04-ISSUES/210-the-host-re-creates-the-nodes-runtime-on-every-reconcile/00-report.md

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 ---
-status: located
+status: resolved
 opened: 2026-10-03
 located-in:
   - mesh-host
-fixed-by:
+fixed-by: mesh-host #80
 amended-design:
 ---
 
@@ -49,3 +49,16 @@ record, and a test that applies the same `process` declaration twice against a r
 asserts the second outcome is `unchanged` with no restart — the test the shape never had. Observed
 on the laptop's journal and state; the other three machines' host logs are not readable by the
 operator account over SSH, and the behaviour is the host's, not the machine's.
+
+## Resolution
+
+2026-10-03, mesh-host #80. The diagnosis above was right about where and wrong about what: the
+record is written every cycle, and the process applier's *unchanged* path returned an outcome that
+said nothing about what was written, so the loop recorded it without the digest. The next cycle,
+five minutes later, found an empty record and re-created the daemon; the one after was unchanged
+and erased the digest again. `created` every other cycle is the ten-minute cadence, and it is why the
+state file held the digest on one read and not on the next. The unchanged outcome now carries the
+digest forward, as a file's and an archive's do. The test applies one process three times and
+asserts the record survives an unchanged apply and no restart is asked; it fails on the code before.
+Proven live on the laptop after the host rolled: two reconcile cycles with no `created
+node-tools.runtime` line and the runtime's start time unmoved.