ingestion/internal/wiki/merge.go

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package wiki
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -84,6 +85,14 @@ var generatorOwned = map[string]bool{
 // refreshOwned returns a's frontmatter with the generator-owned fields taken
 // from b where b supplies them. Fields absent from b keep a's value, so a
 // generator that stops emitting a field cannot blank it.
+//
+// A field b supplies that a's frontmatter doesn't have yet — every page
+// ingested before this mechanism existed has no source_hash line at all —
+// is appended, not dropped. Dropping it silently defeats the whole reason a
+// field is generator-owned: it would never reach the page it's meant to
+// live on (found in review, PR #126: source_hash then never populates for
+// the pre-existing corpus, so the skip-on-unchanged feature it exists to
+// support never engages, permanently, with nothing to say so).
 func refreshOwned(a, b string) string {
 	bVals := make(map[string]string)
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(b, "\n") {
@@ -97,8 +106,10 @@ func refreshOwned(a, b string) string {
 		return a
 	}
 
-	out := make([]string, 0, len(strings.Split(a, "\n")))
+	aLines := strings.Split(a, "\n")
-	for _, line := range strings.Split(a, "\n") {
+	out := make([]string, 0, len(aLines)+len(bVals))
+	closeIdx := -1
+	for _, line := range aLines {
 		key, _, found := strings.Cut(line, ":")
 		k := strings.TrimSpace(key)
 		if found && generatorOwned[k] {
@@ -108,9 +119,38 @@ func refreshOwned(a, b string) string {
 				continue
 			}
 		}
+		if strings.TrimSpace(line) == "---" {
+			closeIdx = len(out) // the fence's position in the OUTPUT slice
+		}
 		out = append(out, line)
 	}
+
+	if len(bVals) == 0 {
 		return strings.Join(out, "\n")
+	}
+
+	// Sorted for a deterministic, byte-stable result — map order is not.
+	remaining := make([]string, 0, len(bVals))
+	for k := range bVals {
+		remaining = append(remaining, k)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(remaining)
+	insert := make([]string, len(remaining))
+	for i, k := range remaining {
+		insert[i] = k + ": " + bVals[k]
+	}
+
+	if closeIdx < 0 {
+		// No closing fence found — malformed input for this well-formed-only
+		// helper; append at the end rather than lose the fields.
+		out = append(out, insert...)
+		return strings.Join(out, "\n")
+	}
+	final := make([]string, 0, len(out)+len(insert))
+	final = append(final, out[:closeIdx]...)
+	final = append(final, insert...)
+	final = append(final, out[closeIdx:]...)
+	return strings.Join(final, "\n")
 }
 
 // parseSections splits markdown into its frontmatter, its preamble (content

ingestion/internal/wiki/merge_test.go

@@ -214,3 +214,39 @@ Rewritten by the model.
 	assert.Contains(t, got, "Original.", "an existing section still wins over the model's rewrite")
 	assert.NotContains(t, got, "Renamed by the model")
 }
+
+func TestMerge_GeneratorOwnedFieldsAreAppendedWhenAPageNeverHadThemBefore(t *testing.T) {
+	// Found in review of PR #126: refreshOwned only replaced a generator-owned
+	// line that already existed in a's frontmatter — it never appended one a
+	// didn't have. Every page ingested before this feature shipped has no
+	// source_hash line at all, so on its first re-ingest after deploy, the
+	// fresh hash was silently dropped and the skip-on-unchanged feature this
+	// PR exists to build would never engage for the entire pre-existing
+	// corpus, permanently, with nothing telling anyone.
+	existing := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'X'
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Original.
+`}
+	fresh := Page{Path: "wiki/sources/x.md", Content: `---
+title: 'Renamed by the model'
+last_updated: 2026-08-22
+source_hash: bbbb
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+Rewritten by the model.
+`}
+
+	got := Merge(existing, fresh).Content
+
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "source_hash: bbbb", "a generator-owned field a page never had before must be appended, not dropped")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "last_updated: 2026-08-22")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "title: 'X'", "a human-set title must still survive regeneration")
+	assert.Contains(t, got, "Original.")
+	assert.NotContains(t, got, "Renamed by the model")
+}