docs(decisions): record CI runs 500/503 for gate-toolbox-container

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>

.gitea/workflows/README.md

@@ -165,7 +165,8 @@ Cost: the job shares the single act_runner slot with the gate, but the build its
   merge-gate.yaml            the pipeline (lint → l0 → l1 → conformance → decision)
   images.yaml                build/verify/publish this repo's container images (see above)
   scripts/
-    install-tools.sh         installs the pinned tools per stage (from ci/versions.env)
+    install-tools.sh         installs the pinned tools per stage (from ci/versions.env) — used by the
+                             dormant merge-gate.yaml blueprint only; gate.yml runs in the toolbox image
     decide.sh                the R-TEST-03 merge decision over job results
     images.sh                the image pipeline's driver (what to build, base, push, digest)
   README.md                  this file

.gitea/workflows/gate.yml

@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@
 # This is the LIVE gate wired to the in-cluster Gitea Actions runner (ns gitea-actions,
 # Docker executor + DinD). It invokes the AGGREGATE merge gate — `./ci/gate.sh`, which is
 # exactly what `make -C ci gate` runs, so CI and the devcontainer gate the same way
-# (R-TEST-02): the runner just installs the pinned tools from ci/versions.env first (and see
-# below for why the script, not `make`, is invoked here). It runs every stage in order —
+# (R-TEST-02) — and since 2026-11-08 it runs INSIDE the same image: the job `container:` is the
+# CI-built devcontainer toolbox (see "THE JOB IMAGE" below), not a generic runner image that
+# downloads the pinned tools on every run. (See further below for why the script, not `make`,
+# is invoked here.) It runs every stage in order —
 # spec-immutability, lint, Kyverno L0, render==golden, L1 offline render — and then applies the
 # R-TEST-03 decision, printing
 # "MERGE GATE: PASS" (0) / "BLOCKED" (1) / "UNDETERMINED" (3) / "NOT APPLICABLE" (0). It is the
@@ -17,7 +19,8 @@
 # kinds of non-run must be told apart HERE, in the caller, because only the caller knows which
 # environment it is:
 #   * a pinned tool missing or a seam unwired ON THIS RUNNER is a DEFECT — the toolchain is
-#     installed for us two steps up. GATE_STRICT_SKIPS=true DECLARES that (no env sniffing, no
+#     baked into the job image and checked against ci/versions.env two steps up.
+#     GATE_STRICT_SKIPS=true DECLARES that (no env sniffing, no
 #     "does this look like CI?" heuristic) and makes those skips exit 1: untolerated, job fails.
 #   * spec-immutability CANNOT be verified here at all: the spec repo is a separate repo and is
 #     not checked out into this runner (SPEC_REPO_SLUG unwired; blueprint in merge-gate.yaml). It
@@ -41,6 +44,32 @@
 # same script the laptop runs; the extra pre-step is a read-only git-diff check and is
 # purely additive. The full pipeline blueprint (spec-checkout, per-layer jobs, decision job)
 # is retained dormant in merge-gate.yaml.
+#
+# THE JOB IMAGE (2026-11-08, feat/gate-toolbox-container). The gate job runs in
+# gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/toolbox, pinned BY DIGEST — the image
+# .gitea/workflows/images.yaml builds from infra/devcontainer/Containerfile, verifies, and
+# publishes. It is the SAME image `infra/devcontainer/dev.sh` runs, so a local gate and the CI
+# gate now execute the identical toolchain (R-TEST-02), not two installs that agree by intent.
+# Before this, the job ran in ghcr.io/catthehacker/ubuntu:act-22.04 and spent ~11s of every run
+# re-downloading yamllint, check-jsonschema, kyverno, promtool and chainsaw
+# (.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh l0 + l1; measured on runs 494/495).
+#   * PINNED BY DIGEST, MOVED BY RENOVATE. The `# renovate-digest:` marker above the image line
+#     is the repo-wide convention (renovate.json5, "This repo's own CI-published images"):
+#     Renovate follows the `main` tag and opens a digest-bump PR, whose OWN gate run then
+#     executes on the new image — the bump tests itself. infra/gitea/registry-retention.sh reads
+#     the same marker, so the pinned digest is never pruned. Never hand-edit it to a tag.
+#   * PULL AUTH: none needed. The Home-Network org is public and the registry issues an
+#     anonymous pull token (measured 2026-11-08: anonymous /v2/token -> manifest 200), so the
+#     runner's DinD pulls it like any public image. If the org is ever made private, add
+#     `credentials:` here with a read:package token secret — the automatic Actions token has no
+#     package scope at /v2/token (see images.yaml's header).
+#   * COLD PULL: ~467 MB compressed (1.54 GB unpacked). The DinD store is an emptyDir, so the
+#     first job after a runner-pod restart or a digest bump pays one pull; every other run finds
+#     it cached (forcePull=false), exactly as it already did for the catthehacker image.
+#   * NO NODE in the toolbox, so `actions/checkout` (a Node action) cannot run here. The checkout
+#     step is plain git instead — see its comment for how it keeps fetch-depth-0 semantics.
+#   * install-tools.sh is NOT deleted: merge-gate.yaml (the dormant blueprint) still calls it,
+#     and conformance/tests/l0-static/alert-rules-unit-tested asserts its promtool wiring.
 ---
 name: gate
 
@@ -78,16 +107,76 @@ jobs:
   # Single required status check: the static merge gate.
   gate:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # The CI-built toolbox — the same image dev.sh runs. See "THE JOB IMAGE" in the header.
+    container:
+      # renovate-digest: image=gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/toolbox tag=main
+      image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/toolbox@sha256:83a3501efe34fa0b039e3f0d360738686a0f59109866c49779768f5d5ed0ef81
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0        # full history so ci/touched-requirements.sh can diff vs main
-
-      - name: Install pinned CI toolchain (ci/versions.env)
+      # Plain git, because actions/checkout is a Node action and the toolbox has no Node. It
+      # reproduces what actions/checkout@v7 with `fetch-depth: 0` did here (read from its logged
+      # commands on runs 490/495): full history of every branch + tags, so
+      # ci/touched-requirements.sh can diff against origin/<base>; the exact event commit
+      # checked out (detached for a PR, as `-B <branch>` for a push). One difference, on
+      # purpose: the job token is passed to the single fetch through GIT_CONFIG_* environment
+      # variables and is NOT persisted into .git/config — nothing after this step needs
+      # authenticated git (ci/ and conformance/ make no network git calls), so there is no
+      # reason to leave a credential in the workspace for the gate's scripts to read.
+      - name: Checkout (git, full history)
+        env:
+          GIT_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          SERVER_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}
+          REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
+          SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
+          REF: ${{ github.ref }}
         run: |
-          ./.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh l0
-          ./.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh l1
+          set -euo pipefail
+          # act runs steps with umask 0000, so without this every checked-out directory is
+          # world-writable — and Ansible then IGNORES infra/ansible/ansible.cfg as a source
+          # ("Ansible is being run in a world writable directory"), which made the L0 check
+          # prod-baremetal-not-dev-surface fail on this PR's first CI run (run 500). The
+          # toolbox has Ansible, so that check now drives it for real. 0022 = what a
+          # workstation clone gets (reproduced locally: 0000 fails the check, 0022 passes).
+          umask 0022
+          git config --global --add safe.directory "$PWD"
+          git init -q .
+          git remote add origin "${SERVER_URL}/${REPOSITORY}"
+          auth="$(printf 'x-access-token:%s' "$GIT_TOKEN" | base64 -w0)"
+          GIT_CONFIG_COUNT=1 GIT_CONFIG_KEY_0=http.extraHeader \
+          GIT_CONFIG_VALUE_0="AUTHORIZATION: basic ${auth}" \
+            git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --quiet --no-tags --prune --no-recurse-submodules origin \
+              '+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*' '+refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*' \
+              "+${SHA}:refs/remotes/checkout/head"
+          unset auth GIT_TOKEN
+          case "$REF" in
+            refs/heads/*) git checkout -q --force -B "${REF#refs/heads/}" "$SHA" ;;
+            *)            git checkout -q --force --detach "$SHA" ;;
+          esac
+          [ "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" = "$SHA" ] || { echo "::error::HEAD is not ${SHA}" >&2; exit 1; }
+          echo "checked out $(git log -1 --format='%H %s') (ref ${REF}); $(git rev-list --count HEAD) commits of history"
+
+      # The image is the toolchain, so prove it is the PINNED one before trusting it: every
+      # *_VERSION in ci/versions.env must equal what the image recorded at build time
+      # (/etc/dev-toolchain-versions, written by infra/devcontainer/Containerfile; its `verify`
+      # stage already asserted the version-sensitive binaries report those pins). This replaces
+      # the per-run install: a drifted toolbox fails HERE, naming the tool, instead of gating with
+      # a different engine. ci/versions.env and infra/devcontainer/versions.env must move together.
+      - name: Toolchain is the one ci/versions.env pins
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          . ci/versions.env
+          drift=0
+          for var in $(grep -oE '^[A-Z_]+_VERSION' ci/versions.env); do
+            tool="$(printf '%s' "${var%_VERSION}" | tr 'A-Z_' 'a-z-')"
+            want="${!var}"
+            got="$(sed -n "s/^${tool}=//p" /etc/dev-toolchain-versions)"
+            if [ "$got" = "$want" ]; then
+              printf 'ok     %-18s %s\n' "$tool" "$want"
+            else
+              printf '::error::DRIFT  %s: ci/versions.env pins %s, the job image has %s\n' "$tool" "$want" "${got:-nothing}"
+              drift=1
+            fi
+          done
+          [ "$drift" -eq 0 ]
 
       # R-TEST-06: the spec is read-only to agents. An EXPLICIT early surfacing of the
       # spec-immutability check, so its result is a distinct, tolerant status line in the

apps/wave-0/gitea.yaml

@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ spec:
     spec:
       containers:
       - name: gitea
-        image: gitea/gitea:1.27.3
+        image: gitea/gitea:28.3.0
         ports:
         - containerPort: 3000
         env:
@@ -89,14 +89,18 @@ spec:
             secretKeyRef:
               name: gitea-bootstrap
               key: secret-key
-        - name: GITEA__server__DOMAIN
-          value: gitea.${BASE_DOMAIN}
         - name: GITEA__server__ROOT_URL
           value: https://gitea.${BASE_DOMAIN}/
         - name: GITEA__actions__ENABLED
           value: 'true'
         - name: GITEA__actions__DEFAULT_ACTIONS_URL
           value: github
+        - name: GITEA__actions__RUN_RETENTION_DAYS
+          value: '400'
+        - name: GITEA__security__EGRESS_MODE
+          value: lax
+        - name: GITEA__service__DISABLE_REGISTRATION
+          value: 'true'
         - name: GITEA_ADMIN_USERNAME
           valueFrom:
             secretKeyRef:

catalog/gitea.yaml

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 name: gitea
 kind: container
 source:
-  image: gitea/gitea:1.27.3     # pinned recent stable tag (R-UPD-01); update.range governs advancement
+  image: gitea/gitea:28.3.0     # pinned recent stable tag (R-UPD-01); update.range governs advancement
 # Headless-install bootstrap (formerly apps/gitea-bootstrap-patch.yaml; now first-class via the
 # ServiceDefinition env/envFrom/lifecycle fields, schema >=1.2.0). Gitea must come up INSTALLED
 # without the interactive web wizard and with a FIXED, persistent SECRET_KEY, so all of this is
@@ -23,14 +23,43 @@ env:
       secretKeyRef:
         name: gitea-bootstrap
         key: secret-key
-  - name: GITEA__server__DOMAIN              # correct public clone/redirect URLs for the TLS-terminated host
-    value: gitea.${BASE_DOMAIN}
+  # ROOT_URL is the ONLY source of the instance domain since Gitea 28 (go-gitea/gitea#39400): [server]
+  # DOMAIN is no longer read, and the SSH domain defaults from ROOT_URL too. GITEA__server__DOMAIN was
+  # removed in the 28 upgrade; the stale DOMAIN line environment-to-ini already wrote into app.ini is
+  # inert. Correct public clone/redirect URLs for the TLS-terminated host come from this one value.
   - name: GITEA__server__ROOT_URL
     value: https://gitea.${BASE_DOMAIN}/
   - name: GITEA__actions__ENABLED            # Phase 6 CI/CD: declared (not implicit upstream default) so the
     value: "true"                            # in-cluster act_runner (ns gitea-actions) registers against it
   - name: GITEA__actions__DEFAULT_ACTIONS_URL  # resolve `uses: <org>/<action>@ref` from github.com (cluster
     value: github                              # has internet egress; not air-gapped)
+  # Gitea 28 added run retention (go-gitea/gitea#38855): completed runs, with their jobs, logs and
+  # artifacts, are deleted by the cleanup_action_runs cron after RUN_RETENTION_DAYS. Upstream's default
+  # (400) is kept but DECLARED, so the deletion horizon is visible here rather than implicit. The spec
+  # repo states no CI-history retention requirement; 0 would mean keep forever.
+  - name: GITEA__actions__RUN_RETENTION_DAYS
+    value: "400"
+  # Gitea 28 (go-gitea/gitea#39426) puts webhooks, the OAuth2 avatar fetch and OpenID 2.0 behind an
+  # egress policy: in the default lax mode, PUBLIC targets are allowed and private/loopback/CGNAT
+  # targets need an IP or CIDR entry in [security] ALLOWED_HOST_LIST (a hostname entry is NOT enough
+  # for a private address). DECLARED lax with an EMPTY allow list, deliberately:
+  #   * the Keycloak OIDC login source is NOT gated by it. In 28.3.0 the openidConnect provider is
+  #     goth's, built with its default HTTP client (services/auth/source/oauth2/providers_openid.go);
+  #     egress.NewSecurityPolicy is used only by routers/web/auth/oauth.go (avatar fetch, and
+  #     [oauth2_client] UPDATE_AVATAR is off here) and modules/auth/openid (OpenID 2.0, unused).
+  #     So keycloak.<domain> resolving to the private Gateway address in-cluster does not matter.
+  #   * this instance has no webhooks and no mirrors (measured 2026-11-07), and 1.27 already refused
+  #     private webhook targets by default, so nothing that worked before is newly denied.
+  # Adding an entry here would only WIDEN the webhook SSRF surface. Add the narrowest CIDR (e.g. the
+  # Gateway address /32) only if a real private webhook target appears.
+  - name: GITEA__security__EGRESS_MODE
+    value: lax
+  # Gitea 28 (go-gitea/gitea#39400) disables LOCAL self-registration unless DISABLE_REGISTRATION is
+  # explicitly false; 1.27 defaulted it open. Declared true: accounts arrive via Keycloak only.
+  # OAuth2 auto-registration below is unaffected — routers/web/auth/oauth.go gates it on
+  # ALLOW_ONLY_INTERNAL_REGISTRATION and ENABLE_AUTO_REGISTRATION, not on DISABLE_REGISTRATION.
+  - name: GITEA__service__DISABLE_REGISTRATION
+    value: "true"
   - name: GITEA_ADMIN_USERNAME               # break-glass local admin creds (consumed by the postStart hook)
     valueFrom:
       secretKeyRef:
@@ -233,9 +262,14 @@ auth:
   # recovery tools (docs/15 "Availability caveat"). No secret is embedded here.
 update:
   channel: stable               # R-UPD-01
-  range: ">=1.22.0 <2.0.0"      # stay on the 1.x stable line
+  range: ">=28.0.0 <29.0.0"     # Gitea dropped the "1." prefix at 28.0.0 (successor of 1.27); stay on 28.x
   cadence: "0 4 * * *"
-  autoRollbackOnFailedHealth: true   # R-UPD-03
+  # R-UPD-03. INERT FOR THIS SERVICE, and it must stay that way: this flag renders only an annotation
+  # on a Flux ImagePolicy, and apps/ is rendered --no-image-automation (ci/render-golden.sh), so no
+  # ImagePolicy exists and the Deployment (strategy Recreate) is never auto-reverted. That matters
+  # because a Gitea upgrade (1.27 -> 28 included) MIGRATES THE SQLITE DB ONE-WAY: an image revert onto
+  # a migrated DB is not a rollback. Roll Gitea back by RESTORING THE DATA PVC from its pre-upgrade backup.
+  autoRollbackOnFailedHealth: true
 observability:
   metrics: true
   slis:

ci/README.md

@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ caller that must distinguish them invokes `./ci/gate.sh` directly.
 
 | stage | a skip there means | verdict |
 |---|---|---|
-| `lint`, `l0`, `render-golden`, `l1` | a **pinned tool is absent** or a **wired seam went unwired** — it *could not run* | **BLOCKED** under strict skips (a CI runner: the toolchain is installed for us by `.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh`, so a skip is a defect); **UNDETERMINED** otherwise (a workstation missing a tool is a real local condition — still non-zero, still not a pass; the remedy is `infra/devcontainer/dev.sh`, which carries the pinned toolchain) |
+| `lint`, `l0`, `render-golden`, `l1` | a **pinned tool is absent** or a **wired seam went unwired** — it *could not run* | **BLOCKED** under strict skips (a CI runner: the toolchain is the job image — the CI-built toolbox, `.gitea/workflows/gate.yml` `container:` — so a skip is a defect); **UNDETERMINED** otherwise (a workstation missing a tool is a real local condition — still non-zero, still not a pass; the remedy is `infra/devcontainer/dev.sh`, which carries the pinned toolchain) |
 | `spec-immutability` (R-TEST-06) | the sibling spec repo is not checked out, so the spec **could not be verified** | **UNDETERMINED** — unverified is unverified. Deliberately *not* upgraded to BLOCKED by strict skips: the live runner does not check the spec repo out at all, so blocking would leave the only enforced status check permanently red for a reason no PR could clear. It is therefore the **one** skip whose non-answer a caller may knowingly tolerate, and `.gitea/workflows/gate.yml` does so in one visible line. `REQUIRE_SPEC_VERIFICATION=true` makes it a hard block once that checkout is wired. Locally: check the spec repo out beside this one, or set `SPEC_REPO` (`dev.sh` mounts a sibling automatically). |
 | `decisions-log` | **nothing** — this stage has no skip path. It reads only files in the tree under test and needs no tool and no cluster, so there is no environment in which it "could not run" | a reported skip is a **defect in the stage** and BLOCKS. The stage fails when the frozen `DECISIONS-LOG.md` is modified (which silently re-creates, for every *other* open branch, the tail-hunk conflict that made four of five PRs unmergeable on 2026-09-29) or when a `decisions/` entry is malformed. There is deliberately **no** `REQUIRE_DECISIONS_LOG` knob: a guard with an off switch is not a guard. See `decisions/README.md`. |
 | `conformance` (L2/L3) | `CLUSTER_AVAILABLE!=true` — the environment **declared** the capability absent (documented Phase-0 behaviour) | **does not deny a PASS**: a declared-inapplicable stage was never *supposed* to run. It is NAMED in the PASS headline and step summary, the touched requirements it would have covered are reported UNVERIFIED, and `REQUIRE_CLUSTER_TESTS=true` (Phase 1+) turns that into a block. A skip **despite** `CLUSTER_AVAILABLE=true` is a defect and BLOCKS. |

ci/gate.sh

@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@
 # WHICH SKIPS BLOCK, AND WHY (per stage — a skip is not one thing):
 #
 #   lint / l0 / render-golden / l1   A skip here means a PINNED tool is absent or a wired
-#     seam went unwired. On a CI runner the pinned toolchain is installed for us by
-#     .gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh, so a skip there is a DEFECT, not an
+#     seam went unwired. On a CI runner the pinned toolchain is the job image itself (the
+#     CI-built toolbox, .gitea/workflows/gate.yml), so a skip there is a DEFECT, not an
 #     environment: it BLOCKS. On a workstation a missing tool is a real local condition, so
 #     it degrades to UNDETERMINED (still non-zero, still never a pass). See strict_skips()
 #     in ci/lib.sh for how CI is detected and why misdetecting it cannot fail open.
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ for s in lint l0 render-golden l1; do
     skip)
       if strict_skips; then
         err "${s}: skipped (unwired seam / missing tool) under STRICT skips, where the pinned"
-        err "  toolchain is installed for us (.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh) and every"
+        err "  toolchain is baked into the job image (.gitea/workflows/gate.yml container:) and every"
         err "  seam is on main — so this is a DEFECT, not an environment -> blocks merge"
         summary "- ${s}: **SKIPPED under strict skips** (unwired seam / missing tool) — blocks merge"
         BLOCK=1

ci/lib.sh

@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ cluster_available() { truthy "${CLUSTER_AVAILABLE:-false}"; }
 # --- Skip strictness: is this a CI runner, or a workstation? -------------------
 # A SKIPPED stage is never green anywhere (HARD RULE 4), but its SEVERITY differs:
 #
-#   CI       the pinned toolchain is installed by .gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh
-#            before the gate runs, and every seam is on `main`. A stage that skips here is a
-#            DEFECT (a tool dropped from the installer, a seam that went unwired) -> BLOCK.
+#   CI       the pinned toolchain IS the job image (the CI-built toolbox; gate.yml `container:`),
+#            and every seam is on `main`. A stage that skips here is a
+#            DEFECT (a tool dropped from the image, a seam that went unwired) -> BLOCK.
 #   local    a missing pinned tool is a real, ordinary local condition -> the gate reports
 #            UNDETERMINED (exit 3): not green, not a pass, but distinguishable from a red.
 #

decisions/2026-11-07-gitea-28.md

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+---
+date: 2026-11-07
+branch: feat/gitea-28
+title: "Gitea 1.27.3 -> 28.3.0 (upstream dropped the 1. prefix)"
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+- `catalog/gitea.yaml`: `source.image` `gitea/gitea:1.27.3` -> `gitea/gitea:28.3.0` (still the
+  newest stable tag on Docker Hub and GitHub on 2026-11-07: 28.0.0, 28.1.0, 28.2.0, 28.3.0).
+  `update.range` `">=1.22.0 <2.0.0"` -> `">=28.0.0 <29.0.0"`.
+- 28.x breaking changes handled in the env block:
+  - `GITEA__server__DOMAIN` **removed**: 28 no longer reads `[server] DOMAIN` (go-gitea/gitea#39400);
+    `ROOT_URL` was already set and is now the only source of the domain. Nothing else in the repo
+    reads the variable (the bootstrap script sets ROOT_URL/SSH_PORT only).
+  - `GITEA__actions__RUN_RETENTION_DAYS=400` **declared** (go-gitea/gitea#38855 added the 400-day
+    default; the spec repo states no CI-history retention requirement).
+  - `GITEA__security__EGRESS_MODE=lax` **declared, with no allow list.** Read from the 28.3.0
+    source: the Keycloak OIDC login source does NOT go through the new egress policy (goth's
+    openidConnect provider, default HTTP client). The policy covers webhooks, the OAuth2 avatar
+    fetch (`UPDATE_AVATAR` is off) and OpenID 2.0. A hostname entry would not even help for a
+    private address — `WithLocalNeedsIPAllow` requires an IP/CIDR entry. So the brief's
+    "Keycloak SSO breaks" premise does not hold for 28.3.0, and an allow-list entry would only
+    widen webhook SSRF reach.
+  - `GITEA__service__DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true` **declared** (28's new default; 1.27 defaulted it
+    open). OAuth2 auto-registration is gated separately and keeps working.
+- `update.autoRollbackOnFailedHealth`: kept `true`, commented as **inert**. It renders only an
+  annotation on a Flux ImagePolicy, and `apps/` is rendered `--no-image-automation`, so no
+  ImagePolicy exists. The Deployment is `Recreate` with no probes, so nothing reverts the image
+  automatically. Rollback = restore the PVC, never an image revert onto the migrated DB.
+- `apps/wave-0/gitea.yaml` re-rendered with the canonical command
+  (`render.py --all catalog -o apps --wave-layout --no-image-automation`, in the toolbox). Only
+  gitea changed.
+- `renovate.json5`: gitea `allowedVersions` `<2.0.0` -> `<29.0.0`; the description no longer calls
+  28.x a stale tag.
+
+## What I verified
+
+- Docker Hub tag list and GitHub tags: 28.3.0 is the newest 28.x stable tag.
+- Read the v28.3.0 source: `modules/egress/policy/policy.go`, `modules/egress/policies.go`, every
+  `egress.New*` caller, `services/auth/source/oauth2/providers_openid.go`,
+  `modules/setting/{security,actions,service}.go`, `routers/web/auth/{oauth,linkaccount}.go`,
+  `cmd/admin_user_list.go`, `cmd/admin_auth*.go`, the Dockerfile, and `docker/root` (the s6 setup
+  still runs `environment-to-ini`). The postStart hook's CLI is unchanged in 28.3.0: `admin user
+  list --admin` still has Username in column 2, `admin auth list` still has ID/Name in columns 1/2,
+  `add-oauth`/`update-oauth` keep the same flags, and curl and su-exec are still in the image.
+- Live Gitea (API, 2026-11-07): version 1.27.3. Zero repo, org and system webhooks, no mirrors.
+- `renovate-config-validator` at 44.167.0 (the tag renovate.yaml pins): "Config validated
+  successfully".
+- Ran the toolbox gate on the committed tree (numbers are in the PR).
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- **The upgrade itself.** Nothing booted 28.3.0 against a copy of the production DB. Migration
+  time, migration success and the post-upgrade SSO login are all UNVERIFIED, and the PR's
+  post-merge checklist covers them.
+- **The age of the latest gitea-data Longhorn/off-cluster backup.** The cluster read failed from
+  the worktree (no k3s-prod context with the kubeconfig available), so the operator must confirm
+  it before merging.
+- How the Envoy Gateway handles the new `/-/ws` WebSocket. If upgrades are not forwarded, live
+  notifications fall back to polling (not breaking). UNVERIFIED.
+- Whether the L2/L3 conformance suite passes. It does not run in CI.

decisions/2026-11-08-gate-toolbox-container.md

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+---
+date: 2026-11-08
+branch: feat/gate-toolbox-container
+title: The merge gate runs inside the CI-built toolbox image, pinned by digest — no per-run tool install
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+`.gitea/workflows/gate.yml`, job `gate` (job name, the gate step, its env and its
+`|| [ "$?" -eq 3 ]` tolerance are unchanged, so the required context `gate / gate (pull_request)`
+is unchanged):
+
+- **`container:`** `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/toolbox@sha256:83a3501e…ef81` — the
+  image `images.yaml` published from `dd94101` (run 789; it is today's `main` and `sha-dd941016478c`
+  tag). The same image `infra/devcontainer/dev.sh` runs, so local and CI gate on the identical
+  toolchain. A `# renovate-digest: image=… tag=main` marker sits on the line above, the repo's
+  existing convention; `infra/gitea/registry-retention.sh` reads the same marker, so this digest
+  is protected from pruning.
+- **`actions/checkout` replaced by a plain-git step.** The toolbox has no Node (measured:
+  `command -v node` → missing), and `actions/checkout` is a Node action. Chosen over adding Node to
+  the toolbox because that would need two sequential PRs (Containerfile, then a publish, then the
+  pin) and would put a JS runtime into the operator toolbox only to run one action. The step
+  reproduces what checkout@v7 `fetch-depth: 0` actually ran here (read from runs 490 and 495):
+  every branch to `refs/remotes/origin/*`, tags, plus the event SHA; detached for a PR,
+  `-B <branch>` for a push; asserts `HEAD == github.sha`. The job token goes to that one fetch via
+  `GIT_CONFIG_*` env and is **not** persisted in `.git/config` (nothing later needs network git).
+  It sets **`umask 0022`** first: the PR's first CI run (run 500) failed L0
+  `prod-baremetal-not-dev-surface` because act runs steps with umask 0000, every checked-out
+  directory was world-writable, and Ansible (present in the toolbox, absent from the catthehacker
+  image) then ignored `infra/ansible/ansible.cfg`. Reproduced locally in the pinned image: clone
+  under umask 0000 → that check fails with the same message; under 0022 → `check OK`. Side
+  effect worth knowing: the Ansible-driven parts of that check now actually execute in CI.
+- **"Install pinned CI toolchain" step removed**, replaced by **"Toolchain is the one
+  ci/versions.env pins"**: every `*_VERSION` in `ci/versions.env` must equal the image's
+  `/etc/dev-toolchain-versions`, else `::error::DRIFT` and the job fails. Without this, dropping
+  the installer would have made `ci/versions.env` an unenforced claim for everything except
+  promtool (which `alert-rules-unit-tested` already asserts).
+- Header comments rewritten for the new job image (pull auth, cold-pull size, no-Node, why
+  `install-tools.sh` stays).
+
+`renovate.json5`: the `renovate-digest` custom manager now also scans `.gitea/workflows/gate.yml`;
+the `github-actions` manager is disabled for this repo's own images (same reason the `kubernetes`
+manager already was: it would see a digest-only image and look up `latest`).
+
+Comment/message wording only: `ci/gate.sh` (header + the strict-skip error text), `ci/lib.sh`,
+`ci/README.md`, `.gitea/workflows/README.md` — they said the CI toolchain comes from
+`install-tools.sh`.
+
+`.gitea/workflows/scripts/install-tools.sh` is **kept**: `merge-gate.yaml` (dormant blueprint)
+calls it, and `conformance/tests/l0-static/alert-rules-unit-tested/check.sh` asserts its promtool
+wiring (not touched — another agent owns `conformance/`).
+
+**Consequence to know:** every toolbox digest bump is now a Renovate PR touching `.gitea/**`,
+i.e. a sensitive path needing an operator `/approve-override`. That is arguably correct (a new
+toolchain changes what green means — and `ci/versions.env` was already sensitive), but it is a
+new recurring operator touch.
+
+## What I verified
+
+- Registry pull auth: the Home-Network org is `public`; anonymous `/v2/token` → manifest `200`,
+  `docker-content-digest: sha256:83a3501e…ef81` for both `main` and `sha-dd941016478c`. So no
+  `container: credentials:` is needed. (The Actions token could not have been used anyway — no
+  package scope, per images.yaml's header.)
+- Image: 466,912,274 bytes compressed across 6 layers (manifest sum), 1,541,728,125 bytes
+  unpacked (`podman image inspect`). Local cold pull 10.4s on the workstation.
+- Image tool versions equal `ci/versions.env` for all 8 pins (kyverno 1.19.0, kyverno-json 0.0.3,
+  chainsaw 0.2.12, yamllint 1.35.1, kubectl 1.36.4, yq 4.44.6, promtool 3.14.0, check-jsonschema
+  0.29.4) — both via `/etc/dev-toolchain-versions` and by running each binary's `--version`.
+  `sleep`, `tail`, `git` 2.56.0, `bash`, `python3`, `jq`, `curl` present (act's entrypoint is
+  `/bin/sleep 10800`).
+- The new checkout script, run in the pinned image against the public repo (auth header disabled
+  for the test only): PR ref `refs/pull/143/head` → detached at `60e3a24`, 1018 commits; push ref
+  `refs/heads/main` → `On branch main` at `e8d2666`; `origin/main` present in both. The
+  toolchain-drift step passes on the real `ci/versions.env` and exits 1 naming both tools when
+  yamllint/promtool pins are altered.
+- Renovate marker regex (copied from renovate.json5) matches gate.yml exactly once, capturing
+  depName/tag/digest.
+- LOCAL GATE, run **in the pinned CI image itself** (`IMAGE=<the digest above>` through
+  `dev.sh`, `DEV_KUBECONFIG=/dev/null`, ENGINE shim adding the main checkout's `.git` read-only),
+  on commit `9537ca2`: **rc 3**; spec-immutability, decisions-log (78 entries), lint, l0,
+  render-golden, l1, approval-policy (N/A locally — not a PR event) all pass; **gitea-settings
+  the only stage not run** (no `SETTINGS_API_TOKEN` locally); L2/L3 conformance skipped as
+  usual. rc 3 is not green.
+
+- **CI, this PR's own runs** (Gitea API `/actions/runs/{id}/jobs` + job logs):
+  - run 500 (`514ed5d`, cold DinD cache: `Image exists? false`, image pulled): job 151s; set-up
+    incl. pull **9s**, checkout <1s, toolchain check 1s (all 8 pins `ok`), gate 140s → BLOCKED by
+    L0 `prod-baremetal-not-dev-surface` (umask, fixed above) + approval-policy.
+  - run 503 (`27d603f`, warm: `Image exists? true`): job **140s**; set-up 1s, checkout 1s,
+    toolchain check 0s, gate 137s. Every stage passes — l0 (incl. prod-baremetal-not-dev-surface),
+    lint, decisions-log, render-golden, l1, **gitea-settings** — except **approval-policy**,
+    the expected sensitive-path block. spec-immutability skipped (expected, no spec repo in CI).
+  - baseline before (runs 494/495, push on main): job 180s/179s; set-up 1–2s, checkout 1s,
+    **install 11s**, gate 164–165s. The install step is gone; the remaining ~25s gate-step delta
+    is NOT claimed as caused by this change (different base commits, one sample each).
+- Re-gated locally on `27d603f` in the pinned image: rc 3, gitea-settings the only not-run stage.
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- Renovate actually opening a digest-bump PR for gate.yml — only the regex was tested, not a
+  Renovate run.
+- Push-to-main behaviour in CI (only the PR event runs before merge).
+- Whether the gate-step speedup (165s → 137s) is real or run-to-run variance.
+- That the cold-pull cost stays ~9s under a busier node or a bigger digest delta; one sample.

platform/keycloak/kustomization.yaml

@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ resources:
   # branch, never auto-merged (packageRule "keycloak-operator"). Before merging a bump, re-check
   # passkey-reconciler.yaml's 26.0.6 Admin API assumptions — see README.md "Upgrading Keycloak".
   # renovate: datasource=github-tags depName=keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources
-  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.0.6/kubernetes/keycloaks.k8s.keycloak.org-v1.yml
+  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.8.2/kubernetes/keycloaks.k8s.keycloak.org-v1.yml
   # renovate: datasource=github-tags depName=keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources
-  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.0.6/kubernetes/keycloakrealmimports.k8s.keycloak.org-v1.yml
+  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.8.2/kubernetes/keycloakrealmimports.k8s.keycloak.org-v1.yml
   # renovate: datasource=github-tags depName=keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources
-  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.0.6/kubernetes/kubernetes.yml
+  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keycloak/keycloak-k8s-resources/26.8.2/kubernetes/kubernetes.yml
   # --- Admin (break-glass) credential — SOPS-encrypted, referenced by name (ADR-0007, R-IDP-04) ---
   - keycloak-admin-credentials.sops.yaml
   # --- OIDC client secrets (grafana + oauth2-proxy) the realm import injects via placeholders ---

renovate.json5

@@ -142,7 +142,9 @@
       "description": "This repo's own CI-published images, pinned by digest, following the tag named in a `# renovate-digest:` marker on the previous line.",
       "managerFilePatterns": [
         "/(^|/)versions\\.env$/",
-        "/(^|/)platform/pm-agent/.+\\.ya?ml$/"
+        "/(^|/)platform/pm-agent/.+\\.ya?ml$/",
+        // ADDED 2026-11-08: the merge gate's job `container:` is the toolbox, by digest.
+        "/^\\.gitea/workflows/gate\\.ya?ml$/"
       ],
       "matchStrings": [
         "#\\s*renovate-digest:\\s*image=(?<depName>\\S+)\\s+tag=(?<currentValue>\\S+)\\s*\\n[^\\n]*?(?<currentDigest>sha256:[a-f0-9]{64})"
@@ -290,8 +292,8 @@
       "enabled": false
     },
     {
-      "description": "ADDED 2026-10-29. This repo's own images are followed ONLY through the `# renovate-digest:` markers above. The `kubernetes` manager also sees platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml and infra/agent/worker-job-template.yaml, where the image has a digest and no tag; left on, it would look those up as `latest` (a tag CI never pushes) and, for the template, re-open the self-referential loop the custom manager deliberately avoids.",
-      "matchManagers": ["kubernetes"],
+      "description": "ADDED 2026-10-29. This repo's own images are followed ONLY through the `# renovate-digest:` markers above. The `kubernetes` manager also sees platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml and infra/agent/worker-job-template.yaml, where the image has a digest and no tag; left on, it would look those up as `latest` (a tag CI never pushes) and, for the template, re-open the self-referential loop the custom manager deliberately avoids. `github-actions` ADDED 2026-11-08 for the same reason: it extracts the gate job's digest-only `container: image:` in .gitea/workflows/gate.yml, which the custom manager already follows through its marker.",
+      "matchManagers": ["kubernetes", "github-actions"],
       "matchPackageNames": [
         "gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/toolbox",
         "gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner",
@@ -316,9 +318,9 @@
       "enabled": false
     },
     {
-      "description": "ADDED 2026-10-30. MIRRORS catalog/<svc>.yaml `update.range` — the operator's declared per-service policy (schemas/servicedefinition.schema.json), which Renovate does not read. Without it the dry run proposed gitea 28.2.0, qbittorrent 20.04.1 (both stale/odd tags, not real successors), radarr 6.x and nextcloud 35 (four majors past 31; Nextcloud cannot skip majors). KEEP IN STEP with the catalog ranges.",
+      "description": "ADDED 2026-10-30. MIRRORS catalog/<svc>.yaml `update.range` — the operator's declared per-service policy (schemas/servicedefinition.schema.json), which Renovate does not read. Without it the dry run proposed gitea 28.2.0, qbittorrent 20.04.1 (the qbittorrent tag is a stale/odd one, not a real successor; gitea 28.x IS the real successor of 1.27 — upstream dropped the \"1.\" prefix at 28.0.0 — and the catalog moved to it on 2026-11-07, so the gitea ceiling is now <29.0.0: 28.x patches/minors are proposed, never auto-merged per the blast-radius rule, and 29 waits for a human), radarr 6.x and nextcloud 35 (four majors past 31; Nextcloud cannot skip majors). KEEP IN STEP with the catalog ranges.",
       "matchPackageNames": ["gitea/gitea"],
-      "allowedVersions": "<2.0.0"
+      "allowedVersions": "<29.0.0"
     },
     { "matchPackageNames": ["nextcloud"], "allowedVersions": "<32.0.0" },
     { "matchPackageNames": ["lscr.io/linuxserver/qbittorrent"], "allowedVersions": "<6.0.0" },