windows-specific-patterns

name	windows-specific-patterns
description	Use for Windows registry resources, symlink capability/junction behavior, elevation delegation, Windows-only cfg gates, or Windows-specific wrapper behavior beyond shared bootstrap. Not for ordinary wrapper parity or checks.

Windows-Specific Patterns

Prefer capability methods. Use a direct Windows check only when the behavior is inherently Windows-specific and has no narrower capability.

Registry

• Registry desired state comes from conf/registry.toml.
• Supported paths are HKCU-only; entries are not profile-filtered.
• Preserve the shared batch state query before resource convergence.
• Keep native access in RegistryResource, not in the task.

Symlinks

• Use infra::fs::is_dir_like() for classification and create_native_symlink() for native dispatch.
• Resource code may fall back to junctions for directory links.
• Check capability before mutation. Developer Mode permits unprivileged links; otherwise the applicable symlink task requires elevation.
• Dry-run never requests elevation.

Elevation

• Keep the parent process unprivileged.
• Delegate only tasks whose current state reports needs_elevation().
• The elevation-capable tasks are EnableDeveloperMode and InstallSymlinks; neither should prompt once its desired state is already satisfied.
• The child uses explicit selectors and cannot recurse.
• Never prompt in CI or a non-interactive session.
• If elevation is unavailable, skip elevating tasks and their transitive dependents. If the child ran successfully, continue dependents normally.
• Build child arguments in a pure, platform-independent function for tests.

PowerShell wrapper

dotfiles.ps1 owns bootstrap, checksum/provenance verification, build mode, and argument forwarding only. Use $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' and Join-Path. Task behavior belongs in Rust.

Use the native-runtime caveats and checks under Platform coverage parity after Windows-sensitive changes.