fix(whats-new): gate the card to release channels so it can't intrude on CI

The R2 rearchitecture dropped the daemon's channel gate, so development/CI
builds fetched the live document and showed the card on Home. That broke the
P0 "settings dialog reachable" smoke (getByRole('dialog') matched both the
settings modal and the what's-new card, which also carries role="dialog") and
would have dirtied every Home visual baseline. Restore the gate: only
beta/prerelease/preview/stable fetch the document; other channels resolve to no
card and never touch the network. OD_WHATS_NEW_URL still opts any channel in
for e2e fixtures that exercise the card on purpose.

apps/daemon/src/routes/whats-new.ts

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export function registerWhatsNewRoutes(app: Express, ctx: RegisterWhatsNewRoutes
 
   app.get('/api/whats-new', async (_req, res) => {
     const versionInfo = await readCurrentAppVersionInfo();
-    const result = await whatsNew.readWhatsNew();
+    const result = await whatsNew.readWhatsNew(versionInfo.channel);
     const payload: WhatsNewResponse = {
       version: versionInfo.version,
       id: result.id,

apps/daemon/src/services/whats-new.ts

@@ -23,12 +23,20 @@ export interface WhatsNewServiceOptions {
 }
 
 export interface WhatsNewService {
-  readWhatsNew(): Promise<WhatsNewReadResult>;
+  readWhatsNew(channel: string): Promise<WhatsNewReadResult>;
 }
 
 /** The dedicated, hardcoded highlights document. Operators update this file. */
 export const DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL = 'https://whatsnew.open-design.ai/whats-new.json';
 
+/**
+ * The post-update card is a release feature. Only real release channels fetch
+ * the hosted document; development/CI builds resolve to no card so the card
+ * never intrudes on tests or unreleased builds. `OD_WHATS_NEW_URL` opts any
+ * channel in (used by e2e fixtures that exercise the card on purpose).
+ */
+const WHATS_NEW_RELEASE_CHANNELS = new Set(['beta', 'prerelease', 'preview', 'stable']);
+
 // Short enough that an operator's edit reaches users on their next Home visit
 // without a long stale window, long enough that Home activations do not hammer
 // the origin.
@@ -36,11 +44,15 @@ const WHATS_NEW_CACHE_TTL_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000;
 const WHATS_NEW_TIMEOUT_MS = 4_000;
 
 /**
- * The document URL. `OD_WHATS_NEW_URL` overrides it for local fixtures and
- * tests (e.g. a tools-serve endpoint), otherwise the dedicated R2 object.
+ * The document URL, or null when this build must not show the card.
+ * `OD_WHATS_NEW_URL` overrides it for local fixtures and tests (e.g. a
+ * tools-serve endpoint) regardless of channel; otherwise the dedicated R2
+ * object is used only on release channels.
  */
-export function whatsNewSourceUrl(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): string {
-  return env.OD_WHATS_NEW_URL?.trim() || DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL;
+export function whatsNewSourceUrl(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv, channel: string): string | null {
+  const override = env.OD_WHATS_NEW_URL?.trim();
+  if (override) return override;
+  return WHATS_NEW_RELEASE_CHANNELS.has(channel) ? DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL : null;
 }
 
 function isObject(value: unknown): value is Record<string, unknown> {
@@ -114,8 +126,13 @@ export function createWhatsNewService({
   let cache: { key: string; result: WhatsNewReadResult } | null = null;
   let inflight: Promise<WhatsNewReadResult> | null = null;
 
-  async function readWhatsNew(): Promise<WhatsNewReadResult> {
-    const sourceUrl = whatsNewSourceUrl(env);
+  async function readWhatsNew(channel: string): Promise<WhatsNewReadResult> {
+    const sourceUrl = whatsNewSourceUrl(env, channel);
+    if (sourceUrl == null) {
+      // Development/CI builds (no release channel, no override) never show the
+      // card and never reach out to the network.
+      return { id: null, content: null, fetchedAt: now(), stale: false };
+    }
     const cacheKey = sourceUrl;
     const currentTime = now();
     if (

apps/daemon/tests/whats-new.test.ts

@@ -24,12 +24,18 @@ function jsonResponse(payload: unknown, status = 200): Response {
 }
 
 describe('whatsNewSourceUrl', () => {
-  it('defaults to the dedicated hosted document', () => {
-    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({})).toBe(DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL);
+  it('uses the dedicated hosted document on release channels', () => {
+    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({}, 'stable')).toBe(DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL);
+    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({}, 'beta')).toBe(DEFAULT_WHATS_NEW_URL);
   });
 
-  it('honors OD_WHATS_NEW_URL for fixtures and tests', () => {
-    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({ OD_WHATS_NEW_URL: 'https://fixture.local/whats-new.json' })).toBe(
+  it('resolves to null on non-release channels (development/CI show no card)', () => {
+    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({}, 'development')).toBeNull();
+    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({}, '')).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it('honors OD_WHATS_NEW_URL for fixtures and tests regardless of channel', () => {
+    expect(whatsNewSourceUrl({ OD_WHATS_NEW_URL: 'https://fixture.local/whats-new.json' }, 'development')).toBe(
       'https://fixture.local/whats-new.json',
     );
   });
@@ -73,14 +79,27 @@ describe('createWhatsNewService', () => {
         return jsonResponse(DOC);
       },
     });
-    const first = await service.readWhatsNew();
-    const second = await service.readWhatsNew();
+    const first = await service.readWhatsNew('stable');
+    const second = await service.readWhatsNew('stable');
     expect(first.id).toBe('0.13.0');
     expect(first.content?.title).toBe('Design system sync');
     expect(second.content?.title).toBe('Design system sync');
     expect(calls).toBe(1);
   });
 
+  it('skips the network entirely on non-release channels', async () => {
+    const service = createWhatsNewService({
+      env: {},
+      fetchImpl: async () => {
+        throw new Error('must not fetch');
+      },
+    });
+    const result = await service.readWhatsNew('development');
+    expect(result.id).toBeNull();
+    expect(result.content).toBeNull();
+    expect(result.stale).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it('resolves to null content instead of failing when the document is unreachable', async () => {
     const service = createWhatsNewService({
       env: {},
@@ -88,7 +107,7 @@ describe('createWhatsNewService', () => {
         throw new Error('offline');
       },
     });
-    const result = await service.readWhatsNew();
+    const result = await service.readWhatsNew('stable');
     expect(result.id).toBeNull();
     expect(result.content).toBeNull();
     expect(result.stale).toBe(true);
@@ -99,7 +118,7 @@ describe('createWhatsNewService', () => {
       env: {},
       fetchImpl: async () => jsonResponse({ error: 'nope' }, 404),
     });
-    const result = await service.readWhatsNew();
+    const result = await service.readWhatsNew('stable');
     expect(result.content).toBeNull();
     expect(result.stale).toBe(true);
   });

docs/whats-new.md

@@ -19,8 +19,13 @@ in release `metadata.json`. To change what users see, edit that one file.
 
 - The daemon proxies it at `GET /api/whats-new` (also `od whats-new [--json]`),
   so the web UI and CLI read the exact same payload.
+- The card is a **release feature**: the daemon only fetches the document on
+  real release channels (`beta`, `prerelease`, `preview`, `stable`). Development
+  and CI builds resolve to no card and never hit the network, so the card never
+  intrudes on tests or unreleased builds.
 - `OD_WHATS_NEW_URL` overrides the source for local development and tests (for
-  example a `tools-serve` fixture endpoint).
+  example a `tools-serve` fixture endpoint), and opts any channel in — set it to
+  preview the card on a dev build.
 
 ## Show-once behavior