Session checkpoint — 2026-08-26

Requested action

Rob requested that the current project state be written into the project folder and that the project cron jobs be stopped for today.

Final state at pause

Project: meshcentral-openclaw-bridge
Status: BLOCKED / PAUSED FOR TODAY
Live-test attempts/failures: 3 consecutive failures
Failure stage: serverversion (protocol-or-connection)
Live testing: STOPPED by configured failure-limit rule
Worker: no active worker process or lock at checkpoint
Progress cron: being disabled for today; configuration is preserved

Work completed this session

Reviewed project folder, handoff, status, TODO, deployment, live-test, security, research, implementation, and review documents.
Confirmed local implementation quality gate before the live attempts:
- Initial baseline: 90 tests passed, build passed, lint passed.
- After secure live-test runner: 91 tests passed, build passed, lint passed.
- After final runner/diagnostic changes: 12 suites, 91 tests passed, build passed, lint passed with no warnings.
Corrected MeshCentral 1.2.5 protocol assumptions:
- x-meshauth uses comma-separated Base64 fields for username/password and optional TOTP.
- Requests/responses correlate using responseid, not the bridge's former numeric id field.
- Official server-version responses use fields including result and tags.
Added PROTOCOL-COMPARISON.md.
Added fixed-scope implementation/src/live-readonly-test.ts and npm run live-test.
Runner reads the protected credential file internally and does not accept credential, operation, or target CLI arguments.
Runner scope is fixed to server version, Servers group, nodes, and PVE3 deviceinfo.
Added runner safety test and sanitized stage-level failure reporting.
Reconciled stale authorization/status wording in project documentation.
Added PROJECT-PROGRESS.json, worker/run-worker.js, and worker/worker.log as an attempted durable-worker/watchdog arrangement.

Live-test result

TLS and WebSocket setup reached the server successfully.
The fixed-scope probe failed at the first serverversion request stage on three consecutive attempts.
No groups, inventory, PVE3 metadata, commands, diagnostics, file transfer, power operations, administrative actions, or state changes completed.
No credentials, authentication headers, tokens, or raw server error text were written to project files or logs.

Worker/watchdog findings

One-shot subagent workers exited before completing their intended checkpoints.
A detached Node worker was then attempted; it did execute verification and live probes, but its log remained empty because child output was buffered and checkpoint logging was incomplete.
PROJECT-PROGRESS.json is the authoritative persisted state; it records the third live failure and the stop rule.
The watchdog cron was converted to a 15-minute watchdog but had intermittent setup timeouts. It is being paused for today per Rob's request.

Current blocker and next action

Blocker: MeshCentral control-channel compatibility/authentication remains unresolved at serverversion after WebSocket connection setup.

Before resuming:

Inspect the exact sanitized close/error behavior and compare against deployed MeshCentral 1.2.5 server behavior.
Repair or replace the worker orchestration/logging so active work is observable and state updates are reliable.
Do not reset the live-failure count or retry live testing until the protocol hypothesis changes and the retry policy is explicitly reviewed.
Preserve read-only scope: serverversion, meshes, nodes, deviceinfo; PVE3 only.

Safety boundaries

MeshCentral access: read-only only.
Approved target: PVE3 only.
Prohibited: commands, diagnostics, power operations, file transfer, administration, state changes, PVE1, and PVE2.
Credential file remains outside the project at the protected path and must not be copied, logged, or exposed.

Resume note

The project may be resumed by explicitly reviewing this checkpoint and PROJECT-PROGRESS.json. The progress cron is disabled, not deleted, and can be re-enabled later without recreating it.

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