ck-failure-archaeology

name	ck-failure-archaeology
description	Use when checking whether a Ck failure, workaround, rejected design, or stalled branch has prior history before retrying, removing, or resurrecting it.

ck-failure-archaeology — the chronicle of dead ends, reverts, and workarounds

Overview

This is the Ck suite's incident chronicle: investigations, dead ends, rejected fixes, and reverts, each reduced to SYMPTOM → ROOT CAUSE → EVIDENCE → STATUS → LESSON. Its job is to stop you from re-running an experiment that already failed, deleting a workaround that is secretly load-bearing, or "improving" a design whose shape is the scar tissue of a documented incident. Every SHA and file:line below was re-verified against the repos on 2026-07-02.

When NOT to use this skill

You are…	Load instead
Triaging a live bug / build break / red test right now	ck-debugging-playbook (come back here if the symptom matches an entry)
Deciding what to build next	ck-feature-frontier
Asking why the architecture is shaped this way (invariants, not incidents)	ckecs-architecture-contract
Working the teardown/unbind lifecycle campaign	ck-lifecycle-teardown-campaign

How to re-verify an entry

Cwd = the BusterBlock superproject root (the plugins are git submodules there; under a different host, substitute its plugin paths). Git Bash or PowerShell — commands are identical:

git -C Plugins/CkFoundation show --stat --format='%h %ad %s' <sha>   # entries 1-10, 13
git -C Plugins/CkTests show --stat --format='%h %ad %s' <sha>         # entry 11
git -C Plugins/CkGameplayDebugger show --stat --format='%h %ad %s' <sha>  # entry 12

Tooling caveat: the Grep/Glob tools are blind under Plugins/CkFoundation/Script, docs/, Content/ (superproject .ignore). Use rg --no-ignore -n or Read with exact paths there.

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Reference files — load only what the task needs

Section numbers cited elsewhere in this skill point into these files.

Topic	Read
The chronicle	references/chronicle.md

Stalled-branch registry — DO-NOT-RESURRECT

Maintainer ruling 2026-07-02 (recorded in .claude/reports/DECISIONS.md #25): stalled/outdated remote branches are do-not-resurrect. If a listed idea is wanted again, it goes through ck-feature-frontier as new work — do not rebase or cherry-pick these lines. All in the CkFoundation repo; tip dates/subjects re-verified 2026-07-02 via git -C Plugins/CkFoundation log -2 origin/<branch>.

Branch (origin/…)	Last commit	What it attempted (tip subject, verbatim or tight paraphrase)
feature/dependency-injection-entity-script	2026-05-26	"feat, wip: Dependency Injection for entty script" [sic] — parked WIP, the youngest fossil
feature/entity-script-as-script-struct	2026-04-02	"refactor: migrate EntityScript spawn params from UUserDefinedStruct to UScriptStruct" — INFERRED superseded by the AS-generator spawn-params pipeline
upgrade/ue5.7	2026-03-27	"fix: Update InstancedStruct includes for UE 5.7 (StructUtils path change)" — parked engine line; its tip has a dev twin (565e85ae5 IS on dev), i.e. pieces were cherry-picked back, the line itself is parked
dev-bb-5.7	2026-04-06	UE 5.7 compatibility line (attribute/utils fixes for 5.7) — parked with upgrade/ue5.7
dev-bb	2026-03-27	"feat: register attribute handle type traits for handle-level concept enforcement" — the pre-5.7 BB-integration line, parked alongside the 5.7 pair
backup/before-reverting-f8a3a55	2024-01-11	insurance snapshot taken before a revert ("added Processors for all Attributes' OverrideBaseValue processors") — a fossil, not work
backup/pre-exporter-rewrite-2026-05-28	2026-05-22	insurance snapshot before the asset-exporter rewrite — a fossil, not work
bugfix/test/investigate-cheat-in-build	2025-02-19	"test: Traces for cheats in build" — investigation branch, outcome unrecorded
feature/entity-replication-channel	2025-01-23	"Ecs Replication Channel (Actors) tied to the Transient entity … 'dangling' entity" — superseded by ActorRelay channels (INFERRED: same problem shape; ActorRelay is the shipped answer, cf. entry 7)
feature/flow-graph-module	2025-01-04	"feat, wip: Initial commit for the flow graph module" — abandoned module skeleton
feature/message-without-name	2025-05-26	"wip, refactor: Working on having messages no longer require a gameplay tag" — abandoned experiment

Dead pointer in live code: Source/CkEcs/Public/CkEcs/Registry/CkRegistry.h:289 — "// TODO: exposing the storage like this is temporary - see branch feature/registry-handle-storage-support for what we really want to do" — that branch does not exist on origin (verified 2026-07-02: git -C Plugins/CkFoundation branch -r --list '*registry-handle*' → empty). Treat the comment as intent-without-a-design; do not go hunting for the branch.

Note: many other undeleted remote branches are NOT stalled — they landed on dev via rebase/cherry-pick and just weren't pruned (twin subjects on dev). Check git -C Plugins/CkFoundation log --grep "<tip subject>" origin/dev before classifying a branch as dead.

Common mistakes when using this chronicle

• Deleting a "temporary" workaround because the commit called it temporary. in_place_delete (entry 8; settled design per DECISIONS.md §45) and the FireIfPayloadInFlight policies (entry 9) are load-bearing. Check DECISIONS.md/ADJUDICATIONS.md before removing anything a commit body apologized for.
• Trusting a plan doc's status table over git. CkNavigation/PLAN.md has said "Gates 2–7 Pending" since 2026-04-29 while the work landed (entry 5). Dev history wins.
• Re-proposing a dead design without new evidence. Typed WorldState (entry 3), executor discovery (entry 7), descriptor-driven AS regen (entry 4 Rev 9) each died for a mechanism, not taste. To re-open one, first state what changed about the mechanism.
• Citing this file without re-verifying. Entries are snapshots of 2026-07-02; a later fix may have closed an "open" entry. Run the git show line before repeating a STATUS.

Provenance and maintenance

• Campaign date: 2026-07-02. Verified at heads: CkFoundation 7330c1bab, CkTests b89f110, CkGameplayDebugger d607751 (all contained in their origin/dev).
• Every SHA above re-verified via git -C Plugins/<repo> show -s --format='%h %ad %s' <sha>; subjects quoted exactly. File:line claims read from disk the same day.
• Re-verification one-liners for the volatile facts:
  • Entry statuses / new fixes since: git -C Plugins/CkFoundation log --oneline --since=2026-07-02 -- Source/<Module>
  • in_place_delete still present: rg -n 'in_place_delete' Plugins/CkFoundation/Source/CkEcs/Public/CkEcs/Signal/CkSignal_Fragment.h
  • Dead branch pointer still in code: rg -n 'registry-handle-storage-support' Plugins/CkFoundation/Source/CkEcs/Public/CkEcs/Registry/CkRegistry.h
  • Branch registry still accurate: git -C Plugins/CkFoundation for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate --format='%(refname:short) %(committerdate:short)' refs/remotes
  • PLAN.md staleness: compare last_updated in Plugins/CkFoundation/Source/CkNavigation/PLAN.md against git -C Plugins/CkFoundation log -1 --format=%ad -- Source/CkCrowd
  • SM campaign count: git -C Plugins/CkFoundation log --oneline --since=2026-05-01 --until=2026-06-26 -- Source/CkStateMachine | wc -l (66 at verification)
  • A3 is resolved (DECISIONS.md §45); for the still-open items (A1/A2/A4) read .claude/reports/ADJUDICATIONS.md (an item may have moved to DECISIONS.md with a ruling)
• Adding an entry: keep the strict format (SYMPTOM → ROOT CAUSE → EVIDENCE (SHA/file:line) → STATUS → LESSON), quote commit subjects exactly, and mark anything you could not re-confirm INFERRED — a wrong SHA in this file poisons every future search that trusts it.