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+# Status — lane G (persistence & capsule, branch `lane/g-capsule`)
+
+## Round 1 — 2026-07-17 — STATUS: ready_to_merge
+
+**Directives acknowledged:** Round 4 of plan/DIRECTIVES.md (phase 5 begins; foundation2 merged;
+worktree rule followed — this lane runs in its own git worktree).
+
+**Acceptance checklist**
+
+M16 — server-side camera paths:
+- [x] Routes implemented — by foundation2 (per the phase-5 ownership table); lane G deepened
+      coverage only, per scope.
+- [x] `backend/tests/test_paths.py` — 30 tests: roundtrip deep-equal incl. float precision +
+      a 500-keyframe path, multiple paths coexist / id-ordered listing / summary-only shape,
+      duplicate + unicode + whitespace + 300-char names verbatim, ISO `created_at`, empty-keyframes
+      path valid (director degrade must be saveable), extra JSON keys ride along, get/delete 404s,
+      delete idempotence, an 18-case parametrized 422 matrix over the frozen camPath contract,
+      422 creates no row, missing/aliased request fields 422. Cleans up its rows (test_phase5_api
+      runs later and asserts an empty table).
+- [x] `frontend/src/pathsStore.js` filled: 💾 save = name prompt + POST `camPath.toJSON()`;
+      dropdown load = GET `/api/paths/{id}` + `camPath.fromJSON(data.json)`; 🗑 delete with
+      confirm; dropdown refreshed after every mutation (new save left selected); controls
+      unhidden + `ready = true`. Capsule mode: save/del hide via `write-ui`; the load dropdown
+      stays (paths are baked read-only — below) and hides itself if the listing fetch fails.
+- [ ] Live save → reload page → load reproduces keyframes exactly — NEEDS LIVE BROWSER (list
+      for coordinator below). The exact-roundtrip property is locked server-side by
+      `test_roundtrip_preserves_float_precision` / `test_roundtrip_large_keyframe_list`.
+
+M17 — memory capsule:
+- [x] `backend/festival4d/capsule.py::build_capsule` per the frozen contract: copies
+      `frontend/dist` (clear "run `cd frontend && npm run build`" error if missing), copies the
+      manifest-referenced media to `media/`, bakes every read-only API response extension-less at
+      the live API's relative paths (`api/manifest` with `capsule: true` + `has_capture: false`,
+      `api/events`, `api/anchors`, `api/videos/{id}/poses`, `api/beats`/`api/pointcloud`/
+      `api/splat` when present, `api/audio/{id}` via the same lazy `ingest.extract_audio_hq`
+      cache the live route uses), injects `<script>window.__F4D_API_BASE__=""</script>` ahead of
+      the app `<script>`, ships stdlib `serve.py` (HTTP/1.1, 206 Range slicing incl. `bytes=N-`
+      and suffix `bytes=-N`, 416 past-EOF, `Accept-Ranges`, JSON content types for the
+      extension-less `api/*` files). Optional artifacts degrade by omission; refuses to clobber
+      a non-capsule output dir; rebuild over a previous capsule is idempotent (no double-inject).
+      Bonus within scope: M16 saved paths are baked read-only (`api/paths/{id}`, listing at
+      `api/paths/index.html` — a filesystem can't hold `paths` as both file and dir; the stock
+      301 → `/api/paths/` → index.html keeps `fetch("/api/paths")` working unchanged).
+- [x] `backend/tests/test_capsule.py` — 12 tests: bundle structure; baked JSON deep-equal vs the
+      live route functions (shape drift impossible — capsule bakes *through* `api.py`); manifest
+      key-set == live route, urls resolve inside the bundle; injection present exactly once and
+      before the module script; degrade-when-absent; no-dist error; overwrite guard; CLI dispatch
+      (`cli.main(["capsule","--out",…]) == 0`, hermetic via monkeypatched REPO_ROOT); serve.py
+      exercised over real HTTP in a subprocess — 200 + Accept-Ranges, `bytes=0-100` → 206 with
+      `Content-Range: bytes 0-100/{size}` and 101 body bytes (mp4 `ftyp` magic verified),
+      open-ended + suffix ranges, 416, audio 200 `audio/mp4` + ranged, 404s.
+- [x] End-to-end proof WITHOUT a browser (evidence below).
+
+**Quality bar**
+- `uv run pytest backend/tests -p no:warnings` → **169 passed** (floor 127 + 30 paths + 12
+  capsule), zero failures.
+- `cd frontend && npm run build` → clean, only the pre-existing >500 kB chunk-size warning.
+
+**E2E capsule evidence (exact commands, run in the worktree):**
+```
+$ cd frontend && npm run build                      # ✓ built in 860ms
+$ uv run python -m festival4d synthetic             # 3 videos, 3106 points, 7 events, 4 anchors
+$ uv run python -m festival4d capsule
+  capsule: baked 18 files (6826705 bytes) at <worktree>/data/capsule
+$ cd data/capsule && python3 serve.py --port 8901
+$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8901/ | grep -o 'window.__F4D_API_BASE__=""'
+  window.__F4D_API_BASE__=""
+$ curl -si http://127.0.0.1:8901/api/manifest
+  HTTP/1.1 200 OK / Content-Type: application/json
+  capsule: True | videos: 3 | t_global_max: 21.37 | has_poses: True
+$ curl -si -H "Range: bytes=0-100" http://127.0.0.1:8901/media/cam0.mp4
+  HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content / Accept-Ranges: bytes / Content-Length: 101
+  Content-Range: bytes 0-100/1533609
+$ curl -s -H "Range: bytes=500000-500099" .../media/cam0.mp4   # mid-file seek
+  206, received 100B
+$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8901/api/audio/1
+  200, audio/mp4, 440201 bytes, magic `ftypM4A`
+$ curl -sL http://127.0.0.1:8901/api/paths        # []  final:200 application/json
+$ curl .../api/pointcloud → 200 46800B; .../api/beats → 404 (degrade: no analysis run)
+```
+
+**Blockers / change requests:** none blocking. **CR-4 filed** (plan/CHANGE_REQUESTS.md):
+`test_phase5_api.py::test_cli_dispatches_stubs_gracefully` asserted the *stub* exit-2 contract
+for `capsule`; with M17 landed that assertion fails by design (CR-1 precedent). Applied the
+minimal edit (removed only `["capsule"]`; features/direct untouched for lane E) — integration2
+to ratify. Capsule CLI dispatch is now covered for real in test_capsule.py.
+
+Small note for integration2 (frozen file, not edited): `.gitignore` covers `data/raw/` +
+`data/work/` but not `data/capsule/` or `data/project.db`, so a default capsule build leaves a
+~7 MB untracked tree; consider ignoring `data/` wholesale (or adding the two entries).
+
+**Needs live-browser verification (for coordinator / integration2):**
+1. Capsule acceptance proper: `python serve.py` in the bundle, open it focused — app loads with
+   **zero requests to :8000** (network tab), videos play *and seek*, 3D scene + timeline work,
+   🎧 spatial audio works, all `.write-ui` controls absent (body.capsule), saved-path dropdown
+   loads a baked path.
+2. M16 live flow: save a path (💾, name prompt) → reload page → load from dropdown → camera
+   lands on the exact keyframes; delete removes it from the dropdown.
+3. pathsStore dropdown behavior with an *older* capsule (no baked paths): dropdown hides itself.
+
+**Next:** hand to coordinator for merge; not merging to main per lane instructions this round.