devlog: WP8 execution and the program's closing reconciliation

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+# 081 — WP8 execution and the program's closing reconciliation
+
+Four candidates reviewed at their current heads, and a final count that is honest about
+a backlog which never stopped moving.
+
+| PR | Verdict | Why |
+|----|---------|-----|
+| #2083 image relay | **FAIL** | its own test file cannot parse |
+| #2366 usage timeline | **FAIL** | nothing persists; commit claims `closes #1217` |
+| #2368 nested delimiters | **FAIL** | 35 commits behind, unrelated test still bundled |
+| #2033 sidecar status | **FAIL** | 615 commits behind, four recorded blockers still open |
+
+## #2083 — the most mergeable PR, and still not mergeable
+
+This was the strongest remaining candidate: APPROVED, mergeable, and with genuinely
+complete security work. Reverting hunks in a throwaway worktree confirmed the aggregate
+relay budget, the empty-edit 400 before any Imagine POST, `redirect: "manual"` with 3xx
+rejection, and sanitized upstream errors are all load-bearing.
+
+Then the runner said:
+
+```
+$ bun test tests/images/z-fulfill.test.ts
+SyntaxError: Export named 'resolveXaiAspectRatioLiteral' not found in module 'src/images/xai-client.ts'
+ 0 pass, 1 fail
+```
+
+The test file mocks `xai-client` and exports only `callXaiImages`, while `fulfill.ts` now
+also imports `resolveXaiAspectRatioLiteral`. The isolate runner therefore fails before a
+single assertion runs — **the new `aspect_ratio` regression never executes**.
+
+The approval also predates this head by four substantive commits, and cross-platform CI
+has never run on this SHA. A one-line mock fix makes it landable.
+
+## #2366 — a schema nothing writes
+
+```
+addRequestLog(... five fields ...)  ->  {streamTimeline:null, failureSide:null, ... }
+appendUsageEntry directly           ->  round-trips fine
+requestLogEntryFromPersistedUsage   ->  projects all five back to null
+```
+
+`RequestLogEntry` was never extended, and the function `GET /api/request-history/:id`
+projects through copies none of the fields. Live `/api/logs` can show `transportPhase`
+until restart; durable history can never show any of it. There is no runtime producer at
+all — `rg` finds the field names only in `src/usage/log.ts` and its test.
+
+Its first commit says `closes #1217`. Also, one of its two new tests passes with the
+source reverted, because the allowlist rebuild already dropped unknown keys.
+
+## What the four have in common
+
+Every one is *good work that is not finished*, and in three of four cases the gap is
+invisible from the diff: a mock missing an export, a persist path that silently drops
+fields, a branch 615 commits behind whose file has since changed underneath it. None
+would have been caught by reading the patch.
+
+## Reconciliation, and the honest count
+
+```
+45 open at unit open   ->   45 open now
+```
+
+That number looks like nothing happened, and it is the most useful thing in this
+document. **Ten PRs merged and eight closed during the program**, while roughly the same
+number arrived — three of them (#2387, #2388, #2390) after this phase's own inventory
+was taken.
+
+A backlog with an active contributor base is not a queue that drains; it is a flow. The
+useful measure is not the open count but whether each item carries a recorded, evidenced
+disposition — and every PR this program touched now does.
+
+## Program totals
+
+**Merged (10):** #2309, #2313, #2335, #2339, #2359, #2361, #2371, #2310, #2301 (rebuilt),
+plus the record PRs.
+**Closed with reasons (8):** #2360, #2357, #2041, #2222, #2302, #2303, #2304, and #2033's
+predecessor lane.
+**Left open with reproduced blockers (9):** #2350, #2351, #2355, #2362, #2363, #2364,
+#2083, #2366, #2368.
+**Issues closed (4):** #2316, #2356, #2330, plus #2308 addressed via #2309.
+**Deferred with evidence (2):** #1049 (needs a publisher phase), #2221 (needs a
+fingerprint decision).
+
+## The recurring defect class
+
+Six PRs this program held back shared one shape: **the code does something the
+description denies, and the tests pass either way.**
+
+- #2350 deletes non-empty tool outputs while claiming to annotate empty ones.
+- #2351 records the admission secret while claiming never to record secrets.
+- #2355 clears its own staleness warning.
+- #2363's tests pass with the feature disconnected.
+- #2364's second commit deleted the validation its first commit added.
+- #2366 persists nothing while claiming a durable timeline.
+
+Not one was visible from the diff. Each needed the same move: revert the hunk, re-run,
+and watch what does *not* go red. That is the single most transferable finding here.
+