AGENTS.md

@@ -860,6 +860,6 @@ history.
 | Benchmarking (only when ordered) | **Stop and mask the service first**, bench, unmask, restart, verify health. |
 | Deleting a file | **Move it to trash** — `.AGENTTRASH/` (in-repo) or `~/.AGENTTRASH/YYYYMMDD-topic`. Never `rm`. |
 | Relayout the movie library | **Census → plan → read the exceptions → `scripts/media-apply.py`** — renames only, journal before every move; never hand-rename, never copy. |
-| Making media metadata visible to both media servers | **Bind `/var/lib/media-meta/view`** — the overlay `scripts/media-view.sh` installs (array below, NVMe above). Never write the array; never delete through the view. **Not yet deployed on Dankserver: the live quadlets still bind the array read-only — see [[Media Metadata View]].** |
+| Making media metadata visible to both media servers | **Bind `/var/lib/media-meta/view`** — the overlay `scripts/media-view.sh` installs (array below, NVMe above). Never write the array; never delete through the view. **Deployed on Dankserver 2026-10-31 — both media servers bind it; a restart for any reason discards the in-flight library scan, so re-trigger the refresh — see [[Media Metadata View]].** |
 | Tests exist | **Run them** — verify tests pass after every change. Do not commit failing tests. |
 | Real secrets | **Never commit** — host `.env` files; `.env.example` holds placeholders only. |

scripts/deploy-remote.sh

@@ -1212,6 +1212,10 @@ ensure_media_view() {
     # scripts/wait-for-mount.sh, which waits and then refuses the start. A
     # relayout must be followed by `media-view.sh reap`
     # (see the Media Relayout page), which this is not.
+    # A fresh host has no upper base, and `install` refuses to invent one — so
+    # without this the media deploy dies on a rebuilt machine with
+    # "put it on the SSD first" (measured 2026-10-31).
+    run_privileged bash scripts/media-view.sh ensure-base
     run_privileged bash scripts/media-view.sh install
     bash scripts/media-view.sh verify
 }

scripts/media-view.sh

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ die() {
 }
 
 usage() {
-    printf 'usage: %s plan|verify|install|reap|status [options]\n' "$0" >&2
+    printf 'usage: %s plan|ensure-base|verify|install|reap|status [options]\n' "$0" >&2
     exit 2
 }
 
@@ -98,6 +98,22 @@ require_upper_base() {
         || die "refused: upper base $upper_base does not exist (put it on the SSD first)"
 }
 
+# The SSD placement of the metadata layer is a human choice, so `install` refuses
+# to invent a base directory: a mistyped --upper-base must not quietly create a
+# tree on whatever filesystem the caller landed on. The deployer owns the
+# documented location, so it calls this first — measured 2026-10-31, when a
+# fresh-host `install` died with "put it on the SSD first" and nothing in git
+# would have created it.
+do_ensure_base() {
+    if [ -d "$upper_base" ]; then
+        printf 'base: %s exists\n' "$upper_base"
+        return 0
+    fi
+    install -d -m 0755 "$upper_base" 2>/dev/null \
+        || die "refused: cannot create $upper_base — it lives outside the checkout, run this as root"
+    printf 'base: created %s\n' "$upper_base"
+}
+
 do_plan() {
     printf 'lowerdir=%s\nupperdir=%s\nworkdir=%s\nmountpoint=%s\nunit=%s/%s\n' \
         "$lower" "$upper" "$work" "$VIEW" "$UNIT_DIR" "$UNIT"
@@ -234,6 +250,7 @@ do_status() {
 case "$cmd" in
     plan)    do_plan ;;
     verify)  do_verify ;;
+    ensure-base) do_ensure_base ;;
     install) do_install ;;
     reap)    do_reap ;;
     status)  do_status ;;

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankserver/Jellyfin.md

@@ -42,21 +42,20 @@ public vhost `jelly.franksdank.cloud` behind the [[Anubis]] guard chain →
 
 Library folders point at `/data` paths: stable across container recreation and
 identical to the raw array layout below. Which side of that path the container
-is on is the open question on this host — the installed unit binds the read-only
+is the [[Media Metadata View]] overlay, live since the 2026-10-31 cutover:
-array, and `scripts/media-view.sh status` reports `NOT MOUNTED` (2026-10-31).
+`/var/lib/media-meta/view:/data`, read-write.
 
 `Local metadata` — save metadata to media folders — is enabled, and it is the
 reason the view exists: `movie.nfo`, `tvshow.nfo`, `episode.nfo` and artwork
-written once on the NVMe upper layer are files [[Plex]] can read too. While
+written once on the NVMe upper layer are files [[Plex]] can read too — and since
-`/data` is bound read-only every item update logs the error below and no sidecar
+the 2026-10-31 cutover that is what happens: Jellyfin is the fleet's only
-is written; Jellyfin becomes the fleet's only metadata writer with the deploy
+metadata writer, and every sidecar it saves is an SSD byte the array never sees.
-that raises the view.
 
 **Failure signature:** `System.IO.IOException: Read-only file system :
 '/data/Movies/<film>/movie.nfo'` means the container is binding the raw array
-instead of the view. On Dankserver that is today's expected state — the view has
+instead of the view — always a fault on this host since the 2026-10-31 cutover.
-never been installed (`scripts/media-view.sh status`). Once it is deployed, the
+`scripts/media-view.sh status` says which: the quadlet drifted back to the raw
-same line is a fault: the quadlet drifted or the mount died.
+array, or the mount died.
 
 ## Ports & access
 
@@ -212,8 +211,7 @@ receives `Authorization: MediaBrowser Token=` with nothing after it (`\\"` answe
 One accepted refresh is the whole procedure. A second one while a scan runs moves
 `Scan Media Library` to `Cancelling`, and once the runner holds `Cancelling` every
 later `204` is accepted and then discarded — the status code stops meaning
-anything. The fix is `systemctl --user restart jellyfin.service` (never
+anything. The fix is `systemctl --user restart jellyfin.service`, one POST after
-`deploy.sh`: that runs the never-tested metadata-view cutover), one POST after
 health answers, and then believe `ScheduledTasks` State at 130 % CPU, not the
 response code.
 

serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankserver/Media Metadata View.md

@@ -20,18 +20,22 @@ The mount point is not a volume and holds nothing while unmounted. It sits insid
 merged door are one directory — and so the mount table grows no new `/mnt` entry
 next to the array.
 
-**Not deployed on Dankserver — verified 2026-10-31.** `scripts/media-view.sh
+**Deployed on Dankserver — 2026-10-31, both servers.** `plex` binds
-status` answers `view: /var/lib/media-meta/view NOT MOUNTED`,
+`/var/lib/media-meta/view:/mnt/entropy:ro` and `jellyfin` binds
-`/var/lib/media-meta` does not exist, and the installed quadlets under
+`/var/lib/media-meta/view:/data:rw`; `findmnt` reports the overlay with
-`~/.config/containers/systemd/` still carry the pre-view binds — `/mnt/entropy:/data:ro`
+`lowerdir=/mnt/entropy upperdir=/var/lib/media-meta/upper`, and each container
-for [[Jellyfin]], `/mnt/entropy:/mnt/entropy:ro` for [[Plex]]. Everything below
+was proven to resolve a real media file through it — `podman exec <svc> ls -la
-is the shape git describes, not the shape the servers run. The cutover is an
+<its data path>` is the whole proof, because both servers keep the paths their
-ordinary deploy: `deploy.sh dankserver --service jellyfin|plex` runs
+databases recorded. Two service-scoped deploys, each gated by
-`ensure_media_view` (`install` then `verify`) before it restarts the container,
+`media-view.sh verify` and the Playwright suite.
-so it must not be fired through the middle of a library scan. Until that deploy
+
-lands there is no upper layer, so no relayout can leave ghost metadata and
+Moving a bind means restarting the server, and **a restart discards that
-`reap` has nothing to do — `media-apply.py` prints that follow-up only when the
+server's in-flight library scan** — Jellyfin's 7 h 25 m walk ended
-view really is a mountpoint.
+`"Status": "Aborted"` in `data/ScheduledTasks/<task-id>.js` and nothing resumes
+it. Renames made on the array while the view was unmounted are invisible to both
+watchers too, so the additive index has to be asked for by hand; the door is an
+API key, and the row in the failure table below says what to check when it
+refuses.
 
 ## Shape
 
@@ -122,6 +126,9 @@ the defaults are the host values above.
 | Jellyfin log: `Read-only file system : '/data/Movies/…/movie.nfo'` | The container is binding the raw array, not the view — the quadlet drifted back or the view is gone. `media-view.sh status`. |
 | A folder appears in a media server with artwork/`.nfo` but no video | Ghost metadata from a relayout. `media-view.sh reap`. |
 | `verify` prints `refused: …/view is not a mountpoint` | A plain directory is sitting where the overlay belongs. That is the fail-closed guard working; `install` on the box. |
+| `install` prints `refused: upper base /var/lib/media-meta does not exist (put it on the SSD first)` | A fresh host. `install` deliberately never creates the base — a mistyped `--upper-base` must not build a metadata tree on the wrong filesystem — so `scripts/media-view.sh ensure-base` makes the documented one, which the deployer calls first. |
+| A media server's scan record reads `"Status": "Aborted"` | Its container restarted (a cutover, an image bump, an OOM) and the walk was discarded; systemd's `Restart=always` restarts the *server*, never the scan. Trigger a refresh — see [[Media Relayout]]. |
+| The Jellyfin API answers 401 to every token header | Almost always the header **form**, not the key: 12.4 authenticates only `Authorization: MediaBrowser Token="…"` and refuses a bare `X-Emby-Token` for every key, valid or not — and one collapsed backslash in the curl config produces the same 401. `[[Jellyfin]]` owns the block that works. Before concluding anything, prove the key against the server's own table: `select count(*) from ApiKeys where AccessToken = ?` on `jellyfin.db` opened `mode=ro&immutable=1`. |
 | `systemctl status` finds no such unit | Look under the escaped name, `var-lib-media\x2dmeta-view.mount`, not the repo file name. |
 
 ## Rollback

tests/media_overlay.bats

@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 #   4. both media units bind the VIEW and refuse to start without it;
 #   5. only those two units touch the view — the LLM and library tenants keep the
 #      raw volume, so the blast radius is two containers;
-#   6. the deployer brings the view up BEFORE it restarts either server;
+#   6. the deployer creates the upper base and brings the view up BEFORE it
+#      restarts either server;
 #   7. the planner routes a change to these files to both media services.
 
 load helpers
@@ -110,6 +111,30 @@ UNIT="$REPO_ROOT/dankserver/host/systemd/media-meta-view.mount"
     done
 }
 
+@test "ensure-base creates a base directory that install refuses to invent" {
+    base="$BATS_TEST_TMPDIR/fresh-base"
+    run bash "$VIEW" ensure-base --upper-base "$base"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ -d "$base" ]
+    # The deployer runs this on every media deploy, so a second call must be a
+    # no-op and must say so rather than recreate anything.
+    run bash "$VIEW" ensure-base --upper-base "$base"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "${lines[0]}" == *"exists"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "the media deployer creates the upper base before it installs the view" {
+    body="$(sed -n '/^ensure_media_view()/,/^\}/p' "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh")"
+    [ -n "$body" ]
+    base="$(printf '%s\n' "$body" | grep -n 'media-view.sh ensure-base' | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)"
+    inst="$(printf '%s\n' "$body" | grep -n 'media-view.sh install' | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)"
+    # Order is the whole test: install refuses a missing base, so an installer
+    # that runs first dies on a rebuilt host (measured 2026-10-31).
+    [ -n "$base" ]
+    [ -n "$inst" ]
+    [ "$base" -lt "$inst" ]
+}
+
 @test "the planner routes the view files to both media services" {
     run python3 "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-plan.py" --target dankserver --paths \
         scripts/media-view.sh dankserver/host/systemd/media-meta-view.mount