Self-healing broker clients, per-firm scheduler isolation, eager boot

Why the autotrader sometimes broke after a weekend until `pm2 restart`:
`next start` only logs uncaught errors, so nothing ever crashed, and a few
paths could leave a client dead for the life of the process.

Tradovate: a closed socket scheduled exactly one re-login, with no catch —
one failure during weekend maintenance (or a rate-limit penalty returned as
a 200 without a token) and the client never came back. connectAndAuth is now
a single-flight loop that never throws: jittered backoff capped at 5 min,
penalty tickets waited out, captcha demands backed off. A 15s watchdog
abandons silent, never-authorized or stuck-closing sockets and stale syncs;
renewal falls back to a fresh login; orders fail fast (OrderNotPlacedError)
on a dead socket and time out instead of hanging; a bad sync answer no
longer wipes accounts and positions.

TopstepX: hub start/stop/invoke and every REST call are bounded; a wedged
hub is discarded and rebuilt; a stuck sync is superseded after 3 min;
re-login no longer tears down the sync loop; a watchdog re-logs when syncs
go stale; a no-fill timeout cancels the order.

Scheduler: one unready client used to hold every firm forever. It now holds
the tick for a 10-minute grace, then trades the other firms without it.
Per-firm try/catch in batch collection, one batch at a time, accounts marked
in flight, legs un-counted only when the entry never reached the broker, and
the scheduler starts before the first batch fires.

Boot and supervision: instrumentation.ts boots the process at server start
(it used to wait for the first dashboard request); a supervisor rebuilds a
client that has been unhealthy for 20 min (not a TopstepX one holding a
position); broker HTTP calls default to a 60s timeout; GET /api/health shows
each client's liveness and the scheduler's last decision. Shared state the
eager boot would otherwise split across bundles lives on globalThis. Logs no
longer carry access tokens or whole AxiosErrors (which include the encoded
Tradovate password).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.gitignore

@@ -59,6 +59,13 @@ scripts/.deps-hash
 scripts/.python-cmd
 scripts/.update.lock
 scripts/update.log
+# updater bookkeeping (scripts/update-check.mjs)
+scripts/.built-commit
+scripts/.update-failed
+scripts/update-worker.log
+# the previous build, set aside while the updater builds (Tailwind's source
+# scan also honours this, so it never reads the old bundles)
+/.next-prev/
 
 # clicker virtualenv (Linux/Pi)
 clicker/.venv/

README.md

@@ -355,13 +355,32 @@ nothing updates** — signs it, and publishes the CRX and update manifest. See
 
 ## Updating
 
-Once auto-start is installed, nothing here is manual. Every 5 minutes the update
-task fetches `master`, and when it has moved it pulls, reinstalls dependencies if
-`package-lock.json` or `clicker/requirements.txt` changed, rebuilds, restarts
-AutoFirmer, and restarts the clicker if anything under `clicker/` changed.
+Once auto-start is installed, nothing here is manual. Every minute (the
+installer's default interval) the update check fetches `master`. When there is something to do, it starts a background
+worker. The worker pulls, reinstalls dependencies if `package-lock.json` or
+`clicker/requirements.txt` changed, rebuilds, restarts every instance, and
+restarts the clicker if anything under `clicker/` changed.
 
-**A failed build is never deployed.** The build runs before anything restarts, so
-a broken push leaves the previous build serving and logs the failure instead.
+**Why a check and a separate worker.** PM2 runs the check as a cron *restart*,
+and a restart kills a run that is still going at the next minute boundary. An
+npm install or a build takes longer than that, so doing the work in the cron
+process itself got it killed half-way through. The check finishes in seconds,
+and the worker runs outside PM2's process tree, where the next tick can't
+reach it.
+
+**Deployed means built, not pulled.** `scripts/.built-commit` records the commit
+`.next` was last built from, and the check compares `master` with that, not with
+HEAD. A pull that was never built is therefore finished on the next check, and
+so is a missing `.next/BUILD_ID`. The first time this version runs on a machine
+it judges the build already on disk: one that is complete, newer than HEAD and
+already serving is adopted, and anything else is rebuilt.
+
+**A failed build is never deployed.** The build runs before anything restarts,
+and the previous build is set aside as `.next-prev` first. A failed build is
+rolled back to it, so the box is left serving the previous build and a later
+restart or reboot still has one. A failure is retried 15 minutes later, then
+hourly until it succeeds or a new commit lands. `scripts/.update-failed` records
+which step failed and when the next try is due.
 
 ### Checking it is alive
 
@@ -378,19 +397,27 @@ cron-restart process as `stopped` with a restart count of `0` even while it is
 firing on schedule. Neither is evidence of a problem; `.last-check` is the
 signal to trust.
 
-Everything that actually happens is appended to `scripts/update.log`. To see
-what it would do without touching anything:
+While a worker is running, `.last-check` says `update in progress` with its pid.
+After a failure it says `waiting to retry` with the time of the next attempt.
+
+Everything that actually happens is appended to `scripts/update.log`. The full
+npm and build output of the latest worker run is in `scripts/update-worker.log`,
+which is the first place to look when an update failed. To see what it would do
+without touching anything:
 
 ```powershell
 node scripts\update-check.mjs --dry-run
 ```
 
-To apply an update immediately rather than waiting for the next check:
+To apply an update immediately in the foreground, bypassing the retry wait:
 
 ```powershell
-node scripts\update-check.mjs
+node scripts\update-check.mjs --apply
 ```
 
+Without `--apply` it does what the schedule does: it checks, starts a worker if
+there is anything to do, and returns straight away.
+
 ### What reloads itself, and what does not
 
 - **The extension** updates itself now. `/api/autobuyer/status` reports the

app/api/health/route.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
+import { getClients } from '@/lib/clients';
+import { getTradableFirms } from '@/lib/firm-catalog';
+import { getSchedulerHealth, getSchedulerStatus } from '@/lib/auto-trade';
+import { getBuildVersion } from '@/lib/version';
+import { errorMessage, isClientReady } from '@/lib/platform-client';
+
+// Liveness has to be computed now, never served from a cache.
+export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
+
+/** A one-line marker file, or null when it isn't there. */
+function readMarker(...segments: string[]): string | null {
+    try {
+        return readFileSync(path.join(process.cwd(), ...segments), 'utf8').trim() || null;
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * GET /api/health — is this instance able to trade, and if not, why.
+ *
+ * The numbers to read before restarting a broken box, and what start-all
+ * prints after boot. Always 200 when the handler runs: `ok` in the body is the
+ * verdict (every tradable firm that has a client is synced, and synced
+ * recently), so a caller can tell "unhealthy" from "not answering".
+ *
+ * Calls getClients(), so hitting it also boots an instance that somehow
+ * hasn't been.
+ *
+ * Built field by field on purpose — firm rows carry passwords and API keys,
+ * and nothing here may echo a credential or a token.
+ */
+export async function GET() {
+    try {
+        const now = Date.now();
+        const clients = getClients();
+
+        const entries = getTradableFirms().map((firm) => {
+            const base = { firmId: firm.id, firm: firm.name, platform: firm.platform };
+            const client = clients.get(firm.id);
+            if (!client) return { ...base, hasClient: false, ready: false, accounts: 0 };
+
+            const ready = isClientReady(client, now);
+            const accounts = client.accountList.length;
+            try {
+                return { ...base, hasClient: true, ready, accounts, ...client.health() };
+            } catch (err) {
+                // One client's broken health() must not hide the rest.
+                return { ...base, hasClient: true, ready, accounts, healthError: errorMessage(err) };
+            }
+        });
+
+        return NextResponse.json({
+            ok: entries.every((e) => !e.hasClient || e.ready),
+            now,
+            uptimeSec: Math.round(process.uptime()),
+            version: getBuildVersion(),
+            // Read from disk on every call: the build .next holds now (the
+            // running one, unless a build landed since this process started),
+            // and the commit the updater last finished building.
+            buildId: readMarker('.next', 'BUILD_ID'),
+            builtCommit: readMarker('scripts', '.built-commit'),
+            scheduler: { ...getSchedulerStatus(), ...getSchedulerHealth() },
+            clients: entries,
+        });
+    } catch (err) {
+        return NextResponse.json({ ok: false, error: errorMessage(err) }, { status: 500 });
+    }
+}

app/api/trade/route.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server';
 import { runTrade, startScheduler } from '@/lib/auto-trade';
+import { errorMessage } from '@/lib/platform-client';
 import { POINT_VALUES } from '@/lib/trading-logic';
 
 export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
@@ -15,15 +16,19 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
             return NextResponse.json({ error: `Unknown symbol: ${symbol}` }, { status: 400 });
         }
 
+        // (Re)start the scheduler with this action + symbol first, so a batch
+        // that throws or runs long can never leave it unstarted. It can't
+        // double-fire against the batch below: the tick waits for flat
+        // positions, skips while this batch holds the trade mutex, and never
+        // picks an account whose order is still in flight.
+        startScheduler(action, symbol, stopAfterAll ?? false);
+
         // Execute trade immediately for all eligible accounts
         const results = await runTrade(action, symbol);
 
-        // (Re)start the scheduler with this action + symbol
-        startScheduler(action, symbol, stopAfterAll ?? false);
-
         return NextResponse.json(results);
-    } catch (err: any) {
-        console.error('[POST /api/trade]', err);
-        return NextResponse.json({ error: err?.message ?? 'Trade failed' }, { status: 500 });
+    } catch (err: unknown) {
+        console.error(`[POST /api/trade] ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+        return NextResponse.json({ error: errorMessage(err) || 'Trade failed' }, { status: 500 });
     }
 }

instrumentation.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/**
+ * Server start hook — Next runs register() once per server process, before
+ * it serves the first request (a root instrumentation.ts is picked up with no
+ * config in Next 15+).
+ *
+ * It boots the trading background work eagerly. getClients() in lib/clients.ts
+ * starts the broker clients, the contract resolver, the reporter, the master
+ * link, the client supervisor and the persisted-schedule resume — and it used
+ * to run only on the first HTTP request. So a restarted instance (a crash, an
+ * update, pm2 after a reboot) sat idle, not trading and invisible to the
+ * master, until someone opened the dashboard or start-all's warm-up curl
+ * happened to reach it.
+ *
+ * The boot must never take the server down with it: a failure is logged, and
+ * if the boot never got going the first request still starts it through the
+ * same lazy getClients() path as before.
+ *
+ * This module is its own server bundle, so it can hold its own instances of
+ * lib/ modules, separate from the route handlers'. Anything the two must share
+ * (the client pool, the scheduler, timers) lives on globalThis for that reason.
+ */
+
+export async function register(): Promise<void> {
+    // The nodejs check is the documented shape for a Node-only import, kept
+    // exactly: the edge compile (Turbopack always builds one) inlines
+    // NEXT_RUNTIME and drops the block, so lib/clients — sqlite, sockets —
+    // never reaches the edge bundle, where it would fail the build. The build
+    // check is defense in depth (Next itself doesn't call register() during
+    // `next build`) — a build must never dial brokers or resume the scheduler.
+    if (process.env.NEXT_RUNTIME === 'nodejs') {
+        if (process.env.NEXT_PHASE === 'phase-production-build') return;
+        try {
+            const { getClients } = await import('./lib/clients');
+            getClients();
+        } catch (err) {
+            const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+            console.error(`[instrumentation] eager boot failed — clients will start on the first request: ${message}`);
+        }
+    }
+}

lib/auto-trade.ts

@@ -18,39 +18,302 @@ import {
     type DayPlan,
 } from './trading-logic';
 import { getSetting, setSetting } from './db';
+import { errorMessage, isClientReady, isOrderNotPlaced, type PlatformClient } from './platform-client';
+
+// ── process-wide state ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * Everything the batches share, held on globalThis like the scheduler state
+ * further down. Next can bundle this module more than once — the scheduler
+ * tick runs from whichever bundle booted the clients, POST /api/trade and
+ * /api/copy-trade from their own route bundles — and plain module-level state
+ * would split into one private copy per bundle: a leg recorded by the tick
+ * would be invisible to a copy-trade, the trade mutex would lock nothing, and
+ * the session-open jitter could be rolled twice in one day.
+ */
+interface TradeRuntime {
+    /** In-memory runaway guard: legs fired per account per trade date, plus
+     *  the sum of their targets — realized P&L falling short of that sum is
+     *  how a stop-out is detected. Resets on restart, which is fine — day
+     *  completion is derived from realized PnL, not from this counter. */
+    legCounts: Map<number, { date: string; count: number; sum: number }>;
+    /** Today's session-open delay, keyed by Central calendar day (see openJitterMinutes). */
+    sessionOpenJitter: Map<string, number>;
+    /** Accounts whose orders are being placed right now. Their position only
+     *  shows once the fill comes back over the socket, so until then this is
+     *  what keeps them out of every other batch. */
+    accountsInFlight: Set<number>;
+    /** Firm id → when the tick first saw its client not ready (see UNREADY_GRACE_MS). */
+    unreadySince: Map<string, number>;
+    /** Firm id → when the tick last logged it as quarantined (rate limit). */
+    quarantineLoggedAt: Map<string, number>;
+    /** When the batch holding the trade mutex took it (0 = no batch in flight). */
+    tradeInFlightSince: number;
+    // What getSchedulerHealth reports.
+    lastTickAt: number;
+    lastTickOutcome: TickOutcome;
+    lastFireAt: number;
+    holding: string[];
+    quarantined: string[];
+}
+
+/** What the scheduler's last tick decided (getSchedulerHealth). */
+export type TickOutcome =
+    | 'not-running' | 'holding-for-sync' | 'positions-open' | 'closed'
+    | 'no-eligible' | 'fired' | 'skipped-in-flight' | `error: ${string}`;
+
+const _tradeGlobal = globalThis as typeof globalThis & { __autoTradeRuntime?: TradeRuntime };
+
+function runtime(): TradeRuntime {
+    if (!_tradeGlobal.__autoTradeRuntime) {
+        _tradeGlobal.__autoTradeRuntime = {
+            legCounts: new Map(),
+            sessionOpenJitter: new Map(),
+            accountsInFlight: new Set(),
+            unreadySince: new Map(),
+            quarantineLoggedAt: new Map(),
+            tradeInFlightSince: 0,
+            lastTickAt: 0,
+            lastTickOutcome: 'not-running',
+            lastFireAt: 0,
+            holding: [],
+            quarantined: [],
+        };
+    }
+    return _tradeGlobal.__autoTradeRuntime;
+}
+
+/** How long the tick holds every firm for one whose client isn't ready. Long
+ *  enough for a restart or a reconnect to finish syncing; past it the client
+ *  is presumed dead and its firm is quarantined (see assessReadiness). */
+const UNREADY_GRACE_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000;
+/** How often a quarantined firm is re-announced in the log. */
+const QUARANTINE_LOG_EVERY_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000;
+/** A batch that has held the trade mutex this long is presumed wedged. */
+const TRADE_WEDGED_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000;
 
 // ── helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+/** How many accounts one batch may fire, never below 1. The settings PATCH
+ *  stores whatever the form sends, and a cleared field arrives as '' —
+ *  parseInt('') is NaN, which slice() takes as 0: every batch would fire
+ *  nobody while the tick reported 'fired'. Non-numeric falls back to the
+ *  default 5, like a missing setting; the form's own floor is 1. */
+function maxConcurrentAccounts(): number {
+    const configured = parseInt(getSetting('max_concurrent_accounts') ?? '5', 10);
+    return Math.max(1, Number.isFinite(configured) ? configured : 5);
+}
+
 function isAccountDead(amount: number, autoLiqThreshold: number): boolean {
     // Tradovate floors are positive balances; reconstructed TopstepX MLL
     // floors are negative (or +$0.01 once locked at breakeven). 0 = no floor.
     return autoLiqThreshold !== 0 && amount <= autoLiqThreshold;
 }
 
-// In-memory runaway guard: legs fired per account per trade date, plus the sum
-// of their targets — realized P&L falling short of that sum is how a stop-out
-// is detected. Resets on restart, which is fine — day completion is derived
-// from realized PnL, not from this counter.
-const _legCounts = new Map<number, { date: string; count: number; sum: number }>();
-
 function legsToday(accountId: number, tradeDate: string): number {
-    const entry = _legCounts.get(accountId);
+    const entry = runtime().legCounts.get(accountId);
     return entry && entry.date === tradeDate ? entry.count : 0;
 }
 
 function legSumToday(accountId: number, tradeDate: string): number {
-    const entry = _legCounts.get(accountId);
+    const entry = runtime().legCounts.get(accountId);
     return entry && entry.date === tradeDate ? entry.sum : 0;
 }
 
 function recordLeg(accountId: number, tradeDate: string, legAmount: number): void {
-    _legCounts.set(accountId, {
+    runtime().legCounts.set(accountId, {
         date: tradeDate,
         count: legsToday(accountId, tradeDate) + 1,
         sum: Math.round((legSumToday(accountId, tradeDate) + legAmount) * 100) / 100,
     });
 }
 
+/** Take back a leg recordLeg counted for an entry that never reached the
+ *  broker. Left standing, it would bench a stop-type account for the day —
+ *  realized P&L "falls short" of a leg that never traded — and burn one of
+ *  the day's MAX_LEGS_PER_DAY. */
+function unrecordLeg(accountId: number, tradeDate: string, legAmount: number): void {
+    const legCounts = runtime().legCounts;
+    const entry = legCounts.get(accountId);
+    if (!entry || entry.date !== tradeDate || entry.count <= 0) return;
+    if (entry.count === 1) {
+        legCounts.delete(accountId);
+        return;
+    }
+    legCounts.set(accountId, {
+        date: tradeDate,
+        count: entry.count - 1,
+        sum: Math.round((entry.sum - legAmount) * 100) / 100,
+    });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Send a leg's market entry. The leg was recorded before this — the runaway
+ * guard has to see it while the batch is still in flight — so it is taken
+ * back here only when the client KNOWS the order never reached the broker
+ * (OrderNotPlacedError). Anything ambiguous, like an ack or fill timeout,
+ * keeps the leg: the order may well have filled, and a leg counted that never
+ * happened only costs a leg, while one forgotten that did can trade the
+ * account twice.
+ */
+async function sendEntry(
+    tag: string,
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+    client: any,
+    acc: { id: number; name: string },
+    contractName: string,
+    contracts: number,
+    action: 'Buy' | 'Sell',
+    tradeDate: string,
+    legAmount: number,
+) {
+    try {
+        return await client.sendOrder(acc.id, contractName, contracts, action, 'Market');
+    } catch (err) {
+        if (isOrderNotPlaced(err)) {
+            unrecordLeg(acc.id, tradeDate, legAmount);
+            console.warn(`${tag} ${acc.name}: entry never reached the broker — leg un-counted`);
+        } else {
+            console.warn(`${tag} ${acc.name}: entry outcome unknown — leg kept (it may have filled)`);
+        }
+        throw err;
+    }
+}
+
+/** Run one account's part of a batch with the account marked in flight, so
+ *  no other batch picks it while its orders are still being placed. */
+async function withAccountInFlight<T>(accountId: number, fire: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
+    const inFlight = runtime().accountsInFlight;
+    inFlight.add(accountId);
+    try {
+        return await fire();
+    } finally {
+        inFlight.delete(accountId);
+    }
+}
+
+// ── readiness ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+type TradableFirm = ReturnType<typeof getTradableFirms>[number];
+interface FirmClient { firm: TradableFirm; client: PlatformClient }
+
+/**
+ * Tradable firms that have a client, split by isClientReady. Everything that
+ * trades or gates works from `ready` only: a client whose sync is missing or
+ * stale holds a frozen snapshot, whose positions may be long gone and which
+ * may be missing ones opened since — it must neither trade nor gate.
+ */
+function firmClients(now = Date.now()): { ready: FirmClient[]; unready: FirmClient[] } {
+    const clients = getClients();
+    const ready: FirmClient[] = [];
+    const unready: FirmClient[] = [];
+    for (const firm of getTradableFirms()) {
+        const client = clients.get(firm.id);
+        if (!client) continue;
+        (isClientReady(client, now) ? ready : unready).push({ firm, client });
+    }
+    return { ready, unready };
+}
+
+function countOpenPositions(ready: FirmClient[]): number {
+    return ready.reduce(
+        (count, { client }) => count + client.accountList.filter((acc) => !!client.positions[acc.id]).length,
+        0,
+    );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Which firms hold the tick, and which it trades without.
+ *
+ * A firm whose client isn't ready might hold positions nobody can see, so for
+ * the first UNREADY_GRACE_MS the whole tick waits for it, as it always has —
+ * right for a restart or a reconnect, which settle within a minute or two.
+ * Past the grace period the client is presumed dead (broker maintenance, a
+ * login that keeps failing) and the firm is quarantined: the other firms
+ * trade without it, rather than one broken session stopping every firm on the
+ * machine. A quarantined firm trades nothing — runTrade and copyTrade only
+ * ever see ready clients — and rejoins on its first good sync.
+ *
+ * A client that has synced and found no accounts is ignored outright: it
+ * cannot hold positions or trade, so there is nothing to wait for.
+ */
+function assessReadiness(
+    ready: FirmClient[],
+    unready: FirmClient[],
+    now: number,
+): { holding: TradableFirm[]; quarantined: { firm: TradableFirm; unreadyMs: number }[] } {
+    const rt = runtime();
+    const holding: TradableFirm[] = [];
+    const quarantined: { firm: TradableFirm; unreadyMs: number }[] = [];
+    const tracked = new Set<string>();
+
+    for (const { firm, client } of unready) {
+        if (client.lastSyncAt > 0 && client.accountList.length === 0) continue;
+        tracked.add(firm.id);
+        const since = rt.unreadySince.get(firm.id) ?? now;
+        rt.unreadySince.set(firm.id, since);
+        const unreadyMs = now - since;
+        if (unreadyMs < UNREADY_GRACE_MS) holding.push(firm);
+        else quarantined.push({ firm, unreadyMs });
+    }
+
+    // Forget firms that are ready again (or gone), and say so for any that
+    // had been traded around.
+    for (const id of [...rt.unreadySince.keys()]) {
+        if (tracked.has(id)) continue;
+        const back = ready.find((r) => r.firm.id === id);
+        if (back && rt.quarantineLoggedAt.has(id)) {
+            console.log(`[scheduler] ${back.firm.name} synced again — trading it with the others`);
+        }
+        rt.unreadySince.delete(id);
+        rt.quarantineLoggedAt.delete(id);
+    }
+
+    return { holding, quarantined };
+}
+
+// ── trade mutex ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * One batch at a time, instance-wide. The tick, a master "trade" command,
+ * POST /api/trade and /api/copy-trade can all fire a batch, and two batches
+ * collecting at once would each see the other's accounts as still flat — the
+ * position gate only trips once a fill has come back over the socket.
+ *
+ * A batch that has held the mutex past TRADE_WEDGED_MS is presumed stuck on a
+ * broker call that will never answer, and the next one goes ahead without it
+ * rather than nothing trading for the rest of the process's life. The stuck
+ * batch's accounts stay in accountsInFlight, so they are never traded twice,
+ * and if the stuck batch does wake up it finds it no longer holds the mutex
+ * and abandons its now-stale selection (holdsTradeMutex).
+ *
+ * Returns the lease to hand to releaseTradeMutex, or null to skip.
+ */
+function acquireTradeMutex(tag: string): number | null {
+    const rt = runtime();
+    const now = Date.now();
+    if (rt.tradeInFlightSince > 0) {
+        const heldMs = now - rt.tradeInFlightSince;
+        if (heldMs < TRADE_WEDGED_MS) {
+            console.log(`${tag} another batch in flight for ${Math.round(heldMs / 1000)}s — skipping`);
+            return null;
+        }
+        console.warn(`${tag} batch in flight for ${Math.round(heldMs / 60_000)}m looks wedged — proceeding without it`);
+    }
+    rt.tradeInFlightSince = now;
+    return now;
+}
+
+function holdsTradeMutex(lease: number): boolean {
+    return runtime().tradeInFlightSince === lease;
+}
+
+/** Only the holder unlocks: a wedged batch that finally returns must not
+ *  release the batch that took over from it. */
+function releaseTradeMutex(lease: number): void {
+    if (holdsTradeMutex(lease)) runtime().tradeInFlightSince = 0;
+}
+
 /** Obfuscation stop for the current leg, in dollars. Infinity = no stop.
  *  Day 1 of a cycle carries the $1,000 account stop (firstDayStop), min-day
  *  (small) trades a 2×-target stop (minDayStop) — and the day after a losing
@@ -134,6 +397,9 @@ function evaluateAccountForTrade(client: any, acc: { id: number; name: string; a
     if (isAccountDead(cash.amount, autoLiqThreshold)) return { ...base, eligible: false, reason: 'dead' };
     if (!acc.active) return { ...base, eligible: false, reason: 'inactive (DLL)' };
     if (client.positions[acc.id]) return { ...base, eligible: false, reason: 'already in trade' };
+    // Another batch is placing this account's order right now; its position
+    // won't show until the fill comes back, so the check above can't see it.
+    if (runtime().accountsInFlight.has(acc.id)) return { ...base, eligible: false, reason: 'order in flight' };
 
     // Obfuscation stops: a stop-out shows as realized P&L falling short of the
     // legs fired today — the day is booked; the make-back ride is tomorrow.
@@ -210,9 +476,9 @@ function evaluateAccountForTrade(client: any, acc: { id: number; name: string; a
 // Random 1–20 minute delay added to the session open, picked once per Central
 // calendar day. Re-rolling on every check would move the open boundary between
 // polls, letting a trade slip through a moment the next check would reject.
-const sessionOpenJitter = new Map<string, number>();
-
+// Held in runtime() so every bundle of this module agrees on the day's roll.
 function openJitterMinutes(centralDay: string): number {
+    const sessionOpenJitter = runtime().sessionOpenJitter;
     let jitter = sessionOpenJitter.get(centralDay);
     if (jitter === undefined) {
         jitter = 1 + Math.floor(Math.random() * 20); // 1–20 inclusive
@@ -290,23 +556,46 @@ function isInNoTradeWindow(): boolean {
 
 // ── core trade logic ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string) {
+/** One account's outcome in a batch: its fill summary, or { status: 'error', reason }. */
+type LegResult = { status: string; [key: string]: unknown };
+type FirmTradeResults = { firm: string; results: LegResult[] };
+type TradeOutcome = Extract<TickOutcome, 'closed' | 'positions-open' | 'no-eligible' | 'fired' | 'skipped-in-flight'>;
+
+export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string): Promise<FirmTradeResults[]> {
+    return (await runTradeBatch(action, symbol)).results;
+}
+
+/** runTrade plus what it decided, which the tick records for getSchedulerHealth. */
+async function runTradeBatch(
+    action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto',
+    symbol: string,
+): Promise<{ outcome: TradeOutcome; results: FirmTradeResults[] }> {
+    const lease = acquireTradeMutex('[auto-trade]');
+    if (lease === null) return { outcome: 'skipped-in-flight', results: [] };
+    try {
+        return await runTradeLocked(action, symbol, lease);
+    } finally {
+        releaseTradeMutex(lease);
+    }
+}
+
+async function runTradeLocked(
+    action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto',
+    symbol: string,
+    lease: number,
+): Promise<{ outcome: TradeOutcome; results: FirmTradeResults[] }> {
     if (isInNoTradeWindow()) {
         console.log('[auto-trade] CME market closed — skipping');
-        return [];
+        return { outcome: 'closed', results: [] };
     }
 
-    // Block if any account still has an open position (same gate as the scheduler tick)
-    const allClients = getClients();
-    const allFirms = getTradableFirms();
-    const openPositions = allFirms.reduce((count, firm) => {
-        const c = allClients.get(firm.id);
-        if (!c) return count;
-        return count + c.accountList.filter(acc => !!c.positions[acc.id]).length;
-    }, 0);
+    // Block if any account still has an open position (same gate as the scheduler tick).
+    // Ready clients only, like everything below: a stale snapshot must neither trade nor gate.
+    const { ready } = firmClients();
+    const openPositions = countOpenPositions(ready);
     if (openPositions > 0) {
         console.log(`[auto-trade] ${openPositions} position(s) still open — skipping`);
-        return [];
+        return { outcome: 'positions-open', results: [] };
     }
 
     // Resolve 'Auto' symbol once per batch so all accounts trade the same symbol
@@ -324,9 +613,7 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
     if (!pointValue) throw new Error(`Unknown symbol: ${resolvedSymbol}`);
 
     const tradeDate = currentTradeDateCT();
-    const maxConcurrent = parseInt(getSetting('max_concurrent_accounts') ?? '5', 10);
-    const firms = getTradableFirms();
-    const clients = getClients();
+    const maxConcurrent = maxConcurrentAccounts();
 
     // ── Phase 1: collect ALL eligible accounts across ALL firms in parallel ──
     type EligibleItem = {
@@ -346,9 +633,8 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
 
     const allEligible: EligibleItem[] = [];
 
-    await Promise.all(firms.map(async (firm) => {
-        const client = clients.get(firm.id);
-        if (!client || client.accountList.length === 0) return;
+    await Promise.all(ready.map(async ({ firm, client }) => {
+        if (client.accountList.length === 0) return;
 
         // Skip this firm entirely if the symbol is banned for it
         if (firm.bannedSymbols.includes(resolvedSymbol)) {
@@ -356,26 +642,42 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
             return;
         }
 
+        // One firm's trouble (a contract lookup that throws, a malformed
+        // snapshot) skips that firm, never the batch — a rejection here would
+        // fail the Promise.all and every other firm would sit the tick out.
+        try {
+            const contract = await client.findFrontMonthContract(resolvedSymbol);
+            if (!contract) return;
 
-        const contract = await client.findFrontMonthContract(resolvedSymbol);
-        if (!contract) return;
+            const found: EligibleItem[] = [];
+            for (const acc of client.accountList) {
+                const ev = evaluateAccountForTrade(client, acc, tradeDate);
+                if (!ev || !ev.eligible || !ev.plan) continue;
 
-        for (const acc of client.accountList) {
-            const ev = evaluateAccountForTrade(client, acc, tradeDate);
-            if (!ev || !ev.eligible || !ev.plan) continue;
-
-            allEligible.push({
-                firmName: firm.name, client, acc, contract,
-                cash: ev.cash, dailyPnL: ev.dailyPnL, daysTraded: ev.daysTraded,
-                plan: ev.plan, isExtraDay: ev.isExtraDay, drain: ev.drain,
-                prefix: getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType?.prefix ?? '',
-            });
+                found.push({
+                    firmName: firm.name, client, acc, contract,
+                    cash: ev.cash, dailyPnL: ev.dailyPnL, daysTraded: ev.daysTraded,
+                    plan: ev.plan, isExtraDay: ev.isExtraDay, drain: ev.drain,
+                    prefix: getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType?.prefix ?? '',
+                });
+            }
+            allEligible.push(...found);
+        } catch (err) {
+            console.error(`[auto-trade] ${firm.name}: skipped — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
         }
     }));
 
     if (allEligible.length === 0) {
         console.log('[auto-trade] no eligible accounts found');
-        return [];
+        return { outcome: 'no-eligible', results: [] };
+    }
+
+    // Collecting took so long that another batch presumed this one wedged and
+    // took the mutex. That batch traded on fresher numbers than these, so
+    // firing now could trade an account twice.
+    if (!holdsTradeMutex(lease)) {
+        console.warn('[auto-trade] superseded while collecting accounts — abandoning this batch');
+        return { outcome: 'skipped-in-flight', results: [] };
     }
 
     // Take only the first batch — all fired simultaneously, no rolling pool.
@@ -395,9 +697,12 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
         .sort((a, b) => b[1].length - a[1].length || a[0].localeCompare(b[0]))[0];
     const batch = batchGroup.slice(0, maxConcurrent);
     console.log(`[auto-trade] ${allEligible.length} eligible account(s) across ${groups.size} prefix group(s) — firing batch of ${batch.length} ${batchPrefix || '(no prefix)'}`);
+    runtime().lastFireAt = Date.now();
 
     // ── Phase 2: fire the batch simultaneously ──
-    const tradeResults = await Promise.allSettled(batch.map(async (item) => {
+    // Each account is marked in flight before anything is placed and released
+    // once its orders are done, so no overlapping batch can pick it meanwhile.
+    const tradeResults = await Promise.allSettled(batch.map((item) => withAccountInFlight(item.acc.id, async () => {
         const { client, acc, contract } = item;
         const cfg = getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType!;
 
@@ -443,15 +748,19 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
                 minLegs - legsToday(acc.id, tradeDate),
             )
             : item.plan.remainingToday;
+        // Counted before anything is sent so the runaway guard sees it while
+        // the batch is in flight; taken back only if the entry never reached
+        // the broker (here, or in sendEntry).
         recordLeg(acc.id, tradeDate, legAmount);
 
-        const inst = await legInstrument(client, item.drain, contract, pointValue);
+        const inst = await legInstrument(client, item.drain, contract, pointValue)
+            .catch((err: unknown) => { unrecordLeg(acc.id, tradeDate, legAmount); throw err; });
         const legContract = inst.contract;
         const pv = inst.pointValue;
 
         const rawContracts = Math.max(1, Math.ceil(legAmount / 1000));
         const contracts = cfg.maxPositionSize > 0 ? Math.min(rawContracts, cfg.maxPositionSize) : rawContracts;
-        const fill = await client.sendOrder(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, resolvedAction, 'Market');
+        const fill = await sendEntry('[auto-trade]', client, acc, legContract.name, contracts, resolvedAction, tradeDate, legAmount);
 
         // Wait briefly for the cash balance WebSocket update to reflect entry commission
         await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000));
@@ -481,9 +790,18 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
             try {
                 exitOrder = await client.placeOcoExit(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, exitAction, exitPrice, stopPrice);
             } catch (err) {
-                // The position is already open — never leave it exit-less. Fall
-                // back to the classic lone limit and shout about it.
-                console.error(`[auto-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco REJECTED (${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}) — falling back to lone limit exit, NO STOP`);
+                // The position is already open — never leave it exit-less when
+                // the pair never went in (refused, or not sent): fall back to
+                // the classic lone limit and shout about it. An unknown outcome
+                // (the ack timed out, the connection went after the send) is
+                // different: the pair may be working, and a lone limit on top
+                // doubles the exit — both filling flips the account into an
+                // opposite position nothing manages. Place nothing more then.
+                if (!isOrderNotPlaced(err)) {
+                    console.error(`[auto-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco outcome UNKNOWN (${errorMessage(err)}) — NOT placing a second exit; check this position's exits at the broker`);
+                    throw new Error(`entry filled @ ${fill.price} but the exit's outcome is unknown — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+                }
+                console.error(`[auto-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco REJECTED (${errorMessage(err)}) — falling back to lone limit exit, NO STOP`);
                 stopPrice = null;
                 exitOrder = await client.placeOrderNoWait(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, exitAction, 'Limit', exitPrice);
             }
@@ -508,22 +826,28 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
             exitPrice,
             commission: entryCommission,
         };
-    }));
+    })));
 
     // Group results by firm for the response
-    const firmResultsMap = new Map<string, unknown[]>();
+    const firmResultsMap = new Map<string, LegResult[]>();
     for (let i = 0; i < batch.length; i++) {
         const firmName = batch[i].firmName;
         if (!firmResultsMap.has(firmName)) firmResultsMap.set(firmName, []);
         const r = tradeResults[i];
+        if (r.status === 'rejected') {
+            console.error(`[auto-trade] ${batch[i].acc.name} (${firmName}): failed — ${errorMessage(r.reason)}`);
+        }
         firmResultsMap.get(firmName)!.push(
             r.status === 'fulfilled'
                 ? r.value
-                : { status: 'error', reason: (r.reason as any)?.message ?? String(r.reason) }
+                : { status: 'error', reason: errorMessage(r.reason) }
         );
     }
 
-    return Array.from(firmResultsMap.entries()).map(([firm, results]) => ({ firm, results }));
+    return {
+        outcome: 'fired',
+        results: Array.from(firmResultsMap.entries()).map(([firm, results]) => ({ firm, results })),
+    };
 }
 
 // ── copy trade ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -535,14 +859,30 @@ export async function runTrade(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string)
  */
 export async function copyTrade() {
     console.log('[copy-trade] called');
+    // Shares runTrade's mutex: a copy landing mid-batch would see the batch's
+    // accounts as still flat and could fill past max_concurrent_accounts.
+    const lease = acquireTradeMutex('[copy-trade]');
+    if (lease === null) return [];
+    try {
+        return await copyTradeLocked(lease);
+    } finally {
+        releaseTradeMutex(lease);
+    }
+}
+
+async function copyTradeLocked(lease: number): Promise<unknown[]> {
     if (isInNoTradeWindow()) {
         console.log('[copy-trade] outside trading hours — skipping');
         return [];
     }
 
-    const firms = getTradableFirms();
-    const clients = getClients();
-    const maxConcurrent = Math.max(1, parseInt(getSetting('max_concurrent_accounts') ?? '5', 10));
+    // Ready clients only, as in runTrade: a stale snapshot must neither be
+    // copied from, counted against the slots, nor traded.
+    const { ready, unready } = firmClients();
+    if (unready.length > 0) {
+        console.log(`[copy-trade] not synced — leaving out: ${unready.map((u) => u.firm.name).join(', ')}`);
+    }
+    const maxConcurrent = maxConcurrentAccounts();
 
     // Find all accounts with open positions to determine direction + symbol
     let resolvedAction: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | null = null;
@@ -554,9 +894,7 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
     let positionedClient: any = null;
     const positionedPrefixes = new Set<string>();
 
-    for (const firm of firms) {
-        const client = clients.get(firm.id);
-        if (!client) continue;
+    for (const { client } of ready) {
         for (const acc of client.accountList) {
             const pos = client.positions[acc.id];
             if (!pos) continue;
@@ -585,10 +923,15 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
 
     if (positionedClient) {
         for (const sym of enabledSymbols) {
-            const contract = await positionedClient.findFrontMonthContract(sym);
-            if (contract && contract.id === positionContractId) {
-                resolvedSymbol = sym;
-                break;
+            // A lookup that throws rules out that one symbol, not the copy.
+            try {
+                const contract = await positionedClient.findFrontMonthContract(sym);
+                if (contract && contract.id === positionContractId) {
+                    resolvedSymbol = sym;
+                    break;
+                }
+            } catch (err) {
+                console.error(`[copy-trade] ${sym}: contract lookup failed — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -629,10 +972,9 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
     };
     const eligible: CopyItem[] = [];
 
-    await Promise.all(firms.map(async (firm) => {
-        const client = clients.get(firm.id);
-        if (!client || client.accountList.length === 0) {
-            console.log(`[copy-trade] ${firm.name}: no client or empty account list — skip firm`);
+    await Promise.all(ready.map(async ({ firm, client }) => {
+        if (client.accountList.length === 0) {
+            console.log(`[copy-trade] ${firm.name}: empty account list — skip firm`);
             return;
         }
         if (firm.bannedSymbols.includes(resolvedSymbol!)) {
@@ -640,24 +982,31 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
             return;
         }
 
-        const contract = await client.findFrontMonthContract(resolvedSymbol!);
-        if (!contract) {
-            console.log(`[copy-trade] ${firm.name}: cannot resolve front-month contract for ${resolvedSymbol} — skip firm`);
-            return;
-        }
+        // Same isolation as runTrade: one firm's throw skips that firm only.
+        try {
+            const contract = await client.findFrontMonthContract(resolvedSymbol!);
+            if (!contract) {
+                console.log(`[copy-trade] ${firm.name}: cannot resolve front-month contract for ${resolvedSymbol} — skip firm`);
+                return;
+            }
 
-        for (const acc of client.accountList) {
-            const ev = evaluateAccountForTrade(client, acc, tradeDate);
-            if (!ev) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: no matching config prefix — skip`); continue; }
-            if (!ev.eligible || !ev.plan) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: ${ev.reason} — skip`); continue; }
-            // copyTrade has no extra-day branch — those accounts wait for the scheduler
-            if (ev.isExtraDay) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: extra-day account — skip`); continue; }
+            const found: CopyItem[] = [];
+            for (const acc of client.accountList) {
+                const ev = evaluateAccountForTrade(client, acc, tradeDate);
+                if (!ev) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: no matching config prefix — skip`); continue; }
+                if (!ev.eligible || !ev.plan) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: ${ev.reason} — skip`); continue; }
+                // copyTrade has no extra-day branch — those accounts wait for the scheduler
+                if (ev.isExtraDay) { console.log(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: extra-day account — skip`); continue; }
 
-            eligible.push({
-                firmName: firm.name, client, acc, contract, cash: ev.cash, dailyPnL: ev.dailyPnL, plan: ev.plan,
-                drain: ev.drain,
-                prefix: getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType?.prefix ?? '',
-            });
+                found.push({
+                    firmName: firm.name, client, acc, contract, cash: ev.cash, dailyPnL: ev.dailyPnL, plan: ev.plan,
+                    drain: ev.drain,
+                    prefix: getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType?.prefix ?? '',
+                });
+            }
+            eligible.push(...found);
+        } catch (err) {
+            console.error(`[copy-trade] ${firm.name}: skipped — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
         }
     }));
 
@@ -671,10 +1020,17 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
         return [];
     }
 
-    console.log(`[copy-trade] copying ${resolvedAction} ${resolvedSymbol} to ${batch.length} account(s)`);
+    // Superseded while collecting (see runTrade) — this selection is stale.
+    if (!holdsTradeMutex(lease)) {
+        console.warn('[copy-trade] superseded while collecting accounts — abandoning this copy');
+        return [];
+    }
 
-    // Fire orders (same as Phase 2 of runTrade)
-    const tradeResults = await Promise.allSettled(batch.map(async (item) => {
+    console.log(`[copy-trade] copying ${resolvedAction} ${resolvedSymbol} to ${batch.length} account(s)`);
+    runtime().lastFireAt = Date.now();
+
+    // Fire orders (same as Phase 2 of runTrade, accounts marked in flight the same way)
+    const tradeResults = await Promise.allSettled(batch.map((item) => withAccountInFlight(item.acc.id, async () => {
         const { client, acc, contract } = item;
         const cfg = getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType!;
 
@@ -686,15 +1042,17 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
                 minLegs - legsToday(acc.id, tradeDate),
             )
             : item.plan.remainingToday;
+        // Counted before sending, taken back only if the entry never reached the broker (see runTrade).
         recordLeg(acc.id, tradeDate, legAmount);
 
-        const inst = await legInstrument(client, item.drain, contract, pointValue);
+        const inst = await legInstrument(client, item.drain, contract, pointValue)
+            .catch((err: unknown) => { unrecordLeg(acc.id, tradeDate, legAmount); throw err; });
         const legContract = inst.contract;
         const pv = inst.pointValue;
 
         const rawContracts = Math.max(1, Math.ceil(legAmount / 1000));
         const contracts = cfg.maxPositionSize > 0 ? Math.min(rawContracts, cfg.maxPositionSize) : rawContracts;
-        const fill = await client.sendOrder(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, resolvedAction!, 'Market');
+        const fill = await sendEntry('[copy-trade]', client, acc, legContract.name, contracts, resolvedAction!, tradeDate, legAmount);
 
         await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000));
         const updatedCash = client.accountCashBalances[acc.id] ?? { amount: 0, realizedPnL: 0 };
@@ -720,7 +1078,12 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
             try {
                 exitOrder = await client.placeOcoExit(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, exitAction, exitPrice, stopPrice);
             } catch (err) {
-                console.error(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco REJECTED (${err instanceof Error ? err.message : err}) — falling back to lone limit exit, NO STOP`);
+                // Lone-limit fallback only for a pair that never went in (see runTrade).
+                if (!isOrderNotPlaced(err)) {
+                    console.error(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco outcome UNKNOWN (${errorMessage(err)}) — NOT placing a second exit; check this position's exits at the broker`);
+                    throw new Error(`entry filled @ ${fill.price} but the exit's outcome is unknown — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+                }
+                console.error(`[copy-trade] ${acc.name}: placeoco REJECTED (${errorMessage(err)}) — falling back to lone limit exit, NO STOP`);
                 stopPrice = null;
                 exitOrder = await client.placeOrderNoWait(acc.id, legContract.name, contracts, exitAction, 'Limit', exitPrice);
             }
@@ -745,15 +1108,18 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
             exitPrice,
             commission: entryCommission,
         };
-    }));
+    })));
 
     const results: unknown[] = [];
     for (let i = 0; i < batch.length; i++) {
         const r = tradeResults[i];
+        if (r.status === 'rejected') {
+            console.error(`[copy-trade] ${batch[i].acc.name} (${batch[i].firmName}): failed — ${errorMessage(r.reason)}`);
+        }
         results.push(
             r.status === 'fulfilled'
                 ? r.value
-                : { status: 'error', reason: (r.reason as any)?.message ?? String(r.reason) }
+                : { status: 'error', reason: errorMessage(r.reason) }
         );
     }
     return results;
@@ -763,13 +1129,31 @@ export async function copyTrade() {
 
 /** Returns true if any configured account could still trade today (eligible for a next leg / extra-day, or has an open position). */
 function hasRemainingConfiguredAccounts(): boolean {
-    const firms = getTradableFirms();
-    const clients = getClients();
+    const { ready, unready } = firmClients();
     const tradeDate = currentTradeDateCT();
 
-    for (const firm of firms) {
-        const client = clients.get(firm.id);
-        if (!client || client.accountList.length === 0) continue;
+    // A client that isn't ready can't say whether its accounts are done — its
+    // snapshot is missing or stale — so while one might hold any of ours, the
+    // scheduler stays up for it to rejoin. Only a client that never synced
+    // and knows no accounts is an unknown in full; one whose (stale) list
+    // shows none of ours can be ruled out.
+    //
+    // Only while the session is open, though. Outside it the unready firm
+    // couldn't trade anyway, and after the close its day is over. Unbounded,
+    // one firm that never comes back (a wrong password, a TopstepX key with
+    // no username) would keep a stop-after-all scheduler up for good, trading
+    // the ready firms every session after — exactly what the operator opted
+    // out of. (Before an open with every ready account already done, this
+    // stops rather than wait on the unready firm: the safe side.)
+    if (!isInNoTradeWindow()) {
+        for (const { client } of unready) {
+            if (client.lastSyncAt === 0 && client.accountList.length === 0) return true;
+            if (client.accountList.some((acc) => getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType)) return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    for (const { client } of ready) {
+        if (client.accountList.length === 0) continue;
 
         for (const acc of client.accountList) {
             const cfg = getAccountConfig(acc.id).accountType;
@@ -777,6 +1161,8 @@ function hasRemainingConfiguredAccounts(): boolean {
 
             // Account with open position = still in play
             if (client.positions[acc.id]) return true;
+            // Order being placed right now = still in play (evaluation calls it ineligible)
+            if (runtime().accountsInFlight.has(acc.id)) return true;
 
             const ev = evaluateAccountForTrade(client, acc, tradeDate);
             if (ev?.eligible) return true;
@@ -810,6 +1196,21 @@ function getState(): SchedulerState {
 export function startScheduler(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string, stopAfterAll: boolean = false) {
     const state = getState();
 
+    // The settings reads and writes are the part that can throw, so they go
+    // before anything in memory changes: a failure then leaves whatever
+    // schedule was running as it was, never one marked running with its
+    // interval cleared and nothing scheduled. A non-numeric setting falls back
+    // to 60s — setInterval takes NaN as 1ms.
+    const configuredSecs = parseInt(getSetting('tick_interval_seconds') ?? '60', 10);
+    const intervalSecs = Math.max(5, Number.isFinite(configuredSecs) ? configuredSecs : 60);
+
+    // Mirror to the settings table so a restart can pick the schedule back up.
+    // The interval itself is in-memory only; resumeSchedulerIfPersisted() recreates it.
+    setSetting('scheduler_running', '1');
+    setSetting('scheduler_action', action);
+    setSetting('scheduler_symbol', symbol);
+    setSetting('scheduler_stop_after_all', stopAfterAll ? '1' : '0');
+
     // Clear any existing interval
     if (state.intervalId !== null) {
         clearInterval(state.intervalId);
@@ -820,43 +1221,44 @@ export function startScheduler(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string,
     state.running = true;
     state.stopAfterAll = stopAfterAll;
 
-    // Mirror to the settings table so a restart can pick the schedule back up.
-    // The interval itself is in-memory only; resumeSchedulerIfPersisted() recreates it.
-    setSetting('scheduler_running', '1');
-    setSetting('scheduler_action', action);
-    setSetting('scheduler_symbol', symbol);
-    setSetting('scheduler_stop_after_all', stopAfterAll ? '1' : '0');
-
     const tick = async () => {
         if (!state.running) return;
         state.lastRun = new Date();
-
-        // Skip this tick until every client has completed its initial sync (positions are populated)
-        const clients = getClients();
-        const firms = getTradableFirms();
-        const notReady = firms.filter(f => {
-            const c = clients.get(f.id);
-            return c && !c.syncComplete;
-        });
-        if (notReady.length > 0) {
-            console.log(`[scheduler] waiting for sync: ${notReady.map(f => f.name).join(', ')}`);
-            return;
-        }
-
-        // Skip this tick if any account still has an open position from the previous batch
-        const openPositions = firms.reduce((count, firm) => {
-            const client = clients.get(firm.id);
-            if (!client) return count;
-            return count + client.accountList.filter(acc => !!client.positions[acc.id]).length;
-        }, 0);
-        if (openPositions > 0) {
-            console.log(`[scheduler] ${openPositions} position(s) still open — skipping tick`);
-            return;
-        }
+        const rt = runtime();
+        const now = Date.now();
+        rt.lastTickAt = now;
 
         try {
-            const results = await runTrade(state.action, state.symbol);
-            const filled = results.flatMap((r: any) => r.results ?? []).filter((r: any) => r.status === 'filled').length;
+            // Hold the tick while any firm's client is still inside its sync
+            // grace period (positions may not be populated yet); trade around
+            // firms that have been out past it (see assessReadiness).
+            const { ready, unready } = firmClients(now);
+            const { holding, quarantined } = assessReadiness(ready, unready, now);
+            rt.holding = holding.map((f) => f.name);
+            rt.quarantined = quarantined.map((q) => q.firm.name);
+            if (holding.length > 0) {
+                rt.lastTickOutcome = 'holding-for-sync';
+                console.log(`[scheduler] waiting for sync: ${rt.holding.join(', ')}`);
+                return;
+            }
+            for (const { firm, unreadyMs } of quarantined) {
+                if (now - (rt.quarantineLoggedAt.get(firm.id) ?? 0) < QUARANTINE_LOG_EVERY_MS) continue;
+                rt.quarantineLoggedAt.set(firm.id, now);
+                console.warn(`[scheduler] ${firm.name} not synced for ${Math.round(unreadyMs / 60_000)}m — trading the other firms without it`);
+            }
+
+            // Skip this tick if any account still has an open position from the
+            // previous batch — one batch fires only when every (ready) account is flat.
+            const openPositions = countOpenPositions(ready);
+            if (openPositions > 0) {
+                rt.lastTickOutcome = 'positions-open';
+                console.log(`[scheduler] ${openPositions} position(s) still open — skipping tick`);
+                return;
+            }
+
+            const { outcome, results } = await runTradeBatch(state.action, state.symbol);
+            rt.lastTickOutcome = outcome;
+            const filled = results.flatMap((r) => r.results).filter((r) => r.status === 'filled').length;
             if (filled > 0) console.log(`[scheduler] tick: ${filled} account(s) filled`);
 
             // Auto-stop if user opted in and no configured accounts can trade anymore
@@ -865,11 +1267,11 @@ export function startScheduler(action: 'Buy' | 'Sell' | 'Auto', symbol: string,
                 stopScheduler();
             }
         } catch (err) {
-            console.error('[scheduler] tick error:', err);
+            rt.lastTickOutcome = `error: ${errorMessage(err)}`;
+            console.error(`[scheduler] tick error: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
         }
     };
 
-    const intervalSecs = Math.max(5, parseInt(getSetting('tick_interval_seconds') ?? '60', 10));
     state.intervalId = setInterval(tick, intervalSecs * 1_000);
     console.log(`[scheduler] started — ${action} ${symbol} every ${intervalSecs}s`);
 }
@@ -881,6 +1283,17 @@ export function stopScheduler() {
         state.intervalId = null;
     }
     state.running = false;
+
+    // Nothing watches readiness while stopped, so the grace clocks would be
+    // stale by the next start — that start gives every firm a fresh grace.
+    // Reset before the settings write, which can throw.
+    const rt = runtime();
+    rt.unreadySince.clear();
+    rt.quarantineLoggedAt.clear();
+    rt.holding = [];
+    rt.quarantined = [];
+    rt.lastTickOutcome = 'not-running';
+
     setSetting('scheduler_running', '0');
     console.log('[scheduler] stopped');
 }
@@ -888,9 +1301,10 @@ export function stopScheduler() {
 /**
  * Restart the schedule that was running before the process went down.
  *
- * No sync-wait here on purpose: tick() already skips while any client reports
- * !syncComplete, and again while any account holds an open position. So the
- * worst case is a few logged no-op ticks until the clients finish syncing.
+ * No sync-wait here on purpose: tick() already holds while any client isn't
+ * ready (for up to UNREADY_GRACE_MS each), and again while any account holds
+ * an open position. So the worst case is a few logged no-op ticks until the
+ * clients finish syncing.
  */
 export function resumeSchedulerIfPersisted(): void {
     if (getSetting('scheduler_running') !== '1') return;
@@ -915,3 +1329,31 @@ export function getSchedulerStatus() {
         sessionOpenDelayMin: todaysSessionOpenDelay(),
     };
 }
+
+/**
+ * Why the scheduler is or isn't trading, for health checks — separate from
+ * getSchedulerStatus, whose shape is what the master receives. `holding` are
+ * the firms the last tick waited on (inside their sync grace period);
+ * `quarantined` the ones past it, traded around. Timestamps are epoch ms,
+ * 0 = never; lastFireAt counts batches from any caller, not just the tick.
+ * Until the first tick after a start, the outcome still reads 'not-running'.
+ */
+export function getSchedulerHealth(): {
+    lastTickAt: number;
+    lastTickOutcome: TickOutcome;
+    lastFireAt: number;
+    holding: string[];
+    quarantined: string[];
+    tradeInFlightSince: number;
+} {
+    const running = getState().running;
+    const rt = runtime();
+    return {
+        lastTickAt: rt.lastTickAt,
+        lastTickOutcome: running ? rt.lastTickOutcome : 'not-running',
+        lastFireAt: rt.lastFireAt,
+        holding: running ? [...rt.holding] : [],
+        quarantined: running ? [...rt.quarantined] : [],
+        tradeInFlightSince: rt.tradeInFlightSince,
+    };
+}

lib/clients.ts

@@ -1,23 +1,32 @@
 import { TradovateClient } from './tradovate-class';
 import { TopstepXClient } from './topstepx-class';
-import type { PlatformClient } from './platform-client';
+import { errorMessage, isClientReady, type PlatformClient } from './platform-client';
 import { getInstruments } from './db';
 import { getTradableFirms, startCatalogSync } from './firm-catalog';
 import { resolveFirmAssignments } from './account-type-resolver';
 import { resolveContracts } from './contract-resolver';
 import { startReporter, sendReport } from './reporter';
 import { startBackupSync } from './backup-sync';
-import { applyBrokerProxy } from './outbound-proxy';
+import { applyBrokerHttpDefaults, applyBrokerProxy } from './outbound-proxy';
 import { startMasterLink } from './master-link';
 import { resumeSchedulerIfPersisted } from './auto-trade';
 
 // Use global to persist the client pool across HMR reloads in dev mode.
 // Keyed by the master's firm id, which is a uuid string.
+//
+// It is also what keeps the pool single in production: instrumentation.ts
+// boots it from its own server bundle, and the route handlers can each hold a
+// separate instance of this module. Registry state therefore lives here, never
+// in module-level variables.
 const g = global as typeof globalThis & {
     __tradovateClients?: Map<string, PlatformClient>;
     __tradovateClientsInitialized?: boolean;
     __tradovateClientCreds?: Map<string, string>;
     __contractResolverTimer?: ReturnType<typeof setInterval>;
+    __contractResolveRetryTimer?: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>;
+    __contractResolveRetries?: number;
+    __clientSupervisorTimer?: ReturnType<typeof setInterval>;
+    __clientSupervision?: Map<string, SupervisionEntry>;
 };
 
 function ensureMap(): Map<string, PlatformClient> {
@@ -74,7 +83,14 @@ export function initClient(
 
 export function removeClient(id: string): void {
     const client = ensureMap().get(id);
-    client?.disconnect();
+    // A throwing disconnect() must still take the client out of the pool:
+    // left in, half torn down, it would never reconnect — and the supervisor
+    // rebuilding it would fail the same way every time.
+    try {
+        client?.disconnect();
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error(`[clients] disconnect failed for firm ${id}: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+    }
     ensureMap().delete(id);
     credsMap().delete(id);
 }
@@ -127,11 +143,21 @@ export function reconcileClients(): void {
 
 export function getClients(): Map<string, PlatformClient> {
     const map = ensureMap();
+
+    // `next build` imports route modules to collect page data. Nothing there
+    // should call this, but a build that did must never dial the brokers or
+    // resume the scheduler — so hand back the empty pool and leave the flag
+    // unset, as if nothing had happened.
+    if (process.env.NEXT_PHASE === 'phase-production-build') return map;
+
     if (!g.__tradovateClientsInitialized) {
         g.__tradovateClientsInitialized = true;
         try {
-            // Before anything dials out: put the operator's proxy (if any)
-            // under the broker clients. Master traffic stays direct by design.
+            // Before anything dials out: a timeout on every broker HTTP call,
+            // and the operator's proxy (if any) under the broker clients.
+            // Master traffic stays direct by design. (outbound-proxy applies
+            // both when it loads, too; these are idempotent.)
+            applyBrokerHttpDefaults();
             applyBrokerProxy();
 
             // Pull the catalog before anything else — without it there are no
@@ -158,6 +184,9 @@ export function getClients(): Map<string, PlatformClient> {
             // Schedule daily resolve at midnight
             scheduleDailyResolve();
 
+            // Rebuild any client that has been wedged for too long.
+            startClientSupervisor();
+
             // Start master dashboard reporter
             startReporter();
 
@@ -180,30 +209,67 @@ export function getClients(): Map<string, PlatformClient> {
 
 // ── Contract auto-resolve ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+// With no authenticated Tradovate client yet — a cold catalog, a slow login,
+// broker maintenance at boot — keep checking once a minute for half an hour
+// instead of giving up until midnight. Missing it leaves the contract cache
+// cold: the settings page shows nothing, TopstepX loses the resolver's
+// front-month names, and the first trade pays for the lookups itself.
+const CONTRACT_RESOLVE_RETRY_MS = 60_000;
+const CONTRACT_RESOLVE_MAX_RETRIES = 30;
+
 function triggerContractResolve(): void {
+    // A midnight run supersedes a pending retry; either way only one chain.
+    if (g.__contractResolveRetryTimer) clearTimeout(g.__contractResolveRetryTimer);
+    g.__contractResolveRetryTimer = undefined;
+
     const map = ensureMap();
     // Find first client with a valid access token (the Yahoo-driven resolver
     // confirms contract ids against Tradovate; TopstepX clients resolve their
     // own contracts but still reuse the resolver's front-month names).
+    // A token alone isn't enough: a client whose session died keeps its
+    // expired one, and resolving with that fails with nothing left to retry.
     let accessToken: string | null = null;
     for (const [, c] of map) {
         // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
         const token = (c as any).accessInfo?.accessToken;
-        if (token) { accessToken = token; break; }
+        if (!token) continue;
+        let authenticated = true;
+        try { authenticated = c.health().authenticated; } catch { /* no health: trust the token */ }
+        if (authenticated) { accessToken = token; break; }
     }
     if (!accessToken) {
-        console.log('[contract-resolver] No authenticated Tradovate client yet — skipping resolve');
+        const retries = (g.__contractResolveRetries ?? 0) + 1;
+        if (retries > CONTRACT_RESOLVE_MAX_RETRIES) {
+            console.log(
+                `[contract-resolver] No authenticated Tradovate client after ${CONTRACT_RESOLVE_MAX_RETRIES} retries`
+                + ' — giving up until the midnight resolve',
+            );
+            g.__contractResolveRetries = 0;
+            return;
+        }
+        if (retries === 1) {
+            console.log('[contract-resolver] No authenticated Tradovate client yet — retrying every 60s');
+        }
+        g.__contractResolveRetries = retries;
+        g.__contractResolveRetryTimer = setTimeout(() => triggerContractResolve(), CONTRACT_RESOLVE_RETRY_MS);
         return;
     }
+    g.__contractResolveRetries = 0;
 
-    const symbols = getInstruments().filter((i) => i.enabled).map((i) => i.symbol);
-    console.log(`[contract-resolver] Resolving ${symbols.length} instruments...`);
-    resolveContracts(symbols, accessToken)
-        .then((results) => {
-            const rolled = Object.entries(results).filter(([, v]) => v?.alternative);
-            console.log(`[contract-resolver] Done — ${rolled.length} contract(s) rolled via price match`);
-        })
-        .catch((err) => console.error('[contract-resolver] Resolve failed:', err));
+    // Runs from timers: a throw here (the instruments read) would escape as
+    // an uncaught exception.
+    try {
+        const symbols = getInstruments().filter((i) => i.enabled).map((i) => i.symbol);
+        console.log(`[contract-resolver] Resolving ${symbols.length} instruments...`);
+        resolveContracts(symbols, accessToken)
+            .then((results) => {
+                const rolled = Object.entries(results).filter(([, v]) => v?.alternative);
+                console.log(`[contract-resolver] Done — ${rolled.length} contract(s) rolled via price match`);
+            })
+            .catch((err) => console.error(`[contract-resolver] Resolve failed: ${errorMessage(err)}`));
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error(`[contract-resolver] Resolve failed: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+    }
 }
 
 function scheduleDailyResolve(): void {
@@ -215,7 +281,179 @@ function scheduleDailyResolve(): void {
         const now = new Date();
         if (now.getHours() === 0 && now.getMinutes() === 0) {
             console.log('[contract-resolver] Midnight resolve triggered');
+            // Its own half hour of retries, not what's left of a chain it cuts off.
+            g.__contractResolveRetries = 0;
             triggerContractResolve();
         }
     }, 60_000);
 }
+
+// ── Client supervision ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * Rebuilds a client that has been unable to trade for a long time.
+ *
+ * The clients reconnect themselves, but only along the paths their authors
+ * foresaw. A re-login that fails in an unexpected way, an await that never
+ * settles, a socket that dies without a close event — any of those used to
+ * leave a client wedged for the life of the process, and because the
+ * scheduler waits on every firm, one wedged firm stopped them all. After a
+ * weekend of broker maintenance that meant a pm2 restart. A fresh client is
+ * exactly what the restart gave it, so the registry hands one out itself:
+ * same firm, same credentials, new instance.
+ *
+ * "Unready" is isClientReady() saying no — the same rule the scheduler and
+ * /api/health use: not synced, or no good sync in the last 5 minutes.
+ *
+ * Deliberately slow — 20 minutes unready before a rebuild, and at most one
+ * rebuild per firm per 20 minutes. The clients' own retries get the first go,
+ * and a broker that is really down, or rate-limiting logins, must not be
+ * hammered with new sessions. Some clients are never replaced while unready
+ * (see rebuildHold): one whose own login retry is pending, and a TopstepX
+ * one holding a position.
+ */
+const SUPERVISOR_INTERVAL_MS = 60_000;
+const REBUILD_AFTER_UNREADY_MS = 20 * 60_000;
+const REBUILD_COOLDOWN_MS = 20 * 60_000;
+
+/** The message TopstepXClient records when a firm has an API key but no
+ *  username. That client never even tries to log in, so a rebuild changes
+ *  nothing — adding the username changes the credentials, and
+ *  reconcileClients rebuilds it then. */
+const TOPSTEPX_USERNAME_MISSING = /username missing/i;
+
+interface SupervisionEntry {
+    /** The instance being judged. A different one (rebuilt here, or replaced
+     *  by reconcileClients after a credentials change) starts a fresh clock. */
+    client: PlatformClient;
+    /** When it was first seen unready (0 = ready at the last check). */
+    unhealthySince: number;
+    lastRebuildAt: number;
+    /** Last time a due rebuild was held back and said so (log rate limit). */
+    holdLoggedAt: number;
+}
+
+function supervisionMap(): Map<string, SupervisionEntry> {
+    if (!g.__clientSupervision) g.__clientSupervision = new Map();
+    return g.__clientSupervision;
+}
+
+function startClientSupervisor(): void {
+    // HMR-safe, and safe when resetClients() re-runs the bootstrap.
+    if (g.__clientSupervisorTimer) clearInterval(g.__clientSupervisorTimer);
+    g.__clientSupervisorTimer = setInterval(superviseClients, SUPERVISOR_INTERVAL_MS);
+}
+
+/** Why a client isn't ready, short enough for one log line. Never the token. */
+function describeUnready(client: PlatformClient, now: number): string {
+    const parts: string[] = [];
+    try {
+        const health = client.health();
+        parts.push(`transport ${health.transport}`);
+        if (health.lastLoginError) parts.push(`login error: ${health.lastLoginError.slice(0, 160)}`);
+    } catch {
+        parts.push('health unavailable');
+    }
+    parts.push(client.lastSyncAt > 0
+        ? `last good sync ${Math.round((now - client.lastSyncAt) / 60_000)}m ago`
+        : 'never synced');
+    return parts.join(', ');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Why replacing this client now would do more harm than good, or null.
+ *
+ * - Its login keeps failing and its own retry is already scheduled. Nothing
+ *   in the instance is broken — the broker is down, refusing the
+ *   credentials, or rate-limiting — and a fresh instance would fail the same
+ *   way while starting its backoff over at seconds: a burst of logins after
+ *   every rebuild instead of one every few minutes, which is how a login
+ *   rate-limit turns into a captcha lockout.
+ * - TopstepX with a position open. The gateway has no OCO, so the client
+ *   itself cancels the surviving exit leg when the other fills; a fresh
+ *   instance knows nothing of those pairs, and the survivor would be left
+ *   working at the broker after the position closes — an order that can open
+ *   a position nobody asked for. It waits until the account is flat.
+ */
+function rebuildHold(platform: string, client: PlatformClient, now: number): string | null {
+    try {
+        const health = client.health();
+        if (health.consecutiveLoginFailures > 0 && health.nextReconnectAt > now) {
+            return `its login retry is due in ${Math.max(1, Math.round((health.nextReconnectAt - now) / 60_000))}m`
+                + ` (${health.consecutiveLoginFailures} failure(s) in a row)`;
+        }
+    } catch { /* no health: judge it on the rest */ }
+    if (platform === 'topstepx' && Object.keys(client.positions ?? {}).length > 0) {
+        return 'it holds an open position (TopstepX exit brackets are tracked only inside the client)';
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+
+function superviseClients(): void {
+    // Runs inside setInterval: nothing may escape, or the process logs an
+    // uncaught exception and the supervisor keeps firing into the same fault.
+    try {
+        const map = ensureMap();
+        const book = supervisionMap();
+        const now = Date.now();
+
+        // A firm that left the registry takes its bookkeeping with it.
+        for (const id of [...book.keys()]) {
+            if (!map.has(id)) book.delete(id);
+        }
+
+        let firms: ReturnType<typeof getTradableFirms> | null = null;
+        for (const [id, client] of [...map]) {
+            try {
+                let entry = book.get(id);
+                if (!entry) {
+                    entry = { client, unhealthySince: 0, lastRebuildAt: 0, holdLoggedAt: 0 };
+                    book.set(id, entry);
+                } else if (entry.client !== client) {
+                    entry.client = client;
+                    entry.unhealthySince = 0;
+                }
+
+                if (isClientReady(client, now)) {
+                    entry.unhealthySince = 0;
+                    continue;
+                }
+                if (!entry.unhealthySince) {
+                    entry.unhealthySince = now;
+                    continue;
+                }
+                if (now - entry.unhealthySince < REBUILD_AFTER_UNREADY_MS) continue;
+                if (now - entry.lastRebuildAt < REBUILD_COOLDOWN_MS) continue;
+
+                // Only read when a rebuild is actually due — it hits the DB.
+                firms ??= getTradableFirms();
+                const firm = firms.find((f) => f.id === id);
+                if (!firm) continue; // no longer tradable: reconcileClients drops it
+                if (firm.platform === 'topstepx'
+                    && TOPSTEPX_USERNAME_MISSING.test(client.lastFetchErrors?.['login'] ?? '')) continue;
+
+                const minutes = Math.round((now - entry.unhealthySince) / 60_000);
+                const hold = rebuildHold(firm.platform, client, now);
+                if (hold) {
+                    if (now - entry.holdLoggedAt >= REBUILD_COOLDOWN_MS) {
+                        entry.holdLoggedAt = now;
+                        console.log(`[clients] ${firm.name} unhealthy for ${minutes}m — not rebuilding while ${hold}`);
+                    }
+                    continue;
+                }
+                console.log(
+                    `[clients] ${firm.name} unhealthy for ${minutes}m (${describeUnready(client, now)})`
+                    + ' — rebuilding client',
+                );
+                entry.lastRebuildAt = now;
+                removeClient(id);
+                entry.client = initClient(firm.id, firm.name, firm.platform, firm);
+                entry.unhealthySince = now;
+            } catch (err) {
+                console.error(`[clients] supervisor check failed for firm ${id}: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+            }
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error(`[clients] supervisor tick failed: ${errorMessage(err)}`);
+    }
+}

lib/contract-resolver.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
  */
 
 import axios from 'axios';
+import { errorMessage } from './platform-client';
 
 interface ContractInfo {
     id: number;
@@ -31,7 +32,13 @@ const PROBE_WINDOW = 6;
 
 // ── Cache ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
-const cache = new Map<string, { contract: ResolvedContract; resolvedAt: number }>();
+// On globalThis, not module scope: instrumentation.ts boots the process from its
+// own bundle, so the boot and midnight resolves would otherwise fill a cache the
+// route handlers (settings page, manual trades) never see.
+const _g = globalThis as typeof globalThis & {
+    __contractCache?: Map<string, { contract: ResolvedContract; resolvedAt: number }>;
+};
+const cache = (_g.__contractCache ??= new Map());
 const CACHE_TTL_MS = 30 * 60 * 1000; // 30 minutes
 
 export function getCachedContract(symbol: string): ResolvedContract | null {
@@ -205,7 +212,8 @@ export async function resolveContracts(
                 console.log(`[contract-resolver] ${sym}: ${match.name} resolved`);
             }
         } catch (err) {
-            console.error(`[contract-resolver] ${sym}: Tradovate lookup failed`, err);
+            // Never the whole error: an AxiosError carries the Bearer token in its config.
+            console.error(`[contract-resolver] ${sym}: Tradovate lookup failed — ${errorMessage(err)}`);
             results[sym] = null;
         }
     }));

lib/master-link.ts

@@ -99,14 +99,18 @@ async function execute(command: Command): Promise<unknown> {
             if (command.symbol !== 'Auto' && !POINT_VALUES[command.symbol]) {
                 throw new Error(`Unknown symbol: ${command.symbol}`);
             }
-            // Same order as POST /api/trade: fire once now, then leave the
-            // scheduler running to pick up accounts that were busy.
-            const results = await runTrade(command.action, command.symbol);
+            // Same order as POST /api/trade: (re)start the scheduler first,
+            // then fire once now — the scheduler picks up accounts that were
+            // busy. Starting it first means a batch that throws or runs long
+            // can never leave it unstarted. It can't double-fire against this
+            // batch: the tick waits for flat positions, skips while this batch
+            // holds the trade mutex, and never picks an account in flight.
             startScheduler(command.action, command.symbol, command.stopAfterAll ?? false);
+            const results = await runTrade(command.action, command.symbol);
 
             const filled = results
-                .flatMap((r: any) => r.results ?? [])
-                .filter((r: any) => r.status === 'filled').length;
+                .flatMap((r) => r.results)
+                .filter((r) => r.status === 'filled').length;
             return { filled, scheduler: getSchedulerStatus() };
         }
 

lib/outbound-proxy.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,19 @@
  * Configured by the `proxy_url` setting: http://, https://, socks5:// or
  * socks5h:// with optional user:pass. Read once per process — changing it
  * requires a restart, which the settings UI says out loud. Blank = direct.
+ *
+ * Also home of the broker HTTP timeout (applyBrokerHttpDefaults): axios waits
+ * forever by default, and one broker request that never answers — a
+ * maintenance window that accepts the connection and goes silent — used to
+ * wedge a re-login or sync await for the life of the process. Same scoping
+ * argument as the proxy: every axios call here is broker/quote traffic, so the
+ * process default is the scoped choice. It covers axios only; websockets and
+ * the SignalR hub keep their own liveness handling in the clients.
+ *
+ * Both defaults are applied when this module loads. Every broker client
+ * imports it, and that matters: each server bundle (instrumentation.ts, the
+ * route handlers) can carry its own copy of axios, and a copy that never had
+ * the defaults applied would dial the brokers direct, with no timeout.
  */
 
 import axios from 'axios';
@@ -30,7 +43,6 @@ interface ProxyState {
     dispatcher: Dispatcher | null;
     httpAgent: Agent | null;
     httpsAgent: Agent | null;
-    applied: boolean;
 }
 
 // HMR-safe, and the "read once per process" contract lives here.
@@ -39,7 +51,7 @@ const g = globalThis as typeof globalThis & { __outboundProxy?: ProxyState };
 function state(): ProxyState {
     if (g.__outboundProxy) return g.__outboundProxy;
 
-    const s: ProxyState = { url: null, dispatcher: null, httpAgent: null, httpsAgent: null, applied: false };
+    const s: ProxyState = { url: null, dispatcher: null, httpAgent: null, httpsAgent: null };
     g.__outboundProxy = s;
 
     const raw = getSetting('proxy_url')?.trim();
@@ -49,7 +61,8 @@ function state(): ProxyState {
     try {
         url = new URL(raw);
     } catch {
-        console.error(`[proxy] proxy_url is not a URL — trading DIRECT: ${raw}`);
+        // Not echoed: the value carries the proxy's user:password.
+        console.error('[proxy] proxy_url is not a URL — trading DIRECT');
         return s;
     }
     if (!SCHEMES.includes(url.protocol as (typeof SCHEMES)[number])) {
@@ -57,22 +70,42 @@ function state(): ProxyState {
         return s;
     }
 
-    const socks = url.protocol.startsWith('socks');
-    if (socks) {
-        s.dispatcher = socksDispatcher({
-            type: 5,
-            host: url.hostname,
-            port: Number(url.port || 1080),
-            userId: url.username ? decodeURIComponent(url.username) : undefined,
-            password: url.password ? decodeURIComponent(url.password) : undefined,
-        });
-        const agent = new SocksProxyAgent(url);
-        s.httpAgent = agent;
-        s.httpsAgent = agent;
-    } else {
-        s.dispatcher = new ProxyAgent(url.href);
-        s.httpAgent = new HttpProxyAgent(url);
-        s.httpsAgent = new HttpsProxyAgent(url);
+    // A literal '%' in the user or password (one not starting a %XX escape)
+    // makes decodeURIComponent throw — here, and inside every proxy library
+    // below. Escape it so the password is used as typed. This now runs when
+    // the module loads, where a throw would fail every route that imports it.
+    const escapeStray = (part: string) => part.replace(/%(?![0-9A-Fa-f]{2})/g, '%25');
+    url.username = escapeStray(url.username);
+    url.password = escapeStray(url.password);
+
+    try {
+        const socks = url.protocol.startsWith('socks');
+        if (socks) {
+            const dispatcher = socksDispatcher({
+                type: 5,
+                host: url.hostname,
+                port: Number(url.port || 1080),
+                userId: url.username ? decodeURIComponent(url.username) : undefined,
+                password: url.password ? decodeURIComponent(url.password) : undefined,
+            });
+            const agent = new SocksProxyAgent(url);
+            s.dispatcher = dispatcher;
+            s.httpAgent = agent;
+            s.httpsAgent = agent;
+        } else {
+            const dispatcher = new ProxyAgent(url.href);
+            const httpAgent = new HttpProxyAgent(url);
+            const httpsAgent = new HttpsProxyAgent(url);
+            s.dispatcher = dispatcher;
+            s.httpAgent = httpAgent;
+            s.httpsAgent = httpsAgent;
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        // All or nothing — nothing is kept until every piece is built: half a
+        // proxy (REST proxied, sockets direct) would be worse than the
+        // documented bad-setting behavior.
+        console.error(`[proxy] proxy_url could not be set up — trading DIRECT: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
+        return s;
     }
     s.url = url;
     console.log(`[proxy] broker traffic will use ${url.protocol}//${url.host} (master link stays direct)`);
@@ -87,16 +120,52 @@ export function getProxyUrl(): string | null {
 /** Puts the proxy under every axios call. All axios usage in this app is
  *  broker/quote traffic (TopstepX, Tradovate REST, contract resolver), so the
  *  process-wide default is the scoped choice, not a global one. Idempotent;
- *  called first in the getClients() bootstrap. */
+ *  runs when this module loads and again first in the getClients() bootstrap.
+ *
+ *  "Already applied" is judged on the axios defaults themselves, not a
+ *  process-wide flag: the proxy state is shared through globalThis, but each
+ *  bundle's copy of axios has its own defaults, and a global flag set by the
+ *  first copy would leave every other one dialling direct. */
 export function applyBrokerProxy(): void {
     const s = state();
-    if (s.applied || !s.url) return;
-    s.applied = true;
+    if (!s.url || axios.defaults.httpsAgent === s.httpsAgent) return;
     axios.defaults.proxy = false; // agents own the routing; ignore env HTTP(S)_PROXY handling
     axios.defaults.httpAgent = s.httpAgent!;
     axios.defaults.httpsAgent = s.httpsAgent!;
 }
 
+/** Idle limit for one broker HTTP request. axios applies it as a socket
+ *  inactivity timeout, so it bounds a server that has gone silent, not a
+ *  big report that is still streaming. Nothing legitimate comes close: the
+ *  Tradovate report endpoints answer with a p-ticket and are polled (each
+ *  poll its own short request, already capped at 60s per call), logins and
+ *  REST calls answer in seconds. A per-call `timeout` still overrides it.
+ *
+ *  The clock starts once the socket has connected — a connect that never
+ *  completes is left to the OS connect timeout. Calls that can't wait that
+ *  long (the Tradovate login and renewal) add an AbortSignal of their own. */
+export const BROKER_HTTP_TIMEOUT_MS = 60_000;
+
+/** Gives axios a timeout unless one is already set (axios's own default, 0,
+ *  means wait forever). Idempotent; runs when this module loads and at the
+ *  top of the getClients() bootstrap. Timeouts surface as ECONNABORTED, which
+ *  the Tradovate report fetch already retries as transient. */
+export function applyBrokerHttpDefaults(): void {
+    if (!axios.defaults.timeout) axios.defaults.timeout = BROKER_HTTP_TIMEOUT_MS;
+}
+
+// At load, so no broker request from this bundle can go out before them. The
+// proxy is skipped during `next build`: the build imports route modules to
+// collect page data, and it dials nothing that would need one. Nothing may
+// throw out of here: a module that fails to load takes every route that
+// imports it (the whole trading side) down with it.
+applyBrokerHttpDefaults();
+try {
+    if (process.env.NEXT_PHASE !== 'phase-production-build') applyBrokerProxy();
+} catch (err) {
+    console.error(`[proxy] could not apply proxy_url at load: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
+}
+
 /** A websocket to a BROKER endpoint: the built-in (undici) WebSocket, dialled
  *  through the proxy when one is set. The master link keeps using plain
  *  `new WebSocket(...)` — do not use this for it. */

lib/platform-client.ts

@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ export interface PlatformClient {
 
     fetchDaysComplete: boolean;
     syncComplete: boolean;
+    /** Epoch ms of the last sync that came back good (0 = never). */
+    lastSyncAt: number;
     lastFetchErrors: Record<string, string>;
     lastFetchRaw: Record<string, string>;
     recentEntityEvents: { entityType: string; eventType: string; entity: unknown; ts: number }[];
@@ -81,6 +83,76 @@ export interface PlatformClient {
 
     disconnect(): void;
     onFill(orderId: number, callback: (fill: Record<string, unknown>) => void): void;
+    health(): ClientHealth;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Liveness snapshot of one client — what /api/health shows, what the registry
+ * supervisor judges, and the numbers to read before restarting a broken box.
+ * Timestamps are epoch ms, 0 = never. Never carries tokens or credentials.
+ */
+export interface ClientHealth {
+    platform: 'tradovate' | 'topstepx';
+    /** Holding a session token right now. */
+    authenticated: boolean;
+    /** Tradovate: socket readyState name; TopstepX: hub state. 'none' = no transport. */
+    transport: string;
+    syncComplete: boolean;
+    lastSyncAt: number;
+    lastLoginAt: number;
+    lastLoginError: string | null;
+    consecutiveLoginFailures: number;
+    /** When the next reconnect/login attempt fires (0 = none scheduled). */
+    nextReconnectAt: number;
+    tokenExpiresAt: number;
+    /** Last frame from the broker's realtime channel (socket or hub). */
+    lastInboundAt: number;
+    /** Requests still waiting on a broker answer (acks, fills). */
+    pendingRequests: number;
+    /** When the in-flight sync started (0 = none in flight). */
+    syncInFlightSince: number;
+    /** When the in-flight daily P&L report fetch started (0 = none in flight). */
+    daysFetchInFlightSince: number;
+}
+
+/** A sync older than this means positions and balances can't be traded on. */
+export const SYNC_STALE_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000;
+
+/** The one readiness rule shared by the scheduler, the supervisor and /api/health:
+ *  synced, and synced recently. */
+export function isClientReady(client: PlatformClient, now = Date.now()): boolean {
+    return client.syncComplete && client.lastSyncAt > 0 && now - client.lastSyncAt < SYNC_STALE_MS;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Thrown when a client KNOWS an order never reached the broker: no live
+ * connection, the broker refused it, or it failed before anything was sent.
+ * Anything ambiguous (a timeout waiting for an ack or a fill — it may still
+ * have filled) must stay a plain Error. The scheduler un-counts a leg only for
+ * this one, so a wrong "not placed" could let an account trade twice.
+ */
+export class OrderNotPlacedError extends Error {
+    readonly orderNotPlaced = true;
+    constructor(message: string) {
+        super(message);
+        this.name = 'OrderNotPlacedError';
+    }
+}
+
+/** Duck-typed so it survives module duplication across route bundles. */
+export function isOrderNotPlaced(err: unknown): boolean {
+    return !!err && typeof err === 'object' && (err as { orderNotPlaced?: unknown }).orderNotPlaced === true;
+}
+
+/** An error's message without the rest of it. AxiosErrors carry the request
+ *  config — Tradovate's login body (the password) and Bearer tokens — so they
+ *  must never be logged whole. */
+export function errorMessage(err: unknown): string {
+    if (!err || typeof err !== 'object') return String(err);
+    const e = err as { message?: unknown; code?: unknown; response?: { status?: unknown } };
+    const status = typeof e.response?.status === 'number' ? ` (HTTP ${e.response.status})` : '';
+    const code = typeof e.code === 'string' && !String(e.message ?? '').includes(e.code) ? ` [${e.code}]` : '';
+    return `${typeof e.message === 'string' ? e.message : String(err)}${status}${code}`;
 }
 
 /** lastFetchErrors note for a Tradovate account whose Cash History is

lib/version.ts

@@ -22,12 +22,16 @@ export interface BuildVersion {
     time: string;
 }
 
-let cached: BuildVersion | null | undefined;
+// Per process, not per bundle: instrumentation.ts and the route handlers load
+// their own copies of this module, and each would otherwise read HEAD at its own
+// first call — after an update's pull, a late first call reports code that isn't
+// running yet.
+const _g = globalThis as typeof globalThis & { __buildVersion?: BuildVersion | null };
 
 /** null when this isn't a git checkout or git isn't installed — both mean
  *  "no version to report", and the master shows the machine as an old build. */
 export function getBuildVersion(): BuildVersion | null {
-    if (cached !== undefined) return cached;
+    if (_g.__buildVersion !== undefined) return _g.__buildVersion;
     try {
         const out = execFileSync('git', ['log', '-1', '--format=%h %cI'], {
             cwd: process.cwd(),
@@ -35,9 +39,9 @@ export function getBuildVersion(): BuildVersion | null {
             stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore'],
         }).trim();
         const [commit, time] = out.split(' ');
-        cached = commit && time ? { commit, time } : null;
+        _g.__buildVersion = commit && time ? { commit, time } : null;
     } catch {
-        cached = null;
+        _g.__buildVersion = null;
     }
-    return cached;
+    return _g.__buildVersion;
 }

scripts/add-instance.sh

@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ command -v pm2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "PM2 not installed - run install-autostart
 # ── registry: create with the legacy entry, refuse duplicates, append ───────
 node - "$REGISTRY" "$PM2_NAME" "$PORT" "$DB_REL" <<'NODE'
 const { existsSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } = require('node:fs');
-const [, file, name, port, db] = process.argv;
+// `node -` puts '-' in argv[1], so the arguments start at argv[2].
+const [file, name, port, db] = process.argv.slice(2);
 const entries = existsSync(file)
     ? JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'))
     : [{ name: 'autofirmer', port: 3000, db: 'autotrader.sqlite' }];

scripts/ensure-python-deps.mjs

@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ function run(cmd, args, opts = {}) {
         cwd: ROOT,
         encoding: 'utf8',
         shell: process.platform === 'win32',
+        // The updater's worker is detached with no console, so without this
+        // every python/pip child pops a visible window on the trading desktop.
+        windowsHide: true,
         ...opts,
     });
 }

scripts/remove-instance.sh

@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ PM2_NAME="autofirmer-$N"
 
 node - "$REGISTRY" "$PM2_NAME" <<'NODE'
 const { readFileSync, writeFileSync } = require('node:fs');
-const [, file, name] = process.argv;
+// `node -` puts '-' in argv[1], so the arguments start at argv[2].
+const [file, name] = process.argv.slice(2);
 const entries = JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'));
 if (!entries.some((e) => e.name === name)) { console.error(`  [X] ${name} is not registered`); process.exit(1); }
 writeFileSync(file, JSON.stringify(entries.filter((e) => e.name !== name), null, 4) + '\n');

scripts/start-all.mjs

@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@
  *
  * Run by the "at log on" scheduled task. Safe to run by hand at any time.
  *
- * The warm-up is not cosmetic. getClients() in lib/clients.ts is lazily
- * bootstrapped — Tradovate clients, the contract resolver, the reporter and the
- * persisted-schedule resume all start inside it — so until something makes an
- * HTTP request the process sits idle and none of that happens.
+ * The warm-up used to be what started trading: getClients() in lib/clients.ts
+ * was only bootstrapped by the first HTTP request. Builds with
+ * instrumentation.ts boot it when the server starts, so the warm-up is now a
+ * readiness check — it waits for each instance to answer, loads the dashboard
+ * state once, and logs the scheduler and /api/health status. (On an older
+ * build it still does the bootstrapping, so it stays.)
  */
 import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
 import { ensurePythonDeps } from './ensure-python-deps.mjs';
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ for (const instance of loadInstances()) {
         continue;
     }
 
-    log(`warming up ${instance.name} (this is what triggers the client bootstrap)`);
+    log(`warming up ${instance.name}`);
     try {
         await fetch(`${base}/api/state`, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(60_000) });
     } catch (err) {
@@ -71,6 +73,27 @@ for (const instance of loadInstances()) {
             ? `${instance.name}: scheduler resumed — ${status.action} ${status.symbol}`
             : `${instance.name}: scheduler is stopped`);
     } catch { /* non-critical */ }
+
+    // One line of client health. Right after boot a client or two may still
+    // be logging in, so this reports; it doesn't fail the run. Builds from
+    // before /api/health answer 404 — nothing to say then.
+    try {
+        const res = await fetch(`${base}/api/health`, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10_000) });
+        if (res.status !== 404) {
+            const health = await res.json();
+            if (!res.ok) {
+                log(`${instance.name}: /api/health failed — ${health.error ?? `HTTP ${res.status}`}`);
+            } else {
+                // Firms without a client yet aren't failing to sync — same
+                // rule as the route's own `ok` (and the updater's line).
+                const clients = (Array.isArray(health.clients) ? health.clients : [])
+                    .filter((c) => c?.hasClient !== false);
+                const waiting = clients.filter((c) => !c.ready).map((c) => c.firm);
+                log(`${instance.name}: ${clients.length - waiting.length}/${clients.length} firm(s) ready`
+                    + (waiting.length > 0 ? ` — not ready yet: ${waiting.join(', ')}` : ''));
+            }
+        }
+    } catch { /* non-critical */ }
 }
 
 if (failed) process.exit(1);

scripts/update-check.mjs

@@ -1,36 +1,88 @@
 /**
- * Pull master, rebuild, restart — once per invocation.
+ * Keep this checkout on master: fetch, and when something needs doing, pull,
+ * rebuild and restart, without ever leaving a deploy half-applied.
  *
- * A scheduled task fires this every few minutes. Deliberately not a long-lived
- * loop: if a run dies, the next fire is a clean slate.
+ * PM2 fires this every minute (--no-autorestart --cron-restart, registered by
+ * install-autostart.*), and that schedule dictates the shape of the script.
+ * PM2's cron handler *restarts* the process, and a restart first stops a
+ * process that is still running: it is tree-killed at the next minute boundary.
+ * So anything that outlasts ~55 s (npm install, next build) used to die
+ * half-way through, and a kill skips `finally`. The lock stayed behind, HEAD
+ * had already moved at the pull (so the next run saw nothing to pull and never
+ * retried), and next build had already wiped .next under the live server.
  *
- * The important guarantee is that a broken push cannot take a trading PC down.
- * The build runs before anything is restarted, and a failed build stops the run
- * with the previous build still serving.
+ * Hence two halves:
  *
- *   node scripts/update-check.mjs            # normal
+ *   CHECK (no arguments; what the cron runs) takes seconds. It fetches, decides
+ *   whether anything needs doing, hands the work to a detached worker and
+ *   exits. PM2 sees the process stop on its own, so the next tick has nothing
+ *   to kill, and the worker, orphaned once this process exits, is outside the
+ *   process tree PM2 kills.
+ *
+ *   APPLY (--apply) is the worker, and is also safe to run by hand in the
+ *   foreground. It takes the lock, re-checks under it, then pulls, installs,
+ *   builds, restarts and warms up.
+ *
+ * "Needs doing" is judged against scripts/.built-commit, the commit .next was
+ * last built from, not against HEAD. HEAD moves at the pull, before the work
+ * that makes it real, so HEAD === origin says nothing about whether the build
+ * finished.
+ *
+ * A broken push still cannot take a trading PC down. The build runs before
+ * anything is restarted, the previous build is set aside first and put back if
+ * the build fails, and a failure is retried on a backoff (scripts/.update-failed)
+ * rather than every minute.
+ *
+ *   node scripts/update-check.mjs            # check; start a worker if needed
+ *   node scripts/update-check.mjs --apply    # update now, here, in the foreground
  *   node scripts/update-check.mjs --dry-run  # report only, change nothing
  */
-import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
-import { appendFileSync, existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, statSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { spawn, spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import {
+    appendFileSync, closeSync, existsSync, lstatSync, mkdirSync, openSync, readdirSync, readFileSync,
+    renameSync, rmdirSync, rmSync, statSync, unlinkSync, writeFileSync, writeSync,
+} from 'node:fs';
+import os from 'node:os';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { ensurePythonDeps } from './ensure-python-deps.mjs';
 import { loadInstances } from './instances.mjs';
 
-const ROOT = path.resolve(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..');
+const SELF = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+const ROOT = path.resolve(path.dirname(SELF), '..');
 const LOG_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', 'update.log');
+const WORKER_LOG_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', 'update-worker.log');
 const LOCK_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', '.update.lock');
 const LAST_CHECK_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', '.last-check');
+const BUILT_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', '.built-commit');
+const FAILED_FILE = path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', '.update-failed');
+const NEXT_DIR = path.join(ROOT, '.next');
+const PREV_DIR = path.join(ROOT, '.next-prev');
+const BUILD_ID_FILE = path.join(NEXT_DIR, 'BUILD_ID');
 const BRANCH = process.env.AUTOFIRMER_BRANCH ?? 'master';
 // One checkout, one build — but possibly several PM2 processes to restart and
 // warm afterwards (see scripts/instances.mjs).
 const INSTANCES = loadInstances();
+const APPLY = process.argv.includes('--apply');
 const DRY_RUN = process.argv.includes('--dry-run');
-const STALE_LOCK_MS = 60 * 60 * 1000;
+const STALE_LOCK_MS = 2 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
+const LEGACY_STALE_LOCK_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000;
+const LOCK_SETTLE_MS = 1000;
+const FIRST_RETRY_MS = 15 * 60 * 1000;
+const REPEAT_RETRY_MS = 60 * 60 * 1000;
+// Bounds on the steps that wait on something else (the network, the PM2
+// daemon). Without them a stalled one holds the worker, and the lock, until the
+// lock goes stale by age, and the worker that takes over then runs alongside
+// it. npm and next build are left unbounded: on Windows a timeout would kill
+// only the cmd.exe in front of them, and an orphaned build still writing into
+// .next is worse than a slow one.
+const FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 2 * 60 * 1000;
+const PM2_TIMEOUT_MS = 3 * 60 * 1000;
 const LOG_MAX_BYTES = 256 * 1024;
 const LOG_KEEP_LINES = 500;
 
+const short = (commit) => (commit ? commit.slice(0, 8) : 'unknown');
+
 /**
  * Keep update.log from growing without bound.
  *
@@ -68,12 +120,18 @@ function recordCheck(status) {
     } catch { /* never let bookkeeping break an update */ }
 }
 
-function run(cmd, args, { capture = false } = {}) {
+function run(cmd, args, { capture = false, timeout } = {}) {
     return spawnSync(cmd, args, {
         cwd: ROOT,
         encoding: 'utf8',
         stdio: capture ? 'pipe' : 'inherit',
         shell: process.platform === 'win32',
+        // The worker is detached, so on Windows it has no console of its own
+        // and every npm/git/pm2 child would otherwise open a visible console
+        // window on the trading desktop, stealing focus from the clicker.
+        windowsHide: true,
+        maxBuffer: 16 * 1024 * 1024,
+        timeout,
     });
 }
 
@@ -83,101 +141,696 @@ function git(...args) {
     return (r.stdout ?? '').trim();
 }
 
+/** git fetch, bounded: git sets no network timeout of its own, so a stalled
+ *  connection would otherwise wait forever (see FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS). */
+function fetchOrigin() {
+    const r = run('git', ['fetch', 'origin', BRANCH], { capture: true, timeout: FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS });
+    if (r.status === 0) return;
+    const why = r.error?.code === 'ETIMEDOUT' ? `timed out after ${FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS / 1000} s` : (r.stderr ?? '').trim();
+    throw new Error(`git fetch origin ${BRANCH} failed: ${why}`);
+}
+
+/** A complete build: BUILD_ID alone is not proof. next build writes it before
+ *  static generation, so a build killed late has one; export-marker.json is
+ *  among the last things it writes. */
+const buildComplete = (dir) => existsSync(path.join(dir, 'BUILD_ID')) && existsSync(path.join(dir, 'export-marker.json'));
+
+/** Block for a moment without an event loop turn (retries on Windows only). */
+function sleepSync(ms) {
+    Atomics.wait(new Int32Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4)), 0, 0, ms);
+}
+
+/**
+ * renameSync with the retries Windows needs. Defender or the search indexer
+ * briefly holding a handle inside the directory turns a rename into
+ * EPERM/EBUSY/EACCES, and unlike rmSync there is no maxRetries option.
+ */
+function renameWithRetries(from, to) {
+    for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
+        try {
+            renameSync(from, to);
+            return;
+        } catch (err) {
+            const transient = ['EPERM', 'EBUSY', 'EACCES'].includes(err.code);
+            if (process.platform !== 'win32' || !transient || attempt >= 10) throw err;
+            sleepSync(attempt * 200);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Delete a build directory without ever following a link out of it.
+ *
+ * .next/node_modules holds links into the real node_modules for the external
+ * packages (better-sqlite3, ws, undici, signalr) — symlinks on macOS/Linux,
+ * possibly junctions on Windows. A recursive delete that followed one would
+ * empty ROOT/node_modules/better-sqlite3, and the next restart would crash-loop
+ * until someone ran npm install. So walk the tree with lstat and unlink every
+ * link as a link (lstat reports Windows junctions as symbolic links too); only
+ * real files and directories are removed by content.
+ */
+function removeDir(dir) {
+    let st;
+    try { st = lstatSync(dir); } catch (err) { if (err.code === 'ENOENT') return; throw err; }
+    if (st.isSymbolicLink()) { removeLink(dir); return; }
+    if (!st.isDirectory()) { rmSync(dir, { force: true, maxRetries: 10, retryDelay: 200 }); return; }
+    for (const name of readdirSync(dir)) removeDir(path.join(dir, name));
+    // Now empty. Windows can briefly refuse (indexer/Defender handles).
+    for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
+        try {
+            rmdirSync(dir);
+            return;
+        } catch (err) {
+            if (err.code === 'ENOENT') return;
+            const transient = ['EPERM', 'EBUSY', 'EACCES', 'ENOTEMPTY'].includes(err.code);
+            if (process.platform !== 'win32' || !transient || attempt >= 10) throw err;
+            sleepSync(attempt * 200);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/** A symlink unlinks; a Windows junction (a directory link) needs rmdir, which
+ *  removes the link itself and never touches its target. */
+function removeLink(link) {
+    try {
+        unlinkSync(link);
+    } catch (err) {
+        if (process.platform === 'win32' && ['EPERM', 'EISDIR', 'EACCES'].includes(err.code)) rmdirSync(link);
+        else if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') throw err;
+    }
+}
+
 // ── lock ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 // A build outlasts the schedule interval, so overlapping runs are otherwise a
-// certainty rather than a risk.
-function acquireLock() {
-    if (existsSync(LOCK_FILE)) {
-        const age = Date.now() - Number(readFileSync(LOCK_FILE, 'utf8').trim() || 0);
-        if (age < STALE_LOCK_MS) return false;
-        log(`clearing a stale lock (${Math.round(age / 60000)} min old)`);
+// certainty rather than a risk. Only APPLY takes the lock; CHECK only looks.
+
+function pidAlive(pid) {
+    try {
+        process.kill(pid, 0);
+        return true;
+    } catch (err) {
+        return err.code === 'EPERM';      // exists, just not ours to signal
     }
-    writeFileSync(LOCK_FILE, String(Date.now()));
-    return true;
 }
-const releaseLock = () => { try { rmSync(LOCK_FILE, { force: true }); } catch { /* ignore */ } };
 
-async function main() {
-    mkdirSync(path.join(ROOT, 'scripts'), { recursive: true });
-    trimLog();
+/**
+ * Whether anything is left in the process group `pid` led. A worker is a group
+ * leader (startWorker spawns it detached, and a shell gives a foreground run a
+ * group of its own), and its npm and next build children are in that group, so
+ * they outlive a worker that is killed on its own. POSIX only: Windows has no
+ * process groups to ask, and says no.
+ */
+function groupAlive(pid) {
+    if (process.platform === 'win32' || pid <= 1) return false;
+    try {
+        process.kill(-pid, 0);
+        return true;
+    } catch (err) {
+        return err.code === 'EPERM';
+    }
+}
 
-    if (!DRY_RUN && !acquireLock()) {
-        console.log('another update is already running — exiting');
+/**
+ * Who holds the lock, and whether they still can. null = no lock.
+ *
+ * The pid check is what matters: a worker killed outright (or a machine
+ * rebooted mid-update) never reaches its `finally`, and waiting out an age
+ * limit would hold every later update back for it. The age limit is the
+ * backstop for a worker that is alive but wedged, and for a pid reused by an
+ * unrelated process.
+ *
+ * A dead pid is not the whole story, though. A worker killed on its own leaves
+ * its build running, still writing into .next, and a worker that took over
+ * would pull .next out from under it and start a second build into the same
+ * directory. So the lock stays held until the dead worker's process group is
+ * empty too (orphaned: true).
+ *
+ * Age and "taken before the last boot" are measured on the uptime clock the
+ * lock records, not on the wall clock. The wall clock can step by hours under
+ * a live worker: a Pi has no RTC and jumps forward at its first NTP sync after
+ * boot, and a VM resumed from a pause does the same. A jump must never make a
+ * running worker's lock look abandoned, because the worker that took over
+ * would put .next-prev back under the first one's build, and both would build
+ * and restart. Uptime only goes backwards across a reboot.
+ */
+function readLock() {
+    let raw;
+    let mtime;
+    try {
+        raw = readFileSync(LOCK_FILE, 'utf8').trim();
+        mtime = statSync(LOCK_FILE).mtimeMs;
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+    let info = null;
+    try { info = JSON.parse(raw); } catch { /* legacy, or caught between create and write */ }
+
+    if (info && typeof info === 'object' && Number.isInteger(info.pid)) {
+        const upNow = os.uptime();
+        const upThen = Number(info.uptime);
+        const hasUptime = Number.isFinite(upThen) && upThen > 0;
+        const rebooted = hasUptime && upNow < upThen;
+        const age = hasUptime && !rebooted
+            ? (upNow - upThen) * 1000
+            : Date.now() - (Number(info.startedAt) || mtime);
+        const mins = Math.round(age / 60000);
+        if (!pidAlive(info.pid)) {
+            // Nothing outlives a reboot, and the age limit caps a wedged
+            // orphaned build just as it caps a wedged worker.
+            if (!rebooted && age <= STALE_LOCK_MS && groupAlive(info.pid)) return { stale: false, pid: info.pid, age, orphaned: true };
+            return { stale: true, pid: info.pid, age, why: `pid ${info.pid} is gone, ${mins} min old` };
+        }
+        if (rebooted) return { stale: true, pid: info.pid, age, why: 'taken before the last boot' };
+        if (age > STALE_LOCK_MS) return { stale: true, pid: info.pid, age, why: `pid ${info.pid} has held it for ${mins} min` };
+        return { stale: false, pid: info.pid, age };
+    }
+
+    // The pre-worker version of this script wrote a bare Date.now(). It ran
+    // under the cron, which kills it at the next minute boundary, so one of
+    // those locks older than a few minutes was left by a killed run, and the
+    // box behind it may be sitting on a wiped .next. Waiting the old hour out
+    // before repairing it would be the wrong trade. An empty file is a new lock
+    // caught between create and write; its mtime is as good as a timestamp.
+    const since = /^\d+$/.test(raw) ? Number(raw) : mtime;
+    const age = Date.now() - since;
+    if (age < LEGACY_STALE_LOCK_MS) return { stale: false, pid: null, age };
+    return { stale: true, pid: null, age, why: `left by an older updater, ${Math.round(age / 60000)} min old` };
+}
+
+/** Whether the lock on disk names this process. */
+function ownsLock() {
+    try {
+        return JSON.parse(readFileSync(LOCK_FILE, 'utf8')).pid === process.pid;
+    } catch {
+        return false;                     // absent or unreadable: not ours
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Atomic create ('wx'), so two workers can never both believe they won.
+ *
+ * Breaking a stale lock is not atomic, though: it is a read, then a delete.
+ * Workers racing over the same stale lock (two checks at once, or a check and
+ * a by-hand --apply) each judge it stale, and a later one's delete then removes
+ * the lock an earlier one has just created, so several carry on at once. The
+ * delete follows its read at once (nothing, not even the log line, sits
+ * between them), so after a pause the file names the one worker that really
+ * holds the lock, and the rest back off.
+ */
+function acquireLock() {
+    for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 2; attempt++) {
+        try {
+            const fd = openSync(LOCK_FILE, 'wx');
+            try {
+                writeSync(fd, JSON.stringify({ pid: process.pid, startedAt: Date.now(), uptime: os.uptime() }));
+            } finally {
+                closeSync(fd);
+            }
+            sleepSync(LOCK_SETTLE_MS);
+            return ownsLock();
+        } catch (err) {
+            if (err.code !== 'EEXIST') throw err;
+        }
+        const lock = readLock();
+        if (lock && !lock.stale) return false;
+        // No lock by now means its holder just released it: nothing to delete,
+        // and a delete here could only hit a lock someone made since.
+        if (lock) {
+            rmSync(LOCK_FILE, { force: true });
+            log(`clearing a stale lock (${lock.why})`);
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+/** Remove the lock only if it is still ours. One taken over as stale belongs to its new holder. */
+function releaseLock() {
+    if (!ownsLock()) return;
+    try { rmSync(LOCK_FILE, { force: true }); } catch { /* already gone */ }
+}
+
+// ── failure record ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// scripts/.update-failed = { target, step, at, count, restart, clicker }.
+//
+// Written when an attempt STARTS and deleted when it succeeds, so a worker
+// that dies without reporting (killed, rebooted) still counts as a failed
+// attempt. Without that a crash would be retried every minute (the first one
+// is retried at once, see retryAt, but only the first). `restart`
+// marks a target whose build finished but whose restarts did not; the check
+// has no other way to see that, because .built-commit already matches.
+
+function readFailure() {
+    try {
+        const f = JSON.parse(readFileSync(FAILED_FILE, 'utf8'));
+        return f && typeof f === 'object' && typeof f.target === 'string' ? f : null;
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+function writeFailure(f) {
+    try { writeFileSync(FAILED_FILE, JSON.stringify(f) + '\n'); } catch { /* bookkeeping */ }
+}
+function clearFailure() {
+    try { rmSync(FAILED_FILE, { force: true }); } catch { /* bookkeeping */ }
+}
+/** 15 min after the first failure, an hour after repeated ones: long enough
+ *  that a deterministic failure (a broken push) doesn't rebuild every minute
+ *  on a trading PC, short enough that a transient one (network, EPERM) heals
+ *  on its own.
+ *
+ *  A first attempt that never reported (still 'started': its worker was
+ *  killed, or the machine went down under it) is retried at once instead. That
+ *  is a reboot or a person far more often than the update itself, and until
+ *  the retry the only complete build may be the one set aside in .next-prev,
+ *  where neither a restart nor a boot can find it: after a reboot mid-build
+ *  the instances would sit on a partial .next for the whole backoff. A second
+ *  death is a pattern, and waits like any other failure. */
+const retryAt = (f) => Number(f.at) + (f.count > 1 ? REPEAT_RETRY_MS : f.step === 'started' ? 0 : FIRST_RETRY_MS);
+
+// ── what is deployed ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * When HEAD last moved (epoch ms), or null when there is no way to tell.
+ * The reflog's own timestamp, not the commit date: what matters is when this
+ * checkout changed, not when the commit was written.
+ *
+ * The selector is picked out of the default output ("<hash> HEAD@{<unix>}: ...")
+ * rather than asked for with --format=%gd: on Windows this goes through cmd,
+ * and a % on a cmd command line is one typo away from variable expansion. A
+ * git too old for --date=unix prints HEAD@{0}, which would read as "HEAD never
+ * moved" and adopt anything, hence the sanity bound.
+ */
+function headMovedAt() {
+    try {
+        const m = /HEAD@\{(\d+)\}/.exec(git('reflog', '-1', '--date=unix'));
+        if (m && Number(m[1]) > 1e9) return Number(m[1]) * 1000;
+    } catch { /* no reflog: fall through */ }
+    try {
+        const head = readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, '.git', 'HEAD'), 'utf8').trim();
+        const ref = /^ref: (.+)$/.exec(head)?.[1];
+        return statSync(path.join(ROOT, '.git', ref ?? 'HEAD')).mtimeMs;
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Names of this checkout's PM2 instances that started before `ms`, i.e. still
+ * running code from before the build on disk. Empty when PM2 can't be asked:
+ * this only sharpens a heuristic and must never block an update.
+ */
+function instancesStartedBefore(ms) {
+    const r = run('pm2', ['jlist'], { capture: true, timeout: 30_000 });
+    if (r.status !== 0) return [];
+    // jlist prints the process list as one JSON line, possibly after "[PM2] ..." chatter.
+    const line = (r.stdout ?? '').split('\n').find((l) => /^\s*\[\s*[{\]]/.test(l));
+    let procs;
+    try { procs = JSON.parse(line); } catch { return []; }
+    if (!Array.isArray(procs)) return [];
+    const names = new Set(INSTANCES.map((i) => i.name));
+    return procs
+        .filter((p) => names.has(p?.name) && p.pm2_env?.status === 'online' && Number(p.pm2_env.pm_uptime) < ms)
+        .map((p) => p.name);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The commit .next was built from: { commit } or { commit: null, why }.
+ *
+ * scripts/.built-commit is written only after `npm run build` succeeds. When it
+ * is absent (every machine, the first time this version runs) the build on
+ * disk is judged instead. Adopting it as HEAD avoids a pointless rebuild and
+ * restart on every healthy machine. Anything doubtful counts as unknown, and
+ * unknown means rebuild. That is what rescues machines the old updater
+ * stranded: their HEAD already equals origin, but their build is stale,
+ * partial or missing.
+ */
+function builtCommit(head, { adopt }) {
+    try {
+        const recorded = readFileSync(BUILT_FILE, 'utf8').trim();
+        if (/^[0-9a-f]{40}([0-9a-f]{24})?$/.test(recorded)) return { commit: recorded };
+    } catch { /* absent: first run of this version on this machine */ }
+
+    if (!buildComplete(NEXT_DIR)) return { commit: null, why: 'no complete build on disk' };
+    const builtAt = statSync(BUILD_ID_FILE).mtimeMs;
+    const movedAt = headMovedAt();
+    if (movedAt === null) return { commit: null, why: 'cannot tell when HEAD last moved' };
+    if (builtAt < movedAt) return { commit: null, why: 'the build on disk is older than HEAD' };
+    // Built after HEAD moved, but a run killed between the build and the
+    // restarts leaves the old processes serving the new .next.
+    const behind = instancesStartedBefore(builtAt);
+    if (behind.length) return { commit: null, why: `${behind.join(', ')} started before the build on disk` };
+
+    if (adopt) {
+        writeFileSync(BUILT_FILE, head + '\n');
+        log(`adopted the build on disk as ${short(head)} (first run with scripts/.built-commit)`);
+    }
+    return { commit: head };
+}
+
+function isAncestor(a, b) {
+    const r = run('git', ['merge-base', '--is-ancestor', a, b], { capture: true });
+    if (r.status === 0) return true;
+    if (r.status === 1) return false;
+    throw new Error(`git merge-base failed: ${(r.stderr ?? '').trim()}`);
+}
+
+/** Files changed from→to, or null when `from` is unknown (treat everything as changed). */
+function changedFiles(from, to) {
+    if (!from) return null;
+    if (from === to) return [];
+    try {
+        return git('diff', '--name-only', from, to).split('\n').filter(Boolean);
+    } catch {
+        return null;                                     // e.g. the recorded commit is gone
+    }
+}
+
+/** Fetch and work out what, if anything, needs doing. Shared by CHECK and APPLY. */
+function inspect({ adopt }) {
+    fetchOrigin();
+    const local = git('rev-parse', 'HEAD');
+    const remote = git('rev-parse', `origin/${BRANCH}`);
+    // A checkout AHEAD of origin (a commit made on this machine) has nothing to
+    // pull. `pull --ff-only` would "succeed" as a no-op and the old updater then
+    // rebuilt and restarted on every tick.
+    const needsPull = local !== remote && !isAncestor(remote, local);
+    const target = needsPull ? remote : local;
+    const built = builtCommit(local, { adopt });
+    // Complete, not merely present: a build of the SAME commit killed after
+    // BUILD_ID was written (a by-hand `npm run build`, or a worker redoing a
+    // missing build) would otherwise pass for up to date indefinitely.
+    const buildMissing = !buildComplete(NEXT_DIR);
+    const needsBuild = built.commit !== target || buildMissing;
+    const failed = readFailure();
+    const pending = failed?.target === target ? failed : null;
+    const needsRestart = !needsBuild && pending?.restart === true;
+    return { local, remote, target, needsPull, built, buildMissing, needsBuild, needsRestart, pending };
+}
+
+function describe(plan) {
+    if (plan.needsPull) return `${short(plan.local)} -> ${short(plan.remote)}`;
+    if (plan.needsBuild) {
+        const why = plan.buildMissing ? 'no complete build on disk' : plan.built.why ?? `last built ${short(plan.built.commit)}`;
+        return `rebuild ${short(plan.target)} (${why})`;
+    }
+    return `restart onto ${short(plan.target)} (the last restart did not complete)`;
+}
+
+/** Which of the optional steps this plan needs. */
+function workFor(plan) {
+    const changed = changedFiles(plan.built.commit, plan.target);
+    const touched = (f) => changed === null || changed.includes(f);
+    return {
+        changed,
+        npmInstall: plan.needsBuild && touched('package-lock.json'),
+        pythonDeps: plan.needsBuild && touched('clicker/requirements.txt'),
+        restartClicker: plan.needsBuild
+            ? changed === null || changed.some((f) => f.startsWith('clicker/'))
+            : plan.needsRestart && plan.pending?.clicker === true,
+    };
+}
+
+// ── build ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * npm run build, with the previous build set aside so a failure can be undone.
+ *
+ * next build empties .next as its first step, under the live server, whatever
+ * we do. Renaming it to .next-prev first costs nothing extra, and it means a
+ * FAILED build can be rolled back instead of leaving the box on a half-written
+ * .next that a restart or a reboot would then crash-loop on. When the rename
+ * is refused (Windows, something holding a handle), build in place without a
+ * safety net rather than not update at all.
+ */
+function build() {
+    // A worker that died between setting the old build aside and putting it
+    // back leaves the only complete build in .next-prev. Restore it first, or
+    // the cleanup below would delete it. If it can't be put back, it stays
+    // where it is (clearing it would leave no complete build anywhere), this
+    // build runs in place, and a failure tries the restore once more.
+    let prevIsOnlyBuild = false;
+    if (buildComplete(PREV_DIR) && !buildComplete(NEXT_DIR)) {
+        try {
+            removeDir(NEXT_DIR);
+            renameWithRetries(PREV_DIR, NEXT_DIR);
+            log('put back the previous build left in .next-prev by an interrupted update');
+        } catch (err) {
+            prevIsOnlyBuild = true;
+            log(`could not put back .next-prev (${err.code ?? err.message}) — leaving it there and building in place`);
+        }
+    }
+
+    let backedUp = false;
+    const hadBuild = existsSync(NEXT_DIR);
+    if (hadBuild && !prevIsOnlyBuild) {
+        try {
+            removeDir(PREV_DIR);
+            renameWithRetries(NEXT_DIR, PREV_DIR);
+            backedUp = true;
+        } catch (err) {
+            log(`could not set the previous build aside (${err.code ?? err.message}) — building in place, no rollback this time`);
+        }
+    }
+    // next build keeps .next/cache (the incremental type-check state among it)
+    // from one build to the next. Carry it over so setting .next aside doesn't
+    // make every build a cold one. Best effort: without it a build is only
+    // slower. Not carried back on failure, so a retry starts from a clean cache.
+    if (backedUp) {
+        try {
+            mkdirSync(NEXT_DIR);
+            renameSync(path.join(PREV_DIR, 'cache'), path.join(NEXT_DIR, 'cache'));
+        } catch { /* a cold build */ }
+    }
+
+    log('building');
+    if (run('npm', ['run', 'build']).status === 0) return true;
+
+    if (backedUp || prevIsOnlyBuild) {
+        try {
+            removeDir(NEXT_DIR);
+            renameWithRetries(PREV_DIR, NEXT_DIR);
+            log('build failed — restored the previous build');
+        } catch (err) {
+            log(`build failed, and restoring the previous build failed too (${err.code ?? err.message}) — it is still in .next-prev`);
+        }
+    } else if (hadBuild) {
+        log('build failed — it ran in place, so there is no previous build to restore');
+    } else {
+        log('build failed — there was no previous build to restore');
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+function removePrevBuild() {
+    if (!existsSync(PREV_DIR)) return;
+    try {
+        removeDir(PREV_DIR);
+    } catch (err) {
+        log(`could not remove .next-prev (${err.code ?? err.message}) — the next build clears it`);
+    }
+}
+
+// ── check ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * Start `update-check.mjs --apply` detached, logging to update-worker.log.
+ * The log is truncated per run: it holds the full npm/next output of the
+ * latest attempt, the first place to look when one fails.
+ */
+function startWorker() {
+    let out = 'ignore';
+    try { out = openSync(WORKER_LOG_FILE, 'w'); } catch { /* run it without a log rather than not at all */ }
+    try {
+        const child = spawn(process.execPath, [SELF, '--apply'], {
+            cwd: ROOT,
+            detached: true,
+            windowsHide: true,
+            stdio: ['ignore', out, out],
+        });
+        child.on('error', () => { /* surfaces below as the missing pid */ });
+        child.unref();
+        if (!child.pid) throw new Error('could not start the update worker');
+        return child.pid;
+    } finally {
+        if (typeof out === 'number') closeSync(out);
+    }
+}
+
+function dryRunReport(plan) {
+    const work = workFor(plan);
+    log(`update available: ${describe(plan)}`);
+    if (work.changed) log(`${work.changed.length} file(s) changed since the last build`);
+    log('dry run — stopping before any change');
+    const restarts = plan.needsBuild || plan.needsRestart;
+    log(`would run: ${[
+        plan.needsPull && 'git pull --ff-only',
+        work.npmInstall && 'npm install',
+        work.pythonDeps && 'pip install',
+        plan.needsBuild && 'npm run build',
+        ...(restarts ? INSTANCES.map((i) => `pm2 restart ${i.name}`) : []),
+        work.restartClicker && 'pm2 restart clicker',
+    ].filter(Boolean).join(', ')}`);
+    if (plan.pending) {
+        log(`last attempt at ${short(plan.target)}: ${plan.pending.step} (attempt ${plan.pending.count}); next automatic try after ${new Date(retryAt(plan.pending)).toISOString()}`);
+    }
+}
+
+function check() {
+    const lock = readLock();
+    if (lock && !lock.stale) {
+        const who = !lock.pid ? 'an older updater'
+            : lock.orphaned ? `the build left by dead worker pid ${lock.pid}`
+            : `worker pid ${lock.pid}`;
+        console.log(`an update is already running (${who}) — exiting`);
+        if (!DRY_RUN) recordCheck(`update in progress (${who}, ${Math.round(lock.age / 60000)} min)`);
         return 0;
     }
 
-    let outcome = 'interrupted';
-
+    let outcome = null;
     try {
-        git('fetch', 'origin', BRANCH);
-        const local = git('rev-parse', 'HEAD');
-        const remote = git('rev-parse', `origin/${BRANCH}`);
-
-        if (local === remote) {
-            outcome = `up to date at ${local.slice(0, 8)}`;
-            return 0;                                       // silent in the log by design
-        }
-
-        log(`update available: ${local.slice(0, 8)} -> ${remote.slice(0, 8)}`);
-        const changed = git('diff', '--name-only', local, remote).split('\n').filter(Boolean);
-        log(`${changed.length} file(s) changed`);
-
-        if (DRY_RUN) {
-            log('dry run — stopping before any change');
-            log(`would run: ${[
-                changed.includes('package-lock.json') && 'npm install',
-                changed.includes('clicker/requirements.txt') && 'pip install',
-                'npm run build',
-                ...INSTANCES.map((i) => `pm2 restart ${i.name}`),
-                changed.some((f) => f.startsWith('clicker/')) && 'pm2 restart clicker',
-            ].filter(Boolean).join(', ')}`);
+        const plan = inspect({ adopt: !DRY_RUN });
+        if (!plan.needsPull && !plan.needsBuild && !plan.needsRestart) {
+            outcome = `up to date at ${short(plan.target)}`;    // silent in the log by design
+            if (DRY_RUN) console.log(outcome);
             return 0;
         }
-
-        git('pull', '--ff-only', 'origin', BRANCH);
-
-        if (changed.includes('package-lock.json')) {
-            log('package-lock.json changed — npm install');
-            if (run('npm', ['install']).status !== 0) { log('ABORTED: npm install failed'); outcome = 'npm install failed'; return 1; }
+        if (DRY_RUN) {
+            dryRunReport(plan);
+            return 0;
         }
-
-        if (changed.includes('clicker/requirements.txt')) {
-            log('clicker/requirements.txt changed — refreshing python deps');
-            ensurePythonDeps({ log: (m) => log(m) });        // non-fatal by design
+        // Silent in update.log too: the failure itself was logged once, and a
+        // line a minute until the retry would bury it.
+        if (plan.pending && Date.now() < retryAt(plan.pending)) {
+            outcome = `waiting to retry ${short(plan.target)}: ${plan.pending.step} (attempt ${plan.pending.count}), next try after ${new Date(retryAt(plan.pending)).toISOString()}`;
+            return 0;
         }
-
-        // Build BEFORE restarting. A failed build leaves the running process
-        // untouched, which is the whole point of doing it in this order.
-        log('building');
-        if (run('npm', ['run', 'build']).status !== 0) {
-            log('ABORTED: build failed — the previous build is still serving, nothing was restarted');
-            outcome = 'build failed — not deployed';
-            return 1;
-        }
-
-        for (const instance of INSTANCES) {
-            log(`restarting ${instance.name}`);
-            if (run('pm2', ['restart', instance.name]).status !== 0) { log(`pm2 restart ${instance.name} failed`); outcome = 'pm2 restart failed'; return 1; }
-        }
-
-        if (changed.some((f) => f.startsWith('clicker/'))) {
-            log('clicker changed — restarting it too');
-            run('pm2', ['restart', 'clicker']);
-        }
-
-        await warmUp();
-        log(`updated to ${remote.slice(0, 8)}`);
-        outcome = `updated to ${remote.slice(0, 8)}`;
+        const pid = startWorker();
+        log(`update available: ${describe(plan)} — started worker pid ${pid}`);
+        outcome = `worker pid ${pid} started: ${describe(plan)}`;
         return 0;
     } catch (err) {
         log(`ERROR: ${err.message}`);
         outcome = `ERROR: ${err.message}`;
         return 1;
     } finally {
-        if (!DRY_RUN) {
-            releaseLock();
-            recordCheck(outcome);
+        if (!DRY_RUN && outcome) recordCheck(outcome);
+    }
+}
+
+// ── apply ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+/**
+ * A kill skips `finally`, so the lock is released here too. The next check
+ * then retries after the usual backoff instead of waiting out a stale lock.
+ * Node runs this on the event loop, so it never lands in the middle of a
+ * spawnSync. An interrupted build still comes back through build()'s restore.
+ */
+function interrupted(signal) {
+    log(`${signal} — stopping; lock released${readFailure() ? ', the next check retries after the backoff' : ''}`);
+    releaseLock();
+    recordCheck(`interrupted by ${signal}`);
+    process.exit(1);
+}
+
+async function apply() {
+    let locked;
+    try {
+        locked = acquireLock();
+    } catch (err) {
+        log(`ERROR: could not take the update lock: ${err.message}`);
+        return 1;
+    }
+    if (!locked) {
+        console.log('another update is already running — exiting');
+        return 0;
+    }
+    for (const signal of ['SIGINT', 'SIGTERM', 'SIGHUP']) process.on(signal, () => interrupted(signal));
+
+    let outcome = 'interrupted';
+    let attempt = null;
+    const abort = (step, why) => {
+        log(`ABORTED: ${why}`);
+        outcome = why;
+        if (attempt) writeFailure({ ...attempt, step, at: Date.now() });
+        return 1;
+    };
+
+    try {
+        const plan = inspect({ adopt: true });
+        if (!plan.needsPull && !plan.needsBuild && !plan.needsRestart) {
+            outcome = `up to date at ${short(plan.target)}`;
+            clearFailure();
+            return 0;
         }
+        const { target } = plan;
+        const work = workFor(plan);
+        const because = (what) => (work.changed ? `${what} changed` : 'last build unknown');
+        attempt = {
+            target,
+            step: 'started',
+            at: Date.now(),
+            count: (plan.pending?.count ?? 0) + 1,
+            restart: plan.needsRestart,
+            clicker: plan.needsRestart && plan.pending?.clicker === true,
+        };
+        writeFailure(attempt);
+
+        log(`applying ${describe(plan)} (worker pid ${process.pid}, attempt ${attempt.count})`);
+        if (work.changed) log(`${work.changed.length} file(s) changed since the last build`);
+        else if (plan.needsBuild) log('last build unknown — treating every file as changed');
+
+        // The exact commit the check saw, not whatever `git pull` would fetch now.
+        if (plan.needsPull && run('git', ['merge', '--ff-only', target]).status !== 0) {
+            return abort('pull', `git pull --ff-only to ${short(target)} failed — see scripts/update-worker.log`);
+        }
+
+        if (plan.needsBuild) {
+            if (work.npmInstall) {
+                log(`${because('package-lock.json')} — npm install`);
+                if (run('npm', ['install']).status !== 0) return abort('npm install', 'npm install failed — nothing was built or restarted');
+            }
+            if (work.pythonDeps) {
+                log(`${because('clicker/requirements.txt')} — refreshing python deps`);
+                ensurePythonDeps({ log: (m) => log(m) });        // non-fatal by design
+            }
+
+            // Build BEFORE restarting. A failed build leaves the running process
+            // untouched, which is the whole point of doing it in this order.
+            if (!build()) return abort('build', 'build failed — not deployed, nothing was restarted');
+
+            // .built-commit says what .next holds, so it changes the moment .next
+            // does. From here a failed restart must not rebuild, only restart,
+            // which the `restart` flag on the attempt tells the next check.
+            writeFileSync(BUILT_FILE, target + '\n');
+            attempt = { ...attempt, step: 'restart', at: Date.now(), restart: true, clicker: work.restartClicker };
+            writeFailure(attempt);
+        }
+
+        if (plan.needsBuild || plan.needsRestart) {
+            for (const instance of INSTANCES) {
+                log(`restarting ${instance.name}`);
+                if (run('pm2', ['restart', instance.name], { timeout: PM2_TIMEOUT_MS }).status !== 0) return abort('restart', `pm2 restart ${instance.name} failed`);
+            }
+            if (work.restartClicker) {
+                log(`${because('clicker')} — restarting it too`);
+                run('pm2', ['restart', 'clicker'], { timeout: PM2_TIMEOUT_MS });
+            }
+        }
+
+        removePrevBuild();
+        clearFailure();
+        await warmUp();
+        log(`updated to ${short(target)}`);
+        outcome = `updated to ${short(target)}`;
+        return 0;
+    } catch (err) {
+        log(`ERROR: ${err.message}`);
+        outcome = `ERROR: ${err.message}`;
+        if (attempt) writeFailure({ ...attempt, step: 'error', at: Date.now() });
+        return 1;
+    } finally {
+        releaseLock();
+        recordCheck(outcome);
     }
 }
 
@@ -205,7 +858,47 @@ async function warmUp() {
         } catch (err) {
             log(`${instance.name}: post-restart check failed: ${err.message}`);
         }
+        await logHealth(instance, base);
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * One line from /api/health, when the build has it. Informational only: right
+ * after a restart the clients may not have synced yet, so this never fails an
+ * update. Parsed loosely, because the endpoint may be newer than this script.
+ */
+async function logHealth(instance, base) {
+    let res;
+    try {
+        res = await fetch(`${base}/api/health`, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10_000) });
+    } catch {
+        return;
+    }
+    if (res.status === 404) return;                     // a build from before the endpoint
+    let body = null;
+    try { body = await res.json(); } catch { /* not JSON: the status alone */ }
+    const parts = [`HTTP ${res.status}`];
+    if (typeof body?.ok === 'boolean') parts.push(body.ok ? 'ok' : 'NOT ok');
+    // A tradable firm with no client (no credentials yet) is listed with
+    // hasClient: false and is not something that failed to sync.
+    const listed = Array.isArray(body?.clients) ? body.clients : Array.isArray(body) ? body : null;
+    const clients = listed?.filter((c) => c?.hasClient !== false);
+    if (clients) {
+        const now = Date.now();
+        const ready = clients.filter((c) => {
+            if (typeof c?.ready === 'boolean') return c.ready;
+            const h = c?.health ?? c;
+            return h?.syncComplete === true && h.lastSyncAt > 0 && now - h.lastSyncAt < 5 * 60_000;
+        }).length;
+        parts.push(`${ready}/${clients.length} client(s) synced`);
+    }
+    log(`${instance.name}: health ${parts.join(', ')}`);
+}
+
+async function main() {
+    mkdirSync(path.join(ROOT, 'scripts'), { recursive: true });
+    trimLog();
+    return APPLY && !DRY_RUN ? apply() : check();
+}
+
 process.exit(await main());