alkstore/docs/architecture/decisions/021-tx-reads-and-value-shape-fixes.md

# ADR-021: Third review round — tx-side reads, `Job.claimed_at`, `schedule()` queue validation, tx-handle drop, receiver close/error arms

## Status

Accepted (2026-10-07, Phase 1 — third architecture review round,
pre-decomposition; amends [ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §2/§8,
[ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) §1/§3/§6, and
[ADR-009](009-scheduler-collapse.md) §1 in place, pre-implementation
([ADR-017](017-contract-versioning.md) class 1 — no release exists;
the amend-in-place frame is still open). Also records two factual
corrections to accepted decisions found by the review — ADR-019 §1's
tx-methods claim and ADR-019 §3's `Job` field list — corrected inline
there, per this repo's convention that wrong statements in decisions
are fixed where they stand, not left for readers to discover.)
*(Follow-through 2026-10-07, same round, second session: the review's
remaining ambiguities — all decidable from decided material — were
closed by single-sentence/annotation edits against the already-decided
ADRs and specs, recorded in the annotations' own text rather than a
new ADR: A4 (`enqueue_tx` stamps the derived engine defaults —
annotated onto ADR-020 §3), A5 (stale `sweep_expired(queue)` shapes
aligned to ADR-019 §1's handle form in core-contract.md and queues.md),
`retry -> bool` + the refused-retry residue and the `fail(None)`
default string (ADR-019 §3), the one-shot/repeatable split restated
(core-contract), `ack_batch`'s per-id predicate (ADR-010 §1), opts
field types/defaults (core-contract, honker-rs parity), the
consumer-local non-empty rules (ADR-008 §4), the `with_tx` signature
(ADR-007), the `PayloadTooLarge` measurement basis (ADR-008 §5),
per-stream offset-sequence equivalence (ADR-015 §4), the
`recv_timeout` timeout arm and `EventReceiver`'s no-`recv_timeout`
posture (ADR-008 §3/§8).)*

## Context

The third review round (the pre-decomposition sweep after the second,
which produced ADR-019/020) checked the spec set — the seven
architecture documents and all twenty ADRs — for cross-document
consistency and implementation-blocking ambiguity. Five findings were
decidable from decided material; none opens a new design space:

1. **ADR-019 §1's sentence about tx-side reads was factually
   incorrect.** It states: "`get_job`, `save_offset`, `get_offset`,
   `read_*` remain available from *inside* a transaction through the
   `TxHandle`'s `*_tx` methods." The pinned `TxHandle` trait
   ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §2, extended by
   [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md)/[ADR-015](015-streams-depth.md))
   carries only write-and-save ops (`enqueue_tx`, `publish_tx`,
   `publish_with_key_tx`, `notify_tx`, `save_offset_tx`,
   `outbox_enqueue_tx`) plus `commit`/`rollback` — there is no
   `get_job_tx`, `get_offset_tx`, `read_since_tx`, or
   `read_from_consumer_tx`. The *capability* the sentence claims is
   real and load-bearing: without tx-shaped reads, read-your-own-
   writes inside a business transaction is impossible on both engines
   (SQLite's reader pool cannot see the writer connection's
   uncommitted rows; a pg pool checkout may land on another
   connection without seeing the tx client's uncommitted writes).
   Honker provides the capability only through its raw
   `Transaction::query_row`/`conn()` escape hatch — the seam
   [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md) §3 deliberately rejected
   (downcast or core→engine dependency). So the inheritance claims
   named the capability without a mechanism: the review caught the
   claim outrunning the pinned surface.

2. **`Job.claimed_at` — ADR-010 §1 and ADR-019 §3 disagree.**
   [ADR-010](010-queue-semantics-depth.md) §1 pins `get_job`'s
   timestamps as "`created_at`, `run_at`, `claimed_at`, `expires_at`";
   ADR-019 §3's pinned `Job` struct omits `claimed_at`. ADR-019 is
   the struct of record and its list is the narrower, later pinning —
   but the fork's re-derivation adds the `claimed_at` column
   ([ADR-012](012-forked-substrate-design.md) §5), `claim_expires_at`
   (the field ADR-019 *did* carry) is meaningless without it, and
   `claimed_at` is the dual-execution window's diagnostic field (which
   worker's claim deadline was running when a job died). The omission
   was an error in ADR-019's field list, not a narrowing ADR-010
   needed annotated.

3. **`schedule()`'s queue argument is an unvalidated write path into
   reserved names.** Every directly-supplied name of every kind
   rejects the reserved prefix ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md)
   §4), and [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md) rests its outbox
   guarantee on that: "there is no way to enqueue into the backing
   queue except through the outbox surface." But
   `schedule(name, spec, queue, payload, opts)` takes a queue name
   whose validation is unpinned ([ADR-009](009-scheduler-collapse.md)
   §1 validates the *schedule* name), and each boundary fire enqueues
   engine-side into whatever name was stored —
   `schedule("x", "@every 60s", "__alkstore_outbox:foo", …)` is a
   third write path into the outbox's backing queue, contradicting
   the guarantee as stated.

4. **The drop-of-un-committed-handle case is unpinned.** A
   `Box<dyn TxHandle>` that is neither `commit`ed nor `rollback`ed —
   a dropped handle, an error path that exits early, a panic across
   the box — has no stated fate. This is observable behavior with
   direct interaction with the no-ghosts property
   ([ADR-007](007-transactional-seam.md)), and on the pg side it
   determines whether a pooled client leaks.

5. **The `EventReceiver` close/error arms are unpinned.** Its shape
   is pinned ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §8:
   `recv() -> Option<Result<StreamEvent>>`, `save_offset(&mut self)
   -> Result<()>`) but the v1 error taxonomy
   ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §5) never says which
   variants the `Err` arms can carry, what closes a pg-side receiver,
   and ADR-019 §6's save-offset bullet says "returns `Result<()>` —
   refusal (regression) is a no-op, not caller-actionable" without
   saying what the `Err` arm ever is.

All five resolve from the starting artifact, the pinned posture, and
the existing POC ground — the same "decidable from decided material"
basis the second round's findings were resolved on.

## Decision

### 1. Tx-side reads: four methods join the `TxHandle` trait

ADR-019 §1's sentence is *corrected rather than retracted* — the
capability stays, the mechanism is now pinned. The trait gains:

```text
trait TxHandle {
    enqueue_tx(queue, opts, payload) -> job_id
    publish_tx(stream, payload) -> offset
    publish_with_key_tx(stream, key, payload) -> offset
    notify_tx(channel, payload)
    save_offset_tx(stream, consumer, offset)
    get_job_tx(queue, job_id) -> Option<Job>          // added
    get_offset_tx(stream, consumer) -> i64            // added
    read_since_tx(stream, offset, limit) -> Vec<StreamEvent>          // added
    read_from_consumer_tx(stream, consumer, limit) -> Vec<StreamEvent> // added
    outbox_enqueue_tx(outbox, opts, payload) -> job_id
    commit(self: Box<Self>) -> Result<()>
}
```

- The tx read forms carry the **same shapes as the auto-commit
  forms** (`Queue::get_job`, `StreamHandle::read_since` /
  `read_from_consumer` / `get_offset`,
  [ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) §1) — pure reads, no
  ops boxed off them. They take the mechanism **name** as their first
  parameter (not a handle), mirroring `save_offset_tx` /
  `enqueue_tx` / `publish_tx`'s name-taking shape.
- The property pinned: **in-tx reads read the caller's own
  transaction** — a `get_job_tx`/`read_since_tx` issued on a handle
  sees exactly the rows that handle's transaction has written (the
  pg POC's read-your-writes probe, in-tx direction); after rollback
  those reads' subjects no longer exist (no-ghosts, uniformly, for
  reads as for writes).
- **The line stays where it was**: reads and saves are tx-shaped;
  claim/maintenance ops are not. There is no `claim_tx` — claiming
  inside the caller's business transaction would tie a visibility
  deadline's lease to a business commit the caller controls, tangling
  the at-least-once machinery with an unrelated lifetime. Absence
  here is deliberate design, recorded so an implementer does not
  "fix" it.
- Correction posture for the record: ADR-019 §1's original sentence
  asserted these methods as already-pinned surface; the assertion was
  wrong (the trait it cites never carried them, and honker's escape
  hatch was rejected in [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md) §3). The
  sentence stands corrected in place there, citing this ADR.

### 2. `Job` gains `claimed_at: Option<i64>` — None pre-claim

Corrected inline in [ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) §3's
pinned struct (the field list there restored to what
[ADR-010](010-queue-semantics-depth.md) §1 promised and the fork's
schema carries — [ADR-012](012-forked-substrate-design.md) §5):

- `claimed_at: Option<i64>` — unix seconds at the row's most recent
  claim, `None` before any claim. Set on every successful claim
  (fresh or reclaim — a reclaim updates it), which is what makes it
  the dual-execution window's diagnostic (which worker's claim
  deadline was live when a job died) and the pairing field for
  `claim_expires_at` (meaningless without it).
- The pairing closes a real decomposition hazard: ADR-010 §1's
  text and ADR-019 §3's struct were both "pinned" descriptions of
  one struct, disagreeing; tasks written off either text would have
  built different value types. Both now say the same thing; dead-row
  visibility (`get_job` on dead jobs, "dead rows included") carries
  the field with the rest of the stamps.

### 3. `schedule()`'s queue argument rejects the reserved prefix

The queue argument gets exactly the directly-supplied-queue-name
validation ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §4): non-empty else
`InvalidName`, reserved-prefix else `ReservedName`, rejected at the
entry point (registration), no engine round trip.

- This closes the third write path the review found: a boundary fire
  can no longer enqueue into `__alkstore_outbox:*` because the only
  way to store that name in a schedule row is through the (now
  rejecting) entry point. [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md)'s
  stated guarantee — the backing queue is reachable only through the
  outbox surface — becomes true of the scheduler's fires as well;
  annotated there.
- Unschedule/registration semantics untouched
  ([ADR-009](009-scheduler-collapse.md) §1); the schedule-name
  validation pinned there is unchanged, this pins its **queue
  argument**.

### 4. Dropping a `TxHandle` without commit or rollback rolls it back

Pinned: **drop = rollback.** A `Box<dyn TxHandle>` dropped without
`commit` (or `rollback`) executes rollback on its way down; the
no-ghosts property holds through Rust's RAII paths, not only through
the explicit ones.

- SQLite: the writer-slot lease releases with `ROLLBACK` before the
  slot frees ([ADR-003](003-sqlite-driver.md)'s lease mechanics — a
  dropped handle cannot park the writer forever).
- Postgres: the held pooled client's transaction rolls back; the
  client is usable and returns to the pool on the drop path (no
  leaked budget line; the `max_size + 1` accounting in
  [deployment.md](../deployment.md) stays accurate under error
  paths).
- Precedent is the starting artifact's documented `Drop` behavior —
  honker-rs' `Transaction` rolls back on drop without commit/rollback
  (`/workspace/honker` `packages/honker-rs/src/lib.rs` @ `f4e53c6`,
  "on drop without either, the transaction rolls back") — inherited
  where every other tx-seam behavior was inherited.
- The other three candidates were weighed and rejected: *drop =
  commit* (silently landing business writes on an error path —
  contradicts no-ghosts and every durable-transaction convention),
  *drop = leak* (pooled-client exhaustion on error paths; not honest
  RAII), *drop = panic* (panics in library code are banned family-
  wide). The rejected-with-reasons list is the record's value here —
  an implementer improvising a `Drop` impl would otherwise pick
  exactly one of them.

### 5. `EventReceiver` close/error arms pinned

The pinned shape's unpinned arms:

- **`recv()`'s `Err` arm carries `Database` only** — the one variant
  a stream read can produce. Payloads cross the trait as raw bytes;
  `payload_as<T>` (where `Codec` lives) is a decode-side convenience
  on the yielded `StreamEvent`, so no `Codec` exists at recv;
  `Closed` is the `None` arm by construction
  ([ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) §3's close semantics, §5's
  taxonomy); no third variant can occur.
- **Close is terminal; what causes it is the documented engine
  asymmetry**: SQLite's receiver closes on watcher death (POC-pinned,
  the `WatcherDeathGuard` surface); the pg engine's forwarder
  reconnects indefinitely (the reconnect-wake is its recovery
  channel — [ADR-004](004-postgres-driver.md)), so its receivers
  close only at engine shutdown. Same shape as the wake-coalescing
  asymmetry: one call site (`recv() -> None`), documented occurrence
  difference, `Closed`/`None` uniform. A closed receiver never
  reopens; the recovery recipe is a fresh `subscribe(consumer)`,
  which resumes from the saved checkpoint — the mechanism replay
  exists for.
- **`save_offset`'s `Err` arm carries `Database` only** — the
  monotone rule makes regression refusal a silent no-op (pinned
  semantics, [ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) §6), so the
  `Result` exists for storage failures; closes that ADR's dangling
  return type. A receiver asked to save before any event has been
  yielded performs a no-op save (nothing to checkpoint is not an
  error state; the stored checkpoint is untouched — `get_offset`'s
  absent-consumer = 0 rule,
  [ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) §1, already defines
  the pre-save state).

## Consequences

**Positive**

- The contract surface's last known claim-vs-text mismatch closes:
  ADR-019's sentence, the `Job` struct, and the pinned trait text
  now say the same thing.
- In-tx read-your-own-writes becomes a real capability (the outbox/
  streams consumer reading back what it just wrote in the business
  transaction) instead of an ADR promise with no method behind it.
- The drop path is pinned before implementation — the honest-RAII
  answer is also the no-ghosts answer and the honker-inherited answer,
  so nothing was traded away.
- The outbox guarantee closes its last hole; the schedule surface
  cannot reach reserved names.
- Receiver error matching is now writable engine-agnostically: match
  `Database` (and nothing else) in the `Err` arm, `None` as terminal.

**Negative**

- Four more `TxHandle` methods for both engines to implement — the
  class-2-locked trait cost every tx method carries, priced in
  [ADR-017](017-contract-versioning.md) §5; they ride `read_*` /
  `get_*` SQL shapes both engines already own, so implementation is
  composition, not new machinery.
- `Job`'s field list widens again (one field) — non_exhaustive-governed
  growth from here, but the pinned initial text grows.
- Drop = rollback makes forgotten handles silently undo work whose
  side effects may have already run inside the transaction — the
  same honesty every `Drop`-rollback transaction API carries; the
  loud alternative (drop = commit) is the dangerous one and was
  rejected for it.
- Contract-suite surface grows: the new backlog rows below.

## Verification backlog additions

- **In-tx read-your-own-writes on both engines** (§1) — reads issued
  on the tx handle see the transaction's own writes (`get_job_tx` a
  row the same tx enqueued; `read_since_tx` an event the same tx
  published); another engine connection sees none of it pre-commit;
  post-rollback the reads' subjects are gone (no-ghosts for reads).
- **Drop = rollback on both engines** (§4) — a handle dropped before
  commit leaves no job/event/notify/offset residue (no-ghosts via
  RAII); the SQLite writer slot is reusable and the pg client
  re-poolable afterward.
- **`schedule()` queue-argument validation** (§3) — reserved-prefix
  and empty queue names rejected with `ReservedName`/`InvalidName`
  at registration, identically on both engines; the stored schedule
  fires into only non-reserved queue names.
- **Receiver error arms** (§5) — `recv()`'s `Err` carries `Database`
  only; `save_offset`'s `Err` carries `Database` only; regression
  saves are silent no-ops; SQLite receiver closes on watcher death
  (`None`, terminal); pg receiver stays open across forwarder
  reconnects (reconnect-wakes arrive; no close) — close pinned to
  shutdown only.

## References

- [ADR-019](019-mechanism-handle-surfaces.md) — §1's corrected
  sentence (the origin of finding 1), §3's corrected `Job` struct
  (finding 2), §1's `get_offset` absent-consumer rule and §6's
  monotone-save rule (§5 of this ADR builds on both).
- [ADR-008](008-contract-v1-pinning.md) — §2 (the trait shape this
  ADR's §1 extends), §4 (the reserved-prefix rule §3 extends to the
  schedule queue argument), §5 (the taxonomy the `Err` arms are
  pinned against), §8 (`EventReceiver`'s shape whose arms §5 pins).
- [ADR-010](010-queue-semantics-depth.md) §1 — the `get_job`
  timestamp list whose `claimed_at` §2 restores into the struct.
- [ADR-014](014-outbox-tx-enqueue.md) — §3 (the raw-`Transaction`
  rejection that made finding 1 a real hole, and the guarantee §3
  of this ADR completes), §1 (the name-taking tx-method shape the
  read forms mirror).
- [ADR-009](009-scheduler-collapse.md) §1 — the `schedule()` entry
  point whose queue argument §3 validates.
- [ADR-007](007-transactional-seam.md) — the seam the drop pin and
  the tx reads ride; the no-ghosts property they extend.
- [ADR-003](003-sqlite-driver.md) — the writer-slot lease the drop
  pin releases; [ADR-004](004-postgres-driver.md) — the pooled
  client and forwarder the close asymmetry and drop pin ride.
- Honker-rs `Transaction` (`/workspace/honker`
  `packages/honker-rs/src/lib.rs` @ `f4e53c6`) — the raw-escape
  capability (reads without a tx method, §1's capability evidence)
  and the documented drop-rolls-back `Drop` behavior (§4's
  precedent), read and respectively re-mechanized / inherited.
- [core-contract.md](../core-contract.md) — the spec this ADR's
  §1–§5 pin into place.