werkator/docs/plan/23-init-owns-the-files.md

Step 23: Init Owns the Files, tools/remote Wraps

Prerequisites: step 21 session D (the role-named tools/remote). Read README.md first.

The Problem

werkator init and tools/remote overlap: both write the machine config — init as a commented template, the script by appending heredoc blocks (bwrap, server) and patching values with sed. The script re-implements configuration knowledge Werkator owns (YAML shape, indentation, key names), outside the three-places sync invariant — the indentation-mismatch of one append guard produced nine duplicate bwrap blocks on mih34 before it was found. Smaller duplications of the same kind: the script re-implements control-token generation in bash (ControlTokenService owns it), and check-prerequisites still pipes the bash script whose generic half exists as werkdock doctor.

The Decision (2026-09-01)

Werkator becomes the executing app wherever possible; tools/remote shrinks to a wrapper: build artifacts locally, transport them, execute Werkator/werkdock remotely, switch services.

Parameters travel as files, not as many CLI options — and each side gets the format that is native to it (refined 2026-09-01):

• The wrapper keeps a small, bash-sourceable env file with the transport values only: tools/remote --env .env.mih34 werkator repo-init selects the target (default: .env), so several instances (.env.mih34, .env.vm4006, later a Werkbaum instance) are files, not edits.
• Werkator takes a YAML fragment in its own config schema: werkator init --apply mih34.yml deep-merges the fragment into the machine config, idempotently — creating sections that are missing, updating the given values, never duplicating. No mapping table exists: the fragment says server: {port: …} and builds: {default: {bwrap: …}} directly, is validated by the existing schema binding, and is documented by the existing docs/configuration.md.
• The wrapper uploads the fragment alongside the artifacts and calls werkator init --apply … remotely — the heredocs and sed calls in tools/remote disappear.
• The env file names the fragment (WERKATOR_INIT_CONFIG=mih34.yml), keeping one entry point per instance.

The removed legacy env-to-YAML conversion stays removed — there is no conversion at all anymore: the fragment already is configuration in the one schema, applied once at setup time; the server reads nothing but its YAML at runtime.

The Files per Instance

• .env.mih34 (wrapper): WERKATOR_REMOTE, WERKATOR_PATH, WERKATOR_LOCAL_PORT, WERKATOR_REPO_URL, WERKATOR_ROOTFS (the local archive to upload), WERKATOR_INIT_CONFIG.
• mih34.yml (init fragment): server.* (port, publicBaseUrl, systemd limits) and builds.default.bwrap.* (enabled, the remote rootfs path, werkdock path) — exactly the blocks the script used to append.
• Secrets (git.token, gitea keys) stay out of both files on purpose — they are entered in the machine config on the host, as today.

The Sessions

A — Werkator side (implemented 2026-09-01 on branch init-apply-config)

• init --apply FILE: deep-merge the YAML fragment into the machine config — reusing the loader's merge, creating missing sections, updating given values, never duplicating (the duplication class dies here); a fragment that fails the schema binding or carries unknown keys is refused loudly.
• init --systemd keeps generating the units; decide in the session whether the Apache .htaccess becomes part of the host-integration output when the applied config carries server.port and a public domain (proposal: yes, under init --systemd, since it is generated host integration exactly like the units).
• New subcommand werkator control-token: print the token, creating it exactly like ControlTokenService does — the bash duplication in the wrapper dies.
• Tests per the writing-tests conventions; docs/bootstrapping.md documents --apply (the fragment keys need no new reference — they are ordinary docs/configuration.md keys).

B — Wrapper side

• tools/remote --env FILE (default .env); the init fragment named by WERKATOR_INIT_CONFIG is uploaded, and the remote init runs with --apply.
• repo-init and instance-start lose their heredoc/sed config writing; control-token delegates to the new subcommand.
• check-prerequisites uploads the werkdock binary first and runs werkdock doctor; tools/werkator-build-prerequisites.sh retires (its werkdock port is the survivor).

C — Live verification and docs

• Run the full wrapper flow against mih34 (instance-update, repo-init, instance-start as no-op re-runs); docs/deployment.md's webspace section switches to the --env invocations.

Acceptance Criteria

• Session A: done 2026-09-01 — werkator init --apply … installs and replaces a fragment idempotently; werkator control-token exists; full suite green. Deviation from the sketch above: the fragment is NOT merged into the machine config — it is installed verbatim as its own layer (.git/werkator/.werkator.applied.yml, above project, below machine config), because an in-place merge would re-serialize the machine config, destroying its comments and rewriting the file that holds the secrets; a verbatim copy also makes re-apply a plain file replacement. The .htaccess decision fell as proposed: generated beside the units by init --systemd whenever a publicBaseUrl is configured; the wrapper copies it into the domain docroot.
• Session B: tools/remote contains no YAML heredocs and no sed into the machine config; the prerequisites bash script is gone.
• Session C: the mih34 re-runs change nothing on a configured host and the deployment docs show only --env-style calls.