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# Build, package & submit — guide (loop tier)

Reference notes, design rationale, and negative results (19).

#### 1. Coworld image upload is a multi-step v2 flow; image upload alone registers no role
`loop`

Uploading a Coworld policy image is multi-step, not one endpoint: POST /v2/container_images/upload, push to the scoped ECR target it returns, /upload/complete, then create the Docker-image policy version (image must be linux/amd64). Contract lives in metta app_backend/src/metta/app_backend/v2/routes/experience_requests.py and stats_routes.py. Uploading an image only creates a ContainerImage row and pushes to ECR — it does NOT modify a coworld manifest. To make a NEW role (e.g. reporter) appear you must separately POST /v2/coworlds/upload with a full manifest referencing the img_... IDs; the CLI normally chains both, so calling the low-level image route directly stops at phase 1 and the role never appears live. Do NOT use upload-policy/package-upload to register a reporter image — wrong tool. Note upload-policy pushes layers/manifest via the OCI distribution HTTP API (not `docker push`) to sidestep a Docker 29 + ECR 403 bug, and needs AWS CLI v2 on PATH because it shells out to `aws ecr get-login-password` (no AWS account needed; creds come from the upload pre-sign).
  <sub>sources: codex:019e8afb-efcd-7ca0-820f-0320501ef2fa, codex:019eb326-beb5-7b03-890e-732da6aa6746, coworlds/coworld-crewrift/README.md, archive/cogames_playground/bulbacog/COGS_V_CLIPS.md (+1)</sub>

#### 2. Manifests are the source of truth; treat the downloaded one as a local artifact and edit minimally
`loop`

Manifests tie a policy together: coplayer_manifest.json names the policy, the container image, the binary path (/bin/<bot>), and target game; the game manifest (coworld_manifest.json) declares game version and supported league variants (e.g. standard-8p-2i). Adding a variant means a manifest version bump + variant entry, separate from bot source; names can diverge (the internal Coworld adapter short name may differ from the manifest name), so verify both. CoworldManifest and all role specs use Pydantic extra="forbid", so any unknown field in a player[] entry fails validation; a runnable entry has THREE required fields (id unique/referenced by certification, name, type, non-empty description, image — plus optional `run` argv, `env`, source_url; docs in COWORLD_REFERENCE.md and MANIFEST_README.md miscount). When editing manifests make a MINIMAL top-level key insertion preserving formatting (a structured rewrite expanding compact JSON arrays makes the diff unreviewable) and validate before commit: every coworld_manifest*.json parses, grader lists are non-empty where required, `git diff --check` passes (watch a doubled space after a colon). The resolved-manifest schema model can falsely reject a SOURCE manifest using relative protocol-doc paths — validate source manifests with a raw JSON/schema check. Coworld uploads store documentation as PUBLIC URLs and do NOT bundle local Markdown, so updating local docs alone does not change what an uploaded policy/game exposes.
  <sub>sources: codex:019e1dec-8fd1-7b53-8cab-c4ad94229695, codex:019e2c82-7519-7f31-9e67-83e99b108bb2, codex:019e2819-d56b-72f3-9349-60fc965b6ed2, codex:019e28a2-f81d-79b1-a7f7-5f6583c280f1 (+9)</sub>

#### 3. Current coworld manifest schema rules: equal token min/max, no per-slot names, digest-pinned image
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

Read the live schema metadata (x-coworld-future-required) rather than session memory to settle which manifest roles are required: a coworld has seven roles (game, player, commissioner, reporter, grader, diagnoser, optimizer) but sources disagree on whether only game+player are required. Concrete validator rules: game.config_schema.properties.tokens must declare EQUAL minItems and maxItems (a range like 0..16 breaks infer_fixed_token_count); per-slot names are GONE (both slots.items.properties.name and top-level player_names are rejected, landed metta PR #14678) so display names go in game_config.players[].name. Pin the manifest image_uri to an immutable digest (image@sha256:...) rather than 'latest' so the runner gets exactly the image you validated. The player[].env block fully REPLACES the player's public environment (anything not declared falls back to the Dockerfile ENV), so a declared manifest env var overrides the baked-in default at deploy time — use env only for values selected per deployment. The worked-example pointer is worlds/paintarena/coworld_manifest_template.json.
  <sub>sources: claude-code:3d84ea03-c7bb-4cb2-9a06-345e1ae3c84a, claude-code:4d9dfbae-cd65-42ac-93fd-88cb3c24e1e6, codex:019e1df4-08f8-7b33-9a82-18024a199075</sub>

#### 4. A coworld player is just a linux/amd64 image speaking the protocol; ship per-player as a sibling, build hermetically
`loop` · **negative result**

Treat a coworld player as nothing more than a linux/amd64 Docker image speaking the game protocol over a websocket; upload-policy and manifest entries sit on top of that single contract. Design players around 'produce a conformant image', not 'an importable Python package', so each is decoupled and shippable on its own; the package boundary should match the dependency boundary, not a conceptual grouping. Do NOT nest a new player inside an existing one with heavy eager imports (nesting coborg_among_them inside scripted among_them/ pulled the parent's eager mettagrid import into the new container, bloating it) — make it a sibling; organize concrete policies as standalone projects each shipping via its OWN build.sh (shared utils like cogsguard's are the limited exception). Build hermetically with Docker as the only host requirement and no credentials when inputs are public: fetch the Nim toolchain, game repo, Python packages, and shared SDK inside the image build, each pinned to a ref; keep the image lean (python:3.12-slim, install only real runtime deps so they cache independently of source, then `pip install --no-deps` for the package, omit the heavy cogames extra which pulls a Bazel+Nim build). One image feeds two INDEPENDENT shipping paths: an uploaded policy version (upload-policy, league-submittable) and a bundled player[] entry in a game author's coworld_manifest.json (via upload-coworld); the same image can serve either or both, so don't conflate 'submit to a league' with 'bundle into a coworld package'.
  <sub>sources: claude-code:3c867a71-3057-4e87-a149-4185e82ee728, claude-code:c3f94a33-5444-4aba-8885-1e452bdb7514, claude-code:ca5e32ea-3dad-42a9-8991-0f07d28b1060, personal_labs/crewrift_lab/docs/designs/building_players.md</sub>

#### 5. Standardize a per-player build.sh: three artifacts, CMD not ENTRYPOINT, rebuild from fresh source, dated pin, one tag
`loop` · **negative result** · tool: `build.sh`

A Coworld player ships as a self-contained Docker container whose build.sh produces three artifacts: a linux/amd64 image (deterministically locally-tagged, no mandatory registry push; --tag/--push <ref> override), a coworld_manifest.json player[] snippet emitted to BOTH stdout and a --manifest-out/-o file, and a documentary dist/coplayer_manifest.json sidecar ({author,name,image_uri,games}) that upload-policy/submit/certify/upload-coworld/run-episode ALL IGNORE (purely documentary). build.sh must run from any cwd, support --no-build (render manifests only), and REBUILD the image + regenerate the manifest from the freshest code in the player dir (never point at a pre-existing image), so a top-level walker can `find players -name build.sh -exec {} \;` with no orchestration. Build with CMD not ENTRYPOINT so the runner executes the manifest binary with appended runtime args; smoke locally by running it with no args and with --help, and run every build.sh for real against a live Docker daemon (standardizing files and verifying they execute are separate steps). Pin the workspace against the source-of-truth packaging contract with a DATE ('pinned against Coworld source as of <date>') so drift is visible. Use ONE image-tag convention across build script, run script, Dockerfile, and manifest: play_local.sh defaulting to a different (underscored) tag than build.sh produced (hyphenated coborg-among-them:dev) silently built a second parallel image.
  <sub>sources: players_checkouts/players/docs/coworld-player-packaging.md, players_checkouts/players/docs/coworld-integration-guide.md, auggie:ac491a46-e7f7-4271-a1c0-f0e69987d424, auggie:c5674179-5e48-4584-a7a9-f75d2cd3c61b (+2)</sub>

#### 6. cogames CLI/server code map and submission pipeline (ship vs the four sub-commands, with -f)
`loop` · tool: `cogames`

The cogames entry point is cogames.main:app (Typer); ALL commands live in one ~2500-line packages/cogames/src/cogames/main.py. Bundle creation, Docker validation, and S3 upload are in cogames/cli/submit.py; the tournament-backend HTTP client is cli/client.py (TournamentServerClient); cli/generated_models.py is auto-generated from openapi.json (regenerate, don't hand-edit). The tournament SERVER is NOT in cogames: it is the FastAPI/SQLModel app_backend (submit endpoints routes/stats_routes.py /stats/policies/submit/*, tournament routes/tournament_routes.py). Auth subcommands wrap softmax-cli/softmax-common token storage. Custom forks derive from cogames/policy/starter_agent.py (StarterPolicy) — diff against it. The pipeline is four commands: create-bundle -> validate-bundle (Docker smoke) -> upload (bundle+validate+upload, optionally submit) -> submit (attach uploaded bundle to a season); `cogames ship` chains all four (canonical `cogames ship -p class=<module.Class> -n <league-name> -f <package-folder> --season <season>`), drop to lower-level commands to retry one stage. For a local (non-installed) policy you MUST pass the policy AND every local module it imports with -f — the bundle flattens its include set into one root and the container rebuilds the shared library from source, so all transitive deps (sibling modules, common/, engine source tree, baked navigation/assets, locks like nimby.lock) must be reachable inside that root; verify the import closure (grep / `ship --dry-run`) rather than assuming. `--dry-run` validation runs locally inside the tournament Docker image and only catches crashes and ABI/build errors, NOT bad behavior. Diagnose async failures with `cogames matches <id> --logs` and `cogames match-artifacts <id> logs|error-info`.
  <sub>sources: opencode:ses_21a17e1c2ffeu1DyYR3MPZf3UG, opencode:ses_21a1839daffe5QnSh33ozoq3rB, opencode:ses_21a181ab8ffe3nrttiVWHpM4LJ, opencode:ses_22085eca7ffeS682vQ9JkzWot0 (+4)</sub>

#### 7. Reporter output: single deterministic zip with in-zip render manifest, inline CSS only
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

For coworld reporter output prefer one .zip over a JSON envelope: the envelope inflates binary ~33% via base64, needs a content_type-discriminated polymorphic field, and forces artifact-id Markdown substitution. A zip makes each artifact a real file with native bytes and normal filename links; infer content-type from extension via mimetypes. Flag the render target with an in-zip manifest.json (reporter_id/render/event_log; canonical) or render.txt of filenames (pre-canonical), allowing only .md/.html (.htm is non-canonical). For byte-identical zips on identical input, pin every entry mtime to (1980,1,1,0,0,0) AND pin pyarrow. Reporter HTML renders in Observatory's iframe/CSP sandbox so use inline CSS only (no <script>/<link>/external fetch); XSS, sandboxing, and zip-safety are the consumer's responsibility. When the reporter interface is undefined, assume the simplest schema-meeting contract (handed a bundle zip to unpack) rather than building URI fetching. Migrating a pre-canonical reporter changes only the I/O envelope and Parquet dtypes — artifacts (summary.html, stats.json, events/proximity.parquet) carry over; pre-canonical takes five input env vars (COGAME_RESULTS_URI, COGAME_REPLAY_URI, COGAME_EPISODE_METADATA_URI, COGAME_LOG_URI, COGAME_REPORTER_ID), writes COGAME_REPORT_OUTPUT_URI, flags render with render.txt; canonical collapses input to one COGAME_EPISODE_BUNDLE_URI (a bundle zip with inner manifest.json), writes COGAME_REPORT_URI, uses an in-zip manifest.json. If adding a manifest reporter entry would break an older validator AND the runtime that invokes reporters has not shipped, defer the manifest change and document the intended entry in the README. When replacing the default reporter, keep ONLY yours in reporter[]. Reporter image bloat comes from pyarrow (~139MB of ~191MB site-packages) and the Python base, not the crewrift tree (~13MB); target pyarrow first and gate Parquet behind an optional extra (players[trace-parquet]) so JSON/JSONL/CSV stay stdlib-always-on.
  <sub>sources: auggie:a1385085-652c-4b2c-a080-791afa05f93b, claude-code:3dd8c20f-7122-4a7c-9400-e9b7f6799a28, claude-code:4d9dfbae-cd65-42ac-93fd-88cb3c24e1e6, claude-code:96721109-1130-405a-a411-a3aed2c1a84b (+4)</sub>

#### 8. Bake static derived data offline into a vendored, self-contained image; never compute it on the first tick
`loop` · **negative result**

A hosted coworld policy image must be fully self-contained: the runner does NOT auto-provide reference bots, maps, sprites, or assets, so vendor everything the bot needs. Bake any static derived data that is a pure function of static inputs OFFLINE into a vendored artifact rather than computing it on the first tick: under the hosted CPU cap a first-tick pure-Python build can cost many seconds (e.g. crewborg's nav graph took ~13.7-29s, freezing the agent at spawn while the 24Hz engine streamed hundreds of frames ahead) versus ~0.1s to load a baked artifact (a ~200-280x tick-1 win, byte-identical play). Validate the baked artifact against the live stream (e.g. a walkability mask) and fall back to a live build on mismatch so correctness never depends on the asset; on mismatch conclude the server runs a different map and fail loud. Keep the offline generator out of the runtime/Docker build (check in the artifact, ship it via data globs, let the bake tool carry heavier deps than the runtime). When porting to a new language, pre-render with the existing stack via an offline bake tool rather than reimplementing asset/map loaders. Bake provenance (source engine commit hash), never an absolute local path.
  <sub>sources: personal_labs/crewrift_lab/crewrift/crewborg/design.md, personal_labs/crewrift_lab/crewrift/crewborg/version_log.md, personal_labs/crewrift_lab/docs/designs/building_players.md, opencode:ses_21bd5a030fferp2y09ldDj5jjw (+4)</sub>

#### 9. Give bundled players an exit-on-disconnect mode for certification; keep the upload template results schema in sync
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

Coworld certification runs the game plus its bundled player containers and waits ~10s for those containers to EXIT; a bundled player that reconnects forever on WebSocket disconnect fails with 'Timed out waiting for player container to exit'. Give the bundled player an explicit exit-on-disconnect mode (e.g. `notsus --exit-on-disconnect`) so it exits cleanly when the game closes the connection during supervised certification, while keeping reconnect-by-default for live play. Placing the flag in the manifest's top-level player `run` array (e.g. ["/bin/notsus","--exit-on-disconnect"]) affects EVERY use of the bundled player (certification, local play, smoke, starter examples) but NOT externally-submitted league containers — treat it as a property of the bundled runnable. Separately, the upload template's results schema can drift from the game's actually-emitted results and silently block certification: after fixing a player-exit issue, certification failed again because the upload manifest template rejected connect_timeout/disconnect_timeout result fields the game's own coworld_manifest.json already emitted — when the game adds result fields, update the upload template's results schema to allow them.
  <sub>sources: codex:019ea9fe-29e5-7180-b111-57e3039314a2</sub>

#### 10. The Coworld seed reconciler picks the latest manifest by created_at (shared-league footgun)
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

The Coworld seed reconciler is a shared-league footgun: it selects the latest coworlds row by created_at (not by owner or semantic version) and rewrites the daily league's default env config from that manifest's variants. Any account uploading a newer Coworld whose manifest exposes only a smoke variant silently reverts the league to the smoke config (confirmed live when another account's smoke-only upload reverted the standard 8p2i default within minutes). Fix the class of bug durably: patch the canonical/team-source manifest to include the real league variant (e.g. standard-8p-2i) so re-seeding can't drop it, and/or change the reconciler to exclude certification-only variants from league defaults; a live one-off re-upload only holds until the next conflicting upload. Keep the cheap certification smoke config under 'certification' only and expose just the real gameplay variant in the manifest's public 'variants' list so it cannot become a scored daily round.
  <sub>sources: codex:019e18ed-f5bd-7083-a170-7833d83d5236</sub>

#### 11. Use replay metadata to confirm what config a match actually ran
`loop` · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

Use replay metadata to confirm what config a tournament match actually ran instead of assuming a hidden 'competition mode' - inspect the replay to see the real map size, agent count, object set, and step budget (e.g. beta-cvc replays show the same machina_1 config with default clips, so the tournament uses no special mission; validate locally against that default). Watch artifact ordering: an array can be in connection/join order rather than slot/registration order (among_them scores.json's names[] is join order), so a consumer joining by index against a registration-ordered roster misaligns rows - emit an explicit slot-to-join-order mapping in replay-summary artifacts.
  <sub>sources: opencode:ses_1fc96a783ffekwZImX8sh865ou, claude-code:e32290d2-800b-4c28-8f9d-ac6f65e9ae76</sub>

#### 12. Stage cogames-to-coworld migration as dependency-ordered phases; confirm per-player scope and audit old-CLI references
`loop` · **negative result**

Structure a coworld migration as explicit phases: Phase 0 Discovery captures the real cow_/league_/div_/variant IDs plus the mettagrid pin from the live registry (it blocks every later phase), then dependency swap, local `coworld download` + `coworld play` validation against the BUNDLED starter player (failures isolate before your image enters the loop), Dockerfile swap, first submission via upload-policy/submit, documentation rewrite LAST (it bakes in real league/division IDs). Concentrate work in three files: pyproject.toml (dependencies), Dockerfile (build/install), and the tournament-submission section of the docs; runtime policy code importing only mettagrid.* is unaffected. Do NOT assume every player migrates (one project froze alpha_cog on deprecated cogames, migrated only bulbacog) and record deprecations in durable memory; do not carry forward old league/division/variant names. Actively migrate policies off a deprecated CLI rather than assuming compatibility (old CLIs silently emit wrong deployment shapes, e.g. a generated run_agent.py WebSocket shape and docs path both wrong) and audit EVERY place the pipeline references the old CLI, not just the entrypoint. Scaffolded Coworld Dockerfiles may COPY viewer/client assets that don't exist at the pinned commit — a headless build doesn't need them, so delete the offending COPY line rather than fabricating the path. Recover the bundled reference player by cat-ing it out of the downloaded game image with a docker entrypoint override. Before touching the player, delete dead scaffolding the plan would force you to rewrite, but first verify zero inbound imports (removing a ~1492-LoC railcar TUI debugger plus two unreferenced design docs deleted a whole section of doc-rewrite work). Validate the new toolchain against the official starter player before changing your own image so a later failure is attributable to your image, not the toolchain.
  <sub>sources: auggie:c9f833a1-50e8-4526-8839-f438394f903e, claude-code:33356b24-de19-46ae-ad01-810557f4d9b1, claude-code:394cc2af-72e4-41bf-861b-9b245d819229, personal_labs/crewrift_lab/crewrift/crewborg/AGENTS.md (+3)</sub>

#### 13. Mine the game's own shipped image for a strong baseline; search other org repos for named starters
`loop` · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

When starting a player for a new game, mine the game's own shipped image first: it often bundles a complete tuned deterministic policy (e.g. a starter-framework.mjs with rankLegalActions/actionScore doctrine such as spawn->expand->economy->pressure plus risk/repetition penalties and profile bias). A faithful port of its ranking heuristics is a strong competitive baseline and safe fallback, far cheaper than inventing strategy. When an onboarding guide names 'starter' policies you cannot find where it implies, search the org's OTHER repos before concluding they are missing (two of three named starters lived in a separate players repo at players/<game>/<starter>/).
  <sub>sources: claude-code:2ed48615-a956-43ec-a15a-b92eb2c8f879, claude-code:3bdbae7f-58b2-4e0e-880b-2a2e03cc0aad</sub>

#### 14. Vendor the player as a fork but import the shared SDK editable; a copied entrypoint is a soft fork to track
`loop` · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

Keep the player (e.g. crewborg) vendored so it can diverge from the upstream players repo, but import the shared SDK (player_sdk) via an editable install pointed at a reliable players checkout so the SDK never drifts; delete repo-tethering files from the vendored player (its build.sh, Dockerfile, entrypoint.sh, scripts/), keep only the editable install, and fix imports (drop the /players/ path segment) so the SDK is importable generically. A vendored entrypoint that starts as a byte-for-byte copy of an upstream file (e.g. coworld_policy_player.py from examples/cogs_vs_clips/player/policy_player.py) becomes a soft fork once baked into the Dockerfile via COPY: bumping the coworld dependency does NOT re-sync it, so after editing record the upstream lineage for a future re-sync/drift decision. A single submittable policy is often three layers — compiled core (Nim bot.nim plus modes/perception/ffi), an FFI boundary, and a thin Python adapter (coworld/<game>_policy.py, policy_player.py) — locate all three before assuming a change lands.
  <sub>sources: claude-code:63658f66-83c7-482e-a805-d58527e10975, claude-code:cd2e0b52-b541-4e03-9fd3-798db4591603, codex:019e1dec-8fd1-7b53-8cab-c4ad94229695, codex:019e1df4-08f8-7b33-9a82-18024a199075</sub>

#### 15. Player packaging layout drifts across game generations; prefer the modern foldered shape and preserve name->policy resolution
`loop` · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

A coworld player's packaging layout drifts across game generations: older players used a top-level entry plus a manifest-only folder; the current convention is a self-contained per-player folder (players/<name>/) holding source, a coplayer_manifest.json, a build script, and a cogames/ subpackage. Prefer the modern foldered layout for new clones, and before copying a build/packaging file confirm it still exists (git history may show it was deleted in a 'players in their own folders' refactor) and verify behavior against the actual CLI implementation rather than prose docs that lagged the reorg. When flattening directories, preserve the name->policy resolution layer so submissions and references don't break (a single short-name registry, scripted_registry, kept 16 short_names resolvable across baseline/tiny_baseline/role/buggy/cranky/nim families after a flatten). A legacy players/<player>/coplayer_manifest.json is NOT part of the coworld schema and can silently drift from the real manifest (e.g. pointing the image at ghcr.io/... instead of public.ecr.aws/...); treat stray per-player manifests as legacy to delete or reconcile, not the source of truth, and distinguish policy-submission artifacts from unrelated manifest.json files (baked perception metadata perception/baked/manifest.json, per-trace traces/**/manifest.json, the upstream coworld_manifest.json are none of them).
  <sub>sources: claude-code:c3f94a33-5444-4aba-8885-1e452bdb7514, codex:019dfece-78f8-7722-8301-f4e0fafc2cd9, claude-code:a5973ebb-5fd5-4158-8d61-0480948c75a9, codex:019e184d-2de6-7b22-b8c0-853edbf53265</sub>

#### 16. players repo layout: single dev distribution, docs/ contract, user dirs, neutral shared code
`loop`

The players repo's pyproject.toml declares a single distribution `players` that installs the top-level players package (game subpackages plus shared players.player_sdk) for local dev (uv sync, pip install -e .), not PyPI publication. Keep tools/cogbase/ standalone (separate distribution, own pyproject, not pulled in by installing players); keep game/runtime package code in its owning repo unless the file is genuinely policy source; tool docs live next to their tool. System-level player knowledge lives under docs/: coworld-integration-guide.md is the starting point for a new player (episode lifecycle, runner-injected env vars, websocket protocol, log/replay visibility, CLI debug commands) and coworld-player-packaging.md is the authoritative reference for what every build.sh must produce. Per-game policy dirs (infinite_blocks/, paintarena/) are reserved placeholders; active WIP policies live under users/<handle>/<project> and promotion into players/ is an explicit source copy (restoring an archived tree requires more than git mv: re-add the package to players/__init__.py's __all__ and restore layout/import references). Do not let one player import into another's internal source tree: extract shared code into a neutral common directory both consume, point each build surface at it via a build path flag, and standardize on package-style imports (e.g. modulabot.policy.AmongThemPolicy); resolve module-name collisions (a local `localize` vs a path-included reference `localize`) with explicit import aliasing (e.g. `import sprite_match as kSpriteMatch`) rather than a re-export wrapper. Keep all generated game-specific code/fixtures/parsers/policies under an output/<game>/ artifact directory and never let toolkit code learn game-specific facts at import time.
  <sub>sources: players_checkouts/players/docs/coworld-integration-guide.md, players_checkouts/players/docs/coworld-player-packaging.md, opencode:ses_21bd5a030fferp2y09ldDj5jjw, opencode:ses_21b899dadffeBiSiDW3XWFqEdz (+2)</sub>

#### 17. A version bump is not necessarily progress; diff the actual policy logic
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_

When a player package is bumped (e.g. bot_v2 -> bot_v3), do not assume the higher version is better or even a real gameplay change: one 'v3' was mostly the v2 source relocated with imports/FFI symbols renamed, and it regressed while lacking v2's newer connection support (COGAMES_ENGINE_WS_URL, --url, --token, --slot). Diff the actual policy logic between versions before treating a version bump as progress.
  <sub>sources: codex:019e1dec-8fd1-7b53-8cab-c4ad94229695</sub>

#### 18. The crewrift-player-optimizer rebuilds from a snapshot; override image, run, and env together
`loop` · **negative result** · ⚠ _session-derived, unverified_ · tool: `crewrift-player-optimizer`

The crewrift-player-optimizer reconstructs a Docker build context from a STORED source snapshot that loses file metadata, so its rebuilt image of the 'same' policy is NOT equivalent to a direct-checkout build: executable bits are not preserved, so an executable entrypoint.sh becomes non-executable and Docker fails 'permission denied' before policy code runs (short-term: invoke via python -m ...; durable: teach the source store to carry Unix mode and chmod shebang scripts in lib/policies/source-store.ts and build.ts). When 'the image won't start', first check whether you're running the direct-checkout image or the reconstructed one. The UI import only accepts GitHub tree/blob URLs (for a local checkout, create a source-backed policy row directly in the optimizer DB); the builder defaults the build context to the first Dockerfile's directory, so importing only a leaf player dir builds with the wrong context when its Dockerfile assumes the repo ROOT - synthesize a top-level Dockerfile. Setting only the image param leaves the BASELINE player's run entrypoint and env in the generated manifest so the new image hangs at 0/N connected - override image AND run command AND env per slot together.
  <sub>sources: codex:019e94d1-e329-7590-b6b2-bfac0eef9950</sub>

#### 19. Build the optimizer platform game-agnostic and Docker-networked; never mutate the champion in place
`loop`

Build the policy-optimization platform game-agnostic: resolve games, players, config, and result scoring generically from each game's Coworld manifest rather than hardcoding per-game runners (replace a single-game runner like among-them.ts with one manifest-driven runner.ts). Run the improvement loop through the Docker `worker` service, not a bare host process, so player containers can reach the game container over the Coworld runtime network. Episodes run locally via Docker or dispatch to the Antfarm cloud backend, selectable per run via lib/dispatch/. Key built policy images by commit/tree SHA (the schema models builtImage/builtImageDigest/treeSha256) so identical source maps to a reusable image and builds are reproducible. Never mutate the champion policy in place: route every policy edit through a separate policy workspace and produce a new immutable version with explicit parent lineage so prior versions stay reproducible; if a bad promotion slips through, use rollback to restore the prior champion, and never submit an unvalidated version. Verify a fresh optimizer deployment end-to-end before trusting it: curl /api/healthz, confirm the worker reaches the Docker socket (`docker info` from inside the web container), then run one full episode from the UI to confirm the worker can build and run game + player containers.
  <sub>sources: optimizers/docs/OPTIMIZER-MVP-SESSION-SUMMARY.md, coworld-source-repos.crewrift-upload/optimizers/CLAUDE.md, coworld-source-repos.crewrift-upload/optimizers/README.md, coworld-source-repos.crewrift-upload/optimizers/instructions/mvp/polic (+2)</sub>
