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fix(platform): take the Docker socket when both engines answer - #10387

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Dongni-Yang wants to merge 4 commits into
fix/10367-docker-host-detectionfrom
fix/10367-docker-identity-preference
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fix(platform): take the Docker socket when both engines answer#10387
Dongni-Yang wants to merge 4 commits into
fix/10367-docker-host-detectionfrom
fix/10367-docker-identity-preference

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@Dongni-Yang

@Dongni-Yang Dongni-Yang commented Aug 26, 2026

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Summary

Stacked on #10379 — review that one first; this PR's diff is the last commit only.

When the host's default Docker authority is proven dead and both a Docker-identified and a Podman-identified socket answer, detectDockerHost returns null and sets nothing. The CLI then keeps the authority the probe just observed to be dead, so preflight reports Docker is not reachable on a host with a live, reachable Docker daemon. Nothing names the ambiguity, because no readiness message exists for it. After this change detection selects the Docker socket.

Related Issue

Refs #10367

This reverses a recorded decision — please rule on it

The mixed-identity bail came from #8816 through #8823, and #10253 kept it. The #10253 security review recorded it as a pass criterion: "An unidentifiable reachable socket is skipped, while two conflicting identified engines still fail closed", and "does not weaken the conflicting-engine guard". This PR weakens exactly that guard, so it is a maintainer call, not a bug fix I can make unilaterally. My argument for it:

If you would rather keep the guard, say so and I will close this PR and instead add the actionable readiness message #8816 asked for. CodeRabbit raised the same defect on #10379 as its merge risk, so one of the two paths should land.

Changes

  • src/lib/platform.ts, detectDockerHost: replace the conflict bail with an identity preference — upgrade the selection when a later candidate identifies as docker and the current selection is podman; keep the first answer otherwise. Never returns null while a reachable, identified candidate exists.
  • test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts: the #8816 mixed-fallback test now expects the Docker socket instead of null; new macOS case pins that identity, not candidate order, decides a host where the Podman machine socket is probed before Docker Desktop.

Type of Change

  • Code change (feature, bug fix, or refactor)
  • Code change with doc updates
  • Doc only (prose changes, no code sample modifications)
  • Doc only (includes code sample changes)

Quality Gates

  • Tests added or updated for changed behavior
  • Existing tests cover changed behavior — justification:
  • Tests not applicable — justification:
  • Sensitive paths changed (security, policy, credentials, preflight, onboarding, inference, runner, sandbox, or messaging)
  • Sensitive-path review completed or maintainer-approved waiver recorded — reviewer/approval link/justification: this PR needs the ruling described above; the prior review of record is fix(platform): skip an unidentifiable Docker socket instead of aborting detection #10253
  • Non-success, skipped, or missing CI check accepted by maintainer — check name, approval link, and follow-up issue:

Verification

  • PR description includes a Signed-off-by: line and every commit appears as Verified in GitHub
  • Normal pre-commit, commit-msg, and pre-push hooks passed, or npm run validate:pr passed after refreshing origin/main when hooks were skipped or unavailable
  • Targeted behavior tests pass for the current change set, or tests are marked not applicable above — command/result: npx vitest run test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts gives 37 passed. npm run typecheck:cli passes.
  • Applicable broad gate passed — command/result: not run. The change set is one loop condition and its tests.
  • Quality Gates section completed with required justifications or waivers
  • No secrets, API keys, or credentials committed
  • npm run docs builds without warnings (doc changes only)
  • Doc pages follow the style guide (doc changes only)
  • New doc pages include SPDX header and frontmatter (new pages only)

Signed-off-by: Dongni Yang dongniy@nvidia.com

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Bug Fixes
    • Improved container runtime detection when both Docker and Podman sockets are available.
    • Docker is now preferred across supported platforms, while socket order continues to resolve ties within the same runtime.
    • Detection stops once a reachable Docker socket is found, avoiding unnecessary probing.
  • Tests
    • Added coverage for mixed Docker and Podman socket scenarios on Linux and macOS.

When the host's default Docker authority is proven dead and both a
Docker-identified and a Podman-identified socket answer, detection
returned null and set nothing. The CLI then kept the authority the probe
had just observed to be dead, so preflight reported Docker unreachable
on a host with a live, reachable Docker daemon — and nothing named the
ambiguity, because no readiness message exists for it.

Select the Docker socket instead: Docker is the engine NemoClaw targets,
and the choice is no longer a guess between two unranked answers.
Declining to choose is not neutral once the default is known dead; it
leaves the host with nothing.

This reverses the mixed-identity bail added for #8816 in #8823 and kept
in #10253, whose security review recorded "two conflicting identified
engines still fail closed" as a pass criterion. The bail fails closed on
a host that has a working Docker daemon, which is the outcome #8816
itself asked to prevent: "NemoClaw must not replace that working
authority with an automatically discovered Podman socket." An explicit
DOCKER_HOST still wins over all detection, and a Podman-only host still
selects Podman.

Refs #10367

Signed-off-by: Dongni Yang <dongniy@nvidia.com>
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coderabbitai Bot commented Aug 26, 2026

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Runtime detection now uses engine identity when multiple socket candidates respond. Docker replaces Podman when found, and probing stops after Docker selection. Linux and macOS end-to-end tests cover probing order, early termination, and cross-engine selection.

Changes

Runtime socket selection

Layer / File(s) Summary
Engine-aware socket probing
src/lib/platform.ts
The socket-selection documentation distinguishes candidate order from engine identity. Probing retains the first reachable result, replaces Podman with Docker, and stops after Docker is selected.
Engine selection coverage
test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts
Linux tests verify probing order and early termination. macOS tests verify Docker selection over an earlier reachable Podman socket.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 3220a

The change locally adjusts Docker socket selection to prefer an identified Docker engine in the mixed-engine case, with targeted tests updated; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains after normal checks and review.

Suggested reviewers: brandonpelfrey

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 2 files. Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Description Check ✅ Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: selecting the Docker socket when both Docker and Podman respond.
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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Code Coverage Overview

Languages: TypeScript

TypeScript / code-coverage/plugin

The overall line coverage in commit 2bbeccc in the fix/10367-docker-ide... branch remains at 96%, unchanged from commit 6062006 in the fix/10367-docker-hos... branch.

Show a line coverage summary of the most impacted files.
File fix/10367-docker-hos... 6062006 fix/10367-docker-ide... 2bbeccc +/-
nemoclaw/src/sh...cy-boundary.cts 100% 98% -2%
nemoclaw/src/bl...ock-fixtures.ts 100% 100% 0%
nemoclaw/src/bl...est-fixtures.ts 100% 100% 0%
nemoclaw/src/bl...print/runner.ts 95% 96% +1%

TypeScript / code-coverage/cli

The overall line coverage in commit 2bbeccc in the fix/10367-docker-ide... branch remains at 83%, unchanged from commit 1293457 in the fix/10367-docker-hos... branch.

Show a line coverage summary of the most impacted files.
File fix/10367-docker-hos... 1293457 fix/10367-docker-ide... 2bbeccc +/-
src/lib/shields/index.ts 78% 77% -1%
src/lib/onboard...rchestration.ts 29% 28% -1%
src/lib/policy/index.ts 68% 69% +1%
src/lib/state/registry.ts 88% 90% +2%
src/lib/onboard...-run-attempt.ts 88% 91% +3%
src/lib/state/r...ormalization.ts 89% 96% +7%
src/lib/onboard...route-policy.ts 90% 100% +10%
src/lib/sandbox/config.ts 68% 80% +12%
src/lib/adapter...box-identity.ts 80% 92% +12%
src/lib/adapter...cy-authority.ts 75% 97% +22%

Updated August 26, 2026 10:30 UTC

Signed-off-by: Dongni Yang <dongniy@nvidia.com>
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Recording the argument against this PR, so the decision does not rest only on the case for it.

An independent review of the same code recommended keeping the guard verbatim and answering CodeRabbit in the thread instead:

So the question is whether to change a security-reviewed guard for a host state nobody has reported yet. My case for changing it stands on the failure being silent and unrecoverable when it does fire, and on #8816's own wording. Either ruling is fine by me — if you keep the guard, I will close this and add the actionable readiness message #8816 asked for and never got, which fixes the silence without touching the guard.

The selection loop probed every remaining candidate after it had already
settled on a Docker socket. Nothing later can beat Docker, and each
extra probe is another synchronous Docker CLI run that a stale socket
holds for the full three-second timeout — paid at CLI startup, because
the runner detects at module import, and reported to the operator as a
stalled command rather than as socket selection.

Break on the Docker answer. A Podman answer still keeps scanning,
because a later Docker candidate must replace it.

The Linux coexistence test now records probe calls and proves the scan
stops, which is the behaviour candidate order does not already give it.
The macOS test remains the proof of the identity upgrade itself, where
the Podman machine socket is probed before Docker Desktop.

Refs #10367

Signed-off-by: Dongni Yang <dongniy@nvidia.com>
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Addressed the advisory on 3220a89.

Operations and Design/Architecture, both blockers — same defect. The loop kept probing after it had already settled on a Docker socket, and each extra probe is a synchronous Docker CLI run that a stale socket holds for the full three-second timeout, paid at CLI startup because the runner detects at import. It now breaks on the Docker answer. A Podman answer still keeps scanning, because a later Docker candidate has to replace it.

Test design, blocker — keep the Linux test, with a different job. The finding is right that the Linux fixture did not exercise the upgrade: /var/run/docker.sock precedes the Podman socket there, so it only proved "first valid Docker candidate wins". I did not delete it, because that test is the updated #8816 regression case for the exact host in that issue — Docker Engine and a rootless Podman socket on Linux — and its assertion flipping from null to the Docker socket is the record of what this PR changes for that host. Deleting it would leave the reversal unpinned.

Instead it now records probe calls and asserts [undefined, unix:///var/run/docker.sock], so it proves the scan stops after Docker — the coverage the operations finding asked for, in the fixture that already had the right shape. The macOS test stays the proof of the identity upgrade, where the Podman machine socket is probed first.

The two tests no longer overlap: one owns "Docker wins and the scan ends", the other owns "a later Docker answer replaces an earlier Podman one".

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@coderabbitai review

Auto review is off for a stacked base branch, and this PR carries the contested change — it removes the mixed-identity fail-closed guard in detectDockerHost. Please review this one on request. The base branch (#10379) has your earlier review; this PR is only the last two commits on top of it.

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@Dongni-Yang I will review the changes in #10387. I will assess the detectDockerHost selection behavior and the updated regression coverage against the stacked base.

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🧹 Nitpick comments (1)
test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts (1)

260-260: 📐 Maintainability & Code Quality | 🔵 Trivial | ⚡ Quick win

Use one final issue suffix.

Use a single canonical issue reference in the final (#1234) suffix. The current title combines two references.

As per coding guidelines, “put local issue references in a final (#1234) suffix.”

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only still-valid issues, skip the rest with a brief reason, keep changes
minimal, and validate.

In `@test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts` at line 260, Update the test title in the
it block for Docker socket probing to use one canonical issue reference in the
final (`#1234`) suffix, removing the additional issue reference while preserving
the rest of the title.

Source: Coding guidelines

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Nitpick comments:
In `@test/e2e-runtime/platform.test.ts`:
- Line 260: Update the test title in the it block for Docker socket probing to
use one canonical issue reference in the final (`#1234`) suffix, removing the
additional issue reference while preserving the rest of the title.

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@coderabbitai Thanks for the on-request review.

Skipping the one nitpick, with a reason. The guideline reads "put local issue references in a final (#1234) suffix" — plural, and it does not ask for a single canonical reference. The repository follows that reading: 53 test titles across 41 files already carry multiple references, for example (#2603, #3145) in twelve titles and (#4503, #4710).

The two references are load-bearing here. #8816 is the issue that created this test and pinned its previous null assertion; #10367 is why the assertion changed. Dropping either loses the record of what the test used to prove or why it now proves something else.

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@Dongni-Yang Thanks for the clarification. The two references meet the guideline and preserve distinct, necessary test history. I withdraw the nitpick.

🐇


✏️ Learnings added
Learnt from: Dongni-Yang
URL: https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/10387

Timestamp: 2026-08-26T10:09:24.178Z
Learning: In this repository, test-title issue-reference suffixes can contain multiple local issues, for example `(`#8816`, `#10367`)`, when each reference documents a distinct and necessary part of the test's regression history or changed behavior. Do not require a single canonical issue reference.

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The separate early-exit test carried a Podman candidate that answered
reachable, which the scan can never observe once a Docker answer ends
it. That dead setup reads as proof that Docker wins a race the test
never runs. The existing Docker-fallback case already builds the same
Linux fixture, so it takes the probe-sequence assertion instead, and its
title now states what it proves: the scan ends at the Docker answer,
whatever the later Podman candidate would have said.

The macOS case remains the only owner of the identity upgrade, where a
reachable Podman socket really is probed first and then replaced.

Refs #10367

Signed-off-by: Dongni Yang <dongniy@nvidia.com>
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Addressed the advisory on 2bbeccc.

Code reduction. Taken. The separate early-exit test set the Podman candidate to reachable, which the scan can never observe once the Docker answer ends it — dead setup that reads as proof of a race the test never runs. The existing Docker-fallback case builds the same Linux fixture, so it now carries the probe-sequence assertion [undefined, unix:///var/run/docker.sock], and its title states what it proves: the scan ends at the Docker answer, whatever the later Podman candidate would have said. Net 24 lines removed, one test owner instead of two.

This crossed the test-design specialist, which read the split as isolating distinct behavior. The reduction argument wins on a fact test design did not weigh: with the scan ending at Docker, the Podman result in that fixture is unobservable, so the two tests could not have been proving different things.

The macOS case is now the sole owner of the identity upgrade, and it is the only fixture where a reachable Podman socket really is probed first and then replaced.

Confirmed red first: with the break removed, the merged test fails on the probe sequence with the Podman socket appended. 37 tests pass, typecheck:cli clean.

Eight of the nine specialists reported no finding on 3220a89.

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PR review advisory complete for commit 2bbeccc: read the full review. Read it before deciding whether to request changes, approve, or merge this PR.

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This cannot be approved without an accepted maintainer design decision that explicitly supersedes the existing mixed-engine fail-closed contract.

Cross-issue result: CONTRADICTING, high confidence. src/lib/platform.ts replaces the conflicting identified-engine return-null guard with Docker preference. Issue #8816 requires stale, unreachable, or ambiguous socket candidates to fail closed with an actionable result, and the security approval that merged #10253 explicitly treated preservation of the conflicting-engine guard as a pass criterion. This PR directly reverses both records.

The reversal is also not required to fix #10367: that report says the Podman socket is not serving, so the mixed-reachable-engine branch cannot fire. The stacked base #10379 addresses the observed default-probe and fallback path and is itself still REVIEW_REQUIRED.

Please do one of the following before rereview:

  1. Keep the guard and close this stacked reversal; address the silent conflict through a separately accepted issue for an actionable readiness diagnostic, as proposed in the PR discussion.
  2. Link an accepted maintainer design decision that deliberately changes the authority policy, defines the Docker-over-Podman security rationale and operator behavior, and supersedes #8816/#10253. The base PR must also be approved first.

Security review: categories 1-8 pass for this narrow diff; category 9 is WARNING because it weakens a recorded fail-closed boundary without accepted scope. All four commits are GitHub Verified and CI is green, but those gates do not establish product approval.

@wscurran wscurran added area: install Install, setup, prerequisites, or uninstall flow area: onboarding Onboarding FSM, provider setup, sandbox launch, or first-run flow bug-fix PR fixes a bug or regression needs: design Requires product or architecture direction platform: dgx-spark Affects DGX Spark hardware or workflows labels Aug 28, 2026
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Taking option 1. Closing this reversal and keeping the mixed-engine fail-closed guard.

Your reading matches what I put in the PR body and the follow-up comment: the reversal is not needed for #10367, because the reporter's Podman socket is not serving and the mixed-reachable-engine branch cannot fire on that host. I opened this stacked PR precisely so the guard change could be ruled on separately from the fix, and the ruling is clear.

For the record of what remains: the silent half stands. When the guard does fire, nothing names the conflict — there is no readiness message for it anywhere in src/lib/readiness, src/lib/onboard/preflight.ts, or src/lib/advisories, so an operator sees only Docker is not reachable and the unrelated docker-group remediation. #8816 asked for fail-closed with an actionable result; the fail-closed half shipped and the actionable half did not.

I will file that as its own issue for triage rather than carry it here, and I will not implement it before it is accepted. The base PR #10379 is unaffected and still carries the #10367 fix on its own.

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Filed as #10622 for triage, scoped to the diagnostic only, with the selection policy left exactly as it is. I am not implementing it before it is accepted.

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