Retro: Phase 0 — Scaffold + TestPrism + Bootstrap UX

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What Worked

• Manifest-return pattern (ADR-008) — clean separation, idempotent retries
• Atomic config writes with .bak.<ts> (ADR-009/010) — zero corrupted configs
• Idempotent FS-MCP path injection — agents call freely without state reasoning
• Dev API key bypass gated by ENVIRONMENT=development (ADR-005)
• Porting builtin.ts instead of redesigning the tree (ADR-011)
• One-shot start-backend.ps1 kept dev loop tight

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What Didn’t

• last_used_at on API keys never persists on GET routes — commit skipped
• Initial install.py before the TS pivot — threw away ~200 LOC
• Asking ‘which one next?’ mid-build — violated AI FIRST mandate
• Implying Frank should extend the CLI — never frame work as a developer task
• Misnamed initial PIDs in TestPrism smoke — decide identity authority on day one
• Claude Desktop launches MCP servers with CWD = system32 — silent server

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Lessons

• [project] L1 — GET handlers need explicit commits when they update audit fields
• [project] L2 — All future scaffolders must port from a known-good source rather than redesign
• [project] L3 — Every config edit through .bak.<ts> + atomic replace, no exceptions
• [project] L4 — Server mints all identifiers (PIDs, IDs, slugs). Never accept from client
• [global] G1 — CLI runtime tracks the editor ecosystem, not the backend
• [global] G2 — AI FIRST and AI ONLY extends P2. When queue is clear, agent executes without asking