docs(dockerfile): sync mempalace stall-protection comment with self-heal

mempalace.ts now self-heals (respawn with capped backoff) instead of
latching unavailable, and the init-timeout default is 300000. Update the
explanatory comment + tunable list (MEMPALACE_MCP_MAX_RESPAWNS,
MEMPALACE_MCP_RESPAWN_BACKOFF_MS). Comment-only; no build/ENV change.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -11,6 +11,34 @@ Pre-v1.0.0 tags followed the pi npm version (`v{pi_version}[letter]`).
 
 ---
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **`yq` is now mikefarah's Go yq, not Debian's Python `yq`.** The base image
+  previously apt-installed `yq`, which on Debian/Ubuntu is the unrelated
+  kislyuk/`yq` (a jq wrapper, v3.x) — incompatible with the mikefarah v4 syntax
+  the `cloud-init` repo's `provision.sh`/`deploy.sh` expect. Dropped the apt
+  package and install the mikefarah binary instead (multi-arch amd64/arm64,
+  following the repo's `latest` convention like `tealdeer`/`uv`; pin a tag
+  with `--build-arg YQ_VERSION=vX.Y.Z`). The build-time `smoke-test.sh` gate
+  asserts `yq --version` reports `mikefarah` **and** major **v4**, so both a
+  regression to the Python package and a surprise future yq v5 fail CI.
+
+### Changed
+
+- **Baked `mempalace` skill now teaches temporal grounding.** Added a
+  *Temporal grounding* rule to the image-baked
+  `skills/mempalace/SKILL.md` (Phase 1 wake-up + a matching anti-pattern):
+  before using relative time terms ("yesterday", "last week"), establish the
+  current date/time and compute the delta against the actual diary/drawer
+  timestamp. Explicitly calls out that a **container recreate or fresh session
+  is not a day boundary** — pi-devbox restarts several times a day, so two
+  entries minutes apart can straddle a recreate. Fixes agents mislabelling
+  same-day sessions as "yesterday".
+
+---
+
 ## v1.2.2 — 2026-06-24
 
 Patch release: pick up **pi `0.80.2`** (npm `latest`) and **mempalace `3.5.0`**,

Dockerfile.base

@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 #                  See the bundled `dot-watch` helper for live .dot -> PNG
 #                  re-render (handy with pi-studio's image preview).
 #   imagemagick  — image conversion / resizing for thumbnails, etc. ~50 MB.
-#   yq           — YAML-aware companion to jq.
+#   (yq is NOT apt-installed: Debian's `yq` is the unrelated Python tool;
+#    mikefarah's Go yq is installed as a pinned binary further down.)
 #   socat        — TCP relay. Powers `studio-expose`, which bridges
 #                  pi-studio's container-loopback server to the container's
 #                  external interface so a published port can reach it.
@@ -66,7 +67,6 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     openssh-client \
     gnupg \
     jq \
-    yq \
     ripgrep \
     fd-find \
     tree \
@@ -289,15 +289,21 @@ RUN ARCH=$(case "${TARGETARCH}" in amd64) echo "x86_64" ;; arm64) echo "aarch64"
 # Always installed in the base. Set INSTALL_MEMPALACE=false at base-build
 # time to shave ~300 MB.
 #
-# Stall protection (fixed 2026-06-13): mempalace-mcp is launched by the
+# Stall protection (fixed 2026-06-13; self-heal added 2026-06-25):
-# `mempalace.ts` pi extension from mempalace-toolkit (cloned below). That
+# mempalace-mcp is launched by the `mempalace.ts` pi extension from
-# extension now applies a per-REQUEST timeout in its JSON-RPC client and
+# mempalace-toolkit (cloned below). That extension applies a per-REQUEST
-# kills the child on stall, so a virtiofs cold-open of chroma.sqlite3 /
+# timeout in its JSON-RPC client and kills the child on stall, so a virtiofs
-# HNSW load can no longer hang the pi TUI uninterruptibly. Tunables:
+# cold-open of chroma.sqlite3 / HNSW load can no longer hang the pi TUI
+# uninterruptibly. A stall-kill is no longer a permanent latch either: the
+# next tool call respawns the server with capped exponential backoff (the
+# budget resets on any successful response). Tunables:
 # MEMPALACE_MCP_TIMEOUT_MS (default 60000), MEMPALACE_MCP_INIT_TIMEOUT_MS
-# (default 120000); 0 disables. A standalone stdio-watchdog shim is NOT
+# (default 300000 — generous so a genuine first cold-open isn't killed),
-# needed — the extension already owns request/response correlation. See
+# MEMPALACE_MCP_MAX_RESPAWNS (default 2; 0 disables self-heal),
-# CHANGELOG.md "Unreleased > Fixed".
+# MEMPALACE_MCP_RESPAWN_BACKOFF_MS (default 1000); timeouts of 0 disable.
+# Defaults live in the extension, so no ENV is needed here. A standalone
+# stdio-watchdog shim is NOT needed — the extension already owns
+# request/response correlation. See CHANGELOG.md "Unreleased > Fixed".
 ARG INSTALL_MEMPALACE=true
 # Pin to a known-good version. Bump deliberately, not implicitly: an
 # unpinned install silently swept in mempalace 3.3.x/3.4.0 with a broken
@@ -404,6 +410,26 @@ RUN ARCH=$(case "${TARGETARCH}" in amd64) echo "x86_64" ;; arm64) echo "aarch64"
     chmod +x /usr/local/bin/tldr && \
     tldr --version
 
+# ── yq (mikefarah) — YAML processor, jq's companion for YAML ─────────
+# Installed as the mikefarah Go binary — NOT Debian's `yq` apt package, which
+# is the unrelated Python kislyuk/yq (a jq wrapper with different syntax and
+# version line, e.g. 3.x). The cloud-init repo's deploy.sh/provision.sh
+# require mikefarah yq v4 (the unrelated Debian python yq is v3.x). Follows
+# the repo's `latest` convention (like tealdeer/uv/etc.); the smoke test pins
+# the contract to major v4, so a future yq v5 fails CI instead of silently
+# breaking provision.sh. Pin a specific tag with --build-arg YQ_VERSION=vX.Y.Z.
+ARG YQ_VERSION=latest
+RUN ARCH=$(case "${TARGETARCH}" in amd64) echo "amd64" ;; arm64) echo "arm64" ;; *) echo "amd64" ;; esac) && \
+    V="${YQ_VERSION}" && \
+    if [ "$V" = "latest" ]; then \
+      V=$(curl -sI --retry 5 --retry-delay 5 --retry-all-errors "https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest" | awk 'tolower($1)=="location:" { sub(/\r$/,"",$2); n=split($2,a,"/"); print a[n] }'); \
+    fi && \
+    [ -n "$V" ] && \
+    echo "Installing mikefarah yq ${V}" && \
+    curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-delay 5 --retry-all-errors "https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/${V}/yq_linux_${ARCH}" -o /usr/local/bin/yq && \
+    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq && \
+    yq --version
+
 # ── AWS CLI v2 (for SSO/Bedrock authentication) ─────────────────────
 RUN ARCH=$(case "${TARGETARCH}" in \
       amd64) echo "x86_64" ;; \

rootfs/usr/local/share/pi-devbox/skills/mempalace/SKILL.md

@@ -43,6 +43,29 @@ Run these immediately when a session begins, before responding to the user:
 
 Do NOT announce this to the user. Just do it silently to orient yourself.
 
+### Temporal grounding — compute time deltas, don't guess
+
+Diary entries and drawers carry real timestamps (`timestamp`, `created_at`).
+Before describing *when* something happened — "yesterday", "earlier today",
+"last week", "a while back" — **establish the current date/time first and
+compute the delta against the actual timestamp.** Get "now" from the injected
+session date or by running `date` in a shell; never infer it.
+
+**A container recreate or a fresh session is NOT a day boundary.** A pi-devbox
+container is frequently restarted — often several times within the *same* day —
+and each restart begins a new session with a fresh wake-up. Do not reason "new
+session ⇒ last session was yesterday": two diary entries 90 minutes apart can
+straddle a container recreate. The only authoritative clock is the timestamp on
+the memory, not the session/container boundary.
+
+**Practical rule:** prefer explicit, checkable phrasing — e.g. "earlier today,
+~8h ago (both 2026-06-25)" — over a vague relative term. If you catch yourself
+about to write "yesterday" / "last week", subtract `now − entry.timestamp` and
+state the computed result. (Remember timestamps may be UTC while the wall clock
+is local — reconcile the offset before computing the delta.) Note too that
+session feeders can lag up to a week (see *Multi-harness palace*), so a recent
+absence in `wing_conversations` is not proof nothing happened.
+
 ### Phase 2: Active Session (during work)
 
 #### Search Before You Speak
@@ -294,6 +317,7 @@ Entity-relationship triples with temporal validity. Query with `mempalace_kg_que
 ## Anti-Patterns
 
 - **Don't guess when you can search.** If a question touches past work, search first.
+- **Don't infer elapsed time from session or container boundaries.** A restart isn't a new day. Compare the actual timestamp (`timestamp` / `created_at`) against the current date/time before saying "yesterday", "last week", etc.
 - **Don't skip the diary.** A session without a diary entry is a session forgotten.
 - **Don't summarize drawer content.** File verbatim — the embedding model needs the original words.
 - **Don't mine .git directories or node_modules.** The CLI miner respects .gitignore by default.

scripts/smoke-test.sh

@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ run "mempalace-mcp"   "mempalace-mcp --help"
 run "pandoc"          "pandoc --version"
 run "graphviz (dot)"  "dot -V"
 run "imagemagick"     "magick --version"
-run "yq"              "yq --version"
+run "yq (mikefarah v4)" "yq --version | grep -qE 'mikefarah.*version v4'"
 run "tldr (tealdeer)" "tldr --version"
 run "socat"           "socat -V"
 run "studio-expose helper" "test -x /usr/local/bin/studio-expose"