state-hub/docs/activity-core-delegation.md

# State Hub → activity-core Delegation Protocol

> CUST-WP-0040 T05. Cross-reference:
> [`docs/nats-event-subjects.md`](nats-event-subjects.md),
> [`docs/cron-migration.md`](cron-migration.md), and activity-core's
> `docs/adr/adr-001-event-bridge-architecture.md`.

## TL;DR

The state hub is a **read model** for cross-domain state. It is not a
task factory. Maintenance automations that *create new work in response
to state transitions* belong in activity-core as `ActivityDefinition`
files. The state hub's only job in that flow is to **publish lifecycle
events** on NATS JetStream so activity-core can react.

```
                                          NATS JetStream
                                          subject: org.statehub.>
                                          stream:  ACTIVITY_EVENTS
                                          ┌──────────────────────┐
   POST /repos/                            │                      │
   PATCH /workstreams/*  ─────publish───▶  │                      │ ───consume───▶  activity-core
   POST /decisions/*/resolve               │                      │                 EventRouter
   POST /domain-goals/*/activate           │                      │                       │
   scripts/cleanup_stale_tasks.py          │                      │                       ▼
                                           └──────────────────────┘                 RunActivityWorkflow
   state-hub                                                          (creates tasks in
                                                                                     issue-core, etc.)
```

## Why delegate?

| Concern                                  | Living in the state hub today | Lives in activity-core after migration                      |
| ---------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| "When should this maintenance run?"      | cron/systemd timers           | `ActivityDefinition.trigger` (cron + event triggers)        |
| "What rule decides whether to act?"      | hard-coded in the script      | `ActivityDefinition.rule.when` expressions                  |
| "What task / side-effect should we run?" | hard-coded in the script      | `ActivityDefinition.instruction` (shell / workflow / etc.)  |
| "Where do we audit what fired?"          | journalctl + ad hoc logs      | activity-core history + Temporal workflow runs              |
| "How is it changed safely?"              | edit Python + redeploy hub    | edit YAML in the repo, PR-reviewable, hot-reloadable        |

Concentrating maintenance logic in declarative `ActivityDefinition`
files makes the rules **auditable**, **testable**, and **modifiable
without redeploying the state hub**.

## Published lifecycle events (v1.0)

Authoritative list and attributes live in
[`docs/nats-event-subjects.md`](nats-event-subjects.md). At v1.0 the
state hub publishes:

| Subject                              | Trigger site (file:fn)                                          |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `org.statehub.repo.registered`       | `api/routers/repos.py:register_repo`                            |
| `org.statehub.workstream.completed`  | `api/routers/workstreams.py:update_workstream` (on transition)  |
| `org.statehub.decision.resolved`     | `api/routers/decisions.py:resolve_decision_action`              |
| `org.statehub.domain.goal.activated` | `api/routers/domain_goals.py:activate_domain_goal`              |
| `org.statehub.task.stale`            | `scripts/cleanup_stale_tasks.py` (per canceled task)            |

All events use the shared `EventEnvelope` schema (`api/events/envelope.py`)
and are published via `publish_event(subject, envelope)`. Publishing is
fire-and-forget: failures are logged but **never break the API request
that triggered them**, and the publisher no-ops when `NATS_URL` is
unset.

## What stays in the state hub

- DB schema + Alembic migrations
- API endpoints (CRUD + status transitions + read-model queries)
- MCP tools (read + sanctioned writes: `resolve_decision`,
  `add_progress_event`, `get_next_steps`)
- The consistency engine (`scripts/consistency_check.py`) — it owns
  ADR-001 reconciliation between workplan files and the DB.
- The `cleanup_stale_tasks.py` *script* (not its schedule) — it owns
  the lifecycle rule for cancelling orphaned tasks.

## What moves to activity-core

- The *schedule* for the consistency sweep (`*/15 * * * *`) →
  `the-custodian.state-hub-consistency-sweep` ActivityDefinition.
- The *schedule* for stale-task cleanup (`0 3 * * *`) →
  `the-custodian.state-hub-stale-task-cleanup` ActivityDefinition.
- Any future "when X happens, create a task" logic. The state hub must
  **not** add such rules to its routers — it publishes the event and
  the rule lives in activity-core.

See [`docs/cron-migration.md`](cron-migration.md) for the
ActivityDefinition drafts and cutover plan.

## What must never happen

- **State hub writes directly to activity-core's DB.** All
  communication is via NATS events.
- **State hub creates issue-core / Temporal tasks itself.** That is
  activity-core's job.
- **Routers publish before committing.** Always publish after
  `await session.commit()` succeeds. (Otherwise a transaction rollback
  would still leak an event.)
- **A publish failure breaks the API response.** The publisher logs and
  swallows; lost events are recovered by activity-core re-reading state
  on next sweep, not by the API retrying.

## Operational checklist — migrating a cron to an ActivityDefinition

1. Identify the cron's current side-effects. If any of them
   *create work* (a task, an issue, a ticket), it is a delegation
   candidate. Pure consistency reconciliation can stay as a shell-cron
   for now if simpler.
2. Decide the trigger: keep it as `cron`, or upgrade it to `event` by
   first identifying / publishing the state hub lifecycle event the
   cron is effectively polling for.
3. Add a row to [`docs/nats-event-subjects.md`](nats-event-subjects.md)
   if a new event type is being introduced.
4. Wire `publish_event(...)` at the transition site in the appropriate
   router. Verify with `nats sub 'org.statehub.>'`.
5. Land the `ActivityDefinition` in activity-core; enable it in
   staging.
6. Run both old cron and new ActivityDefinition in parallel for one
   week. Both side-effects must be idempotent for this to be safe — if
   they aren't, fix that first.
7. Disable the old cron / systemd timer, archive the unit files.
8. Update [`SCOPE.md`](../../SCOPE.md) "Often used with" to mention the
   activity-core handoff if a new event type was added.

## Bootstrap and partial-availability behaviour

- **No NATS configured (`NATS_URL` unset)**: publisher is a logged
  no-op. The state hub remains fully functional. Useful for dev
  environments and `make test`.
- **NATS reachable but stream missing**: publisher creates the
  `ACTIVITY_EVENTS` stream with subject filter `org.>` on first
  publish, so the state hub can come up before activity-core. In
  production both should target the same NATS cluster.
- **activity-core down**: events queue in JetStream and are replayed
  when the consumer reconnects. The state hub is unaffected.
- **State hub down**: scheduled ActivityDefinitions in activity-core
  still fire; ones that need `state-hub.health` context will skip
  cleanly per their rule.

## Verifying end-to-end

```bash
# Subscribe to lifecycle events
nats sub 'org.statehub.>'

# Trigger an event (in another terminal)
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/repos/<slug>/sync

# Observe the envelope on the subscriber. Sample shape:
# {"id":"...","type":"org.statehub.workstream.completed","version":"1.0",
#  "timestamp":"...","publisher":"state-hub","attributes":{...}}
```