Child of umbrella #655 (governed MCP restart coordination); builds on the #657 restart-path inventory. Adds a central coordinator that evaluates live control-plane state before a restart and returns a blast-radius impact preview, so operators and the web console (#642/#652) can see what a restart would disrupt before concurrent LLM work is destroyed. Changes - restart_coordinator.py (new) — pure classification: inventory -> impact report DTO (RestartImpactReport/SessionImpact/LeaseImpact). Verdicts: safe / unsafe / override. Never restarts anything; fails closed on an incomplete inventory. - control_plane_db.py — additive ControlPlaneDB.list_sessions() read-only session inventory (the process-level unit a restart kills). - gitea_mcp_server.py — new dry-run MCP tool gitea_request_mcp_restart: gathers sessions/leases/terminal-lock from the #613 DB, calls the coordinator, returns the report. Override authority is read from the environment, never self-asserted (#630/#710 F1 pattern). Apply is gated by a later drain proof (non-goal here). - docs/mcp-restart-coordinator.md + docs/mcp-restart-impact-sample.json — doc and a real dry-run sample report. - docs/mcp-tool-inventory.md — register the new tool (inventory sync). - tests/test_restart_coordinator.py (new) — 15 tests: multi-session fixtures, deny-when-critical-section-open, fail-closed deny, override, terminal lock, stale heartbeat, JSON-serializable DTO, list_sessions. Tests: pytest tests/test_restart_coordinator.py -> 15 passed. Full suite: 13 failed / 4753 passed; all 13 reproduce identically on clean master @ef14622 (0 regressions). The residual test_issue_781 doc-registry failure is a pre-existing baseline gap for gitea_rebind_dirty_same_claimant_author_session (merged #864, undocumented on master) — out of scope for #658. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <[email protected]>
4.7 KiB
MCP restart coordinator and impact analysis (#658)
Before any sanctioned MCP restart, a central coordinator evaluates the live control-plane state and produces an impact preview so operators and the web console (#642 / #652) can see the blast radius before concurrent LLM work is disrupted. Uncoordinated restarts destroy in-flight author/reviewer/merger work and give operators no way to see what they are about to break.
This lands the coordinator + impact DTO + a dry-run MCP tool. It is the single sanctioned entry point for restart evaluation post-#657 (which inventoried the restart/reload/kill paths). The mutative apply path — actually performing a restart — is a later child gated by a drain proof and is explicitly out of scope here.
Components
| Piece | Where | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
restart_coordinator.evaluate_restart_impact |
restart_coordinator.py |
Pure classification: inventory → impact report DTO. No I/O, no restart. |
RestartImpactReport / SessionImpact / LeaseImpact |
restart_coordinator.py |
Console-facing DTO (.as_dict() is JSON-serializable). |
ControlPlaneDB.list_sessions |
control_plane_db.py |
Read-only session inventory (the process-level unit a restart kills). |
gitea_request_mcp_restart |
gitea_mcp_server.py |
MCP tool: gathers inventory from the #613 DB, calls the coordinator, returns the report. Dry-run only. |
Dimensions evaluated
The coordinator classifies the inventory across the dimensions #658 requires:
- Sessions — every active MCP session; a restart terminates all of them.
Liveness =
status == activeand the owner pid is alive and the heartbeat is fresh (default window 15 min). Dead/stale sessions do not count toward blast radius. - Leases / locks — control-plane leases joined with work items and their
freshness (
lease_lifecycle.classify_lease_freshness). Onlyactive(live owner) leases are disruptive; expired / released / dead-process leases never withhold a restart. - Issue / PR work — the issues and PRs behind disruptive leases.
- Mutations / critical sections — a live lease carrying an author worktree
or a mutating phase (
implementing,publishing,merging, …) is a critical section a restart must not sever. - Terminal (merge) lock — an active terminal lock always makes a restart unsafe.
- Prior recovery attempts — narrower recovery already tried (e.g. sanctioned client reconnects) is echoed so the operator sees the escalation history.
Verdict
Exactly three verdicts, matching the acceptance criteria:
| Verdict | allow_restart |
Meaning |
|---|---|---|
safe |
true |
No other live sessions, no live leases, no terminal lock. |
unsafe |
false |
Live work would be disrupted and no operator override is present — or the inventory could not be completed (fail closed). |
override |
true |
Live work present, but an operator override accepts the blast radius. |
override_would_allow tells the console whether an override path exists for the
current state. blast_radius is a none / low / medium / high severity
band derived from the affected session and work counts.
Fail closed
If the control-plane inventory cannot be completed (DB unavailable, a listing
failed), inventory_complete is false and the verdict is unsafe / deny. An
incomplete evaluation must never green-light a restart.
Operator override authority
Override authority is read from the environment variable
GITEA_OPERATOR_RESTART_OVERRIDE_AUTHORIZATION and never from a tool
argument. A worker session cannot set an environment variable on an
already-running daemon, so override cannot be self-asserted (same pattern as the
#630 daemon-maintenance authorization). The request_override tool argument only
expresses caller intent; it takes effect solely when the environment
authorization is present.
The tool
gitea_request_mcp_restart(remote, host, org, repo,
dry_run=True, request_override=False,
session_id=None, limit=200)
Read-only, dry-run, and it never restarts anything. apply_supported is
always false; passing dry_run=False performs no restart and reports that
apply is gated by a drain proof (a separate child).
Audit
Every evaluation carries an audit_record (event, coordinator version, verdict,
allow decision, blast radius, counts, timestamp) so restart decisions are
auditable. No secrets flow through the coordinator — session ids, pids, and
profiles are operational metadata only.
A representative dry-run report is in
mcp-restart-impact-sample.json.