Retry transient publish failures and request finalize explicitly

[batuhan]

Problem

From Nicholas's support-rotation feedback: "I was never able to get the sync to work, even after trying various configs."

Production data for his site, all from spacefast-wordpress/0.5.7 on 2026-10-01:

• eidolon-night has 4 versions created between 13:44 and 15:41 UTC, each declaring about 4,570 files and 1.1 GB. All 4 expired without a finalize operation ever being queued.
• eidolon-night-xzxwmo9cm has 1 more expired version, plus one that stopped at 17:39 with 1,269 of 3,269 files still pending.

Each attempt is a new version. That matches how this plugin handles failures:

• Spacefast_Static_Publisher::step() threw on any upload failure except 401/403, even though upload_response() marks 408/425/429/5xx and network errors as retryable. resume() also threw on a retryable 503 (runtime_management_unavailable, which the refresh route returns when it can't read the runtime ledger).
• Spacefast_Simply_Static_Publish_Task::perform() catches the exception and calls Spacefast_Static_Publisher::reset(). The next export declares a new version and uploads from the start. With thousands of files sent one per background step, one transient error per run is enough to keep a large site from ever finishing.
• After the last target, the plugin only polls. Activation depends entirely on server-side auto-finalize, which runs off the runtime's upload_session_complete callback. The refresh route returns finalizeRequired: true with no targets, but the plugin never sends finalize.

Change

• Spacefast_Static_Publisher::retry_or_throw(): a retryable failure keeps the state and schedules the retry at retry_at. The delay starts at 2s and doubles up to a 60s cap, for 8 attempts (about 4 minutes in all), and resets after any success. Simply Static runs background steps back to back with no throttle by default, so a step inside the wait sleeps for up to 1s and returns "not done" without calling the API. Non-retryable failures still end the publish with the same message.
• Applied to target uploads, uploads/resume, and the new finalize request.
• Completion check instead of finalize. After the last target, the publisher calls uploads/refresh once before its first status poll. It doesn't call finalize: that route needs versions:promote, which the static-mode scopes don't grant, so it would always 403. If the refresh lists files the runtime never received, the publisher uploads them and checks again. If nothing is missing, spacefast/monorepo#3494 makes that refresh run the same idempotent completion as the runtime's upload callback. A non-retryable refusal means the version already left the draft states, and the existing status poll reports the outcome.
• Expired upload session. A 401/403 upload followed by a transient refresh failure retries the refresh first instead of re-sending bytes on the stale target (resume_pending).
• Version 0.5.8, with changelog.

Tests

tests/behavior.php has new scenarios:

• A 503 on the first upload keeps version ver_retry, the next step re-uploads the same target, and the publish goes live. Exactly one POST /versions, one completion refresh and no finalize are sent.
• A completion refresh that names a missing file causes it to be uploaded again, followed by a second check.
• A 401 upload followed by a 503 refresh retries the refresh before any upload.
• A 400 upload still throws "Spacefast rejected a generated file upload."

With includes/ reverted, the new scenario fails on the 503. ./bin/test.sh passes: php lint, behavior tests, and a reproducible zip build. I didn't run the WordPress acceptance suite (bin/test-wordpress.sh).

Not in this PR

• Why the first four attempts never finalized. I couldn't retrieve control-plane logs from Oct 1, so I can't say whether the uploads finished or the completion callback was lost. The completion refresh, together with monorepo#3494, covers the lost-callback case.
• Export size. About 700 MB was wp-content/uploads, and around 60 MB was wp-includes/js|css (editor bundles included), which Simply Static copied in full.
• The plugin still calls the hidden uploads/resume alias, which the monorepo plans to remove "once every baked client has been rebuilt". Switching to uploads/refresh is worth doing before that alias goes.

Tag @indent to continue the conversation here.

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Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Static publishing now retries temporary upload, upload-resume, and finalization failures up to five times, preserving progress between attempts.
  • After all files upload, publishing requests finalization and continues checking status until the release is live. Permanent failures and exhausted retries still report errors.
• Updates
  • Updated the plugin version to 0.5.8.

[indent]

PR Summary

Large Simply Static publishes kept restarting as a brand-new version after a single transient error, and activation depended only on the runtime's upload-completion callback. This PR keeps the publish state on retryable failures and retries the same call with exponential backoff. Once all files have uploaded, it asks the server, through the upload refresh route, which files are still missing.

• Spacefast_Static_Publisher::retry_or_throw(): up to 8 consecutive retryable failures (408/425/429/5xx/network) keep the same version and target. Each failure sets retry_at (2s doubling, capped at 60s, about 4 minutes in total). Steps inside the wait sleep briefly and send nothing. The counter resets after any success. Covers target uploads and uploads/resume.
• An expired upload session (upload 401/403) sets resume_pending, so if the refresh fails transiently, the next step refreshes again before resending to the stale upload targets.
• After the last target, poll_version() calls uploads/resume once. If the server lists missing files, the publisher uploads them and checks again, at most 3 times (MAX_COMPLETION_ROUNDS). Otherwise it polls the version status. The plugin never calls /finalize, which its spaces:publish scope doesn't permit.
• Getting activation from that refresh depends on spacefast/monorepo#3494 (open), which makes a refresh with nothing pending run auto-finalize. Until that ships, activation still comes only from the runtime callback, as in 0.5.7.
• Behavior tests for scheduling a retry instead of firing it immediately, retrying the same target, retrying a failed refresh before reusing old targets, re-uploading files the server still lacks, stopping after repeated missing-file rounds, never calling finalize, and a 400 still ending the publish.
• Version bump to 0.5.8 (readme, plugin header/constant, acceptance test).

Issues

All clear! No issues remaining. 🎉

4 issues already resolved

• The finalize route requires the versions:promote action, but the plugin's static-mode scopes (teams:read spaces:read spaces:write spaces:publish offline_access) don't grant it, so every finalize request gets a 403. The plugin treats that 403 as a normal refusal and only polls, which means activation still depends entirely on auto-finalize, the same failure mode this PR is meant to fix. (fixed by commit 1cf3bb9)
• Each retry runs on the next Simply Static background step, and Simply Static runs those steps in a tight loop (0s throttle by default), so all 5 retries happen within about a second. Any 503, 429, or network outage longer than that still throws, resets, and restarts the export as a new version. Add a time-based backoff, for example a retry_at timestamp in state that honors Retry-After. (fixed by commit 9f19430)
• When the completion refresh returns targets, the publisher goes back to uploading without counting the cycle, and begin_finalizing() resets polls to 0, so neither the 300-poll cap nor the 10,000-page cap ever trips. Each refresh also extends the draft TTL, so if the server keeps reporting a file as missing after a successful PUT, the publish re-uploads forever. Count these cycles (for example, increment pages) so the existing cap applies. (fixed by commit 1cb3ddd)
• The 0.5.8 changelog entry in readme.txt says the plugin retries "upload, upload-refresh, and finalize failures", but the plugin no longer sends a finalize request. Drop "finalize" from that line. (fixed by commit 9f19430)

CI Checks

All CI checks passed on 1cb3ddd.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The static publisher now retries transient upload and finalization failures, requests finalization before polling, and throws after non-retryable failures or the retry limit. The plugin version changes to 0.5.8.

Changes

Static publishing

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Finalization API and retry policy includes/class-spacefast-client.php, includes/class-spacefast-static-publisher.php	The client adds an asynchronous finalization request for the live channel. The publisher adds a five-failure retry limit and shared retry handling.
Upload and finalization execution includes/class-spacefast-static-publisher.php, tests/behavior.php, readme.txt, spacefast-wordpress.php, tests/acceptance/wordpress.php	Upload and resume failures use retry handling. Finalization is requested once before status polling. Behavior tests cover transient upload retries and rejected uploads. Release metadata and the acceptance test use version 0.5.8.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Publisher as Spacefast_Static_Publisher
  participant Client as Spacefast_Client
  participant Endpoint as Live version endpoint
  Publisher->>Client: finalize_static_version(version_id)
  Client->>Endpoint: POST /finalize?async=1 with channel=live
  Endpoint-->>Client: request result
  Client-->>Publisher: request result
  Publisher->>Endpoint: Poll publish status

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Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to dae16

A transient failure on the resume endpoint may make a publish retry an expired upload target. In the worst case the publish fails after its retries are used up and has to be restarted. Confirm how stale-target uploads are classified before merging, or accept the risk explicitly.

Security Architecture Review

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to dae16

Retries preserve publishing progress without weakening the existing local access and connection controls. No introduced security vulnerability was established. Live finalization still depends on server-side authorization and safe handling of repeated requests, which could not be verified.

Retained concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Security review details

Security Blast Radius

• inferred — The visible new action targets the persisted version in the configured space and can affect that site's live content. The client does not introduce a request-supplied tenant or version selector. Isolation beyond this local scope depends on server-side ownership enforcement, which remains unverified.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

• observed — Manual publishing retains its manage_options capability check and action nonce. Finalization is invoked internally by the existing publisher task rather than through a newly registered WordPress HTTP handler.

Resilience and Maintainability Implications

• observed — Transient retries preserve the same version instead of declaring a replacement, while non-retryable upload failures still terminate the attempt. The inspected behavior tests use simulated responses to cover same-version recovery and one normal finalization request; they do not establish production replay or authorization guarantees.

Hardening Proposals

• proposed — Document and verify version-scoped finalization replay safety, space ownership and live-promotion authorization, timeout-after-acceptance recovery, and refusal handling. Distinguish an already-owned finalization operation from permanent authorization or state errors; absence of a client idempotency key alone is not proof of a defect.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main changes: retrying transient publish failures and explicitly requesting finalization.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 6 functions across 5 files. (1 skipped: 1 …
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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• 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR

🤖 Prompt to fix review comments

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @includes/class-spacefast-static-publisher.php:
- Line 220: Update step() to persist a pending-resume state when resume() fails
transiently after an upload returns 401 or 403, and have the next step() retry
resume() before uploading to the saved target. Keep the existing retry limit
behavior for other failures.

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📒 Files selected for processing (6)

• includes/class-spacefast-client.php
• includes/class-spacefast-static-publisher.php
• readme.txt
• spacefast-wordpress.php
• tests/acceptance/wordpress.php
• tests/behavior.php

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[indent]

Re: CodeRabbit's step() finding: this was valid as a wasted request rather than a stall. After a 401/403 followed by a transient refresh failure, the next step sent the file on the expired target again, got another 401, and only then refreshed. Fixed in e627f6f. The publisher now saves resume_pending before refreshing, checks it before touching targets, and clears it once a refresh succeeds. The new test (401 upload, then a 503 refresh) checks that the second step refreshes without sending another upload. It failed before the change and passes now. ./bin/test.sh passes.

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