0.5.5: lower stale-prior threshold from 10s to 1s

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,28 @@
 
 > **Note:** Versions 0.3.26 – 0.3.55 were released as git tags without changelog entries. Changelog resumes at 0.3.56 below.
 
+## 0.5.5
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Stale-prior threshold lowered from 10s to 1s.** v0.5.3+v0.5.4
+  introduced lastSeen-aware stale detection in the inbound-connection
+  and `_createPeer` dedup paths, with the threshold tied to
+  `_heartbeatInterval` (default 10s). Field testing showed this was too
+  lenient: when a peer process was killed and quickly relaunched, the
+  old run had typically sent a CMB seconds before death, so `lastSeen`
+  was still within the 10s window. The dedup logic then rejected the
+  legitimate redial as a same-direction-duplicate, producing
+  `connection ready → immediate disconnect` with no handshake-complete
+  on the dialing side.
+
+  Lowered to a hardcoded 1s threshold in both dedup paths.
+  Sub-second TCP-retry races during initial handshake still keep prior
+  (the case the same-direction-duplicate rule was designed for); peer
+  restarts with ≥1s between kill and re-dial now recover within the
+  application layer instead of being blocked until OS keepalive reaps
+  the underlying socket (~100s).
+
 ## 0.5.4
 
 ### Fixed

lib/node.js

@@ -549,8 +549,16 @@ class SymNode extends EventEmitter {
         //     restarting peer reconnects within seconds, long enough that
         //     a momentary lull during initial handshake doesn't trip it.
         const staleByFlag = !prev || prev._closed;
+        // 1-second threshold (NOT _heartbeatInterval=10s). When a peer
+        // process is killed and quickly relaunches, its old run sent a
+        // CMB seconds before death, so lastSeen is still recent. A 10s
+        // threshold misses this and the dedup-reject path kills the
+        // legitimate redial. 1s tolerates sub-second TCP-retry races
+        // during initial handshake while letting normal peer-restart
+        // (≥1s gap between kill and re-dial) recover within the
+        // application layer.
         const staleByLastSeen = existingPeer.lastSeen
-          && (Date.now() - existingPeer.lastSeen) > this._heartbeatInterval;
+          && (Date.now() - existingPeer.lastSeen) > 1000;
         const stalePrior = staleByFlag || staleByLastSeen;
         if (!stalePrior) {
           // Determine prior direction. The peer's `isOutbound` field reflects

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@sym-bot/sym",
-  "version": "0.5.4",
+  "version": "0.5.5",
   "description": "Infrastructure and protocol for multi-agent collective intelligence",
   "main": "lib/node.js",
   "bin": {