hq/04-ISSUES/211-a-bundle-is-built-before-the-toolchain-it-is-compiled-in/00-report.md

status, opened, located-in, fixed-by, amended-design

status	opened	located-in	fixed-by	amended-design
located	2026-10-03	mesh-controller

211 — A bundle is built in the same tier as the toolchain it is compiled in, against the old toolchain

What was observed

2026-10-03, merging a runtime change that needed a new SDK release. The SDK was published first; then the merge of the tools repository planned two tiers, and the first held both the toolchain images and the runtime's own bundle:

> tier 0
    mesh-tools             asked
    node-tools             built from 8e30ea9f

The bundle was built while its toolchain image was still being built. A TypeScript bundle's dependencies are copied from the toolchain image it is compiled in (design 38 WP3), so this one was compiled and packed against the toolchain as it stood before the merge — carrying the old SDK — and was recorded as built from the new commit.

Why it matters beyond this instance

Every bundle compiled by a toolchain depends on the module that publishes that toolchain, and the planner does not know it: a manifest names its toolchain by language, not in build.on, so the dependency is implicit and the tiers are computed without it. Whenever a change touches the toolchain and a bundle in one merge — or the toolchain's own repository holds a bundle, as this one does — the bundle is built against the previous toolchain and reported current. Nothing fails; the bundle simply carries yesterday's dependencies under today's commit.

Diagnosis

Owner mesh-controller: the planner orders a merge's modules by build.on; the builder's toolchain for a bundle (ToolchainFor(language): the module and artifact it is compiled in) is not part of that order. Fix direction: the planner treats a bundle's toolchain as a build.on it did not have to write — a bundle of language L depends on the module that publishes L's toolchain — so the bundle lands in the tier after it. A test: a merge touching the toolchain module and a TypeScript bundle plans the bundle one tier later. Worked around on the day by building the bundle again once the toolchain was built.