[Jacksondr5]

Problem

Removing a peer could leave a half-paired state by accident. "Peer again" then tried to repair whatever was left, while the other server kept trying to deliver to a server that no longer knew it.

Part of #486 (2a, 2b.1 and 2b.3). 2b.2 is pending Jackson's ruling: making peer sessions revocable only through Remove touches upstream's auth (EnvironmentAuth, cli/auth.ts, the Connections session list), so it will be its own follow-up PR. This PR leaves revocation as it is today, and the docs describe it that way.

What changed

2b.1: Remove warns when it is one-sided.

• removalConfirmation in client-runtime picks the confirm:
  • both: this client manages both servers and removes both sides.
  • here only: the other server can't be managed from this client. The warning says it keeps its side, keeps trying to reach this server, and its messages to this server's agents fail. Cancel is the default; Remove here only is the deliberate choice.
  • ended: the other server already ended the peering, so it gets a plain confirm.

2b.3: " ended this peering", in both link modes. "Peer again" is deleted.

• Poll mode: a poller already recorded the rejected credential when it stopped.
• Push mode (approved): a 401 on a direct send or an address-book read now records the same marked reason, <server> rejected this server's credential (HTTP 401): it ended this peering., in last_error. Delivery still retries and alarms as before.
• isPeerCredentialRejected reads either marker. The row then shows " ended this peering", and Remove is its only action.
• "Peer again" is gone, along with the recorded-setup repair it used: recordedPeeringChoice, repeeringChoice and the read-only recorded addresses.

2a: Add peer clears a leftover. peeringRecords compares the two servers' peer lists.

• Held here: this server still records the other one. The dialog says to remove it under Peer servers first, and offers no setup.
• Leftover: only the other server holds a record of this one. The dialog says so (" still has an old record of this server."). Then it either:
  • clears that record on the other server before issuing anything (if the clear fails, the run stops and reports it); or
  • names the server to clear it on, when this client can't manage it.
• Peer acts only while three things hold, whichever setup was chosen: the other server can be managed, both peer lists were read successfully, and this server doesn't record the other one. A peer list that fails to load is shown as an error and is never treated as empty.

Docs: AC12 and AC13 in cross-device.md, the peering runbook, and the user guide.

UI changes

The before shots are from j5/main (6ad3744), in poll mode. The after shots are from builds of this branch taken before the last review round: that round added the read and readiness guards, and the states shown look the same.

A peer that ended the peering

Before	After (poll)	After (push)

Removing when the other server can't be managed from this client

Before	After (poll)	After (push)

Removing a peer that already ended it

After (poll)	After (push)

Add peer when the other server still holds an old record

Before	After

A fresh setup clears the leftover and pairs anew

Poll	Push

Checklist

• One concern: the description has no "also". It covers the J5-side parts of a2a peering: un-peering is a clean break (one-sided removal warning, Remove-only revocation, no Peer again, half-pairing guard) #486's clean break; 2b.2 is split out as ruled.
• Tests cover the changed behavior. Each new test fails when its fix is reverted:
  • Server:
    • PeerOutbound.test: a direct send's 401 records the ended reason;
    • PeerDirectory.test: an address-book read's 401 records it too;
    • PeerPoller.test: the poll wording.
  • Contracts: peerPoll.test recognizes the push-mode marker.
  • Client runtime: peering.test covers peeringRecords and removalConfirmation.
  • Web: PeerIntroductionDialog.test has interaction tests for:
    • the leftover is cleared before any credential is issued;
    • a failed clear stops issuing and recording;
    • an unmanageable server is never cleared, and the dialog names where to clear it;
    • an unreadable peer list blocks pairing and shows the error;
    • a saved manual setup stops when the other server disconnects, access is lost, or a record turns up here.
• UI changes: before/after screenshots above. No motion.
• Upstream-owned files: none touched
• Upstream product: unchanged. 2b.2, which would change it, is held for Jackson.
• Surfaces:
  • Entry points: Settings → Connections is the only one for these actions. The CLI's peer list shows the same reason in last_error.
  • Clients: web and desktop. Mobile has no peering UI.
  • Link modes: a live smoke ran in both, on two servers built from this branch (the two-server pr-env.sh setup), with GPT-6-Luna Low agents:
    • With the other server offline, Remove showed the one-sided warning, and "Remove here only" removed it here.
    • The other server's row then read " ended this peering" with Remove only. In poll mode this came on its next poll. In push mode it came after an agent's address-book read got the 401.
    • Remove on that row showed the plain "already ended" confirm.
    • Add peer from the side that removed showed the leftover note. A fresh setup cleared the old record on the other server and paired anew: a new created_at, and no last_error.
  • Smoke limit: the reachability check can't recommend a setup between loopback-only servers, so the smoke used "Set up differently".
• Docs: AC12 and AC13 in cross-device.md, the runbook, and the user guide now describe the warned one-sided removal, "ended this peering", and Add peer clearing a leftover.

Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context), in J5 Code through the Claude Code harness.

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Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Adding a peer now checks both servers for existing records. When possible, it clears a stale record on the other server before setup; if that server cannot be managed, the dialog explains where to remove it manually.
  • Peer removal clarifies whether it will remove the peering on both servers or only this server.

• Bug Fixes

  • When a server rejects peer credentials, its status identifies that the peering has ended and explains the remaining removal step. Failed deliveries and roster checks also record the credential rejection.

• Documentation

  • Updated peering guidance to explain stale records, removal choices, and credential rejection.

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• packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The change updates credential-rejection tracking and status, changes how peer records are handled during introduction and removal, and revises related tests and documentation.

Changes

Peering lifecycle

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Peering state and rejection rules packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.test.ts, packages/contracts/src/j5/peerPoll.ts, packages/contracts/src/j5/peerPoll.test.ts, apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerPoller.test.ts	Helpers now distinguish local peer records from remote-only leftovers and select a removal confirmation. Credential-rejection detection covers poll and push links, and the rejection reason describes an ended peering.
Record rejected credentials apps/server/src/j5/a2a/DeliveryTransport.ts, apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerDirectory.ts, apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerDirectory.test.ts, apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerOutbound.test.ts	Peer delivery and roster requests record the peer-specific rejection reason after an HTTP 401. Tests cover these records and the existing delivery and roster outcomes.
Peer introduction and leftover cleanup apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerIntroductionDialog.tsx, apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerIntroductionDialog.test.tsx	The dialog reads both peer lists and distinguishes local records from remote-only leftovers. It blocks decisions when list reads fail and removes a manageable remote leftover before setup. Tests cover cleanup, failures, unreadable lists, and setup eligibility.
Peer removal and user guidance apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerServersSettings.tsx, docs/j5/product/cross-device.md, docs/j5/runbooks/peering.md, docs/user/j5-peering.md	Removal confirmations distinguish mutual removal, ended peering, and local-only removal. The “Peer again” action is removed. Status text and documentation describe ended peering and stale-record cleanup.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Change: Feature

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Dialog as PeerIntroductionDialog
  participant Client as Peer client
  participant Local as Local server
  participant Remote as Remote server
  Dialog->>Client: Read peer lists
  Client->>Local: Request peer list
  Client->>Remote: Request peer list
  Dialog->>Client: Remove remote-only leftover
  Client->>Remote: Remove peer record
  Dialog->>Client: Start peering setup
  Client->>Remote: Issue credentials

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Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to 820b0

An already-ended peer can receive the mutual-removal flow instead of the plain confirmation. This bounded issue should be resolved or explicitly accepted before merging.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the main change: peer removal now creates a clean break. It is concise and specific.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description follows the required template. It explains the problem, implementation, UI changes with before/after screenshots, upstream impact, testing, surface coverage, documentation updates, sco…
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 83.33% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 6 functions across 12 files.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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• 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.ts:
- Line 396: Update removalConfirmation to accept a tri-state remote record
status and return "ended" only when credentials are rejected and the remote
record is confirmed absent; otherwise return "both" for a manageable remote
server or "here-only". At its caller, derive the status by matching
primaryEnvironmentId in the successfully loaded
peersQueryAtom(otherEnvironmentId) result, using "unknown" while loading or if
the query fails.

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 6ad3744 and 3a11ea4.

📒 Files selected for processing (15)

• apps/server/src/j5/a2a/DeliveryTransport.ts
• apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerDirectory.test.ts
• apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerDirectory.ts
• apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerOutbound.test.ts
• apps/server/src/j5/a2a/PeerPoller.test.ts
• apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerIntroductionDialog.test.tsx
• apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerIntroductionDialog.tsx
• apps/web/src/j5/peering/PeerServersSettings.tsx
• docs/j5/product/cross-device.md
• docs/j5/runbooks/peering.md
• docs/user/j5-peering.md
• packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.test.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/j5/peering.ts
• packages/contracts/src/j5/peerPoll.test.ts
• packages/contracts/src/j5/peerPoll.ts

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