fix(broker): reconnect when application acknowledgements stop

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ All notable changes to Agent Relay will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
-## [Unreleased]
+## [Unreleased - Patch]
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Broker node connections recover when inventory acknowledgements stop even while WebSocket pongs continue, with bounded retries during outages.
 
 ## [12.2.0] - 2026-09-15
 

crates/broker/src/node_control/registration_tests.rs

@@ -246,7 +246,15 @@ async fn registration_gate_case(response: &str) {
     })
     .await
     .expect("registration case must terminate after its bounded protocol exchange");
-    assert_eq!(result, ControlRunResult::Disconnected);
+    // Only a correlated `inventory.sync` reply proves application liveness,
+    // and this fixture never sends one (accepted or not) — it exercises the
+    // registration gate, not the inventory-ack liveness deadline.
+    assert_eq!(
+        result,
+        ControlRunResult::Disconnected {
+            application_ready: false,
+        }
+    );
     assert!(
         event_rx.try_recv().is_err(),
         "no unexpected or duplicate runtime events"

tests/fixtures/pr-proof-inventory-http-fixture.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import {
+  BROKER_NAME,
+  BROKER_TYPE,
+  BROKER_IDENTITY_HASH,
+  brokerHttpResponse,
+} from '../relayflows/cases/1591-application-ack-reconnect/http-fixture.mjs';
+
+const registration = () => ({
+  name: BROKER_NAME,
+  type: BROKER_TYPE,
+  metadata: { identity_key: BROKER_IDENTITY_HASH },
+});
+
+describe('inventory liveness HTTP fixture (unit only)', () => {
+  it('preserves the valid broker registration response', () => {
+    expect(brokerHttpResponse('POST', '/v1/agents', registration())).toEqual({
+      status: 200,
+      body: {
+        ok: true,
+        data: {
+          id: 'agent_proof_broker',
+          workspace_id: 'ws_proof',
+          name: BROKER_NAME,
+          token: 'at_proof',
+          status: 'active',
+          created_at: '2026-09-14T00:00:00Z',
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+  it.each([
+    null,
+    {},
+    { ...registration(), name: 'wrong' },
+    { ...registration(), type: 'agent' },
+    { ...registration(), metadata: {} },
+    { ...registration(), metadata: { identity_key: 'wrong' } },
+  ])('rejects invalid registration %j', (body) => {
+    expect(brokerHttpResponse('POST', '/v1/agents', body)).toMatchObject({
+      status: 400,
+      body: { ok: false, error: { code: 'fixture_registration_invalid' } },
+    });
+  });
+  it.each([
+    ['GET', '/v1/agents'],
+    ['POST', '/v1/agent'],
+    ['PATCH', '/v1/agents/worker'],
+  ])('rejects unexpected route %s %s', (method, route) => {
+    expect(brokerHttpResponse(method, route, registration())).toMatchObject({
+      status: 404,
+      body: { ok: false },
+    });
+  });
+});

tests/relayflows/cases/1591-application-ack-reconnect/case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{
+  "version": 1,
+  "id": "1591-application-ack-reconnect",
+  "kind": "bugfix",
+  "title": "Reconnect when application acknowledgements stop",
+  "runner": {
+    "command": ["node", "tests/relayflows/cases/1591-application-ack-reconnect/run.mjs"]
+  },
+  "timeoutSeconds": 240,
+  "expected": {
+    "base": {
+      "outcome": "bug",
+      "signature": "application_ack_stall_not_detected"
+    },
+    "head": {
+      "outcome": "fixed",
+      "signature": "application_ack_stall_reconnects"
+    }
+  },
+  "requirements": ["broker-linux-x64"]
+}

tests/relayflows/cases/1591-application-ack-reconnect/http-fixture.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
+
+export const BROKER_NAME = 'relayflow-inventory-ack';
+export const BROKER_TYPE = 'human';
+// Synthetic isolated-fixture identity, never a real workspace credential.
+export const BROKER_IDENTITY = 'relayflow-inventory-ack-fixture-identity';
+export const BROKER_IDENTITY_HASH = createHash('sha256').update(BROKER_IDENTITY).digest('hex');
+
+/** Validate the HTTP bootstrap independently of the WebSocket liveness oracle. */
+export function brokerHttpResponse(method, pathname, body) {
+  if (method !== 'POST' || pathname !== '/v1/agents') {
+    return {
+      status: 404,
+      body: { ok: false, error: { code: 'fixture_route_not_found', message: 'Unexpected fixture route' } },
+    };
+  }
+  if (
+    body?.name !== BROKER_NAME ||
+    body?.type !== BROKER_TYPE ||
+    body?.metadata?.identity_key !== BROKER_IDENTITY_HASH
+  ) {
+    return {
+      status: 400,
+      body: {
+        ok: false,
+        error: {
+          code: 'fixture_registration_invalid',
+          message: 'Unexpected registration name, type, or identity metadata',
+        },
+      },
+    };
+  }
+  return {
+    status: 200,
+    body: {
+      ok: true,
+      data: {
+        id: 'agent_proof_broker',
+        workspace_id: 'ws_proof',
+        name: BROKER_NAME,
+        token: 'at_proof',
+        status: 'active',
+        created_at: '2026-09-14T00:00:00Z',
+      },
+    },
+  };
+}