismML fork since; the checkpoint, the
+shape and every era are on [[frank-zealot]], and any figure restated here is the next thing to go stale.
 
 ### ROCm
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/LLM Performance Diagnosis.md

@@ -239,45 +239,92 @@ prefill is over. `preemptions` separates the third shape: a preempted-and-recomp
 sequence stops producing entirely and then re-prefills from token 0, which is a
 stall, not sludge.
 
-Knobs, in the order worth trying them (radiance GUIDE §4.5):
+**Split the step ledger before choosing a knob.** Three counters decide which mechanism you are
+looking at, and none is a rate: `engine_step_seconds_decode_total / engine_steps_decode_total` is
+the mean **decode-only** step, and `(step_seconds_total − step_seconds_decode_total) /
+(steps_total − steps_decode_total)` is the mean **chunk step** (a chunk alone, or a chunk with
+decode rows beside it). On frank-archon's live 1.8.1 shape that pair is **15.5 ms against 166 ms**,
+with 4.7 % of the steps holding 34 % of the step time. Decode-only steps themselves move only
+14.1 → 16.4 ms between a prefill-free minute and a heavy one, and the lagged buckets stay flat: so
+a decode-rate collapse on that box is **step time sharing**, and the eviction/residency story is
+worth ~10 % of one step — not a lever.
 
-- `--prefill-interleave N` — after a chunk step taken beside decoders, the next N
-  steps carry decode rows only and admit nothing. Decoders keep their cadence; the
-  prompt pays that in TTFT. Counts as `engine_steps_held_total`.
-- `--busy-prefill-chunk MODE` — the chunk's share of a step that has other work:
-  `auto` (default) reserves a row plus the draft window per decode row behind it and
-  an eighth of the budget per waiting prefill/request, `off` lets the chunk take the
-  whole step (admission never runs while it does), `N` pins the share. Never under
-  the prefill stager's smallest pass — the startup line names it, and below it every
-  routed layer reads its pooled experts synchronously, which costs the prefill far
-  more than sharing saves. Counts as `engine_prefill_chunks_capped_total`.
-- `--max-num-batched-tokens` — the blunt rung, and the only one older pins have. The
-  vendor's curve on a 48-layer MoE at 200k on two cards: chunk 512 → 1750 t/s, 1024
-  → 2200, 2048 → 2706 (a 185k prompt: 138 s against 91 s), so halving the stall
-  costs ~19 % of prefill. Raising it past the interval buys nothing and loses expert
-  residency to the arena.
-- `--prefill-span N` — the inverse trade: a *lone* prefill carries N intervals a step
-  while every shared step is planned at a smaller shared budget, which on an
-  expert-tiered box lends that arena back to the expert slab. Vendor TP2
-  expert-tiered TTFT deltas vs a plain 2048 budget: −6.1 % at 2k, +2.3 % at 18k,
-  +49.1 % at 250k — long prompts only.
+**Four traps in the PromQL above.** Learn them before trusting a bucket:
+- **Latency is `vllm:`, cadence is `radiance:`.** The TTFT / inter-token / per-output-token / e2e
+  histograms and the running/waiting gauges exist only under the vLLM compatibility prefix; preemption
+  is `vllm:num_preemptions_total` (the counter) while `radiance:num_requests_preempted` is the
+  *instant* depth. A `radiance:`-only query finds no latency and no preemption, and reads as "the
+  endpoint never stalls anyone".
+- **The tps gauges are 1 s decayed windows, batch-pooled.** Per-stream rate is
+  `decode_tokens_per_second / vllm:num_requests_running`. With a 15 s scrape, a 120 s step samples one
+  scrape in eight — use step ≤ 30 s for a bucket table.
+- **Every counter resets at a restart and the metric set changes with the build.** Prove the window is
+  one shape (`up`, or the first sample of a counter that only the current build exports) before
+  ranking buckets; frank-archon's 48 h window straddled two containers, and one bucket's "collapse"
+  turned out to belong entirely to the older one.
+- **A 2-minute mean step time dilutes the chunk.** The sharp variable is the phase ratio in the query
+  above, never `step_seconds/steps` — 4.7 % of steps cannot move a mean that is 95 % decode.
 
-Two traps. **The arena/slab coupling makes a shared step doubly expensive on an
-expert-tiered shape**: the full-plan arena takes VRAM the resident expert slab would
-have had (320 MiB/card at TP2 for a 4096 budget), so the decode rows inside that step
-also read experts over the link — a smaller shared budget helps twice. And **re-check
-`prefix_hit_rate` / `prefix_evictions` after any chunk change**: the arena and the KV
-pool are the same memory, and the failure looks like turn two taking as long as turn
-one.
+Three instruments the PromQL above cannot reach:
 
-Availability is a version question, not a config question: `--busy-prefill-chunk` and
-`--prefill-interleave` are absent from older pins — prove it on the running container
-(`podman exec <c> <binary> --help | grep -iE "prefill|chunk"`), never from the vendored
-tree, and check the source clone's depth before dating a flag from `git log -S`
-(a `--depth 1` clone reports its own tip for every search).
+- **The engine's own step-detail histograms (`prefill_steps_duration`, `prefill_step_tokens`,
+  `token_queue_wait`) are exported but reach no target**, and the arena / expert slab / heat engine /
+  prefill stager have **no metric at all**. Per-request forensics mean `curl localhost:7770/stats` on
+  the endpoint's own host — same phase counters plus `preemptions` (the count), the chunk geometry,
+  and the expert/link byte totals. `/diagnostics` answers "is the *box* the limit" in one call:
+  configuration drift, the VRAM split, each card's link chain and clocks, findings with fixes.
+- **`prefix_hit_cut_tokens_total` measures prefill load you created for yourself.** On a hybrid
+  (linear + paged) model a prefix hit reuses only as far as the last **linear-state** checkpoint, so
+  cached tokens are replayed as prefill and stall decoders for it; frank-archon ran 38 % of all its
+  prefill tokens that way, every `prefix_hit_cuts_total` labelled `reason="no_snapshot"`. A high
+  prefill rate is not always a client that sends new tokens. Retention is `--checkpoint-policy` -
+  exactly three names, `geometric-backoff` (default), `tip-only`, `keep-all`, one owner:
+  [[frank-archon]].
+- **Bucket the arriving request too** — `histogram_quantile` over
+  `vllm:time_to_first_token_seconds_bucket` by the same prefill series. The decode gauge only sees
+  sequences that are already running; the one waiting for its first token pays the same steps and
+  shows in no decode number.
 
-Run on: [[frank-archon]] (radiance 1.0.13, TP2 `expert_tiered`, budget 2048 = interval
-2048) — the measured census and the verdict for this fleet's shape are that page's.
+Knobs, in the order worth trying them (radiance GUIDE §4.5; the pinned source is the referee):
+
+- `--prefill-interleave N` — after a chunk step taken beside decoders, the next N steps carry decode
+  rows only and admit nothing. **The knob that acts on the measured mechanism.** Decoders keep their
+  cadence; the prefilling prompt pays in TTFT and an arriving request waits out the held steps.
+  Counts as `engine_steps_held_total` — if that counter is zero, nothing is protecting anyone.
+- `--busy-prefill-chunk N` — pins a shared chunk's share of the step. **`auto` is a prefill-speed
+  setting, not decoder protection:** it reserves `1 + spec` rows per decoding sequence plus an eighth
+  of the budget per *waiting* request or prefill, and the source refuses to halve for "decode rows
+  alone", so a shape can run `auto` and still lose every chunk step. Prove engagement from
+  `engine_prefill_chunks_capped_total` against the chunk-step count. The floor is the prefill
+  stager's smallest pass — the largest arena level that lends, plus one, named on the startup line
+  `prefill staging: … a step of more than N tokens copies the pooled experts of …` — and under it
+  every routed layer reads its pooled experts synchronously: the vendor prices the whole job (four
+  decoders plus a long prompt) at **29.5 s with a 2048 chunk and 31.9 s at 512**, so shrinking the
+  chunk blindly buys latency in both directions.
+- `--prefill-span N` — needs `--max-num-batched-tokens` of N intervals. A *lone* prefill then
+  carries N intervals a step (on an expert-tiered box only from 8 intervals, where the vendor's own
+  measurement says a span starts to win), while **every other step is planned at the shared
+  budget** — a lending arena level that also keeps the stager's ring, the one combination the chunk
+  knob cannot express. Priced by the vendor at 320 MiB a card of expert residency, ~3 % off the KV
+  pool, and TTFT-neutral on one of his two 2×R9700 boxes: measure your own prompt lengths first.
+- `--max-num-batched-tokens` alone — the blunt rung, and the only one older pins have. It raises the
+  arena the expert slab loses, and on this payload its resonance is violent (MNBT 2560 collapses
+  decode — [[frank-archon]]).
+
+Two traps. **The arena/slab coupling makes a shared step expensive twice:** the full-plan arena is
+reclaimed from the expert slab *synchronously before the step*, and the loan regrows only after a
+quiet interval, so every step of a prefill run — the decode-only ones included — runs on the smaller
+slab. And **re-check `prefix_hit_rate` / `prefix_evictions` after any chunk or span change**: the
+arena, the staging ring and the KV pool are the same memory, and the failure looks like turn two
+taking exactly as long as turn one.
+
+Availability is a version question, not a config question: `--busy-prefill-chunk`,
+`--prefill-interleave` and `--prefill-span` are absent from older pins — prove it on the running
+container (`podman exec <c> <binary> --help | grep -iE "prefill|chunk"`) or from `/diagnostics`'s
+`configuration` block, never from a vendored tree, and check a source clone's depth before dating a
+flag from `git log -S` (a `--depth 1` clone reports its own tip for every search).
+
+Run on: [[frank-archon]] — owner of the live census, the measured step pair, and the arms.
 
 ## Related
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/RDNA4 MoE Expert Offload VRAM Budget.md

@@ -70,12 +70,12 @@ back toward 52. Check `VLLM_CUDAGRAPH_*` actually present in
 
 `--kv-cache-memory-bytes` does NOT appear in the arena arithmetic — the plan
 reserves the registry price, not the actual pool. Raising the pool consumes
-real free VRAM without growing the arena; the registry over-prices the pool
-(9190 B/token planned vs 7,891.8 measured at 200704 fp8 — 7,701 at 262144;
-**never reuse a B/token ratio across geometries**, and subtract ~3.87 MB
-block-alignment loss when converting a token target to bytes). The ask lands
-block-aligned: 3,166,500,000 B → 401,408 tokens; verify with
-`GPU KV cache size: N tokens, Maximum concurrency … X.Xx`.
+real free VRAM without growing the arena; the registry OVER-PRICES the pool
+(era G measured ~14 % under the planned B/token — the gap is the lesson, not
+the number; **never reuse a B/token ratio across geometries**), and there is a
+~4 MB block-alignment loss to subtract when converting a token target to
+bytes. The ask lands block-aligned: verify against the engine's own
+`GPU KV cache size: N tokens, Maximum concurrency … X.Xx` line at boot.
 
 **Driver-reported free VRAM after hours of traffic is NOT allocatable
 arena.** It is the estimator gap: the registry over-prices KV and charges
@@ -117,11 +117,13 @@ done, and read post-boot free VRAM per rank (`rocm-smi --showmeminfo vram`)
 **KV accounting — pin the pool BYTES, floor-sized:** set
 `--kv-cache-memory-bytes` PER RANK to the contract floor
 (`seqs × MAXLEN × measured B/token`), not the native window — extra pool bytes
-come out of the arena/headroom and buy nothing. Measured B/token on this
-hybrid: **7,701 fp8 / 13,839 bf16** (decomposed: attention 6,138/12,276 +
-dtype-independent mamba/side 1,563). Measured rates are shape-dependent —
-7,891.8 at the 200704×3 shape. Capacity does NOT scale with `SEQS`: the
-planner's KV reserve is for ONE max-model-len request.
+come out of the arena/headroom and buy nothing. The B/token rate is a property
+of the GEOMETRY: era G (3 × 200,704 fp8, vLLM fork) measured **7,891.8**;
+the radiance-era hybrid measured ~7,700 fp8 / ~13,800 bf16 at its own shape.
+Read your live rate from the boot ledger every time; the decomposition (a
+dtype-independent mamba/side stream rides on top of the attention KV) is why
+the ratio moves. Capacity does NOT scale with `SEQS`: the planner's KV reserve
+is for ONE max-model-len request.
 
 **Parallelism ceilings you cannot flag past:**
 
@@ -179,18 +181,6 @@ Cutover order: ladder → winner passes and serves → repo env + seam + harness
 (`git stash -u`) if the tree is dirty → deploy (one restart) → verify health
 + engine flags in the log.
 
-**Measured ladder on this box (200704×3, fp8 KV, precise memory):**
-
-| shape | util | graphs | arena | result |
-|---|---|---|---|---|
-| E | 0.98 | 0.55 | 17.22 GiB / 7,522 slots | boot ok |
-| F | 0.982 | 0.32 | 17.52 GiB / 7,653 slots | boot ok |
-| 1.0 | 1.00 | 0.07 | — | UNBOOTABLE (worker-init ValueError, both ranks) |
-| G (deployed) | 0.982 | 0.07 | 17.77 GiB / 7,762 slots | KV 401,408 tokens / 2.00x; 0.89 GiB real free/card held through a live 4,096-token generation at ~38–39 tok/s |
-
-bf16 ceilings at util 0.98: 3 seqs → 241,664 passes / 245,760 and 262,144 OOM
-at graph capture; 6 seqs fp8 → 10.70 GiB ask with 9.18 GiB free (fails) —
-~207k per context max.
 
 ## 7. Arena audit procedure (when asked for "more experts")
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/dankclaw-iommu-translation-off.md

@@ -215,9 +215,10 @@ is in `render`, so a quadlet needs `AddDevice=/dev/accel/accel0` +
 `GroupAdd=keep-groups`. **No NPU endpoint is deployed** —  stays the
 history of the retired endpoint; what changed is only its precondition.
 
-**Deliberately deferred:** the `pp_dpm_fclk` pin (level 7, 2000 MHz) from the issue's
-co-run step. Pinning the fabric clock changes iGPU timing for every workload, and
-nothing co-runs on the NPU yet; it goes in when an NPU endpoint actually exists.
+**The `pp_dpm_fclk` pin (level 7, 2000 MHz) went in on 2026-10-19**, with the first thing that needed it: the
+vendor's root host unit, installed and enabled by `frank-dragoon`'s deployer while its NPU lane is named. Pinning
+the fabric clock changes iGPU timing for every workload, which is exactly why it waited for a co-run to exist; the
+law, the hold and the serve-side re-check live in [[frank-dragoon]].
 PerfOpt still needs Linux 7.4 — `7.0.0-38-generic` has zero `perfopt` symbols and the
 26.04 archive caps at `7.0.0-38.38`.
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/frank-archon.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 type: reference
-title: "frank-archon on Dankserver — radiance (StillDeadcode) 1.0.13, publisher Qwen3.8-Flash-Next iq4r .rad, 2× R9700 TP=2 (ACTIVE)"
+title: "frank-archon on Dankserver — radiance (StillDeadcode) 1.8.1, publisher Qwen3.8-Flash-Next fp8-iq4r-moe .rad, 2× R9700 TP=2 (ACTIVE)"
 description: "The radiance endpoint: live shape and harness contract, every era with its rollback path, and the laws it taught."
 tags:
   - llm
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ tags:
   - tp2
   - expert-offload
   - endpoint
-timestamp: 2026-10-18
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
 # frank-archon — radiance (StillDeadcode), 2× R9700 TP=2, Dankserver :7770
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ timestamp: 2026-10-18
 The radiance engine (C++/HIP, `libr4d` kernels built for gfx1201, no Python in the serving
 path) driving `podman run` straight from the digest-pinned image under a **root** systemd
 unit; container name = unit name. Host Dankserver (192.168.0.235), port 7770, both Radeon AI
-PRO R9700s. Capacity contract **3 conversations × 200,000 tokens at fp8 KV**; a payload swap
-is a `MODEL_FILE` line plus a re-download — see Eras.
+PRO R9700s. Capacity contract **2 conversations × 200,000 tokens at fp8 KV** — at 1.8.1 that pair
+is the **demand signal** the budget resolver sizes the cache against, not a KV allocation (Laws).
+A payload swap is a `MODEL_FILE` line plus a re-download — see Eras.
 
 ## Current shape
 
@@ -44,14 +45,20 @@ declared size + sha256) as the transient unit `iq4r-fetch` (log
 `/home/dank/models/StillDeadcode/…` keeps card, LICENSE and recipe as provenance, and only
 `.rad` files are mounted.
 
-**Runtime** — `stilldeadcode/radiance@sha256:4c3f484564bb2872784e46b0a59cbd71becc9c1e746e301a3596ffae253c322e`
-= pin **1.0.13** (Codeberg `v1.0.13`, commit `53282fa`): a 287 MiB image in dank's
-**rootless** storage, host needs nothing but the amdgpu driver. Pin the INDEX manifest digest,
-never the image ID (`69d05724…` is the config digest and sends `podman run` to the network).
-The serve script's gate is that digest ref itself — `podman image exists name@sha256:…` in one
-command (the 2026-09-30 no-pipe/grep-race lesson) — so a retagged look-alike or a newer
-`latest` cannot satisfy it. 1.2.0 is a rejected serve pin (Laws); the
-`--vram-weights-mib`/`--vram-kv-mib` pair is accepted by both pins, which is the rollback symmetry.
+**Runtime** — `stilldeadcode/radiance@sha256:d590e300234bf6d2f942a0b8d456d183153fd808f28820e6c2fa69c9389178ed`
+= pin **1.8.1** (adopted 2026-10-18). The version oracle is the boot's own `STARTUP REPORT --
+radiance 1.8.1` line, because `podman inspect` reports only the digest. The image lives in dank's
+**rootless** storage and the host needs nothing but the amdgpu driver. Pin the INDEX manifest
+digest, never the image ID (`69d05724…` is the config digest and sends `podman run` to the
+network). The serve script's gate is that digest ref itself — `podman image exists name@sha256:…`
+in one command (the 2026-09-30 no-pipe/grep-race lesson) — so a retagged look-alike or a newer
+`latest` cannot satisfy it. 1.2.0 is a rejected serve pin (Laws). **Two CLI breaks ride this pin,
+and both are boot refusals, never silently-ignored flags:** the `--vram-weights-mib`/`--vram-kv-mib`
+pair died at 1.3.0 (the resolver derives the split) and `--prefix-cache-dir` /
+`--prefix-cache-disk-mib` died with the disk tier. A rollback to 1.0.13 (`sha256:4c3f4845…`) is
+therefore a trio rewrite, not a digest swap — the Eras row carries it, and
+`tests/frank_archon_unit.bats` asserts the retired knobs are ABSENT from env and argv so a stale
+line cannot reach a boot.
 
 **Trio** — `scripts/frank-archon.env` (every number, with its arithmetic in the header)
 `scripts/serve-frank-archon.sh`, `scripts/frank-archon.service`. Gates run in order: image
@@ -64,8 +71,10 @@ the name registered, and every one of those identities holds this GPU. Container
 (publisher-vetted, `docs/DOCKER.md`): `--network host`, `--init` (so the engine releases the
 cards on SIGTERM), `--security-opt seccomp=unconfined` (the default profile refuses io_uring —
 the PLE table's reads — and the NUMA calls the ROCm runtime makes for host memory), `--ulimit
-memlock=-1:-1`, `/models` ro + `/data` rw + the tune cache at `/opt/radiance/share/radiance/tune`
-template as a single-file mount, then `exec podman wait`: the script's lifetime IS the
+memlock=-1:-1`, `/models` ro + the rad-tune cache at
+`/opt/radiance/share/radiance/tune` + the template as a single-file mount (there is **no `/data`**
+any more: it left with the prefix disk tier, and `FRANK_ARCHON_STATE_DIR` is now only the host-side
+directory that holds `tune/`), then `exec podman wait`: the script's lifetime IS the
 container's, so a crash is a nonzero `ExecStart` and the restart policy is real.
 Unit: `After=network-online.target`, `WantedBy=multi-user.target`, `User=dank`
 `LimitMEMLOCK=infinity`, `StartLimitIntervalSec=0`, `OOMScoreAdjust=-500` (the last process the
@@ -79,27 +88,38 @@ on stop. Boot budget 1800 s (the publisher's compose allows a 15-minute `start_p
 | Knob (env name, `FRANK_ARCHON_` dropped) | Live value |
 |---|---|
 | TP / wire | `TP=2`, `TP_WIRE=wht6` — libr4d one-shot all-reduce, not RCCL; `min-kb` stays the engine default |
-| Slots / window | `MAX_SEQS=3`, `MAX_MODEL_LEN=200000` (native 262,144; longer is refused, never truncated) |
-| KV dtype | `KV_DTYPE=fp8` — the only dtype that funds 3 slots (Laws) |
-| VRAM pair | `VRAM_WEIGHTS_MIB=25600` + `VRAM_KV_MIB=5120` = 30,720 of the 30,969 ceiling; `GPU_HEADROOM_MIB=96` |
-| Expert tier | `PLACEMENT=expert_tiered`, `HOST_POOL_MIB=44928` **per rank** |
+| Slots / window | `MAX_SEQS=4`, `MAX_MODEL_LEN=200000` (native 262,144; longer is refused, never truncated) — this pair is the **cache bound**: the resolver sizes the KV carve against `slots × window`, and no slot count funds itself (Laws) |
+| KV dtype | `KV_DTYPE=fp8` — the only dtype that funds the slot count (Laws) |
+| VRAM split | **derived at boot** from `GPU_HEADROOM_MIB=96` + the cache bound + `HOST_POOL_MIB`; naming `VRAM_WEIGHTS_MIB`/`VRAM_KV_MIB` is a boot refusal (removed at 1.3.0) |
+| Expert tier | `PLACEMENT=expert_tiered`, `HOST_POOL_MIB=49152` **per rank** — the pinned host pool is also the **KV lever**: the expert floor is `plane + 2 units − host room`, so every MiB pinned there lowers what the experts claim on the card one-for-one and the cache takes it (Laws) |
 | PLE | `NGRAM_PLACEMENT=ram` (47.7 GiB pinned; refuses boot on a short memlock) |
-| Spec / batch | — |
-| Prefix cache | `PREFIX_HOST_MIB=8192` + `PREFIX_DISK_MIB=65536` under `STATE_DIR=/home/dank/radiance-state` (mounted rw at `/data`) |
+| Spec / batch | `SPEC_TOKENS=2` — MTP depth 2, the `.rad` carries the model's own `mtp.*` head (`mtp.fc_hidden`/`fc_embedding`/`draft_head`); `MAX_BATCHED_TOKENS=2048` (MNBT — 2560 collapses decode, Laws) |
+| Prefix cache | `PREFIX_CACHE_MIB=8192`, pinned **host tier only** — the 64 GiB disk tier is gone, so an evicted prefix is re-prefilled; `STATE_DIR=/home/dank/radiance-state` now exists only to hold the rad-tune cache |
 | Template | `TEMPLATE=scripts/qwen38-froggeric-v22.5.jinja` (28,234 B) via `--override-chat-template` — froggeric's fixed Qwen3.8 template (the repo root's `chat_template.jinja`, vendored); the checkpoint's own template is baked into the `.rad` by rad-convert and this overrides it, and radiance derives the reasoning and tool-call reply format from it |
-| TTM gate | `TTM_MIN_MIB=150000`, `TTM_TARGET_MIB=204800` |
+| Step sharing | `BUSY_PREFILL_CHUNK=auto` — prefill-speed first: it reserves 3 tokens per waiting decoder and ⅛ of the budget per waiting request, and does **not** shrink the chunk for decoders alone · `PREFILL_INTERLEAVE=1` — the decoder dial, **armed 2026-10-20**: one decode-only step after each chunk step taken beside decoders; meter `engine_steps_held_total`, price is the prefilling prompt's TTFT |
+| TTM gate | `TTM_MIN_MIB=162000`, `TTM_TARGET_MIB=204800` |
 | Boot | `RAD_MIN_MIB=110000` deployer floor; the listener binds only after the full load (health ~100 s, budget 1800 s) |
 
-Boot ledger for this shape (2026-10-15, pin 1.0.13): pool 5.00 GiB backs **607,740 tokens**
-(`kv_attn` fp8 page 26.00 KiB, `kv_qsa_bkey` 3.25 KiB), `kv_gdn_state` 54 MiB × 6 slots, slab
-**17,548 slots** with 4.22 GiB of KV lent to it, sampler **9 rows**, template 28,234 B, vision
-live (≤ 4,194,304 px, 16,384 patches/pass).
+Boot ledger for the live shape (2026-10-20, pin 1.8.1, `MAX_SEQS=4`, `HOST_POOL_MIB=49152`):
+the resolver prints `elastic 26.73 GiB` → **experts 20.72 GiB (78 %) / kv cache 5.64 GiB (21 %)**,
+`prefill staging 373.65 MiB` out of the cache, `vram_weights 24.30 GiB`, `host_pool 48.59 GiB`.
+The referee line: `kv: the cache can grow to 5.64 GiB a card — 747,492 tokens of context, 3.7
+sessions at 200,000 — with every block it lends the experts taken back; 440.04 MiB of that is
+per-sequence state, and up to 5.20 GiB is lent to the experts while no request holds it`.
+`--checkpoint-slots 40` is auto (`max_num_seqs × 10` slots of 111.98 MiB = 4,479 MiB of pinned
+host), `/health` reports `queue_cap 32` (`max(8, seqs × 8)`), sampler **12 rows**
+(= `seqs × (1 + speculative depth)`), 4 hardware queues a card, template 28,234 B, vision live
+(≤ 4,194,304 px, 16,384 patches/pass), P2P confirmed (`the 2 cards reach each other's memory
+directly`). Experts living in the pinned host pool: **8.99 GiB a rank** (was 5.99) — the price of
+the bigger cache, paid over PCIe when those experts are hit.
 
 The boot **ledger**, not this arithmetic, is the referee: radiance states every budget before
 anything is allocated (weights vs KV, the host pool's coverage of the worst case, the PLE pin,
 the P2P answer per pair) — read it after every resize, and unlike every predecessor there is no
-per-boot VRAM planner to second-guess. For comparison, the card's own suggested run line on 32
-GB cards is `--host-pool-mib 12288 --expert-vs-cache-ratio 0.82` with seqs 8 and spec 3; the
+per-boot VRAM planner to second-guess. For comparison, the publisher's own suggested run line on 32
+GB cards was `--host-pool-mib 12288 --expert-vs-cache-ratio 0.82` with seqs 8 and spec 3 — a
+1.0.x-era line, and `--expert-vs-cache-ratio` was removed at 1.2.0, so today it is a capacity floor
+quoted from the card, not a run line this pin accepts; the
 shape above is the fleet's measured one. `FRANK_ARCHON_EXTRA_ARGS` is the boot-ladder escape
 hatch (unset → no extra argv; it is expanded unquoted on purpose, so keep multi-flag values as
 one string).
@@ -130,6 +150,8 @@ marked "re-fetch" is gone from `/home/dank/models/`, which today holds only `Sti
 
 | Window | Payload | Runtime | Shape | Replaced because | Rollback |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 2026-10-19 → 10-20 | same `qwen3.8-next-flash-fp8-iq4r-moe.rad` (payload unchanged) | radiance **1.8.1**, `sha256:d590e300…` (same digest) | 2 × 200,000 fp8 KV — resolver cache 2.76 GiB = 365,204 tokens (91 % backing); host pool 44,928 MiB a rank, `TTM_MIN_MIB=150000`, `queue_cap 16`, sampler 9 rows; `--prefill-interleave 1` armed on 10-20 | Frank ordered **four** concurrent conversations over a ≥ 700,000-token pool; the resolver funds that only by lowering the expert floor with more pinned host room (Laws) | revert `1bb6399` and redeploy `scripts/deploy.sh dankserver --service frank-archon` — trio back to `MAX_SEQS=2` / `HOST_POOL_MIB=44928` / `TTM_MIN_MIB=150000` |
+| 2026-10-15 → 10-19 | same `qwen3.8-next-flash-fp8-iq4r-moe.rad` (payload unchanged) | radiance **1.0.13**, `sha256:4c3f4845…` | 3 × 200,000 fp8 KV bought with the **explicit** pair `--vram-weights-mib 25600 --vram-kv-mib 5120`; host pool 44,928 → 45,568 MiB a rank; prefix cache 8 GiB host + 64 GiB disk | decode turned to sludge beside any long prompt — step contention, 18.7 ms decode-only steps against 317 ms steps carrying a prefill chunk (Laws) — and the only two knobs that fix it, `--busy-prefill-chunk` and `--prefill-interleave`, exist only after this pin | `FRANK_ARCHON_IMAGE` back to `sha256:4c3f4845…` **plus a trio rewrite**: restore the pair and the host+disk prefix knobs, delete `BUSY_PREFILL_CHUNK`/`PREFILL_INTERLEAVE`. A digest swap alone is a boot refusal (Runtime) |
 | 2026-10-08 → 10-15 | in-house `qwen4exp-swift15-w4dn8-i8-hc8m.rad`, 116,416 MiB (Swift1.5 abliterated BF16, GPTQ w4 experts + 24 bf16 protected, KLD 0.0131 / top-1 97.92 %) | radiance 1.0.13, same digest | 3 × 200,000 fp8 KV, slab 25,600 / pool 5,120 — the shape the live file still carries | the engine author's own container is the supported path and his quality ceiling; the finetune's refusal-bending left the endpoint | `.rad` purged 2026-10-17 (trash-staged then emptied, Frank's approval). Re-download `frank8465/Swift-1.5-Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-GPTQ-W4A8-Radiance-AMD-R9700` → `qwen4exp-w4nl64-i8-hc8m.rad`, 122,071,973,888 B, LFS sha256 `09dd9306…`, via the iq4r fetch script's hfget/verify pattern retargeted at that repo; point `MODEL_FILE` at it, redeploy. Re-**convert** is dead: the BF16 source was `rm`'d 2026-10-15 (`kld-ref`, grams, corpora and `/home/dank/logs/swift15_*.log` survive) |
 | 2026-10-05 → 10-08 | `qwen4exp-fp8-native.rad`, 177,109 MiB (173.0 GiB) — native modelopt block-FP8, no requantisation | radiance 1.0.7 line, same digest | — | native FP8 experts (56.4 GiB/rank) ate a 40 GiB pool and left KV at 3,543 MiB = 386,904 tokens, **1.93 sessions** — context economics, not quality; and the host pool could not be trimmed to pay for it (36,864 refused the boot) | rebuild-only: `scripts/download-frank-archon.sh` (official `Qwen/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-FP8`, 131 shards, 172.8 GB, ungated) + `scripts/build-frank-archon-rad.sh` (no-recipe convert under the descriptor law); raw **and** `.rad` were `rm`'d 2026-10-15 (Frank's call, to free the volume for the iq4r download) |
 | 2026-10-05 (same day) | `orcarouter/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-Uncensored-FP8` safetensors, 131 shards | FreeToken PR #587 head `77a7201` (`rocm714_torch214`), image `localhost/frank-primary-freetoken:pr587-77a7201` | — | TP=2 cannot boot on ROCm: the per-rank `pynccl.cu` JIT cannot resolve `cuda_runtime.h` for gfx1201, so the second card idled | git tag `frank-archon-freetoken-pr587-20261005` (trio + `scripts/docker/frank-primary-freetoken.Dockerfile`, which exists only there); image still in rootless storage; payload needs a re-fetch, and that repo 403s until the gate is accepted on the account |
@@ -161,7 +183,8 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
   2×**, precisely because the bkey plane is dtype-fixed. Secondary saving: a prefix-cache entry
   tracks the attention plane (110.50 KiB at bf16 → 58.50 at fp8, per the `kv tier transfer`
   lines), so the same 8 GiB host tier parks ~5.8 sessions of 200k at fp8 where it parked ~2.9 at bf16.
-- **Pool sizing law.** `pool_mib ≥ tokens × 7.3125 KiB + 110 × seqs + 448` — the dtype-
+- **Pool sizing law (the explicit-pair era — at 1.8.1 the cache is derived, so the resolver law below
+  owns it).** `pool_mib ≥ tokens × 7.3125 KiB + 110 × seqs + 448` — the dtype-
   independent terms are also in the pool: `kv_gdn_state` 54 MiB × 2 copies per sequence (+conv/
   tail/ple ≈ 110 MiB a sequence) and the prefix checkpoint region 8 × 55.99 MiB. Deployed: 3 ×
   200,000 at fp8 = 4,285 + 330 + 448 = **5,063 MiB**, pool 5,120, which predicts (5120 − 330 −
@@ -174,13 +197,15 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
   pool of 3,543 gave 386,904 (1.93 sessions), and the four-slot fp8 boot of 2026-10-13 19:21
   backed 843,276. The ledger's `backs N sequences all at 200000 tokens at once` line is the
   referee — a pair this tight is read off the boot, never assumed, and the concurrent probe is
-  its regression test. Fourth full-height conversation needs 6,601 MiB of pool: refusing it is
-  Frank's explicit call, and serving it is a `--vram-kv-mib` change, not a code change.
+  its regression test. A fourth full-height conversation needs 6,601 MiB of pool: refusing it is
+  Frank's explicit call, and under that pin serving it was a `--vram-kv-mib` change, not a code change.
+  At 1.8.1 the same decision is `MAX_SEQS` — the resolver buys the cache the demand signal implies.
 - **The hard limit is per request.** The engine treats `kv group tokens >= max-model-len` as a
   HARD limit — "one request longer than N tokens is accepted by the API and then refused as too
   large to ever fit — this is a hard limit, not a backing ratio" — so the pool is sized for
   `seqs × max-model-len`, not for one sequence. Radiance never truncates, at any size.
-- **One VRAM budget per card:** `weights + kv ≤ 30,969 MiB`, read off the engine's own budget
+- **One VRAM budget per card** (the arithmetic below is the pair era's; the ceiling survives, the knobs
+  do not): `weights + kv ≤ 30,969 MiB`, read off the engine's own budget
   table (boot 2026-10-13 at pair 24000/5120): card 32,624 MiB, budgets claimed 29,120, and
   "*3.42 GiB is neither budgeted nor accounted — the driver's context, the activation arena and
   `--gpu-headroom-mib` come out of it; anything past those is throughput on the floor*", with
@@ -188,12 +213,51 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
   static region). Reserve above the engine's floor = 2,058 − 209 = 1,849, ceiling 29,120 + 1,849
   = 30,969; the deployed pair lands 458 MiB above that floor. The 2026-10-11 bound of 29,120
   ("31,856 − 1,710 outside both budgets − keep 1 GiB free") was a hand-picked reserve, not the
-  engine's wall. Boot with the explicit `--vram-weights-mib`/`--vram-kv-mib` pair, never
-  `--kv-cache-size-mib`; with the disk tier engaged the engine also forces ~9.6 GiB of weight
-  buffers + arena onto the weights side (~29.6 GiB/card effective).
+  engine's wall. Under that pin, boot with the explicit `--vram-weights-mib`/`--vram-kv-mib` pair,
+  never `--kv-cache-size-mib`; with the disk tier engaged the engine also forced ~9.6 GiB of weight
+  buffers + arena onto the weights side (~29.6 GiB/card effective). **Neither flag exists at 1.8.1:**
+  the same ceiling is enforced by the resolver, and passing the pair is a boot refusal.
+- **At 1.8.1 the split belongs to the resolver, and the source fixes its order.**
+  `core/mem/vram_budget.cpp` claims the card bottom-up (`capacity → already held → drift → arena →
+  staging → queues → prefetch → headroom = claimable`), takes the **static weights off the top as a
+  floor, not a share**, and divides the `elastic` remainder in three lines (146-156):
+
+  ```cpp
+  exp = std::min(b.expert_floor, b.elastic);
+  kv  = std::min(kv_cap, std::max(b.elastic - exp, kv_one));
+  exp = std::min(std::max(b.expert_ceiling, b.expert_floor), b.elastic - kv);
+  ```
+
+  `kv_cap` is `KVManager::ceiling()` = `state + Σ_paged max_seqs × ceil(max_ctx / block) × bytes`
+  (`core/mem/kv.cpp:266`), so `--max-num-seqs` and `--max-model-len` set the cache's **demand**, never
+  its funding. The funding is `elastic − expert_floor`, and the floor is
+  `min(plane + spare, plane + spare + 2·unit_max − host_room)` (`core/place/planner.cpp:100-104`, with
+  `host_room = host_pool − file_stage_reserve` at `core/engine_bringup.cpp:1418-1422`). **That is the
+  cache's lever: every MiB added to `--host-pool-mib` drops the expert floor one-for-one and the cache
+  takes it** — minus `stage`, the prefill stager's ring (two layers of the experts left off the card),
+  which is charged back out of the cache whenever the cache lends (`vram_budget.cpp:193-203`). Boots of
+  evidence, all on 1.8.1:
+
+  | shape | demand | cache given | engine's `backs %` |
+  |---|---|---|---|
+  | 3 × 200,000, host pool 44,928 | 600,000 tok | 4.20 GiB | 93 % |
+  | 3 × 200,000, host pool 45,568 | 600,000 tok | **4.20 GiB — byte-identical** | 93 % |
+  | 2 × 200,000, host pool 44,928 | 400,000 tok | 2.76 GiB | 91 % |
+  | 4 × 200,000, host pool 49,152 (live) | 800,000 tok | **5.64 GiB = 747,492 tok** | 93 % |
+
+  The 45,568 row is the ceiling case, not a mystery: at 3 slots the cache already held its whole
+  `ceiling`, so extra host room could not grow it and shows up as `unclaimed`. **The referee is the
+  ledger line `kv: the pool backs N % … the cache can grow to … N tokens`, never arithmetic.** To buy
+  window: raise `--host-pool-mib` (cost: pinned host RAM, and experts evicted to host cross PCIe —
+  `experts-from-host` was 5.99 GiB a rank at 44,928 and is 8.99 at 49,152) or cut the per-token cost
+  (`fp8` KV). Raising slots raises demand **and** costs 10 × 111.98 MiB of pinned checkpoint-store RAM
+  per slot. Under-sizing the pool the other way has always been a boot failure (36,864 refused a boot in
+  the fp8 era: the host cannot hold what the cards will not). Behavioural check on the live shape:
+  `/health` reports `queue_cap 32`; a request beyond the slot count queues rather than being refused,
+  and the 400 class is a single request over `--max-model-len`.
 - **Idle KV VRAM is the expert cache's spillover — the price is paid twice.** `mover: 2275
   slots can be lent out of the KV cache (2.69 GiB)`, `arena: lends 740 MiB while steps are <=
-  256 tokens`; the lend grows with the pool (2.69 GiB from 3.46, 6.08 from 6.912, 4.22 today)
+  256 tokens`; the lend grows with the pool (2.69 GiB from 3.46, 6.08 from 6.912, 4.22 in the pair era)
   so a bigger KV pool steals weight residency from the slab AND from the lendable cache. Priors
   on this card/model: stealing 2.14 GiB of weights to buy `MAX_MODEL_LEN 262144` cost 2.5 %
   decode; the other direction (`--expert-vs-cache-ratio` 0.82 → 0.84, +2.5 GiB of weights) cost
@@ -239,41 +303,109 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
 - **MNBT 2048.** 2560 collapses decode to 2.6-7.7 t/s (MTP resonance); the w4 file tier streams
   in place only at MNBT ≤ 2048 and the activation arena scales with the chunk (32768 → 33.3
   GiB, refused).
-- **Decode pays for the chunk it shares a step with.** Census of the live engine
-  (radiance 1.0.13, `/stats` + `/metrics`, cumulative over the 2026-10-15 boot):
-  1,435,585 decode-only steps at **18.7 ms** each against 127,991 prefill+mixed steps
-  at **317 ms** — 60 % of engine wall-clock spent inside 8 % of the steps, because the
-  chunk is `min(remaining, checkpoint interval 2048, MNBT 2048)` = 2048 rows and every
-  decode row in that step waits the whole chunk. Day of Prometheus (120 s step, 721
-  samples): `decode_tokens_per_second` median **13.3 t/s** in the 56 % of samples where
-  `prefill_tokens_per_second` ≥ 1000, against 106-240 t/s in the light-prefill buckets;
-  bucketed by mean step time it is 128.7 t/s at 0.02-0.05 s steps and 12.0 t/s at
-  0.15-0.4 s. The stall is **during**, not after — decode in windows 2-14 min after a
-  busy-prefill window sits at the idle baseline (58-64 vs 77-85 t/s, the residual
-  confounded by co-scheduling), so no lingering expert-residency penalty at 2-minute
-  resolution, and `preemptions: 0` rules out preempt-and-re-prefill. Method:
-  [[LLM Performance Diagnosis]] §9.
-- **The knobs for it are not in this pin.** `--busy-prefill-chunk` and
-  `--prefill-interleave` (radiance GUIDE §4.5 — a shared chunk's cap, and N decode-only
-  steps after each chunk) are absent from 1.0.13: proven on the running container
-  (`podman exec frank-archon radiance --help` prints no `prefill`/`chunk` flag), and the
-  2026-10-18 source tree carries both. The only crank this pin has is MNBT, and that is
-  an arm and not an edit: the vendor prices a 1024 chunk at −19 % prefill to halve the
-  stall, and this page's own MNBT law already knows 2560 collapses decode (MTP
-  resonance). An image bump is gated by the 1.2.0 numerics dead end below, so any try
-  re-scores draft acceptance before it is trusted.
-- **Slots cost KV and rows, never speed.** `--max-num-seqs` carries no radiance constraint: it
-  adds 110 MiB of recurrent state per slot and declares the fused TP all-reduce over `seqs ×
-  (1 + spec)` rows, and `wht6` is bit-exact up to 25 rows (single-sequence decode and any step
-  of ≤ 25 rows is exact; only busier steps are lossy) — 3 × 3 = 9 today. Measured 2026-10-06:
-  seqs 2 and seqs 3 are statistically tied (30.9-33.1 t/s, inside the ±3 % floor). The "seqs 2
-  cannot boot" law belonged to the retired tcclaviger fork's `torch.compile` shape
+- **Decode pays for the chunk it shares a step with, and `--busy-prefill-chunk auto` does not
+  protect it.** Re-measured on the live 1.8.1 shape (34.8 h boot, Prometheus at 60 s,
+  `engine_step_seconds{,_decode}_total` / `engine_steps{,_decode,_mixed,_prefill}_total` /
+  `prefill_tokens_total`): decode-only steps run at **15.5 ms**, chunk steps (a chunk alone, or a
+  chunk with decode rows beside it) at **166 ms** — 4.7 % of the steps hold **34 % of the engine's
+  step time**, so a session decoding while another prompts advances one token per 166 ms. Bucket the
+  harness's `radiance:decode_tokens_per_second` by `radiance:prefill_tokens_per_second` (15 s
+  scrapes; per-stream rate = the gauge ÷ `vllm:num_requests_running`): median **166 t/s** under light
+  prefill, 81 t/s at 1-5k, **13 t/s above 5k** — a **12.7×** collapse, and at 13 t/s with two
+  sessions running each stream sits at 6.7 t/s = 149 ms a token, one token per shared step. Nothing
+  else moves: decode-*only* steps stay 14-18 ms in every bucket (14.1 ms in a prefill-free minute,
+  17.9 ms in the deep one) and the relationship is lag-0 only (r = −0.74 at lag 0, |r| ≤ 0.19 from
+  30 s on, decode back at baseline by 5 min) — residency is not the mechanism either. The second
+  victim is the **arriving** request: through a high-prefill window TTFT p90 goes 2.4 → **18.0 s**
+  and 15.5 % of requests wait over 10 s for their first token, with `http_queue_depth` at 2-3, while
+  median TTFT (~1.9 s) and per-token latency barely move. Preemption is real but burst-shaped: 264
+  `vllm:num_preemptions_total` in the boot, 108 of them inside 105 s of a 6.5k-tok/s prefill. The
+  chunk is `min(remaining, checkpoint interval, MNBT, busy_cap)`; the first three read 2048 here,
+  and `busy_cap` is the fourth law.
+- **`auto` is a prefill-speed dial, not a decoder-protection dial.** `Scheduler::busy_cap` reserves
+  `1 + spec` rows per decoding sequence behind the chunk (3 tokens at MTP 2) plus one eighth of the
+  budget per *waiting request or waiting prefill*, and the code refuses to do more for decoders:
+  "not for decode rows alone: their reserve is a few tokens, so the chunk ends a quantum short and
+  the next step finishes the interval… Halving would hold a long prompt to half-interval chunks while
+  anything decodes behind it, which costs more" (`core/sched/scheduler.cpp:874-878`, 1.8.1). Live
+  proof: `prefill_chunks_capped` 5,018 against 62,386 chunk steps — 8 %, and those are the minutes
+  with a waiter, not the minutes with a decoder. An explicit `N` is the only value that applies
+  "whenever the chunk shares the step".
+- **At MNBT 2048 no chunk value keeps both the arena loan and the staged copies.** The arena is a
+  ladder of levels (256 and 1024 rows here) and a step's rows are its **whole** token count —
+  `max(n_tok, n_seq × (1 + spec))`, `core/engine.cpp:1142` — so a 1024-token chunk with two decode
+  rows is a 1030-row step: it falls back to the full plan, which "lends nothing", and it arms the
+  prefill stager. The stager's floor is the largest lending level plus one, 1025 rows here — named on
+  the boot line `prefill staging: … a step of more than 1024 tokens copies the pooled experts of 48
+  routed layers onto the card up to 3 layers ahead` — and below it "every routed layer reads its
+  pooled experts synchronously and the prefill slows far more than sharing saves" (GUIDE §4.5). The
+  vendor's own number for naive shrinking, on this architecture: four decoders with a long prompt
+  beside them finished in **29.5 s at a 2048 chunk and 31.9 s at 512**.
+- **A big step takes the arena from the expert slab and keeps it for the whole prefill.** The arena
+  lends 987.77 MiB (steps ≤ 256 rows) or 670.26 MiB (≤ 1024) to the slab; a full-plan step reclaims
+  it **synchronously before the step** — units revert to their host copies (an address change, not a
+  copy) and both read streams drain — and `arena_tick` regrows the loan only **2 s after the last big
+  step** (`core/engine.cpp:1129-1202`), so every step of the prefill run, decode-only included, runs
+  with a slab ~780 expert units smaller over a link also carrying the staged copies. `/diagnostics`
+  says the binding constraint in one line: "a prefill step streams every routed layer's pooled
+  experts onto the card, so its speed is bounded by the link; decode reads the ones it routes to".
+  Measured size of the whole effect: the ~10 % above. Real, small, not worth chasing.
+- **`--prefill-interleave` is the dial that buys decode its cadence; armed at 1 on 2026-10-20.**
+  N decode-only steps follow any chunk step taken beside decoders; held steps admit nothing, so it
+  costs the prefilling prompt its TTFT and an arriving request its first step. Rate arithmetic at the
+  two measured step times and 0.657 acceptance (≈2.3 tokens a step): N=0 → ~14 t/s, **N=1 (armed) →
+  ~23**, N=2 → ~33, N=4 → ~48, N=8 → ~69, with the prefill slowed by (166 + 15.5N)/166. **Arithmetic, not
+  measurement** — the arm is chosen by the §9 bucket pair plus `steps_held`, and `auto` is not a
+  substitute for it.
+- **`--prefill-span` is the shape that keeps the loan, and it is priced.** It needs MNBT = N
+  intervals, so `--prefill-span 2 --max-num-batched-tokens 4096`: a *lone* prefill carries 2
+  intervals a step (and on an expert-tiered box only from 8 intervals / 16k tokens, where the span
+  starts to win), while **every other step is planned at the shared budget of 2048** — which is a
+  lending level *and* keeps the stager's ring, the one combination `--busy-prefill-chunk` cannot
+  express. Costs per GUIDE §4.5: 320 MiB a card of expert residency, ~3 % off the KV pool (§4.3's
+  cliff is sharp), a decode step uploads twice the per-step arrays at 4096, and checkpoints inside a
+  span are not written, so a partially-shared prompt resumes one interval earlier. On the vendor's
+  second box (2×R9700, w4nl64, TP2) it was TTFT-neutral — 2.61 vs 2.56 s at 18k, 10.72 vs 10.55 at
+  75k — hence their own rule: measure your own prompts at two ranks before turning it on. MNBT 4096
+  does not boot at 3 slots; this shape is 2.
+- **Most of this endpoint's prefill work is replay of tokens the prefix cache already had.** Over
+  the same window `prefill_tokens_total` 65.2 M against `prefix_hit_cut_tokens_total` 24.9 M = **38 %
+  replayed**, and it is not an eviction: a hit on a hybrid model reuses only as far as the last
+  **linear-state** checkpoint (`reuse = min(h.n_attn_tokens, h.n_linear_tokens)`,
+  `core/sched/scheduler.cpp:953-978`), and the retention default keeps a **geometric ladder** - about
+  `log2(depth/interval) + 2` snapshots - so a turn that diverges `d` behind the tip can resume as
+  deep as `tip − 3d`. The live ladder for a 200k session at interval 2048 is 2048 · 131072 · 163840
+  · … · 198656: diverge at 120k and 21.7k tokens replay, diverge at 50k and 48k. Every
+  `prefix_hit_cuts_total` carries `reason="no_snapshot"` (the other two reasons stay dead), so the
+  cause object agrees and `hit_cut_tokens` is the cost. `--checkpoint-policy` admits exactly
+  **`geometric-backoff` | `tip-only` | `keep-all`** and refuses anything else at boot. It governs
+  retention only - the writes happen at every interval whatever the policy says (only `--prefill-span`
+  skips them) - so `keep-all` buys a replay bounded by one interval at any depth for **pinned host RAM
+  alone**: 97 snapshots a 200k session, `--checkpoint-slots auto` asking 196 × 111.98 MiB = 21.4 GiB
+  against a store budget of an eighth of host RAM (31.5 GiB here, so `share` admits it) with `room` -
+  the pinning room left beside the expert pool at boot - as the hard bound the ledger line names.
+  Retention also spares a snapshot a later turn resumed from (`core/mem/prefix.cpp:709-723`), so a
+  chain that keeps resuming at one deep point stops paying for it. Shortening
+  `--checkpoint-interval` does **not** buy the deep case: the coarsest ladder scale is the largest
+  `interval × 2^k` under the depth, so the deepest gap stays ≈ half the prompt (129,024 tokens at
+  interval 2048 against 130,816 at 256) while every cut multiplies the snapshot writes.
+- **Slots cost KV, host RAM, rows, and pin — never speed.** `--max-num-seqs` carries no radiance
+  constraint: it adds ≈110 MiB of recurrent state per slot, 10 × 111.98 MiB of pinned checkpoint-store
+  RAM per slot (`--checkpoint-slots auto`), and declares the fused TP all-reduce over
+  `seqs × (1 + spec)` rows — `wht6` is bit-exact up to 25 rows, and the live shape is 4 × 3 = **12**, so
+  single-sequence decode stays exact and so does any step up to that many rows. Raising it also raises
+  the cache's *demand* (`ceiling = slots × window`), which the resolver funds from `elastic −
+  expert_floor` — so a slot count without matching host room is paid for by expert residency. Measured
+  2026-10-06: seqs 2 and 3 statistically tied (30.9-33.1 t/s, inside the ±3 % floor). Measured
+  2026-10-19 → 10-20 at 1.8.1: 2 → 4 slots cost **+4,224 MiB of pinned host pool** and **−3.01 GiB of
+  expert residency a card** and bought 2.76 → 5.64 GiB of cache (365,204 → 747,492 tokens). The old
+  "seqs 2 cannot boot" law belonged to the retired tcclaviger fork's `torch.compile` shape
   specialization, and radiance booted seqs 2 on its first fp8-native start.
-  **Same era, separate law: a dequantize-to-compute path bills host RAM twice.** On the
-  EMULATION backend an offload request of **118 GiB** landed as **~238 GiB** of real host RAM —
-  the dequantized copy rides on top of the pinned weights, and the doubling is invisible in the
-  weight count. Read the engine log for `Using 'EMULATION' Mxfp4 MoE backend` before concluding
-  "doesn't fit"; the container-side procedure and the kernel gate are .
+- **A dequantize-to-compute path bills host RAM twice.** On the EMULATION backend an offload request
+  of **118 GiB** landed as **~238 GiB** of real host RAM — the dequantized copy rides on top of the
+  pinned weights, and the doubling is invisible in the weight count. Read the engine log for
+  `Using 'EMULATION' Mxfp4 MoE backend` before concluding "doesn't fit"; a page that says a payload
+  "does not fit" without that line has not read the runtime.
 - **One encoding per expert table** (`rad_arch_declare`): a whole expert kept bf16 is the only
   thing legal beside the table, so a split tier (down=fp8, gate_up=w4) is unservable.
 - **Descriptor-selection law.** The plugin is picked by the exact `(arch_id, quant descriptor)`
@@ -350,12 +482,35 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
   4600 MT/s ended it, with zero `gdn_hip` faults either side; the prefix-caching / GDN re-seed
   theory was confounded on both arms. Consumer non-ECC raises no MCE for a silent flip and a
   60 s / 8 GiB pattern check covers 0.5 % of 246 GiB — silent RAM corruption outranks every
-  software theory.
+  software theory. **That mitigation is a BIOS setting and it is not in effect now:** `sudo
+  dmidecode -t memory | grep -i configured` answers 4800 MT/s on 2026-10-20, and the only event
+  between the fix and today is the 2026-10-12 power failure that also reset TTM. Check the speed
+  before crediting any software revert with a fix — and before believing a clean run of the arm
+  you just tested, because the confounder is still in the slot.
 - **TP=2 here** is legal since the 2026-09-20 ProArt B850 swap (x8/x8 on CPU root ports,
   `Routing+`/`ReqEn+` end to end) only because radiance's wire is `libr4d`'s own one-shot
   all-reduce; RCCL needs atomics on the whole chain and fails `hipErrorIllegalState` without
   them (). `wht6` buys +5.6-6.3 % prefill for ~1.3 % of 8-stream
   decode, `exact` is the bit-exact alternative.
+- **The link is already at the board's ceiling — do not chase the `link-below-max` warning.**
+  Both root ports (`00:01.1`, `00:01.3`) are **x8 max** at 32 GT/s, so PCIe 5.0 x8 ≈ 31.5 GB/s is
+  the whole budget per card and the cards' own `pcie_dpm` tables expose only x8 states.
+  `/diagnostics` still warns that the on-card switch hop (`01:00.0`, `05:00.0`) runs "x8 of its
+  x16 while the card is 100 % busy" and suggests a reboot or a reseat — pointless when the host
+  side of the chain is x8 max, which the same endpoint reports two findings later as
+  `link-capped`. The width that matters is the minimum of the chain, and it is x8 either way, so
+  the only lever on a link-bound prefill is **less traffic over the link** (more expert
+  residency, fewer pooled experts), never a wider link. P2P resolves **on** (`auto` asks the
+  driver, the two cards reach each other's memory), so the collectives do not hairpin through host
+  RAM, and the engine's copies ride one DMA queue that "give[s] way to the collectives" — the
+  all-reduce wins the link, the staged experts wait.
+- **Eight cores is the whole host, media stack included.** Dankserver is a Ryzen 7 7700X (8
+  cores / 8 threads, one NUMA node, `nodes: -1` for both cards) running Jellyfin, Plex, Calibre
+  and RomM beside the engine, and `--http-threads` defaults to one thread per core. Measured
+  during a heavy prefill: load average ≈ 1.0, `jellyfin` 11 % CPU, `radiance` 7 % — **CPU
+  contention is not the current decode culprit**, so do not spend an experiment window on it;
+  re-read `uptime` and `ps -eo pcpu,comm --sort=-pcpu | head` first if a future collapse looks
+  different from the step-sharing one.
 - `--prefix-cache-dir` creation is **not recursive** — the serve script `mkdir -p`s the path or
   the disk tier silently never opens. The tier does survive a payload swap when arch and
   tokenizer match (it recovered 900,176 blocks on the 2026-10-15 swap; `cache_n` proves a hit).
@@ -399,11 +554,19 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
 ## Contract (the wire)
 
 - **Live surface:** `/health` (== `/ping`), `/v1/models`, `/v1/chat/completions`
-  `/v1/completions`, `/metrics`, `/stats`, `/sessions`, `/dashboard`. `/health` answers 200
-  JSON (model id, `in_flight`, `queue_depth`) while serving and **503 only while stopping**
-  (`core/server/admin.cpp:385`), and the listener binds *after* the full load (`main.cpp`:
-  `engine.start()` then `engine.serve()`) — during the load the port refuses connections, so a
-  bare `curl -fsS …/health` gate is honest and needs no body grep.
+  `/v1/completions`, `/metrics`, `/stats`, `/sessions`, `/dashboard`, **`/diagnostics`**. `/health`
+  answers 200 JSON (model id, `in_flight`, `queue_depth`) while serving and **503 only while
+  stopping** (`core/server/admin.cpp:385`), and the listener binds *after* the full load
+  (`main.cpp`: `engine.start()` then `engine.serve()`) — during the load the port refuses
+  connections, so a bare `curl -fsS …/health` gate is honest and needs no body grep.
+- **`/diagnostics` is the instrument for "is the box, not the config, the limit"** — one call
+  returns `configuration` (every flag, so drift from the env file is checkable without the host),
+  `environment`, `derived` (the VRAM split as the ledger prints it), `hardware` (host, per-card
+  `link_chain` + `pcie_dpm` + clocks + power cap + DMA engine choice + P2P answer) and `findings`
+  (level / what / why / fix). On this box it reports `experts-from-host` (5.99 GiB a rank crosses
+  PCIe when used), `link-capped` (root ports are x8 max — the board), `swap-in-use`,
+  `tp-wire-lossy`, and **`link-below-max` as a `warn` at 100 % card busy on both cards** — which is
+  structural on this board; see the x8-ceiling law under *This host, and the deploy path*.
 - **Served id.** `FRANK_ARCHON_SERVED_NAME=frank-archon` (the wire rename of 2026-10-09 moved
   only the alias; container, unit, scripts and env keep the service name). The env's contract
   line is that **radiance validates the requested model name, so every client — harness, bench
@@ -430,12 +593,28 @@ vllm-radiance era (this table opens on 09-26; the era page claims 10-10).
   and 16,384 patches per pass. Probe with a ≥ 256 px solid-colour PNG and a ≥ 256 token budget
   — at 64 tokens you get empty `content` and the colour only inside `reasoning_content`.
 - **Capacity behaviour:** a prompt over `--max-model-len` is refused, never truncated; a request
-  longer than the KV pool's token count is accepted then refused as too large to fit; under the
-  3-slot contract a **fourth** full-height conversation is refused, not paged or squeezed.
+  longer than the KV pool's token count is accepted then refused as too large to fit; a request
+  beyond `--max-num-seqs` is held by the HTTP port (`queue_cap` = `max(8, 8 × slots)` — **32** here)
+  and answered 503 only past that, never paged or squeezed. The cache funds **3.7** full-height
+  sessions, so four conversations can be resident but a fourth near-full-height one can still
+  **preempt a running sequence from the back** to free its blocks
+  (`core/sched/scheduler.cpp:1291-1322`); the victim is recomputed, so its session halts and then
+  re-prefills. Meter: `vllm:num_preemptions_total` (cumulative for the boot, `/stats preemptions`);
+  `radiance:num_requests_preempted` is only the instant depth.
 - **Observability:** `/metrics` carries vLLM-compatible names plus `radiance:*`, scraped by the
-  Dankclaw Prometheus job at `192.168.0.235:7770` over plain LAN routing (the netavark
-  published-port quirk is same-host only). The boot ledger — the referee for every shape number
-  above — is in the container log (`podman logs frank-archon`)
+  Dankclaw Prometheus job at `192.168.0.235:7770` (15 s interval) over plain LAN routing (the
+  netavark published-port quirk is same-host only). **Latency lives under `vllm:`, cadence under
+  `radiance:`** — TTFT / inter-token / per-output-token / e2e / decode-time histograms and the
+  running/waiting gauges are `vllm:*` with no radiance-native equivalent, so a `radiance:`-only
+  query misses every latency answer. The step-phase counters are all scraped:
+  `engine_steps{,_decode,_mixed,_prefill,_held}_total`, `engine_step_seconds{,_decode}_total`,
+  `engine_prefill_chunks_capped_total`, `prefill_tokens_total`, `decode_tokens_per_second`,
+  `prefill_tokens_per_second`, `prefix_hit_cut_tokens_total`, `http_queue_depth`. Two holes: the
+  engine's own step-detail histograms (`prefill_steps_duration`, `prefill_step_tokens`,
+  `token_queue_wait`) are exported but reach no target, and the **arena / expert slab / heat engine /
+  prefill stager have no metric at all** — that half of every law above is read from the boot ledger,
+  `/stats` and `/diagnostics`, never from a graph. The boot ledger — the referee for every shape
+  number here — is in the container log (`podman logs frank-archon`);
   `/home/dank/logs/frank_archon.log` is where the serve script redirects `podman run`.
 
 ## Files

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/frank-dragoon.md

@@ -10,14 +10,15 @@ tags:
   - gfx1151
   - halogen
   - endpoint
-timestamp: 2026-10-18
+timestamp: 2026-10-21
 ---
 
 # frank-dragoon — halogen-flash-server 0.16.2, native v2 abliterated (Dankclaw iGPU)
 
 Strix Halo (gfx1151) endpoint `http://192.168.0.143:7770`, served id `frank-dragoon`: a podman container
 under a root `User=dank` unit. Live shape since 2026-10-17, pool raised to 401,408 on 2026-10-18
-(`2b12716`). This page replaces every per-era dragoon runbook; the Eras table is the rollback record.
+(`2b12716`), ceiling raised to the native 262,144 on 2026-10-21 so the harness window is 200,000.
+This page replaces every per-era dragoon runbook; the Eras table is the rollback record.
 
 ## Current shape
 
@@ -37,10 +38,12 @@ Image `ghcr.io/peonist-ai/halogen-flash-server@sha256:0c61bf84ac22308a53f5d1ca6b
 unauthenticated token port 8730 stays on container loopback. Engine stdout →
 `/home/dank/logs/frank_dragoon.log`, **not** the journal.
 
-- Shape: `HALOGEN_CTX=200704` hard per-request ceiling · `HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2` ·
-  `HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408` = slots × ctx, the top of the band `tests/frank_dragoon_unit.bats`
-  enforces (`ctx ≤ pool ≤ slots × ctx`) · KV ~28 KiB/position → **11.0 GiB reserved** · no KV-dtype knob
-  exists here, the pool is the only KV lever · native window 262,144, `HALOGEN_ROPE_YARN` beyond it.
+- Shape: `HALOGEN_CTX=262144` hard per-request ceiling = the checkpoint's native window (raised
+  2026-10-21 from 200704; `HALOGEN_ROPE_YARN` beyond native is not on plan) · `HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2` ·
+  `HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408` inside the band `tests/frank_dragoon_unit.bats` enforces
+  (`ctx ≤ pool ≤ slots × ctx`) · KV ~28 KiB/position → **11.0 GiB reserved** · no KV-dtype knob
+  exists here, the pool is the only KV lever · the pool carries TWO maximum harness-length (200k)
+  conversations at once; two literal ceiling-length requests would queue — that is a pool raise.
 - Knobs: `HALOGEN_MAX_TOK=8192` sizes the prefill arena (5.7 GiB) and is only the default for requests
   omitting `max_tokens` · `HALOGEN_MAX_TOKENS_CAP=65536` + `HALOGEN_QUEUE_TIMEOUT=7200` are a coupled
   pair · MTP depth 2 with the head INSIDE the checkpoint (**`HALOGEN_MTP_HEAD` stays unset**) and
@@ -53,10 +56,11 @@ unauthenticated token port 8730 stays on container loopback. Engine stdout →
   (Pin::None)`; no clamp line. Host `MemAvailable` read 22 GiB right after the 2026-10-18 raise —
   ~20 GiB above the 20 GiB reserve, against 10–15 GiB of baseline co-tenancy (frank-zealot, ComfyUI,
   Caddy/observability).
-- Harness (`~/.omp/agent/models.yml`, provider `llamacpp (dankclaw)`): `contextWindow: 155648`
-  (= ceiling − 45k per the 400-zone law, never higher), `maxTokens: 45056`, `input: [text, image]`
-  `reasoningContentField: "reasoning_content"`, `high→xhigh` fold, `extraBody` 1.0/0.95. Compaction
-  rides [[frank-zealot]].
+- Harness (`~/.omp/agent/models.yml`, provider `llamacpp (dankclaw)`): `contextWindow: 200000`
+  — sits 62,144 under the ceiling, clearing the ~45k fit-law gap (400-zone law below);
+  `tests/frank_dragoon_unit.bats` fails if the page's declared window and `HALOGEN_CTX` drift back
+  together. `maxTokens: 45056`, `input: [text, image]`, `reasoningContentField: "reasoning_content"`,
+  `high→xhigh` fold, `extraBody` 1.0/0.95. Compaction rides [[frank-zealot]].
 - Deploy `./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service frank-dragoon`; gate = boot-ledger greps (weights,
   pool, MTP, prompt cache, **no clamp**) + `/health` 200 + a tool call + the 512 px red-PNG probe.
   Kernel: `CONFIG_HSA_AMD_SVM=y` (CachyOS ships it) and `amdgpu.noretry=0` — the env says check it at
@@ -124,14 +128,18 @@ created it — earlier topologies in .
   prompt tokens. halogen 0.1.4's auto-sizing refused here and re-prefilled every 79–81k turn in
   85–180 s until `HALOGEN_CACHE_MB=16384` was pinned. What the pool takes is what the table loses, so
   re-measure the warm ratio after any pool change.
-- **400-zone law:** the harness window MUST sit ~45k under the engine ceiling (`contextWindow:
-  155648` = 200,704 − 45,056) because the harness clamps `max_tokens` to `contextWindow − est − 4096`
-  its chars/4 `est` under-counts code/agent traffic by ~3 %, and compaction only fires at 85 %. The
-  3 % is measured, not theory: 2026-10-07 at the old 200,192 ceiling, est 152,938 vs server 157,388 —
-  over by 354, a 400. At the live shape compaction fires at 132,301 est ≈ 136k measured (the 180k
-  target of the 262,144 era is unreachable — the window itself is 155,648), and the worst-case request
-  is 155,648 − 4,096 + 3 % ≈ 156.2k ≤ 200,704: ~9.5× the error of margin, robust to a ~25 %
-  under-count. Compaction rides [[frank-zealot]] at ≈ threshold − keepRecent(20k) ≈ 112k input.
+- **400-zone law:** the harness window MUST sit ~45k under the engine ceiling, because the harness
+  clamps `max_tokens` to `contextWindow − est − 4096`, its chars/4 `est` UNDER-counts code/agent
+  traffic by ~3 %, and the compaction trigger fires at 95 % of the window (`config.yml
+  thresholdPercent`, while the comments designed around 85 % — check the trigger BEFORE touching a
+  window; that disagreement is why long sessions kept drawing 400s). The 3 % is measured, not
+  theory: 2026-10-07 at the old 200,192 ceiling, est 152,938 vs server 157,388 — over by 354, a 400.
+  At the live pair (ceiling 262,144 / window 200,000) the worst-case ordinary request is
+  200,000 − 4,096 + 3 % ≈ 201.8k, and the trigger point is 190,000 est × 1.03 + 45,056 ≈ 240.7k —
+  both inside the ceiling with ~60k of margin. Compaction rides [[frank-zealot]] at
+  ≈ threshold − keepRecent(20k) ≈ 175k measured against its 200,704-token slot. The seam in
+  `tests/frank_dragoon_unit.bats` re-runs this arithmetic at the 95 % trigger and reads the window
+  from THIS page, so ceiling/window pairs that drift back together fail the suite, not a session.
 - **Admission reserves prompt + `max_tokens`:** an un-fittable request waits in arrival order, then
   503s `engine_busy` for the whole queue after `QUEUE_TIMEOUT` — and the cap/timeout pair moves
   together: 65536 tokens at ~10 t/s serial needs >6550 s, which is why 7200 is pinned (env, 2026-10-17).
@@ -197,7 +205,16 @@ created it — earlier topologies in .
   `chat_template_kwargs.preserve_thinking`, which decided whether `<think>` blocks stayed in recorded
   assistant messages. Sampler defaults 1.0/0.95/20 are server-side, so an absent temperature is NOT
   greedy (halogen 0.1.4 and w4b decoded greedily); unknown sampling fields are a 400, out-of-range
-  values are refused not clamped, and `response_format` is unsupported.
+  values are refused not clamped.
+- **`response_format` works, but only greedy** (measured 2026-10-19 on this pin): `json_schema` and `json_object`
+  both answer schema-valid JSON at `temperature: 0`; at any sampled temperature both draw `400 "response_format
+  json_schema / json_object decodes greedy in this release: send temperature 0 (or omit it). Sampling under a schema
+  is not implemented yet"`. **Omitting `temperature` does not save you** — the sampler default is server-side 1.0, so
+  "absent" means sampled. Clients that pattern-match that string for "endpoint cannot do schemas" (esperanto's
+  `is_json_schema_unsupported_error` fires on the words *not implemented*) downgrade to `json_object`, draw the same
+  400, and fail outright; a structured-output consumer MUST send `temperature: 0`. Escape hatch that keeps sampling:
+  ask for JSON in the prompt and send no `response_format` — the model returns parseable JSON anyway, and the
+  tolerant client-side extractor handles a prose wrapper.
 - Over-ceiling prompt → 400 naming the exact overage, rejected by preflight in <1 s, so probing the
   ceiling is free; over-cap `max_tokens` → 400 naming the cap; `max_tokens`, `max_completion_tokens` and
   `max_output_tokens` all work and must agree.
@@ -210,6 +227,71 @@ created it — earlier topologies in .
 - Deploy waits for :7770 to be free: a rootless container binds it at CREATE and exits 126, and a
   leftover Quadlet beside the root unit guarantees the race.
 
+## The NPU lane (XDNA2, armed by one env var)
+
+XDNA2 executes only vendor-precompiled AIE partition programs — that is the wall the TTS attempt died at
+([[Frank TTS]]) — and flash-server ships those programs. `HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=<names>` starts a second engine **in the
+same container behind the same port**, and a request picks one by its `model`; leave the variable out and the server
+is exactly what runs today. The pinned 0.16.2 image already carries the five-program catalog
+(`/opt/halogen/npu/models.txt`: `decider-0.8b`, `qwen3-embedding-0.6b`, `qwen3-reranker-0.6b`, `qwen3guard-gen-0.6b`,
+`qwen3.5-2b`) and `docs/NPU.md` at tag `v0.16.2` documents it, so **`/v1/embeddings` is one env var and three mounts
+away — no runtime bump needed.** Wider catalog: `qwen3-embedding-4b` and `decider-4b` from 0.17.4, `embeddinggemma-2`
+(text ≤ 8,192 tokens, pictures and audio in one vector space) and `wemm-embedding-4b` from 0.18.3.
+
+Embedding contract on that lane: `POST /v1/embeddings`, `model: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b"`, `input` a list of **texts**
+(not token ids), 1024 unit-length floats back, the Qwen instruct prefix goes inside the string
+(`Instruct: …\nQuery:…`), `base64` accepted, and LangChain's `OpenAIEmbeddings` needs
+`check_embedding_ctx_length=False`.
+
+Four host prerequisites, each refused **by name** in the serve script and mirrored in `deploy_llm_dragoon` — a
+precondition that surfaces as an engine crash-loop is a gate that was never written. All four are satisfied and the
+lane is **armed and serving** since 2026-10-19 (`HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=qwen3-embedding-0.6b`):
+
+1. `--device /dev/accel/accel0` **and** a node the container's namespace can open. `/dev/accel/accel0` is
+   `root:render 0660` and a rootless namespace maps exactly one uid/gid, so the engine's own first words are
+   *"this process cannot open it (crw-rw---- nobody:nogroup)"*. `--group-add keep-groups` — the vendor's advice and
+   the ComfyUI pattern for `/dev/kfd` — is **dead in this shape**: measured 2026-10-19 from a `dank` shell already
+   in `render`, with and without the flag the node stayed `nobody:nogroup` and the open was refused; an unmapped
+   gid cannot be granted across a namespace that does not map it. The door is the udev mode
+   (`dankclaw/udev/98-halogen-npu-access.rules`, installed and re-triggered by the deployer, `0666` like the GPU
+   compute nodes beside it); the serve script refuses any node that is not other-accessible, so the fault cannot
+   return as a crash-loop.
+2. The host's XRT reachable inside, at **THREE prefixes per library**: there is **no `/opt/xilinx/xrt`** here —
+   distro packages put the three files the container needs (`libxrt_coreutil.so.2`, `libxrt_core.so.2`,
+   `libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2`) in `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu`. The serve script mounts each REAL file (never a
+   symlink) at `/opt/xilinx/xrt/lib/`, at its own path, AND at `/opt/xilinx/lib/<multiarch>/` — the NPU child
+   searches that third prefix and a missing one is fatal: since the host's `libxrt2` was reconfigured
+   2026-10-20 the child died with `No such library '/opt/xilinx/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxrt_core.so.2'` and the
+   engine supervisor took the WHOLE container down on it (88-restart loop, chat dead beside a healthy GPU line).
+   A dead lane is not survivable here — arm the lane only with all three prefixes mounted.
+3. **The GPU fabric clock held at its top level, or the engine refuses to start.** GPU and NPU work share the die:
+   while `pp_dpm_fclk` is changing speed, concurrent GPU work can hang the machine and corrupt NPU results. The
+   engine holds the clock itself only when it runs as root with `/sys` mounted; `frank-dragoon` is a **rootless**
+   `podman run` under `User=dank`, so the path is the vendor's root host unit (`deploy/host/halogen-fabric-clock`) —
+   which is exactly the `pp_dpm_fclk` level-7 pin deferred in [[dankclaw-iommu-translation-off]] with the words "it
+   goes in when an NPU endpoint actually exists". Held: about a watt. Unheld: the hang. The deployer installs and
+   enables that unit whenever the lane is named, and `halogen-fabric-clock status` reports `held (manual)` here as of
+   2026-10-19; the serve script re-reads the same two sysfs files at every start and refuses by name if the top level
+   is not the starred one, because a hold done by hand is a countdown to the next reboot.
+4. The programs are staged under `$FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR`, which **must sit inside the payload dir**
+   (`/home/dank/models/halogen-v2-abliterated/npu`): the payload's read-only mount is the container's only handle on
+   `/models`. A nested bind at `/models/npu` cannot work — the image ships no `/models`, so runc has to `mkdir` the
+   mountpoint through a read-only parent and dies at container init (measured 2026-10-19: 52 crash-loop restarts with
+   chat down before the mount shape was fixed). `HALOGEN_NPU_DIR` is no escape; the shipped entrypoint rejects it by
+   name ("our NPU models live under `/models/npu/<id>/`"). Nothing downloads at boot — `HALOGEN_DOWNLOAD` stays
+   unset, so the container opens no outbound connection; `scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh` pins every file by
+   size and sha256 against the catalog and the payload mount carries the tree in.
+
+Armed, the boot ledger reads (`/home/dank/logs/frank_dragoon.log`, 2026-10-19): the GPU fabric clock is held at its top level (2000 MHz) **before** the NPU starts; `/dev/accel/accel0` is `crw-rw-rw- nobody:nogroup` under driver `amdxdna` with the distro XRT and its NPU plugin; the program arrives as `15 files checked against this image's record`; then `npu_api: qwen3-embedding-0.6b (embeddings) on the NPU engine at 127.0.0.1:8740 (buckets u0…u9; inputs up to 4096 tokens)` and `up to 64 passes queued … up to 7200 s`. Callers never see `:8740` — the lane answers on the same `:8731` as the Flash model and a request picks the engine by its `model` field, so `/v1/models` lists `frank-dragoon` **and** `qwen3-embedding-0.6b`. The fleet's consumer is open-notebook's embedding default ([[Open Notebook]]); that page owns the app-side shapes (the URL guard, defaults-by-id, the `/api/embed` 500 that still writes the vector).
+
+Price: the programs and their weights sit in host RAM beside the locked weights ("a few GB in all" for the default
+set; ~1.1 GiB for `embeddinggemma-2`), and **the Flash model decodes slower while the NPU works** — same memory bus,
+same power budget. Measured 2026-10-19 with one program armed and the endpoint idle, the whole container holds
+**1.55 GiB** of host RSS (`podman stats`), so this lane is not what the RAM law above is negotiating against; a
+multi-model set is where that question returns. If the lane is widened, prefer **0.18.8 or newer**: that release
+budgets NPU memory before asking for it, fixing kernel errors from several NPU models under a concurrent mix
+**on the stock kernel driver** — the driver this box runs.
+
 ## Files
 
 - `scripts/frank-dragoon.env` · `scripts/serve-frank-dragoon.sh` (gates, RAM pin-gate wait, foreground

serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/frank-zealot.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 type: reference
-title: "frank-zealot on Dankclaw — llama.cpp (PrismML fork 10777), Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP, 3 × 200704, f16 K + q8_0 V, MTP armed"
+title: "frank-zealot on Dankclaw — llama.cpp (PrismML fork 10777), Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP + refusal adapter, 3 × 200704, f16 K + q8_0 V, MTP armed"
 description: "The RTX 3090 endpoint: live shape exactly as the env ships it, every era with its rollback path, and its card laws."
 tags:
   - llm
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ tags:
   - gguf
   - rtx3090
   - endpoint
-timestamp: 2026-10-18
+timestamp: 2026-10-19
 ---
 
-# frank-zealot — llama.cpp (PrismML) Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP, 3 × 200,704, f16 K + q8_0 V, MTP armed
+# frank-zealot — llama.cpp (PrismML) Bonsai-2-9B PQ2_0-MTP + refusal adapter, 3 × 200,704, f16 K + q8_0 V, MTP armed
 
 Dankclaw's RTX 3090 endpoint — `http://192.168.0.143:7771`, wire id `frank-zealot`, the fleet's **compaction hub**
 (three conversations at 200,704 each, the window the other two endpoints also cap at). One page
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@ is the bug.
 |---|---|
 | Checkpoint | `/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PQ2_0-MTP-Q8_0.gguf` — 2,675,410,720 B, LFS sha256 `c79fcdfaf6b7bf47…` |
 | Projector | `…/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-mmproj-Q8_0.gguf` — 624,229,664 B, sha256 `e0cb6f6988cea323…` — **Q8_0 is mandatory**, not a preference (see Contract) |
-| Fetch | `scripts/download-frank-zealot-bonsai9.sh [DEST]` (`--verify-only`; `-f`, byte count, LFS sha256 per file) |
+| Adapter | `…/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf` — **3,155,424 B**, sha256 `861b9c099fb5cd81…` — a rank-1 refusal-direction LoRA (`adapter.type lora`, 128 tensors, every transformer layer, embedding untouched), applied at load by `--lora-scaled <file>:1`. Its metadata names `Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PTQ1_0.gguf` (`3561df7a…`) as the pack it was fitted against — **not this packing, and not on this host**; see Laws |
+| Fetch | `scripts/download-frank-zealot-bonsai9.sh [DEST]` (payload + projector) · `scripts/download-frank-zealot-uncensored-lora.sh [DEST]` (the adapter) — both `--verify-only`-able, `-f`, byte count and sha256 per file |
 | Runtime | `/home/dank/GitPackages/llama-prism-b10777/llama-server` — PrismML **fork**, `0.2.0-dev (build 10777, commit e3de71522)`; the only loader for this payload |
 | Trio | `scripts/frank-zealot.service` (root, relinked, `User=dank`, `Restart=on-failure`, `RestartSec=10`, `LimitMEMLOCK=infinity`, `TimeoutStopSec=180`) · `scripts/frank-zealot.env` · `scripts/serve-frank-zealot.sh` |
 | Address / alias | `BIND_ADDR=0.0.0.0`, `LISTEN_PORT=7771`, `ALIAS=frank-zealot` (a flag, not a fact) |
-| Flags | `--ctx-size 602112 --parallel 3` ⇒ 200,704 per slot · `--cache-type-k f16 --cache-type-v q8_0` (asymmetric, **14,406.00 MiB**) · `--flash-attn on` · `--batch-size 6144 --ubatch-size 1024` · `--n-gpu-layers 99` · `--jinja --reasoning auto --reasoning-format deepseek` · `--metrics` · `--mmproj` · `--log-verbosity 4` · `--presence-penalty 1.0` · **`--spec-type draft-mtp`** with `--spec-draft-n-max 2 --spec-draft-n-min 0 --spec-draft-p-min 0` |
+| Flags | `--ctx-size 602112 --parallel 3` ⇒ 200,704 per slot · `--cache-type-k f16 --cache-type-v q8_0` (asymmetric, **14,406.00 MiB**) · `--flash-attn on` · `--batch-size 6144 --ubatch-size 1024` · `--n-gpu-layers 99` · `--jinja --reasoning auto --reasoning-format deepseek` · `--metrics` · `--mmproj` · **`--lora-scaled Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf:1`** · `--log-verbosity 4` · `--presence-penalty 1.0` · **`--spec-type draft-mtp`** with `--spec-draft-n-max 2 --spec-draft-n-min 0 --spec-draft-p-min 0` |
 
 **Why this shape.** `general.architecture qwen35`: 33 blocks (32 trunk + `blk.32` = the MTP block)
 `full_attention_interval 4` ⇒ 8 full-attention + 24 Gated DeltaNet, 4 KV heads × 256 dim, `nextn_predict_layers 1`
@@ -57,6 +58,28 @@ and `UBATCH_SIZE=2048` beside an armed drafter is still the shape that halved de
 `--spec-draft-model` — the draft rides the main model's weights, so a draft file would load the trunk twice.
 `SPEC_TYPE=none` is the rollback and strips the whole set.
 
+**The adapter is behaviour, not shape.** It folds 3.2 MB of rank-1 tensors into the trunk at
+load, so it moves nothing in the budget equation above — no KV, no slot, no window. What it
+changes is what the endpoint answers, and the only instrument for that is a refusal probe:
+the same two prompts the plain pack answered `I cannot provide…` (captured on the live
+endpoint before the swap, `temperature 0.1`), re-asked after it. Budget **≥ 2 048 tokens** for
+that probe on this payload — the thinking channel swallows a 600-token request whole and
+`content` comes back empty with `finish_reason: length`, which reads as a refusal that never
+happened. The adapter's own card table is **not** evidence here: it was measured on the PTQ1_0
+packing. Rollback is `LORA_FILE=` (empty) in the env and one redeploy — no rebuild, no payload
+move; `LORA_SCALE=0` is the same result through the flag.
+
+**Measured on the cutover boot (2026-10-19, `02d04bc`).** Before: both probe prompts
+opened `I cannot provide…`. After: neither carries a refusal marker — one ran to its
+2 048-token cap, the other finished at 1 930 — so the direction is out. It still
+volunteers a `⚠️ Important Disclaimer` heading before answering, which is style, not the
+circuit: the marker sentence is gone, and a leading hedge is not an escape hatch. Chat,
+tools (`tool_calls` with valid JSON) and vision ("Red", 281 prompt tokens) answered from
+the same boot, and `DropInPaths` came back empty. Read the ledger, not this paragraph,
+for provenance: the fork prints the adapter's `prism.abliterate.*` keys — including the
+`base_gguf = Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PTQ1_0.gguf` line — at every start, so the packing
+mismatch is visible in the journal to anyone who boots it.
+
 **Harness contract** (`~/.omp/agent/models.yml`, provider `llamacpp (dankclaw-3090)`, id `frank-zealot`):
 `contextWindow: 200704` — **the per-slot window**, because llama.cpp divides `--ctx-size` across slots and answers a
 longer prompt with a 400, never a truncation — plus `maxTokens: 16384`, `input: [text, image]`
@@ -113,6 +136,7 @@ with 448 completion tokens (at `max_tokens: 64` the same request returns EMPTY c
 
 | Window | Payload | Runtime | Shape | Replaced because | Rollback |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 2026-10-19 → | the same 9B MTP file and projector, **plus** `Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA.gguf` (3,155,424 B `861b9c09…`) applied by `--lora-scaled …:1` | PrismML fork 10777 (its verified build) | — (shape unchanged; the adapter is behaviour) | Frank ordered the refusal direction removed on this endpoint | one env line — `LORA_FILE=` (or `LORA_SCALE=0`) — and redeploy; the plain pack is the same file it already loads |
 | 2026-10-18 21:06 → 2026-10-19 | the same 9B MTP file and projector | PrismML fork 10777 | — | Frank ordered the third conversation back AND the drafter armed, and exact V funds neither: it bills 18,816 MiB at the pool that pays for the third slot, leaving nothing for the draft's 2,352 | one line each — `CTX_SIZE=524288 PARALLEL=2 CACHE_TYPE_V=f16 BATCH_SIZE=4096 UBATCH_SIZE=2048 SPEC_TYPE=none` — and redeploy; no payload move |
 | 2026-10-18 13:19 → same evening (the boot `68afc6d` replaced) | the same 9B MTP file and projector | PrismML fork 10777 | — | Frank ordered unquantized KV, and that pool cannot survive it: 24,576 MiB of f16 cache > 24,123 addressable | one env line — `CTX_SIZE=786432 PARALLEL=3 CACHE_TYPE_K/V=q8_0` — and redeploy; no payload move |
 | 2026-10-18 03:14 → 13:19 (arm under the unit, then the leftover drop-in) | `Bonsai2-PTQ1_0/Ternary-Bonsai-2-27B-PTQ1_0.gguf` 5,946,648,928 B + hardlinked Q8 mmproj | PrismML fork 10777 | arm: 2 × 200,704, batch/ubatch 3072/1536. The leftover `frank-zealot.service.d/ptq1.conf` then made the 13:16 cutover deploy boot THIS payload at 3 × 133,888 (`new slot, n_ctx = 133888` x3, journal read 2026-10-19) until the 13:19 boot | — | `/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-PTQ1_0/` + `scripts/download-frank-zealot-bonsai2-ptq1.sh` |
@@ -169,13 +193,15 @@ with 448 completion tokens (at `max_tokens: 64` the same request returns EMPTY c
 - MTP is a property of the **file**: the plain PQ2_0 sibling could not draft at any flag value; only the `-MTP` export carries `blk.N.nextn.*`.
 - **The format is the runtime lock.** PQ2_0 is `general.file_type 141` over 202 tensors of custom GGML type **142** plus `prism.hadamard.*` metadata: stock llama.cpp refuses the type, and a loader ignoring the Hadamard transform would dequant **wrong, silently** (same lock class as ROCmFPX). Build ≥ b10776 is additionally the floor that pairs MTP with a quantized V cache.
 - Check arch support in the source tree: `grep -c` on the packed binary returns 0 for every arch, including the one it serves.
-- **Base alignment.** Bonsai-2 is the censored base lineage. `/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-CRACK/` matches the **27B** geometry (a one-line `MODEL_FILE` swap there, identical tensor census); no dealigned 9B exists, so for this payload the refusal escape hatch is a fetch, not a revert.
+- **Base alignment.** Bonsai-2 is the censored base lineage. `/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-CRACK/` matches the **27B** geometry (a one-line `MODEL_FILE` swap there, identical tensor census); no dealigned 9B exists, so for this payload the refusal escape hatch is a fetch, not a revert — which is exactly what was taken on 2026-10-19: the rank-1 adapter in the Adapter row above, behind `LORA_FILE`.
 - **A stale bench drop-in hijacks the production boot and no health check sees it.** An `Environment=FRANK_ZEALOT_ENV_FILE=/tmp/<arm>.env` in `frank-zealot.service.d/` booted a 27B PTQ1_0 payload while `/health` answered 200, `/v1/models` echoed the alias flag and the e2e gate passed 33/33 — none of them read the payload.
 - After any bench window: `systemctl show -p DropInPaths` → `tr '\0' ' ' </proc/$pid/cmdline` → ledger, in that order; drop-ins retire to `~/.AGENTTRASH/<date>-<topic>/`, and payload decisions land on this page the moment they are made, or an approved arm becomes indistinguishable from a rogue one a day later.
 - **An arm env must use the serve script's own variable names** (`CACHE_TYPE_K`/`CACHE_TYPE_V`, `BIND_ADDR`, `NGL`): an invented `KV_CACHE_TYPE` is swallowed by `: "${CACHE_TYPE_K:=f16}"` and the arm boots f16 — an OOM that reads like a model fault.
 - **Stop, shebang, GPU node.** llama.cpp rides out the default stop timeout (`TimeoutStopSec=180` is on the unit for that reason) and a hand-booted arm keeps answering 7771 behind a `failed` unit — kill it **by PID**, never `pkill -f llama-server`.
 - `serve-frank-zealot.sh` is a direct `ExecStart`, so a missing shebang is a `203/EXEC` boot loop at `Mem peak: 1.9M` with the GPU untouched: `head -1` is a deploy check.
 - `No CUDA GPUs are available` ⇒ `nvidia-modprobe -u -c=0`; KV spilled into unified memory halves decode silently, so re-read `nvidia-smi` after any shape change.
+- **An adapter's provenance is metadata, not a gate.** Its GGUF carries `prism.abliterate.base_gguf = Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PTQ1_0.gguf` and that pack's sha256; the endpoint applies the file to the PQ2_0+MTP packing anyway, because the loader matches **tensor names, not hashes**. So an adapter's effect is only ever proven behaviourally (a refusal probe against the live endpoint), never by the card, and an adapter whose rank landed on `token_embd` would be a crash rather than a degradation — the publisher leaves the embedding untouched for exactly that reason.
+- **The fork pin now has a third reason.** The payload's custom type 142, the b10776 floor that pairs MTP with a quantized V, and now this: older PrismML builds (e.g. `prism-b10709`) refuse the adapter outright with `unsupported prism.hadamard.version: 2`, so a runtime that can load the pack can still be unable to carry the adapter.
 
 ## Contract
 
@@ -210,12 +236,12 @@ with 448 completion tokens (at `max_tokens: 64` the same request returns EMPTY c
   boot ledger and the KV derivation all live on this page now; the header used to hold them, and two of its
   rung figures were wrong (`CACHE_TYPE_V=q8_0` and `CTX_SIZE=401408` both free **3,840 MiB** at the 524,288 pool,
   not 8,192 and not ~6.7 GiB — the Fallback rungs table above is the corrected statement).
-- `scripts/serve-frank-zealot.sh` — the exec line and its rationale comments; honors `FRANK_ZEALOT_ENV_FILE` for arm boots; exits 1 naming a missing binary, GGUF or projector rather than half-loading (a restart policy would turn an unfinished download into a crash loop that reads like a runtime fault).
+- `scripts/serve-frank-zealot.sh` — the exec line and its rationale comments; honors `FRANK_ZEALOT_ENV_FILE` for arm boots; exits 1 naming a missing binary, GGUF, projector or adapter rather than half-loading (a restart policy would turn an unfinished download into a crash loop that reads like a runtime fault).
 - `scripts/frank-zealot.service` — root unit, relinked into `/etc/systemd/system/`.
-- `scripts/download-frank-zealot-bonsai9.sh` (active) · `…-bonsai2.sh` · `…-bonsai2-ptq1.sh` ·
+- `scripts/download-frank-zealot-bonsai9.sh` (active payload + projector) · `scripts/download-frank-zealot-uncensored-lora.sh` (the refusal adapter; its header is the provenance record) · `…-bonsai2.sh` · `…-bonsai2-ptq1.sh` ·
   `scripts/download-frank-zealot.sh` (master-era GGUFs) · `old/download-frank-zealot-sglang-int8.sh` (SGLang).
 - `tests/frank_zealot_unit.bats` — stub-argv seam plus the VRAM fit gate.
-- `scripts/deploy-remote.sh` — `deploy_llm_zealot` (payload-path gates, MainPID-hardened health);
+- `scripts/deploy-remote.sh` — `deploy_llm_zealot` (payload-path gates including the adapter, MainPID-hardened health);
 - `shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml`, `shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml`
   `shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/llm-fleet.json` — the scrape, the alert, the dashboard.
 - Live state, not repo files: the OpenWebUI picker row (back up `webui.db` before re-keying) and `~/.omp/agent/models.yml`.

serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ is a locator: one row, one clause, no numbers.
 | [[ComfyUI Qwen-Image Workflows]] | Proven Qwen-Image text-to-image workflows on Dankclaw: the recipes, the API call shape, and which models to add next. |
 | [[Dankclaw Stack]] | Service inventory and routing overview for the Dankclaw AI, development, and observability host. |
 | [[Frank TTS]] | The fleet's cloned-voice speech endpoint and the one voice surface consumers address; wired as the harness speech role. |
-| [[Frank TTS Engine]] | The engine behind the fleet's speech endpoint: its runtime, private bridge, and the surface it publishes. |
+| [[Frank TTS Engine]] | The engine behind the fleet's speech endpoint: its Vulkan build on the iGPU, its private bridge, and what it publishes. |
 | [[Gitea]] | Gitea deployment on Dankclaw with its web UI reverse-proxied by the canonical Caddy service. |
 | [[Gluetun]] | Gluetun is a lightweight VPN client container. |
 | [[Hermes]] | Hermes is the self-improving AI agent from Nous Research. |
@@ -130,7 +130,10 @@ is a locator: one row, one clause, no numbers.
 |---|---|
 | [[Agent Docs and Edits]] | Two self-inflicted doc damage classes from parallel agent edits, with the audit checks and recovery order for each. |
 | [[Command Center Dotfiles]] | How the dotfiles repo deploys: stow-equivalent packages, full-replica rsync, the pre-overwrite audit, transport gotchas. |
+| [[Domain Docs]] | Consumer rules for GLOSSARY.md and docs/adr/, and where this vault out-ranks them on operational facts. |
+| [[Issue Tracker]] | How agent skills read and write Gitea issues here: credential-safe curl, label IDs, and wayfinding without sub-issues. |
 | [[OMP Harness]] | The omp harness as configured here: compaction chain arithmetic, per-model sampler routing, and the context-lean audits. |
+| [[Triage Labels]] | The five canonical triage roles mapped to this repo's Gitea label strings, plus the numeric-ID quirk. |
 
 ## Research and methodology
 

shared/alloy/config.alloy

@@ -1,35 +1,68 @@
 // Alloy configuration — ships host and container logs to Loki.
 // One instance per host. Deployed to /opt/alloy/config/config.alloy.
+//
+// Runs as a ROOT system service on Network=host (see
+// dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container), so it reaches Loki on the
+// host's loopback and reads every journal — host services and rootless-quadlet
+// containers alike.
 
 logging {
   level = "info"
 }
 
-// The alloy UI service listens on 127.0.0.1:12345 by default; the
-// in-container healthcheck probes it there. alloy 1.x refuses to
-// configure the ui service from a config block, so there is no block.
+// The alloy UI listens on 127.0.0.1:12345; the in-container healthcheck probes
+// it there. alloy 1.x refuses to configure the ui service from a config block,
+// so there is no ui block.
 
-// Ship logs to Loki (container name on the podman network).
+// Loki is published on the host's loopback (127.0.0.1:3100). Alloy shares the
+// host network, so it pushes by loopback, never by container name — a root
+// container is not on the rootless dankclaw_default network.
+// GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL is replaced with this host's name by
+// copy_alloy_config at deploy time; it must not appear verbatim in the
+// installed config.
 loki.write "default" {
   endpoint {
-    url = "http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push"
+    url = "http://127.0.0.1:3100/loki/api/v1/push"
   }
 }
 
-// Systemd journal from the host socket.
+// The systemd journal. As root with /etc/machine-id + the journal dirs mounted,
+// this one source reads system.journal AND user-*.journal, so it carries both
+// host services and the rootless Quadlet containers' logs. There is deliberately
+// no container-file source: podman container stdout lands in the journal, and
+// the old /var/lib/containers/.../ctr.log and /var/log/containers globs pointed
+// at a root-storage layout that does not exist on this host.
 loki.source.journal "journal" {
   format_as_json = true
   labels = {
-    job = "systemd-journal",
+    job  = "systemd-journal",
+    host = "GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL",
+  }
+  forward_to = [loki.process.relabel.receiver]
+}
+
+// Promote the fields that ARE the point of the log stream to real Loki labels.
+// Without this the journal arrives as one opaque JSON line per entry and every
+// per-container view is structurally impossible: Loki metrics queries can only
+// group by INDEXED stream labels, so `sum by (container_name)` returns a single
+// anonymous series and the logs-overview board read empty beside 6.5k
+// lines/5min of live traffic (measured 2026-10-21). CONTAINER_NAME is what
+// podman's journald logging writes (uppercase); host units lack it and stay on
+// the host-only stream. `format_as_json = true` above guarantees every line
+// reaching this stage is a JSON object, so there is no non-JSON branch to
+// protect — alloy 1.21's json stage has no `on_error` attribute (validated
+// against the pinned image); a malformed line would drop, which is the
+// correct fate for a line Loki could not index anyway.
+loki.process "relabel" {
+  stage.json {
+    expressions = {
+      container = "CONTAINER_NAME",
+    }
+  }
+  stage.labels {
+    values = {
+      container = "container",
+    }
   }
   forward_to = [loki.write.default.receiver]
 }
-
-// Container logs (podman storage path; adjust for docker).
-loki.source.file "containers" {
-  targets = [
-    {__path__ = "/var/lib/containers/storage/overlay-containers/*/userdata/ctr.log", job = "podman"},
-    {__path__ = "/var/log/containers/*.log", job = "containers"},
-  ]
-  forward_to = [loki.write.default.receiver]
-}

shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Blackbox exporter modules — the honest answer to "is this HTTP service
+# answering?". A Prometheus scrape cannot express it (an HTML front page is a
+# 200 that fails the scrape protocol), which is why the old `services` and
+# `comfyui` jobs sat permanently red on `unsupported Content-Type`.
+# See serverAppConfigs-docs/Architecture/Stale Signal Audit.md §1.
+# The listen address is NOT set here: the quadlet unit's Exec passes
+# --listen-address (LAN bind — see the unit header for why loopback is
+# unreachable from the bridge-networked Prometheus). Keep this file to
+# modules only, so the two sources cannot disagree.
+
+modules:
+  http_2xx:
+    prober: http
+    timeout: 10s
+    http:
+      preferred_ip_protocol: ip4
+      valid_status_codes: [] # default: 2xx + 3xx

shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/containers.json

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+{
+  "uid": "containers",
+  "title": "Containers — Dankclaw & Dankserver",
+  "description": "Per-container CPU and memory for the quadlet app stacks, from cadvisor (a rootless quadlet on each host). cadvisor keys each series by the cgroup path, and Prometheus relabels the quadlet unit name (app.slice/<name>.service) into a `container` label. Panels use only the metric families cadvisor actually exports for these rootless containers: CPU usage and memory working-set/limit/OOM. Network and filesystem are NOT exported for them (no netns/classid attribution under the rootless+host-PID layout), so no panels pretend otherwise. See serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Observability.md.",
+  "tags": ["fleet", "cadvisor", "containers"],
+  "timezone": "browser",
+  "schemaVersion": 39,
+  "refresh": "30s",
+  "time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" },
+  "templating": {
+    "list": [
+      {
+        "name": "host",
+        "label": "Host",
+        "type": "query",
+        "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+        "query": { "query": "label_values(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\"}, host)", "refId": "host_var" },
+        "refresh": 2,
+        "includeAll": true,
+        "multi": true,
+        "current": { "text": "All", "value": "$__all" }
+      },
+      {
+        "name": "container",
+        "label": "Container",
+        "type": "query",
+        "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+        "query": { "query": "label_values(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\"}, container)", "refId": "container_var" },
+        "refresh": 2,
+        "includeAll": true,
+        "multi": true,
+        "current": { "text": "All", "value": "$__all" }
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "panels": [
+    {
+      "id": 1,
+      "type": "row",
+      "title": "CPU",
+      "collapsed": false,
+      "gridPos": { "h": 1, "w": 24, "x": 0, "y": 0 },
+      "panels": []
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 2,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "CPU usage (cores)",
+      "description": "CPU-seconds/s per container = cores busy. A steady high line is a busy service; a spike is a burst (a render, an index, a backup). Only containers are shown, not the host or its daemons.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 9, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 1 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short", "min": 0, "custom": { "fillOpacity": 8, "lineWidth": 1, "stacking": { "mode": "none" } } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (host, container) (rate(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\", container=~\"$container\"}[5m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}} / {{container}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 3,
+      "type": "bargauge",
+      "title": "Top containers by CPU (cores)",
+      "description": "Instant ranking over the selected window. Tells you which container to look at when the host is loaded.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 9, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 1 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short", "min": 0, "max": null, "color": { "mode": "thresholds" }, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [ { "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "yellow", "value": 1 }, { "color": "red", "value": 4 } ] } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "options": { "reduceOptions": { "calcs": [ "lastNotNull" ], "fields": "", "values": false }, "displayMode": "gradient", "orientation": "horizontal", "showUnfilled": true },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "topk(12, sum by (host, container) (rate(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\", container=~\"$container\"}[5m])))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}} / {{container}}",
+          "format": "table",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 4,
+      "type": "row",
+      "title": "Memory",
+      "collapsed": false,
+      "gridPos": { "h": 1, "w": 24, "x": 0, "y": 10 },
+      "panels": []
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 5,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Memory working set",
+      "description": "container_memory_working_set_bytes per container — the number the OOM killer acts on. Cache-inclusive and reclaimable; a flat high line is resident data, a sawtooth is churn.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 9, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 11 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "bytes", "min": 0, "custom": { "fillOpacity": 8, "lineWidth": 1, "stacking": { "mode": "none" } } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "container_memory_working_set_bytes{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\", container=~\"$container\"}",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}} / {{container}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 6,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Memory vs host total (%)",
+      "description": "Working set over the host's total RAM. The fleet sets NO cgroup memory limits (every container_spec_memory_limit_bytes is 0 — a limit-share panel is structurally empty here), so the honest pressure view is share of the host. The join labels the node exporter's MemTotal onto the cadvisor series by host.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 9, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 11 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percentunit", "min": 0, "max": 1, "custom": { "fillOpacity": 8, "lineWidth": 1, "stacking": { "mode": "none" } } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "container_memory_working_set_bytes{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\", container=~\"$container\", container!=\"\"} / on(host) group_left label_replace(node_memory_MemTotal_bytes{job=~\"node-.*\"}, \"host\", \"$1\", \"job\", \"node-(.*)\")",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}} / {{container}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 7,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "OOM kills",
+      "description": "container_oom_events_total rate. Any non-zero line means the kernel killed a process inside that container — the honest signal that its memory limit is too tight for its real working set.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 24, "x": 0, "y": 20 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short", "min": 0, "custom": { "fillOpacity": 20, "lineWidth": 1, "stacking": { "mode": "normal" } } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (host, container) (rate(container_oom_events_total{job=~\"cadvisor-.*\", host=~\"$host\", container=~\"$container\"}[5m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{host}} / {{container}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  ]
+}

shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/host-system.json

@@ -0,0 +1,204 @@
+{
+  "uid": "host-system",
+  "title": "Hosts \u2014 Dankclaw & Dankserver",
+  "description": "node_exporter for both servers. Starter set \u2014 throw-at-the-wall breadth; refine the windows and drop the noise. The picker selects the host; CPU/load/memory/filesystem/network are per-node.",
+  "tags": ["host", "system"],
+  "timezone": "browser",
+  "schemaVersion": 39,
+  "refresh": "30s",
+  "time": { "from": "now-6h", "to": "now" },
+  "templating": {
+    "list": [
+      {
+        "name": "node",
+        "label": "host",
+        "type": "query",
+        "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+        "query": { "query": "label_values(up{job=~\"node-.*\"}, job)", "refId": "A" },
+        "includeAll": true,
+        "multi": true,
+        "current": { "text": "All", "value": "$__all" }
+      },
+      {
+        "name": "gpuhost",
+        "label": "gpu host",
+        "type": "query",
+        "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+        "query": { "query": "label_values(gpu_utilization_percent, host)", "refId": "A" },
+        "includeAll": true,
+        "multi": true,
+        "current": { "text": "All", "value": "$__all" }
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "panels": [
+    {
+      "id": 1, "type": "stat", "title": "Uptime",
+      "description": "Time since boot. A drop means a reboot.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 4, "w": 6, "x": 0, "y": 0 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "s" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [{ "expr": "time() - node_boot_time_seconds{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}}", "refId": "A" }]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 2, "type": "stat", "title": "Memory used",
+      "description": "1 - MemAvailable/MemTotal. The honest \"in use\" figure (excludes reclaimable cache).",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 4, "w": 6, "x": 6, "y": 0 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percentunit", "min": 0, "max": 1, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [{ "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "yellow", "value": 0.8 }, { "color": "red", "value": 0.92 }] } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [{ "expr": "1 - node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes{job=~\"$node\"} / node_memory_MemTotal_bytes{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}}", "refId": "A" }]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 3, "type": "stat", "title": "Load 5m / core",
+      "description": "Per-core load5. >1 sustained means runnable tasks are queuing behind cores.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 4, "w": 6, "x": 12, "y": 0 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short", "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [{ "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "yellow", "value": 0.7 }, { "color": "red", "value": 1 }] } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [{ "expr": "node_load5{job=~\"$node\"} / on(job) count by (job) (node_cpu_seconds_total{job=~\"$node\",mode=\"idle\"})", "legendFormat": "{{job}}", "refId": "A" }]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 4, "type": "stat", "title": "Open file handles",
+      "description": "FDs allocated vs the kernel maximum. Rising toward the max precedes EMFILE across the host.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 4, "w": 6, "x": 18, "y": 0 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percentunit", "max": 1, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [{ "color": "green", "value": null }, { "color": "yellow", "value": 0.7 }, { "color": "red", "value": 0.9 }] } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [{ "expr": "node_filefd_allocated{job=~\"$node\"} / node_filefd_maximum{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}}", "refId": "A" }]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 5, "type": "timeseries", "title": "CPU busy %",
+      "description": "CPU seconds/s in each mode = cores busy per mode; the stack sums to total cores in use (16/host here). A user or system spike points at what is loading the box; steal > 0 means the hypervisor is throttling.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 4 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short", "min": 0, "custom": { "fillOpacity": 10, "lineWidth": 1, "stacking": { "mode": "normal" } } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "sum by (job,mode) (rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{job=~\"$node\",mode!=\"idle\",mode!=\"iowait\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{mode}}", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 6, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Load average",
+      "description": "load1/5/15 per host.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 4 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "short" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "node_load1{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} load1", "refId": "A" },
+        { "expr": "node_load5{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} load5", "refId": "B" },
+        { "expr": "node_load15{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} load15", "refId": "C" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 7, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Memory breakdown",
+      "description": "Total, free, buffers+cache. Reclaimable cache is not pressure; MemAvailable is the real headroom.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 12 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "bytes" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "node_memory_MemTotal_bytes{job=~\"$node\"} - node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} used", "refId": "A" },
+        { "expr": "node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes{job=~\"$node\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} available", "refId": "B" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 8, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Filesystem free %",
+      "description": "Per mountpoint. The media/library stacks fill disks.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 12 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percentunit", "min": 0, "max": 1, "thresholds": { "mode": "absolute", "steps": [{ "color": "red", "value": null }, { "color": "green", "value": 0.15 }] } }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "node_filesystem_avail_bytes{job=~\"$node\",fstype!~\"tmpfs|overlay|squashfs\"} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{job=~\"$node\",fstype!~\"tmpfs|overlay|squashfs\"}", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{mountpoint}}", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 9, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Disk throughput",
+      "description": "Read/write bytes/s per device.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 20 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "Bps" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "sum by (job,device) (rate(node_disk_read_bytes_total{job=~\"$node\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} R", "refId": "A" },
+        { "expr": "-sum by (job,device) (rate(node_disk_written_bytes_total{job=~\"$node\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} W", "refId": "B" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 10, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Disk busy %",
+      "description": "Fraction of time the device had I/O in flight. Near 1 = the device is the bottleneck.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 20 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percentunit", "min": 0, "max": 1 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "rate(node_disk_io_time_seconds_total{job=~\"$node\"}[5m])", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}}", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 11, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Network throughput",
+      "description": "Receive (up) / transmit (down) bytes/s per interface.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 28 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "Bps" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "sum by (job,device) (rate(node_network_receive_bytes_total{job=~\"$node\",device!~\"lo|veth.*|br.*|docker.*\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} RX", "refId": "A" },
+        { "expr": "-sum by (job,device) (rate(node_network_transmit_bytes_total{job=~\"$node\",device!~\"lo|veth.*|br.*|docker.*\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} TX", "refId": "B" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 12, "type": "timeseries", "title": "Network errors / drops",
+      "description": "Interface errors and drops \u2014 the signature of a saturated link or a bad NIC/cable.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 28 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "ops" }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "sum by (job,device) (rate(node_network_receive_errs_total{job=~\"$node\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} RX err", "refId": "A" },
+        { "expr": "sum by (job,device) (rate(node_network_transmit_errs_total{job=~\"$node\"}[5m]))", "legendFormat": "{{job}} {{device}} TX err", "refId": "B" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 13, "type": "timeseries", "title": "GPU busy %",
+      "description": "Per-GPU utilization from gpu-exporter (amdgpu gpu_busy_percent / nvidia-smi). The picker above selects the host; each series is one card.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 36 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percent", "min": 0, "max": 100 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "gpu_utilization_percent{host=~\"$gpuhost\"}", "legendFormat": "{{host}} {{gpu}} ({{model}})", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 14, "type": "timeseries", "title": "GPU VRAM used",
+      "description": "Device memory in use. On the R9700s (frank-archon) and the 3090 (frank-zealot) this is the loaded model's footprint.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 36 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "bytes", "min": 0 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "gpu_memory_used_bytes{host=~\"$gpuhost\"}", "legendFormat": "{{host}} {{gpu}} ({{model}})", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 15, "type": "timeseries", "title": "GPU VRAM used %",
+      "description": "Used / total device memory. Near 100% is the pre-OOM wall.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 44 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "percent", "min": 0, "max": 100 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "100 * gpu_memory_used_bytes{host=~\"$gpuhost\"} / gpu_memory_total_bytes{host=~\"$gpuhost\"}", "legendFormat": "{{host}} {{gpu}} ({{model}})", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 16, "type": "timeseries", "title": "GPU temperature",
+      "description": "Package temperature. AMD edge temp (hwmon temp1_input); NVIDIA gpu temp.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 12, "y": 44 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "celsius", "min": 0 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "gpu_temperature_celsius{host=~\"$gpuhost\"}", "legendFormat": "{{host}} {{gpu}} ({{model}})", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 17, "type": "timeseries", "title": "GPU power draw",
+      "description": "Board power draw. Emitted only where readable: NVIDIA and the Dankclaw iGPU. The R9700s have no sysfs power sensor, so they are simply absent here — never a fabricated 0.",
+      "gridPos": { "h": 8, "w": 12, "x": 0, "y": 52 },
+      "datasource": { "type": "prometheus", "uid": "prometheus" },
+      "fieldConfig": { "defaults": { "unit": "watt", "min": 0 }, "overrides": [] },
+      "targets": [
+        { "expr": "gpu_power_watts{host=~\"$gpuhost\"}", "legendFormat": "{{host}} {{gpu}} ({{model}})", "refId": "A" }
+      ]
+    }
+  ]
+}

shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/llm-fleet.json

@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@
       "id": 6,
       "type": "timeseries",
       "title": "Firing fleet alerts",
-      "description": "The LLM-fleet rules from shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml. A firing alert is delivered to Signal: Prometheus -> Alertmanager (dankclaw quadlet) -> the host-side signal-relay user unit -> signal-cli, since 2026-09-17.",
+      "description": "The LLM-fleet rules from shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml. EMPTY IS THE HEALTHY STATE: zero series means nothing is firing (ALERTS only carries active/pending alert series — do not read this panel as broken). A firing alert is delivered to Signal: Prometheus -> Alertmanager (dankclaw quadlet) -> the host-side signal-relay user unit -> signal-cli, since 2026-09-17.",
       "gridPos": {
         "h": 8,
         "w": 12,

shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/logs-overview.json

@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+{
+  "uid": "logs-overview",
+  "title": "Logs \u2014 Loki (systemd journal)",
+  "description": "Everything in Loki arrives as the journal (job=systemd-journal); the container is a JSON field parsed at query time, not a stream label. Starter breadth \u2014 the volume/error panels group by the parsed container_name. Loki keeps ~7 days; wide ranges are cheap counts, not the raw log panel.",
+  "tags": [
+    "logs",
+    "loki"
+  ],
+  "timezone": "browser",
+  "schemaVersion": 39,
+  "refresh": "30s",
+  "time": {
+    "from": "now-1h",
+    "to": "now"
+  },
+  "templating": {
+    "list": [
+      {
+        "name": "container",
+        "label": "container",
+        "type": "query",
+        "datasource": {
+          "type": "loki",
+          "uid": "loki"
+        },
+        "query": {
+          "query": "label_values({job=\"systemd-journal\"}, container)",
+          "refId": "LokiVariableQueryEditor-VariableQuery"
+        },
+        "includeAll": true,
+        "multi": true,
+        "refresh": 2,
+        "current": {
+          "text": "All",
+          "value": "$__all"
+        }
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "panels": [
+    {
+      "id": 1,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Log volume by container (lines/s)",
+      "description": "Per-container journal line rate. The `container` label is promoted at ingestion by Alloy (loki.process) from podman's CONTAINER_NAME journald field - Loki metrics can only group by indexed stream labels.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 9,
+        "w": 24,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "reqps",
+          "custom": {
+            "fillOpacity": 20,
+            "stacking": {
+              "mode": "normal"
+            }
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (container) (count_over_time({job=\"systemd-journal\", container!=\"\"} [$__auto]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{container_name}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 2,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Total log rate",
+      "description": "All journal lines per second.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 9
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "reqps"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum(count_over_time({job=\"systemd-journal\"} [$__auto]))",
+          "legendFormat": "all lines/s",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 3,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Error-ish line rate (text match)",
+      "description": "Lines matching error/panic/fatal/fail. A blunt text match \u2014 the journal carries no structured level for all units.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 12,
+        "y": 9
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "reqps",
+          "color": {
+            "mode": "fixed",
+            "fixedColor": "red"
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum(count_over_time({job=\"systemd-journal\"} |~ \"(?i)(error|panic|fatal|fail)\" [$__auto]))",
+          "legendFormat": "error lines/s",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 4,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Errors by container",
+      "description": "Which unit is throwing. Rank by the top offenders.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 17
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "reqps"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (container) (count_over_time({job=\"systemd-journal\", container!=\"\"} |~ \"(?i)(error|panic|fatal)\" [$__auto]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{container_name}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 5,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Error lines (last 15m)",
+      "description": "Absolute count over the window, not a rate.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 12,
+        "y": 17
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short",
+          "thresholds": {
+            "mode": "absolute",
+            "steps": [
+              {
+                "color": "green",
+                "value": null
+              },
+              {
+                "color": "yellow",
+                "value": 50
+              },
+              {
+                "color": "red",
+                "value": 500
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum(count_over_time({job=\"systemd-journal\"} |~ \"(?i)(error|panic|fatal)\" [15m]))",
+          "instant": true,
+          "legendFormat": "errors/15m",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 6,
+      "type": "logs",
+      "title": "Journal (filtered)",
+      "description": "Raw lines for the selected containers. Set the container picker; keep the window tight.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 12,
+        "w": 24,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 25
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "loki",
+        "uid": "loki"
+      },
+      "options": {
+        "showTime": true,
+        "wrapLogMessage": true,
+        "sortOrder": "Descending",
+        "enableLogDetails": true
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "{job=\"systemd-journal\", container=~\"$container\"}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  ]
+}

shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/observability.json

@@ -0,0 +1,385 @@
+{
+  "uid": "observability",
+  "title": "Observability \u2014 self-monitoring",
+  "description": "The health of the stack that watches the fleet: Prometheus scrape/TSDB, Loki ingest, Grafana. If this is red the dashboards lie. Note: Alertmanager is running but NOT scraped by Prometheus (no job) \u2014 its metrics are absent by design gap, not fault.",
+  "tags": [
+    "observability",
+    "meta"
+  ],
+  "timezone": "browser",
+  "schemaVersion": 39,
+  "refresh": "30s",
+  "time": {
+    "from": "now-6h",
+    "to": "now"
+  },
+  "panels": [
+    {
+      "id": 1,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Targets up",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 4,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short",
+          "thresholds": {
+            "mode": "absolute",
+            "steps": [
+              {
+                "color": "green",
+                "value": null
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "count(up == 1)",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 2,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Targets down",
+      "description": "Every scrape target that is down. ZERO IS THE HEALTHY STATE: the HTML-probe jobs and the disabled Gitea metrics were retired 2026-10-21 (HTTP liveness now rides the blackbox exporter, job \"services\"). A non-zero count here is a real regression - read /api/v1/targets lastError before triaging.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 4,
+        "x": 4,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short",
+          "thresholds": {
+            "mode": "absolute",
+            "steps": [
+              {
+                "color": "green",
+                "value": null
+              },
+              {
+                "color": "red",
+                "value": 1
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "count(up == 0)",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 3,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "TSDB head series",
+      "description": "Active series in memory. A jump = a new exporter or a label-cardinality leak.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 5,
+        "x": 8,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "prometheus_tsdb_head_series",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 4,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Discovered targets",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 5,
+        "x": 13,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum(prometheus_sd_discovered_targets)",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 5,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Prometheus mem",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 3,
+        "x": 18,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "bytes"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "process_resident_memory_bytes{job=\"prometheus\"}",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 6,
+      "type": "stat",
+      "title": "Grafana up",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 4,
+        "w": 3,
+        "x": 21,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "mappings": [
+            {
+              "type": "value",
+              "options": {
+                "1": {
+                  "text": "UP",
+                  "color": "green"
+                },
+                "0": {
+                  "text": "DOWN",
+                  "color": "red"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          ],
+          "thresholds": {
+            "mode": "absolute",
+            "steps": [
+              {
+                "color": "red",
+                "value": null
+              },
+              {
+                "color": "green",
+                "value": 1
+              }
+            ]
+          }
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "up{job=\"grafana\"}",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 7,
+      "type": "table",
+      "title": "Target health",
+      "description": "Every scrape target and its current up. Sort by Value to surface regressions.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 9,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 4
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "options": {
+        "sortBy": [
+          {
+            "displayName": "Value",
+            "sortOrder": "Asc"
+          }
+        ]
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "up",
+          "format": "table",
+          "instant": true,
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 8,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Scrape interval drift (p99 actual)",
+      "description": "Actual seconds between scrapes (summary quantile). Above the 15s scrape_interval = Prometheus is falling behind its own cadence (slow endpoints or overload).",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 9,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 12,
+        "y": 4
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "s"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "prometheus_target_interval_length_seconds{quantile=\"0.99\"}",
+          "legendFormat": "{{instance}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 9,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Scrape samples/s",
+      "description": "Total samples ingested across all jobs.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 13
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "short"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum(rate(scrape_samples_scraped[5m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "samples/s",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 10,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Loki request rate",
+      "description": "Loki served requests/s (push, query). A drop to zero means ingest or query has stopped.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 12,
+        "x": 12,
+        "y": 13
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "reqps"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (route) (rate(loki_request_duration_seconds_count[5m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{route}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 11,
+      "type": "timeseries",
+      "title": "Exporter process CPU",
+      "description": "CPU by monitored process \u2014 spot a runaway exporter or the Prometheus process itself.",
+      "gridPos": {
+        "h": 8,
+        "w": 24,
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 21
+      },
+      "datasource": {
+        "type": "prometheus",
+        "uid": "prometheus"
+      },
+      "fieldConfig": {
+        "defaults": {
+          "unit": "percentunit"
+        },
+        "overrides": []
+      },
+      "targets": [
+        {
+          "expr": "sum by (job) (rate(process_cpu_seconds_total[5m]))",
+          "legendFormat": "{{job}}",
+          "refId": "A"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  ]
+}

shared/grafana/provisioning/datasources/loki.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Grafana datasource for Loki, declared in git rather than clicked into
+# grafana.db — same reason as the Prometheus datasource: a UI-configured
+# datasource is invisible to review, lost with the data volume, and unknown
+# to the repository. Loki OSS ships no web UI of its own, so Explore through
+# this datasource is the only way a human reads the log store.
+#
+# URL is the container name on dankclaw_default (the same address Caddy
+# proxies to), not the published loopback port.
+apiVersion: 1
+
+datasources:
+  - name: Loki
+    uid: loki
+    type: loki
+    access: proxy
+    url: http://loki:3100
+    editable: false

shared/homepage/services.json

@@ -30,15 +30,15 @@
   },
   {
     "name": "open-notebook",
-    "category": "user",
+    "category": "admin",
     "section": "AI",
-    "description": "Podcast generator — notes in, spoken episode out: script written by frank-zealot, voices rendered by frank-tts. No public route; LAN UI only once it is deployed.",
-    "url": "",
+    "description": "Podcast generator — notes in, spoken episode out: script written by frank-archon, voices rendered by frank-tts. Guarded twice: Authentik at the edge, then its own login. Single shared password, no per-user accounts — admin-only.",
+    "url": "http://notebook.franksdank.cloud",
     "docs": "",
     "probe": "127.0.0.1:8502",
     "method": "http",
-    "wip": "down",
-    "showLink": false,
+    "wip": false,
+    "showLink": true,
     "art": "/img/apps/mono-on.svg"
   },
   {

shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml

@@ -60,20 +60,33 @@ scrape_configs:
       - targets: ["loki:3100"]
     metrics_path: "/metrics"
 
-  # ComfyUI (no native /metrics; probe the UI)
-  - job_name: "comfyui"
-    metrics_path: "/"
-    static_configs:
-      - targets: ["comfyui:8188"]
-
-  # Blackbox-style probes for service up/down (published LAN ports;
-  # gitea and comfyui are covered by their own jobs above)
+  # HTTP liveness, probed honestly through the blackbox exporter. Scraping a
+  # web root is NOT a health check — an HTML front page fails the scrape
+  # protocol (`unsupported Content-Type`), which is exactly why the old
+  # `services` and `comfyui` jobs were red forever beside healthy services
+  # (Stale Signal Audit §1). The prober is a host-netns container listening on
+  # the podman gateway (the scrape address below - the netavark hairpin gap
+  # bars this container from its own host's LAN IP, cadvisor job note) and on
+  # the LAN; from that netns it reaches the host LAN IP, and published ports
+  # via 127.0.0.1 - bridge container names do NOT resolve in the host netns,
+  # which is why comfyui's probe is a loopback URL. comfyui's own
+  # metrics-scrape job is retired, one owner per service.
   - job_name: "services"
-    metrics_path: "/"
+    metrics_path: /probe
+    params:
+      module: [http_2xx]
     static_configs:
       - targets:
-          - "192.168.0.143:8081"   # SearXNG (via the Gluetun tunnel)
-          - "192.168.0.143:3005"   # OpenWebUI
+          - "http://192.168.0.143:8081"   # SearXNG (via the Gluetun tunnel)
+          - "http://192.168.0.143:3005"   # OpenWebUI
+          - "http://127.0.0.1:8188"        # ComfyUI UI (published 0.0.0.0:8188; probed from the prober's host netns)
+    relabel_configs:
+      - source_labels: [__address__]
+        target_label: __param_target
+      - source_labels: [__param_target]
+        target_label: instance
+      - target_label: __address__
+        replacement: "host.containers.internal:9115"
 
   # LLM fleet. Scraped on the LAN addresses where the endpoint is reachable from
   # this container, not the guarded vhosts: these are machine clients and
@@ -131,3 +144,88 @@ scrape_configs:
       - targets: ["192.168.0.235:7770"]
         labels:
           service: frank-archon
+
+  # Per-container metrics from cadvisor (a rootless quadlet on each host).
+  # cadvisor keys every series by the cgroup path; for a quadlet container that
+  # path is …/app.slice/<name>.service[/libpod-payload-<hex>], so the unit NAME
+  # lives in it. The relabel below pulls that name out into a `container` label
+  # and keeps only the per-unit aggregate — cadvisor's raw host root,
+  # system.slice daemons and machine.slice scopes carry no such name and are
+  # dropped, as is the per-CPU-core split (only cpu="total" survives), so the
+  # scrape stays small. cadvisor cannot bind per-interface, so it is reached at
+  # the podman gateway like every same-host target: a BRIDGE CONTAINER CANNOT
+  # DIAL ITS OWN HOST'S LAN IP AT ALL — the netavark hairpin gap refuses the
+  # connection whether the port is a host-net bind or a published port (the
+  # original note here claimed published ports were exempt; measured 2026-10-21
+  # from inside this container: LAN refused, gateway answers). Cross-host
+  # targets (dankserver) have no hairpin problem and stay plain LAN.
+  - job_name: "cadvisor-dankclaw"
+    static_configs:
+      - targets: ["host.containers.internal:8080"]
+        labels:
+          host: dankclaw
+    metric_relabel_configs:
+      - source_labels: [id]
+        regex: '.*/app\.slice/([^.]+)\.service(?:/.*)?$'
+        target_label: container
+        replacement: '$1'
+      # Keep only the unit-level cgroup; drop its payload/control children so a
+      # container is not counted twice.
+      - source_labels: [id]
+        regex: '.*/\.service/.*'
+        action: drop
+      # Drop everything that is not a named unit (no `container` was extracted).
+      - source_labels: [container]
+        regex: '.+'
+        action: keep
+      # cpu="total" for cpu series; metrics with no cpu label (memory, network,
+      # filesystem) are kept.
+      - source_labels: [cpu]
+        regex: '^$|total'
+        action: keep
+      - regex: 'id|name|image|container_label.*|machine_id|boot_id'
+        action: labeldrop
+
+  - job_name: "cadvisor-dankserver"
+    static_configs:
+      - targets: ["192.168.0.235:8080"]
+        labels:
+          host: dankserver
+    metric_relabel_configs:
+      - source_labels: [id]
+        regex: '.*/app\.slice/([^.]+)\.service(?:/.*)?$'
+        target_label: container
+        replacement: '$1'
+      - source_labels: [id]
+        regex: '.*/\.service/.*'
+        action: drop
+      - source_labels: [container]
+        regex: '.+'
+        action: keep
+      - source_labels: [cpu]
+        regex: '^$|total'
+        action: keep
+      - regex: 'id|name|image|container_label.*|machine_id|boot_id'
+        action: labeldrop
+
+  # Per-GPU metrics (gpu_utilization_percent / gpu_memory_used_bytes /
+  # gpu_memory_total_bytes / gpu_temperature_celsius / gpu_power_watts) from the
+  # host-process gpu-exporter (scripts/gpu-exporter.py). One job per host, same
+  # reach rules as node/cadvisor: Dankclaw is scraped at the podman gateway
+  # because the netavark hairpin quirk makes Prometheus fail to dial its own
+  # host LAN IP; Dankserver is plain LAN. The gpu label (PCI BDF on AMD, index on
+  # NVIDIA) + vendor/model come from the exporter, so the GPU row on the
+  # host-system dashboard filters by host. Power is emitted only where readable
+  # (NVIDIA + the Dankclaw iGPU); the R9700s have no sysfs power, so they simply
+  # have no gpu_power_watts series — no fabricated zero.
+  - job_name: "gpu-dankclaw"
+    static_configs:
+      - targets: ["host.containers.internal:9401"]
+        labels:
+          host: dankclaw
+
+  - job_name: "gpu-dankserver"
+    static_configs:
+      - targets: ["192.168.0.235:9401"]
+        labels:
+          host: dankserver

shared/prometheus/rules/llm-fleet.yml

@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 # Alerting and recording rules for the LLM fleet.
 #
-# One metric namespace: llamacpp:* — frank-zealot and frank-dragoon, both
-# llama.cpp with /metrics (the family verified from /metrics on 2026-09-16
-# and 2026-09-20). frank-archon LEFT the family 2026-10-05: FreeToken (the
-# PR587 ROCm engine) has no /metrics endpoint, so its scrape job was
-# deleted rather than left never-green.
+# Two metric namespaces, because two runtime families are scraped:
+#
+#   * llamacpp:* — frank-zealot (llama.cpp) and frank-dragoon (halogen, which
+#     re-exports the llama.cpp metric names). Verified from /metrics on
+#     2026-09-16 / 2026-09-20.
+#   * vllm:* — frank-archon, the radiance engine on Dankserver since
+#     2026-10-05. It exports vLLM-compatible names, a DIFFERENT namespace, so
+#     it is a separate scrape job in prometheus.yml and the rules below are a
+#     separate group. (The old claim that its scrape job was deleted is false:
+#     it re-joined the day it left the FreeToken engine and is `up` today.)
 # (The netavark published-port quirk that forces the Dankclaw endpoints
 # onto the gateway is same-host only.)
 #
@@ -22,7 +27,8 @@
 #     cached by cached + prompt.
 #   * Speculative decoding: drafts and accepted tokens are both counters,
 #     so LlmSpecDecodeOff watches the pair.
-#   * No latency histograms exist, so there is no p95 alert.
+#   * No latency histograms in llama.cpp, so no p95 alert there; radiance's
+#     vllm:* namespace DOES export one, so the vllm-fleet group alerts on it.
 #
 # IMPORTANT: delivery. Since 2026-09-17 a firing alert reaches Frank on
 # Signal: Prometheus pushes to Alertmanager (dankclaw/observability/quadlet/
@@ -112,6 +118,84 @@ groups:
           description: >-
             Prometheus cannot reach the LLM endpoint. frank-zealot and
             frank-dragoon are root units on Dankclaw: `systemctl is-active
-            frank-zealot` / `frank-dragoon`. Both scraped endpoints export
-            the llamacpp:* family. (frank-archon left the scrape set
-            2026-10-05 — FreeToken exports no /metrics.)
+            frank-zealot` / `frank-dragoon` (both export llamacpp:* —
+            dragoon via halogen's llama.cpp-compatible names). frank-archon
+            is a radiance endpoint on Dankserver (`systemctl show
+            frank-archon` there) exporting the vllm:* family; the
+            `frank-.*` selector covers all three regardless of namespace.
+
+  # frank-archon (radiance) exports the vLLM-compatible namespace, NOT
+  # llamacpp:*. Every rule here is keyed to a series the exporter actually
+  # emits (verified from /metrics 2026-10-20: num_requests_waiting,
+  # gpu_prefix_cache_hit_rate, num_preemptions_total, prompt_tokens_total,
+  # time_to_first_token_seconds). The llamacpp rules above evaluate nothing for
+  # this job and these evaluate nothing for llama.cpp/halogen — two clean
+  # namespaces, each keyed only to what its runtime exports.
+  - name: vllm-fleet
+    interval: 30s
+    rules:
+      # p95 time-to-first-token, shared with the dashboard. When the endpoint
+      # is idle every bucket rate is zero, histogram_quantile yields NaN, and
+      # neither this nor the alert below can fire on an idle engine.
+      - record: job:vllm_ttft_p95:rate5m
+        expr: |
+          histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (job, le)
+              (rate(vllm:time_to_first_token_seconds_bucket[5m])))
+
+      # Radiance exports a real queue-depth gauge (llama.cpp only shows the
+      # wall as requests_deferred). --max-num-seqs is small, so a sustained
+      # wait is either real load or this endpoint carrying the fleet alone.
+      - alert: VllmRequestsQueueing
+        expr: vllm:num_requests_waiting > 0
+        for: 10m
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+        annotations:
+          summary: "{{ $labels.job }}: requests waiting for 10 minutes"
+          description: >-
+            The radiance scheduler has requests queued. Either the fleet is
+            genuinely busy or this endpoint is carrying it alone.
+
+      # Radiance reports prefix reuse directly as a hit-rate gauge — no
+      # counter division needed. The token-rate floor keeps an idle engine
+      # (hit rate 0 with no traffic) from firing.
+      - alert: VllmPrefixCacheCollapse
+        expr: >-
+          vllm:gpu_prefix_cache_hit_rate < 0.20
+            and rate(vllm:prompt_tokens_total[5m]) > 0.05
+        for: 15m
+        labels:
+          severity: info
+        annotations:
+          summary: "{{ $labels.job }}: prefix hit rate below 20 % for 15 minutes"
+          description: >-
+            Nearly every request prefilling from scratch. With several large
+            contexts in flight this is the capacity wall, not a routing fault.
+
+      # Preemption is the KV-thrash signature radiance reports that llama.cpp
+      # cannot: the engine evicts a running request to admit another. Any
+      # sustained rate means the KV cache cannot hold the concurrency in flight.
+      - alert: VllmPreempting
+        expr: rate(vllm:num_preemptions_total[5m]) > 0
+        for: 5m
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+        annotations:
+          summary: "{{ $labels.job }}: engine preempting requests"
+          description: >-
+            The engine is evicting running requests to admit new ones — the KV
+            cache is undersized for the concurrency in flight.
+
+      # p95 first-token latency, kept HIGH on purpose: a large-prompt prefill
+      # legitimately spends many seconds before token 1, so this fires only on
+      # a wedged scheduler or a queue backed up behind one request.
+      - alert: VllmTtftSlow
+        expr: job:vllm_ttft_p95:rate5m > 120
+        for: 10m
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+        annotations:
+          summary: "{{ $labels.job }}: p95 time-to-first-token over 120 s"
+          description: >-
+            First-token latency is pathological, not an honest big prefill.
+            Likely a wedged scheduler or one request stalling the queue.

tests/caddyfile.bats

@@ -193,7 +193,18 @@ CADDYFILE="$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/Caddyfile"
 }
 
 @test "prometheus targets are host:port (no URL schemes)" {
-    ! grep -nE '^\s*-\s*"?http' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
+    # Plain scrape targets are host:port; a URL target is only meaningful for
+    # the blackbox prober job, whose relabel_configs copy it to __param_target
+    # and point __address__ at the prober. Anywhere else a URL target is the
+    # old HTML-probe defect wearing a new hat.
+    awk '
+        /job_name:/ { job=$0; sub(/.*"/, "", job); sub(/".*/, "", job); probe = 0 }
+        /metrics_path: \/probe/ { probe = 1 }
+        /^[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*"http/ && !probe {
+            print FILENAME ":" FNR ": URL target outside a prober job: " $0; bad = 1
+        }
+        END { exit bad }
+    ' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
 }
 
 @test "observability containers run as container root (rootless = host user)" {
@@ -240,14 +251,12 @@ CADDYFILE="$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/Caddyfile"
 }
 
 @test "alloy's UI address comes from the unit, not the config file" {
-    # alloy 1.x refuses to configure the ui service from a config block
-    # ("service ui does not support being configured"), so the unit moves the
-    # UI off the container's loopback with a command-line flag. Without that
-    # flag the port cannot be published and the service has no reachable
-    # health endpoint at all — which is why the homepage status card for
-    # alloy read "down" while it ran under compose.
+    # alloy 1.x refuses to configure the ui service from a config block, so the
+    # unit sets the UI address on the command line. As a Network=host root unit
+    # that address is the host loopback directly (no PublishPort) — reachable
+    # from the host, from nothing off-host.
     ! grep -qE '^(ui|server) \{' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/alloy/config.alloy"
     local unit="$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/observability/quadlet/alloy.container"
-    grep -q -- '--server.http.listen-addr=0.0.0.0:12345' "$unit"
-    grep -q '^PublishPort=127.0.0.1:12345:12345$' "$unit"
+    grep -q -- '--server.http.listen-addr=127.0.0.1:12345' "$unit"
+    ! grep -q '^PublishPort=' "$unit"
 }

tests/deployment_flow.bats

@@ -125,3 +125,48 @@ load helpers
     [ ! -e "$sandbox/frank-default-sightsound" ]
     [ -e "$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/.AGENTTRASH/$(date +%Y%m%d)-retired-deploy-state/frank-default-sightsound" ]
 }
+
+@test "the client and remote allowlists agree per target" {
+    # Two gates guard `deploy.sh --service X`: the client's valid_service and
+    # the remote runner's service_is_allowed. When only one side gained a
+    # service the other answered "is not deployed on <target>" and the only
+    # repair path was a fleet-wide drain — cadvisor and gpu-exporter both fell
+    # through this crack within a day of each other. The lists MUST agree;
+    # searxng-network is the one sanctioned exception (client-only network
+    # unit, no remote dispatch handler).
+    run env OUT="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR" bash -c '
+        grep -oE "dank(claw|server):[a-z0-9-]+" \
+            <(sed -n "/^valid_service()/,/^}/p" "$1/scripts/deploy.sh") \
+            | grep -v "dankclaw:searxng-network" | sort -u > "$OUT/cli"
+        grep -oE "dank(claw|server):[a-z0-9-]+" \
+            <(sed -n "/^service_is_allowed()/,/^}/p" "$1/scripts/deploy-remote.sh") \
+            | sort -u > "$OUT/rem"
+        diff "$OUT/cli" "$OUT/rem"
+    ' _ "$REPO_ROOT"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "deploy.sh vs deploy-remote.sh allowlist drift:"; echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    # Drift aside, the gate must actually know the host-process exporters —
+    # their first-ever deploy has to pass the client gate.
+    for pair in dankclaw:cadvisor dankclaw:gpu-exporter dankserver:cadvisor dankserver:gpu-exporter; do
+        grep -q "$pair" "$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/cli" || { echo "client gate missing $pair"; return 1; }
+    done
+}
+
+@test "every gated dankclaw service is dispatched" {
+    # A service can clear both allowlists and still die inside the deployer:
+    # dankclaw has no compose file, and deploy_compose_service (the case
+    # catch-all) hard-fails with "no quadlet handler" since 2026-09-16. So
+    # every name the remote gate allows for dankclaw MUST be named by a
+    # deploy_service pattern — blackbox-exporter (2026-10-21) shipped with
+    # both gates and the health gate wired but no dispatch case, and only
+    # the deploy attempt found it.
+    run env OUT="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR" bash -c '
+        grep -oE "dankclaw:[a-z0-9-]+" \
+            <(sed -n "/^service_is_allowed()/,/^}/p" "$1/scripts/deploy-remote.sh") \
+            | cut -d: -f2 | sort -u > "$OUT/gated"
+        sed -n "/^deploy_service()/,/^}/p" "$1/scripts/deploy-remote.sh" \
+            | grep -oE "^ +[a-z][a-z0-9|-]*\)" | tr -d " )" | tr "|" "\n" \
+            | sort -u > "$OUT/dispatched"
+        comm -23 "$OUT/gated" "$OUT/dispatched"
+    ' _ "$REPO_ROOT"
+    [ -z "$output" ] || { echo "gated dankclaw services with no deploy_service case:"; echo "$output"; return 1; }
+}

tests/deployment_scoping.bats

@@ -247,3 +247,21 @@ REMOTE_DEPLOY="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
         }
     done
 }
+
+@test "the fabric-clock host unit re-dispatches frank-dragoon and stages nothing else" {
+    # The hold is the NPU lane's boot precondition and the deployer installs and
+    # gates it, so a change to it has to reach the endpoint. The tracked boot
+    # line under the same directory is a hand-taken reboot decision and must
+    # never plan a restart, and staging the NPU model files is host-side state
+    # like every other download script.
+    run python3 "$PLANNER" --target dankclaw --paths \
+        dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock.service
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "frank-dragoon" ]
+    run python3 "$PLANNER" --target dankclaw --paths dankclaw/host/grub
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ -z "$output" ]
+    run python3 "$PLANNER" --target dankclaw --paths scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ -z "$output" ]
+}

tests/e2e/playwright.config.ts

@@ -29,8 +29,14 @@ export default defineConfig({
       // green suite with a test that does not exist. 17- joined on 2026-09-16
       // (the hermes vhost, whose upstream is a host address rather than a
       // container name, so it needs its own pass condition). 18- joined on
-      // 2026-09-24 (OpenWebUI SSO through authentik).
-      testMatch: /(10|12|13|16|17|18)-.*\.spec\.ts/,
+      // 2026-09-24 (OpenWebUI SSO through authentik). 20- joined on 2026-10-21
+      // (Grafana's OAuth2 relying-party login, which the edge-only 13- never
+      // follows). 21- joined 2026-10-21 (the open-notebook vhost, deployed
+      // 2026-10-19 - the newest guarded app, in neither GUARDED list nor any
+      // spec until now: the 17-hermes "uncovered vhost broke silently" class).
+      // 22- joins Prometheus's app-is-really-there proof (its own API), closing
+      // the "not a login wall but maybe a 404" hole 20- closed for Grafana.
+      testMatch: /(10|12|13|16|17|18|20|21|22)-.*\.spec\.ts/,
       use: { storageState: ".auth/qa-e2e.json" },
       dependencies: ["setup"],
     },

tests/e2e/specs/14-guard.spec.ts

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ const BASE = "https://www.franksdank.cloud";
 // Every vhost that Caddy routes through anubis:8923 (see dankclaw/Caddyfile).
 // Keep this list in lockstep with the Caddyfile: a new guarded vhost must be
 // added here or the guard-chain audit is incomplete.
-const GUARDED = ["www", "search", "romm", "files", "seerr", "grafana", "prometheus", "loki"];
+const GUARDED = ["www", "search", "romm", "files", "seerr", "grafana", "prometheus", "loki", "notebook"];
 
 // Markers that prove app content leaked past the guard to an anonymous user.
 const LEAK_MARKERS: Record<string, string[]> = {
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ const LEAK_MARKERS: Record<string, string[]> = {
   "seerr.franksdank.cloud": ["Request Movie"],
   "grafana.franksdank.cloud": ["Dashboards"],
   "prometheus.franksdank.cloud": ["Expression Browser", "Graph"],
+  "notebook.franksdank.cloud": ["Open Notebook"],
 };
 
 test("homepage root (/) is guarded for unauthenticated users", async ({ page }) => {

tests/e2e/specs/20-grafana-sso.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+// Grafana (grafana.franksdank.cloud) is an OAuth2 RELYING PARTY, not an
+// outpost-fronted proxy: the guard chain (13-sso) only proves an authenticated
+// session reaches Grafana's login page. The login itself happens through
+// Grafana's own "Sign in with Authentik" button, which the edge test never
+// follows — that is exactly how the RP login could be dead (500 on authorize,
+// or an email-claim gap bouncing back to /login) while 13- still passed green.
+// This spec drives the real RP round-trip and asserts a live Grafana session.
+
+const HOST = "grafana.franksdank.cloud";
+const CHALLENGE = "Making sure you're not a bot";
+
+test("SSO: Grafana relying-party login lands a real session", async ({ page, request }) => {
+  test.setTimeout(180_000);
+
+  // Warm the guard: the vhost runs its own Anubis proof-of-work on first visit.
+  await page.goto(`https://${HOST}/`);
+  await expect
+    .poll(
+      async () => !(await page.locator("body").innerText()).includes(CHALLENGE),
+      { timeout: 90_000 },
+    )
+    .toBe(true);
+
+  // The "Sign in with Authentik" button targets this RP start URL exactly.
+  // Going straight there is the same code path without depending on the SPA's
+  // button markup.
+  await page.goto(`https://${HOST}/login/generic_oauth`);
+
+  // The chain: grafana -> auth (implicit consent, the session is already
+  // there) -> back to grafana with the code -> grafana provisions the user and
+  // redirects to "/". A dead provider/claims config bounces back to /login.
+  await expect
+    .poll(
+      async () => {
+        const u = new URL(page.url());
+        return u.hostname === HOST && u.pathname !== "/login";
+      },
+      { timeout: 90_000 },
+    )
+    .toBe(true);
+
+  const body = await page.locator("body").innerText();
+  expect(body).not.toContain("Login failed");
+  expect(body.toLowerCase()).not.toContain("powered by authentik"); // IdP flow shell
+  expect(body).not.toContain(CHALLENGE);
+
+  // A genuine logged-in session exists: /api/user answers 200 with an email,
+  // not 401. This is the assertion the edge-only spec could never make.
+  const resp = await page.request.get(`https://${HOST}/api/user`);
+  expect(resp.status()).toBe(200);
+  const user = await resp.json();
+  expect(typeof user.email).toBe("string");
+  expect(user.email.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+});

tests/e2e/specs/21-notebook.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+// open-notebook (notebook.franksdank.cloud), deployed 2026-10-19, is a guarded
+// vhost whose outpost (notebook-proxy) fronts an app with its OWN password
+// login - the same shape as hermes (17-) and OpenWebUI (18-): the guard chain
+// (Anubis PoW -> authentik outpost) must hand off to the app, and the app's own
+// login page is the expected landing. Until now this host appeared in neither
+// the 13-/14- GUARDED lists nor any dedicated spec, so a broken upstream would
+// have stayed invisible - the exact 17-hermes "uncovered vhost" failure class.
+// 14- now covers the unauthenticated gate; this spec owns authenticated
+// reachability with a POSITIVE app marker, not just "not a login wall".
+
+const VHOST = "https://notebook.franksdank.cloud/";
+const CHALLENGE = "Making sure you're not a bot";
+
+test("notebook vhost reaches the open-notebook app through the guard chain", async ({ page }) => {
+  test.setTimeout(180_000);
+  await page.goto(VHOST);
+
+  // The Anubis proof-of-work clears in a real browser and the outpost hands off
+  // to the app; the user must never be parked on an authentik flow.
+  await expect
+    .poll(async () => !(await page.locator("body").innerText()).includes(CHALLENGE), { timeout: 90_000 })
+    .toBe(true);
+  await expect
+    .poll(() => new URL(page.url()).hostname, { timeout: 60_000 })
+    .toBe("notebook.franksdank.cloud");
+  expect(
+    new URL(page.url()).pathname.startsWith("/if/"),
+    "must not be parked on an authentik flow",
+  ).toBe(false);
+  expect(
+    await page.locator('input[name="uidField"]').count(),
+    "must not show the authentik login form",
+  ).toBe(0);
+
+  // Positive identity: the page really is open-notebook's own login, not a
+  // Caddy error or the IdP shell. The app answering its own login is the pass.
+  await expect(page, "destination title must be Open Notebook").toHaveTitle(/open notebook/i, {
+    timeout: 30_000,
+  });
+  await expect(page.locator("body"), "open-notebook login marker").toContainText(
+    /enter your password/i,
+    { timeout: 30_000 },
+  );
+  const body = await page.locator("body").innerText();
+  expect(body, "must not leak the IdP flow shell").not.toContain("Powered by authentik");
+  expect(body, "must not be a Caddy upstream error").not.toContain("Bad Gateway");
+
+  const resp = await page.request.get(VHOST);
+  expect(resp.status(), "open-notebook must answer, not error").toBeLessThan(500);
+});

tests/e2e/specs/22-prometheus-sso.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+// Prometheus (prometheus.franksdank.cloud) sits behind the same embedded outpost
+// as Grafana. 13-sso and 11-admin only ever assert it is "not a login wall and
+// under 500" - which a Prometheus serving a 404 or a blank page would ALSO pass.
+// This is the app-is-really-there proof 20- provides for Grafana: with the
+// standard session the outpost hands off silently to the Prometheus UI, and the
+// app's own API answers success. A guard-route or upstream regression that lets
+// any non-Prometheus answer through fails here.
+
+test("SSO: Prometheus app answers its own API through authentik", async ({ page, request }) => {
+  test.setTimeout(180_000);
+  await page.goto("https://prometheus.franksdank.cloud/");
+
+  // Challenge clears, outpost hands off silently to the app (no credential prompt).
+  await expect
+    .poll(
+      async () => !(await page.locator("body").innerText()).includes("Making sure you're not a bot"),
+      { timeout: 90_000 },
+    )
+    .toBe(true);
+  await expect
+    .poll(() => new URL(page.url()).hostname, { timeout: 60_000 })
+    .toBe("prometheus.franksdank.cloud");
+  expect(await page.locator('input[name="uidField"]').count(), "no authentik form").toBe(0);
+  await expect(page, "must land on the Prometheus UI").toHaveTitle(/prometheus/i, { timeout: 30_000 });
+
+  // Load-bearing assertion: the Prometheus API itself answers, authenticated,
+  // through the outpost. An IdP bounce, a 404, or a raw upstream error fails here.
+  const api = await request.get("https://prometheus.franksdank.cloud/api/v1/status/buildinfo");
+  expect(api.status(), "Prometheus API must answer 200 through the guard").toBe(200);
+  expect((await api.json()).status, "Prometheus API must report success").toBe("success");
+});

tests/frank_archon_unit.bats

@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ nosudo_bin() {
     # (torch.compile query_start_loc constraint, 2026-10-02); radiance booted
     # seqs 2 in the fp8-native era and the 2026-10-06 sweep had seqs 2 and 3
     # tied inside the +-3% noise floor — slots buy concurrency, not speed.
-    grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_SEQS=2$' "$ENV_FILE"
+    grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_SEQS=4$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_TP=2$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_TP_WIRE=wht6$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_SPEC_TOKENS=2$' "$ENV_FILE"
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ nosudo_bin() {
     # so the pool's token count is a boot-ledger line — verified live by the
     # capacity leg of scripts/probe-frank-archon-kv.py at every cutover.
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_PLACEMENT=expert_tiered$' "$ENV_FILE"
-    grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_HOST_POOL_MIB=44928$' "$ENV_FILE"
+    grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_HOST_POOL_MIB=49152$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_KV_DTYPE=fp8$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_NGRAM_PLACEMENT=ram$' "$ENV_FILE"
     # Prefix cache: pinned host RAM only (the disk tier was removed), and the
@@ -177,8 +177,11 @@ nosudo_bin() {
     [ "$ttmt" -gt "$ttmm" ]
     pool=$(awk -F= '/^FRANK_ARCHON_HOST_POOL_MIB=/{print $2}' "$ENV_FILE")
     ph=$(awk -F= '/^FRANK_ARCHON_PREFIX_CACHE_MIB=/{print $2}' "$ENV_FILE")
-    # 2 pools + PLE 47.7 GiB (48,824 MiB) + prefix host, rounded up.
-    ledger=$(( 2 * pool + 48824 + ph + 2048 ))
+    # 2 pools + PLE 47.7 GiB (48,824 MiB) + prefix host + MNBT + the auto
+    # checkpoint store (MAX_SEQS x 10 slots of 112 MiB -- the store is pinned host
+    # memory too, and it grows with the slot count).
+    seqs=$(awk -F= '/^FRANK_ARCHON_MAX_SEQS=/{print $2}' "$ENV_FILE")
+    ledger=$(( 2 * pool + 48824 + ph + 2048 + seqs * 10 * 112 ))
     [ "$ttmm" -ge "$ledger" ]
     # The .rad size floor is positive (a truncated convert must fail fast).
     grep -q '^FRANK_ARCHON_RAD_MIN_MIB=' "$ENV_FILE"

tests/frank_dragoon_unit.bats

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # of the abliterated Qwen3.8-Flash-Next (a .hgn flash-server payload) on the
 # Strix Halo iGPU through the halogen-flash-server CONTAINER (0.16.2,
 # digest-pinned), driven by the root unit's serve script — 2 slots over ONE
-# 200,704-position KV pool with the MTP head always on (HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0)
+# 401,408-position KV pool at the native 262,144 ceiling, MTP head always on (HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0)
 # and the vision tower mounted. 2026-10-17 cutover from the Swift1.5-finetune
 # shape, which itself cut over the halogen 27B-dense shape on 2026-10-06.
 #
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ setup() {
     ENV_FILE="$ROOT/scripts/frank-dragoon.env"
     UNIT="$ROOT/scripts/frank-dragoon.service"
     DEPLOYER="$ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
+    HOST_UNIT="$ROOT/dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock"
+    HOST_SERVICE="$ROOT/dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock.service"
+    NPU_FETCH="$ROOT/scripts/download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh"
+    NPU_RULE="$ROOT/dankclaw/udev/98-halogen-npu-access.rules"
     BUILD="$ROOT/scripts/build-rocmfpx.sh"
     TEST_TMP="$(mktemp -d)"
     touch "$TEST_TMP/empty.env"
@@ -81,7 +85,7 @@ good_env() {
         "FRANK_DRAGOON_VISION_BYTES=0"
         "FRANK_DRAGOON_TOKENIZER_FILES=tok.json"
         "HALOGEN_MODEL_ID=frank-dragoon"
-        "HALOGEN_CTX=200704"
+        "HALOGEN_CTX=262144"
         "HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408"
         "HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2"
         "HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0"
@@ -155,9 +159,11 @@ good_env() {
     reserve="$(sed -nE 's/^HALOGEN_HOST_RESERVE_GIB=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
     # The pool is ONE budget behind the slots (boot ledger form: "2 slots over
     # ONE <pool>-position KV pool, each request up to HALOGEN_CTX"), NOT
-    # a per-slot private pool. Since 2026-10-18 it is sized pool = slots * ctx
-    # (401,408 = 2 x 200,704), so two MAXIMUM-length conversations can be
-    # resident at once — frank-zealot parity on total in-flight context. What
+    # a per-slot private pool. Since 2026-10-21 the ceiling is the checkpoint's
+    # native 262,144 while the pool stays 401,408 (raised 2026-10-18): two
+    # MAXIMUM harness-length (200,000-token) conversations are resident at once;
+    # two literal ceiling-length requests would queue — widening that is a pool
+    # raise, not a window move.
     # still binds: the pool must back ONE full-length request (below that the
     # advertised per-request ceiling would be unreachable, hence pool >= ctx),
     # it must not pretend to be more than slots x ctx (pool <= slots * ctx), and
@@ -167,6 +173,14 @@ good_env() {
     kv_gib=$(( pool * 28 * 1024 / 1073741824 ))
     arena_tenths=$(( 38 + 84 * mt / 16384 ))
     total_gib=$(( 62 + kv_gib + arena_tenths / 10 + 2 + reserve + 15 ))
+    # The NPU lane bills extra pinned host RAM per named model (the vendor's
+    # budget note: ~2 GiB for an embedding/decider/rerank-sized program, more
+    # for FLUX-class ones), and the lane is named in the shipped env, so the
+    # ledger must still close on a 121 GiB unified-memory host.
+    npu_models=0
+    npu="$(sed -nE 's/^HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    [ -n "$npu" ] && npu_models="$(echo "${npu//,/ }" | wc -w)"
+    total_gib=$(( total_gib + 2 * npu_models ))
     [ "$total_gib" -le 121 ]
 }
 
@@ -275,7 +289,7 @@ $(cat "$TEST_TMP/serve.log")"
     [[ "$output" == *"--name frank-dragoon-halogen"* ]]
     [[ "$output" == *"--publish 7770:8731"* ]]
     [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_MODEL_ID=frank-dragoon"* ]]
-    [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_CTX=200704"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_CTX=262144"* ]]
     [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_KV_POOL_POSITIONS=401408"* ]]
     [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_KV_SLOTS=2"* ]]
     [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_SPEC_ADAPT=0"* ]]
@@ -294,27 +308,32 @@ $(cat "$TEST_TMP/serve.log")"
 
 @test "the shipped env keeps the harness fit law inside the ceiling" {
     # HALOGEN_CTX is the hard per-request ceiling (a longer prompt is a 400
-    # naming the limit, never a silent truncation). The law is INVARIANT to
-    # the value: the harness window must sit ~45k UNDER it, because the
-    # harness clamps max_tokens = min(45056, window − est − 4096), compacts
-    # at 85 % of its declared window, and its chars/4 est UNDER-counts the
-    # rendered prompt by ~3 % on code/agent traffic (measured 4,450 tokens at
-    # est 152,938 on 2026-10-07 — with window == ceiling, every request over
-    # ~65 % of the window was a guaranteed 400 before compaction could fire).
-    # The shipped pair is ctx 200704 / window 155648 (lowered from
-    # 262144/217088 on 2026-10-17); the gap must absorb the error at BOTH
-    # monotone maxima of est + budget (est ≤ window − 4096):
-    #   full budget at the compaction threshold: 1.03*132300 + 45056
-    #   clamped budget at the clamp's zero point: 1.03*151552 + 0
-    # and the compaction request that rides on frank-zealot (its
-    # 200,704-token slot) must fit: input ≈ threshold − keepRecent(20k).
-    grep -qE '^HALOGEN_CTX=200704$' "$ENV_FILE"
-    ctx=200704
-    hw=155648; mt=45056
-    thr=$(( hw * 85 / 100 ))
+    # naming the limit, never a silent truncation). The law: the harness
+    # window must sit ~45k UNDER the ceiling, because the harness clamps
+    # max_tokens = min(45056, window − est − 4096), compacts at the trigger
+    # percent of its declared window, and its chars/4 est UNDER-counts the
+    # rendered prompt by ~3 % on code/agent traffic (measured 4,450 tokens
+    # at est 152,938 on 2026-10-07 — with window ≈ ceiling, every long
+    # request is a guaranteed 400 before compaction can fire). The 2026-10-21
+    # pair: ceiling 262144 (native) under a harness window of 200,000.
+    # The declared window is read from the endpoint page — the one owner —
+    # so env, models.yml and page that disagree FAIL HERE, not as a 400
+    # mid-session (the recurring failure this seam exists for).
+    grep -qE '^HALOGEN_CTX=262144$' "$ENV_FILE"
+    ctx="$(sed -nE 's/^HALOGEN_CTX=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    page="$ROOT/serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/frank-dragoon.md"
+    grep -qE 'contextWindow: 200000' "$page"
+    hw="$(grep -oE 'contextWindow: [0-9]+' "$page" | head -1 | grep -oE '[0-9]+')"
+    mt=45056
+    # Invariant checked at the live 95 % trigger (config.yml
+    # thresholdPercent) — strictly stronger than the 85 % design point.
+    # Both monotone maxima of est + budget (est ≤ window − 4096):
+    thr=$(( hw * 95 / 100 ))
     [ $(( thr * 103 / 100 + mt )) -le "$ctx" ]
     zero=$(( hw - 4096 ))
     [ $(( zero * 103 / 100 )) -le "$ctx" ]
+    # The compaction request rides on frank-zealot's 200,704-token slot:
+    # input ≈ threshold − keepRecent(20k).
     [ $(( (thr - 20000) * 103 / 100 )) -le 200704 ]
 }
 
@@ -339,6 +358,18 @@ $(cat "$TEST_TMP/serve.log")"
     grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_FILES=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_TOK_FILES:-$tokf}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
     bytes="$(sed -nE 's/^FRANK_DRAGOON_CHECKPOINT_BYTES=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
     grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT_BYTES=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_CKPT_BYTES:-$bytes}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
+    # The NPU twins: the lane switches on the same value on both sides. A blank
+    # env line with a named deployer default (or the reverse) is the 2026-10-01
+    # disagreement again — one side gates a lane the other does not build.
+    npu_dir="$(sed -nE 's/^FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    npu_models="$(sed -nE 's/^HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR:-$npu_dir}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS:-$npu_models}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
+    # The deployer's own copy of the payload dir is what the lane's containment
+    # gate compares against — a stale twin would wave a bad staging path through.
+    grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_MODEL_DIR:-$dir}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
+    net="$(sed -nE 's/^FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK=(.*)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    grep -qF "LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK=\"\${LLM_DRAGOON_NETWORK:-$net}\"" "$DEPLOYER"
 }
 
 @test "the deployer points a missing artifact at the v2abl fetch script" {
@@ -383,3 +414,265 @@ $(cat "$TEST_TMP/serve.log")"
     grep -qE 'GPU_TARGET=.*gfx1151' "$BUILD"
     grep -qE 'DLLAMA_BUILD_WEBUI=OFF' "$BUILD"
 }
+
+# --- the NPU lane (XDNA2) ----------------------------------------------------
+# Opt-in lane added 2026-10-19: halogen runs the vendor's precompiled AIE
+# programs for the models HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS names on the NPU inside the SAME
+# container (they answer /v1/embeddings on 7770). Two things make this seam
+# worth pinning: the lane must be genuinely OFF when the variable is blank (the
+# rollback is one line, so the render must show nothing lane-specific), and
+# every host precondition the engine needs — the accel node, the distro XRT's
+# three libraries, the staged model files, the held GPU fabric clock — must be
+# refused BY NAME instead of surfacing as an engine crash-loop.
+
+npu_fixture() {
+    # 0666 like the installed node: a rootless container's namespace cannot open
+    # the stock root:render 0660 mode, and the serve gate checks exactly that.
+    touch "$TEST_TMP/accel0"
+    chmod 666 "$TEST_TMP/accel0"
+    # basename carries a multiarch shape: the third mount prefix is derived
+    # from the XRT dir's basename (the NPU child searches
+    # /opt/xilinx/lib/<multiarch>/, measured 2026-10-21).
+    mkdir -p "$TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu"
+    for l in libxrt_coreutil.so.2 libxrt_core.so.2 libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2; do
+        touch "$TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l"
+    done
+    mkdir -p "$TEST_TMP/npu/qwen3-embedding-0.6b/devices"
+    mkdir -p "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm/card1/device"
+    printf '0: 400Mhz \n7: 2000Mhz *\n' > "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm/card1/device/pp_dpm_fclk"
+    printf 'manual\n' > "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level"
+    NPU_ENV=(
+        "HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=qwen3-embedding-0.6b"
+        "FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=$TEST_TMP/npu"
+        "FRANK_DRAGOON_DEV_ACCEL=$TEST_TMP/accel0"
+        "FRANK_DRAGOON_XRT_DIR=$TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu"
+        "FRANK_DRAGOON_SYSFS=$TEST_TMP/sys"
+    )
+}
+
+# run_with_log <args...> — run the serve script and fold its own stderr plus
+# the podman stub's argv (which the script redirects into the log) into
+# $output, so both refusal text and render assertions read one variable.
+run_with_log() {
+    run env PATH="$TEST_TMP/bin:$PATH" "${GOOD_ENV[@]}" "${NPU_ENV[@]}" "$@" "$SERVE"
+    if [ -f "$TEST_TMP/serve.log" ]; then
+        output="$output
+$(cat "$TEST_TMP/serve.log")"
+    fi
+}
+
+@test "the lane is off when HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS is blank: no device, no mounts, no engine env" {
+    # The rollback is blanking one env line, so "off" has to be observable in
+    # the command podman would run — not just implied by an absent log line.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    run_with_log HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"--publish 7770:8731"* ]]
+    ! grep -q '/models/npu' "$TEST_TMP/serve.log"
+    ! grep -q 'HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS' "$TEST_TMP/serve.log"
+    ! grep -q 'xilinx' "$TEST_TMP/serve.log"
+    ! grep -q 'accel0' "$TEST_TMP/serve.log"
+}
+
+@test "the lane arms the accel node, the staged model dir and each XRT library three times" {
+    # Each library mounts at the image's XRT path, at its own path (the distro
+    # libraries find each other where they were installed), and at
+    # /opt/xilinx/lib/<multiarch>/ — the prefix the NPU child searches and
+    # names when it is missing (`No such library
+    # '/opt/xilinx/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxrt_core.so.2'`, measured
+    # 2026-10-21: the lane died and the supervisor took the whole container
+    # with it, 88-restart loop). An /opt/xilinx/xrt of symlinks into the
+    # system dir dangles inside the container (the vendor calls that out).
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"--device $TEST_TMP/accel0"* ]]
+    # The lane's files ride the payload mount: /models is a read-only bind and
+    # runc cannot mkdir a nested /models/npu mountpoint through it (measured
+    # 2026-10-19), so the staging dir lives INSIDE the payload dir and gets no
+    # -v of its own.
+    [[ "$output" == *"-v $TEST_TMP:/models:ro"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" != *":/models/npu"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=qwen3-embedding-0.6b"* ]]
+    for l in libxrt_coreutil.so.2 libxrt_core.so.2 libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2; do
+        [[ "$output" == *"-v $TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l:/opt/xilinx/xrt/lib/$l:ro"* ]]
+        [[ "$output" == *"-v $TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l:$TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l:ro"* ]]
+        [[ "$output" == *"-v $TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l:/opt/xilinx/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/$l:ro"* ]]
+    done
+    # The Flash payload still rides the same container: the lane is additive.
+    [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_CHECKPOINT=/models/qwen.hgn"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses a staging dir outside the payload dir and says why" {
+    # A staging dir outside the payload dir needs a nested bind the read-only
+    # /models mount cannot host: runc dies at container init, which is AFTER the
+    # deployer has stopped the old unit — so the shape is refused here, before
+    # anything is rendered.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    run_with_log FRANK_DRAGOON_NPU_DIR=/elsewhere/npu
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"/elsewhere/npu"*"outside the payload dir"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" != *"--device"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses a model that is not staged and names the fetch script" {
+    # The engine cannot fetch these at boot here (/models is read-only and
+    # HALOGEN_DOWNLOAD stays unset), so an un-staged name must stop the unit
+    # before podman runs, with the command that fixes it.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    rm -rf "$TEST_TMP/npu/qwen3-embedding-0.6b"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"qwen3-embedding-0.6b"*"not staged"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"download-frank-dragoon-npu.sh"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses without the accel node and says what to check" {
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    rm "$TEST_TMP/accel0"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"$TEST_TMP/accel0 missing"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"iommu=pt"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses an NPU node the container namespace could not open, and names the rule" {
+    # Stock Debian mode is root:render 0660. The engine's own first words on such
+    # a node are "this process cannot open it (crw-rw---- nobody:nogroup)" and no
+    # flag fixes a mode an unmapped gid cannot cross (keep-groups measured dead
+    # 2026-10-19), so the unit refuses instead of crash-looping 189 times.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    chmod 660 "$TEST_TMP/accel0"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"$TEST_TMP/accel0 is 660"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"98-halogen-npu-access.rules"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" != *"--device"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the NPU access rule is the accel counterpart of the GPU compute rule" {
+    [ -f "$NPU_RULE" ]
+    grep -qE '^KERNEL=="accel\[0-9\]\*", SUBSYSTEM=="accel", MODE="0666"$' "$NPU_RULE"
+    # The deployer installs the rule and re-triggers the node BEFORE it trusts
+    # the mode, so a machine that never had it self-heals instead of refusing.
+    grep -qE '98-halogen-npu-access\.rules' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'udevadm control --reload-rules' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'udevadm trigger --sysname-match=' "$DEPLOYER"
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses when an XRT NPU library is missing" {
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    rm "$TEST_TMP/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"libxrt_driver_xdna.so.2 missing"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses while the fabric clock is moving" {
+    # The engine itself refuses to start in this state (GPU+NPU co-run hangs
+    # Strix Halo while FCLK changes speed) but cannot see host sysfs from
+    # inside the container — the proof has to happen on the host side.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    printf 'auto\n' > "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"not held"* ]]
+    [[ "$output" == *"sudo halogen-fabric-clock hold"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane refuses when no fabric-clock control can be read" {
+    # A host whose sysfs exposes nothing cannot PROVE the hold, and a silent
+    # pass here is a boot that dies in the engine instead.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    rm -rf "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"cannot prove"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the lane also passes when the clock is held at the high level" {
+    # The vendor's status accepts `high` as well as `manual` + the top fclk
+    # level; refusing a correctly-held host would block a deploy for nothing.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    npu_fixture
+    printf 'high\n' > "$TEST_TMP/sys/class/drm/card1/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level"
+    run_with_log
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"-e HALOGEN_NPU_MODELS=qwen3-embedding-0.6b"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the deployer gates the same lane artifacts and installs the fabric-clock unit" {
+    grep -qE 'LLM_DRAGOON_NPU_MODELS' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'install -m 0755 dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'install -m 0644 dankclaw/host/halogen-fabric-clock\.service' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'halogen-fabric-clock status' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE 'download-frank-dragoon-npu\.sh' "$DEPLOYER"
+    # The lane's own health gate is a real embedding, not a 200 on /health.
+    grep -qE '/v1/embeddings' "$DEPLOYER"
+    # Parity with the serve gate: a staging dir outside the payload dir is
+    # refused before the restart, not left to runc.
+    grep -qE 'outside the payload dir' "$DEPLOYER"
+}
+
+@test "the fabric-clock host unit is the vendor shape and boots on its own" {
+    [ -x "$HOST_UNIT" ]
+    grep -qE '^  (hold\)|release\)|status\))' "$HOST_UNIT"
+    grep -qE 'pp_dpm_fclk' "$HOST_UNIT"
+    grep -qE '^Type=oneshot$' "$HOST_SERVICE"
+    grep -qE '^WantedBy=.*multi-user\.target' "$HOST_SERVICE"
+    # A resume hands the clock back to the driver, so the unit must re-run then.
+    grep -qE '^WantedBy=.*suspend\.target' "$HOST_SERVICE"
+    grep -qE '^ExecStart=.*/usr/local/sbin/halogen-fabric-clock hold$' "$HOST_SERVICE"
+}
+
+@test "the NPU fetch script pins the vendor catalog by size and sha256" {
+    # XDNA2 runs only AIE-compiled programs, so the vendor's per-model repo is
+    # the only source; the engine re-checks size+sha256 against its own catalog
+    # at boot, so this manifest has to agree with it or the boot refuses.
+    [ -x "$NPU_FETCH" ]
+    grep -qE 'curl -fL' "$NPU_FETCH"
+    grep -qE 'qwen3-embedding-0\.6b\.hnpw 813032248 [0-9a-f]{64}' "$NPU_FETCH"
+    grep -qE 'sha256sum' "$NPU_FETCH"
+    # curl -f alone is not enough on Hugging Face: the resolve URL redirects
+    # and curl drops Range across it (the sibling 62 GiB fetch, 2026-10-18).
+    grep -qE 'url_effective' "$NPU_FETCH"
+}
+
+@test "the container network is podman's default when unnamed and the app bridge when named" {
+    # The app-to-endpoint leg hangs on this: pasta is a private netns nothing
+    # else can join (podman refuses a second network, the published port is
+    # refused from app containers, and host.containers.internal is link-local,
+    # which open-notebook refuses to store), so reaching the NPU endpoints by
+    # name means the container lives on dankclaw_default. Both arms are
+    # observable in the command podman would run.
+    podman_stub
+    good_env
+    run_with_log FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK=
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    ! grep -q -- '--network' "$TEST_TMP/serve.log"
+    run_with_log FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK=dankclaw_default
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"--network dankclaw_default"* ]]
+    # The deployer refuses a network that does not exist rather than starting a
+    # unit that restart-loops on it.
+    grep -qE 'podman network exists' "$DEPLOYER"
+    grep -qE '^FRANK_DRAGOON_NETWORK=dankclaw_default$' "$ENV_FILE"
+}

tests/frank_tts_engine.bats

@@ -331,13 +331,40 @@ FAKE
     [ "$(argv --port)" = "8880" ]
     [ "$(argv --lang)" = "auto" ]
     [ "$(argv --max-batch)" = "1" ]
-    # The two flags that must never appear: there is no thread count to set (it
-    # comes from hardware_concurrency()/2), and naming a device on an image with
-    # every GPU backend compiled out is only a new way to be wrong.
-    ! grep -qx -- '--device' "$ARGS_FILE"
+    # The device the env names has to reach argv BY NAME: the image ships the
+    # Mesa ICD and no NVIDIA one, so Vulkan0 is the gfx1151 and cannot drift onto
+    # another card the way an index would.
+    [ "$(argv --device)" = "Vulkan0" ]
+    # The flag that must never appear: there is no thread count to set in this
+    # build (it comes from hardware_concurrency()/2), so naming one would only
+    # disagree with what the binary sized its pools from.
     ! grep -qE -- '^--?t$|^--threads$' "$ARGS_FILE"
 }
 
+@test "an empty device value is the CPU rollback: no --device reaches argv" {
+    # The same entrypoint with one key cleared, which is the rollback the env
+    # header documents. A script-level default that survived an explicitly empty
+    # value would leave the endpoint on the iGPU with no way back except a
+    # rebuild.
+    cat > "$TEST_TMP/fake-tts-server" <<'FAKE'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+printf '%s\n' "$@" > "$ARGS_FILE"
+FAKE
+    chmod +x "$TEST_TMP/fake-tts-server"
+    mkdir -p "$TEST_TMP/models"
+    : > "$TEST_TMP/models/$TALKER"
+    : > "$TEST_TMP/models/$CODEC"
+    export QWENTTS_MODEL="$TEST_TMP/models/$TALKER"
+    export QWENTTS_CODEC="$TEST_TMP/models/$CODEC"
+    export QWENTTS_BIN="$TEST_TMP/fake-tts-server"
+    export ARGS_FILE="$TEST_TMP/argv.txt"
+    export QWENTTS_DEVICE=""
+
+    run bash "$START"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; false; }
+    ! grep -qx -- '--device' "$ARGS_FILE"
+}
+
 @test "missing weights are a refusal that names the fetcher, before the port is bound" {
     cat > "$TEST_TMP/fake-tts-server" <<'FAKE'
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
@@ -627,17 +654,23 @@ PY
 @test "the image build is the pinned commit with the proven cmake line" {
     # GGML_BLAS=OFF is forced by the host (libopenblas.so.0 present, no dev
     # headers) and upstream's own Dockerfile passes it ON, so this file is not a
-    # copy of upstream on purpose. -j 8 and the OFF-for-every-GPU-backend list
-    # are what the 2026-10-18 trial ran.
+    # copy of upstream on purpose. -j 8 is what the 2026-10-18 trial ran;
+    # GGML_VULKAN=ON is the 2026-10-19 iGPU cutover, and the two greps below are
+    # the packages that door needs at build time and at run time.
     grep -qE '^ARG QWENTTS_COMMIT=[0-9a-f]{40}$' "$CF"
     grep -qF '5916bf7c79dbb4e66fc059cdc507a79a23a28bb4' "$CF"
     grep -qE 'git -C /src checkout --detach' "$CF"
     grep -qE 'submodule update --init' "$CF"   # ggml is a submodule; without it the build cannot configure
     for flag in -DGGML_CCACHE=OFF -DGGML_BACKEND_DL=OFF -DGGML_CPU_ALL_VARIANTS=OFF \
                 -DGGML_OPENMP=ON -DGGML_BLAS=OFF -DGGML_CUDA=OFF -DGGML_HIP=OFF \
-                -DGGML_VULKAN=OFF -DGGML_METAL=OFF -DGGML_SYCL=OFF -DGGML_RPC=OFF; do
+                -DGGML_VULKAN=ON -DGGML_METAL=OFF -DGGML_SYCL=OFF -DGGML_RPC=OFF; do
         grep -qF -- "$flag" "$CF" || { echo "build line lost $flag"; false; }
     done
+    # glslc is not in glslang-tools on this distro, and the configure fails
+    # without it; an image with the loader and no RADV ICD enumerates zero
+    # devices and dies in device lookup after the weights load.
+    grep -qE 'libvulkan-dev glslc spirv-headers' "$CF"
+    grep -qE 'libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers' "$CF"
     grep -qE 'cmake --build build -j 8' "$CF"
     # OpenMP on means the runtime stage needs the OpenMP runtime, and the probe
     # runs as /bin/sh -c, so the runtime stage needs curl.

tests/frank_zealot_unit.bats

@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
 # pool (4,096 B/position, 2,352.00 MiB here), and the 786,432 pool this shape
 # replaced cannot carry a drafter at any dtype inside the 24,123 MiB the driver
 # leaves addressable. The publisher's own Q8_0 vision projector rides along (the
-# BF16 one can crash on concurrent images). Log
+# BF16 one can crash on concurrent images). The payload also carries a
+# REFUSAL-DIRECTION ADAPTER: a rank-1 LoRA applied at load, so the seam pins the
+# --lora-scaled token (path and scale together), the scale knob, and the
+# empty-LORA_FILE opt-out.
 # This seam runs the serve script against a stub engine and asserts on the
 # argv it actually execs, so what is pinned is the command the operator gets.
 
@@ -39,8 +42,9 @@ STUB
     # (the env) instead of silently forking the test's filename constants.
     MODEL_STUB="$(basename "$(sed -nE 's/^MODEL_FILE=(.+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")")"
     MM_STUB="$(basename "$(sed -nE 's/^MMPROJ_FILE=(.+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")")"
+    LORA_STUB="$(basename "$(sed -nE 's/^LORA_FILE=(.+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")")"
     DRAFT_STUB="draft-assistant.gguf"
-    touch "$MODEL_DIR/$MODEL_STUB" "$MODEL_DIR/$MM_STUB" "$MODEL_DIR/$DRAFT_STUB"
+    touch "$MODEL_DIR/$MODEL_STUB" "$MODEL_DIR/$MM_STUB" "$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB" "$MODEL_DIR/$DRAFT_STUB"
 }
 
 teardown() {
@@ -69,6 +73,8 @@ SPEC_DRAFT_N_MAX=$(sed -nE 's/^SPEC_DRAFT_N_MAX=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")
 VERBOSITY=$(sed -nE 's/^VERBOSITY=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")
 METRICS=$(sed -nE 's/^METRICS=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")
 NGL=$(sed -nE 's/^NGL=([0-9]+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")
+LORA_FILE=$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB
+LORA_SCALE=$(sed -nE 's/^LORA_SCALE=(.+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")
 EOF
     run env FRANK_ZEALOT_ENV_FILE="$envf" nvidia-modprobe=true bash "$SERVE"
 }
@@ -117,7 +123,7 @@ run_stage() {
     grep -q 'FRANK_ZEALOT_ENV_FILE=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/frank-zealot.env' "$UNIT"
 }
 
-@test "the shipped env points at the fork runtime and the Bonsai-2 9B MTP pair" {
+@test "the shipped env points at the fork runtime, the MTP pair and the refusal adapter" {
     # The payload path IS the endpoint's identity, and the runtime is part of
     # it here: the file's custom tensor type 142 + prism.hadamard.* metadata
     # make the PrismML build the only loader, and this build must be >= b10776
@@ -127,6 +133,7 @@ run_stage() {
     grep -qE '^LLAMA_BIN=/home/dank/GitPackages/llama-prism-b10777/llama-server$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -qE '^MODEL_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-PQ2_0-MTP-Q8_0\.gguf$' "$ENV_FILE"
     grep -qE '^MMPROJ_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-mmproj-Q8_0\.gguf$' "$ENV_FILE"
+    grep -qE '^LORA_FILE=/home/dank/models/Bonsai2-9B-MTP/Ternary-Bonsai-2-9B-Uncensored-LoRA\.gguf$' "$ENV_FILE"
 }
 
 @test "the deployer gates on exactly the payload paths the env file ships" {
@@ -135,7 +142,7 @@ run_stage() {
     # would be gating on a file nobody reads — and a missing projector would
     # ship a blind endpoint.
     local env_v dep_v path pair
-    for pair in "MODEL_FILE LLM_ZEALOT_MODEL_FILE" "MMPROJ_FILE LLM_ZEALOT_MMPROJ"; do
+    for pair in "MODEL_FILE LLM_ZEALOT_MODEL_FILE" "MMPROJ_FILE LLM_ZEALOT_MMPROJ" "LORA_FILE LLM_ZEALOT_LORA"; do
         env_v="${pair%% *}"
         dep_v="${pair##* }"
         path="$(sed -nE "s/^${env_v}=(.+)$/\1/p" "$ENV_FILE")"
@@ -367,6 +374,45 @@ run_stage() {
     ! grep -qxF -- '--mmproj' <<<"$output"
 }
 
+@test "the refusal adapter reaches the engine as path and scale in ONE token" {
+    # --lora-scaled takes FNAME:SCALE as a single argument, so the seam pins the
+    # whole token. An adapter that reaches the engine without its scale — or a
+    # scale without its adapter — is a different payload than the one the env
+    # file describes, and nothing else would notice.
+    serve_argv
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    local scale
+    scale="$(sed -nE 's/^LORA_SCALE=(.+)$/\1/p' "$ENV_FILE")"
+    [ "$(argv_value --lora-scaled)" = "$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB:$scale" ]
+}
+
+@test "the scale knob rides inside the token, including the card's off value" {
+    # Distinctive values first: proof the flag is wired to the env and not
+    # merely to the script's default. Scale 0 is the card's second mode — the
+    # direction present but inert — so the endpoint can be neutered without
+    # deleting a file or rebuilding anything.
+    serve_argv
+    { echo 'LORA_SCALE=0'; } >> "$STAGE/test.env"
+    run_stage
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$(argv_value --lora-scaled)" = "$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB:0" ]
+
+    sed -i 's|^LORA_SCALE=.*|LORA_SCALE=0.75|' "$STAGE/test.env"
+    run_stage
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$(argv_value --lora-scaled)" = "$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB:0.75" ]
+}
+
+@test "LORA_FILE empty opts the adapter out and leaves no trace in the argv" {
+    # The rollback is ABSENCE of the flag: an empty argument would have the
+    # engine open "" and die at load, which is the failure this seam forbids.
+    serve_argv
+    sed -i 's|^LORA_FILE=.*|LORA_FILE=|' "$STAGE/test.env"
+    run_stage
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    ! grep -qxF -- '--lora-scaled' <<<"$output"
+}
+
 @test "the card sampler's only non-metadata term reaches the argv" {
     # general.sampling.* (temperature / top_p / top_k / min_p / repeat_penalty)
     # rides in the checkpoint and the engine reads it itself; presence penalty
@@ -406,23 +452,33 @@ run_stage() {
     grep -qxF -- '--jinja' <<<"$output"
 }
 
-@test "the serve script refuses a missing runtime, GGUF or projector" {
+@test "the serve script refuses a missing runtime, GGUF, projector or adapter" {
     rm -f "$MODEL_DIR/$MM_STUB"
     serve_argv
     [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
     [[ "$output" == *"frank-zealot: missing"* ]]
 
+    # The adapter is payload: a fetch that stopped short must not boot a
+    # silently-plain endpoint, and Restart=always would loop on the missing
+    # file until somebody reads the name in the log.
+    touch "$MODEL_DIR/$MM_STUB"
+    rm -f "$MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB"
+    serve_argv
+    [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"frank-zealot: missing $MODEL_DIR/$LORA_STUB"* ]]
+
     rm -f "$RUNTIME_DIR/bin/llama-server"
     serve_argv
     [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
     [[ "$output" == *"frank-zealot: missing"* ]]
 }
 
-@test "the deploy handler gates on binary, GGUF and projector, then MainPID-hardens health" {
+@test "the deploy handler gates on binary, GGUF, projector and adapter, then MainPID-hardens health" {
     grep -q 'deploy_llm_zealot' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q 'LLM_ZEALOT_RUNTIME' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q 'LLM_ZEALOT_MODEL_FILE' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q 'LLM_ZEALOT_MMPROJ' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'LLM_ZEALOT_LORA' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q 'relink_unit frank-zealot' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q 'systemctl enable frank-zealot.service' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
     grep -q '127.0.0.1:7771/health' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"

tests/gpu_exporter.bats

@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+# Seam: the GPU metrics exporter's black-box contract.
+#
+# The exporter reads amdgpu sysfs (one card per /sys/class/drm/cardN that has a
+# device/gpu_busy_percent file) and, on the box that has a working NVIDIA stack,
+# one `nvidia-smi --query-gpu` CSV, and emits the unified `gpu_*` Prometheus
+# families the host-system dashboard graphs. Both sources are injectable so the
+# whole thing is testable with fixtures on a GPU-less dev box.
+#
+# Only the inputs a consumer sees are pinned: the metric families, their label
+# set, and that absent hardware yields ABSENT series (never a fabricated 0 — a
+# wrong number on a dashboard gets believed). The R9700s expose no sysfs
+# power1_average, so those cards legitimately carry no gpu_power_watts line.
+
+load helpers
+
+EXPORTER="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/gpu-exporter.py"
+
+# Build a fixture amdgpu sysfs tree. $BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/sys
+mk_amd() { # gpu busy vram_used vram_total power_uw_or_blank temp_mc
+    local card=$1 busy=$2 used=$3 total=$4 power=$5 temp=$6
+    local d="$SYS/card$card/device"
+    mkdir -p "$d/hwmon/hwmon9"
+    printf '%s\n' "$busy" > "$d/gpu_busy_percent"
+    printf '%s\n' "$used" > "$d/mem_info_vram_used"
+    printf '%s\n' "$total" > "$d/mem_info_vram_total"
+    printf '%s\n' "$power" > "$d/power1_average"          # blank => absent on R9700
+    [ -n "$temp" ] && printf '%s\n' "$temp" > "$d/hwmon/hwmon9/temp1_input"
+    printf 'DRIVER=amdgpu\nPCI_ID=1002:7551\nPCI_SLOT_NAME=0000:03:00.0\n' > "$d/uevent"
+}
+
+setup() {
+    SYS="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/sys"
+    mkdir -p "$SYS"
+}
+
+@test "exporter exists and compiles" {
+    [ -f "$EXPORTER" ]
+    python3 -m py_compile "$EXPORTER"
+}
+
+@test "amd card with full sysfs yields util/vram/temp/power with the right labels and units" {
+    mk_amd 1 42 1073741824 34359738368 250000000 71000   # 250 W, 71 C
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd false
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    # util is a raw percent, VRAM verbatim bytes, temp milli->C, power microW->W.
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_utilization_percent\{[^}]*vendor="amd"[^}]*\} 42$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_memory_used_bytes\{[^}]*\} 1073741824$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_memory_total_bytes\{[^}]*\} 34359738368$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_temperature_celsius\{[^}]*\} 71$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_power_watts\{[^}]*\} 250$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    # identity labels: the PCI slot is a stable unique id, vendor marks the family.
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_utilization_percent\{.*gpu="0000:03:00\.0"' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+}
+
+@test "card with an empty power file and no hwmon yields util/vram but omits power and temp" {
+    mk_amd 1 99 34108338176 34208743424 "" ""           # the R9700 shape
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd false
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_utilization_percent\{[^}]*\} 99$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_memory_used_bytes\{[^}]*\} 34108338176$'
+    # Absent means ABSENT, not a zero the dashboard would plot as a real reading.
+    ! echo "$output" | grep -Eq '^gpu_power_watts\{' || { echo "fabricated power line: $output"; return 1; }
+    ! echo "$output" | grep -Eq '^gpu_temperature_celsius\{' || { echo "fabricated temp line: $output"; return 1; }
+}
+
+@test "nvidia csv yields util/vram/temp/power tagged vendor=nvidia" {
+    nvidia="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/nvidia-smi"
+    cat > "$nvidia" <<'STUB'
+echo '0, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, 93, 23004, 24576, 76, 397.40'
+STUB
+    chmod +x "$nvidia"
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd "$nvidia"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_utilization_percent\{[^}]*vendor="nvidia"[^}]*\} 93$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    # memory.used MiB -> bytes (23004 * 1048576)
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_memory_used_bytes\{[^}]*vendor="nvidia"[^}]*\} 24121442304$' || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_temperature_celsius\{[^}]*vendor="nvidia"[^}]*\} 76$'
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_power_watts\{[^}]*vendor="nvidia"[^}]*\} 397\.4$'
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'model="NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090"'
+}
+
+@test "a failing nvidia command is tolerated: amd still emits and exit is 0" {
+    mk_amd 1 50 1000000 2000000 "" 40000
+    failing="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/nvidia-fail"
+    printf '#!/bin/sh\nexit 1\n' > "$failing"; chmod +x "$failing"
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd "$failing"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    echo "$output" | grep -Eq 'gpu_utilization_percent\{[^}]*vendor="amd"[^}]*\} 50$'
+    ! echo "$output" | grep -q 'vendor="nvidia"'
+}
+
+@test "no GPUs at all yields only HELP/TYPE headers and exits 0" {
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd false
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ] || { echo "$output"; return 1; }
+    # families are declared even when empty, so the dashboard/queries stay valid.
+    echo "$output" | grep -q '# TYPE gpu_utilization_percent gauge'
+    echo "$output" | grep -q '# TYPE gpu_memory_used_bytes gauge'
+    ! echo "$output" | grep -Eq '^gpu_utilization_percent\{'
+}
+
+@test "output is valid Prometheus text" {
+    mk_amd 1 42 1000 2000 "" 50000
+    run python3 "$EXPORTER" --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd false
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    # every non-comment line is "<name>{labels} value" or "<name> value"
+    printf '%s\n' "$output" | python3 -c '
+import sys, re
+pat = re.compile(r"^[a-z_]+(\{[^}]*\})? [-+0-9.eE+]+$")
+for i, l in enumerate(sys.stdin):
+    l = l.rstrip("\n")
+    if not l or l.startswith("#"):
+        continue
+    assert pat.match(l), "malformed line %d: %r" % (i, l)
+print("prometheus text ok")
+'
+}
+
+# ---- deployment + wiring contracts -------------------------------------
+# The exporter is a HOST-PROCESS user unit (not a quadlet): it must read the
+# host's own DRM sysfs and shell to nvidia-smi, which a container could not do
+# without GPU passthrough. These tests pin the cross-file wiring a reader
+# cannot eyeball — a lone change on one side leaves the metric silently absent.
+
+@test "the base unit runs the exporter from the checkout and never binds a wildcard" {
+    local u="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/gpu-exporter.service"
+    [ -f "$u" ]
+    grep -q '^ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/gpu-exporter.py --serve$' "$u" \
+        || { echo "unit does not run the exporter --serve from the checkout"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '^Restart=always$' "$u"
+    grep -q '^WantedBy=default.target$' "$u"
+    # Base unit binds loopback only; the per-host LAN address is added by a
+    # deploy drop-in, so a checked-in unit is never a wildcard.
+    grep -q '^Environment=GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS=127.0.0.1$' "$u"
+    ! grep -qE '0\.0\.0\.0' "$u"
+}
+
+@test "the deployer installs, drops in the LAN bind, and health-gates gpu-exporter" {
+    local handler="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
+    grep -q '^deploy_gpu_exporter() {' "$handler"
+    # Per-host LAN from $TARGET (never a hardcoded host, never a wildcard).
+    grep -q 'dankclaw) lan=192.168.0.143' "$handler"
+    grep -q 'dankserver) lan=192.168.0.235' "$handler"
+    # Drop-in binds loopback + this host's LAN as one comma list.
+    grep -q "GPU_EXPORTER_BINDS=127.0.0.1,%s" "$handler"
+    grep -q 'systemctl --user enable gpu-exporter.service' "$handler"
+    grep -q 'systemctl --user restart gpu-exporter.service' "$handler"
+    # Health gate waits on the loopback metrics endpoint.
+    grep -q 'http://127.0.0.1:9401/metrics' "$handler"
+    # Dispatched from the central case.
+    grep -q 'gpu-exporter) deploy_gpu_exporter ;;' "$handler"
+    # Allowlisted on BOTH hosts.
+    grep -q 'dankclaw:gpu-exporter' "$handler"
+    grep -q 'dankserver:gpu-exporter' "$handler"
+}
+
+@test "the planner selects gpu-exporter for its files on each target" {
+    local t f
+    for t in dankclaw dankserver; do
+        for f in scripts/gpu-exporter.py scripts/gpu-exporter.service; do
+            run python3 "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py" --target "$t" --paths "$f"
+            [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+            [ "$output" = "gpu-exporter" ] || { echo "$t/$f -> '$output'"; return 1; }
+        done
+    done
+}
+
+@test "Prometheus scrapes gpu-exporter where node/cadvisor are reachable on each host" {
+    # Cross-file contract, same posture as node-exporter: the local instance is
+    # reached via the podman gateway (this Prometheus is a bridge container and
+    # a host-process bind is refused at the host LAN IP); the Dankserver
+    # instance is a different machine, so plain LAN routing reaches it. If either
+    # address drifts from the exporter's bind, GPU panels go blank with no error.
+    local cfg="$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
+    grep -q 'job_name: "gpu-dankclaw"' "$cfg" || { echo "no gpu-dankclaw job"; return 1; }
+    grep -q 'job_name: "gpu-dankserver"' "$cfg" || { echo "no gpu-dankserver job"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '"host.containers.internal:9401"' "$cfg" \
+        || { echo "gpu-dankclaw does not scrape the podman gateway"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '"192.168.0.235:9401"' "$cfg" \
+        || { echo "gpu-dankserver does not scrape the LAN address"; return 1; }
+    # A vhost target would be red forever (Prometheus cannot solve Anubis).
+    ! grep -qE '"[^"]*franksdank[^"]*:9401"' "$cfg"
+}
+
+@test "the host-system dashboard graphs the gpu_* families the exporter emits" {
+    local dash="$REPO_ROOT/shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/host-system.json"
+    [ -f "$dash" ]
+    python3 -c "
+import json
+d = json.load(open('$dash'))
+exprs = [t['expr'] for p in d['panels'] for t in p.get('targets', [])]
+for want in ('gpu_utilization_percent', 'gpu_memory_used_bytes',
+             'gpu_temperature_celsius', 'gpu_power_watts'):
+    assert any(want in e for e in exprs), ('missing', want, exprs)
+print('gpu dashboard panels ok')
+"
+}
+
+@test "--serve answers on EVERY declared bind, not just the first" {
+    # The deployed unit serves loopback + the host LAN address, and Prometheus
+    # reaches the host through the gateway — which dials the LAN-class bind.
+    # A server that only runs serve_forever() on the first socket leaves the
+    # second one listen()ing-but-never-accepting: the deploy health gate on
+    # loopback passes, every scrape on the other bind dies on the SYN backlog,
+    # and no gate but this one sees it. (This exact bug shipped 2026-10-21 and
+    # left both gpu-* targets down beside a green deploy.)
+    mk_amd 0 42 1073741824 34359738368 "" 71000
+    port=$((19400 + RANDOM % 500))
+    python3 "$EXPORTER" --serve --amdgpu-sysfs "$SYS" --nvidia-cmd false \
+        --bind 127.0.0.1 --bind 127.0.0.2 --port "$port" \
+        > "$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/serve.log" 2>&1 &
+    local pid=$!
+    trap 'kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null' EXIT
+    local ok=0
+    for _ in $(seq 1 20); do
+        curl -fsS -m2 "http://127.0.0.1:$port/metrics" >/dev/null 2>&1 && { ok=1; break; }
+        sleep 0.25
+    done
+    [ "$ok" -eq 1 ] || { kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null; return 1; }
+    # Both binds must ANSWER within 2 s each — the second one is the bug.
+    for b in 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.2; do
+        curl -fsS -m2 "http://$b:$port/metrics" | grep -q '^gpu_utilization_percent{' \
+            || { echo "bind $b did not answer /metrics"; kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null; return 1; }
+    done
+    kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null
+    trap - EXIT
+}

tests/observability_quadlet.bats

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ load helpers
 
 UNIT_DIR="$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/observability/quadlet"
 REMOTE_DEPLOY="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
-UNITS=(prometheus grafana loki alloy node-exporter alertmanager)
+UNITS=(prometheus grafana loki alloy node-exporter cadvisor alertmanager blackbox-exporter)
 
 # container_section <unit> — the [Container] key/value block only
 container_section() {
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ service_section() {
     awk '/^\[Service\]/{f=1;next} /^\[/{f=0} f' "$1"
 }
 
-@test "all six observability units exist under dankclaw/observability/quadlet/" {
+@test "all eight observability units exist under dankclaw/observability/quadlet/" {
     local svc
     for svc in "${UNITS[@]}"; do
         [ -f "$UNIT_DIR/$svc.container" ] || { echo "missing $svc.container"; return 1; }
@@ -41,13 +41,17 @@ service_section() {
 }
 
 @test "every observability unit is boot-persistent" {
-    # Generated units cannot be enabled on this host's podman 5.x v1 quadlet
-    # generator; [Install] + linger is the entire boot-persistence story.
+    # Generated units cannot be enabled on this host's podman quadlet generator;
+    # [Install] + linger is the boot-persistence story for the rootless five.
+    # Alloy is a ROOT system unit, so its [Install] targets multi-user.target.
     local svc
     for svc in "${UNITS[@]}"; do
+        [[ "$svc" == alloy ]] && continue
         grep -q '^WantedBy=default.target$' "$UNIT_DIR/$svc.container" \
             || { echo "$svc is not boot-persistent"; return 1; }
     done
+    grep -q '^WantedBy=multi-user.target$' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container" \
+        || { echo "alloy (root unit) is not boot-persistent"; return 1; }
 }
 
 @test "every observability unit is self-healing" {
@@ -140,15 +144,20 @@ service_section() {
     grep -q 'reverse_proxy prometheus:9090' "$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/Caddyfile"
     grep -q 'reverse_proxy loki:3100' "$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/Caddyfile"
     local svc
-    for svc in prometheus grafana loki alloy; do
+    for svc in prometheus grafana loki; do
         grep -q "^ContainerName=$svc$" "$UNIT_DIR/$svc.container" \
             || { echo "$svc unit renames its container"; return 1; }
         grep -q '^Network=dankclaw_default$' "$UNIT_DIR/$svc.container" \
             || { echo "$svc is not on the network Caddy and its peers use"; return 1; }
     done
+    # Alloy is not on that network: it is a root container on Network=host, the
+    # only way to reach Loki's 127.0.0.1:3100 publish from outside a bridge.
+    grep -q '^ContainerName=alloy$' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
+    grep -q '^Network=host$' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container" \
+        || { echo "alloy must be Network=host to reach Loki on the host loopback"; return 1; }
     grep -q '"grafana:3000"' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
     grep -q '"loki:3100"' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
-    grep -q 'url = "http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push"' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/alloy/config.alloy"
+    grep -q 'url = "http://127.0.0.1:3100/loki/api/v1/push"' "$REPO_ROOT/shared/alloy/config.alloy"
 }
 
 @test "every observability unit has a health check" {
@@ -239,12 +248,14 @@ service_section() {
 }
 
 @test "startup order follows the data dependencies" {
-    # Grafana is useless without Prometheus and Alloy drops logs without Loki;
-    # both pairs are expressed as systemd ordering, not launch luck.
+    # Grafana is useless without Prometheus (both rootless, same manager). Alloy
+    # used to order on loki.service; as a ROOT unit it lives on the SYSTEM
+    # manager and cannot order against a rootless user unit, so it depends only
+    # on the network and retries its push until Loki answers.
     grep -q 'After=network-online.target prometheus.service' "$UNIT_DIR/grafana.container"
     grep -q 'Wants=network-online.target prometheus.service' "$UNIT_DIR/grafana.container"
-    grep -q 'After=network-online.target loki.service' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
-    grep -q 'Wants=network-online.target loki.service' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
+    grep -q '^After=network-online.target$' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
+    ! grep -q 'loki.service' "$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
 }
 
 @test "the deployer installs, restarts and health-checks each unit" {
@@ -266,6 +277,7 @@ loki http://127.0.0.1:3100/ready
 alloy http://127.0.0.1:12345/-/healthy
 node-exporter http://127.0.0.1:9100/metrics
 alertmanager http://127.0.0.1:9093/-/healthy
+cadvisor http://127.0.0.1:8080/healthz
 PAIRS
 }
 
@@ -281,6 +293,24 @@ PAIRS
     grep -q 'build_compose_image alloy' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
 }
 
+@test "alloy is a root host-network unit that reads every journal" {
+    # The whole point of the root cutover: a rootless container cannot open the
+    # 0640 journal files. Pin the properties that make the pipeline carry data.
+    local u="$UNIT_DIR/alloy.container"
+    grep -q '^Network=host$' "$u"
+    grep -q '^Volume=/etc/machine-id:/etc/machine-id:ro$' "$u" \
+        || { echo "alloy missing the load-bearing machine-id mount"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '^Volume=/var/log/journal:/var/log/journal:ro$' "$u"
+    grep -q '^Volume=/run/log/journal:/run/log/journal:ro$' "$u"
+    grep -q -- '--server.http.listen-addr=127.0.0.1:12345' "$u"
+    # Deployer: system install + root image mirror, not the user quadlet loop.
+    grep -q '^deploy_alloy() {' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'install_system_quadlet dankclaw/observability/quadlet alloy' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q '/etc/containers/systemd/' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'mirror_image_to_root localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'alloy) deploy_alloy ;;' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+}
+
 @test "no dankclaw compose file competes with the quadlet units" {
     # Two owners for one container name is how a compose run resurrects a
     # stale duplicate next to the quadlet-managed one. This file was retired on
@@ -313,33 +343,33 @@ PAIRS
     done
 }
 
-@test "prometheus scrapes every LLM endpoint that exports metrics" {
-    # The LLM endpoints are the services whose behaviour this fleet argues about
-    # most (KV pressure, prefix-cache reuse, queue depth). Both Dankclaw
-    # endpoints export the llamacpp:* family. frank-archon LEFT the set
-    # 2026-10-05: the FreeToken PR587 ROCm engine has NO /metrics endpoint —
-    # scraping it was a structural never-green (404), so the job was deleted
-    # rather than left vacuous (the Lucebox DS4.1 precedent, 2026-09-26).
-    # The two Dankclaw endpoints are HOST processes reached through
-    # host.containers.internal: this Prometheus is a bridge-networked
-    # container, and on this netavark host a container can only reach the
-    # host's LAN IP at a PUBLISHED port — a host-process bind like
-    # llama-server's 0.0.0.0:7770 is refused at 192.168.0.143:7770 while it
-    # answers at 169.254.1.2:7770 (why frank-zealot stayed red by construction
-    # for days until the 2026-09-20 /targets audit).
+@test "prometheus scrapes every LLM endpoint, in its real metric namespace" {
+    # Every LLM endpoint that exports /metrics must have a scrape job. As of
+    # 2026-10-05 there are TWO runtime namespaces scraped:
+    #   * llamacpp:* — frank-zealot (llama.cpp) and frank-dragoon (halogen,
+    #     re-exporting the llama.cpp names), both root host processes on
+    #     Dankclaw reached via host.containers.internal — this Prometheus is a
+    #     bridge container and a host-process bind is refused at the LAN IP,
+    #     which is why frank-zealot read red by construction for days.
+    #   * vllm:* — frank-archon (radiance) on Dankserver, a different machine,
+    #     so plain LAN routing reaches 192.168.0.235:7770. It RE-JOINED the
+    #     scrape set with radiance; the old "job deleted, exports no /metrics"
+    #     note belonged to the retired FreeToken engine and is false today, so
+    #     this seam now asserts archon IS scraped (a bare `! grep` here was
+    #     set -e-exempt and never enforced the opposite).
     local cfg="$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
     grep -q '"host.containers.internal:7771"' "$cfg" || { echo "frank-zealot not scraped"; return 1; }
     grep -q '"host.containers.internal:7770"' "$cfg" || { echo "frank-dragoon not scraped"; return 1; }
-    ! grep -q '"192.168.0.235:7770"' "$cfg"
-    grep -q '"host.containers.internal:7770,192.168.0.235:7770"' "$cfg" \
-        && { echo "frank-archon folded into a Dankclaw gateway target"; return 1; }
-    for job in frank-zealot frank-dragoon; do
+    grep -q '"192.168.0.235:7770"' "$cfg" || { echo "frank-archon not scraped"; return 1; }
+    for job in frank-zealot frank-dragoon frank-archon; do
         grep -q "job_name: \"$job\"" "$cfg" || { echo "no scrape job for $job"; return 1; }
     done
-    ! grep -q 'job_name: "frank-archon"' "$cfg"
-    # None of them is reached through a guarded vhost: Prometheus cannot solve
-    # an Anubis challenge, so a franksdank.cloud target is red by construction.
-    ! grep -qE '^\s*-\s*"?https?://[^"]*franksdank' "$cfg"
+    # No LLM endpoint is reached through a guarded vhost: Prometheus cannot
+    # solve an Anubis challenge, so a franksdank.cloud target is red by
+    # construction.
+    grep -qE '^[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*"?https?://[^"]*franksdank' "$cfg" \
+        && { echo "a scrape target points at a guarded vhost"; return 1; }
+    true
 }
 
 @test "grafana provisioning is declared in git and installed by the deployer" {
@@ -378,28 +408,44 @@ names = [r.get('alert') or r.get('record') for g in d['groups'] for r in g['rule
 for want in ('job:llm_prefix_cache_reuse:rate5m',
              'job:llm_spec_accept_length:rate5m',
              'LlmRequestsQueueing', 'LlmPrefixCacheCollapse',
-             'LlmSpecDecodeOff', 'LlmEndpointDown'):
+             'LlmSpecDecodeOff', 'LlmEndpointDown',
+             'job:vllm_ttft_p95:rate5m', 'VllmRequestsQueueing',
+             'VllmPrefixCacheCollapse', 'VllmPreempting', 'VllmTtftSlow'):
     assert want in names, want
 # Every rule must be keyed to a series that actually exists. A rule naming a
 # series nobody exports evaluates nothing forever and errors never — the
-# failure this seam exists for. Since the 2026-09-26 cutover the only scraped
-# LLM runtime is llama.cpp (frank-zealot, frank-dragoon); the vllm: family left
-# with frank-medium's radiance runtime and must not survive in any expr.
+# failure this seam exists for. Two runtimes are scraped in two namespaces:
+# llama.cpp/halogen (llamacpp:*) for frank-zealot and frank-dragoon, and
+# radiance (vllm:*) for frank-archon. Both families were read straight off the
+# endpoints' /metrics; anything else is a guess.
 exprs = [r.get('expr', '') for g in d['groups'] for r in g['rules']]
-# llama.cpp families measured from /metrics on 2026-09-16 and 2026-09-20
-# (frank-zealot, frank-dragoon). Anything else is a guess.
-live = {'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_total', 'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_cached_total',
-        'llamacpp:requests_deferred', 'llamacpp:requests_processing',
-        'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_drafts_total',
-        'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_accepted_tokens_total',
-        'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_draft_tokens_total',
-        'llamacpp:tokens_predicted_total',
-        'llamacpp:predicted_tokens_seconds', 'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_seconds',
-        'llamacpp:n_decode_total', 'llamacpp:n_busy_slots_per_decode'}
+live = {
+    # llama.cpp / halogen, measured from /metrics 2026-09-16 and 2026-09-20.
+    'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_total', 'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_cached_total',
+    'llamacpp:requests_deferred', 'llamacpp:requests_processing',
+    'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_drafts_total',
+    'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_accepted_tokens_total',
+    'llamacpp:spec_decode_num_draft_tokens_total',
+    'llamacpp:tokens_predicted_total',
+    'llamacpp:predicted_tokens_seconds', 'llamacpp:prompt_tokens_seconds',
+    'llamacpp:n_decode_total', 'llamacpp:n_busy_slots_per_decode',
+    # radiance (frank-archon), measured from /metrics 2026-10-20.
+    'vllm:num_requests_waiting', 'vllm:gpu_prefix_cache_hit_rate',
+    'vllm:num_preemptions_total', 'vllm:prompt_tokens_total',
+    'vllm:time_to_first_token_seconds_bucket',
+}
 used = {m for e in exprs
         for m in re.findall(r'(?:llamacpp|vllm):[a-z_0-9]+', e)}
 assert used <= live, used - live
-assert not any(':vllm' in e for e in exprs), 'vllm: series in rules but no vllm endpoint is scraped'
+# The two namespaces must not bleed across groups: a llamacpp: selector
+# evaluates nothing for the radiance job and vice versa, so each group may
+# reference only its own family.
+per = {g['name']: {m.split(':')[0] for r in g['rules']
+                   for m in re.findall(r'(?:llamacpp|vllm):[a-z_0-9]+', r.get('expr', ''))}
+       for g in d['groups']}
+for name, fams in per.items():
+    allowed = {'llamacpp'} if name == 'llm-fleet' else {'vllm'}
+    assert fams <= allowed, (name, fams)
 print('rules ok:', len(names))
 "
     # A rule file that nothing loads evaluates nothing, and Prometheus reports
@@ -523,3 +569,200 @@ assert any('ALERTS' in e for e in exprs), exprs
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
     [ "$output" = "alertmanager" ]
 }
+
+@test "cadvisor exports container metrics only because of --cgroupns=host, and binds exactly its two consumers" {
+    # Podman starts every container in a private cgroup namespace, so a cadvisor
+    # without --cgroupns=host sees only its own cgroup root and exports a single
+    # series (measured 2026-10-20: 1 series before the flag, 996 after). That
+    # flag and the host /sys mount are the entire mechanism — pin them, plus the
+    # publish set: loopback (host probe + health gate) and this host's LAN
+    # address (Prometheus reaches a host-published port there). Never a wildcard.
+    local unit lan
+    for pair in "dankclaw/observability/quadlet:192.168.0.143" "dankserver/observability/quadlet:192.168.0.235"; do
+        unit="$REPO_ROOT/${pair%%:*}/cadvisor.container"
+        lan="${pair##*:}"
+        [ -f "$unit" ] || { echo "missing $unit"; return 1; }
+        grep -q -- '--cgroupns=host' "$unit" || { echo "$unit lacks --cgroupns=host"; return 1; }
+        grep -q -- '--pid=host' "$unit" || { echo "$unit lacks --pid=host"; return 1; }
+        grep -q '^Volume=/sys:/sys:ro$' "$unit" || { echo "$unit lacks the host /sys mount"; return 1; }
+        grep -q '^WantedBy=default.target$' "$unit" || { echo "$unit is not boot-persistent"; return 1; }
+        grep -q '^Restart=always$' "$unit" || { echo "$unit is not self-healing"; return 1; }
+        grep -q '^HealthCmd=' "$unit" || { echo "$unit has no health check"; return 1; }
+        grep -q "^PublishPort=127.0.0.1:8080:8080\$" "$unit" || { echo "$unit must publish loopback :8080"; return 1; }
+        grep -q "^PublishPort=$lan:8080:8080\$" "$unit" || { echo "$unit must publish $lan:8080"; return 1; }
+        ! grep -qE '^PublishPort=(0\.0\.0\.0|:)' "$unit" || { echo "$unit publishes on a wildcard"; return 1; }
+    done
+}
+
+@test "Prometheus scrapes cadvisor where it is published and relabels the cgroup path to a container name" {
+    # Cross-file contract, measured 2026-10-21 from inside the Prometheus
+    # container: a bridge container cannot dial its OWN host's LAN IP — the
+    # hairpin refuses published ports exactly like host-net binds, so
+    # cadvisor-dankclaw must scrape via the podman gateway (the original pin
+    # here demanded the LAN address and shipped a permanently-down target).
+    # dankserver is a different machine: plain LAN there. And the whole
+    # dashboard depends on the id -> container relabel: cadvisor names nothing
+    # itself, the quadlet unit name is only in the cgroup path. If either half
+    # changes alone, the Containers dashboard is blank.
+    local cfg="$REPO_ROOT/shared/prometheus/prometheus.yml"
+    grep -q 'job_name: "cadvisor-dankclaw"' "$cfg" || { echo "no cadvisor-dankclaw job"; return 1; }
+    grep -q 'job_name: "cadvisor-dankserver"' "$cfg" || { echo "no cadvisor-dankserver job"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '"host.containers.internal:8080"' "$cfg" \
+        || { echo "cadvisor-dankclaw does not scrape via the podman gateway"; return 1; }
+    ! grep -q '"192.168.0.143:8080"' "$cfg" \
+        || { echo "cadvisor-dankclaw dials its own host LAN IP — hairpin refuses it"; return 1; }
+    grep -q '"192.168.0.235:8080"' "$cfg" || { echo "cadvisor-dankserver does not scrape the published LAN port"; return 1; }
+    # The relabel that turns …/app.slice/<name>.service… into a `container`.
+    grep -q 'app\\.slice/(\[\^\.\]+)\\.service' "$cfg" || { echo "no cgroup-path -> container relabel"; return 1; }
+    grep -q 'target_label: container' "$cfg" || { echo "relabel does not set the container label"; return 1; }
+}
+
+@test "the Containers dashboard is provisioned from git" {
+    local dash="$REPO_ROOT/shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/containers.json"
+    [ -f "$dash" ]
+    python3 -c "
+import json
+d = json.load(open('$dash'))
+assert d['uid'] == 'containers', d['uid']
+names = [t['expr'] for p in d['panels'] for t in p.get('targets', [])]
+# Only families cadvisor actually exports for rootless quadlet containers are
+# graphed; network/fs are absent for them, so a network/fs panel would be a
+# permanent empty lie.
+assert any('container_cpu_usage_seconds_total' in e for e in names), names
+assert any('container_memory_working_set_bytes' in e for e in names), names
+assert not any('container_network' in e or 'container_fs_' in e for e in names), names
+"
+}
+
+@test "the planner selects cadvisor for its unit on each target" {
+    run python3 "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py" --target dankclaw \
+        --paths dankclaw/observability/quadlet/cadvisor.container
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "cadvisor" ]
+    run python3 "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py" --target dankserver \
+        --paths dankserver/observability/quadlet/cadvisor.container
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "cadvisor" ]
+}
+
+@test "the grafana copier provisions EVERY dashboard json, not a hand-listed subset" {
+    # Behavioral, not a text grep: the copier is extracted and executed with a
+    # stubbed run_privileged against a sandbox. The fleet provider turns each
+    # file in its directory into a dashboard, so a file the copier skips is a
+    # dashboard that silently never exists (the containers board lived in the
+    # repo, never reached /opt, and its fixes were undeployable).
+    # BATS_TEST_TMPDIR: per-test, removed by bats itself; a mktemp dir with a
+    # RETURN trap races bats' own trap machinery and vanishes mid-function.
+    local sandbox="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/sandbox"
+    (
+        cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+        eval "$(sed -n '/^copy_grafana_provisioning()/,/^}/p' scripts/deploy-remote.sh)"
+        run_privileged() { "$@"; }
+        export GRAFANA_PROV_ROOT="$sandbox/opt/grafana"
+        copy_grafana_provisioning
+    )
+    local f
+    for f in "$REPO_ROOT"/shared/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/*.json; do
+        [ -f "$sandbox/opt/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/$(basename "$f")" ]
+    done
+    [ -f "$sandbox/opt/grafana/provisioning/dashboards/provider.yml" ]
+    [ -f "$sandbox/opt/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml" ]
+}
+
+@test "every observability unit declares an Image" {
+    # Quadlet refuses to GENERATE a service for a .container without Image=
+    # - the deployer then dies at `systemctl restart` with "Unit not found"
+    # and no diagnosis (blackbox-exporter, live 2026-10-21: merged with the
+    # copier, gates and health check wired, but no Image line).
+    local svc
+    for svc in "${UNITS[@]}"; do
+        grep -q '^Image=' "$UNIT_DIR/$svc.container" \
+            || { echo "$svc.container has no Image= - quadlet will not generate it"; return 1; }
+    done
+}
+
+@test "changes under shared/blackbox/ plan the prober" {
+    run python3 "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py" --target dankclaw \
+        --paths shared/blackbox/blackbox.yml
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "blackbox-exporter" ]
+}
+
+@test "the copier runs the same code path the deployer runs" {
+    # Textually pinned so a refactor cannot quietly route the deployer around
+    # the copy_* functions the seams execute.
+    grep -q '        prometheus)' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'copy_prometheus_config' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'copy_alertmanager_config' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'copy_loki_config' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q '        blackbox-exporter)' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+    grep -q 'copy_blackbox_config' "$REMOTE_DEPLOY"
+}
+
+@test "the alloy copier installs the host-labeled config, token-free" {
+    # Executes copy_alloy_config for real against a sandbox (stubbed
+    # run_privileged). A surviving GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL token would ship a
+    # config whose host label is a literal placeholder — the exact class of
+    # silent-label defect this tranche retired the board for.
+    local sandbox="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/opt"
+    (
+        cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+        eval "$(sed -n '/^copy_alloy_config()/,/^}/p' scripts/deploy-remote.sh)"
+        run_privileged() { "$@"; }
+        # NOTE: VAR=x func does not bind for shell functions — export.
+        export TARGET=dankclaw ALLOY_CONF_ROOT="$sandbox"
+        copy_alloy_config
+    )
+    [ -f "$sandbox/config/config.alloy" ]
+    grep -q 'host = "dankclaw",' "$sandbox/config/config.alloy"
+    ! grep -q "GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL" "$sandbox/config/config.alloy"
+}
+
+@test "the blackbox copier installs the prober config" {
+    local sandbox="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/blackbox"
+    (
+        cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+        eval "$(sed -n '/^copy_blackbox_config()/,/^}/p' scripts/deploy-remote.sh)"
+        run_privileged() { "$@"; }
+        export BLACKBOX_CONF_ROOT="$sandbox"
+        copy_blackbox_config
+    )
+    [ -f "$sandbox/blackbox.yml" ]
+    grep -q '^  http_2xx:' "$sandbox/blackbox.yml"
+}
+
+@test "the alloy copier refuses to install a config the engine rejects" {
+    # The syntax gate: alloy attributes are position-sensitive and a
+    # misplaced one only explodes at run time (crash-loop behind a green
+    # deploy). Prove the copier refuses a config the pinned image won't
+    # validate, and installs nothing. Needs the alloy image; skipped
+    # where it is absent (the copier's gate is likewise image-gated).
+    if ! podman image exists localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest; then
+        skip "franksdank/alloy image not present on this box"
+    fi
+    local sandbox="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/opt" cfg="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/broken.alloy"
+    sed 's/GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL/dankclaw/g' shared/alloy/config.alloy > "$cfg"
+    printf 'bogus_attr = "x"\n' >> "$cfg"
+    ! (
+        cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+        eval "$(sed -n '/^copy_alloy_config()/,/^}/p' scripts/deploy-remote.sh)"
+        run_privileged() { "$@"; }
+        cp() { if [ "$1" = "$cfg" ]; then return 1; fi; command cp "$@"; }
+        export TARGET=dankclaw ALLOY_CONF_ROOT="$sandbox"
+        copy_alloy_config
+    )
+    [ ! -f "$sandbox/config/config.alloy" ]
+}
+
+@test "the installed alloy config is engine-valid" {
+    # Runs the pinned image's own validator over the shipped config. The
+    # 2026-10-21 defect (`on_error` on the labels stage, which alloy 1.21
+    # does not define) passed every textual seam and only failed at boot.
+    if ! podman image exists localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest; then
+        skip "franksdank/alloy image not present on this box"
+    fi
+    local cfg="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/rendered.alloy"
+    sed 's/GRAFANA_HOST_LABEL/dankclaw/g' shared/alloy/config.alloy > "$cfg"
+    podman run --rm -v "$cfg:/c.alloy:ro" --entrypoint /usr/bin/alloy \
+        localhost/franksdank/alloy:latest validate /c.alloy
+}

tests/open_notebook.bats

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ NET="$REPO_ROOT/$UNIT_DIR/open-notebook.network"
 ENVF="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/open-notebook.env"
 PLANNER="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py"
 REMOTE="$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
+CADDY="$REPO_ROOT/dankclaw/Caddyfile"
 # The host-side path the units read (they run on Dankclaw, not here), spelled
 # out once so the ordering test below compares against a real constant.
 HOST_TUNABLES="EnvironmentFile=/home/dank/serverAppConfigs/scripts/open-notebook.env"
@@ -68,22 +69,58 @@ DB_PIN="sha256:e5d7387e3727bbe2f7cd6d869e48cd34777272258572ead37c9656b25f745723"
     ! grep -qE '^PublishPort=.*:8000(:|$)' "$APP"
 }
 
-@test "the app publishes its UI and moves the API off the host port seerr holds" {
+# onb_vhost — the host Caddy routes to the UI's 8502. Derived, never restated:
+# the API origin and the homepage link have to agree with whatever the Caddyfile
+# actually routes, so renaming the vhost there moves this seam instead of
+# leaving it blessing a stale name.
+onb_vhost() {
+    awk '
+        /^[[:space:]]*@[A-Za-z0-9_-]+[[:space:]]+host[[:space:]]/ { h = $3 }
+        /^[[:space:]]*reverse_proxy[[:space:]]+192\.168\.0\.143:8502$/ { if (h) { print h; exit } }
+    ' "$CADDY"
+}
+
+@test "the app publishes the UI for the guard chain and keeps the API off the LAN" {
+    # 8502 is the single upstream the post-auth listener dials, so it is the
+    # only port that has to answer on a LAN interface.
     grep -qxF 'PublishPort=0.0.0.0:8502:8502' "$APP"
+    [ "$(grep -cE '^PublishPort=0\.0\.0\.0:' "$APP")" = "1" ] || {
+        echo "the UI port is not the only wildcard publish: $(grep -E '^PublishPort=' "$APP")"; false; }
     # seerr already binds 127.0.0.1:5055 on this host, so the API cannot leave
-    # the container on the host port upstream uses.
-    publish="$(grep -E '^PublishPort=[^:]+:[0-9]+:5055$' "$APP")"
-    [ -n "$publish" ] || { echo "no PublishPort mapping to the API's 5055"; false; }
-    mapping="${publish#PublishPort=}"          # e.g. 0.0.0.0:5056:5055
-    host_port="${mapping#*:}"
-    host_port="${host_port%%:*}"
-    [ "$host_port" != "5055" ] || {
-        echo "the API is published on host 5055, which seerr already holds"; false; }
-    # The frontend auto-detects the API as <host it was opened on>:5055, so a
-    # remap is only correct if API_URL names the published port.
+    # the container on the port upstream uses; and it needs no outward face at
+    # all, because the image's Next.js layer rewrites /api/* to it. Loopback is
+    # where the deployer's health gate dials it.
+    grep -qxF 'PublishPort=127.0.0.1:5056:5055' "$APP"
+    # One origin serves UI and API, so API_URL names the guarded vhost rather
+    # than a host:port. Left to itself the frontend auto-detects `<host>:5055`;
+    # a LAN-origin API_URL takes the browser around the guard chain, where its
+    # authenticated session does not ride.
     api_url="$(sed -n 's/^API_URL=//p' "$ENVF")"
-    [ "$api_url" = "http://192.168.0.143:${host_port}" ] || {
-        echo "API_URL ($api_url) does not name the published API port ($host_port)"; false; }
+    vhost="$(onb_vhost)"
+    [ -n "$vhost" ] || { echo "no Caddy route to the UI port was found"; false; }
+    [ "$api_url" = "https://${vhost}" ] || {
+        echo "API_URL ($api_url) is not the guarded origin https://${vhost}"; false; }
+    # Same-origin traffic needs no CORS at all, but while CORS_ORIGINS is unset
+    # the app warns and defaults to `*` in front of every episode's audio.
+    cors="$(sed -n 's/^CORS_ORIGINS=//p' "$ENVF")"
+    [ "$cors" = "https://${vhost}" ] || {
+        echo "CORS_ORIGINS ($cors) is not the single guarded origin https://${vhost}"; false; }
+}
+
+@test "the vhost is guarded and the app login stays behind it" {
+    vhost="$(onb_vhost)"
+    # The vhost itself proxies the WHOLE request to Anubis — an unmatched path
+    # must never reach the app unchallenged.
+    awk -v v="$vhost" '
+        $0 == v " {"                          { inblock = 1; seen = 0 }
+        inblock && /reverse_proxy anubis:8923/ { seen = 1 }
+        inblock && /^}/                       { exit }
+        END                                   { exit !seen }
+    ' "$CADDY" || { echo "$vhost does not proxy everything through Anubis"; false; }
+    # And the app's own password is still required, so a route that ever bypasses
+    # the chain does not hand out the episode library: the deployer refuses to
+    # start the units while the secret file leaves it blank.
+    grep -qF 'OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD' "$ENVF"
 }
 
 @test "the pair shares one network and the app finds the database by container name" {
@@ -170,18 +207,19 @@ DB_PIN="sha256:e5d7387e3727bbe2f7cd6d869e48cd34777272258572ead37c9656b25f745723"
     ! grep -qE '^Exec=.*--(pass|user)' "$DB"
 }
 
-@test "both health probes are argument-only and name real paths" {
-    for unit in "$APP" "$DB"; do
-        cmd="$(sed -n 's/^HealthCmd=//p' "$unit")"
-        [ -n "$cmd" ] || { echo "$(basename "$unit") has no HealthCmd"; false; }
-        # The quadlet generator splits HealthCmd on spaces, so anything needing
-        # a shell (quotes, pipes, &&) would be silently mis-sent.
-        ! printf '%s' "$cmd" | grep -qE '["&;|`]'
-    done
-    # The API's own route, exempt from its password middleware upstream.
+@test "the database probe can run in a shell-less image and the API probe names the health route" {
+    # podman wraps a BARE HealthCmd as CMD-SHELL (measured on this host's podman
+    # 5.7), and the SurrealDB image is distroless — no /bin/sh — so a bare
+    # command there is a probe that can only ever fail: the database answers
+    # perfectly while the health status stays `unhealthy` and the deploy gate
+    # times out. Only the exec-form JSON array runs in that image.
+    db_cmd="$(sed -n 's/^HealthCmd=//p' "$DB")"
+    [ "$db_cmd" = '["/surreal","is-ready"]' ] || {
+        echo "database probe is not exec-form JSON: $db_cmd"; false; }
+    # The API image ships curl and a shell, so a bare command is fine there; it
+    # must name the route that is exempt from the password middleware, on the
+    # CONTAINER port (the probe runs inside the netns).
     grep -qxF 'HealthCmd=curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:5055/health' "$APP"
-    # The distroless database image has no shell and no curl; it ships a probe.
-    grep -qxF 'HealthCmd=/surreal is-ready' "$DB"
 }
 
 @test "the deployer gates open-notebook on the health path that actually answers" {
@@ -244,21 +282,25 @@ DB_PIN="sha256:e5d7387e3727bbe2f7cd6d869e48cd34777272258572ead37c9656b25f745723"
     grep -qF 'dankclaw:open-notebook|' "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy.sh"
 }
 
-@test "the homepage card exists and stays hidden until the service is deployed" {
-    python3 - "$REPO_ROOT/shared/homepage/services.json" <<'PY'
+@test "the homepage card links the guarded vhost now that the service is live" {
+    python3 - "$REPO_ROOT/shared/homepage/services.json" "$(onb_vhost)" <<'PY'
 import json, os, sys
 data = json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))
+vhost = sys.argv[2]
 cards = [s for s in data if s["name"] == "open-notebook"]
 assert len(cards) == 1, f"expected exactly one open-notebook card, got {len(cards)}"
 card = cards[0]
-assert card["category"] == "user" and card["section"] == "AI", card
+# category moved to "admin": single shared password, no per-user accounts, so it
+# is positioned as an admin-side tool, not a user-facing app (see the vault page).
+assert card["category"] == "admin" and card["section"] == "AI", card
 assert card["probe"] == "127.0.0.1:8502", card["probe"]
 assert card["method"] == "http"
-# Not deployed yet: the card is reported wip-down and carries no link, so the
-# page shows no dead button (the Seerr precedent).
-assert card.get("wip") == "down", card.get("wip")
-assert card.get("showLink") is False, card.get("showLink")
-assert not card.get("url"), "a hidden card must not carry a url"
+# Deployed and guarded: the card is live and its link is the vhost, so the
+# button on the page reaches the app through the guard chain. Card links carry
+# the fleet's http:// form everywhere; Caddy answers the redirect to HTTPS.
+assert not card.get("wip"), f"card should be live, got wip={card.get('wip')!r}"
+assert card.get("showLink") is True, card.get("showLink")
+assert card.get("url") == f"http://{vhost}", card.get("url")
 art = card["art"].lstrip("/")
 assert os.path.exists(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[1]), art)), art
 PY