v1.7.0: bundle pi-atelier at a pinned tag; pin pi to an audited 0.84.1

Two changes that belong together, because the first is what makes the second
dangerous to get wrong.

pi-atelier (TUI sidebar + status rail) is now vendored to /opt/pi-atelier at
PI_ATELIER_REF=v0.8.0 and registered by entrypoint-user.sh — the pi-fork /
pi-observational-memory / pi-studio pattern, deliberately NOT
`pi install npm:pi-atelier`, which writes into ~/.pi/npm-global on the config
volume where it shadows the image and pins nothing. Unlike its siblings it gets
no `npm install`: atelier declares zero runtime deps (peerDeps only, satisfied by
the baked pi) and has no build step, so pi loads its TypeScript straight from the
checkout via package.json `pi.extensions`.

pi is no longer resolved to npm `latest` at build time. The pin lives in
Dockerfile.variant and CI reads it from there, so a local `docker build` and a CI
release ship the same versions by construction. The pin is a CHECKPOINT, NOT A
FREEZE: bumping stays a one-line change; what stops is *unreviewed* adoption of
whatever shipped that morning, in the same build that then gets tagged and
published. CI fails when a pin is not concrete or not actually published on npm,
and warns — never adopts — when npm latest moves ahead, naming what to re-check.

Why this pairing needed care: pi-atelier 0.6.0/0.7.0 wrap pi's PRIVATE TUI
renderer, and under pi 0.84 that wrapper recurses — pi hangs at startup burning
CPU with no error. Upstream fixed the recursion in 0.7.1 and restored the
non-overlapping split in 0.7.2; 0.8.0 is additive on top. atelier's own
peerDependencies still say >=0.80.7, which does not express that floor, so
nothing in npm metadata could have warned us. The floor is therefore encoded as
an executable rule — pi >= 0.84 => pi-atelier >= 0.7.1 — asserted in both
smoke-test.sh (build time) and recreate-sanity-check.sh (after a real recreate),
verified against a 4x4 version matrix.

Existing volumes needed migration, not just vendoring: a hand-installed
`npm:pi-atelier` entry is counted as already-registered by the entrypoint guard,
so every existing volume would have kept its unpinned npm copy — and a 0.6.x copy
next to pi 0.84 is exactly the startup hang. The entrypoint now drops that one
exact string (settings.json.bak.atelier.<ts> backup, distinct prefix so it cannot
clobber the template merge's backup in the same second) and lets the pinned /opt
copy register. Tested against a real settings.json: only that entry removed,
other packages and all keys intact, idempotent, and unparseable JSON leaves the
file untouched. DEVBOX_ATELIER=0 opts out entirely — in the entrypoint rather
than via `pi uninstall`, because this component's failure mode is "pi will not
start", which cannot be repaired from inside pi.

0.84.1 was audited for this release, not merely adopted: theme/TUI changes are
additive, the session format is unchanged (CURRENT_SESSION_VERSION = 3 in both
0.83.0 and 0.84.1 with an identical migrateV1ToV2/migrateV2ToV3 ladder, so
existing transcripts are neither migrated nor at risk and pi-session-repair stays
valid), and the Node engine floor is unmoved at >=22.19.0. CI resolves the
atelier tag to its PEELED commit SHA — atelier uses annotated tags, so the
unpeeled ref is a tag object, not a commit; pi-studio's lightweight tags never
exposed that distinction.

Also: docs for overriding the read-only ~/.ssh/config from the container —
container-only keys in ~/.ssh-local, hardened authorized_keys, the fact that
`from=` must allow the HOST's addresses because container egress is NAT'd through
it, and the macOS-only-keyword trap (`UseKeychain` is fatal to Linux OpenSSH and
takes out dssh/pi --ssh while the host keeps working). Corrects two claims in
"Naming LAN peers": ssh-lan.conf is not ProxyJump-only, and first-time creation
does need one restart because the Include is emitted only when the file already
exists at start.

.env.example

@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ SSH_KEY_PATH=~/.ssh
 # the host, so bare `dssh user@<ip>` works on whatever LAN you're roaming on.
 # DEVBOX_LAN_AUTOJUMP_PRIVATE=0
 
+# ── pi-atelier (TUI sidebar) ─────────────────────────────────────────
+# The image vendors pi-atelier at a pinned, audited tag and registers it on
+# container start. Set to 0 to opt out: the entrypoint then removes it from
+# pi's `packages[]` instead of registering it. This lives here rather than
+# being a `pi uninstall` because a broken TUI extension's failure mode is
+# "pi will not start", which you cannot fix from inside pi.
+# DEVBOX_ATELIER=1
+
 # ── Git Configuration ────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GIT_USER_NAME=
 GIT_USER_EMAIL=

.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml

@@ -136,8 +136,16 @@ jobs:
       extensions_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.extensions_ref }}
       studio_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.studio_ref }}
       studio_tag: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.studio_tag }}
+      atelier_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.atelier_ref }}
+      atelier_tag: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.atelier_tag }}
       mempalace_toolkit_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.mempalace_toolkit_ref }}
     steps:
+      # Needed since v1.7.0: the pi version and the pi-atelier tag are now
+      # PINNED IN Dockerfile.variant and read from it here, so this job has to
+      # see the repo. Keeping the pins in the Dockerfile (rather than duplicated
+      # in this workflow) means a local `docker build` and CI ship the same
+      # versions by construction, and a bump is one reviewable line.
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Resolve pi version + companion refs
         id: resolve
         shell: bash
@@ -157,13 +165,35 @@ jobs:
             fi
           }
 
-          # pi version from npm (catthehacker/ubuntu:act-latest's npm is not
-          # reliably on PATH in act_runner job containers, so query directly).
-          PI_VERSION=$(curl -sf "https://registry.npmjs.org/@earendil-works%2Fpi-coding-agent/latest" | jq -r '.version' 2>/dev/null || true)
-          if ! printf '%s' "${PI_VERSION:-}" | grep -qE '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+'; then
-            echo "::error::Could not resolve pi version from npm (got '${PI_VERSION:-<empty>}')."
+          # ── pi version: from the PIN, not from npm `latest` ───────────
+          # Until v1.7.0 this followed npm `latest`, which meant every release
+          # silently adopted whatever pi had shipped that morning — unaudited —
+          # in the same build that then got tagged and published. A pi minor
+          # can move the TUI/renderer internals that pi-atelier wraps (0.84 vs
+          # atelier 0.6.0: startup hang, sustained CPU) or the session `.jsonl`
+          # format that pi-session-repair parses. The pin makes adoption an
+          # explicit, reviewable act; the drift warning below makes it a
+          # prompt rather than a surprise.
+          PI_VERSION=$(sed -n 's/^ARG PI_VERSION=\([^[:space:]]*\).*/\1/p' Dockerfile.variant | head -n1)
+          if ! printf '%s' "${PI_VERSION:-}" | grep -qE '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'; then
+            echo "::error::ARG PI_VERSION in Dockerfile.variant is not a concrete version (got '${PI_VERSION:-<empty>}'). CI refuses to build from a floating pi version — see the pin policy comment above that ARG."
             exit 1
           fi
+          # The pin must actually exist on npm: catches a typo, an unpublished
+          # version, or one yanked after we audited it — at resolve time, with
+          # a clear message, instead of as an `npm install` failure mid-build.
+          PI_PUBLISHED=$(curl -sf "https://registry.npmjs.org/@earendil-works%2Fpi-coding-agent/${PI_VERSION}" | jq -r '.version // empty' 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ "${PI_PUBLISHED:-}" != "${PI_VERSION}" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Pinned pi version ${PI_VERSION} is not published on npm (registry returned '${PI_PUBLISHED:-<empty>}'). Fix ARG PI_VERSION in Dockerfile.variant."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          # Informational only — a newer pi must never be adopted implicitly.
+          # `|| true`: a transient registry failure must not fail a release
+          # whose version is already pinned and verified above.
+          PI_NPM_LATEST=$(curl -sf "https://registry.npmjs.org/@earendil-works%2Fpi-coding-agent/latest" | jq -r '.version // empty' 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ -n "${PI_NPM_LATEST:-}" ] && [ "${PI_NPM_LATEST}" != "${PI_VERSION}" ]; then
+            echo "::warning::pi ${PI_NPM_LATEST} is published; this build ships the audited pin ${PI_VERSION}. To adopt it: read the upstream CHANGELOG for every version in between (TUI/theme API, session .jsonl format, extension loader, Node engine), re-check pi-atelier's floor, then bump ARG PI_VERSION in Dockerfile.variant and note the audit in CHANGELOG.md."
+          fi
           echo "pi_version=${PI_VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
           # pi-fork / pi-observational-memory (GitHub) → commit SHAs.
@@ -176,6 +206,26 @@ jobs:
           echo "fork_ref=${FORK_REF}"     >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "obsmem_ref=${OBSMEM_REF}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
+          # pi-atelier → the PINNED TAG's commit SHA. Unlike fork/obsmem
+          # (which track a branch head) atelier wraps pi's private TUI
+          # renderer, so its version is pinned in Dockerfile.variant and read
+          # from there; we only resolve tag → SHA, for reproducibility and to
+          # defeat the cache-hit footgun. Never floats to a branch.
+          ATELIER_TAG=$(sed -n 's/^ARG PI_ATELIER_REF=\([^[:space:]]*\).*/\1/p' Dockerfile.variant | head -n1)
+          if ! printf '%s' "${ATELIER_TAG:-}" | grep -qE '^v?[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'; then
+            echo "::error::ARG PI_ATELIER_REF in Dockerfile.variant is not a semver tag (got '${ATELIER_TAG:-<empty>}'). pi-atelier must stay pinned to a tag — see the floor note above that ARG."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          ATELIER_LS=$(git ls-remote --tags "https://github.com/michaelmjhhhh/pi-atelier.git" || true)
+          # Peeled ^{} line first (annotated tags), then the direct ref.
+          ATELIER_REF=$(printf '%s\n' "$ATELIER_LS" | awk -v t="refs/tags/${ATELIER_TAG}^{}" '$2==t{print $1}')
+          if [ -z "$ATELIER_REF" ]; then
+            ATELIER_REF=$(printf '%s\n' "$ATELIER_LS" | awk -v t="refs/tags/${ATELIER_TAG}" '$2==t{print $1}')
+          fi
+          require_sha PI_ATELIER_REF "$ATELIER_REF"
+          echo "atelier_ref=${ATELIER_REF}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "atelier_tag=${ATELIER_TAG}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
           # pi-toolkit / pi-extensions (Gitea) → commit SHAs. Gitea API
           # requires auth even for public-repo commit listing.
           TOOLKIT_REF=$(curl -sf -H "$AUTH_HEADER" \
@@ -230,7 +280,8 @@ jobs:
           echo "studio_ref=${STUDIO_REF}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "studio_tag=${STUDIO_TAG}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
-          echo "Resolved PI_VERSION=${PI_VERSION}"
+          echo "Resolved PI_VERSION=${PI_VERSION} (pinned in Dockerfile.variant; npm latest is ${PI_NPM_LATEST:-unknown})"
+          echo "Resolved PI_ATELIER_REF=${ATELIER_REF} (pi-atelier ${ATELIER_TAG}, pinned)"
           echo "Resolved PI_FORK_REF=${FORK_REF}, PI_OBSMEM_REF=${OBSMEM_REF}"
           echo "Resolved PI_TOOLKIT_REF=${TOOLKIT_REF}, PI_EXTENSIONS_REF=${EXTENSIONS_REF}"
           echo "Resolved PI_STUDIO_REF=${STUDIO_REF} (pi-studio ${STUDIO_TAG})"
@@ -357,6 +408,8 @@ jobs:
             PI_TOOLKIT_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.toolkit_ref }}
             PI_EXTENSIONS_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.extensions_ref }}
             MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_toolkit_ref }}
+            PI_ATELIER_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_ref }}
+            PI_ATELIER_VERSION=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_tag }}
             RELEASE_TAG=smoke
             SOURCE_REVISION=${{ github.sha }}
       - name: Smoke test (amd64)
@@ -417,6 +470,8 @@ jobs:
             PI_STUDIO_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.studio_ref }}
             PI_STUDIO_VERSION=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.studio_tag }}
             MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_toolkit_ref }}
+            PI_ATELIER_REF=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_ref }}
+            PI_ATELIER_VERSION=${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_tag }}
             RELEASE_TAG=smoke-studio
             SOURCE_REVISION=${{ github.sha }}
       - name: Smoke test studio (amd64)
@@ -471,6 +526,8 @@ jobs:
           TOOLKIT_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.toolkit_ref }}
           EXTENSIONS_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.extensions_ref }}
           MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_toolkit_ref }}
+          ATELIER_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_ref }}
+          ATELIER_TAG: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_tag }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           TAG_FLAGS=()
@@ -490,8 +547,10 @@ jobs:
                 --build-arg "PI_TOOLKIT_REF=${TOOLKIT_REF}" \
                 --build-arg "PI_EXTENSIONS_REF=${EXTENSIONS_REF}" \
                 --build-arg "MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF=${MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF}" \
+                --build-arg "PI_ATELIER_REF=${ATELIER_REF}" \
+                --build-arg "PI_ATELIER_VERSION=${ATELIER_TAG}" \
                 --build-arg "IMAGE_TITLE=pi-devbox" \
-                --build-arg "IMAGE_DESCRIPTION=pi-devbox ${RELEASE_TAG} — core variant: pi coding agent CLI ${PI_VERSION}, pi-toolkit, extensions (fork + observational-memory), MemPalace. No browser UI — see the -studio tags for that." \
+                --build-arg "IMAGE_DESCRIPTION=pi-devbox ${RELEASE_TAG} — core variant: pi coding agent CLI ${PI_VERSION}, pi-toolkit, extensions (fork + observational-memory + atelier ${ATELIER_TAG} TUI sidebar), MemPalace. No browser UI — see the -studio tags for that." \
                 --build-arg "RELEASE_TAG=${RELEASE_TAG}" \
                 --build-arg "BUILD_DATE=${BUILD_DATE}" \
                 --build-arg "SOURCE_REVISION=${GITHUB_SHA:-}" \
@@ -561,6 +620,8 @@ jobs:
           STUDIO_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.studio_ref }}
           STUDIO_TAG: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.studio_tag }}
           MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_toolkit_ref }}
+          ATELIER_REF: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_ref }}
+          ATELIER_TAG: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.atelier_tag }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           TAG_FLAGS=()
@@ -582,7 +643,9 @@ jobs:
                 --build-arg "MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF=${MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF}" \
                 --build-arg "INSTALL_STUDIO=true" \
                 --build-arg "IMAGE_TITLE=pi-devbox (studio)" \
-                --build-arg "IMAGE_DESCRIPTION=pi-devbox ${RELEASE_TAG} — studio variant: everything in the core variant (pi ${PI_VERSION}, pi-toolkit, fork + observational-memory, MemPalace) plus the pi-studio browser UI ${STUDIO_TAG}." \
+                --build-arg "PI_ATELIER_REF=${ATELIER_REF}" \
+                --build-arg "PI_ATELIER_VERSION=${ATELIER_TAG}" \
+                --build-arg "IMAGE_DESCRIPTION=pi-devbox ${RELEASE_TAG} — studio variant: everything in the core variant (pi ${PI_VERSION}, pi-toolkit, fork + observational-memory + atelier ${ATELIER_TAG}, MemPalace) plus the pi-studio browser UI ${STUDIO_TAG}." \
                 --build-arg "PI_STUDIO_REF=${STUDIO_REF}" \
                 --build-arg "PI_STUDIO_VERSION=${STUDIO_TAG}" \
                 --build-arg "RELEASE_TAG=${RELEASE_TAG}" \

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -11,13 +11,101 @@ Pre-v1.0.0 tags followed the pi npm version (`v{pi_version}[letter]`).
 
 ---
 
-## Unreleased
+## v1.7.0 — 2026-08-07
 
-Staged, not yet tagged — more changes are queued for the next release before CI
-is kicked off.
+Minor release. Headline: **pi-atelier is now part of the image** — the TUI
+sidebar/status rail every container previously had to hand-install — and **pi is
+pinned to an audited version instead of tracking npm `latest`**.
+
+*Why minor and not patch:* the policy above reserves patch for "pi version bumps,
+smaller fixes" and minor for "new variants, significant base additions". Bundling
+a new companion package into every image is the same shape as v1.1.0, which went
+minor for bundling pi-studio; v1.4.0 likewise went minor for adding typst. This
+release also adds a new build-arg pair, a new opt-out env var, and a settings
+migration, so patch would understate it.
+
+### Added
+
+- **pi-atelier vendored at `/opt/pi-atelier`, pinned to `v0.8.0`** — the TUI
+  sidebar (ordered panels, split-pane, themes) is now part of the image instead
+  of something each user hand-installs. Vendored + registered at container start
+  by `entrypoint-user.sh`, the same pattern as pi-fork/pi-observational-memory/
+  pi-studio, and deliberately **not** `pi install npm:pi-atelier`: an npm
+  install writes into `~/.pi/npm-global` on the config volume, which shadows the
+  image and pins nothing — the footgun that once hid a missing `fork` tool for
+  six weeks. Unlike its siblings it gets **no `npm install`**: pi-atelier
+  declares zero runtime dependencies (only peerDeps, satisfied by the baked pi)
+  and has no build step, so pi loads its TypeScript straight from the checkout
+  (`pi.extensions` → `extensions/index.ts`).
+- **A version FLOOR, encoded as an executable test.** pi-atelier 0.6.0/0.7.0
+  wrap pi's private TUI renderer in a way that recurses under pi 0.84: pi hangs
+  at startup with sustained CPU and no error message. Upstream fixed the
+  recursion in 0.7.1 and restored the non-overlapping split in 0.7.2
+  ("avoiding the recursive render path that caused startup hangs and sustained
+  CPU usage"); 0.8.0 is additive on top of that. atelier's own
+  `peerDependencies` still say `>=0.80.7`, which does **not** express the floor,
+  so nothing in npm metadata could have warned us. `smoke-test.sh` and
+  `recreate-sanity-check.sh` now assert the pairing rule **pi ≥ 0.84 ⇒
+  pi-atelier ≥ 0.7.1** — verified against a 4×4 version matrix — so a bad
+  combination fails the build instead of publishing an image whose TUI never
+  starts. CI resolves the pinned tag to its **peeled commit SHA**; atelier uses
+  annotated tags, so the unpeeled ref is a tag object, not a commit (pi-studio's
+  lightweight tags never exposed that distinction).
+- **`DEVBOX_ATELIER=0`** opts out: the entrypoint removes pi-atelier from pi's
+  `packages[]` instead of registering it. The switch lives in the entrypoint
+  rather than being "just run `pi uninstall`" because this component's failure
+  mode is *pi will not start*, which cannot be repaired from inside pi.
+- **Migration for hand-installed copies.** A pre-existing `npm:pi-atelier` entry
+  is dropped from `packages[]` (with a `settings.json.bak.atelier.<ts>` backup)
+  so the pinned `/opt` copy takes over. This is not cosmetic: the registration
+  guard counts `npm:<name>` as already-registered, so without this step every
+  existing volume would have kept its unpinned npm copy — and a 0.6.x copy
+  alongside pi 0.84 is exactly the startup hang above. Only that one exact
+  string is removed; jq-parse failures or a missing file leave settings
+  untouched, and the backup prefix is distinct from the template merge's so two
+  rewrites in the same second cannot overwrite each other's backup.
 
 ### Changed
 
+- **pi-toolkit's `pi-atelier.json` modernised to atelier's current schema**
+  (pi-toolkit `0e1369e`, cross-repo — it reaches the image through the pinned
+  `PI_TOOLKIT_REF` clone). The seeded config had been written against the pre-0.7
+  vocabulary: `segments` → `segmentLayout` with explicit per-segment visibility,
+  `ornament: "none"` → `{"id":"brand","visible":false}`, `showExtensionStatuses`
+  → `{"id":"statuses","visible":true}`, plus the sidebar toggles that did not
+  exist when it was written (`showSidebarAgent`, `showSidebarTodos`, and
+  `showSidebarOnStartup`, new in atelier 0.8.0). Upstream still reads the old
+  keys, but only as non-authoritative legacy inputs, so the file worked while
+  silently missing every sidebar control added since. Verified by loading the old
+  and new file through pi-atelier 0.8.0's own `loadConfig()`: zero warnings from
+  each and an identical *effective* config, so it is a pure schema
+  modernisation — every deliberate choice (compact density, 60/85 context
+  thresholds, notifications off) is preserved. `sidebarPanelLayout` is left unset
+  on purpose so the panel set tracks upstream as atelier adds panels.
+- **pi is now PINNED, not `latest`: `PI_VERSION=0.84.1`** (`Dockerfile.variant`).
+  CI's `resolve-versions` job used to resolve `@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent`
+  to npm `latest`, which meant every release silently adopted whatever pi had
+  shipped that morning — unaudited — in the same build that then got tagged and
+  published. A pi minor can move the private TUI/renderer internals pi-atelier
+  wraps (0.84 vs atelier 0.6.0: startup hang) or the session `.jsonl` format
+  `pi-session-repair` parses. **The pin is a checkpoint, not a freeze** —
+  bumping stays a routine one-line change; what stops is *unreviewed* adoption.
+  0.84.1 was audited for this release: theme/TUI additions are additive, the
+  session format is unchanged (`CURRENT_SESSION_VERSION = 3` in both 0.83.0 and
+  0.84.1, identical `migrateV1ToV2`/`migrateV2ToV3` ladder, so existing
+  transcripts are neither migrated nor at risk), and the Node engine floor is
+  unmoved at `>=22.19.0`.
+  - The pins live in the **Dockerfiles** and CI reads them from there (a
+    `checkout` was added to `resolve-versions`), so a local `docker build` and a
+    CI release ship the same versions by construction instead of by convention.
+  - CI **fails** the build when the pin is not a concrete version, and when the
+    pinned version is not actually published on npm — catching a typo, an
+    unpublished version, or one yanked after we audited it, at resolve time with
+    a clear message rather than as an `npm install` error mid-build.
+  - CI **warns** (`::warning::`, never adopts) when npm `latest` is ahead of the
+    pin, naming the newer version and what to re-check. That warning is the
+    prompt to audit and bump — not something to silence.
+
 - **mempalace pin `3.5.0` → `3.6.0`** (`Dockerfile.base` `MEMPALACE_VERSION`),
   in lockstep with opencode-devbox v2.9.0 as the pin's own comment requires.
   3.6.0 (2026-07-17) is PyPI latest and is additive/reliability only — secure
@@ -35,6 +123,57 @@ is kicked off.
 
 ### Documentation
 
+- **New README section: "Using pi-atelier (TUI sidebar)"** — what the status rail
+  and sidebar give you, the `alt+a` / `/atelier` entry points, session-scoped
+  `/atelier sidebar on|off` versus persistent Save, and `DEVBOX_ATELIER=0` to opt
+  out. Plus the config story: why `~/.pi/agent/pi-atelier.json` is **copied, not
+  symlinked** (atelier saves via write-temp-then-`rename(2)`, and `rename`
+  replaces a symlink rather than following it, so a symlink would silently detach
+  on the first save), why `install.sh` therefore only seeds it when absent, which
+  keys are current versus legacy-compatibility, and the 92-column auto-hide /
+  64-column main-pane floor so a narrow terminal degrades gracefully.
+- **Documents how to authenticate the container to a LAN peer with its own key**
+  (README: *Giving the container its own key for a peer*) — the gap the existing
+  *Naming LAN peers* section left open. That section explained `ProxyJump`
+  *routing* while asserting `HostName`/`User`/`IdentityFile` are "inherited from
+  the matching block in your real `~/.ssh/config`", which is precisely what fails
+  in a container: host keys are normally passphrase-protected and unlocked by the
+  macOS Keychain or an `ssh-agent`, neither of which exists here, so the key can
+  never be decrypted — `Permission denied (publickey)` while the identical
+  `ssh peer` works fine in a host terminal — and `~/.ssh` is read-only, so no
+  usable key can be added there either. The new walkthrough (throwaway example
+  keys) covers a passphraseless keypair in the `devbox-ssh-local` volume so it
+  survives `--force-recreate`; a hardened `authorized_keys` line (`restrict`,
+  `from=`, optional `permitopen`); the non-obvious detail that `from=` must allow
+  the **host's** addresses, plural, because container egress is NAT'd through the
+  host and a roaming laptop presents a different one per network (a `from=`
+  mismatch is indistinguishable from a wrong key in the error message); the
+  `IdentityFile` override in the host-owned `ssh-lan.conf`; and verification with
+  `-o ControlPath=none` so a warm ControlMaster cannot fake a pass. States
+  explicitly that no private key is in the published image — the volume is
+  created at runtime on the operator's own machine.
+- **Corrects two claims in *Naming LAN peers***: (1) `ssh-lan.conf` is not
+  `ProxyJump`-only — it is `Include`d before `~/.ssh/config`, so by
+  first-value-wins *any* option set there wins, which is what makes the
+  `IdentityFile` override above possible; (2) "newly added peers work
+  immediately, no container or session restart needed" holds only for *edits* to
+  an existing file. Creating it for the first time **does** need one restart,
+  because `setup-lan-access.sh` emits the
+  `Include ~/.config/devbox-shell/ssh-lan.conf` line only
+  `if [ -r "$SSH_LAN_CONF" ]` at container start — until then ssh never reads it,
+  which presents exactly as "my override is being ignored".
+- **Adds *macOS-only keywords in a shared `~/.ssh/config`***. The same file is
+  read by macOS ssh and by the container's Linux OpenSSH, where macOS-only
+  keywords are fatal rather than ignored: one `UseKeychain yes` in a `Host *`
+  block yields `Bad configuration option: usekeychain` /
+  `terminating, 1 bad configuration options` and takes down `dssh`/`dscp`,
+  `pi --ssh`, `scp` and every helper that shells out to ssh — while the host
+  keeps working, so it presents as a container regression rather than a host
+  config error. Fix is `IgnoreUnknown UseKeychain` *ahead of* the keyword (macOS
+  still honours it, Linux skips it), plus keeping such a `Host *` block below
+  OrbStack's `Include ~/.orbstack/ssh/config`, which documents in its own comment
+  that it must come first.
+
 - Documents **per-variant image description labels** (committed and pushed after
   the v1.6.4 tag without a changelog entry). Both published variants used to
   inherit `Dockerfile.base`'s `description="pi-devbox — base image

DOCKER_HUB.md

@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ Full setup guide — authentication for each provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini
 
 ### pi and companions
 
-- **pi `{{PI_VERSION}}`** ([`@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent)) — installed at `/usr/bin/pi`
+- **pi `{{PI_VERSION}}`** ([`@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@earendil-works/pi-coding-agent)) — installed at `/usr/bin/pi`, pinned to an audited version (not npm `latest`)
+- **pi-atelier** — TUI sidebar (ordered panels, split-pane, themes), vendored at `/opt/pi-atelier` and pinned to an audited tag; the exact tag is in the image labels (`se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-atelier-version`) and `/etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json`
 - **[pi-toolkit](https://gitea.jordbo.se/joakimp/pi-toolkit)** — keybindings (mosh/tmux-friendly Shift+Enter, Ctrl+J, Alt+J newline bindings), AWS env loader, settings template
 - **[pi-extensions](https://gitea.jordbo.se/joakimp/pi-extensions)** — 7 user-facing extensions: `ext-toggle`, `mcp-loader`, `todo`, `ssh-controlmaster`, `notify`, `git-checkpoint`, `confirm-destructive`
 - **`fork`** ([pi-fork](https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-fork)) and **`recall`** ([pi-observational-memory](https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-observational-memory)) tools

Dockerfile.variant

@@ -29,16 +29,34 @@ ARG USER_NAME=developer
 # runs each repo's install.sh on container start so symlinks land under
 # ~/.pi/agent/ on the named volume.
 #
-# PI_VERSION should be passed explicitly by CI as a concrete version
-# (resolved from `npm view @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent version`).
-# The default `latest` is for local dev convenience only — it has a
-# known cache-hit footgun in registry-cached CI builds: the resulting
-# build-arg string is byte-identical across builds, the layer-hash is
-# identical, and the registry buildcache silently reuses the layer
-# from whatever pi version was current when the cache was first
-# populated. CI MUST pass a resolved concrete version. See pi-devbox
-# v0.75.5b 2026-05-23 for the discovery + canonical fix.
-ARG PI_VERSION=latest
+# ── pi version pin: an AUDITED CHECKPOINT, not a freeze ──────────────
+# PI_VERSION is pinned to a version whose upstream CHANGELOG has been read
+# against this image's integration surface: the theme/TUI API that pi-atelier
+# couples to, the session `.jsonl` format that `pi-session-repair` parses, the
+# extension/package loader, and the Node engine floor. CI reads THIS LINE as
+# the single source of truth (see the `resolve-versions` job) and no longer
+# follows npm `latest` — following it meant every release silently adopted
+# whatever pi shipped that morning, unaudited, in the very build that then got
+# tagged and published.
+#
+# BUMPING IS ROUTINE AND EXPECTED — the pin exists to force a look, not to
+# hold a version forever:
+#   1. Read the upstream CHANGELOG for every version between old and new.
+#   2. Re-check the companions that couple to pi's private TUI/renderer
+#      internals — pi-atelier above all (see PI_ATELIER_REF below for the
+#      0.6.0-under-pi-0.84 startup-hang precedent).
+#   3. Bump this line, record the audit in CHANGELOG.md, then tag.
+# CI fails the build if this pin is not a published npm version, and warns —
+# without adopting it — when npm `latest` has moved ahead. That warning is the
+# prompt to do step 1; it is not something to silence.
+#
+# A concrete version here ALSO defeats the registry-buildcache cache-hit
+# footgun that `latest` carried: a byte-identical build-arg string produced an
+# identical layer hash, so the cache reused the layer from whatever pi was
+# current when it was first populated (shipped the same bytes for pi-devbox
+# v0.74.0..v0.75.5; discovered + fixed in v0.75.5b, 2026-05-23). The `latest`
+# branch below is kept only for a deliberate local `docker build` override.
+ARG PI_VERSION=0.84.1
 ARG PI_TOOLKIT_REF=main
 ARG PI_EXTENSIONS_REF=main
 # Repo URLs default to the canonical gitea origin but are overridable so a
@@ -54,6 +72,29 @@ ARG PI_FORK_REPO=https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-fork.git
 ARG PI_FORK_REF=master
 ARG PI_OBSMEM_REPO=https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-observational-memory.git
 ARG PI_OBSMEM_REF=master
+# pi-atelier (TUI sidebar: ordered panels, split-pane, themes) is PINNED TO A
+# TAG, which CI resolves to that tag's commit SHA — same treatment as
+# pi-studio, for reproducibility plus cache-busting.
+#
+# This floor is hard-earned. pi-atelier 0.6.0/0.7.0 wrapped pi's PRIVATE TUI
+# renderer, and under pi 0.84 that wrapper recursed: pi hung at startup with
+# sustained CPU. Upstream fixed the recursion in 0.7.1 and restored the
+# non-overlapping split in 0.7.2 — "avoiding the recursive render path that
+# caused startup hangs and sustained CPU usage". Its own peerDependencies
+# still say `>=0.80.7`, which does NOT encode that floor, so nothing would
+# have warned us: NEVER pair pi-atelier < 0.7.1 with pi >= 0.84. Bump this
+# pin and PI_VERSION together, checking atelier's CHANGELOG for the pi
+# version it claims to track.
+#
+# No `npm install` step, unlike pi-fork/pi-observational-memory/pi-studio:
+# pi-atelier declares ZERO runtime dependencies (only peerDeps, satisfied by
+# the baked pi) and has no build step — pi loads its TypeScript directly from
+# the /opt checkout. Adding an install here would be a no-op that only costs
+# build time.
+ARG PI_ATELIER_REPO=https://github.com/michaelmjhhhh/pi-atelier.git
+ARG PI_ATELIER_REF=v0.8.0
+# Human-readable tag PI_ATELIER_REF was resolved from; recorded as a label.
+ARG PI_ATELIER_VERSION=v0.8.0
 
 RUN set -e && \
     # git_fetch_ref: clone-equivalent helper that accepts EITHER a branch name
@@ -87,12 +128,14 @@ RUN set -e && \
     git_fetch_ref   "${PI_EXTENSIONS_REPO}" "${PI_EXTENSIONS_REF}" /opt/pi-extensions && \
     git_fetch_ref   "${PI_FORK_REPO}"   "${PI_FORK_REF}"   /opt/pi-fork && \
     git_fetch_ref   "${PI_OBSMEM_REPO}" "${PI_OBSMEM_REF}" /opt/pi-observational-memory && \
+    git_fetch_ref   "${PI_ATELIER_REPO}" "${PI_ATELIER_REF}" /opt/pi-atelier && \
     (cd /opt/pi-fork && npm install --omit=dev --no-audit --no-fund) && \
     (cd /opt/pi-observational-memory && npm install --omit=dev --no-audit --no-fund) && \
     echo "pi-toolkit at $(cd /opt/pi-toolkit && git rev-parse --short HEAD)" && \
     echo "pi-extensions at $(cd /opt/pi-extensions && git rev-parse --short HEAD)" && \
     echo "pi-fork at $(cd /opt/pi-fork && git rev-parse --short HEAD)" && \
-    echo "pi-observational-memory at $(cd /opt/pi-observational-memory && git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
+    echo "pi-observational-memory at $(cd /opt/pi-observational-memory && git rev-parse --short HEAD)" && \
+    echo "pi-atelier at $(cd /opt/pi-atelier && git rev-parse --short HEAD) (${PI_ATELIER_VERSION})"
 
 # ── Image-baked skill refresh: pi-extensions (Option 1 over Option 2) ──
 # rootfs ships a VENDORED snapshot of the pi-extensions skill at
@@ -239,6 +282,8 @@ LABEL org.opencontainers.image.version="${RELEASE_TAG}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-extensions-ref="${PI_EXTENSIONS_REF}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-fork-ref="${PI_FORK_REF}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-obsmem-ref="${PI_OBSMEM_REF}" \
+      se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-atelier-ref="${PI_ATELIER_REF}" \
+      se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-atelier-version="${PI_ATELIER_VERSION}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.mempalace-toolkit-ref="${MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REF}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-studio-ref="${PI_STUDIO_REF}" \
       se.jordbo.pi-devbox.pi-studio-version="${PI_STUDIO_VERSION}"
@@ -265,6 +310,7 @@ RUN set -e; \
       echo "    \"pi-extensions\": \"$(rev /opt/pi-extensions)\","; \
       echo "    \"pi-fork\": \"$(rev /opt/pi-fork)\","; \
       echo "    \"pi-observational-memory\": \"$(rev /opt/pi-observational-memory)\","; \
+      echo "    \"pi-atelier\": \"$(rev /opt/pi-atelier)\","; \
       echo "    \"mempalace-toolkit\": \"$(rev /opt/mempalace-toolkit)\","; \
       echo "    \"pi-studio\": ${STUDIO_REV}"; \
       echo "  }"; \

README.md

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ on the host.
   mempalace integration, etc.)
 - `pi-fork` — the `fork` tool for spawning sub-agents
 - `pi-observational-memory` — the `recall` tool for session compaction
+- `pi-atelier` — TUI sidebar: ordered panels, split-pane, themes. Pinned to an
+  audited tag; see [Version pins](#version-pins-pi-pi-atelier-mempalace)
 
 ### MemPalace (AI memory)
 
@@ -338,6 +340,59 @@ DOT syntax errors instead of crashing. Then in Studio: open the PNG (or a
 `.md` that embeds it) and hit **refresh-from-disk** after each edit.
 Note: SVG is **not** in Studio's local-image-link allowlist — use PNG.
 
+## Using pi-atelier (TUI sidebar)
+
+`pi-atelier` is bundled in **both** variants (vendored at `/opt/pi-atelier`,
+pinned — see [Version pins](#version-pins-pi-pi-atelier-mempalace)). It adds two
+things to pi's terminal UI:
+
+- a **status rail** — activity, token/cost metrics, context usage, model, git
+  state, extension statuses, and a menu;
+- a **sidebar** — ordered panels (agent, activity, alerts, TODOs, context,
+  workspace, usage, tools) in a split pane beside the transcript.
+
+Nothing needs installing; the entrypoint registers it on container start, and it
+binds on the next pi start (or `/reload`).
+
+| Action | How |
+|---|---|
+| Open the atelier menu | `alt+a`, or `/atelier` |
+| Toggle the sidebar for this session | `/atelier sidebar on` / `off` |
+| Change settings persistently | atelier menu → **Settings**, then **Save** |
+| Turn the whole thing off | `DEVBOX_ATELIER=0` in `.env` |
+
+If your terminal or keymap swallows `alt+a`, use `/atelier` and pick a different
+`shortcut` in the config file below.
+
+### Config
+
+Config lives at `~/.pi/agent/pi-atelier.json` on the `devbox-pi-config` volume,
+seeded from pi-toolkit with container-appropriate defaults: compact density,
+context warnings at 60/85 % (earlier than upstream's 70/90), sidebar tool names
+on, and desktop completion notifications **off** (a container has nowhere useful
+to pop a toast).
+
+It is **copied, not symlinked** — atelier rewrites this exact path when you hit
+**Save**, using write-temp-then-`rename(2)`, and `rename` replaces a symlink with
+a regular file instead of following it. A symlink would silently detach on your
+first save. Consequently pi-toolkit's `install.sh` only seeds the file when it is
+absent: once you have saved your own preferences, image upgrades leave them
+alone, and `install.sh` prints a diff hint instead of clobbering.
+
+The seeded file uses atelier's **current** schema — `segmentLayout` with explicit
+per-segment visibility, plus `showSidebarAgent` / `showSidebarTodos` /
+`showSidebarOnStartup`. Older configs written against the pre-0.7 vocabulary
+(`segments`, `ornament`, `showExtensionStatuses`) still load, but only through
+upstream's legacy-compatibility shims — so if you are carrying one on an old
+volume, expect it to keep working while missing every sidebar control added
+since. `sidebarPanelLayout` is deliberately left unset so the panel set follows
+upstream's product default as atelier adds panels; set it only if you want to
+pin the order yourself.
+
+The sidebar auto-hides below 92 terminal columns and keeps the main pane at
+least 64 columns wide, so a narrow terminal degrades to the plain TUI rather
+than a squeezed one.
+
 ## docker-compose.yml — basic shape
 
 ```yaml
@@ -554,6 +609,35 @@ User-level overrides in `~/.ssh/config` win because Debian's
 `/etc/ssh/ssh_config` includes `/etc/ssh/ssh_config.d/*.conf` before
 the `Host *` block.
 
+### macOS-only keywords in a shared `~/.ssh/config`
+
+The same `~/.ssh/config` is read by macOS ssh *and* by the Linux OpenSSH inside
+the container (the sidecar `Include`s it). macOS-only keywords are **fatal**
+there, not ignored — a single `UseKeychain yes` in a `Host *` block takes down
+every ssh call in the container:
+
+```
+/home/developer/.ssh/config: line 2: Bad configuration option: usekeychain
+/home/developer/.ssh/config: terminating, 1 bad configuration options
+```
+
+That breaks `dssh`/`dscp`, `pi --ssh`, `scp`, and anything that shells out to
+ssh (including CI/deploy helpers), while the host keeps working perfectly — so
+it presents as a container regression rather than a host config error. Guard the
+keyword on the host, *before* it is used:
+
+```diff
+ Host *
++    IgnoreUnknown UseKeychain
+     UseKeychain yes
+     AddKeysToAgent yes
+```
+
+`IgnoreUnknown` is understood by both implementations: macOS still honours
+`UseKeychain`, Linux skips it. Also keep such a `Host *` block **below** any
+`Include` that must come first — OrbStack's own `Include ~/.orbstack/ssh/config`
+says so in a comment, and a `Host *` block above it silently violates that.
+
 ### Per-host `ControlPath` on a read-only `~/.ssh`
 
 `~/.ssh` is usually bind-mounted read-only, so a user `~/.ssh/config` that
@@ -573,7 +657,10 @@ this without editing the read-only config:
   jump via the host, add `ProxyJump host` overrides in the host-owned
   `~/.config/devbox-shell/ssh-lan.conf` (see
   [Naming LAN peers](#naming-lan-peers)) rather than the read-only
-  `~/.ssh/config`.
+  `~/.ssh/config`. If the peer also rejects the host's key — the usual case,
+  since host keys are normally passphrase-protected and the container has no
+  Keychain or agent — see
+  [Giving the container its own key for a peer](#giving-the-container-its-own-key-for-a-peer).
 
 ## tmux and 0-indexed sessions
 
@@ -646,6 +733,7 @@ repoint each one at a mirror, another host, or a local `file://` path
 | `MEMPALACE_TOOLKIT_REPO` | `https://gitea.jordbo.se/joakimp/mempalace-toolkit.git` | base |
 | `PI_FORK_REPO` | `https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-fork.git` | variant |
 | `PI_OBSMEM_REPO` | `https://github.com/elpapi42/pi-observational-memory.git` | variant |
+| `PI_ATELIER_REPO` | `https://github.com/michaelmjhhhh/pi-atelier.git` | variant |
 | `PI_STUDIO_REPO` | `https://github.com/omaclaren/pi-studio.git` | variant |
 
 Each has a matching `*_REF` arg (branch name or commit SHA). Example — build
@@ -750,14 +838,90 @@ Host pve pve-2 alpserv-2 lagret
     ProxyJump host
 ```
 
-`HostName` / `User` / `IdentityFile` are inherited from the matching block in
-your real `~/.ssh/config` (first-value-wins, so only `ProxyJump` is taken from
-here). This file is `Include`d *before* `~/.ssh/config` and read fresh on every
-connection — newly added peers work immediately, no container or session
-restart needed — and the peer names stay out of the published image (they're a
-fact about your specific LAN, not the image). Alternatively, set
-`DEVBOX_LAN_AUTOJUMP_PRIVATE=1` to ProxyJump *any* RFC1918 address through the
-host without naming peers (see `.env.example`).
+Any option can be set here, not just `ProxyJump`: the file is `Include`d
+*before* `~/.ssh/config` and ssh takes the **first** value it sees for each
+option, so whatever you put here wins while everything you omit is inherited
+from the matching block in your real `~/.ssh/config`. Peer names stay out of the
+published image (they are a fact about your LAN, not the image). Alternatively,
+set `DEVBOX_LAN_AUTOJUMP_PRIVATE=1` to ProxyJump *any* RFC1918 address through
+the host without naming peers (see `.env.example`).
+
+Once the file exists it is re-read on every connection, so *edits* take effect
+immediately — no container or session restart. **Creating it for the first time
+does need one restart**, because `setup-lan-access.sh` only emits the
+`Include ~/.config/devbox-shell/ssh-lan.conf` line when the file is already
+readable at container start (`if [ -r "$SSH_LAN_CONF" ]`). Until then ssh never
+looks at it — which reads exactly like "my override is being ignored".
+
+#### Giving the container its own key for a peer
+
+`ProxyJump` fixes *routing*; it does not fix *authentication*, and inheriting
+the host's `IdentityFile` usually fails inside the container:
+
+- Host keys are commonly passphrase-protected, and that passphrase is unlocked
+  by the macOS Keychain or a running `ssh-agent`. The container has neither, so
+  the key can never be decrypted — `Permission denied (publickey)` even though
+  the identical `ssh peer` works in a host terminal.
+- `~/.ssh` is mounted read-only, so you can neither drop a container-usable key
+  in there nor edit `~/.ssh/config` from inside.
+
+The answer is a **container-only keypair** in `~/.ssh-local/` — the named volume
+`devbox-ssh-local`, so it survives `docker compose up -d --force-recreate` —
+plus an `IdentityFile` override in the host-owned `ssh-lan.conf`. Note that
+nothing is baked into the *published image*: that volume is created on your
+machine at runtime, so no private key ever ships to Docker Hub, and a fresh pull
+elsewhere generates its own. (Every key below is a throwaway example.)
+
+**1. In the container** — generate a passphraseless key (there is no agent to
+unlock a protected one):
+
+```bash
+ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -C "devbox-$(hostname)" \
+  -f ~/.ssh-local/mypeer_devbox_ed25519
+cat ~/.ssh-local/mypeer_devbox_ed25519.pub
+# ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIEXAMPLE0000EXAMPLE0000EXAMPLE0000ex devbox-0d11ec7731c7
+```
+
+**2. On the peer** — authorize it narrowly rather than bare:
+
+```
+from="192.168.1.0/24,192.168.4.0/24,10.8.0.7",restrict ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIEXAMPLE0000EXAMPLE0000EXAMPLE0000ex devbox-mymachine
+```
+
+`restrict` disables pty, agent/X11 and port forwarding; append
+`port-forwarding` and `permitopen="127.0.0.1:<port>"` after it if you need one
+specific tunnel. `from=` must list the **host's** addresses, not the
+container's: container egress is NAT'd through the host, so the peer sees the
+host's LAN address (confirm with `echo $SSH_CLIENT` on first login). List every
+network the host roams — e.g. both home WLAN subnets plus its VPN address —
+because a `from=` mismatch is indistinguishable from a wrong key in the error
+message.
+
+**3. On the host** — point the peer at that key in
+`~/.config/devbox-shell/ssh-lan.conf`:
+
+```
+Host mypeer mypeer.home.arpa
+    HostName 192.168.1.142
+    User myuser
+    IdentityFile ~/.ssh-local/mypeer_devbox_ed25519
+    IdentitiesOnly yes
+    # ProxyJump host      # only if the container cannot reach the peer directly
+```
+
+That path exists only inside containers, which is why it belongs here rather
+than in the shared `~/.ssh/config`.
+
+**4. First time only** — restart the container so the `Include` is emitted (see
+above), then verify with the master socket bypassed, so a warm connection cannot
+fake a pass:
+
+```bash
+ssh -F ~/.ssh-local/config -o ControlPath=none mypeer 'echo $SSH_CLIENT'
+```
+
+Use one key per machine (`devbox-mbp`, `devbox-studio`, …) so a single
+`authorized_keys` line can be revoked without locking out the others.
 
 ### Smoke-testing a local build
 
@@ -794,9 +958,72 @@ pi-devbox follows semver-ish:
 - **Minor** — new variants, significant base additions.
 - **Patch** — pi version bumps, smaller fixes.
 
-The `pi --version` inside the image is asserted by smoke tests to
-match the release tag's pi component, so version drift between the
-image and the tag is caught at CI time.
+The `pi --version` inside the image is asserted by smoke tests to match the
+version CI resolved (since v1.7.0, the pin below), so drift between what was
+intended and what actually got baked is caught at CI time rather than on a
+user's pull.
+
+### Version pins: pi, pi-atelier, mempalace
+
+Three components are pinned to an exact version **in the repo** instead of being
+resolved to `latest` at build time:
+
+| Component | Pin | Where |
+|---|---|---|
+| pi | `0.84.1` | `ARG PI_VERSION` — `Dockerfile.variant` |
+| pi-atelier | `v0.8.0` | `ARG PI_ATELIER_REF` — `Dockerfile.variant` |
+| mempalace | `3.6.0` | `ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION` — `Dockerfile.base` |
+
+The objective is **not** to freeze versions. Bumping is routine — usually one
+line plus a changelog note. The objective is that adopting a new upstream
+version is a deliberate, reviewable act, not a side effect of whatever happened
+to be published the morning CI ran. Each of these has already drawn blood:
+
+- **pi** — a minor release can move the private TUI/renderer internals that
+  pi-atelier wraps, or the session `.jsonl` format `pi-session-repair` parses.
+- **pi-atelier** — 0.6.0/0.7.0 hang pi 0.84 **at startup**, burning CPU with no
+  error (fixed in 0.7.1/0.7.2). Its `peerDependencies` still say `>=0.80.7`, so
+  nothing in the npm metadata expresses the real floor.
+- **mempalace** — an unpinned install once swept in the broken `diary_write` MCP
+  tool schema of 3.3.x/3.4.0, which is why that pin's comment requires a
+  tool-schema review before every bump.
+
+CI enforces this rather than trusting it:
+
+- `resolve-versions` reads the pins **out of the Dockerfiles** — single source of
+  truth, so a local `docker build` and a CI release ship the same versions — and
+  fails the build if a pin is not concrete, not a semver tag, or not actually
+  published on npm.
+- When npm has a newer pi than the pin, CI emits a `::warning::` naming it. That
+  warning is the prompt to audit and bump; it never adopts the version.
+- `smoke-test.sh` asserts the image's `pi --version` equals the pin, and
+  separately asserts the pairing rule **pi ≥ 0.84 ⇒ pi-atelier ≥ 0.7.1**, so a
+  bad combination fails the build instead of publishing a TUI that never starts.
+
+To bump pi: read the upstream CHANGELOG for every intervening version (TUI/theme
+API, session format, extension loader, Node engine floor), re-check pi-atelier's
+CHANGELOG for the pi version it claims to track, then edit the one `ARG` line and
+record what you checked in `CHANGELOG.md`.
+
+#### If you previously hand-installed pi-atelier
+
+A hand-installed `pi install npm:pi-atelier` lands in `~/.pi/npm-global`, which
+is on the `devbox-pi-config` **volume** — so it outlives image upgrades and stays
+at whatever version you installed, unpinned and unaudited. Since the image now
+vendors an audited pi-atelier at `/opt/pi-atelier`, the entrypoint removes a
+lingering `npm:pi-atelier` entry from `packages[]` (after backing
+`settings.json` up to `settings.json.bak.atelier.<timestamp>`) and registers the
+pinned `/opt` copy instead. Nothing else in your settings is touched, and the
+npm-global copy itself is left on disk — only the registration changes.
+
+This matters more than it sounds: leaving a 0.6.x npm copy registered alongside
+pi 0.84 is precisely the combination that hangs at startup.
+
+To opt out of pi-atelier entirely, set `DEVBOX_ATELIER=0` in `.env`. The
+entrypoint then removes any pi-atelier entry from `packages[]` on start. That
+switch lives in the entrypoint — not in a pi command — deliberately: this
+component's failure mode is "pi will not start", which you cannot repair with
+`pi uninstall`.
 
 ## Acknowledgements
 

entrypoint-user.sh

@@ -169,9 +169,9 @@ if command -v pi &>/dev/null; then
            "$HOME/.pi/agent/extensions/mempalace.ts"
   fi
 
-  # pi-fork (fork tool) + pi-observational-memory (recall tool) + (in the
-  # :latest-studio variant only) pi-studio (/studio command + studio_*
-  # tools + theme). These are pi packages (not symlink-style extensions):
+  # pi-fork (fork tool) + pi-observational-memory (recall tool) + pi-atelier
+  # (TUI sidebar panels/split-pane) + (in the :latest-studio variant only)
+  # pi-studio (/studio command + studio_* tools + theme). These are pi packages (not symlink-style extensions):
   # they're cloned to /opt with node_modules baked at BUILD time, then
   # registered here via `pi install <local-path>`. A local-path install is
   # instant + in-place (pi loads the extension directly from /opt) +
@@ -206,9 +206,63 @@ if command -v pi &>/dev/null; then
     fi
   }
 
-  for _pkg in /opt/pi-fork /opt/pi-observational-memory /opt/pi-studio; do
+  # ── pi-atelier: retire a stale `npm:pi-atelier`, plus an opt-out ──────
+  # The image now vendors pi-atelier at a pinned, audited tag (PI_ATELIER_REF
+  # in Dockerfile.variant). A leftover `npm:pi-atelier` entry from a
+  # hand-install resolves through ~/.pi/npm-global, which lives on the
+  # devbox-pi-config VOLUME — so it survives image upgrades and keeps whatever
+  # version was installed by hand, unpinned and unaudited. That is not
+  # academic: pi-atelier < 0.7.1 makes pi >= 0.84 hang at startup with
+  # sustained CPU, so leaving it in place turns a pi bump into a TUI that will
+  # not start. And `_pi_pkg_registered` deliberately counts `npm:<name>` as
+  # registered (it respects a user's own npm install), so the loop below would
+  # never replace it.
+  #
+  # We only DELETE the exact `npm:pi-atelier` string; the loop then registers
+  # /opt/pi-atelier in pi's own canonical serialization, so this code never has
+  # to guess the stored relative-path form. Idempotent — after the rewrite
+  # there is no npm entry left to match.
+  #
+  # DEVBOX_ATELIER=0 goes further and removes pi-atelier from `packages`
+  # altogether. That escape hatch lives HERE, in the entrypoint, precisely
+  # because this component's known failure mode is "pi will not start" — which
+  # you cannot repair with `pi uninstall`.
+  _pi_atelier_drop() {
+    # $1 = jq predicate over one `packages` entry, selecting what to REMOVE.
+    # Returns 0 only when the file was actually rewritten (caller logs), 1 for
+    # "nothing to do" — including missing jq or unparseable JSON, which must
+    # never clobber user settings. Backs up first, same convention as the
+    # template merge above.
+    _ad_settings="$HOME/.pi/agent/settings.json"
+    [ -f "$_ad_settings" ] || return 1
+    command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+    _ad_new=$(jq "(.packages // []) |= map(select(($1) | not))" "$_ad_settings" 2>/dev/null) || return 1
+    [ -n "$_ad_new" ] || return 1
+    if printf '%s' "$_ad_new" | jq -e --slurpfile cur "$_ad_settings" '. == $cur[0]' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      return 1
+    fi
+    # `.bak.atelier.` rather than the merge's plain `.bak.` prefix: both can
+    # fire in the same startup, and a bare seconds-resolution timestamp would
+    # make the second cp overwrite the first one's backup.
+    cp "$_ad_settings" "${_ad_settings}.bak.atelier.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
+    printf '%s\n' "$_ad_new" > "$_ad_settings"
+    return 0
+  }
+  if [ "${DEVBOX_ATELIER:-1}" = "0" ]; then
+    if _pi_atelier_drop '(. == "npm:pi-atelier") or ((type == "string") and endswith("/pi-atelier"))'; then
+      echo "pi-atelier: unregistered per DEVBOX_ATELIER=0 (settings backup saved)"
+    fi
+  elif [ -d /opt/pi-atelier ]; then
+    if _pi_atelier_drop '. == "npm:pi-atelier"'; then
+      echo "pi-atelier: dropped stale npm: registration — the pinned /opt copy takes over (settings backup saved)"
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  for _pkg in /opt/pi-fork /opt/pi-observational-memory /opt/pi-studio /opt/pi-atelier; do
     [ -d "$_pkg" ] || continue
     _name=$(basename "$_pkg")
+    # DEVBOX_ATELIER=0 → leave pi-atelier unregistered (handled just above).
+    if [ "$_name" = "pi-atelier" ] && [ "${DEVBOX_ATELIER:-1}" = "0" ]; then continue; fi
     if ! _pi_pkg_registered "$_name"; then
       pi install "$_pkg" >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
         echo "WARN: pi install $_name failed (continuing)"

scripts/recreate-sanity-check.sh

@@ -218,6 +218,15 @@ _pkg_registered() {
   fi
 }
 
+# True when a literal `npm:pi-atelier` entry is still present — the
+# volume-resident registration the entrypoint migrates away from.
+_npm_atelier_present() {
+  _s="$HOME/.pi/agent/settings.json"
+  [ -f "$_s" ] || return 1
+  command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+  jq -e '(.packages // []) | any(. == "npm:pi-atelier")' "$_s" >/dev/null 2>&1
+}
+
 if [ -f "$HOME/.pi/agent/settings.json" ]; then
   for pkg in pi-fork pi-observational-memory; do
     if _pkg_registered "$pkg"; then
@@ -234,6 +243,47 @@ if [ -f "$HOME/.pi/agent/settings.json" ]; then
       fail "pi-studio NOT in settings.json packages[] (studio variant)"
     fi
   fi
+
+  # pi-atelier — vendored from v1.7.0 on. Absent on older images, and
+  # deliberately unregistered when DEVBOX_ATELIER=0; neither is a failure.
+  if [ -d /opt/pi-atelier ]; then
+    if [ "${DEVBOX_ATELIER:-1}" = "0" ]; then
+      if _pkg_registered pi-atelier; then
+        fail "pi-atelier still in packages[] despite DEVBOX_ATELIER=0"
+      else
+        pass "pi-atelier unregistered (DEVBOX_ATELIER=0, as requested)"
+      fi
+    elif _pkg_registered pi-atelier; then
+      pass "pi-atelier registered in settings.json packages[]"
+    else
+      fail "pi-atelier NOT in settings.json packages[] (sidebar will not load)"
+    fi
+    if _npm_atelier_present; then
+      fail "stale npm:pi-atelier still in packages[] — it resolves through the ~/.pi/npm-global VOLUME and shadows the pinned /opt copy (entrypoint migration did not run)"
+    fi
+  fi
+fi
+
+# ── pi <-> pi-atelier compatibility floor ─────────────────────────────
+# atelier < 0.7.1 wraps pi's private TUI renderer in a way that recurses under
+# pi >= 0.84: pi hangs at startup burning CPU, with no error message. atelier's
+# own peerDependencies (>=0.80.7) do not encode this. Assert it here too, not
+# just in the build-time smoke test: this script runs after a real
+# `--force-recreate` on a live box, where a volume-resident old copy is exactly
+# what could bite.
+if [ -d /opt/pi-atelier ] && command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  _ge() { [ "$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$1" "$2" | sort -V | head -n1)" = "$2" ]; }
+  _av=$(jq -r '.version // empty' /opt/pi-atelier/package.json 2>/dev/null || true)
+  _pv=$(pi --version 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -n1 || true)
+  if [ -n "$_av" ] && [ -n "$_pv" ]; then
+    if _ge "$_pv" 0.84.0 && ! _ge "$_av" 0.7.1; then
+      fail "pi $_pv with pi-atelier $_av — atelier < 0.7.1 hangs pi >= 0.84 at startup (bump PI_ATELIER_REF in Dockerfile.variant)"
+    else
+      pass "pi $_pv + pi-atelier $_av (compatibility floor OK)"
+    fi
+  else
+    warn "could not compare pi/pi-atelier versions (pi='$_pv' atelier='$_av')"
+  fi
 fi
 
 echo

scripts/smoke-test.sh

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 #   - tmux 0-indexing baked in /etc/tmux.conf (required for pi-studio variants)
 #   - pi-toolkit cloned at /opt/pi-toolkit
 #   - pi-extensions cloned at /opt/pi-extensions
+#   - pi-atelier vendored at /opt/pi-atelier, registered from /opt (not npm:),
+#     and >= the version floor pi's TUI requires (see the floor test)
 #   - pi-fork + pi-observational-memory cloned with node_modules baked
 #   - entrypoint deploys pi-toolkit keybindings symlink
 #   - entrypoint deploys ≥4 extensions
@@ -137,6 +139,24 @@ run "pi-fork clone + node_modules" \
     "test -f /opt/pi-fork/package.json && test -d /opt/pi-fork/node_modules"
 run "pi-observational-memory clone + node_modules" \
     "test -f /opt/pi-observational-memory/package.json && test -d /opt/pi-observational-memory/node_modules"
+# pi-atelier: deliberately NO node_modules assertion, unlike its siblings —
+# it declares zero runtime dependencies (only peerDeps, satisfied by the baked
+# pi) and has no build step, so Dockerfile.variant skips `npm install` for it.
+# Assert what pi actually loads instead: the entry point named by its
+# package.json `pi.extensions` key.
+run "pi-atelier clone + entry point" \
+    "test -f /opt/pi-atelier/package.json && test -f /opt/pi-atelier/extensions/index.ts"
+
+# ── pi <-> pi-atelier compatibility floor (executable, not a comment) ──
+# pi-atelier < 0.7.1 wraps pi's PRIVATE TUI renderer in a way that recurses
+# under pi >= 0.84: pi hangs at startup burning CPU, with no error. Upstream
+# fixed it in 0.7.1/0.7.2, but atelier's peerDependencies still say
+# `>=0.80.7`, so neither npm nor pi can warn about the real floor. Both
+# versions are pinned in Dockerfile.variant; this makes a bad PAIRING fail the
+# build instead of publishing an image whose TUI never starts.
+run_expect "pi-atelier >= 0.7.1 floor for pi >= 0.84 (startup-hang guard)" \
+    'ge() { [ "$(printf "%s\n%s\n" "$1" "$2" | sort -V | head -n1)" = "$2" ]; }; AV=$(jq -r ".version // empty" /opt/pi-atelier/package.json 2>/dev/null); PV=$(pi --version 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+" | head -n1); if [ -z "$AV" ] || [ -z "$PV" ]; then echo "unreadable versions (atelier=$AV pi=$PV)"; elif ge "$PV" 0.84.0 && ! ge "$AV" 0.7.1; then echo "VIOLATION: pi $PV with pi-atelier $AV"; else echo "compatible: pi $PV + pi-atelier $AV"; fi' \
+    "compatible:"
 
 # pi-studio is present only in the :latest-studio variant. Auto-detect by
 # probing /opt/pi-studio so this one script covers both variants.
@@ -159,6 +179,8 @@ run "/etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json present" \
     "test -f /etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json"
 run_expect "manifest records pi-extensions component" \
     "cat /etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json" '"pi-extensions"'
+run_expect "manifest records pi-atelier" \
+    "cat /etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json" '"pi-atelier"'
 run_expect "manifest records pi_version" \
     "cat /etc/pi-devbox/build-manifest.json" '"pi_version"'
 # Every component must be a resolved commit (or null for pi-studio in the
@@ -271,6 +293,24 @@ if [ "${STUDIO_VARIANT:-0}" = "1" ]; then
     "$(pkg_registered_cmd pi-studio)"
 fi
 
+# pi-atelier registration. It is LAST in the entrypoint's install loop, so a
+# pass here also means that loop ran to completion rather than dying midway.
+for i in $(seq 1 15); do
+  if docker exec -u developer "$CID" sh -c "$(pkg_registered_cmd pi-atelier)" \
+       >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    break
+  fi
+  sleep 1
+done
+exec_test "pi-atelier registered in packages[] (TUI sidebar)" \
+  "$(pkg_registered_cmd pi-atelier)"
+# ...and registered from the vendored /opt copy, NOT as `npm:pi-atelier`: an
+# npm: entry resolves through ~/.pi/npm-global on the config VOLUME, which
+# outlives image upgrades and would silently keep an old, unaudited atelier —
+# exactly the shape that pairs a stale 0.6.x with a new pi and hangs at startup.
+exec_test "pi-atelier registered from /opt, not npm: (volume-shadowing guard)" \
+  'jq -e "((.packages // []) | any((type == \"string\") and endswith(\"/pi-atelier\"))) and (((.packages // []) | any(. == \"npm:pi-atelier\")) | not)" $HOME/.pi/agent/settings.json'
+
 # ── /tmp/sshcm directory created by entrypoint ────────────────────────
 exec_test "/tmp/sshcm dir mode 700 (ssh ControlMaster)" \
   'test -d /tmp/sshcm && [ "$(stat -c %a /tmp/sshcm)" = "700" ] && echo ok'