fix: avoid public manifest cache poisoning

[JSONbored]

Motivation

• Public-only contributor-facing manifest loads were using the shared snapshot path and unconditionally persisting their fetched or empty fallback manifests into the shared repo-focus-manifest signal cache, which could shadow existing maintainer api_record snapshots and weaken private gate enforcement.
• The change prevents low-privileged contributor endpoints from poisoning the shared cache and preserves private/API-backed manifest integrity for webhook and gate-resolution paths.

Description

• Change loadRepoFocusManifestWithCachePolicy to skip persisting fetched or negative-cache snapshots when cachePolicy.publicOnly is true by wrapping persistRepoFocusManifest in if (!cachePolicy.publicOnly) { ... } in src/signals/focus-manifest-loader.ts.
• Add a regression test does not let public-only loads overwrite API-backed private manifests to test/unit/focus-manifest-loader.test.ts that seeds an API-backed manifest, performs a public-only load, and asserts the private loader still returns the api_record snapshot.
• Preserve existing behavior for normal/private loads so they continue to persist repo-file and negative-cache snapshots for performance.

Testing

• Ran the unit tests for the focus manifest loader with npm test -- --run test/unit/focus-manifest-loader.test.ts, and the suite passed with all tests succeeding (23 passed).
• The added regression test verifies the public-only path no longer overwrites API-backed private manifests and was included in the test run above.

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Codex Task

[ghost]

Important

Gittensory found maintainer review notes

Public GitHub metadata was checked for review readiness. Gittensor-specific context appears only when confirmed.

Readiness score: 93/100

Signal	Result	Evidence	Action
Linked issue	⚠️ Missing	No linked issue or no-issue rationale found.	Explain no-issue PR.
Related work	✅ No active overlap found	No same-issue or scoped active PR overlap found.	No action.
Review load	✅ 20/20	Readiness component derived from cached public PR metadata and labels.	No action.
Validation evidence	✅ 25/25	PR body includes validation/test evidence.	No action.
Open PR queue	✅ 10/10	4 open PR(s), 0 likely reviewable, 4 unlinked.	No action.
Contributor context	✅ Confirmed Gittensor contributor	JSONbored; Gittensor profile; 83 PR(s), 238 issue(s).	No action.
Gate result	✅ Passing	No configured blocker found.	No action.

Signal definitions

• Related work = same linked issue, overlapping active PRs, or title/path similarity.
• Review load = cached public PR metadata such as size labels, changed paths, and preflight status.
• Open PR queue = repo-wide review pressure; it is not a PR quality failure.
• Contributor context = public GitHub/Gittensor identity context; non-Gittensor status is not a blocker.

Review context

• Author: JSONbored
• Role context: owner (maintainer lane)
• Public audience mode: oss maintainer
• Lane context: Repository is configured for direct PR review.
• Public profile languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, Kotlin, MDX, Shell
• Official Gittensor activity: 83 PR(s), 238 issue(s).
• PR-specific overlap: none found.

Maintainer notes

• No linked issue detected: The planned PR does not reference a closing issue or explicit linked issue number.

Contributor next steps

• Treat this as maintainer-lane context rather than normal contributor-lane activity.
• Explain no-issue PR.
• Link the issue being solved, or explicitly explain why this is a no-issue PR.

• Re-run Gittensory review

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Checked by Gittensory, a quiet PR intelligence layer for OSS maintainers.

[superagent-security]

Superagent didn't find any vulnerabilities or security issues in this PR.

[ghost]

gittensory · advisory review

Reviewed 2 changed file(s) — two independent AI reviewers.

Changed files: src/signals/focus-manifest-loader.ts, test/unit/focus-manifest-loader.test.ts

Suggested action: ✅ Safe to merge — both reviewers found no blocking issues.

Reviewer A · gpt-oss-120b — recommends ✅ merge
The PR adds a guard to avoid persisting manifests when loading with a public‑only cache policy, preventing public loads from overwriting private API‑backed manifests, and includes a test confirming this behavior.

Suggestions

• Consider adding a unit test that verifies persisting still occurs when cachePolicy.publicOnly is false, ensuring the original negative‑cache behavior remains intact.
• Document the new publicOnly guard in the function comment or README to clarify its security intent.

Worth double-checking

• Public‑only loads will no longer benefit from negative caching, potentially increasing fetch frequency for missing manifests.

Reviewer B · nemotron-3-120b-a12b — recommends ✅ merge
The PR adds a guard to prevent public-only manifest loads from persisting to the API-backed cache, thereby avoiding cache poisoning that could overwrite private manifests. The change is minimal, well-tested, and aligns with the project's public/private boundary invariant by ensuring public loads never update private storage.

Worth double-checking

• Verify that all public-facing manifest loaders (like loadPublicRepoFocusManifest) correctly set cachePolicy.publicOnly: true to trigger the new guard.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 96.62%. Comparing base (f023e56) to head (799bdd5).
⚠️ Report is 2 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main     #922   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   96.62%   96.62%           
=======================================
  Files         109      109           
  Lines       14885    14886    +1     
  Branches     5381     5382    +1     
=======================================
+ Hits        14382    14383    +1     
  Misses        104      104           
  Partials      399      399           

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