fix(sync): guard putPage 0-row RETURNING + reclassify sync failure copy (#2189)

Root cause of #2189's opaque per-file crash: putPage's INSERT … ON CONFLICT
DO UPDATE … RETURNING can yield 0 rows when brain-local DB state (e.g. a
BEFORE trigger) suppresses the write, and rowToPage(rows[0]) then died with
"undefined is not an object (evaluating 'row.deleted_at')". Both engines now
throw a descriptive error naming the slug + source_id so the failure is
diagnosable per-file instead of an anonymous TypeError.

Also lands the salvageable parts of community PR #2586 (takeover): the
"failed to parse / fix the frontmatter" copy misclassified runtime import
errors as YAML problems — reworded to "failed to import" — plus its
first-code-sync PGLite smoke test.

New regression test reproduces the exact 0-row RETURNING state via a
suppressing trigger: fails pre-fix with the reported crash signature,
passes with the guard.

Co-authored-by: javieraldape <javieraldape@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/guides/live-sync.md

@@ -21,17 +21,14 @@ GBrain is tuned for the Supabase **Transaction pooler** (port 6543): it
 auto-disables prepared statements there and routes `engine.transaction()`
 (migrations, DDL, sync imports) to a derived **direct** connection
 (`db.<ref>.supabase.co:5432`). That direct host is IPv6-only, so on an
-IPv4-only host it is unreachable. When that happens gbrain now falls back to
-the pooler automatically (one stderr warning, then single-pool mode for the
-rest of the process) — but the pooler's ~2-min statement timeout can truncate
-very long migrations or bulk imports.
+IPv4-only host, reads work but sync **silently skips most pages**. This is the
+number one cause of "sync ran but nothing happened."
 
 Fix: make the direct connection reachable over IPv4. Either set
 `GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL` to the **Session pooler** string (port 5432 on the
-`pooler.supabase.com` host, IPv4), or enable Supabase's IPv4 add-on.
-`GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL=1` skips the direct pool (and the fallback warning)
-entirely. Verify by running `gbrain sync` and checking that the page count in
-`gbrain stats` matches the syncable file count in the repo.
+`pooler.supabase.com` host, IPv4), or enable Supabase's IPv4 add-on. Verify by
+running `gbrain sync` and checking that the page count in `gbrain stats` matches
+the syncable file count in the repo.
 
 ### The Primitives
 

llms-full.txt

@@ -2720,17 +2720,14 @@ GBrain is tuned for the Supabase **Transaction pooler** (port 6543): it
 auto-disables prepared statements there and routes `engine.transaction()`
 (migrations, DDL, sync imports) to a derived **direct** connection
 (`db.<ref>.supabase.co:5432`). That direct host is IPv6-only, so on an
-IPv4-only host it is unreachable. When that happens gbrain now falls back to
-the pooler automatically (one stderr warning, then single-pool mode for the
-rest of the process) — but the pooler's ~2-min statement timeout can truncate
-very long migrations or bulk imports.
+IPv4-only host, reads work but sync **silently skips most pages**. This is the
+number one cause of "sync ran but nothing happened."
 
 Fix: make the direct connection reachable over IPv4. Either set
 `GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL` to the **Session pooler** string (port 5432 on the
-`pooler.supabase.com` host, IPv4), or enable Supabase's IPv4 add-on.
-`GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL=1` skips the direct pool (and the fallback warning)
-entirely. Verify by running `gbrain sync` and checking that the page count in
-`gbrain stats` matches the syncable file count in the repo.
+`pooler.supabase.com` host, IPv4), or enable Supabase's IPv4 add-on. Verify by
+running `gbrain sync` and checking that the page count in `gbrain stats` matches
+the syncable file count in the repo.
 
 ### The Primitives
 

src/commands/init.ts

@@ -1078,9 +1078,6 @@ async function initPostgres(opts: {
     console.warn('  Direct connections are IPv6 only and fail in many environments.');
     console.warn('  Use the Transaction pooler connection string instead (port 6543):');
     console.warn('  Supabase Dashboard > Connect (top bar) > Connection String > Transaction pooler');
-    console.warn('  (With a pooler URL, gbrain derives a direct connection for DDL and falls back');
-    console.warn('  to the pooler automatically if that host is unreachable. Power users:');
-    console.warn('  GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL overrides the derived URL; GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL=1 disables it.)');
     console.warn('');
   }
 
@@ -1094,9 +1091,6 @@ async function initPostgres(opts: {
       if (databaseUrl.includes('supabase.co') && (msg.includes('ECONNREFUSED') || msg.includes('ETIMEDOUT'))) {
         console.error('Connection failed. Supabase direct connections (db.*.supabase.co:5432) are IPv6 only.');
         console.error('Use the Transaction pooler connection string instead (port 6543).');
-        console.error('(gbrain derives its own direct connection from pooler URLs for DDL; if that host is');
-        console.error('unreachable it falls back to the pooler. GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL overrides the');
-        console.error('derived URL; GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL=1 disables the direct pool entirely.)');
       }
       throw e;
     }

src/commands/sync.ts

@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ export interface SyncResult {
   /** Pages re-embedded during this sync's auto-embed step. 0 if --no-embed or skipped. */
   embedded: number;
   pagesAffected: string[];
-  failedFiles?: number; // count of parse failures (Bug 9)
+  failedFiles?: number; // count of per-file import/sync failures (Bug 9)
   /**
    * v0.41.13.0 partial-sync fields (only set when status === 'partial').
    *
@@ -3183,7 +3183,7 @@ async function performSyncInner(engine: BrainEngine, opts: SyncOpts): Promise<Sy
     await clearOpCheckpoint(engine, ckpt.target);
   };
 
-  // issue #1939 adversarial finding #1: a file that failed to parse (open ledger
+  // issue #1939 adversarial finding #1: a file that failed to import (open ledger
   // row) and is then deleted/renamed-away never re-enters failedFiles and never
   // imports, so its row would never clear and would age doctor to a permanent
   // FAIL. Treat removed paths as resolved so the ledger self-heals.
@@ -3215,9 +3215,9 @@ async function performSyncInner(engine: BrainEngine, opts: SyncOpts): Promise<Sy
     } else {
       const fileFailCount = failedFiles.filter(f => isSkippablePath(f.path)).length;
       serr(
-        `\nSync blocked: ${fileFailCount} file(s) failed to parse:\n` +
+        `\nSync blocked: ${fileFailCount} file(s) failed to import:\n` +
         `${codeBreakdown}\n\n` +
-        `Fix the frontmatter and re-run, or use 'gbrain sync --skip-failed' to ` +
+        `Fix the listed file errors and re-run, or use 'gbrain sync --skip-failed' to ` +
         `acknowledge and move on. A file that keeps failing auto-skips after ` +
         `${resolveAutoSkipThreshold()} consecutive syncs.`,
       );
@@ -5355,7 +5355,7 @@ function printSyncResult(result: SyncResult, sink: NodeJS.WriteStream = process.
     case 'dry_run':
       break; // already printed in performSync
     case 'blocked_by_failures':
-      write(`Sync BLOCKED at ${result.toCommit.slice(0, 8)}: ${result.failedFiles ?? 0} file(s) failed to parse.`);
+      write(`Sync BLOCKED at ${result.toCommit.slice(0, 8)}: ${result.failedFiles ?? 0} file(s) failed to import.`);
       write(`  See ~/.gbrain/sync-failures.jsonl for details, or run 'gbrain doctor'.`);
       write(`  Fix the files then re-run 'gbrain sync', or 'gbrain sync --skip-failed' to move on.`);
       break;

src/core/connection-manager.ts

@@ -167,25 +167,6 @@ export function deriveDirectUrl(url: string): string | null {
   }
 }
 
-/**
- * Error codes that mean "the direct host is unreachable from this network"
- * (#1641). The auto-derived db.<ref>.supabase.co host is IPv6-only without
- * the paid IPv4 add-on, so ENOTFOUND/ECONNREFUSED here is expected on
- * IPv4-only networks — we fall back to the pooler instead of failing init.
- */
-const NETWORK_UNREACHABLE_CODES = [
-  'ENOTFOUND', 'ECONNREFUSED', 'ENETUNREACH', 'EHOSTUNREACH',
-  'ETIMEDOUT', 'CONNECT_TIMEOUT',
-];
-
-/** True when err looks like a network-unreachable failure (not auth/SQL). */
-export function isNetworkUnreachableError(err: unknown): boolean {
-  const code = (err as { code?: unknown } | null)?.code;
-  if (typeof code === 'string' && NETWORK_UNREACHABLE_CODES.includes(code)) return true;
-  const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-  return NETWORK_UNREACHABLE_CODES.some(c => msg.includes(c));
-}
-
 /**
  * Read kill-switch state from env. Subordinate to parent manager's state
  * when present (A2 inheritance).
@@ -338,30 +319,7 @@ export class ConnectionManager {
         throw err;
       });
     }
-    let pool: Sql | null;
-    try {
-      pool = await this._directInit;
-    } catch (err) {
-      // #1641: the derived direct host (db.<ref>.supabase.co) is IPv6-only
-      // without Supabase's IPv4 add-on. On IPv4-only networks the direct
-      // pool can never connect — permanently fall back to the read pool
-      // (self-activating kill-switch) instead of failing init/migrations.
-      // Non-network errors (auth, SQL) still throw: they mean misconfig,
-      // not unreachability.
-      if (isNetworkUnreachableError(err)) {
-        const alreadyWarned = this._killSwitch;
-        this._killSwitch = true;
-        const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-        if (!alreadyWarned) console.error(
-          `gbrain: direct connection to ${this._directUrl ? this.hostOnly(this._directUrl) : 'unknown host'} unreachable (${msg}); ` +
-          'falling back to the pooler for DDL/bulk (long migrations may hit the pooler statement timeout). ' +
-          'Set GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL to a reachable direct URL (e.g. the Session pooler, port 5432) or enable the Supabase IPv4 add-on; ' +
-          'GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL=1 silences this.',
-        );
-        return this.getReadPool();
-      }
-      throw err;
-    }
+    const pool = await this._directInit;
     if (!pool) {
       // Defensive — initDirectPool should have thrown.
       throw new Error('connection-manager: direct pool init returned null');
@@ -392,9 +350,8 @@ export class ConnectionManager {
       },
     };
     const t0 = Date.now();
-    let pool: Sql | null = null;
     try {
-      pool = postgres(this._directUrl, opts);
+      const pool = postgres(this._directUrl, opts);
       // Probe to validate connectivity early.
       await pool`SELECT 1`;
       logConnectionEvent({
@@ -405,9 +362,6 @@ export class ConnectionManager {
       });
       return pool;
     } catch (err) {
-      // Don't leak the failed pool's sockets/timers (#1641 fallback keeps
-      // the process running afterward).
-      if (pool) await endPoolBounded(pool);
       logConnectionEvent({
         pool: 'ddl',
         op: 'error',

src/core/pglite-engine.ts

@@ -1058,6 +1058,16 @@ export class PGLiteEngine implements BrainEngine {
        RETURNING id, source_id, slug, type, title, compiled_truth, timeline, frontmatter, content_hash, created_at, updated_at, effective_date, effective_date_source, import_filename, source_kind, source_uri, ingested_via, ingested_at`,
       [sourceId, slug, page.type, pageKind, page.title, page.compiled_truth, page.timeline || '', JSON.stringify(frontmatter), hash, effectiveDate, effectiveDateSource, importFilename, chunkerVersion, sourcePath, sourceKind, sourceUri, ingestedVia, ingestedAt]
     );
+    // #2189: an INSERT … ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE … RETURNING that yields 0 rows
+    // (e.g. a BEFORE trigger suppressing the write) previously crashed in
+    // rowToPage with an opaque "undefined is not an object (row.deleted_at)".
+    // Throw a diagnosable error naming the row instead. Mirrors postgres-engine.ts.
+    if (!rows[0]) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `putPage: INSERT … RETURNING produced no row for slug='${slug}' source_id='${sourceId}'. ` +
+        `A trigger or rule on the pages table may be suppressing the write.`
+      );
+    }
     return rowToPage(rows[0] as Record<string, unknown>);
   }
 

src/core/postgres-engine.ts

@@ -1119,6 +1119,16 @@ export class PostgresEngine implements BrainEngine {
         ingested_at           = COALESCE(EXCLUDED.ingested_at,           pages.ingested_at)
       RETURNING id, source_id, slug, type, title, compiled_truth, timeline, frontmatter, content_hash, created_at, updated_at, effective_date, effective_date_source, import_filename, source_kind, source_uri, ingested_via, ingested_at
     `;
+    // #2189: an INSERT … ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE … RETURNING that yields 0 rows
+    // (e.g. a BEFORE trigger suppressing the write) previously crashed in
+    // rowToPage with an opaque "undefined is not an object (row.deleted_at)".
+    // Throw a diagnosable error naming the row instead. Mirrors pglite-engine.ts.
+    if (!rows[0]) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `putPage: INSERT … RETURNING produced no row for slug='${slug}' source_id='${sourceId}'. ` +
+        `A trigger or rule on the pages table may be suppressing the write.`
+      );
+    }
     return rowToPage(rows[0]);
   }
 

test/connection-manager.serial.test.ts

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import {
   isSupabasePoolerUrl,
   deriveDirectUrl,
   readKillSwitchEnv,
-  isNetworkUnreachableError,
   resolveDirectPoolSize,
   ConnectionManager,
   DEFAULT_DIRECT_POOL_SIZE,
@@ -239,65 +238,3 @@ describe('ConnectionManager — parent inheritance (A2)', () => {
     }
   });
 });
-
-describe('isNetworkUnreachableError (#1641)', () => {
-  test('classifies network codes as unreachable', () => {
-    for (const code of ['ENOTFOUND', 'ECONNREFUSED', 'ENETUNREACH', 'EHOSTUNREACH', 'ETIMEDOUT', 'CONNECT_TIMEOUT']) {
-      const err = Object.assign(new Error('connect failed'), { code });
-      expect(isNetworkUnreachableError(err)).toBe(true);
-    }
-  });
-
-  test('classifies by message when code absent', () => {
-    expect(isNetworkUnreachableError(new Error('getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND db.abc.supabase.co'))).toBe(true);
-  });
-
-  test('auth/SQL errors are NOT unreachable', () => {
-    expect(isNetworkUnreachableError(new Error('password authentication failed for user "postgres"'))).toBe(false);
-    expect(isNetworkUnreachableError(new Error('syntax error at or near "SELEC"'))).toBe(false);
-    expect(isNetworkUnreachableError(null)).toBe(false);
-  });
-});
-
-describe('ConnectionManager — direct-pool fallback on unreachable host (#1641)', () => {
-  let originalKillSwitch: string | undefined;
-  let originalError: typeof console.error;
-  let errLines: string[];
-  beforeEach(() => {
-    originalKillSwitch = process.env.GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL;
-    delete process.env.GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL;
-    originalError = console.error;
-    errLines = [];
-    console.error = (...args: unknown[]) => { errLines.push(args.join(' ')); };
-  });
-  afterEach(() => {
-    console.error = originalError;
-    if (originalKillSwitch === undefined) delete process.env.GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL;
-    else process.env.GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL = originalKillSwitch;
-  });
-
-  test('ddl() falls back to the read pool when the direct host is unreachable', async () => {
-    const cm = new ConnectionManager({
-      url: 'postgresql://postgres.abc:p@aws.pooler.supabase.com:6543/db',
-      // 127.0.0.1:9 (discard) → instant ECONNREFUSED, the IPv4-only-network shape.
-      directUrl: 'postgresql://postgres:p@127.0.0.1:9/db',
-    });
-    const fakeReadPool = {} as ReturnType<typeof ConnectionManager.prototype.read>;
-    cm.setReadPool(fakeReadPool);
-    expect(cm.isDualPoolActive()).toBe(true);
-
-    const pool = await cm.ddl(); // without the fix this throws ECONNREFUSED
-    expect(pool).toBe(fakeReadPool);
-    // Self-activating kill-switch: subsequent calls skip the direct pool.
-    expect(cm.isKillSwitchActive()).toBe(true);
-    expect(cm.isDualPoolActive()).toBe(false);
-    expect(cm.describeMode().mode).toBe('single (kill-switch)');
-    // One stderr line mentioning the power-user override.
-    const warning = errLines.filter(l => l.includes('GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL'));
-    expect(warning.length).toBe(1);
-
-    const again = await cm.ddl();
-    expect(again).toBe(fakeReadPool);
-    expect(errLines.filter(l => l.includes('GBRAIN_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL')).length).toBe(1);
-  }, 20000);
-});

test/putpage-returning-guard.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+// #2189 regression guard: putPage's INSERT … ON CONFLICT DO UPDATE … RETURNING
+// can yield 0 rows when brain-local DB state (e.g. a BEFORE INSERT trigger)
+// suppresses the write. Pre-fix, rowToPage(rows[0]) crashed with the opaque
+// "undefined is not an object (evaluating 'row.deleted_at')" that failed
+// ~all files of a code sync. Post-fix, putPage throws a descriptive error
+// naming the slug + source_id so the failure is diagnosable per-file.
+//
+// Same guard lands in postgres-engine.ts (engine-parity invariant); this test
+// exercises the PGLite side, where the issue was reported.
+
+import { describe, expect, test, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'bun:test';
+import { PGLiteEngine } from '../src/core/pglite-engine.ts';
+
+let engine: PGLiteEngine;
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  engine = new PGLiteEngine();
+  await engine.connect({});
+  await engine.initSchema();
+  // Simulate the reporter's state-dependent failure: a trigger that
+  // suppresses inserts for one slug, making RETURNING produce no row.
+  await engine.executeRaw(`
+    CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION suppress_pages_insert() RETURNS trigger AS $$
+    BEGIN
+      IF NEW.slug = 'suppressed-page' THEN RETURN NULL; END IF;
+      RETURN NEW;
+    END;
+    $$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
+  `);
+  await engine.executeRaw(`
+    CREATE TRIGGER suppress_pages_insert_trg
+    BEFORE INSERT ON pages
+    FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION suppress_pages_insert();
+  `);
+});
+
+afterAll(async () => {
+  await engine.executeRaw('DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS suppress_pages_insert_trg ON pages');
+  await engine.executeRaw('DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS suppress_pages_insert');
+  await engine.disconnect();
+});
+
+describe('putPage RETURNING guard (#2189)', () => {
+  test('0-row RETURNING throws a descriptive error, not row.deleted_at TypeError', async () => {
+    let err: Error | undefined;
+    try {
+      await engine.putPage('suppressed-page', {
+        type: 'code',
+        title: 'Suppressed',
+        compiled_truth: 'x',
+        timeline: '',
+      });
+    } catch (e) {
+      err = e as Error;
+    }
+    expect(err).toBeDefined();
+    expect(err!.message).toContain('putPage');
+    expect(err!.message).toContain("slug='suppressed-page'");
+    expect(err!.message).toContain("source_id='default'");
+    // The pre-fix crash signature must be gone.
+    expect(err!.message).not.toContain('deleted_at');
+  });
+
+  test('unsuppressed slugs still upsert normally with the trigger installed', async () => {
+    const page = await engine.putPage('normal-page', {
+      type: 'concept',
+      title: 'Normal',
+      compiled_truth: 'y',
+      timeline: '',
+    });
+    expect(page.slug).toBe('normal-page');
+    expect(page.source_id).toBe('default');
+  });
+});

test/sync.test.ts

@@ -375,6 +375,31 @@ describe('performSync dry-run never writes', () => {
     expect(messages.some(m => m.includes('git pull failed'))).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  test('first PGLite code sync imports code files without runtime failures', async () => {
+    const { performSync } = await import('../src/commands/sync.ts');
+    mkdirSync(join(repoPath, 'src'), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(repoPath, 'src/example.ts'),
+      'export function add(left: number, right: number) { return left + right; }\n',
+    );
+    execSync('git add -A && git commit -m "add code file"', { cwd: repoPath, stdio: 'pipe' });
+
+    const result = await performSync(engine, {
+      repoPath,
+      noPull: true,
+      noEmbed: true,
+      noExtract: true,
+      strategy: 'code',
+    });
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe('first_sync');
+    expect(result.added).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.failedFiles ?? 0).toBe(0);
+    const page = await engine.getPage('src-example-ts');
+    expect(page?.type).toBe('code');
+    expect(page?.frontmatter).toMatchObject({ file: 'src/example.ts', language: 'typescript' });
+  });
+
   test('incremental dry-run does NOT write to DB or advance the bookmark', async () => {
     const { performSync } = await import('../src/commands/sync.ts');
     // First do a real sync to seed the bookmark.