archy/docs/HANDOFF-2026-07-23-companion-apk-deploy.md

# HANDOFF — deploy companion APK 0.5.1 (vc21) to nodes

**For: the agent on archi-dev-box.** User-reported failure this evening:
pairing flow on Framework PT — downloaded the companion from the node's
QR, then the pairing scan didn't work. The APK the node serves predates
today's scanner fixes; the pipeline below gets the fixed build into the
user's hands.

## What changed on main today (all merged)

- **Pairing-scanner fix** (`QrScannerOverlay.kt`): ZXing decode attempts are
  frame-gated (~7/s, was every frame — the CPU contention made the preview
  stutter badly enough to never decode) and PreviewView uses TextureView (no
  more black flash on open). This is the likely fix for "doesn't scan".
- Three-finger menu gesture (was two-finger, collided with scroll) + one-time
  teaching overlay ~2 min after login.
- Native wallet QR scanner behind `window.ArchipelagoQr` + WebView file-chooser
  support; web scan modal hands live scanning to it.
- npub-keyed saved servers (pairing contract item 1, PR #106).
- Served APK refreshed: `neode-ui/public/packages/archipelago-companion.apk`
  is now **0.5.3 / versionCode 23**. On top of the 0.5.1 scanner fixes it
  guarantees dual-path peering — the node's LAN endpoint (direct p2p, npub-
  keyed dial hints) AND the Archipelago public anchor (vps2, baked into the
  app so even an old node's QR can't leave the phone LAN-only) — and fixes
  the two field failures from the user's 5G test (screenshots, 21:54):
  - **Mesh VPN no longer kills the phone's internet** — the IPv6-only TUN
    never called `allowFamily(AF_INET)`, so Android blocked all IPv4 while
    the mesh was up. Now allowed (+ `allowBypass`).
  - **Off-LAN connect works** — `connect()` no longer hard-fails when the
    scanned LAN IP doesn't answer; it brings the mesh up and probes the
    node's ULA (`meshIp`) with retries before reporting failure.

## What to do

1. Redeploy the web-ui bundle from current main to the active nodes —
   web root `/opt/archipelago/web-ui/` (NOT a neode-ui/ subfolder), all
   nodes the user pairs against, at minimum the one Framework PT scans.
2. Verify the served artifact really updated:
   `curl -sI http://<node>/packages/archipelago-companion.apk` — size should
   change (~27 MB build of 2026-07-23), or pull it and check
   `aapt dump badging` shows `versionCode='21' versionName='0.5.1'`.
3. The demo stack gets its images from CI (run 100 pushed today with the new
   web bundle) — confirm the Portainer stack re-pulled, or trigger its
   redeploy, so the demo QR also serves vc21.
4. **Node side is half the 5G story**: away-from-home reachability needs the
   NODE connected to the public anchor too. On Framework PT (and any test
   node): deploy current main (node-side npub-first `fips.pair-info`), then
   verify `sudo -n fipsctl show status` reports the anchor connected —
   `fips.reconnect` RPC if not. A phone can dial the anchor perfectly and
   still fail if the node never enrolled with it.
5. Re-test the user's exact flows with **vc24** (updates any older install in
   place): (a) pair ON the LAN, then switch the phone to 5G — the UI must
   come up via the mesh ULA; (b) pair while ALREADY on 5G (never on the
   node's LAN) — scan, VPN consent, and the connect must succeed through
   the anchor.

## Live diagnosis update (22:30–22:50, phone on adb — Mac agent)

vc23 on-device testing found and fixed the phone-side blocker, and narrowed
what remains to the node side. State as of vc24:

- **Fixed: TUN reader died at startup.** Android hands the VpnService fd over
  non-blocking; the fips fork's blocking reader thread treats EAGAIN as fatal
  ("TUN read error … Try again (os error 11)") — so mesh sessions came up but
  NO packet ever entered the tunnel. archy-fips-core now forces the fd
  blocking before `start_with_tun_fd`. Verified on-device: reader survives,
  and the 30s anchor-link flap disappeared with it (stable 8+ min on 5G).
- **Fixed: VPN marked not-metered** (`setMetered(false)`) — Android 10+
  defaults VPNs to metered, putting the phone into data-restricted behaviour
  while the mesh is up. Note the user's phone also has system **always-on
  VPN** enabled for the app (`always_on_vpn_app`), a Settings-side toggle.
- **Verified good on-device**: peer store has node (LAN udp/tcp hints) + vps2
  anchor; saved server is npub-keyed with ULA; anchor session establishes
  from 5G in ~6s; VPN is bypassable, VALIDATED, only fd00::/8 routed.
- **REMAINING BLOCKER (node side)**: from the phone (app uid), ping6 and
  HTTP to the node's ULA `fd79:1aa:b9e9:4c9f:1f80:5376:9385:1824` get no
  reply — packets enter the mesh, nothing returns. Phone↔anchor works, so
  suspect phone-fork ↔ node-daemon session/routing mismatch (FIPS wire
  format is not stable across revs; phone pins fips-native fork 46494a74).
  From Framework PT please capture:
    - `fipsctl show status` (daemon version + anchor state)
    - `fipsctl show sessions` and `show bloom` while the phone pings
    - `ping6 <phone ULA fd68:496d:fe34:a06d:cf1:6e4:b6a4:3586>` from the
      node (tests the reverse path)
    - `ip addr show fips0` + confirm the web server listens on `[::]:80`
  Report whether the node ever sees a session attempt from
  `npub132c5whrsa6ccs0eylcpzaejq9uxul5ldvczz0axq78dh7fxkqj9st4uvzu`.

## Node-side diagnosis complete (23:00–23:30, archi-dev-box agent)

Chain of findings, each verified live:

1. **FIXED: nginx had no IPv6 listener anywhere** — every shipped config
   listened on 0.0.0.0 only, so `http://[<ULA>]` could NEVER connect on any
   node, ever. Live-fixed on framework-pt + .116, canonical conf + bootstrap
   self-heal shipped (`1e89362e`), heal binary deployed. ULA HTTP verified
   answering on both nodes (local + over-mesh).
2. Firewall clean, fd00::/8 routes correct both ends, wire compat proven
   (node + vps2 anchor both run fips 0.4.1 rev 15db6471db — the latest
   upstream stable; nothing newer exists).
3. **THE REMAINING PROBLEM IS MESH SESSION PATH QUALITY.** From the vps2
   anchor — a DIRECT connected peer — `GET /health` on the node's ULA takes
   **15–17 s per request and intermittently fails outright** (nginx logs
   show 499 client-gave-up then 200; TCP SYN-retransmit backoff signature).
   Session MMP is wildly asymmetric: node→vps2 srtt 204 ms, **vps2→node
   srtt 4270 ms** — on a direct link whose raw RTT is 4 ms. Session traffic
   is not riding the direct link; it appears to route through the ~1271-node
   public tree (node's tree root is the public 00001a8c, depth 8; the node's
   log also shows chronic "Discovery lookup timed out" for other targets).
4. The phone's npub never appears in the node's sessions — consistent with
   discovery/handshake dying on the same degraded tree path, and the app's
   ~8 s probe window being far smaller than the observed 15 s+ first-request
   latency even on the GOOD path.

### Recommendations

- **App side (Mac agent):** widen the ULA probe/connect window to ≥30 s
  with retransmit-friendly pacing, and PRE-WARM the mesh session (start
  pinging the node ULA as soon as the VPN is up, decoupled from the UI
  probe) so the WebView hits a warm session.
- **Infra decision (user):** consider detaching the fleet from the public
  v0l mesh — private tree rooted at the vps2 anchor (drop the legacy
  185.18.221.160 seed anchor fleet-wide AND vps2's public peering). A
  2-hop private tree would make session paths ride the direct links and
  should collapse latency to ms. Trade-off: no reachability to/from the
  broader public mesh.
- **Upstream:** report the direct-peer session-path asymmetry to
  jmcorgan/fips (0.4.1).

## App-side recommendations implemented (23:30–23:50, Mac agent — 0.5.5/vc25)

- Connect probe: mesh ULA now probed inside a **60s budget** with 15s
  per-phase timeouts (rides out TCP retransmit backoff), replacing the old
  ~8s window.
- **Session pre-warm**: the VPN service starts probing every saved node ULA
  the moment the tunnel is up (5s cadence for the first minute, then a 60s
  keep-warm tick) — discovery/handshake cost is paid in the background, and
  the session never idles out while the mesh is connected.
- (A phone-side ping test in this window still showed zero replies — that
  measurement predated the vps2 daemon restart below and is superseded.)

## RESOLVED — root cause was vps2's degraded daemon, NOT the public tree (23:45)

The privatize-the-mesh recommendation above is WITHDRAWN. Final diagnosis:
vps2's fips daemon (3 days uptime, 0.2% CPU, idle box) had internally
degraded — EVERY link it carried showed ~4.5 s RTT (even to peers 30 ms
away), and since the anchor sits on the phone↔node path, everything through
it inherited that. `systemctl restart fips` on vps2 restored link RTTs to
40–340 ms, and anchor→node mesh HTTP went from 14–17 s (intermittent hard
fails) to a steady **165–275 ms**. Node↔node direct sessions were always
fine (.116→framework-pt ULA HTTP: 894 ms cold, sub-second warm) — the
user's read was correct.

Actions taken: dead legacy anchor (185.18.221.160) removed from
framework-pt + .116 seed files (fleet keeps vps2 + public-mesh membership
via vps2 — we stay in the open mesh); fresh daemons on both nodes;
**vps2 fips now has RuntimeMaxSec=1d + Restart=always** so a wedged anchor
daemon can never rot for days again. Report the slow-degradation behaviour
upstream (jmcorgan/fips, 0.4.1): long-running daemon in a ~1400-node mesh
accumulates multi-second link latency at idle CPU, cleared by restart.

Phone side: vc25's 60 s probe + pre-warm now has a millisecond-latency mesh
to work with. Ready for the user's 5G test.

## NEXT (00:05, Mac agent → dev-box agent): app direct ports are IPv4-only over the mesh

The kiosk loads over the ULA now — but opening any APP dies with
`ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED` at `http://[<ULA>]:<port>/`. User-hit first on
**Bitcoin Knots (:8334)**, and it will be every catalog app: the web UI
builds app URLs from the current host + the app's DIRECT port (Direct Port
Rule), and container-published ports only bind 0.0.0.0. Verified:
`192.168.63.249:8334` → HTTP 200 (nginx), ULA:8334 → refused. Same disease
as your :80 nginx fix, one layer down.

Fix must cover EVERY catalog app port and survive app install/remove. Two
shapes; pick what fits the container layer best:

1. **IPv6 publish at the container layer** — publish on `[::]` too
   (pasta/rootless podman support address-specific `-p`), wired into the
   container manager so new apps inherit it; or
2. **Host-side v6→v4 forwarders** — generated nginx `stream {}` (or
   systemd-socket) units: `listen [::]:<port>` → `127.0.0.1:<port>`, one per
   catalog app port, regenerated on app install/remove, boot-time
   self-healed like the :80 fix. Keeps the Direct Port Rule URL contract
   without touching containers.

Either way: extend the bootstrap self-heal, and verify from the MESH side
(curl the ULA on 2–3 app ports incl. :8334 from vps2 or .116) — not just
from the LAN.

## DONE (00:30, dev-box agent): app direct ports live over the mesh

Shape 2-variant implemented INSIDE the backend (`mesh_ports.rs`, `2ad57c63`):
a reconcile loop mirrors every public IPv4 listener (>=1024, bound 0.0.0.0,
no existing IPv6 any-listener) as a v6-ONLY `[::]:<port>` forwarder to
`127.0.0.1:<port>`, following `/proc/net/tcp*` every 15s — so app
install/remove and hardcoded companion ports (bitcoin-ui :8334) are covered
with zero container changes and no generated units; self-healing because it
lives in the binary. Strictly ADDITIVE: IPv4/LAN/Tor paths untouched, v6only
cannot intercept v4, foreign IPv6 listeners win.

Verified FROM THE MESH (vps2 → node ULA): :8334 HTTP 200 (466ms),
:18083 200 (306ms), :50002 200 (239ms); LAN :8334 still 200. Deployed to
framework-pt + .116 (binary sha 52ac0d8a…). Direct-port apps should now
open in the companion over 5G.