v7.1.1: statusline caches host-local data in synced MEMORY/STATE — Syncthing conflict spam on multi-host

[gangwaydigital]

Version: 7.1.1 (macOS, multi-host / Syncthing setup)

Summary

LIFEOS_StatusLine.sh writes host-local ephemeral caches into LIFEOS/MEMORY/STATE/ — a directory that is commonly Syncthing-synced between hosts. On a two-host setup (a primary DA host + a second/worker client), both machines' statuslines write the same synced files on every render, so Syncthing produces a stream of *.sync-conflict-* files.

Evidence

On a second host (neo) synced to the primary (ai), after bringing the statusline online, MEMORY/STATE/ accumulated conflict files on nearly every render:

MEMORY/STATE/model-cache.sync-conflict-20260729-160943-<id>.txt
MEMORY/STATE/model-cache.sync-conflict-20260729-162020-<id>.txt
MEMORY/STATE/model-cache.sync-conflict-20260729-165624-<id>.txt
MEMORY/STATE/model-cache.sync-conflict-20260729-170132-<id>.txt

Affected caches (host-local data in a synced dir)

Statusline-owned, self-contained (written + read only by the statusline):

• MEMORY/STATE/model-cache.txt
• MEMORY/STATE/location-cache.json
• MEMORY/STATE/weather-cache.json
• MEMORY/STATE/cc-version-cache.txt

Also host-local but shared with other components (hooks/tools), so they conflict too but need a coordinated move: session-name-cache.sh, learning-cache.sh, capabilities-statusline.txt, session-names.json.

Note: USAGE_CACHE/USAGE_LOCK already correctly live in /tmp — that's the right pattern; the other caches just didn't follow it.

Impact

Endless *.sync-conflict-* noise in the synced MEMORY tree on any multi-host install. Data isn't lost (the caches are trivially re-derivable), but the tree fills with conflict artifacts and it defeats the "one primary writer" model for MEMORY.

Proposed fix

Move the statusline's host-local caches out of the synced MEMORY/STATE into a host-local dir, e.g.:

STATUSLINE_LOCAL_STATE="${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/lifeos-statusline"
mkdir -p "$STATUSLINE_LOCAL_STATE"
MODEL_CACHE="$STATUSLINE_LOCAL_STATE/model-cache.txt"
# ...location/weather/cc-version likewise

The cross-component caches (session-name-cache, learning-cache, capabilities-statusline, session-names) need the same treatment applied at every writer, not just the statusline.

Local workaround applied on neo

Repointed the 4 self-contained caches (model/location/weather/cc-version) to $HOME/.cache/lifeos-statusline; verified the statusline now writes there and no longer touches the synced file.

[gangwaydigital]

A DRY fix approach, verified on a 2-host (Syncthing) setup: since TOOLS already cross-import from hooks/lib (e.g. lifeos.ts imports hooks/lib/identity), a single helper in hooks/lib/paths.ts covers both hooks and tools —

export function lifeosCachePath(...segments: string[]): string {
  const dir = join(process.env.XDG_CACHE_HOME || join(homedir(), '.cache'), 'lifeos-statusline');
  mkdirSync(dir, { recursive: true });
  return join(dir, ...segments);
}

Then repoint every reader+writer of the host-local caches (model/location/weather/cc-version/session-name-cache/learning-cache/capabilities/session-names). The statusline uses the matching ${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/lifeos-statusline. Result: conflicts stop and each host keeps independent caches.