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CodeTracked since May 17, 2026

Version-gated desktop Worker reuse to prevent stale workspace recovery

This change fixes a persistence recovery failure by making Desktop only reuse local Workers it started for the same app version, while marking legacy or owner-missing connection records as stale and repairing them before replacement.

local Workercontrol-surface connection filesystem.capabilities.appVersionstartedBy

What Happened

  • This change fixes a persistence recovery failure by making Desktop only reuse local Workers it started for the same app version, while marking legacy or owner-missing connection records as stale and repairing them before replacement.
  • This change fixes a persistence recovery failure by making Desktop only reuse local Workers it started for the same app version, while marking legacy or owner-missing connection records as stale and repairing them before replacement.
  • 1 evidence item attached for review.

What is Different

Before

Scattered source updates, isolated context, and manual follow-up across multiple feeds.

Now

Adds explicit runtime ownership/version checks to local Worker selection: Desktop writes normalized `appVersion` and `startedBy` metadata, passes app version into spawned Workers via `--app-version`, and enforces a version match for reusing Desktop-started Workers while still allowing CLI-started Workers via protocol compatibility.

Why Track This

Why It Matters

Desktop users who upgrade the app are less likely to open with stale or missing workspace state, because the launcher now avoids attaching to an old Desktop-started local Worker from a prior version and instead triggers proper recovery against the current runtime. Technically, the fix writes owner/version metadata to the control-surface path and treats legacy/no-owner files as stale for Desktop launches, then repairs connection and lock state before replacement; continue watching for startup delays or unnecessary respawns caused by protocol-check and lock-file race conditions during upgrade flows.

Impact

Desktop users who upgrade the app are less likely to open with stale or missing workspace state, because the launcher now avoids attaching to an old Desktop-started local Worker from a prior version and instead triggers proper recovery against the current runtime. Technically, the fix writes owner/version metadata to the control-surface path and treats legacy/no-owner files as stale for Desktop launches, then repairs connection and lock state before replacement; continue watching for startup delays or unnecessary respawns caused by protocol-check and lock-file race conditions during upgrade flows.

What To Watch Next

  • Watch whether local Worker becomes a repeated pattern.
  • Track follow-up changes around AI Integration in IDEs.
  • Compare future signals against this evidence trail.
  • Re-check risk flags: version_gate_false_negative, stale_connection_file_repair_failure.
Open Topic TimelineOpen Technical EventOpen Original Sourceversion_gate_false_negative / stale_connection_file_repair_failure / worker_lock_file_race / protocol_compatibility_boundary

Supporting Evidence

GITHUB PULL REQUESTHigh Trust

DeadWaveWave/opencove PR #264: Fix stale local worker reuse across app versions

Adds app-version and owner metadata to local Worker discovery state so Desktop can avoid reconnecting to incompatible old Workers after upgrades.