From 345829decac9f33c3c06055bfe9c7ae1ddfae68f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Drew Stone <drewstone329@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:20:26 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] fix(improvement): keep promoted run reopening read-only

---
 package.json                 |  2 +-
 src/kb-improvement.ts        | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
 tests/kb-improvement.test.ts | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 50 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 82b9972..8be44de 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@tangle-network/agent-knowledge",
-  "version": "3.2.0",
+  "version": "3.2.1",
   "description": "Source-grounded, eval-gated knowledge growth primitives for agents.",
   "homepage": "https://github.com/tangle-network/agent-knowledge#readme",
   "repository": {
diff --git a/src/kb-improvement.ts b/src/kb-improvement.ts
index 2d64453..158f653 100644
--- a/src/kb-improvement.ts
+++ b/src/kb-improvement.ts
@@ -841,25 +841,33 @@ async function improveKnowledgeBaseInRun(
     if (state.status === 'promoted' && !promotedCandidate) {
       throw new Error('promoted knowledge state has no promoted candidate')
     }
-    await withKnowledgeMutation(options.root, () => undefined)
-    await ensureBaselineSnapshot(runDir, options.root, state.baseHash)
-
     if (state.status === 'promoted') {
       const promoted = promotedCandidate!
-      return await applyKnowledgeCandidateTarget(
-        {
-          root: options.root,
+      const promotedState = state
+      return withKnowledgeMutation(options.root, async () => {
+        const currentHash = await hashKnowledgeBase(options.root)
+        if (currentHash !== promoted.candidateHash) {
+          throw new Error(
+            `promoted knowledge base changed: expected ${promoted.candidateHash}, got ${currentHash}`,
+          )
+        }
+        const evidence = await assertCandidateEvidence(
           runDir,
-          state,
-          candidateRef: candidateRefFor(runId, state, promoted),
-          leaseTtlMs: options.leaseTtlMs ?? DEFAULT_LEASE_TTL_MS,
-          assertRunOwned: lease.assertOwned,
-          now,
-          onState: options.onState,
-        },
-        'candidate',
-      )
+          candidateRefFor(runId, promotedState, promoted),
+        )
+        return {
+          runId,
+          state: promotedState,
+          candidate: promoted,
+          evaluation: evidence.evaluation,
+          promoted: true,
+          blocked: false,
+        }
+      })
     }
+    await withKnowledgeMutation(options.root, () => undefined)
+    await ensureBaselineSnapshot(runDir, options.root, state.baseHash)
+
     if (state.status === 'blocked') {
       return { runId, state, promoted: false, blocked: true }
     }
diff --git a/tests/kb-improvement.test.ts b/tests/kb-improvement.test.ts
index dbb8cd4..bfcb723 100644
--- a/tests/kb-improvement.test.ts
+++ b/tests/kb-improvement.test.ts
@@ -260,6 +260,32 @@ describe('improveKnowledgeBase', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('does not reapply a promoted candidate when the improvement run is reopened', async () => {
+    await withEmptyRoot(async (root) => {
+      const options = {
+        root,
+        goal: 'Keep candidate generation separate from activation',
+        runId: 'reopen-promoted-run',
+        updateKnowledge: async ({ candidateRoot }: { candidateRoot: string }) => {
+          await writeFile(join(candidateRoot, 'knowledge', 'candidate.md'), '# Candidate\n')
+          return { applied: true, summary: 'created candidate' }
+        },
+        evaluate: passingMetric,
+      }
+      const staged = await improveKnowledgeBase(options)
+      const candidate = knowledgeImprovementCandidateRef(staged)
+      await promoteKnowledgeCandidate({ root, candidate })
+      await rm(join(root, 'knowledge', 'candidate.md'))
+      const liveBeforeReopen = await hashKnowledgeBase(root)
+
+      await expect(improveKnowledgeBase(options)).rejects.toThrow(/promoted knowledge base changed/)
+      expect(await hashKnowledgeBase(root)).toBe(liveBeforeReopen)
+      await expect(readFile(join(root, 'knowledge', 'candidate.md'), 'utf8')).rejects.toMatchObject(
+        { code: 'ENOENT' },
+      )
+    })
+  })
+
   it('rejects evaluator results without provenance', async () => {
     await withKb(async (root) => {
       await expect(