From 7c6fa32c482c92e1a743ca9089c39f73f132fd4f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dotta <bippadotta@protonmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2026 14:43:18 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(server): compare lock identity schemes safely

Fall back to the token heartbeat when process-start marker representations differ instead of evicting a live owner.

Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
---
 .../agent-instructions-service.test.ts        | 52 ++++++++++++++++++-
 server/src/services/agent-instructions.ts     | 14 ++++-
 2 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/server/src/__tests__/agent-instructions-service.test.ts b/server/src/__tests__/agent-instructions-service.test.ts
index ad4260f1cd8..2add6e67169 100644
--- a/server/src/__tests__/agent-instructions-service.test.ts
+++ b/server/src/__tests__/agent-instructions-service.test.ts
@@ -552,7 +552,9 @@ describe("agent instructions service", () => {
       `${JSON.stringify({
         pid: process.pid,
         token,
-        processStartMarker: "not-the-current-process-start",
+        processStartMarker: process.platform === "linux"
+          ? "linux:not-the-current-process-start"
+          : "ps:not-the-current-process-start",
         createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
       })}\n`,
       "utf8",
@@ -565,6 +567,54 @@ describe("agent instructions service", () => {
     await expect(fs.stat(lockPath)).rejects.toThrow();
   });
 
+  it.skipIf(process.platform !== "linux")(
+    "does not evict a live lock when process identity falls back to another scheme",
+    async () => {
+      const paperclipHome = await makeTempDir("paperclip-agent-instructions-marker-fallback-");
+      cleanupDirs.add(paperclipHome);
+      process.env.PAPERCLIP_HOME = paperclipHome;
+      process.env.PAPERCLIP_INSTANCE_ID = "test-instance";
+      const svc = agentInstructionsService();
+      const agent = makeAgent({});
+      const managedRoot = path.join(
+        paperclipHome,
+        "instances",
+        "test-instance",
+        "companies",
+        "company-1",
+        "agents",
+        "agent-1",
+        "instructions",
+      );
+      const lockPath = `${managedRoot}.paperclip-materialize.lock`;
+      const token = "00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000";
+      await fs.mkdir(lockPath, { recursive: true });
+      await fs.writeFile(
+        path.join(lockPath, "owner.json"),
+        `${JSON.stringify({
+          pid: process.pid,
+          token,
+          processStartMarker: "ps:same-live-process-in-another-format",
+          createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+        })}\n`,
+        "utf8",
+      );
+      await fs.writeFile(path.join(lockPath, `heartbeat-${token}`), "", "utf8");
+
+      const materialization = svc.materializeManagedBundle(agent, { "AGENTS.md": "# Stock\n" });
+      const firstOutcome = await Promise.race([
+        materialization.then(() => "materialized"),
+        new Promise<"waiting">((resolve) => setTimeout(() => resolve("waiting"), 75)),
+      ]);
+
+      expect(firstOutcome).toBe("waiting");
+      await fs.rm(lockPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      await expect(materialization).resolves.toMatchObject({
+        materialization: { action: "added" },
+      });
+    },
+  );
+
   it("canonicalizes line endings and ignores transient files when classifying drift", async () => {
     const paperclipHome = await makeTempDir("paperclip-agent-instructions-canonical-");
     cleanupDirs.add(paperclipHome);
diff --git a/server/src/services/agent-instructions.ts b/server/src/services/agent-instructions.ts
index e0c9da701cd..a7610e9eec3 100644
--- a/server/src/services/agent-instructions.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/agent-instructions.ts
@@ -223,6 +223,14 @@ async function managedBundleLockAgeMs(targetPath: string): Promise<number> {
   return stat ? Date.now() - stat.mtimeMs : Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
 }
 
+function processStartMarkersComparable(left: string, right: string): boolean {
+  const leftSeparator = left.indexOf(":");
+  const rightSeparator = right.indexOf(":");
+  return leftSeparator > 0
+    && rightSeparator > 0
+    && left.slice(0, leftSeparator) === right.slice(0, rightSeparator);
+}
+
 async function removeStaleManagedBundleLock(lockPath: string): Promise<boolean> {
   let shouldRemove = false;
   try {
@@ -242,7 +250,11 @@ async function removeStaleManagedBundleLock(lockPath: string): Promise<boolean>
         ? owner.processStartMarker
         : null;
       const currentStart = await processStartMarker(pid);
-      if (recordedStart && currentStart) {
+      if (
+        recordedStart
+        && currentStart
+        && processStartMarkersComparable(recordedStart, currentStart)
+      ) {
         shouldRemove = recordedStart !== currentStart;
       } else if (token) {
         shouldRemove = await managedBundleLockAgeMs(