A scheduled step may hold its module's own containers still (hq ADR 0189)

while-stopped names resource ids of the same module's containers; the host
stops them before the run and starts them again after it, in reverse order,
whatever the step did. The restart is deferred before the first stop and runs
on its own context, because the one real risk of this field is a window that
never closes.

Scheduled steps only: at apply the declaration is applied in order and a
run-once step already gates what follows.

internal/apply/maintenance_window_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+)
+
+// A scheduled step may hold its module's own containers still while it runs (novox/hq ADR 0189,
+// issue 108).
+//
+// What it exists for: the artifact store's collector walks the storage and requires every writer
+// stopped. A run-once step runs beside containers and a scheduled one is the same container again,
+// so the mesh had no way to say it — which is why the store it inherited has never collected
+// anything. The risk the field brings is one shape only: a window that opens and never closes.
+// Every test here is about that shape.
+
+// windowRun records the order of stop / run / start, which is the whole of what is being asserted.
+type windowRun struct {
+	mu     sync.Mutex
+	order  []string
+	failAt string // the arg[0] that should fail ("run" makes the step fail)
+	wontGo string // a container name that refuses to start again
+}
+
+func (w *windowRun) run(_ context.Context, _ string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+	w.mu.Lock()
+	defer w.mu.Unlock()
+	switch args[0] {
+	case "info":
+		return "27.0\n", nil
+	case "stop", "start":
+		w.order = append(w.order, args[0]+" "+args[1])
+		if args[0] == "start" && args[1] == w.wontGo {
+			return "", errors.New("the runtime refused")
+		}
+	case "run":
+		w.order = append(w.order, "run")
+		if w.failAt == "run" {
+			return "", errors.New("the step exited non-zero")
+		}
+	}
+	return "", nil
+}
+
+func (w *windowRun) seen() []string {
+	w.mu.Lock()
+	defer w.mu.Unlock()
+	return append([]string{}, w.order...)
+}
+
+// aStoreWithACollector is a module in the shape distribution has: a server that must not be
+// writing, and a nightly step that walks its storage with the server held still.
+func aStoreWithACollector(t *testing.T) *declaration.Declaration {
+	t.Helper()
+	return parseTrusted(t, `{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+	  {"id":"store","type":"container","name":"mesh-registry","image":"`+pinned+`"},
+	  {"id":"collect","type":"container","name":"mesh-registry-collect","image":"`+pinned+`",
+	   "schedule":"30 3 * * *","while-stopped":["store"]}
+	]}`)
+}
+
+func fireOnce(t *testing.T, d *declaration.Declaration, w *windowRun) {
+	t.Helper()
+	clock := &fixedClock{now: time.Date(2026, 10, 2, 3, 29, 0, 0, time.UTC)}
+	s := NewScheduler(clock, w.run, func(string) {})
+	s.Sync(d, nil)
+	s.Advance(context.Background(), time.Date(2026, 10, 2, 3, 30, 5, 0, time.UTC))
+	s.Wait()
+}
+
+func TestAScheduledStepHoldsItsModulesContainerStillAndStartsItAgain(t *testing.T) {
+	w := &windowRun{}
+	fireOnce(t, aStoreWithACollector(t), w)
+
+	got := w.seen()
+	want := []string{"stop mesh-registry", "run", "start mesh-registry"}
+	var kept []string
+	for _, line := range got {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "stop mesh-registry-collect") {
+			// Clearing the step's own exited container by name; not part of the window.
+			continue
+		}
+		kept = append(kept, line)
+	}
+	if len(kept) != len(want) {
+		t.Fatalf("the window was not stop, run, start: %v", got)
+	}
+	for i := range want {
+		if kept[i] != want[i] {
+			t.Fatalf("the window was %v, want %v", kept, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The one that matters: a step that fails must leave the service running.
+func TestAFailedStepStillClosesTheWindow(t *testing.T) {
+	w := &windowRun{failAt: "run"}
+	fireOnce(t, aStoreWithACollector(t), w)
+
+	var started bool
+	for _, line := range w.seen() {
+		if line == "start mesh-registry" {
+			started = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !started {
+		t.Fatalf("the step failed and the container it held still was never started again: %v", w.seen())
+	}
+}
+
+// A container that will not come back is said loudly: it is down, and nothing else notices until
+// the next apply compares it.
+func TestAContainerThatWillNotStartAgainIsSaidLoudly(t *testing.T) {
+	w := &windowRun{wontGo: "mesh-registry"}
+	var said []string
+	clock := &fixedClock{now: time.Date(2026, 10, 2, 3, 29, 0, 0, time.UTC)}
+	s := NewScheduler(clock, w.run, func(line string) { said = append(said, line) })
+	s.Sync(aStoreWithACollector(t), nil)
+	s.Advance(context.Background(), time.Date(2026, 10, 2, 3, 30, 5, 0, time.UTC))
+	s.Wait()
+
+	var loud bool
+	for _, line := range said {
+		if strings.Contains(line, "WILL NOT START AGAIN") && strings.Contains(line, "mesh-registry") {
+			loud = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !loud {
+		t.Fatalf("a service left stopped by a maintenance window was not said loudly: %v", said)
+	}
+}
+
+// Several containers come back in the reverse of the order they were stopped: a module names the
+// dependant first, and starting it before what it depends on is not bringing it back.
+func TestTheWindowClosesInTheReverseOfTheOrderItOpened(t *testing.T) {
+	d := parseTrusted(t, `{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+	  {"id":"web","type":"container","name":"web","image":"`+pinned+`"},
+	  {"id":"db","type":"container","name":"db","image":"`+pinned+`"},
+	  {"id":"collect","type":"container","name":"collect","image":"`+pinned+`",
+	   "schedule":"30 3 * * *","while-stopped":["web","db"]}
+	]}`)
+	w := &windowRun{}
+	fireOnce(t, d, w)
+
+	var stops, starts []string
+	for _, line := range w.seen() {
+		switch {
+		case line == "stop web" || line == "stop db":
+			stops = append(stops, line)
+		case strings.HasPrefix(line, "start "):
+			starts = append(starts, line)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(stops) != 2 || stops[0] != "stop web" || stops[1] != "stop db" {
+		t.Fatalf("stopped in %v, want the order the step named them", stops)
+	}
+	if len(starts) != 2 || starts[0] != "start db" || starts[1] != "start web" {
+		t.Fatalf("started in %v, want the reverse", starts)
+	}
+}
+
+// And the refusals, each for what it says rather than that it says something.
+func TestAMaintenanceWindowIsRefusedWhereItCannotMean(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct{ name, body, says string }{
+		{
+			"a window with no schedule",
+			`{"id":"collect","type":"container","name":"c","image":"` + pinned + `","while-stopped":["store"]}`,
+			"needs a schedule",
+		},
+		{
+			"a window naming itself",
+			`{"id":"collect","type":"container","name":"c","image":"` + pinned + `","schedule":"30 3 * * *","while-stopped":["collect"]}`,
+			"this step itself",
+		},
+		{
+			"a window naming something that is not a container here",
+			`{"id":"collect","type":"container","name":"c","image":"` + pinned + `","schedule":"30 3 * * *","while-stopped":["elsewhere"]}`,
+			"no container by that id",
+		},
+	} {
+		_, err := declaration.ParseTrusted([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[` + c.body + `]}`))
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s was accepted", c.name)
+			continue
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), c.says) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: the refusal does not say %q: %v", c.name, c.says, err)
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/apply/schedule.go

@@ -65,6 +65,29 @@ type scheduledJob struct {
 	container *declaration.Container
 	next      time.Time // the next minute at which it is due
 	running   bool      // a run is in flight — the next due run is skipped rather than stacked
+	// hold is the runtime names of the containers held still for the duration of a run, in the
+	// order the step named them (novox/hq ADR 0189).
+	hold []string
+}
+
+// heldStillFor is the runtime names of the containers a step holds still, resolved from ids.
+func heldStillFor(step *declaration.Container, d *declaration.Declaration) []string {
+	if len(step.WhileStopped) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	byID := map[string]string{}
+	for _, r := range d.Resources {
+		if c, ok := r.(*declaration.Container); ok {
+			byID[c.Identity()] = c.Name
+		}
+	}
+	out := make([]string, 0, len(step.WhileStopped))
+	for _, id := range step.WhileStopped {
+		if name := byID[id]; name != "" {
+			out = append(out, name)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
 }
 
 // NewScheduler builds a scheduler. A nil clock is the system clock; a nil log says nothing.
@@ -123,15 +146,20 @@ func (s *Scheduler) Sync(d *declaration.Declaration, held map[string]bool) {
 		// on its cadence rather than staying running to be restarted — so its identity cannot
 		// depend on another resource's content and there is nothing to pass.
 		spec := containerSpec(c, inputs{})
+		// The runtime stops containers by name; the declaration names them by id. Resolved here,
+		// against the declaration this job was armed from, so a fire never has to look anything up
+		// (novox/hq ADR 0189). The parser has already refused an id that is not a container here.
+		hold := heldStillFor(c, d)
 		if existing := s.jobs[c.Identity()]; existing != nil && existing.spec == spec {
 			// Unchanged: keep where it is in its cadence, refresh the declaration pointer only.
 			existing.container = c
+			existing.hold = hold
 			continue
 		}
 		// New or changed: arm it for the next due minute after now.
 		next, _ := cron.Next(s.clock.Now())
 		s.jobs[c.Identity()] = &scheduledJob{
-			id: c.Identity(), spec: spec, cron: cron, container: c, next: next,
+			id: c.Identity(), spec: spec, cron: cron, container: c, next: next, hold: hold,
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -202,6 +230,15 @@ func (s *Scheduler) fire(ctx context.Context, j *scheduledJob) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// **The window opens here and closes in the defer, whatever happens** (novox/hq ADR 0189).
+	// Deferred before the first stop so a panic, a failing step or a step that runs long all end
+	// the same way: the service running. The one real risk of this field is a window that never
+	// closes, and the only defence against it is that closing is not conditional on anything.
+	if len(j.hold) > 0 {
+		defer s.letRun(ctx, cri, j)
+		s.holdStill(ctx, cri, j)
+	}
+
 	// A container by this name left exited by the previous run would collide with --name. Removing
 	// one that is not there is the state we want, so its error is ignored — the same as run-once.
 	_, _ = s.run(ctx, cri, "rm", "-f", j.container.Name)
@@ -260,3 +297,51 @@ func (s *Scheduler) Run(ctx context.Context) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// holdStill stops the containers this step runs instead of, in the order it named them.
+//
+// A stop that fails is said and not fatal. The step runs anyway: for the case this exists for —
+// a collector walking storage nothing must be writing to — a writer that would not stop is worth
+// knowing about, and refusing to run would mean the work never happens and the log says nothing
+// new each night. What must not be skipped is the restart, and it is not: it is deferred.
+func (s *Scheduler) holdStill(ctx context.Context, cri string, j *scheduledJob) {
+	for _, name := range j.hold {
+		if _, err := s.run(ctx, cri, "stop", name); err != nil {
+			s.log(fmt.Sprintf("scheduled step %s: could not stop %s for the run: %v", j.id, name, err))
+			continue
+		}
+		s.log(fmt.Sprintf("scheduled step %s: %s held still for the run", j.id, name))
+	}
+}
+
+// letRun starts them again, in the reverse of the order they were stopped, and says so loudly if
+// one does not come back.
+//
+// **Reverse order**, because stopping walks a dependency the other way: a module that holds two
+// containers still names the one that depends on the other first, and bringing them back the same
+// way would start a dependant before what it depends on.
+//
+// Given its own context, because this runs in a defer and the one the run used may already be
+// cancelled — a host shutting down mid-window would otherwise leave the service stopped, which is
+// precisely the outcome this field must never have.
+func (s *Scheduler) letRun(_ context.Context, cri string, j *scheduledJob) {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), closingWindow)
+	defer cancel()
+	for i := len(j.hold) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+		name := j.hold[i]
+		if _, err := s.run(ctx, cri, "start", name); err != nil {
+			// Said as loudly as this host says anything: a service the mesh stopped for a
+			// maintenance window and could not start again is down, and nothing else will notice
+			// until the next apply compares it.
+			s.log(fmt.Sprintf(
+				"scheduled step %s: %s was held still for the run and WILL NOT START AGAIN: %v",
+				j.id, name, err))
+			continue
+		}
+		s.log(fmt.Sprintf("scheduled step %s: %s running again", j.id, name))
+	}
+}
+
+// closingWindow is how long the host will spend putting back what it stopped. Generous: this is
+// the half that must not be given up on.
+const closingWindow = 5 * time.Minute

internal/declaration/declaration.go

@@ -997,6 +997,24 @@ type Container struct {
 	// rather than stacked. It is exclusive with RunOnce and with restart-on: a container runs once
 	// and gates, runs on a cadence, or stays up — never two of these.
 	Schedule string `json:"schedule,omitempty"`
+
+	// WhileStopped names resources of the same module — containers — that must be held still for
+	// the duration of this step's run (novox/hq ADR 0189). The host stops each before the run and
+	// starts each again after it, **whatever the step did**: a step that failed must leave the
+	// service running, because the one real risk of this field is a window that never closes.
+	//
+	// **For the work a service cannot have done underneath it.** The artifact store's collector
+	// walks the storage and requires every writer stopped; a run-once step runs beside containers
+	// and a scheduled one is the same container again, so until this there was no way for a module
+	// to say it. The predecessor said it with a shell script, which is how the mesh inherited a
+	// store that has never collected anything.
+	//
+	// **Its own module's containers, and only on a schedule.** A module that could quiesce a
+	// neighbour could stop the mesh. And at apply time the host already has a window — the
+	// declaration is applied in order and a run-once step gates what follows — so a one-time
+	// offline job says *before*, not *instead of*; a recurring window is the case order cannot
+	// express, and the only one this serves.
+	WhileStopped []string `json:"while-stopped,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func (c *Container) Identity() string { return c.ID }
@@ -1028,6 +1046,20 @@ func (c *Container) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
 			problems = append(problems, where+": "+err.Error())
 		}
 	}
+	// A maintenance window belongs to a recurring step (novox/hq ADR 0189). Refused on anything
+	// else here, where the field is; that it names containers of the same module, and not itself,
+	// is judged against the whole declaration (see whileStoppedNames).
+	if len(c.WhileStopped) > 0 && c.Schedule == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": while-stopped needs a schedule; at apply the host "+
+			"already has a window — the declaration is applied in order and a run-once step gates "+
+			"what follows — so a one-time offline job is declared before what it works on")
+	}
+	for _, id := range c.WhileStopped {
+		if id == c.ID {
+			problems = append(problems, where+": while-stopped names "+strconv.Quote(id)+
+				", which is this step itself")
+		}
+	}
 	// The runtime's flags take addresses, and a name here would be handed to it verbatim and
 	// refused at create — after the old container was already removed. Refused on arrival instead.
 	for _, d := range c.Dns {
@@ -1438,6 +1470,7 @@ func parse(raw []byte, allowActions bool) (*Declaration, error) {
 		problems = append(problems, resource.validate(where, allowActions)...)
 		d.Resources = append(d.Resources, resource)
 	}
+	problems = append(problems, checkWhileStopped(d.Resources)...)
 	problems = append(problems, checkAdoption(env.Adoption, d.Resources, allowActions)...)
 	if env.Adoption == nil {
 		for _, r := range d.Resources {
@@ -1466,6 +1499,41 @@ func parse(raw []byte, allowActions bool) (*Declaration, error) {
 	return d, nil
 }
 
+// checkWhileStopped judges a maintenance window against the whole declaration (novox/hq ADR 0189).
+//
+// A step may hold still only a container that is **here** — in this same declaration, which is to
+// say on this machine and placed by the mesh. That is what makes it the module's own: a node's
+// declaration carries one module's resources beside another's, so the id must also be a container
+// and not a file or a directory, which there would be nothing to stop.
+//
+// Refused on arrival rather than discovered at the first fire. A window that names something the
+// host cannot stop is a window that opens at 03:00 and reports nothing until somebody reads a log.
+func checkWhileStopped(resources []Resource) []string {
+	containers := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, r := range resources {
+		if r.Kind() == TypeContainer {
+			containers[r.Identity()] = true
+		}
+	}
+	var problems []string
+	for _, r := range resources {
+		c, ok := r.(*Container)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, id := range c.WhileStopped {
+			if containers[id] {
+				continue
+			}
+			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
+				"resource %q: while-stopped names %q, and this declaration has no container by "+
+					"that id. A step may hold still only a container placed on this machine "+
+					"beside it", c.ID, id))
+		}
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
 func strictDecode(raw []byte, into any) error {
 	// DisallowUnknownFields is the whole point rather than strictness for its own sake: a
 	// field the host does not know is a thing the control plane believes it asked for.