Addresses the v3.9.1–v3.9.4 init regression series by building the
verification layer that #401's post-mortem identified as structurally
missing. The load-bearing changes are the real-public-repo corpus, the
--json contract, and the restructured error handling in phase 06 that
stops lying about success when a non-critical phase fails.
What landed
-----------
* `aqe init --json` — structured InitResult output with schema version 1,
stricter exit code semantics (exit 1 on any step.status='error', not
just on critical failures). Stable contract for the gate and other CI
consumers. See InitJsonOutput in src/cli/handlers/init-handler.ts.
* Phase 06 no longer swallows errors as `{status:'skipped',entries:0}`.
Exceptions now propagate to BasePhase.execute() and surface as real
step errors in result.steps[]. Fixed a resource leak where kgService
and memory handles were leaked on the old throw path — now always
released via try/finally.
* `tests/fixtures/init-corpus/` — 4 pinned real public repo fixtures:
- tiny-ts (developit/mitt@b240473)
- mid-ts (sindresorhus/p-queue@55d306b)
- multi-lang-real (ruvnet/RuView@2a05378 — contains the exact 28,745
byte / 776 line ruview_live.py that triggered the v3.9.4 hang,
sha256-pinned to detect content drift)
- self-dogfood (agentic-qe HEAD)
* 22 gate assertions per fixture (A1–A22) including per-step JSON error
inspection (A10), snapshot-based KG threshold with tolerance (A12),
skills/agents/MCP/CLAUDE.md/workers/config.yaml presence (A13–A20),
subthreshold stall detection (A21), and a second init pass that
exercises the delta-scan path of phase 06 — the actual surface that
hung in v3.9.1 ruview, never reached on a first init (A22).
* `.github/workflows/npm-publish.yml` — new pre-publish-gate job that
runs the corpus against the freshly-built tarball before publish; new
tests-on-tag-sha job that re-runs fast unit tests on release events
(replaces a buggy gh-api conditional caught by devils-advocate review).
* `.github/workflows/post-publish-canary.yml` — fires on real publishes
only (not workflow_dispatch dry runs), polls npm CDN via
`npm install --dry-run` (actual CDN edge, not just registry metadata),
runs the corpus against the published package, opens P0 issue on
failure via heredoc-based body.
* Watchdog effectiveness unit test
(tests/unit/init/phases/code-intelligence-watchdog.test.ts) — 4 cases
proving the async-stall branches of runBoundedScan work and
documenting the sync-block limitation that requires AQE_SKIP_CODE_INDEX
or (future) worker isolation.
* `.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md` — single load-bearing checkbox:
every PR failure mode must have a test or tracking issue. Honor-system
today; CI enforcement tracked in #408.
* AQE_SKIP_CODE_INDEX promoted from "temporary escape hatch" to
permanent supported flag in docs, CLI help, and source comments.
Verification
------------
* `npm run typecheck` — clean
* `npx eslint` on all touched files — clean (plus fixed two pre-existing
unused-var warnings in init-handler.ts)
* `aqe security --sast` on all touched source + workflows — 0 findings
* `tests/unit/init/` — 377/377 pass
* `tests/unit/init/phases/code-intelligence-watchdog.test.ts` — 4/4 pass
* Local gate against `npm pack`'d tarball — 4/4 fixtures pass all 22
assertions including double-init delta path and sha256 regression
marker
Failure paths independently verified (F1–F5 injection tests):
* F1 wrong sha256 → A3 fires, exit 2, actionable diagnostic
* F2 absurd expectedKgEntries → A12 fires, exit 2, shows actual vs expected
* F3 expectedElapsedSec=0 → A21 fires on slow fixture, A22 fires on
double-init — same `(( elapsed > soft_cap ))` math proven in both paths
* F4 injected throw in runCodeIntelligenceScan → reproduces the exact
v3.9.3 failure shape (`success:true` at orchestrator level, phase 06
step.status='error'). A7 catches via strict exit code, A10 catches as
defense-in-depth via jq inspection. Both layers verified.
* F5 expectedSkillsInstalled=999 → A13 fires with OR-logic showing
json=84, disk=84 vs expected 999
Deferred with tracking issues
-----------------------------
* Phase 06 worker_threads isolation — #407
* PR template CI enforcement — #408
* VERIFICATION.md + release-notes matrix — #409
* Chaos workflow for pathological inputs — #410
* Mirror init-corpus tarballs to GitHub Releases — #411
What is NOT verified
--------------------
* The CI workflows have never actually executed in a real Actions run.
YAML syntactically validated via js-yaml, job dependency graph traced,
but the first real execution is the first push of this branch.
* The canary on a real publish is unexecuted. First execution is the
first real release after merge.
Refs: #401, #407, #408, #409, #410, #411
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Dragan Spiridonov