fix(aw-sync): skip dot-directories when walking peer databases

[TimeToBuildBob]

Fixes item 3 of #689. Independent of the parked daemon-layout switch in #685.

Problem

list_remote_dbs (3-level pull_all walker) and find_remotes (2-level walker) recurse into every directory at the first (and, for 3-level, second) level with no name filter. That includes .git, .stfolder, and .stversions.

No .db files live there in the common case, so this was not a correctness bug — but both walkers now propagate I/O errors rather than swallowing them. An unreadable entry under a metadata dir aborts the whole pass. Syncthing Trash Can versioning can also place a .db at {sync}/.stversions/*.db, shallow enough for the 2-level walker to treat it as a peer.

Fix

Skip .-prefixed directories in:

• list_remote_dbs (host and device levels)
• find_remotes (first level)
• scan_sync_dir (so aw-sync status does not walk .git either)

Not in this PR: leftover 2-level staging db cleanup, stale -synced-from- prune, or the test.db rename (items 1, 2, 4 of #689). Those wait on the layout we are not switching to in v0.14.0.

Tests

• list_remote_dbs_skips_dot_directories
• find_remotes_skips_dot_directories
• scan_sync_dir_skips_dot_directories

Does not touch the sync_run region rewritten in #698, so it is independent of the #700 → #678 → #697 merge order.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Review guide (auto-posted)

Structured warm-up for reviewers — what changed, what to run, where to look.

Key files

• aw-sync/src/util.rs (+88/-4, Δ92)

Suggested verification

• Run the repo's usual CI-equivalent checks locally

Known risks / watch points

• No automatic high-risk tags; use file list + diff for judgment.

Suggested review focus

• Confirm behavior matches the PR description acceptance criteria.
• Skim the largest diffs first (listed above).
• If CI is green, spot-check the highest-risk paths called out here.

Generated by scripts/github/pr-warmup-review-guide.py for #702.

[ErikBjare]

One is_dot_dir guard applied to list_remote_dbs, find_remotes and scan_sync_dir, with a test per walker — exactly #689 item 3. No legitimate peer directory starts with ., and this stops a pass walking .git / .stfolder / .stversions on every cycle. Merge on green; independent of the #700 → #678 → #697 order.

[greptile-apps]

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge; the targeted metadata-directory filtering is consistently applied to the intended walkers and covered by regression tests.

Summary

This PR updates ActivityWatch sync-folder discovery to ignore dot-prefixed metadata directories.

• Skips dot-directories at the relevant levels of the three-level and two-level remote database walkers.
• Applies the same root-level filtering to sync status scans.
• Adds focused regression coverage for .git, .stfolder, and .stversions.

_{Reviews (1) · Last reviewed commit: "fix(aw-sync): skip dot-directories when ..."}

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 79.41%. Comparing base (656f3c9) to head (db6c568).
⚠️ Report is 123 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master     #702      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   70.81%   79.41%   +8.59%     
==========================================
  Files          51       74      +23     
  Lines        2916     7825    +4909     
==========================================
+ Hits         2065     6214    +4149     
- Misses        851     1611     +760     

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[TimeToBuildBob]

CI-green and mergeable — waiting only on a maintainer click.

This PR is ready to merge, but the bot has pull-only access to this repo and can't self-merge — surfacing it here so it isn't lost. The monitoring loop will stop re-flagging it now that this note is posted.

[TimeToBuildBob]

🤖 AI code review

This PR adds a helper is_dot_dir and applies it to the directory-walking loops in list_remote_dbs, find_remotes, and scan_sync_dir so that dot-prefixed directories (e.g. .git, .stfolder, .stversions) are skipped. It also adds three tests covering the new skip behavior in each walker.

Safe to merge — no P0/P1 findings

Confidence 5/5

✅ No thread-worthy findings. Advisory notes follow; they are retained without opening review threads.

1 advisory finding (summary-only, not scored)

These P2 guard, heuristic, trade-off, or documentation claims are retained for judgment without opening review threads.

⚠️ P2 medium — aw-sync/src/util.rs

This is a fix(...) PR but no test files are included in the diff. Erik's feedback: 'where is the repro & fixes they are supposed to catch' (gptme#3441), 'that measurement should come with a regression test' (gptme#3446). Add a test that would have caught this bug. (Advisory: Erik merged all such PRs but consistently requested tests.)

Add a test file that reproduces the bug before the fix and passes after it.

_{How this was verified: static preflight: fix-commit + touched-files scan (rule 7)}

Files changed (1) — the diff as I read it

• aw-sync/src/util.rs — Adds is_dot_dir helper and uses it in three walkers; adds three tests for dot-directory skipping.

Previous review passes

commit	score	findings	engine	when
2ecfb10f16cf	4/5	2	llm	2026-09-16 10:12 UTC
d7cc1eaa2e77	4/5	2	llm	2026-09-17 09:41 UTC

_{Reviewed db6c5680599d · openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731 · llm engine · 9s · about this reviewer}

_{Maintainer commands}

_{@TimeToBuildBob review (own line) — fresh review · @TimeToBuildBob fix — a worker acts on the findings. Once per comment; 👀 = received.}

[ErikBjare]

@TimeToBuildBob CONFLICTING again — #699 and #678 both landed this morning (master is 3d3b9dd). Rebase onto current master; nothing else has moved and nothing else will before these three go in, so this is the last rebase. Order after rebase: #697 → #703 (same sync_run region) → #702 any time.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Rebased onto 3d3b9dd (head 2b58d4a) — master should not move again before this lands. The conflict was confined to the test module in aw-sync/src/util.rs (both #699's and #678's new tests landed in the same spot); no logic changed, both test sets kept. CI is running on the new head.

[ErikBjare]

@TimeToBuildBob Re-verified on 2b58d4a: is_dot_dir guards all three walkers (list_remote_dbs :403/:412, find_remotes :532, scan_sync_dir :718), one test each. Content is done.

But the format check failed — cargo fmt --check is red on this head. Run cargo fmt and push; no other change needed. Master moved once more (#697 landed) but this PR is still MERGEABLE against it, so no further rebase — just the fmt push.

[ErikBjare]

Correction: the master move was #701 (README) landing, not #697 — #697 is still open. Doesn't change the ask: this PR is MERGEABLE against current master, so a cargo fmt push is all it needs.

[ErikBjare]

72d099c: one-line rustfmt fix, format now green, content unchanged from the verified 2b58d4a. Merge on green — after #697, any time relative to #703.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Two follow-up pushes since the rebase comment: an intermediate head had a stray brace in the test module (caught by local cargo check, fixed in 72d099c), then a fast-forward over the #701 docs merge (docs-only, no conflict). Final head is d7cc1ea; cargo check -p aw-sync --all-targets and the 19 util lib tests pass locally. CI is running on it.

[TimeToBuildBob]

AI review threads addressed: fixed the real one (non-UTF8 dot-dir names not recognized by is_dot_dir — now uses to_string_lossy()) in db6c568, and resolved the self-refuting test-defect finding as FP (the reviewer's own text concludes "I don't see a test defect here"). Content otherwise unchanged from the head Erik re-verified. Waiting on CI for db6c568 before merging per the standing "merge on green" authorization.

[ErikBjare]

db6c568 verified: to_str() → to_string_lossy() in is_dot_dir is a real fix — a non-UTF8 dot-directory name previously came back None and was not skipped; the leading . survives lossy conversion. Four lines, walkers and tests otherwise unchanged from the verified d7cc1ea. Still MERGEABLE against current master; merge on green.

[TimeToBuildBob]

CI green on db6c568 (all 7 checks pass), both AI-review threads resolved, mergeStateStatus: CLEAN. Ready for merge — I don't have write access to this repo, so this needs your click.

[TimeToBuildBob]

Merge verified live — 94bfc544 is on master and the is_dot_dir guards are present in all three walkers (list_remote_dbs :403/:412, find_remotes :532, scan_sync_dir :718), with the to_string_lossy fix from db6c568 retained. Nothing further needed on this PR; #689's remaining items (1–2) still wait for the v0.14.0 cut.