Handoff

The CLI encode path is not just stale — it is structurally inconsistent with the canon-driven worker. Maintaining two implementations of the same MCP tool is a vodka-architecture violation: the code surface that consumes the canon should be a single thin server, not two diverging ones. Operator decision is to deprecate the CLI path rather than port it.

This is not a Phase 2 blocker. The CLI is rarely used (consumer count unknown but presumed near-zero — the production deployment is the worker). Deprecation can run on its own timeline, gated only by confirming there are no active CLI consumers.

In scope:

1. Add a deprecation notice to src/tasks/encode.js (top-of-file JSDoc warning + console.warn at runtime).
2. Add a deprecation notice to src/mcp/orchestrate.js and src/core/actions.js for the encode action paths.
3. Update README.md and any setup docs that mention the Node CLI as an alternative to the Workers deployment.
4. Schedule removal: target oddkit 0.30.0 (or whatever minor lands one quarter from this handoff date — operator confirms before removal).
5. Confirm zero active CLI consumers via telemetry (telemetry_public query for transport: "stdio" or equivalent, last 30 days) before final removal.

Out of scope:

• Porting the CLI parser to governance-driven. Decision is deprecation, not parity.
• Removing the Node CLI entirely. Other CLI tools (search, get, catalog, version) may remain; only the encode action is deprecated. (Verify this — if the entire Node CLI is dormant, broader retirement may be cheaper than per-action deprecation.)
• Worker-side changes. The worker is the source of truth and is unaffected.

For the deprecation PR:

1. CLI users invoking encode see a clear deprecation notice with a link to migrate to the Workers MCP server URL.
2. README and docs no longer present the CLI as a peer to the Workers deployment for encode functionality.
3. The deprecation notice references this handoff and the target removal version.

For the eventual removal PR:

1. Telemetry shows no encode CLI calls in the prior 30 days.
2. src/tasks/encode.js, src/mcp/orchestrate.js encode wiring, and src/core/actions.js encode handler removed in one commit.
3. Tests touching the CLI encode path removed; coverage gate not regressed.
4. CHANGELOG entry naming the removal version, the date, and the operator decision.

• Don't remove without telemetry confirmation. If a single consumer is still calling the CLI encode path, removal will break them silently. Telemetry first, removal second.
• Don't conflate CLI encode with CLI as a whole. Other CLI actions may have their own consumer profiles. Scope discipline matters.
• Don't backport governance-driven encode to the CLI as a "nice to have." Operator decision is deprecation. Backporting is parity work and was explicitly declined; doing it anyway is mode collapse.

• Audit 2026-04-30 Cleanup Ledger — the parent handoff that surfaced this
• Encode Current State (2026-04-30) — what the worker actually does today
• Vodka Architecture — the principle that motivates single-implementation discipline
• Code Claims Require Code Observation — the principle this audit graduated