`dispatcher_e2e` failed about one run in three, on a different test each time,
and never under `--test-threads=1`. Root cause, not timing:
Each test calls `build_app`, which spawns a REAL dispatcher, and they all shared
one database — so they shared one `outbox`. `OutboxRepo::claim_due` is
deliberately not app-scoped (in production one dispatcher serves the whole
instance, so claiming any due row is correct). Test A's dispatcher would
therefore claim test B's row, test A would finish, its server would be dropped
mid-dispatch, and the claim was stranded. Test B polled for its handler's side
effect until it timed out.
The harness was modelling something production never does: N independent
instances sharing one database. So the fix belongs in the harness. Weakening the
dispatcher (app-scoping `claim_due`) would be wrong, and shortening
`PICLOUD_OUTBOX_CLAIM_TIMEOUT_SEC` to fit a 10s test window would make production
abandon the live claims of scripts that may legitimately run 300s.
`tests/common` now hands each test its own database. Replaying 73 migrations per
test is too slow, so the first caller builds a migrated TEMPLATE database once
and every test clones it (`CREATE DATABASE ... TEMPLATE` is a file copy), guarded
by a cluster-wide advisory lock because Postgres will not clone a template that
has an open connection. Names are derived from (suite, test), so a test reclaims
its own database on entry: a crashed run leaves nothing to clean up.
Only the five local `pool_or_skip` wrappers change — all 33 call sites are
untouched, and the skip-when-`DATABASE_URL`-is-unset contract is preserved.
(`#[sqlx::test]` already does this and is what `api.rs`/`authz.rs` use, but it
requires `DATABASE_URL` and would force `#[ignore]`, silently dropping these
tests from the default `cargo test --workspace` gate.)
This also stops the e2e tests leaving stranded claims behind in the shared dev
database, which is the likely source of the occasional lone journey failure.
Before: dispatcher_e2e red ~1 run in 3. After: workspace green twice over,
journeys 157/157.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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