# The war stories > For agents: start with the [agent guide](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt). Every page is Markdown by default; add `Accept: text/html` for HTML. New on /news: [effect-discord-perms](/news). A [deploy rolls itself back](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/223) while the site is serving 200. Five freshly published pages return to 404. That is one of [ShitRat](/lore/shitrat)'s repo-side war stories. The dates below belong to the public records; the passages marked **Legend has it…** belong to the rat. ## The deploy that mugged itself November 7, 2026. [PR #223](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/223) and [PR #226](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/226). The site serves 200, but [the deploying machine records 15 client-side transport errors among 1,445 observations](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/223). The watch treats those status-0 results as failed routes, restores the old Cloudflare Worker versions, and sends five new pages back to 404. The first fix retries transport errors and records them separately; real non-200 responses fail after the first cycle that sees them. The follow-up requires two consecutive unreachable cycles and fails a completed watch when transport errors exceed 5% of observations. It also fails early if even a healthy continuation leaves the final ratio above the limit. **Legend has it…** the smoke alarm ate five rooms and invoiced the kettle. The rat now asks whether the house is burning before giving the alarm a sledgehammer. ## Congratulations, your program exploded November 7, 2026. [PR #220](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/220). A failed [code mode](/lore/one-program-can-replace-several-tool-calls) program returns HTTP 200 with a `diagnostic` field. A client trusting the status therefore reads failure as success. The fix returns HTTP 422 with a typed `ExecuteError`; successful programs keep 200 and lose `diagnostic: null`. The deployment checks change alongside the response, because an old check would reject the new shape and roll it back. A generated-program test checks failure reporting across HTTP, [MCP](/lore/mcp-is-another-surface), [RPC](/lore/one-capability-every-surface), and the CLI; restoring the false 200 makes it fail. **Legend has it…** the rat arrives at casualty wearing a badge that says 200 OK. The nurse changes it to 422 and keeps the scissors. ## Mischief changes the brass plate October 10, 2026. [Rename commit](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/commit/246600bd53978883a6a4c1f5a6ff45e3f1ff2f0c). The code moves from `apps/mischief` to `apps/site`, and the package becomes `@rat-stack/site`. The commit calls this “Mechanical path updates only.” [Alchemy](/skills/learn-alchemy) resource IDs, Worker names, and TypeScript symbols keep their names, so Mischief survives the move. **Legend has it…** Mischief orders new business cards, eats the box, and answers to the old name when the bailiff calls. ## The demolition manual gets road-tested November 7, 2026. [PR #221](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/221). The homepage promises removal checklists, but the README covers only seven cuts. The fix carries out each new tested cut in a scratch branch until `pnpm turbo run check test build` passes. The checklists record the edits that worked; none of those scratch removals land. Four parts of the content build get conditional Keep entries explaining their callers and what removal would lose. The homepage also starts naming which packages go together. **Legend has it…** the rat follows the flat-pack instructions backwards to establish which screws are structural. The wardrobe has requested a witness. ## The ceiling gets an expiry date November 2, 2026. [Dependency-bump commit](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/commit/2623f8fd0192fa1e4d0462f27bde8f4e9341cdf4) and [the startup record](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/7511fdd2c7f2fa607cff1a22a1cba6f0bdeb3220/apps/site/STARTUP.md#temporary-raise-alchemy-beta85-and-effect-41). [Repo law](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/7511fdd2c7f2fa607cff1a22a1cba6f0bdeb3220/AGENTS.md) says of startup ceilings: “Never raise them to accept growth.” The dependency bump grows both startup sets, but loading [MCP](/lore/mcp-is-another-surface) on demand brings Mischief below its previous size. Its ceiling drops from 1,247,000 to 1,114,000 bytes. LearnFeedbackAuth has no MCP endpoint; its one recorded exception raises the ceiling by 60,000 bytes to 1,516,000. The exception expires when Alchemy ships the bridge fix or on November 16, 2026, whichever comes first. **Legend has it…** the building inspector finds a rat holding the ceiling up with a broom. The broom has a removal date. The rat has read it several times. ## Two accountants disagree about the shed November 5, 2026. [PR #212](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/212). Two typecheckers disagree about which imported files receive [Effect](/lore/effect-basics) diagnostics. Patched `tsc` reports those diagnostics throughout the program; `effect-tsrs` reports them only in each project's included files. The root and infrastructure projects therefore get different pass/fail answers. The fix allows exactly the reported modules in those two scopes, leaving the severity map and base configuration unchanged. The parity run goes from two failures to 29 passing checks. **Legend has it…** one accountant counts the shed. The other calls it a lifestyle choice. The rat receives two invoices for one lawnmower. ## The bouncer eats the guest list November 5, 2026. [PR #209](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/209). The workshop's [MCP](/lore/mcp-is-another-surface) clients using protocol 2025-11-25 get empty-body 404s when a call after initialization reaches another running copy of the server. The session lives in one copy's memory; about one in three multi-call production probes fails. The fix stores one initialization record per session and replays it to rebuild the runtime. That record contains the initialization body and three allowlisted headers, with no tool arguments or results. A test reproduces the old 404 and checks requests through fresh front runtimes. **Legend has it…** the doorman issues wristbands, eats his guest list, and charges the same rat admission again. The rat is still standing in the doorway. The [comment purge already has its canon entry](/lore/shitrat-canon#agents-copy-everything). Meet the creatures in [the bestiary](/lore/shitrat-bestiary), or return to [the hub](/lore/shitrat). ## Sources 1. [The watch rolls back a good deploy](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/223) rat-stack. November 7, 2026: client-side transport errors trigger a rollback; retries and separate transport evidence follow. Accessed 2026-11-07. 2. [Bound transport uncertainty across watch cycles](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/226) rat-stack. November 7, 2026: consecutive unreachable cycles and a 5% transport-blip limit. Accessed 2026-11-07. 3. [A failed program becomes a typed execute failure](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/220) rat-stack. November 7, 2026: false HTTP success becomes ExecuteError at 422; deployment checks change with it. Accessed 2026-11-07. 4. [Move apps/mischief to apps/site](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/commit/246600bd53978883a6a4c1f5a6ff45e3f1ff2f0c) rat-stack. October 10, 2026: mechanical directory and package rename; resource IDs, Worker names and symbols stay unchanged. Accessed 2026-11-07. 5. [Tested removal checklists for every package](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/221) rat-stack. November 7, 2026: seven existing cuts expand into tested cuts and conditional Keep entries; scratch removals do not land. Accessed 2026-11-07. 6. [Startup budget and its temporary exception](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/7511fdd2c7f2fa607cff1a22a1cba6f0bdeb3220/apps/site/STARTUP.md) rat-stack. The November 2 dependency bump, lazy MCP loading, the 60,000-byte exception, and its expiry. Accessed 2026-11-07. 7. [The shrink-only rule](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/7511fdd2c7f2fa607cff1a22a1cba6f0bdeb3220/AGENTS.md) rat-stack. The startup ceilings must not rise to accept growth; the one recorded exception has an expiry. Accessed 2026-11-07. 8. [Restore checker parity](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/212) rat-stack. November 5, 2026: imported-file coverage differs between checkers; exact module allowances restore 29 passing checks. Accessed 2026-11-07. 9. [MCP sessions survive isolate changes](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/pull/209) rat-stack. November 5, 2026: session memory causes 404s; stored initialization records let another runtime rebuild the session. Accessed 2026-11-07. ## Linked from - Agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt) - Change log → What changed in the files served here, newest first. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log) - Full agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms-full.txt) - Rat Stack lore | rat-stack → Short, source-grounded notes on the ideas and decisions behind rat-stack. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore) - ShitRat is Joel's familiar, with receipts → Meet ShitRat: Joel's terminal-dwelling familiar, its public house, its rules, its commits, and the incidents that became canon. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/shitrat) - ShitRat's canon is an incident log → Four public ShitRat stories: a comment ban, a hold that blocked its own migration, a desktop body, and a domain for the rat. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/shitrat-canon) - Source change history (log.md) → The generated change log as Markdown. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log.md)