feat: transient-page detection across the crawler (0.30.0)

Until now, when the target site returned its 403 "we're sorry, the
request file are not found" response on a page that actually exists,
selectors matched nothing and the crawler treated the page as
"legitimately empty". Pagination walks silently dropped whole pages
worth of mangas, fetch_manga skipped individual entries, and the
startup session probe blamed PHPSESSID for what was a site hiccup.

This branch adds a single detection layer that the whole pipeline
routes through:

- `crawler::detect`: PageError::Transient typed signal, plus two
  primitives (`is_broken_page_body` matches the universal 403 body;
  `has_logo_sentinel` asserts #logo, the site-wide header element)
  and a `retry_on_transient` helper that retries a closure on
  Transient with a small attempt budget.
- `navigate()` screens every fetched body for the broken-page
  signature before handing it to a selector.
- Parsers (`parse_manga_list_from`, `parse_manga_detail`,
  `parse_chapter_pages`) check their structural sentinels (#logo for
  full-layout pages; a#pic_container for the reader, which doesn't
  render #logo) and return Result<_, PageError>. Empty Vec is now
  reserved for genuinely empty pages.
- `discover()` retries each pagination page up to 3× (2s apart) before
  failing the whole Discover job — at which point the existing job
  system's retry/backoff takes over for longer outages.
- `verify_session` is three-state: broken-page → retry probe;
  #logo present but #avatar_menu absent → genuine logout (the only
  state that should blame PHPSESSID); both present → ok.

Test coverage added at the helper level: 13 unit tests for the
detection module (body signature, logo sentinel, PageError, retry
helper), parser-level tests for both transient and legitimately-empty
inputs, and 6 unit tests for the session probe classifier.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

backend/Cargo.lock

@@ -1470,7 +1470,7 @@ checksum = "c41e0c4fef86961ac6d6f8a82609f55f31b05e4fce149ac5710e439df7619ba4"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.29.0"
+version = "0.30.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "argon2",

backend/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mangalord"
-version = "0.29.0"
+version = "0.30.0"
 edition = "2021"
 default-run = "mangalord"
 

backend/src/crawler/content.rs

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use anyhow::Context;
 use sqlx::PgPool;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
+use crate::crawler::detect::PageError;
 use crate::crawler::rate_limit::HostRateLimiters;
 use crate::crawler::session;
 use crate::storage::Storage;
@@ -23,8 +24,18 @@ use crate::storage::Storage;
 /// Parse the chapter page DOM and return the page images in `pageN`
 /// order. Filters out the loader `<img class="loading">` and any
 /// `<img>` without a numeric `id="pageN"`.
-pub fn parse_chapter_pages(html: &str) -> Vec<ChapterImage> {
+///
+/// Reader pages don't render the site's `#logo` element, so the
+/// universal logo-sentinel can't apply here — instead we assert
+/// `a#pic_container` is present. Its absence means the response is the
+/// transient broken-page response (or a redirect to some other layout)
+/// and the caller should retry.
+pub fn parse_chapter_pages(html: &str) -> Result<Vec<ChapterImage>, PageError> {
     let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(html);
+    let container_sel = scraper::Selector::parse("a#pic_container").unwrap();
+    if doc.select(&container_sel).next().is_none() {
+        return Err(PageError::transient("reader: a#pic_container missing"));
+    }
     let sel = scraper::Selector::parse("a#pic_container img:not(.loading)").unwrap();
     let mut pages: Vec<ChapterImage> = doc
         .select(&sel)
@@ -39,7 +50,7 @@ pub fn parse_chapter_pages(html: &str) -> Vec<ChapterImage> {
         })
         .collect();
     pages.sort_by_key(|p| p.page_number);
-    pages
+    Ok(pages)
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
@@ -109,7 +120,8 @@ pub async fn sync_chapter_content(
     let html = page.content().await.context("read chapter html")?;
     page.close().await.ok();
 
-    let images = parse_chapter_pages(&html);
+    let images = parse_chapter_pages(&html)
+        .with_context(|| format!("parse chapter pages at {source_url}"))?;
     if images.is_empty() {
         anyhow::bail!("no page images parsed from {source_url}");
     }
@@ -205,7 +217,7 @@ mod tests {
             <img id="not-a-page" src="https://cdn/not-a-page.jpg">
           </a></body></html>
         "#;
-        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html);
+        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html).expect("parse");
         assert_eq!(pages.len(), 2);
         assert_eq!(pages[0].page_number, 1);
         assert_eq!(pages[0].url, "https://cdn/1.jpg");
@@ -221,7 +233,7 @@ mod tests {
             <img id="page2" src="https://cdn/2.jpg">
           </a>
         "#;
-        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html);
+        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html).expect("parse");
         assert_eq!(pages.len(), 1);
         assert_eq!(pages[0].page_number, 2);
     }
@@ -235,10 +247,22 @@ mod tests {
             <img id="page50" src="https://cdn/50.jpg">
           </a>
         "#;
-        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html);
+        let pages = parse_chapter_pages(html).expect("parse");
         assert_eq!(
             pages.iter().map(|p| p.page_number).collect::<Vec<_>>(),
             vec![9, 50, 126]
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_chapter_pages_returns_transient_when_container_missing() {
+        // Reader doesn't render #logo, so the universal logo sentinel
+        // can't be used here — a#pic_container is the reader-specific
+        // marker. Broken-page response trips this.
+        let html = "<html><body>\
+            <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>\
+            </body></html>";
+        let err = parse_chapter_pages(html).expect_err("expected Transient");
+        assert!(err.is_transient(), "got non-transient: {err}");
+    }
 }

backend/src/crawler/detect.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,250 @@
+//! Transient-page detection.
+//!
+//! The target site occasionally responds with a 403 + tiny "we're sorry,
+//! the request file are not found" body on pages that actually exist.
+//! Selectors on that body match nothing, which is indistinguishable from
+//! a genuinely empty page unless we look for the broken-page markers
+//! explicitly. The same shape covers full-site outages: 5xx pages,
+//! Cloudflare interstitials, and "site is down" placeholders all share
+//! the trait that the normal layout (`#logo` in the header) is absent.
+//!
+//! Helpers here are split into two signals so callers can compose them:
+//! - [`is_broken_page_body`]: pattern-match on the known broken-page
+//!   string. Works for *any* page on the site, including the reader,
+//!   which doesn't render `#logo`.
+//! - [`has_logo_sentinel`]: assert `#logo` is in the parsed DOM. Site-
+//!   structural marker — present on the manga list, manga detail,
+//!   chapter-list, and login probe pages. **Not** present on the reader,
+//!   so callers in the reader path must rely on the body signature only.
+//!
+//! [`PageError::Transient`] is the typed signal returned by parser and
+//! navigate wrappers. Job handlers map it to "reschedule with backoff"
+//! rather than the per-page silent skip the parsers used to do.
+
+use std::future::Future;
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+use thiserror::Error;
+
+/// Universal substring of the broken-page body. The site renders the
+/// exact string verbatim in a single `<p>`, so a case-insensitive
+/// substring match is enough — we deliberately do *not* anchor to the
+/// kaomoji because that part is more likely to change than the prose.
+const BROKEN_PAGE_MARKER: &str = "we're sorry, the request file are not found";
+
+/// Outcome of a page fetch or parse when the caller wants to
+/// distinguish "site/page is transiently broken — retry later" from
+/// other errors. `Transient` is the only retry-friendly variant; every
+/// other failure mode stays as `anyhow::Error` and is treated as today.
+#[derive(Debug, Error)]
+pub enum PageError {
+    /// Page came back but the site signaled trouble — broken-page body
+    /// signature, structural sentinel missing, etc. Caller should
+    /// reschedule this fetch rather than treat it as data.
+    #[error("transient page error: {reason}")]
+    Transient { reason: String },
+    #[error(transparent)]
+    Other(#[from] anyhow::Error),
+}
+
+impl PageError {
+    pub fn transient(reason: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        Self::Transient { reason: reason.into() }
+    }
+
+    pub fn is_transient(&self) -> bool {
+        matches!(self, Self::Transient { .. })
+    }
+}
+
+/// Returns true when the response body matches the known broken-page
+/// template. Case-insensitive substring match — small bodies (~150B)
+/// make the scan trivially fast, and the broken page is always tiny so
+/// false positives on a real catalog page are not a concern.
+pub fn is_broken_page_body(html: &str) -> bool {
+    html.to_ascii_lowercase().contains(BROKEN_PAGE_MARKER)
+}
+
+/// Returns true when the parsed document contains `#logo` — the site's
+/// header logo element, present on every full-layout page and absent on
+/// the broken-page response and on the reader.
+pub fn has_logo_sentinel(doc: &scraper::Html) -> bool {
+    let sel = scraper::Selector::parse("#logo").expect("#logo is a valid selector");
+    doc.select(&sel).next().is_some()
+}
+
+/// Retry `op` up to `max_attempts` times whenever it returns
+/// [`PageError::Transient`], sleeping `delay` between attempts.
+/// Non-transient errors short-circuit immediately. Used by discover-loop
+/// callers so a single broken page doesn't drop the whole walk — the
+/// caller can fall back on the job system's retry/backoff once the
+/// inline budget is exhausted.
+pub async fn retry_on_transient<F, Fut, T>(
+    mut op: F,
+    max_attempts: u32,
+    delay: Duration,
+) -> Result<T, PageError>
+where
+    F: FnMut() -> Fut,
+    Fut: Future<Output = Result<T, PageError>>,
+{
+    debug_assert!(max_attempts >= 1, "max_attempts must be at least 1");
+    let mut attempt = 0u32;
+    loop {
+        attempt += 1;
+        match op().await {
+            Ok(v) => return Ok(v),
+            Err(e) if !e.is_transient() => return Err(e),
+            Err(e) if attempt >= max_attempts => return Err(e),
+            Err(e) => {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    attempt,
+                    max_attempts,
+                    error = %e,
+                    "transient error; sleeping before retry"
+                );
+                tokio::time::sleep(delay).await;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn broken_page_body_matches_exact_template() {
+        let html = "<html><head></head><body>\
+                    <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.   Σ(っ°Д °;)っ</p>\
+                    </body></html>";
+        assert!(is_broken_page_body(html));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn broken_page_body_is_case_insensitive() {
+        let html = "<p>WE'RE SORRY, THE REQUEST FILE ARE NOT FOUND.</p>";
+        assert!(is_broken_page_body(html));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn broken_page_body_does_not_match_normal_listing() {
+        let html = "<html><body><div id='logo'></div>\
+                    <ul><li>Manga A</li><li>Manga B</li></ul></body></html>";
+        assert!(!is_broken_page_body(html));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn broken_page_body_does_not_match_empty_string() {
+        assert!(!is_broken_page_body(""));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn logo_sentinel_present_on_normal_page() {
+        let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(
+            "<html><body><div id='logo'>Site</div><main>...</main></body></html>",
+        );
+        assert!(has_logo_sentinel(&doc));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn logo_sentinel_absent_on_broken_page() {
+        let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(
+            "<html><head></head><body>\
+             <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p></body></html>",
+        );
+        assert!(!has_logo_sentinel(&doc));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn logo_sentinel_absent_on_empty_document() {
+        let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document("");
+        assert!(!has_logo_sentinel(&doc));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn page_error_transient_constructor_sets_reason() {
+        let e = PageError::transient("logo missing");
+        assert!(e.is_transient());
+        assert_eq!(e.to_string(), "transient page error: logo missing");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn page_error_other_is_not_transient() {
+        let e: PageError = anyhow::anyhow!("something else").into();
+        assert!(!e.is_transient());
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn retry_returns_ok_after_a_transient_streak() {
+        let mut attempt = 0u32;
+        let result: Result<i32, PageError> = retry_on_transient(
+            || {
+                attempt += 1;
+                let n = attempt;
+                async move {
+                    if n < 3 {
+                        Err(PageError::transient("not yet"))
+                    } else {
+                        Ok(42)
+                    }
+                }
+            },
+            5,
+            Duration::from_millis(0),
+        )
+        .await;
+        assert_eq!(result.unwrap(), 42);
+        assert_eq!(attempt, 3);
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn retry_gives_up_after_max_attempts_on_persistent_transient() {
+        let mut attempt = 0u32;
+        let result: Result<i32, PageError> = retry_on_transient(
+            || {
+                attempt += 1;
+                async { Err(PageError::transient("always")) }
+            },
+            3,
+            Duration::from_millis(0),
+        )
+        .await;
+        let err = result.expect_err("expected Transient");
+        assert!(err.is_transient());
+        assert_eq!(attempt, 3, "retried max_attempts times, no more");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn retry_does_not_retry_non_transient_errors() {
+        let mut attempt = 0u32;
+        let result: Result<i32, PageError> = retry_on_transient(
+            || {
+                attempt += 1;
+                async { Err(PageError::Other(anyhow::anyhow!("permanent"))) }
+            },
+            5,
+            Duration::from_millis(0),
+        )
+        .await;
+        assert!(result.is_err());
+        assert!(!result.unwrap_err().is_transient());
+        assert_eq!(attempt, 1, "non-transient must fail immediately");
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn retry_returns_ok_on_first_attempt_without_sleeping() {
+        let mut attempt = 0u32;
+        let result: Result<i32, PageError> = retry_on_transient(
+            || {
+                attempt += 1;
+                async { Ok(7) }
+            },
+            5,
+            Duration::from_secs(60),
+        )
+        .await;
+        assert_eq!(result.unwrap(), 7);
+        assert_eq!(attempt, 1);
+    }
+}

backend/src/crawler/mod.rs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ pub mod browser;
 pub mod browser_manager;
 pub mod content;
 pub mod daemon;
+pub mod detect;
 pub mod diff;
 pub mod jobs;
 pub mod pipeline;

backend/src/crawler/session.rs

@@ -9,19 +9,39 @@
 //! Two things the cookie alone doesn't give us:
 //! 1. The cookie value is only meaningful to the *server* — we have
 //!    no way to predict from the value alone whether it's still valid.
-//!    `verify_session` does a navigation and checks for `#avatar_menu`,
-//!    which only renders for authenticated visitors. Bail clean at
-//!    startup if it's missing rather than discovering it 30 minutes
-//!    into a backfill.
+//!    `verify_session` does a navigation and inspects the probe page
+//!    for three outcomes: broken-page response (transient — retry the
+//!    probe), `#logo` present but `#avatar_menu` absent (genuine logout
+//!    — bail loudly), or both present (authenticated). The earlier
+//!    avatar-only check conflated "site is hiccuping" with "session is
+//!    dead" and refused to start the crawler when the site had a brief
+//!    503.
 //! 2. The reqwest client (used for cover and chapter-image downloads)
 //!    has its own cookie store; we seed it for the catalog host only.
 //!    CDN hosts are deliberately *not* given the cookie — they serve
 //!    image bytes by signed URLs and don't need it.
 
+use std::time::Duration;
+
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Context};
 use chromiumoxide::browser::Browser;
 use chromiumoxide::cdp::browser_protocol::network::CookieParam;
 
+use crate::crawler::detect::{has_logo_sentinel, is_broken_page_body};
+
+/// Outcome of inspecting a probe-page response.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
+pub enum SessionProbe {
+    /// `#logo` present and `#avatar_menu` present — session valid.
+    Ok,
+    /// `#logo` present but `#avatar_menu` absent — site rendered the
+    /// normal layout for an unauthenticated visitor; refresh PHPSESSID.
+    Unauthenticated,
+    /// Broken-page body signature or `#logo` missing — site is hiccuping.
+    /// Caller retries the probe rather than blaming the session.
+    Transient,
+}
+
 /// Compute the cookie domain (e.g. `.example.com`) from a start URL.
 /// The leading dot makes the cookie cover every subdomain — the source
 /// often redirects between `www.` and other prefixes mid-crawl, and a
@@ -86,34 +106,86 @@ pub async fn inject_phpsessid(
     Ok(())
 }
 
-/// Navigate to `probe_url` and confirm the logged-in `#avatar_menu`
-/// element is present. The selector only renders for authenticated
-/// visitors, so its absence is the unambiguous signal that PHPSESSID
-/// is missing, expired, or revoked.
+/// Three-way classification of a probe-page response. Pure over HTML so
+/// it's unit-testable without a real browser. Order matters: a body
+/// matching the broken-page template is `Transient` even if the page
+/// happens to contain `#avatar_menu` HTML somewhere — trust the universal
+/// site signal over a stray selector match.
+pub fn classify_probe(html: &str) -> SessionProbe {
+    if is_broken_page_body(html) {
+        return SessionProbe::Transient;
+    }
+    let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(html);
+    if !has_logo_sentinel(&doc) {
+        return SessionProbe::Transient;
+    }
+    let avatar_sel = scraper::Selector::parse("#avatar_menu").unwrap();
+    if doc.select(&avatar_sel).next().is_some() {
+        SessionProbe::Ok
+    } else {
+        SessionProbe::Unauthenticated
+    }
+}
+
+/// In-startup retry budget for the session probe. Small but non-zero —
+/// startup hitting a 5-second site hiccup shouldn't fail the operator
+/// with "PHPSESSID expired" when the session is actually fine.
+const PROBE_MAX_ATTEMPTS: u32 = 3;
+const PROBE_RETRY_DELAY: Duration = Duration::from_secs(2);
+
+/// Navigate to `probe_url` and classify the response. Retries the probe
+/// on `Transient` outcomes (broken-page body, missing `#logo`); fails
+/// fast on `Unauthenticated`; returns `Ok(())` on success.
 ///
-/// This burns one navigation against the catalog's rate limiter. The
-/// trade is worth it — failing here costs ~1s; failing 30 minutes into
-/// a backfill costs 30 minutes.
+/// This burns one navigation per attempt against the catalog's rate
+/// limiter. The trade is worth it — failing here costs ~1s; failing 30
+/// minutes into a backfill costs 30 minutes.
 pub async fn verify_session(browser: &Browser, probe_url: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let mut attempt = 0u32;
+    loop {
+        attempt += 1;
+        let html = fetch_probe_html(browser, probe_url).await?;
+        match classify_probe(&html) {
+            SessionProbe::Ok => {
+                tracing::info!(attempt, "session probe ok — #logo + #avatar_menu present");
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+            SessionProbe::Unauthenticated => {
+                return Err(anyhow!(
+                    "session probe failed — #avatar_menu not present at {probe_url} \
+                     (page rendered the normal layout); PHPSESSID is missing, expired, \
+                     or revoked. Refresh CRAWLER_PHPSESSID and re-run."
+                ));
+            }
+            SessionProbe::Transient if attempt < PROBE_MAX_ATTEMPTS => {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    attempt,
+                    max_attempts = PROBE_MAX_ATTEMPTS,
+                    "session probe got a transient page; retrying"
+                );
+                tokio::time::sleep(PROBE_RETRY_DELAY).await;
+            }
+            SessionProbe::Transient => {
+                return Err(anyhow!(
+                    "session probe failed — probe page at {probe_url} returned a \
+                     broken-page response after {PROBE_MAX_ATTEMPTS} attempts. \
+                     The site appears to be down or rate-limiting us; try again \
+                     later before refreshing CRAWLER_PHPSESSID."
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+async fn fetch_probe_html(browser: &Browser, probe_url: &str) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
     let page = browser
         .new_page(probe_url)
         .await
         .with_context(|| format!("open probe page {probe_url}"))?;
     page.wait_for_navigation().await.context("wait for nav on probe")?;
-    // The avatar menu is rendered server-side as part of the header
-    // when a valid session cookie is present; absent JS is fine.
-    let found = page.find_element("#avatar_menu").await.is_ok();
+    let html = page.content().await.context("read probe html")?;
     page.close().await.ok();
-    if found {
-        tracing::info!("session probe ok — #avatar_menu present");
-        Ok(())
-    } else {
-        Err(anyhow!(
-            "session probe failed — #avatar_menu not present at {probe_url}; \
-             PHPSESSID is missing, expired, or revoked. Refresh CRAWLER_PHPSESSID \
-             and re-run."
-        ))
-    }
+    Ok(html)
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -158,4 +230,59 @@ mod tests {
     fn registrable_domain_returns_none_for_garbage() {
         assert!(registrable_domain("not a url").is_none());
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_ok_when_logo_and_avatar_present() {
+        let html = r#"<html><body>
+            <header><div id="logo">Target</div><div id="avatar_menu"></div></header>
+        </body></html>"#;
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(html), SessionProbe::Ok);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_unauth_when_logo_present_but_avatar_absent() {
+        // Real "logged out" response: site layout renders fine, just no
+        // avatar widget. This is the only state that should blame the
+        // session cookie.
+        let html = r#"<html><body>
+            <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>
+            <main>Please log in.</main>
+        </body></html>"#;
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(html), SessionProbe::Unauthenticated);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_transient_on_broken_page_body() {
+        let html = "<html><body>\
+                    <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>\
+                    </body></html>";
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(html), SessionProbe::Transient);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_transient_when_logo_missing() {
+        // No broken-body marker, but no site layout either — treat as
+        // transient (could be a Cloudflare interstitial, a 5xx page,
+        // etc.) rather than blaming the session.
+        let html = "<html><body><h1>Service Unavailable</h1></body></html>";
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(html), SessionProbe::Transient);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_transient_on_empty_response() {
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(""), SessionProbe::Transient);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_probe_trusts_broken_body_over_stray_avatar_match() {
+        // Defensive: if a broken-page body somehow contains an
+        // #avatar_menu element (e.g. an unrelated debug page on the
+        // same template), the body signature still wins.
+        let html = r#"<html><body>
+            <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>
+            <div id="logo"></div>
+            <div id="avatar_menu"></div>
+        </body></html>"#;
+        assert_eq!(classify_probe(html), SessionProbe::Transient);
+    }
 }

backend/src/crawler/source/target.rs

@@ -17,6 +17,16 @@ use super::{
     DiscoverMode, FetchContext, Source, SourceChapter, SourceChapterRef, SourceManga,
     SourceMangaRef,
 };
+use crate::crawler::detect::{
+    has_logo_sentinel, is_broken_page_body, retry_on_transient, PageError,
+};
+
+/// In-loop retry budget for transient pages encountered during a single
+/// `discover` walk. Bounded small because the job system itself retries
+/// the whole `Discover` job on failure — these inline retries only need
+/// to absorb a brief site hiccup mid-walk.
+const PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_ATTEMPTS: u32 = 3;
+const PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_DELAY: Duration = Duration::from_secs(2);
 
 pub struct TargetSource {
     base_url: String,
@@ -60,9 +70,15 @@ impl Source for TargetSource {
         max_results: Option<usize>,
     ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<SourceMangaRef>> {
         // Always visit page 1 first because that's the only way to
-        // discover `last_page`. We cache the HTML so we don't have to
-        // re-navigate when the iteration reaches page 1 again.
-        let first_html = navigate(ctx, self.base_url.as_str()).await?;
+        // discover `last_page`. Retry it on transient — a broken first
+        // page would otherwise abort the whole walk before we've even
+        // started.
+        let first_html = retry_on_transient(
+            || async { navigate(ctx, self.base_url.as_str()).await },
+            PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_ATTEMPTS,
+            PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_DELAY,
+        )
+        .await?;
         let last_page = {
             let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(&first_html);
             parse_last_page(&doc)
@@ -87,14 +103,25 @@ impl Source for TargetSource {
 
         let mut all = Vec::new();
         for page_num in order {
-            let html = if page_num == 1 {
-                first_html.clone()
+            // Page 1 is already cached from the last_page probe — reuse
+            // it rather than navigating twice. Every other page goes
+            // through the retry helper so a single broken page mid-walk
+            // doesn't silently drop its mangas from the result.
+            let mut page_refs = if page_num == 1 {
+                let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(&first_html);
+                parse_manga_list_from(&doc)?
             } else {
-                navigate(ctx, &page_url(&self.base_url, page_num)).await?
-            };
-            let mut page_refs = {
-                let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(&html);
-                parse_manga_list_from(&doc)
+                retry_on_transient(
+                    || async {
+                        let url = page_url(&self.base_url, page_num);
+                        let html = navigate(ctx, &url).await?;
+                        let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(&html);
+                        parse_manga_list_from(&doc)
+                    },
+                    PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_ATTEMPTS,
+                    PAGE_TRANSIENT_RETRY_DELAY,
+                )
+                .await?
             };
             if backfill {
                 page_refs.reverse();
@@ -116,8 +143,12 @@ impl Source for TargetSource {
         r: &SourceMangaRef,
     ) -> anyhow::Result<SourceManga> {
         let html = navigate(ctx, r.url.as_str()).await?;
-        parse_manga_detail(&html, &r.source_manga_key, self.parse_chapters)
-            .with_context(|| format!("parse manga detail at {}", r.url))
+        // Convert PageError → anyhow::Error via `?`. PageError stays
+        // downcastable from the wrapped anyhow::Error so the pipeline
+        // can still recognize Transient via `error.downcast_ref::<PageError>()`.
+        let manga = parse_manga_detail(&html, &r.source_manga_key, self.parse_chapters)
+            .with_context(|| format!("parse manga detail at {}", r.url))?;
+        Ok(manga)
     }
 
     async fn fetch_chapter_list(
@@ -150,16 +181,39 @@ fn truncate_to_cap<T>(mut buf: Vec<T>, max: Option<usize>) -> Vec<T> {
 
 /// Single point of rate-limited navigation. Every Source request goes
 /// through here, so the per-host limiter map is the only knob that
-/// controls per-origin RPS.
-async fn navigate(ctx: &FetchContext<'_>, url: &str) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
+/// controls per-origin RPS. Also the choke point for transient-page
+/// detection — every fetched body is screened by
+/// [`classify_navigate_html`] before being handed to a selector.
+async fn navigate(ctx: &FetchContext<'_>, url: &str) -> Result<String, PageError> {
     ctx.rate.wait_for(url).await?;
-    let page = ctx.browser.new_page(url).await?;
-    page.wait_for_navigation().await?;
+    let page = ctx
+        .browser
+        .new_page(url)
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| PageError::Other(anyhow::Error::from(e)))?;
+    page.wait_for_navigation()
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| PageError::Other(anyhow::Error::from(e)))?;
     // Stopgap until we wait on a specific selector per page type —
     // gives any post-load JS a beat to finish injecting content.
     tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
-    let html = page.content().await?;
-    page.close().await?;
+    let html = page
+        .content()
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| PageError::Other(anyhow::Error::from(e)))?;
+    page.close().await.ok();
+    classify_navigate_html(html)
+}
+
+/// Classify a fetched body. The broken-page template is universal across
+/// the site — every page type (list, detail, chapter list, reader) gets
+/// the same `we're sorry, the request file are not found` body when the
+/// server is hiccuping. Catching it here means individual parsers
+/// downstream don't have to repeat the check.
+fn classify_navigate_html(html: String) -> Result<String, PageError> {
+    if is_broken_page_body(&html) {
+        return Err(PageError::transient("broken-page body signature"));
+    }
     Ok(html)
 }
 
@@ -204,14 +258,23 @@ fn page_url(template_url: &str, page: i32) -> String {
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
-fn parse_manga_list(html: &str) -> Vec<SourceMangaRef> {
+fn parse_manga_list(html: &str) -> Result<Vec<SourceMangaRef>, PageError> {
     let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(html);
     parse_manga_list_from(&doc)
 }
 
-fn parse_manga_list_from(doc: &scraper::Html) -> Vec<SourceMangaRef> {
+/// Parse a manga listing page. `#logo` is present on every well-formed
+/// listing page on the source; its absence means the response is a
+/// broken-page placeholder (transient) rather than a genuinely empty
+/// listing. Empty listings (last-page tail, search with no hits) remain
+/// `Ok(vec![])`.
+fn parse_manga_list_from(doc: &scraper::Html) -> Result<Vec<SourceMangaRef>, PageError> {
+    if !has_logo_sentinel(doc) {
+        return Err(PageError::transient("manga list: #logo sentinel missing"));
+    }
     let sel = scraper::Selector::parse("#left_side .pic_list .updatesli span a").unwrap();
-    doc.select(&sel)
+    Ok(doc
+        .select(&sel)
         .filter_map(|a| {
             let url = a.value().attr("href")?.trim().to_string();
             if url.is_empty() {
@@ -227,16 +290,22 @@ fn parse_manga_list_from(doc: &scraper::Html) -> Vec<SourceMangaRef> {
                 url,
             })
         })
-        .collect()
+        .collect())
 }
 
 fn parse_manga_detail(
     html: &str,
     key: &str,
     include_chapters: bool,
-) -> anyhow::Result<SourceManga> {
+) -> Result<SourceManga, PageError> {
     let doc = scraper::Html::parse_document(html);
 
+    // Sentinel first: a broken-page response will trip this before any
+    // anyhow context is added for missing required fields.
+    if !has_logo_sentinel(&doc) {
+        return Err(PageError::transient("manga detail: #logo sentinel missing"));
+    }
+
     let title = first_text(&doc, ".w-title h1").context("missing .w-title h1")?;
     let summary = first_text(&doc, ".manga_summary");
     let cover_url = first_attr(&doc, ".cover > img:nth-child(1)", "src");
@@ -494,6 +563,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     const LISTING_HTML: &str = r#"
         <html><body>
+        <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>
         <div id="left_side">
           <div class="pic_list">
             <div class="updatesli">
@@ -512,6 +582,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     const DETAIL_HTML: &str = r#"
         <html><body>
+        <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>
         <div class="w-title"><h1>Test Manga Title</h1></div>
         <div class="cover"><img src="/cover.jpg"><img src="/extra-not-cover.jpg"></div>
         <div class="manga_summary">A summary of the manga.</div>
@@ -537,7 +608,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn parse_manga_list_extracts_title_url_and_derives_key() {
-        let refs = parse_manga_list(LISTING_HTML);
+        let refs = parse_manga_list(LISTING_HTML).expect("parse");
         assert_eq!(refs.len(), 2, "third entry has empty href and is skipped");
         assert_eq!(refs[0].title, "Foo Manga");
         assert_eq!(refs[0].url, "https://target.example/manga/foo");
@@ -546,6 +617,30 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(refs[1].source_manga_key, "bar-baz");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_manga_list_returns_transient_when_logo_missing() {
+        // Broken-page response: no #logo, no listing. Empty Vec would
+        // hide this as "page has no mangas"; Transient is the signal
+        // upstream code retries on.
+        let html = r#"<html><body>\
+            <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>\
+            </body></html>"#;
+        let err = parse_manga_list(html).expect_err("expected Transient");
+        assert!(err.is_transient(), "got non-transient: {err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_manga_list_ok_empty_when_logo_present_but_no_items() {
+        // Last page of pagination, "no results" search, etc. Legitimately
+        // empty must stay distinguishable from "page is broken".
+        let html = r#"<html><body>\
+            <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>\
+            <div id="left_side"><div class="pic_list"></div></div>\
+            </body></html>"#;
+        let refs = parse_manga_list(html).expect("logo present == not transient");
+        assert!(refs.is_empty());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn parse_manga_detail_pulls_all_fields() {
         let m = parse_manga_detail(DETAIL_HTML, "test-key", true).expect("parse");
@@ -761,7 +856,9 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn missing_optional_fields_parse_to_none() {
-        let html = r#"<html><body><div class="w-title"><h1>Minimal</h1></div></body></html>"#;
+        let html = r#"<html><body>\
+            <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>\
+            <div class="w-title"><h1>Minimal</h1></div></body></html>"#;
         let m = parse_manga_detail(html, "min", true).unwrap();
         assert_eq!(m.title, "Minimal");
         assert!(m.summary.is_none());
@@ -785,8 +882,44 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn parse_manga_detail_errors_on_missing_title() {
-        let html = "<html><body><p>nothing</p></body></html>";
+        // Logo present (page is alive) — failure here is a real parse
+        // miss (Other), not Transient.
+        let html = r#"<html><body>\
+            <header><div id="logo">Target</div></header>\
+            <p>nothing</p></body></html>"#;
         let err = parse_manga_detail(html, "x", true).unwrap_err();
+        assert!(!err.is_transient(), "expected Other, got Transient: {err}");
         assert!(err.to_string().contains("missing .w-title h1"));
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_navigate_html_passes_normal_body_through() {
+        let body = "<html><body><header><div id='logo'>Target</div></header>\
+                    <p>content</p></body></html>"
+            .to_string();
+        let out = classify_navigate_html(body.clone()).expect("ok");
+        assert_eq!(out, body);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn classify_navigate_html_returns_transient_for_broken_template() {
+        let body = "<html><head></head><body>\
+                    <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>\
+                    </body></html>"
+            .to_string();
+        let err = classify_navigate_html(body).expect_err("expected Transient");
+        assert!(err.is_transient(), "got non-transient: {err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_manga_detail_returns_transient_when_logo_missing() {
+        // Broken-page response on a detail URL — must be reported as
+        // Transient so the job is retried rather than logging "missing
+        // .w-title h1" against a permanently-skipped manga.
+        let html = "<html><body>\
+            <p>we're sorry, the request file are not found.</p>\
+            </body></html>";
+        let err = parse_manga_detail(html, "x", true).expect_err("expected Transient");
+        assert!(err.is_transient(), "got non-transient: {err}");
+    }
 }