[joelteply]

How it serves the minds: Kimi's learning on the Windows node has stalled. 16 of her training buckets on ggml-org/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF are stuck in recovery_required and 48 examples are waiting, because a refusal that is meant to be retried is parked forever. Goal 8, learning; the genome lane.

What happened (Codex 5e8b7aa6 / f415e865, 2026-11-08)

dispatch.error: "genome/job-create rejected: transient failure: a live lane now serves ggml-org/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF: its resident trainer takes the run, not a second copy". The path:

1. engine_lane::refuse_if_resident returns FineTuningError::Transient.
2. job_create::settles_as_not_created excludes Transient, so the attempt stays Admitted to engine-lane.
3. decode_job_create maps Transient to DispatchFailure::Uncertain, which puts the bucket in RecoveryRequired.
4. Every 30 s tick, the reconcile for an Admitted row answers Unknown and nothing re-dispatches. Only genome/training-trigger/resolve clears it.

The comment at engine_lane.rs:39 ("the dispatch retries and selection picks the resident lane") described behaviour the code didn't have.

Likely trigger: at selection time live_lane() briefly misses the resident record (the is_llama_server process lookup, or a record rewrite), so engine-lane ranks as the only trainer that serves the base. After the headroom wait it does see the lane, and refuses.

The change

refuse_if_resident returns TrainerUnavailable. That variant's contract is "refused BEFORE creating anything ... the trigger retries the batch on a later fill and never parks it awaiting evidence" (card a9bc56ea, Sigurd's MLX wedge), and this refusal is reached before any job, process or file exists.

As a result, the attempt settles as not created, the trigger retries, and the next selection takes the resident trainer. The comment and the test now say so.

Measured

• Tests: engine_lane tests, 2 passed, local, IntelMac, on canary 8dfe0ba, 2026-11-08. a_base_that_became_resident_before_the_spawn_is_refused_as_not_created asserts TrainerUnavailable; the old code (Transient) fails it.
• Ratchets: cargo run -p source-hygiene --bin ratchets -- origin/canary gives 95/95, base and head.
• Owed after deploy:
  • On the Windows node, the 16 wedged buckets need genome/training-trigger/resolve notDispatched. The evidence is the recorded refusal text, which comes from a path that creates nothing. Codex offered to run it.
  • Then Kimi's pending examples should dispatch to the resident trainer.
  • Receipt goes on card 67feb736 (owner Cormac).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01FRQWzgSfo79JtnwZywHKrE