From 3f08051bda2d6b3aa4d9a421f87fde976e2dd3d1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: damocles <damocles@hyperhive>
Date: Fri, 22 May 2026 21:27:31 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] lifecycle: seed applied repo at template commit, not main,
 for first-spawn diff

---
 hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs      | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 hive-c0re/src/manager_server.rs |  7 ++++---
 2 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
index 2f67992..fd3986a 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
@@ -465,6 +465,12 @@ pub async fn setup_applied(
         };
         git(applied_dir, &["init", "--initial-branch=main"]).await?;
         let proposed_str = proposed.display().to_string();
+        // Seed the applied repo at the root (template) commit of proposed,
+        // not at `main`. This ensures `deployed/0` is the template baseline
+        // so the first ApplyCommit diff shows the manager's real changes
+        // rather than an empty diff (which happens when the manager has
+        // already committed their config and proposed/main == proposal/<id>).
+        let root_sha = git_root_commit(proposed).await?;
         git(
             applied_dir,
             // --update-head-ok lets us fetch into refs/heads/main while
@@ -477,7 +483,7 @@ pub async fn setup_applied(
                 "--no-tags",
                 "--update-head-ok",
                 &proposed_str,
-                "main:refs/heads/main",
+                &format!("{root_sha}:refs/heads/main"),
             ],
         )
         .await?;
@@ -555,6 +561,25 @@ pub fn initial_flake_nix() -> &'static str {
     "{\n  description = \"hyperhive agent\";\n  inputs = { };\n  outputs =\n    { self, ... }@inputs:\n    {\n      nixosModules.default = {\n        imports = [ ./agent.nix ];\n        _module.args.flakeInputs = builtins.removeAttrs inputs [ \"self\" ];\n      };\n    };\n}\n"
 }
 
+/// Return the SHA of the root (oldest, no-parent) commit in a repo.
+/// Used to seed the applied repo at the template baseline rather than at
+/// `main`, so the first `ApplyCommit` diff shows the manager's real changes.
+async fn git_root_commit(dir: &Path) -> Result<String> {
+    let out = git_command()
+        .current_dir(dir)
+        .args(["rev-list", "--max-parents=0", "HEAD"])
+        .output()
+        .await
+        .with_context(|| format!("git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD in {}", dir.display()))?;
+    if !out.status.success() {
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "git rev-list --max-parents=0 failed: {}",
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr).trim()
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout).trim().to_owned())
+}
+
 async fn git_commit(dir: &Path, message: &str) -> Result<()> {
     git(
         dir,
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/manager_server.rs b/hive-c0re/src/manager_server.rs
index 152ba7c..7e68211 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/manager_server.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/manager_server.rs
@@ -562,9 +562,10 @@ async fn submit_apply_commit(
     }
     if !applied_dir.join(".git").exists() {
         // First deploy: seed the applied repo from proposed so we can plant
-        // the proposal/<id> tag below. The applied repo starts at the
-        // template commit (deployed/0); run_apply_commit will fast-forward
-        // main to the manager's commit on approval and create the container.
+        // the proposal/<id> tag below. setup_applied seeds at the root
+        // (template) commit of proposed, not at main, so deployed/0 is the
+        // template baseline. This makes the diff mara sees on approval
+        // show the manager's actual changes rather than an empty diff.
         lifecycle::setup_applied(&applied_dir, Some(&proposed_dir), agent)
             .await
             .context("seed applied repo for first spawn")?;