fix(dream): deterministic last-writer attribution for colliding slugs

collectChildPutPageSlugs paired each slug to a jobId first-seen over an unordered result set. When two children collide on a final slug, the pages row holds the LAST put_page write, so the provenance stamp (transcript_id/transcript_source/date) could attribute an arbitrary other transcript. ORDER BY id + last-writer-wins aligns the stamp with the surviving content; pinned by a collision test. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
test(progress): assert net-zero live-reporter delta, not absolute zero
2026-08-17 02:12:40 +00:00 · 2026-07-22 12:14:19 -07:00 · 2026-07-22 11:22:03 -07:00 · 2026-07-21 14:25:51 -07:00
21 changed files with 438 additions and 601 deletions
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import type { BrainEngine } from '../core/engine.ts';
 import { embedBatch, currentEmbeddingSignature } from '../core/embedding.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, ResolvedColumn } from '../core/types.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from '../core/search/embedding-column.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput } from '../core/types.ts';
 import { chunkText } from '../core/chunkers/recursive.ts';
 import { createProgress, type ProgressReporter } from '../core/progress.ts';
 import { getCliOptions, cliOptsToProgressOptions } from '../core/cli-options.ts';
@@ -184,13 +183,8 @@ export class EmbeddingDimMismatchError extends Error {
 * fresh-install bug class at the very first invocation instead of letting
 * the worker pool hammer N pages with raw 22000 errors.
 */
-async function preflightDimMismatch(engine: BrainEngine, dryRun: boolean, embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn): Promise<void> {
+async function preflightDimMismatch(engine: BrainEngine, dryRun: boolean): Promise<void> {
  if (dryRun) return; // dry-run never embeds, no risk
-  // #1262: an alt-column brain writes to `embeddingColumn`, not the legacy
-  // `embedding` column — the legacy column's dims are irrelevant, and the
-  // registry entry (validated at resolve time) pins the target's dims. Only
-  // the legacy default path needs the schema-vs-gateway dim comparison.
-  if (embeddingColumn && embeddingColumn.name !== 'embedding') return;
  const { readContentChunksEmbeddingDim, embeddingMismatchMessage } = await import('../core/embedding-dim-check.ts');
  const { getEmbeddingDimensions, getEmbeddingModel } = await import('../core/ai/gateway.ts');
  let existing;
@@ -244,12 +238,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
  // v0.37.11.0 (Lane D.2): pre-flight dim-mismatch check. Catches the headline
  // fresh-install bug class before the worker pool spends 20 parallel calls
  // hitting raw Postgres dimension errors.
-  // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column ONCE at the boundary
-  // (merged config + gateway model) and thread the descriptor through every
-  // upsertChunks / stale-scan below. undefined => legacy `embedding` column.
-  const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-
-  await preflightDimMismatch(engine, !!opts.dryRun, embeddingColumn);
+  await preflightDimMismatch(engine, !!opts.dryRun);

  const result: EmbedResult = {
    embedded: 0,
@@ -264,7 +253,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
    for (const s of opts.slugs) {
      if (isAborted(opts.signal)) break; // #1737: stop the per-slug loop on abort
      try {
-        await embedPage(engine, s, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+        await embedPage(engine, s, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal);
      } catch (e: unknown) {
        serr(`  Error embedding ${s}: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}`);
      }
@@ -358,7 +347,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
        catchUp: opts.catchUp,
        pacer,
        paceMaxConcurrency,
-      }, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+      }, opts.signal);
    } finally {
      // E1: surface pacing telemetry (human + structured) when pacing was on.
      const snap = pacer.snapshot();
@@ -387,7 +376,7 @@ export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promis
    return result;
  }
  if (opts.slug) {
-    await embedPage(engine, opts.slug, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal, embeddingColumn);
+    await embedPage(engine, opts.slug, !!opts.dryRun, result, opts.sourceId, opts.signal);
    return result;
  }
  throw new Error('No embed target specified. Pass { slug }, { slugs }, { all }, or { stale }.');
@@ -532,13 +521,8 @@ async function embedPage(
  result: EmbedResult,
  sourceId?: string,
  signal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  const opts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side descriptor rides only on WRITE calls (upsertChunks).
-  const chunkOpts = (sourceId || embeddingColumn)
-    ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }) }
-    : undefined;
  const page = await engine.getPage(slug, opts);
  if (!page) {
    throw new Error(`Page not found: ${slug}`);
@@ -570,7 +554,7 @@ async function embedPage(
    }

    if (inputs.length > 0) {
-      await engine.upsertChunks(slug, inputs, chunkOpts);
+      await engine.upsertChunks(slug, inputs, opts);
      chunks = await engine.getChunks(slug, opts);
    }
  }
@@ -605,7 +589,7 @@ async function embedPage(
    token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
  }));

-  await engine.upsertChunks(slug, updated, chunkOpts);
+  await engine.upsertChunks(slug, updated, opts);
  // v0.41.31: stamp provenance so a later model/dims swap is detectable as
  // stale. embedPage is the per-slug path used by `gbrain embed <slug>` AND
  // by `gbrain sync`'s post-import embed step (runEmbedCore({slugs})).
@@ -638,7 +622,6 @@ async function embedAll(
    paceMaxConcurrency?: number;
  },
  signal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  // v0.41.31: current embedding provenance signature. Stamped onto pages
  // when their chunks are (re)embedded so a later model/dimension swap is
@@ -661,7 +644,7 @@ async function embedAll(
    // D7: thread sourceId so `gbrain embed --stale --source X` actually scopes.
    // v0.41.18.0 (A13): thread batchSize/priority/catchUp into the stale path.
    // #1737: thread the external abort signal so the cycle embed phase bails.
-    return await embedAllStale(engine, sourceId, dryRun, result, onProgress, staleOpts, signature, signal, embeddingColumn);
+    return await embedAllStale(engine, sourceId, dryRun, result, onProgress, staleOpts, signature, signal);
  }

  // --all path: pacer (no-op when off). E-1: lower the worker count to the
@@ -742,10 +725,7 @@ async function embedAll(
        embedding: embeddingMap.get(c.chunk_index) ?? undefined,
        token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
      }));
-      await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(page.slug, updated, {
-        ...(pageSourceId && { sourceId: pageSourceId }),
-        ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-      }));
+      await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(page.slug, updated, pageOpts));
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance so a later model swap is
      // detectable as stale.
      await observed(pacer, () =>
@@ -825,16 +805,10 @@ async function embedAllStale(
  },
  signature?: string,
  externalSignal?: AbortSignal,
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn,
 ) {
  // D7: thread sourceId so source-scoped runs only count + visit
  // that source's NULL embeddings.
-  // #1262: the stale predicate follows the write-side column — without it an
-  // alt-column brain would perpetually re-select (and re-pay for) chunks whose
-  // target column is already populated.
-  const sourceOpt = (sourceId || embeddingColumn)
-    ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }) }
-    : undefined;
+  const sourceOpt = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;

  // v0.41.31: re-embed pages whose embedding_signature drifted (model/dims
  // swap). dry-run must NOT mutate, so it counts signature-stale via the
@@ -993,7 +967,6 @@ async function embedAllStale(
            afterUpdatedAt,
          }),
          ...(sourceId && { sourceId }),
-          ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
        }),
      );
      if (batch.length === 0) {
@@ -1046,10 +1019,7 @@ async function embedAllStale(
            embedding: staleIdxToEmbedding.get(c.chunk_index) ?? undefined,
            token_count: c.token_count || Math.ceil(c.chunk_text.length / 4),
          }));
-          await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, {
-            sourceId: keySourceId,
-            ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-          }));
+          await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, { sourceId: keySourceId }));
          // v0.41.31: stamp provenance after the page's chunks are embedded —
          // but only when EVERY chunk was stale (fully re-embedded this pass).
          // A partially-stale page keeps preserved chunks of unknown/old
@@ -1120,7 +1090,7 @@ async function embedAllStale(
  // as a clean run — re-running won't help until the underlying failure is fixed.
  if (staleOpts?.catchUp && !effectiveSignal.aborted && embedFailures > 0) {
    const remaining = await engine.countStaleChunks(
-      signature ? { signature, ...sourceOpt } : sourceOpt,
+      signature ? { signature, ...(sourceId ? { sourceId } : {}) } : (sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined),
    );
    if (remaining > 0) {
      serr(`\n  [embed] catch-up finished but ${remaining} chunk(s) remain stale after ${embedFailures} embed failure(s). These are not embeddable as-is; re-running won't clear them until the underlying error is resolved.`);
@@ -576,16 +576,9 @@ async function runInlineCostGate(

  // Stale backlog: cheap single SQL; fail-open to 0 so a transient DB hiccup
  // never blocks the sync. Signature-aware (model/dims swap surfaces here).
-  // #1262: follow the write-side embedding column — otherwise an alt-column
-  // brain's fully-embedded corpus counts as phantom backlog on every gate.
  let staleChars = 0;
  try {
-    const { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } = await import('../core/search/embedding-column.ts');
-    const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-    staleChars = await engine.sumStaleChunkChars({
-      signature: currentEmbeddingSignature(),
-      ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
-    });
+    staleChars = await engine.sumStaleChunkChars({ signature: currentEmbeddingSignature() });
  } catch {
    staleChars = 0;
  }
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ import {
  type SynopsisFailureKind,
 } from './audit-synopsis.ts';
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from './search/embedding-column.ts';
 import type { ChunkInput, CRMode, Page } from './types.ts';
 import type { SourceRow } from './sources-ops.ts';

@@ -287,13 +286,9 @@ export async function reembedPageWithContextualRetrieval(

      // ── PHASE 2: single DB transaction ───────────────────────────
      try {
-        // #1262: contextual re-embeds write TEXT embeddings — thread the
-        // caller-resolved write column like every other embed path.
-        const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(args.engine);
        await args.engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
          await tx.upsertChunks(args.pageSlug, phase1.embeddedChunks, {
            sourceId: args.sourceId,
-            ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
          });
          await tx.updatePageContextualRetrievalState(
            args.pageSlug,
@@ -428,8 +428,13 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(

    const queue = new MinionQueue(engine);
    const childIds: number[] = [];
-    /** Map child job_id → chunk metadata for D6 orchestrator-side slug rewrite. */
-    const chunkInfo = new Map<number, { idx: number; hash6: string }>();
+    /**
+     * Map child job_id → transcript metadata. Drives D6 orchestrator-side
+     * slug rewrite for chunked transcripts AND the deterministic frontmatter
+     * stampDreamProvenance merges into each written page. Populated for
+     * every child (single-chunk children carry chunkTotal=1).
+     */
+    const childMeta = new Map<number, ChildMeta>();
    /** Skip reasons for the cycle report (D5 cap hits, D8 legacy-key skips). */
    const skipReports: Array<{ filePath: string; reason: string }> = [];

@@ -513,9 +518,14 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
          { allowProtectedSubmit: true },
        );
        childIds.push(child.id);
-        if (isChunked) {
-          chunkInfo.set(child.id, { idx: i, hash6 });
-        }
+        childMeta.set(child.id, {
+          idx: i,
+          hash6,
+          chunkTotal: chunks.length,
+          transcriptSource: t.transcriptSource,
+          transcriptId: stripContentVersionSuffix(t.basename),
+          inferredDate: t.inferredDate,
+        });
      }
    }

@@ -544,14 +554,14 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(

    // Collect slugs from put_page tool executions across the children
    // (codex finding #2: deterministic provenance, NOT pages.updated_at).
-    // D6 orchestrator slug rewrite: chunkInfo drives post-hoc rewrite of
+    // D6 orchestrator slug rewrite: childMeta drives post-hoc rewrite of
    // bare-hash slugs to `<hash6>-c<idx>` so chunked siblings can't collide
    // even if Sonnet drops the chunk suffix.
    // v0.32.8: refs carry source_id so reverseWriteRefs picks the correct
    // (source, slug) row. #1586: refs are stamped with the cycle's resolved
    // source (children write there via SubagentHandlerData.source_id).
    const cycleSourceId = opts.sourceId ?? 'default';
-    const writtenRefs = await collectChildPutPageSlugs(engine, childIds, chunkInfo, cycleSourceId);
+    const writtenRefs = await collectChildPutPageSlugs(engine, childIds, childMeta, cycleSourceId);

    const summaryDate = opts.date ?? today();

@@ -559,7 +569,12 @@ export async function runPhaseSynthesize(
    // of every child-written page BEFORE reverse-rendering, so generated pages
    // are queryable (`frontmatter->>'dream_generated'`) and a later put_page
    // write-through (which re-renders from the DB row) can't erase the stamp.
-    await stampDreamProvenance(engine, writtenRefs, summaryDate);
+    // #2285: the stamp also carries the orchestrator-owned deterministic
+    // frontmatter (transcript_id, transcript_source, transcript_hash, date,
+    // chunk) derived from childMeta — subagent drift on those fields can't
+    // leak, and reverseWriteRefs below re-reads the row so the same fields
+    // land in the on-disk markdown.
+    await stampDreamProvenance(engine, writtenRefs, summaryDate, childMeta);

    // Dual-write: reverse-render each DB row → markdown file.
    const reverseWriteCount = await reverseWriteRefs(engine, opts.brainDir, writtenRefs, cycleSourceId);
@@ -1095,15 +1110,17 @@ function sanitizeForSlug(s: string): string {
 * fake"): we no longer need detection because the rewrite enforces
 * uniqueness at slug-write time.
 *
- * `chunkInfo` maps child job_id → { chunk_index, hash6 }. Single-chunk
- * children are absent from the map and pass through unchanged.
+ * `childMeta` maps child job_id → per-child transcript metadata. Chunked
+ * children (chunkTotal > 1) get the slug rewrite; single-chunk children
+ * pass through unchanged. Each returned ref carries the job_id that wrote
+ * it so stampDreamProvenance can pair the slug back to its childMeta entry.
 */
 async function collectChildPutPageSlugs(
  engine: BrainEngine,
  childIds: number[],
-  chunkInfo: Map<number, { idx: number; hash6: string }>,
+  childMeta: Map<number, ChildMeta>,
  sourceId = 'default',
-): Promise<Array<{ slug: string; source_id: string }>> {
+): Promise<Array<{ slug: string; source_id: string; jobId: number }>> {
  if (childIds.length === 0) return [];
  // Raw fetch — NO SELECT DISTINCT. Preserves per-child slug duplicates so
  // the orchestrator sees what each child wrote. COALESCE handles both
@@ -1122,16 +1139,73 @@ async function collectChildPutPageSlugs(
       FROM subagent_tool_executions
      WHERE job_id = ANY($1::int[])
        AND tool_name = 'brain_put_page'
-        AND status = 'complete'`,
+        AND status = 'complete'
+      ORDER BY id`,
    [childIds],
  );
-  const rewritten = new Set<string>();
+  const rewritten = new Map<string, number>();
  for (const r of rows) {
    if (typeof r.slug !== 'string' || r.slug.length === 0) continue;
-    const ci = chunkInfo.get(r.job_id);
-    rewritten.add(ci ? rewriteChunkedSlug(r.slug, ci.hash6, ci.idx) : r.slug);
+    const meta = childMeta.get(r.job_id);
+    const finalSlug = meta && meta.chunkTotal > 1
+      ? rewriteChunkedSlug(r.slug, meta.hash6, meta.idx)
+      : r.slug;
+    // Last writer wins, in execution-row order (ORDER BY id): if two children
+    // collide on a final slug, the pages row holds the LAST put_page write, so
+    // the stamp must attribute that child's transcript — not an arbitrary one.
+    rewritten.set(finalSlug, r.job_id);
  }
-  return Array.from(rewritten).sort().map(slug => ({ slug, source_id: sourceId }));
+  return [...rewritten.entries()]
+    .sort(([a], [b]) => a.localeCompare(b))
+    .map(([slug, jobId]) => ({ slug, source_id: sourceId, jobId }));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Per-child orchestrator state. Drives D6 chunked-slug rewrite (idx + hash6)
+ * AND the deterministic frontmatter stampDreamProvenance merges into each
+ * written page. Populated for every child, not just chunked ones.
+ */
+interface ChildMeta {
+  idx: number;
+  hash6: string;
+  chunkTotal: number;
+  transcriptSource: string | null;
+  transcriptId: string;
+  inferredDate: string | null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Strip the content-version suffix that claude-code-archive appends when a
+ * conversation is edited (`<uuid>--<contentHash>.md`). The session UUID is
+ * the stable transcript identifier; the suffix changes with content. Used to
+ * populate `transcript_id` so edits of the same session collapse to one id.
+ */
+function stripContentVersionSuffix(basename: string): string {
+  return basename.replace(/--[a-f0-9]+$/i, '');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Deterministic frontmatter for one synthesized page (#2285). Every field
+ * here is owned by the orchestrator — the subagent's value for any of these
+ * is overwritten. The subagent retains authority over type / title / tags /
+ * body. `date` feeds the effective-date precedence chain
+ * (src/core/effective-date.ts) so re-imports keep the conversation date even
+ * when sync tools re-stamp file mtimes.
+ */
+function buildDeterministicFrontmatter(
+  meta: ChildMeta,
+  cycleDate: string,
+): Record<string, unknown> {
+  const overrides: Record<string, unknown> = {
+    dream_generated: true,
+    dream_cycle_date: cycleDate,
+    transcript_id: meta.transcriptId,
+    transcript_hash: meta.hash6,
+  };
+  if (meta.transcriptSource) overrides.transcript_source = meta.transcriptSource;
+  if (meta.chunkTotal > 1) overrides.chunk = `${meta.idx + 1}/${meta.chunkTotal}`;
+  if (meta.inferredDate) overrides.date = meta.inferredDate;
+  return overrides;
 }

 /**
@@ -1177,12 +1251,19 @@ async function hasLegacySingleChunkCompletion(
 */
 async function stampDreamProvenance(
  engine: BrainEngine,
-  refs: Array<{ slug: string; source_id: string }>,
+  refs: Array<{ slug: string; source_id: string; jobId?: number }>,
  cycleDate: string,
+  childMeta?: Map<number, ChildMeta>,
 ): Promise<void> {
  if (refs.length === 0) return;
  const { executeRawJsonb } = await import('../sql-query.ts');
-  for (const { slug, source_id } of refs) {
+  for (const { slug, source_id, jobId } of refs) {
+    // #2285: when the ref pairs back to a child, the stamp also carries the
+    // orchestrator-owned deterministic frontmatter for that transcript.
+    const meta = jobId !== undefined ? childMeta?.get(jobId) : undefined;
+    const stamp = meta
+      ? buildDeterministicFrontmatter(meta, cycleDate)
+      : { dream_generated: true, dream_cycle_date: cycleDate };
    try {
      await executeRawJsonb(
        engine,
@@ -1190,7 +1271,7 @@ async function stampDreamProvenance(
            SET frontmatter = COALESCE(frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) || $3::jsonb
          WHERE slug = $1 AND source_id = $2`,
        [slug, source_id],
-        [{ dream_generated: true, dream_cycle_date: cycleDate }],
+        [stamp],
      );
    } catch (e) {
      const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 */

 import { readFileSync, readdirSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
-import { join, basename } from 'node:path';
+import { join, basename, dirname } from 'node:path';
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
 import { pruneDir } from '../sync.ts';

@@ -23,8 +23,22 @@ export interface DiscoveredTranscript {
  content: string;
  /** Filename basename without extension; used as a topic-slug seed. */
  basename: string;
-  /** Inferred date if the basename matches `YYYY-MM-DD...` (or null). */
+  /**
+   * Inferred conversation date (YYYY-MM-DD) or null. Precedence: the
+   * `| First message | <ISO> |` row in the transcript's `## Metadata`
+   * table (stable across mtime-restamping re-syncs) wins; a leading
+   * `YYYY-MM-DD` in the basename is the fallback.
+   */
  inferredDate: string | null;
+  /**
+   * Transcript source archive name, derived from the path's grandparent
+   * directory (the immediate parent of the date directory). For the
+   * canonical layout `<corpus>/<source>/<date>/<id>.md` this yields the
+   * source-name segment — e.g. `claude-code` for the claude-code-archive
+   * output, `meetings` for meeting recordings. Null when the file does
+   * not live under a `<source>/<date>/` pair (ad-hoc inputs).
+   */
+  transcriptSource: string | null;
 }

 export interface DiscoverOpts {
@@ -161,6 +175,36 @@ function matchesAnyExclude(text: string, patterns: RegExp[]): boolean {
  return false;
 }

+/**
+ * Content-based conversation date: the `| First message | <ISO timestamp> |`
+ * row claude-code-archive writes into the transcript's `## Metadata` table.
+ * Stable across rsync/Dropbox/Syncthing/B2 re-syncs that re-stamp mtime,
+ * unlike anything derived from file metadata. Returns YYYY-MM-DD or null.
+ */
+const FIRST_MESSAGE_RE = /^\|\s*First message\s*\|\s*(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})/im;
+
+export function inferContentDate(content: string): string | null {
+  const m = FIRST_MESSAGE_RE.exec(content);
+  return m ? m[1] : null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Derive the archive source name from a transcript path. Returns the basename
+ * of the directory two levels above the file when the immediate parent is a
+ * date directory and the grandparent looks like a source-name slug (lowercase
+ * alphanumeric segments separated by hyphens); otherwise null. This pins the
+ * canonical claude-code-archive layout `<corpus>/<source>/<date>/<id>.md`
+ * without claiming a source for ad-hoc inputs that don't match.
+ */
+export function deriveTranscriptSource(filePath: string): string | null {
+  const parentName = basename(dirname(filePath));
+  if (!/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/.test(parentName)) return null;
+  const grandparentName = basename(dirname(dirname(filePath)));
+  if (!grandparentName) return null;
+  if (!/^[a-z0-9]+(-[a-z0-9]+)*$/.test(grandparentName)) return null;
+  return grandparentName;
+}
+
 function listTextFiles(dir: string): string[] {
  // Recursive walk with descent-time pruning (closes codex C12/C13 spec gap).
  // Accepts BOTH .txt and .md per transcript-discovery's domain rules — does
@@ -225,8 +269,11 @@ export function discoverTranscripts(opts: DiscoverOpts): DiscoveredTranscript[]
      const ext = filePath.endsWith('.md') ? '.md' : '.txt';
      const baseName = basename(filePath, ext);
      const dateMatch = DATE_RE.exec(baseName);
-      const inferredDate = dateMatch ? dateMatch[1] : null;
-      if (!isInDateRange(inferredDate, opts)) continue;
+      const filenameDate = dateMatch ? dateMatch[1] : null;
+      // Fast path: date-named files outside the window skip before the read.
+      // ponytail: a date-named file whose content date differs is filtered on
+      // its filename date — acceptable; archive layouts use UUID basenames.
+      if (filenameDate && !isInDateRange(filenameDate, opts)) continue;

      let content: string;
      try {
@@ -241,12 +288,17 @@ export function discoverTranscripts(opts: DiscoverOpts): DiscoveredTranscript[]
      }
      if (matchesAnyExclude(content, excludeRes)) continue;

+      // Content-metadata date wins (survives mtime restamps); filename next.
+      const inferredDate = inferContentDate(content) ?? filenameDate;
+      if (!isInDateRange(inferredDate, opts)) continue;
+
      results.push({
        filePath,
        contentHash: hashContent(content),
        content,
        basename: baseName,
        inferredDate,
+        transcriptSource: deriveTranscriptSource(filePath),
      });
    }
  }
@@ -290,6 +342,7 @@ export function readSingleTranscript(
    contentHash: hashContent(content),
    content,
    basename: baseName,
-    inferredDate: dateMatch ? dateMatch[1] : null,
+    inferredDate: inferContentDate(content) ?? (dateMatch ? dateMatch[1] : null),
+    transcriptSource: deriveTranscriptSource(filePath),
  };
 }
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 */

 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, ResolvedColumn } from './types.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput } from './types.ts';
 import { embedBatchWithBackoff } from '../commands/embed.ts';
 import { type DbPacer, createNoopPacer, observed } from './db-pacer.ts';
 import { AbortError } from './abort-check.ts';
@@ -61,13 +61,6 @@ export interface EmbedStaleOpts {
   * Omit to keep the legacy `embedding IS NULL`-only behavior.
   */
  embeddingSignature?: string;
-  /**
-   * #1262: caller-resolved write-side embedding column. Threaded into BOTH
-   * listStaleChunks (staleness predicate) and upsertChunks (write target) so
-   * an alt-column brain converges instead of re-selecting embedded rows.
-   * Resolve at the boundary via `resolveWriteColumnForEngine()`.
-   */
-  embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  /**
   * DB-contention pacer (paced-backfill). When enabled it (a) supplies the
   * worker count via the caller passing `concurrency = bundle.maxConcurrency`
@@ -163,7 +156,6 @@ export async function embedStaleForSource(
        afterPageId,
        afterChunkIndex,
        sourceId,
-        ...(opts.embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn: opts.embeddingColumn }),
      }),
    );
    if (batch.length === 0) {
@@ -231,10 +223,7 @@ export async function embedStaleForSource(
          doc_comment: c.doc_comment ?? undefined,
          symbol_name_qualified: c.symbol_name_qualified ?? undefined,
        }));
-        await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, {
-          sourceId: keySourceId,
-          ...(opts.embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn: opts.embeddingColumn }),
-        }));
+        await observed(pacer, () => engine.upsertChunks(slug, merged, { sourceId: keySourceId }));
        // v0.41.31: stamp provenance only when EVERY chunk was stale (fully
        // re-embedded this pass) — a partially-stale page keeps preserved
        // chunks of unknown provenance, so don't claim current. After the
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  CodeEdgeInput, CodeEdgeResult,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
@@ -988,13 +987,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * — Postgres rolls back automatically on conn drop, so commit-ambiguous
   * failure replays to the same end state. Callers MUST NOT wrap externally;
   * see {@link BatchOpts} retry-contract block.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` (optional) selects the content_chunks column that
-   * receives TEXT embeddings (#1262). The caller resolves the descriptor at
-   * the import/embed boundary via `resolveWriteColumn()`; engines never read
-   * config or choose columns themselves. Omitted => legacy `embedding`.
   */
-  upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void>;
+  upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void>;
  /**
   * Read every chunk for a page. `opts.sourceId` source-scopes the page
   * lookup; without it, multi-source brains return chunks from every
@@ -1011,13 +1005,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * counts across every source in the brain. Operators running
   * `gbrain embed --stale --source media-corpus` expect only that
   * source's NULLs touched; the caller threads `sourceId` here.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` switches the staleness predicate from the legacy
-   * `embedding` column to the resolved write-side column, so alt-column
-   * brains do not perpetually re-select rows whose target column is already
-   * populated (#1262). Must match the eventual upsertChunks target.
   */
-  countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number>;
+  countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number>;
  /**
   * Sum of LENGTH(chunk_text) over stale chunks — the character-count
   * backlog the embed phase / embed-backfill will process. Sibling of
@@ -1031,13 +1020,8 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
   * model signature (a model/dims swap). NULL signature is GRANDFATHERED
   * (never counted) so the post-migration corpus isn't flagged en masse.
   * Omit `signature` for the legacy `embedding IS NULL`-only count.
-   *
-   * `opts.embeddingColumn` switches the staleness predicate to the resolved
-   * write-side column (#1262) — same contract as countStaleChunks — so the
-   * sync cost gate doesn't count an alt-column brain's fully-embedded corpus
-   * as phantom backlog.
   */
-  sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number>;
+  sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number>;
  /**
   * Stamp `pages.embedding_signature = signature` for one page. Called after
   * a page's chunks are (re)embedded so a later model swap can detect it as
@@ -1085,9 +1069,6 @@ export interface BrainEngine {
    // both round-trip TIMESTAMPTZ as Date | string; ISO string is the
    // common denominator on the wire).
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    // #1262: staleness predicate targets this column when set (must match
-    // countStaleChunks and the eventual upsertChunks write target).
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]>;
  /**
   * Delete every chunk for a page. Internal page-id lookup is sourceId-scoped
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ import { findChunkForOffset } from './chunkers/edge-extractor.ts';
 import { extractCodeRefs, imageOfCandidates } from './link-extraction.ts';
 import { embedBatch, embedMultimodal, currentEmbeddingSignature } from './embedding.ts';
 import { slugifyPath, slugifyCodePath, isCodeFilePath } from './sync.ts';
-import type { ChunkInput, PageInput, PageType, ResolvedColumn } from './types.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from './search/embedding-column.ts';
+import type { ChunkInput, PageInput, PageType } from './types.ts';
 import { computeEffectiveDate } from './effective-date.ts';
 import { MARKDOWN_CHUNKER_VERSION } from './chunkers/recursive.ts';
 import { logSlugFallback } from './audit-slug-fallback.ts';
@@ -741,14 +740,6 @@ export async function importFromContent(
  // schema DEFAULT — required for multi-source brains; harmless ('default')
  // for single-source callers.
  const txOpts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column once (merged config +
-  // gateway model) BEFORE the transaction; the descriptor rides only on
-  // upsertChunks so text embeddings land in the registered column.
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;
  await engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
    if (existing) await tx.createVersion(slug, txOpts);

@@ -833,7 +824,7 @@ export async function importFromContent(
    }

    if (chunks.length > 0) {
-      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, chunkOpts);
+      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, txOpts);
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance when this import actually
      // embedded (not --no-embed), so a later model/dims swap is detectable
      // as stale via embed --stale. The deferred/backfill + per-slug embed
@@ -1073,12 +1064,6 @@ export async function importCodeFile(
  const title = `${relativePath} (${lang})`;
  const sourceId = opts.sourceId;
  const txOpts = sourceId ? { sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side embedding column descriptor (rides only on upsertChunks).
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(sourceId && { sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;

  const byteLength = Buffer.byteLength(content, 'utf-8');
  if (byteLength > MAX_FILE_SIZE) {
@@ -1198,7 +1183,7 @@ export async function importCodeFile(
    await tx.addTag(slug, lang, txOpts);

    if (chunks.length > 0) {
-      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, chunkOpts);
+      await tx.upsertChunks(slug, chunks, txOpts);
      // v0.41.31: stamp embedding provenance ONLY when every chunk was
      // freshly embedded with the current model this call (no reuse-by-hash
      // carrying old-model vectors). Mixed pages stay unstamped rather than
@@ -1347,12 +1332,6 @@ export async function withImportTransaction(
 ): Promise<void> {
  const sourceId = spec.sourceId ?? 'default';
  const txOpts = spec.sourceId ? { sourceId: spec.sourceId } : undefined;
-  // #1262: write-side embedding column descriptor (rides only on upsertChunks).
-  const chunkWriteColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-  const chunkOpts: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } | undefined =
-    (spec.sourceId || chunkWriteColumn)
-      ? { ...(spec.sourceId && { sourceId: spec.sourceId }), ...(chunkWriteColumn && { embeddingColumn: chunkWriteColumn }) }
-      : undefined;
  await engine.transaction(async (tx) => {
    if (spec.hadExisting) await tx.createVersion(spec.slug, txOpts);
    await tx.putPage(spec.slug, spec.page, txOpts);
@@ -1368,7 +1347,7 @@ export async function withImportTransaction(
    }
    if (spec.chunks !== undefined) {
      if (spec.chunks.length > 0) {
-        await tx.upsertChunks(spec.slug, spec.chunks, chunkOpts);
+        await tx.upsertChunks(spec.slug, spec.chunks, txOpts);
      } else {
        await tx.deleteChunks(spec.slug, txOpts);
      }
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ import { tryAcquireDbLock } from '../../db-lock.ts';
 import { BudgetTracker, BudgetExhausted } from '../../budget/budget-tracker.ts';
 import { withBudgetTracker } from '../../ai/gateway.ts';
 import { embedStaleForSource } from '../../embed-stale.ts';
-import { resolveWriteColumnForEngine } from '../../search/embedding-column.ts';
 import { currentEmbeddingSignature } from '../../embedding.ts';
 import { type DbPacer, createDbPacer, createNoopPacer } from '../../db-pacer.ts';
 import { resolvePaceMode, loadPaceModeConfig, readPaceEnv } from '../../pace-mode.ts';
@@ -165,16 +164,12 @@ export function makeEmbedBackfillHandler(engine: BrainEngine) {
    // the supervisor, so pacing it is the headline win.
    const { pacer, concurrency } = await resolveBackfillPacer(engine, job.data);

-    // #1262: resolve the write-side embedding column once at the job boundary.
-    const embeddingColumn = await resolveWriteColumnForEngine(engine);
-
    try {
      const result = await withBudgetTracker(tracker, async () =>
        embedStaleForSource(engine, sourceId, {
          batchSize,
          signal: job.signal,
          pacer,
-          ...(embeddingColumn && { embeddingColumn }),
          ...(concurrency !== undefined && { concurrency }),
          // v0.41.31: re-embed pages whose model signature drifted + stamp
          // provenance as chunks land.
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
  SalienceOpts, SalienceResult, AnomaliesOpts, AnomalyResult,
@@ -2231,20 +2230,12 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
  }

  // Chunks
-  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
+  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
    return this.batchRetry(opts?.auditSite ?? 'upsertChunks', opts?.signal, () => this._upsertChunksOnce(slug, chunks, opts), chunks.length);
  }

-  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<void> {
+  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string }): Promise<void> {
    const sourceId = opts?.sourceId ?? 'default';
-    // #1262: caller-resolved write target for TEXT embeddings. Descriptor
-    // names are identifier-validated + quoted by buildVectorCastFragment;
-    // omitted => legacy `embedding vector`. Mirrors postgres-engine.ts.
-    const targetFragment = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn)
-      : undefined;
-    const targetCol = targetFragment?.col ?? 'embedding';
-    const embeddingCast = targetFragment?.castSql.replace('$1::', '') ?? 'vector';

    // Source-scope the page-id lookup so duplicate slugs in different sources
    // do not return multiple rows or target the wrong page.
@@ -2279,7 +2270,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    // list. Image chunks pass embedding=null + embedding_image=Float32Array
    // (1024-dim Voyage). Text/code chunks pass embedding=Float32Array +
    // embedding_image=null. Default modality='text' when omitted.
-    const cols = `(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, ${targetCol}, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)`;
+    const cols = '(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, embedding, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)';
    const rowParts: string[] = [];
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    let paramIdx = 1;
@@ -2297,7 +2288,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
      const modality = chunk.modality ?? 'text';

      // Inline ::vector NULL literals to avoid a per-branch placeholder.
-      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::${embeddingCast}` : 'NULL';
+      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';
      const embeddedAtPh = embeddingStr ? 'now()' : 'NULL';
      const embeddingImagePh = embeddingImageStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';

@@ -2336,19 +2327,19 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
       ON CONFLICT (page_id, chunk_index) DO UPDATE SET
         chunk_text = EXCLUDED.chunk_text,
         chunk_source = EXCLUDED.chunk_source,
-         ${targetCol} = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
+         embedding = CASE
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
-                THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           ELSE content_chunks.${targetCol}
+                THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           ELSE content_chunks.embedding
         END,
         model = COALESCE(EXCLUDED.model, content_chunks.model),
         token_count = EXCLUDED.token_count,
         embedded_at = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN NULL
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NULL THEN NULL
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
                THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
@@ -2386,19 +2377,14 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
   * drift (NULL grandfathered → never stale). Shared by countStaleChunks +
   * sumStaleChunkChars so they can't drift.
   */
-  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
-    // #1262: staleness targets the caller-resolved write column when set
-    // (identifier-validated + quoted); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';
+  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    const conds: string[] = [];
    if (opts?.signature !== undefined) {
      params.push(opts.signature);
-      conds.push(`(cc.${staleCol} IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
+      conds.push(`(cc.embedding IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
    } else {
-      conds.push(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`);
+      conds.push(`cc.embedding IS NULL`);
    }
    conds.push(`NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')`);
    if (opts?.sourceId !== undefined) {
@@ -2408,7 +2394,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return { where: conds.join(' AND '), params };
  }

-  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // D7: source-scoped count for `gbrain embed --stale --source X`. Always
    // JOIN pages so embed-skip + signature predicates apply. PGLite is
    // PostgreSQL 17.5 in WASM and supports the full JSONB operator set.
@@ -2424,7 +2410,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return Number(count);
  }

-  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Sibling of countStaleChunks: same stale predicate, summing chunk_text
    // length for the sync cost preview. ::bigint guards int4 overflow.
    const { where, params } = this.buildStaleChunkWhere(opts);
@@ -2477,17 +2463,11 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
    sourceId?: string;
    orderBy?: 'page_id' | 'updated_desc';
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]> {
    const limit = opts?.batchSize ?? 2000;
    const afterPid = opts?.afterPageId ?? 0;
    const afterIdx = opts?.afterChunkIndex ?? -1;
    const orderBy = opts?.orderBy ?? 'page_id';
-    // #1262: staleness follows the caller-resolved write column (validated +
-    // quoted identifier); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';

    // v0.41.18.0 (A13, codex #9): --priority recent path. See postgres-engine
    // sibling for full rationale. Same composite cursor + ORDER BY.
@@ -2501,7 +2481,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                  p.updated_at
             FROM content_chunks cc
             JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
            LIMIT $1`,
@@ -2512,7 +2492,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                  p.updated_at
             FROM content_chunks cc
             JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
              AND (
                p.updated_at < $1::timestamptz
@@ -2531,7 +2511,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                p.updated_at
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = $1
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
@@ -2543,7 +2523,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                p.updated_at
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = $1
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (
@@ -2568,7 +2548,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
                cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
           FROM content_chunks cc
           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > ($1, $2)
          ORDER BY cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index
@@ -2582,7 +2562,7 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
              cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
         FROM content_chunks cc
         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE cc.${staleCol} IS NULL
+        WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
          AND p.source_id = $1
          AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > ($2, $3)
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ import type {
  BrainStats, BrainHealth,
  IngestLogEntry, IngestLogInput,
  EngineConfig,
-  ResolvedColumn,
  EvalCandidate, EvalCandidateInput,
  EvalCaptureFailure, EvalCaptureFailureReason,
  SalienceOpts, SalienceResult, AnomaliesOpts, AnomalyResult,
@@ -2381,21 +2380,13 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
  }

  // Chunks
-  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
+  async upsertChunks(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string } & BatchOpts): Promise<void> {
    return this.batchRetry(opts?.auditSite ?? 'upsertChunks', opts?.signal, () => this._upsertChunksOnce(slug, chunks, opts), chunks.length);
  }

-  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<void> {
+  private async _upsertChunksOnce(slug: string, chunks: ChunkInput[], opts?: { sourceId?: string }): Promise<void> {
    const sql = this.sql;
    const sourceId = opts?.sourceId ?? 'default';
-    // #1262: caller-resolved write target for TEXT embeddings. Descriptor
-    // names are identifier-validated + quoted by buildVectorCastFragment;
-    // omitted => legacy `embedding vector`.
-    const targetFragment = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn)
-      : undefined;
-    const targetCol = targetFragment?.col ?? 'embedding';
-    const embeddingCast = targetFragment?.castSql.replace('$1::', '') ?? 'vector';

    // Source-scope the page-id lookup. Without this filter, multi-source
    // brains where the slug exists in 2+ sources return >1 row and the
@@ -2422,7 +2413,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    // scope metadata through upserts.
    // v0.27.1 (Phase 8): added `modality` + `embedding_image` to the column
    // list. Image chunks pass embedding=null + embedding_image=Float32Array.
-    const cols = `(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, ${targetCol}, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)`;
+    const cols = '(page_id, chunk_index, chunk_text, chunk_source, embedding, model, token_count, embedded_at, language, symbol_name, symbol_type, start_line, end_line, parent_symbol_path, doc_comment, symbol_name_qualified, modality, embedding_image)';
    const rows: string[] = [];
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    let paramIdx = 1;
@@ -2439,7 +2430,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
        : null;
      const modality = chunk.modality ?? 'text';

-      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::${embeddingCast}` : 'NULL';
+      const embeddingPh = embeddingStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';
      const embeddedAtPh = embeddingStr ? 'now()' : 'NULL';
      const embeddingImagePh = embeddingImageStr ? `$${paramIdx++}::vector` : 'NULL';

@@ -2487,19 +2478,19 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
       ON CONFLICT (page_id, chunk_index) DO UPDATE SET
         chunk_text = EXCLUDED.chunk_text,
         chunk_source = EXCLUDED.chunk_source,
-         ${targetCol} = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
+         embedding = CASE
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
-                THEN EXCLUDED.${targetCol}
-           ELSE content_chunks.${targetCol}
+                THEN EXCLUDED.embedding
+           ELSE content_chunks.embedding
         END,
         model = COALESCE(EXCLUDED.model, content_chunks.model),
         token_count = EXCLUDED.token_count,
         embedded_at = CASE
-           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NULL THEN NULL
-           WHEN content_chunks.${targetCol} IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.${targetCol} IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
+           WHEN EXCLUDED.chunk_text != content_chunks.chunk_text AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NULL THEN NULL
+           WHEN content_chunks.embedding IS NULL AND EXCLUDED.embedding IS NOT NULL THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
           WHEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at IS NOT NULL
                AND (content_chunks.embedded_at IS NULL OR EXCLUDED.embedded_at > content_chunks.embedded_at)
                THEN EXCLUDED.embedded_at
@@ -2539,19 +2530,14 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
   * embedding_signature drift (NULL grandfathered). Shared by
   * countStaleChunks + sumStaleChunkChars (parity with the PGLite sibling).
   */
-  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
-    // #1262: staleness targets the caller-resolved write column when set
-    // (identifier-validated + quoted); legacy `embedding` otherwise.
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';
+  private buildStaleChunkWhere(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): { where: string; params: unknown[] } {
    const params: unknown[] = [];
    const conds: string[] = [];
    if (opts?.signature !== undefined) {
      params.push(opts.signature);
-      conds.push(`(cc.${staleCol} IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
+      conds.push(`(cc.embedding IS NULL OR (p.embedding_signature IS NOT NULL AND p.embedding_signature <> $${params.length}))`);
    } else {
-      conds.push(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`);
+      conds.push(`cc.embedding IS NULL`);
    }
    conds.push(`NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')`);
    if (opts?.sourceId !== undefined) {
@@ -2561,7 +2547,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    return { where: conds.join(' AND '), params };
  }

-  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async countStaleChunks(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Always JOIN pages so the embed_skip + signature predicates apply.
    // D7: source_id scoping. v0.41.31: optional signature widens staleness
    // to embedding_signature drift (NULL grandfathered).
@@ -2579,7 +2565,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    });
  }

-  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string; embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn }): Promise<number> {
+  async sumStaleChunkChars(opts?: { sourceId?: string; signature?: string }): Promise<number> {
    // Sibling of countStaleChunks: same stale predicate, summing chunk_text
    // length for the sync cost preview. ::bigint guards int4 overflow.
    const { where, params } = this.buildStaleChunkWhere(opts);
@@ -2632,18 +2618,11 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
    sourceId?: string;
    orderBy?: 'page_id' | 'updated_desc';
    afterUpdatedAt?: string | null;
-    embeddingColumn?: ResolvedColumn;
  }): Promise<StaleChunkRow[]> {
    const limit = opts?.batchSize ?? 2000;
    const afterPid = opts?.afterPageId ?? 0;
    const afterIdx = opts?.afterChunkIndex ?? -1;
    const orderBy = opts?.orderBy ?? 'page_id';
-    // #1262: staleness follows the caller-resolved write column (validated +
-    // quoted identifier); legacy `embedding` otherwise. Interpolated below as
-    // an unsafe FRAGMENT (identifiers can't be bound parameters).
-    const staleCol = opts?.embeddingColumn
-      ? buildVectorCastFragment(opts.embeddingColumn).col
-      : 'embedding';

    // RLS scope binding (opt-in via GBRAIN_RLS_SCOPE_BINDING).
    return await this.withScopedReadTransaction(undefined, opts?.sourceId, async (tx) => {
@@ -2660,7 +2639,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                   p.updated_at
            FROM content_chunks cc
            JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
            LIMIT ${limit}
@@ -2670,7 +2649,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                   p.updated_at
            FROM content_chunks cc
            JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-            WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+            WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
              AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
              AND (
                p.updated_at < ${afterUpdated}::timestamptz
@@ -2688,7 +2667,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 p.updated_at
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          ORDER BY p.updated_at DESC NULLS LAST, p.id ASC, cc.chunk_index ASC
@@ -2699,7 +2678,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 p.updated_at
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (
@@ -2719,7 +2698,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
                 cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
          FROM content_chunks cc
          JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+          WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
            AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
            AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > (${afterPid}, ${afterIdx})
          ORDER BY cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index
@@ -2732,7 +2711,7 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
               cc.model, cc.token_count, p.source_id, cc.page_id
        FROM content_chunks cc
        JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE ${tx.unsafe(`cc.${staleCol} IS NULL`)}
+        WHERE cc.embedding IS NULL
          AND p.source_id = ${opts.sourceId}
          AND NOT (COALESCE(p.frontmatter, '{}'::jsonb) ? 'embed_skip')
          AND (cc.page_id, cc.chunk_index) > (${afterPid}, ${afterIdx})
@@ -443,80 +443,6 @@ export function resolveEmbeddingColumn(
  };
 }

-/**
- * Resolves the WRITE-side embedding column for the currently configured
- * embedding model (#1262). The read-side resolver above answers "which
- * column does this query search?"; this one answers "which column should
- * newly produced text embeddings land in?".
- *
- * Unlike read-side search, writes take no per-call column override. The
- * import/embed boundary resolves once from merged config + gateway state
- * and passes the descriptor into `engine.upsertChunks`; engines stay
- * config-free (same contract as the read-side descriptor).
- *
- * Behavior:
- *   - no user-declared `embedding_columns` => undefined (legacy brain,
- *     writes keep targeting the default `embedding` column)
- *   - a user-declared entry whose `provider` matches the current
- *     embedding model => that entry's descriptor
- *   - no provider match => undefined (fall back to legacy `embedding`)
- *
- * Only USER-declared entries are consulted — never the cfg-derived
- * builtins. The `embedding_image` builtin's provider is the multimodal
- * model; matching it here would misroute text embeddings into the image
- * column. The no-match fallback is intentional: switching models before
- * registering a matching column must not silently write vectors into an
- * arbitrary column.
- */
-export function resolveWriteColumn(cfg: GBrainConfig): ResolvedColumn | undefined {
-  const userColumns = cfg.embedding_columns;
-  if (
-    !userColumns ||
-    typeof userColumns !== 'object' ||
-    Array.isArray(userColumns) ||
-    Object.keys(userColumns).length === 0
-  ) {
-    return undefined;
-  }
-
-  // Same model-resolution chain as the registry builtin: cfg > gateway > default.
-  let gwModel: string | undefined;
-  try {
-    const gw = require('../ai/gateway.ts') as typeof import('../ai/gateway.ts');
-    gwModel = gw.getEmbeddingModel();
-  } catch {
-    // Gateway unconfigured — fall through to the canonical default.
-  }
-  const currentModel = cfg.embedding_model ?? gwModel ?? DEFAULT_EMBEDDING_MODEL;
-
-  for (const [name, entry] of Object.entries(userColumns)) {
-    if (!entry) continue;
-    validateColumnKey(name);
-    validateColumnConfig(name, entry);
-    if (entry.provider !== currentModel) continue;
-    return {
-      name,
-      type: entry.type,
-      dimensions: entry.dimensions,
-      embeddingModel: entry.provider,
-    };
-  }
-  return undefined;
-}
-
-/**
- * Engine-boundary convenience: merged config (file/env + DB plane) →
- * resolveWriteColumn. Dynamic import keeps config.ts out of this module's
- * static graph (mirrors the gateway require above).
- */
-export async function resolveWriteColumnForEngine(
-  engine: { getConfig(key: string): Promise<string | null | undefined> },
-): Promise<ResolvedColumn | undefined> {
-  const { loadConfigWithEngine } = await import('../config.ts');
-  const cfg = await loadConfigWithEngine(engine);
-  return cfg ? resolveWriteColumn(cfg) : undefined;
-}
-
 /**
 * True when the resolved column is the default `embedding` name.
 * Name-based check; does not compare embedding space.
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ const transcript: DiscoveredTranscript = {
  content: 'User: hello world',
  contentHash: 'abcdef0123456789',
  inferredDate: '2026-07-17',
+  transcriptSource: null,
 } as DiscoveredTranscript;

 describe('#2415: buildSynthesisPrompt output root', () => {
@@ -152,3 +152,94 @@ describe('#2569: stampDreamProvenance persists the marker into DB frontmatter',
    await stampDreamProvenance(engine as any, refs, '2026-07-17'); // idempotent
  });
 });
+
+describe('#2285: orchestrator-owned deterministic transcript frontmatter', () => {
+  const meta = {
+    idx: 1,
+    hash6: 'abc123',
+    chunkTotal: 3,
+    transcriptSource: 'claude-code',
+    transcriptId: 'session-uuid',
+    inferredDate: '2026-05-15',
+  };
+
+  test('collectChildPutPageSlugs pairs each ref back to the writing job', async () => {
+    const refs = await collectChildPutPageSlugs(
+      engine as any, [1001], new Map([[1001, { ...meta, chunkTotal: 1 }]]), 'mybrain',
+    );
+    expect(refs.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    for (const r of refs) {
+      expect(r.jobId).toBe(1001);
+      expect(r.source_id).toBe('mybrain'); // #1586: cycle source, never hardcoded 'default'
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('slug collision across children attributes the LAST writer (matches surviving putPage)', async () => {
+    const db = (engine as any).db;
+    // Jobs 1001 then 1002 write the same slug; the pages row would hold
+    // 1002's content (last put_page wins), so the ref must carry jobId 1002.
+    await db.query(
+      `INSERT INTO subagent_tool_executions (job_id, message_idx, tool_use_id, tool_name, status, input)
+       VALUES (1001, 9, 'tool_dup_a', 'brain_put_page', 'complete', $1::jsonb)`,
+      [JSON.stringify({ slug: 'wiki/agents/test/collision', body: 'first' })],
+    );
+    await db.query(
+      `INSERT INTO subagent_tool_executions (job_id, message_idx, tool_use_id, tool_name, status, input)
+       VALUES (1002, 9, 'tool_dup_b', 'brain_put_page', 'complete', $1::jsonb)`,
+      [JSON.stringify({ slug: 'wiki/agents/test/collision', body: 'second' })],
+    );
+    const refs = await collectChildPutPageSlugs(engine as any, [1001, 1002], new Map());
+    const hit = refs.find((r: { slug: string }) => r.slug === 'wiki/agents/test/collision');
+    expect(hit?.jobId).toBe(1002);
+  });
+
+  test('stampDreamProvenance merges the transcript metadata into DB frontmatter', async () => {
+    const slug = 'wiki/originals/ideas/2026-07-17-transcript-meta-abc123';
+    await engine.putPage(slug, {
+      type: 'note',
+      title: 'Meta stamp',
+      compiled_truth: 'body',
+      timeline: '',
+      frontmatter: { keep_me: 'yes', transcript_id: 'subagent-drift' },
+    });
+    await stampDreamProvenance(
+      engine as any,
+      [{ slug, source_id: 'default', jobId: 42 }],
+      '2026-07-17',
+      new Map([[42, meta]]),
+    );
+    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{ fm: Record<string, unknown> }>(
+      `SELECT frontmatter AS fm FROM pages WHERE slug = $1`, [slug],
+    );
+    const fm = rows[0].fm as Record<string, unknown>;
+    expect(fm.dream_generated).toBe(true);
+    expect(fm.dream_cycle_date).toBe('2026-07-17');
+    expect(fm.transcript_id).toBe('session-uuid'); // orchestrator wins over subagent drift
+    expect(fm.transcript_hash).toBe('abc123');
+    expect(fm.transcript_source).toBe('claude-code');
+    expect(fm.chunk).toBe('2/3');
+    expect(fm.date).toBe('2026-05-15');
+    expect(fm.keep_me).toBe('yes'); // subagent-owned keys survive
+  });
+
+  test('single-chunk children with no inferredDate stamp only the applicable fields', async () => {
+    const slug = 'wiki/originals/ideas/2026-07-17-minimal-meta-abc123';
+    await engine.putPage(slug, {
+      type: 'note', title: 'Minimal', compiled_truth: 'b', timeline: '', frontmatter: {},
+    });
+    await stampDreamProvenance(
+      engine as any,
+      [{ slug, source_id: 'default', jobId: 43 }],
+      '2026-07-17',
+      new Map([[43, { ...meta, chunkTotal: 1, transcriptSource: null, inferredDate: null }]]),
+    );
+    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{ fm: Record<string, unknown> }>(
+      `SELECT frontmatter AS fm FROM pages WHERE slug = $1`, [slug],
+    );
+    const fm = rows[0].fm as Record<string, unknown>;
+    expect(fm.transcript_id).toBe('session-uuid');
+    expect(fm.chunk).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(fm.transcript_source).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(fm.date).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
@@ -302,6 +302,7 @@ describe('judgeSignificance', () => {
      content: 'A short conversation about something interesting.',
      basename: 'x',
      inferredDate: null,
+      transcriptSource: null,
    };
  }

@@ -415,6 +416,7 @@ describe('judgeSignificance — UTF-16 safety (v0.41.13)', () => {
      content,
      basename: 'long',
      inferredDate: null,
+      transcriptSource: null,
    };
  }

@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ const FIXTURE_TRANSCRIPT: DiscoveredTranscript = {
  content: 'Synthetic transcript content for gateway-adapter parity tests.',
  contentHash: 'sha-fixture-1',
  inferredDate: '2026-05-24',
+  transcriptSource: null,
 };

 describe('makeJudgeClient — construction-time provider probe', () => {
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+/**
+ * #2285 — transcript metadata discovery.
+ *
+ * Pins the two discovery-side additions:
+ *   1. `transcriptSource` — derived from the `<source>/<date>/<file>` path
+ *      layout; null for ad-hoc inputs that don't match.
+ *   2. Content-based date inference — the `| First message | <ISO> |` row in
+ *      the transcript's `## Metadata` table wins over the filename-regex
+ *      date (stable across mtime-restamping re-syncs); filename is the
+ *      fallback.
+ *
+ * Pure filesystem; no engine, no LLM.
+ */
+
+import { describe, test, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'bun:test';
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync, mkdirSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join, dirname } from 'node:path';
+import {
+  discoverTranscripts,
+  readSingleTranscript,
+  deriveTranscriptSource,
+  inferContentDate,
+} from '../../src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts';
+
+let tmpDir: string;
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  tmpDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'gbrain-transcript-meta-'));
+});
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  rmSync(tmpDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+function write(relPath: string, body: string): string {
+  const full = join(tmpDir, relPath);
+  mkdirSync(dirname(full), { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(full, body);
+  return full;
+}
+
+const FILLER = 'User: hello world. '.repeat(200);
+const METADATA_BLOCK =
+  '## Metadata\n\n| Key | Value |\n| --- | --- |\n| First message | 2026-05-15T03:51:11.584Z |\n\n';
+
+describe('deriveTranscriptSource', () => {
+  test('extracts the source slug from <source>/<date>/<file> layout', () => {
+    expect(deriveTranscriptSource('/corpus/claude-code/2026-06-12/abc.md')).toBe('claude-code');
+    expect(deriveTranscriptSource('/corpus/voice-notes/2026-06-12/xyz.md')).toBe('voice-notes');
+  });
+
+  test('null when the parent dir is not a date dir or grandparent is not a slug', () => {
+    expect(deriveTranscriptSource('/corpus/flat-file.md')).toBeNull();
+    expect(deriveTranscriptSource('/corpus/claude-code/not-a-date/abc.md')).toBeNull();
+    expect(deriveTranscriptSource('/corpus/Not A Slug/2026-06-12/abc.md')).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('inferContentDate', () => {
+  test('parses the | First message | row', () => {
+    expect(inferContentDate(METADATA_BLOCK)).toBe('2026-05-15');
+  });
+  test('null when absent', () => {
+    expect(inferContentDate(FILLER)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('discoverTranscripts — transcriptSource + date cascade', () => {
+  test('populates transcriptSource per file; null for flat files', () => {
+    write('claude-code/2026-06-12/aaaa.md', FILLER);
+    write('2026-06-12-flat.md', FILLER);
+    const out = discoverTranscripts({ corpusDir: tmpDir, minChars: 100 });
+    const byBase = new Map(out.map(t => [t.basename, t.transcriptSource]));
+    expect(byBase.get('aaaa')).toBe('claude-code');
+    expect(byBase.get('2026-06-12-flat')).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  test('content First-message date wins over the filename date', () => {
+    write('2026-01-01-named.md', METADATA_BLOCK + FILLER);
+    const out = discoverTranscripts({ corpusDir: tmpDir, minChars: 100 });
+    expect(out).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(out[0].inferredDate).toBe('2026-05-15');
+  });
+
+  test('filename date remains the fallback when content has no metadata row', () => {
+    write('2026-01-01-named.md', FILLER);
+    const out = discoverTranscripts({ corpusDir: tmpDir, minChars: 100 });
+    expect(out[0].inferredDate).toBe('2026-01-01');
+  });
+
+  test('date filter matches on the content date for UUID-named transcripts', () => {
+    write('claude-code/2026-05-15/uuid-basename.md', METADATA_BLOCK + FILLER);
+    const hit = discoverTranscripts({ corpusDir: tmpDir, minChars: 100, date: '2026-05-15' });
+    expect(hit).toHaveLength(1);
+    const miss = discoverTranscripts({ corpusDir: tmpDir, minChars: 100, date: '2026-05-16' });
+    expect(miss).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('readSingleTranscript — same metadata surface', () => {
+  test('carries transcriptSource and prefers the content date', () => {
+    const p = write('claude-code/2026-05-15/2026-01-01-single.md', METADATA_BLOCK + FILLER);
+    const t = readSingleTranscript(p, { minChars: 100 });
+    expect(t).not.toBeNull();
+    expect(t!.transcriptSource).toBe('claude-code');
+    expect(t!.inferredDate).toBe('2026-05-15');
+  });
+});
@@ -241,136 +241,3 @@ describe('buildVectorCastFragment — engine SQL composer (D3)', () => {
    expect(castSql).toBe('$1::halfvec(2560)');
  });
 });
-
-describe('PGLite engine: upsertChunks write-side ResolvedColumn descriptor (#1262)', () => {
-  test('halfvec descriptor writes the text embedding to the alternate column, not legacy embedding', async () => {
-    await engine.putPage('docs/write-alt-pglite', {
-      type: 'concept',
-      title: 'Write alt column PGLite',
-      compiled_truth: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-    });
-
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-    await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-pglite', [
-      {
-        chunk_index: 0,
-        chunk_text: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-        chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-        embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-      },
-    ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{
-      has_default: boolean;
-      has_ze: boolean;
-      has_embedded_at: boolean;
-    }>(
-      `SELECT embedding IS NOT NULL AS has_default,
-              embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze,
-              embedded_at IS NOT NULL AS has_embedded_at
-         FROM content_chunks cc
-         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-pglite'`,
-    );
-    expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-    expect(rows[0].has_default).toBe(false);
-    expect(rows[0].has_ze).toBe(true);
-    expect(rows[0].has_embedded_at).toBe(true);
-  });
-
-  test('text-unchanged re-upsert without a vector preserves the alternate-column embedding', async () => {
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-    // Same chunk_text, no embedding: the ON CONFLICT CASE must keep the
-    // existing alternate-column vector (D24 semantics follow the column).
-    await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-pglite', [
-      {
-        chunk_index: 0,
-        chunk_text: 'PGLite write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-        chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-      },
-    ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-    const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{ has_ze: boolean }>(
-      `SELECT embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze
-         FROM content_chunks cc
-         JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-        WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-pglite'`,
-    );
-    expect(rows).toEqual([{ has_ze: true }]);
-  });
-});
-
-describe('PGLite: embed --stale converges on an alt-column brain (#1262)', () => {
-  test('boundary resolves the write column; stale scan does not re-select embedded rows', async () => {
-    const { runEmbedCore } = await import('../../src/commands/embed.ts');
-    const local = new PGLiteEngine();
-    const previousHome = process.env.GBRAIN_HOME;
-    process.env.GBRAIN_HOME = `/tmp/gbrain-write-col-stale-${Date.now()}`;
-    try {
-      await local.connect({});
-      await local.initSchema();
-      await (local as any).db.exec(
-        `ALTER TABLE content_chunks ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS embedding_ze halfvec(2560)`,
-      );
-
-      const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-        name: 'embedding_ze',
-        type: 'halfvec',
-        dimensions: 2560,
-        embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      };
-      await local.setConfig('embedding_columns', JSON.stringify({
-        embedding_ze: { provider: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1', dimensions: 2560, type: 'halfvec' },
-      }));
-      configureGateway({
-        embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-        embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-        env: {},
-      });
-
-      await local.putPage('docs/stale-alt-pglite', {
-        type: 'concept',
-        title: 'Dynamic stale column',
-        compiled_truth: 'A chunk that is embedded only in the dynamic column.',
-      });
-      await local.upsertChunks('docs/stale-alt-pglite', [
-        {
-          chunk_index: 0,
-          chunk_text: 'A chunk that is embedded only in the dynamic column.',
-          chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-          embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-        },
-      ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-      // Engine-level contrast: legacy predicate still sees the row as stale;
-      // the alt-column predicate does not.
-      expect(await local.countStaleChunks()).toBe(1);
-      expect(await local.countStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      // sumStaleChunkChars feeds the sync cost gate — same predicate contract.
-      expect(await local.sumStaleChunkChars()).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      expect(await local.sumStaleChunkChars({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      expect(await local.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-      expect(await local.listStaleChunks({ batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(1);
-
-      // Boundary-level: `embed --stale --dry-run` resolves the write column
-      // from merged config + gateway and reports NOTHING to embed. Without
-      // the fix this reports 1 (perpetual re-embed loop).
-      const result = await runEmbedCore(local, { stale: true, dryRun: true });
-      expect(result.would_embed).toBe(0);
-    } finally {
-      await local.disconnect();
-      if (previousHome === undefined) delete process.env.GBRAIN_HOME;
-      else process.env.GBRAIN_HOME = previousHome;
-      resetGateway();
-    }
-  });
-});
@@ -224,54 +224,4 @@ if (!dbUrl) {
      await engine.executeRaw(`UPDATE content_chunks SET embedding_voyage = '${v}'::vector WHERE id = ${dogId}`);
    });
  });
-
-  describe('Postgres: upsertChunks write-side ResolvedColumn descriptor (#1262)', () => {
-    const descriptor: ResolvedColumn = {
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    };
-
-    test('halfvec descriptor writes the text embedding to the alternate column, not legacy embedding', async () => {
-      await engine.putPage('docs/write-alt-postgres', {
-        type: 'concept',
-        title: 'Write alt column Postgres',
-        compiled_truth: 'Postgres write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-      });
-      await engine.upsertChunks('docs/write-alt-postgres', [
-        {
-          chunk_index: 0,
-          chunk_text: 'Postgres write-side alternate embedding column test.',
-          chunk_source: 'compiled_truth',
-          embedding: new Float32Array(2560).fill(0.25),
-        },
-      ], { embeddingColumn: descriptor });
-
-      const rows = await engine.executeRaw<{
-        has_default: boolean;
-        has_ze: boolean;
-      }>(
-        `SELECT embedding IS NOT NULL AS has_default,
-                embedding_ze IS NOT NULL AS has_ze
-           FROM content_chunks cc
-           JOIN pages p ON p.id = cc.page_id
-          WHERE p.slug = 'docs/write-alt-postgres'`,
-      );
-      expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-      expect(rows[0].has_default).toBe(false);
-      expect(rows[0].has_ze).toBe(true);
-    }, 30_000);
-
-    test('stale scan follows the write-side column (count + list parity with the write target)', async () => {
-      // Legacy predicate: cat/dog/write-alt rows all have embedding NULL.
-      expect(await engine.countStaleChunks()).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      // Alt-column predicate: every chunk has embedding_ze populated.
-      expect(await engine.countStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor })).toBe(0);
-      expect(await engine.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-      expect((await engine.listStaleChunks({ batchSize: 100 })).length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-      // updated_desc arm uses the same predicate.
-      expect(await engine.listStaleChunks({ embeddingColumn: descriptor, orderBy: 'updated_desc', batchSize: 100 })).toHaveLength(0);
-    }, 30_000);
-  });
 }
@@ -216,17 +216,21 @@ describe('progress reporter', () => {
  });

  test('only one process-level signal handler installed across many reporters', () => {
-    // Baseline: one handler already installed by prior tests in this file.
+    // Baseline: one handler already installed by prior tests in this file, and
+    // possibly live reporters from OTHER test files sharing this bun process
+    // (shard composition is not this test's invariant — assert the delta, not
+    // an absolute zero, or shard reshuffles make this fail spuriously).
    const installedBefore = __signalHandlerInstalledForTest();
+    const liveBefore = __liveReporterCountForTest();
    const { stream } = sink(false);
    for (let i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
      const p = createProgress({ mode: 'json', stream, minIntervalMs: 0, minItems: 1 });
      p.start(`phase_${i}`, 1);
      p.finish();
    }
-    // After 50 reporter lifecycles, still exactly one handler and zero leaked live entries.
+    // After 50 reporter lifecycles, still exactly one handler and zero NET leaked live entries.
    expect(__signalHandlerInstalledForTest()).toBe(installedBefore || true);
-    expect(__liveReporterCountForTest()).toBe(0);
+    expect(__liveReporterCountForTest()).toBe(liveBefore);
  });

  test('startHeartbeat() fires heartbeats and stop() clears', async () => {
@@ -13,10 +13,9 @@
 *     throw on unknown string.
 */

-import { describe, test, expect, afterAll, afterEach } from 'bun:test';
+import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
 import {
  resolveEmbeddingColumn,
-  resolveWriteColumn,
  getEmbeddingColumnRegistry,
  buildVectorCastFragment,
  quoteIdentifier,
@@ -35,28 +34,6 @@ import {
 } from '../../src/core/search/embedding-column.ts';
 import type { GBrainConfig } from '../../src/core/config.ts';
 import type { ResolvedColumn } from '../../src/core/types.ts';
-import { configureGateway, resetGateway } from '../../src/core/ai/gateway.ts';
-
-/**
- * Teardown: reset AND re-apply the legacy preload config
- * (test/helpers/legacy-embedding-preload.ts). A bare resetGateway() would
- * leave the slot empty for the NEXT file's beforeAll (the preload's
- * per-test beforeEach only fires before tests, not before beforeAll), which
- * would make sibling PGLite fixtures initSchema at the 1280 default instead
- * of the legacy 1536 their seed vectors assume.
- */
-function restorePreloadGateway() {
-  resetGateway();
-  configureGateway({
-    embedding_model: 'openai:text-embedding-3-large',
-    embedding_dimensions: 1536,
-    env: { ...process.env },
-  });
-}
-
-afterAll(() => {
-  restorePreloadGateway();
-});

 function cfg(overrides: Partial<GBrainConfig> = {}): GBrainConfig {
  return { engine: 'pglite', ...overrides };
@@ -545,89 +522,3 @@ describe('codex /ship #4 — isCacheSafe (embedding-space-based skip)', () => {
    expect(isCacheSafe(r, cfg())).toBe(true);
  });
 });
-
-describe('resolveWriteColumn — write-side boundary resolution (#1262)', () => {
-  afterEach(() => {
-    restorePreloadGateway();
-  });
-
-  test('no registry / empty registry returns undefined (legacy single-column brain)', () => {
-    expect(resolveWriteColumn(cfg())).toBeUndefined();
-    expect(resolveWriteColumn(cfg({ embedding_columns: {} }))).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('provider match via cfg.embedding_model returns the descriptor', () => {
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-      embedding_dimensions: 1024,
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_voyage: { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toEqual({
-      name: 'embedding_voyage',
-      type: 'vector',
-      dimensions: 1024,
-      embeddingModel: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-    });
-  });
-
-  test('provider match via gateway state (cfg.embedding_model unset) returns descriptor', () => {
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_ze: { provider: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1', dimensions: 2560, type: 'halfvec' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toEqual({
-      name: 'embedding_ze',
-      type: 'halfvec',
-      dimensions: 2560,
-      embeddingModel: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-    });
-  });
-
-  test('no provider match returns undefined instead of guessing a column', () => {
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'zeroentropyai:zembed-1',
-      embedding_dimensions: 2560,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_voyage: { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('only USER-declared columns are consulted — multimodal builtin never captures text writes', () => {
-    // Current model equals the embedding_image BUILTIN's provider; a registry
-    // walk that consulted builtins would misroute text writes into the image
-    // column. resolveWriteColumn must return undefined here.
-    configureGateway({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-multimodal-3',
-      embedding_dimensions: 1024,
-      env: {},
-    });
-    const r = resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_columns: {
-        embedding_other: { provider: 'openai:text-embedding-3-large', dimensions: 1536, type: 'vector' },
-      },
-    }));
-    expect(r).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('malformed registry entry throws loud (same validation as the read side)', () => {
-    expect(() => resolveWriteColumn(cfg({
-      embedding_model: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
-      embedding_columns: {
-        'bad"col': { provider: 'voyage:voyage-3-large', dimensions: 1024, type: 'vector' },
-      } as never,
-    }))).toThrow(EmbeddingColumnConfigError);
-  });
-});