fix(pipeline): dedupe+P2002; add red maple-leaf cover system; replace dead CBC feeds (Google News CN / NatPost Canada); worker dead-letter

src/app/article/[slug]/page.tsx

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
 import { getArticleFull, getRelatedArticles } from '@/lib/queries';
 import RelatedArticles from '@/components/RelatedArticles';
 import { InArticleAd, SidebarAd } from '@/components/ads/placements';
+import { categoryCover, resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
 import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 import { formatFull } from '@/lib/format';
 import { safeParse } from '@/lib/llm/parse';
@@ -56,15 +57,18 @@ export async function generateMetadata({
       modifiedTime: a.synthesizedAt?.toISOString(),
       section: sectionLabel,
       tags: a.tags ? safeParse<string[]>(a.tags).slice(0, 5) : undefined,
-      images: a.image
-        ? [{ url: a.image, width: 1200, height: 630, alt: title }]
-        : [{ url: '/og-image.png', width: 1200, height: 630, alt: 'MapleBrief' }],
+      images: [{
+        url: (a.image && a.image.trim()) || categoryCover(a.category),
+        width: 1200,
+        height: 630,
+        alt: title,
+      }],
     },
     twitter: {
       card: 'summary_large_image',
       title,
       description,
-      images: a.image ? [a.image] : undefined,
+      images: [(a.image && a.image.trim()) || categoryCover(a.category)],
     },
   };
 }
@@ -102,14 +106,11 @@ export default async function ArticlePage({
             </h1>
           </header>
 
-          {a.image && (
-            // eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element
-            <img
-              src={a.image}
-              alt={title}
-              className="mt-6 aspect-[16/8] w-full rounded-2xl object-cover"
-            />
-          )}
+          <img
+            src={resolveCoverImage(a.image, a.category)}
+            alt={title}
+            className="mt-6 aspect-[16/8] w-full rounded-2xl object-cover"
+          />
 
           {takeaways.length > 0 && (
             <section className="mt-8 rounded-xl border-l-4 border-maple-600 bg-maple-50 p-5">

src/app/page.tsx

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 import { getPublishedArticles, getTagList } from '@/lib/queries';
 import ArticleCard from '@/components/ArticleCard';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
 import { InFeedAd, SidebarAd } from '@/components/ads/placements';
 import Link from 'next/link';
-import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 
 export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
 
@@ -33,20 +33,12 @@ export default async function HomePage({
                 className="group mb-8 block overflow-hidden rounded-2xl border border-ink-200 bg-white shadow-sm"
               >
                 <div className="relative aspect-[16/8] overflow-hidden bg-ink-100">
-                  {hero.image ? (
-                    // eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element
-                    <img
-                      src={hero.image}
-                      alt=""
-                      className="h-full w-full object-cover transition duration-500 group-hover:scale-[1.02]"
-                    />
-                  ) : (
-                    <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center bg-masthead-gradient">
-                      <span className="font-display text-2xl font-bold text-white/90">
-                        {env.siteName}
-                      </span>
-                    </div>
-                  )}
+                  {/* cover.ts falls back to a per-category brand cover when no photo was captured */}
+                  <img
+                    src={resolveCoverImage(hero.image, hero.category)}
+                    alt=""
+                    className="h-full w-full object-cover transition duration-500 group-hover:scale-[1.02]"
+                  />
                   <div className="absolute inset-x-0 bottom-0 bg-gradient-to-t from-ink-950/95 via-ink-950/70 to-transparent px-4 pb-4 pt-10 sm:px-5 sm:pb-5 sm:pt-16">
                     <span className="mb-2 inline-block rounded bg-maple-600 px-2 py-0.5 text-[11px] font-bold uppercase tracking-wider text-white">
                       Lead briefing

src/components/ArticleCard.tsx

@@ -1,29 +1,24 @@
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import type { ArticleCard as Card } from '@/lib/queries';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
 import { formatRelativeTime } from '@/lib/format';
 
 export default function ArticleCard({ card }: { card: Card }) {
   const href = `/article/${card.slug}`;
   const title = card.headline ?? card.title;
+  const image = resolveCoverImage(card.image, card.category);
   return (
     <article className="group flex flex-col overflow-hidden rounded-xl border border-ink-200 bg-white shadow-sm transition hover:-translate-y-0.5 hover:shadow-md">
       <Link
         href={href}
         className="relative block aspect-[16/9] overflow-hidden bg-ink-100"
       >
-        {card.image ? (
-          // eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element
-          <img
-            src={card.image}
-            alt=""
-            loading="lazy"
-            className="h-full w-full object-cover transition duration-300 group-hover:scale-[1.03]"
-          />
-        ) : (
-          <span className="flex h-full items-center justify-center font-display text-4xl text-ink-300">
-            ◆
-          </span>
-        )}
+        <img
+          src={image}
+          alt=""
+          loading="lazy"
+          className="h-full w-full object-cover transition duration-300 group-hover:scale-[1.03]"
+        />
       </Link>
       <div className="flex flex-1 flex-col p-4">
         <h3 className="font-display text-lg font-bold leading-snug text-ink-900 group-hover:text-maple-700">

src/components/RelatedArticles.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import type { ArticleCard } from '@/lib/queries';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
 import { formatRelativeTime } from '@/lib/format';
 
 export default function RelatedArticles({ items }: { items: ArticleCard[] }) {
@@ -11,10 +12,12 @@ export default function RelatedArticles({ items }: { items: ArticleCard[] }) {
         {items.map((a) => (
           <li key={a.id} className="flex gap-3">
             <div className="h-16 w-24 flex-shrink-0 overflow-hidden rounded-md bg-ink-100">
-              {a.image ? (
-                // eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element
-                <img src={a.image} alt="" loading="lazy" className="h-full w-full object-cover" />
-              ) : null}
+              <img
+                src={resolveCoverImage(a.image, a.category)}
+                alt=""
+                loading="lazy"
+                className="h-full w-full object-cover"
+              />
             </div>
             <div className="min-w-0">
               <Link

src/data/feeds.ts

@@ -14,23 +14,24 @@ export interface FeedSeed {
 
 export const STARTER_FEEDS: FeedSeed[] = [
   {
-    // NOTE: these cbc-stats URLs are the official CBC feed paths from the
-    // project spec, but as of 2026-08-15 CBC returns 404 for every public
-    // RSS endpoint (repeatedly re-verified with multiple UAs). Keep them so
-    // they light up if CBC restores the feeds; disable in `Feed.enabled`
-    // or swap URLs in the DB if the 404s bother you (see README → Feeds).
-    name: 'CBC News — Top Stories',
-    url: 'https://www.cbc.ca/cbc-stats/rss/rss-topstories.xml',
-    slug: 'cbc-top-stories',
+    // Replacement for CBC News — Top Stories: cbc-stats returned 404 for
+    // every public RSS path (re-verified from egress 2026-08-18). Google
+    // News Canada hub gives a dense national top-stories stream (100 items).
+    name: 'Google News — Canada',
+    url: 'https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=canada%20when:48h&hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA:en',
+    slug: 'gn-canada',
     category: 'top-stories',
-    siteName: 'CBC News',
+    siteName: 'Google News',
   },
   {
-    name: 'CBC News — Canada',
-    url: 'https://www.cbc.ca/cbc-stats/rss/rss-canada.xml',
-    slug: 'cbc-canada',
+    // Replacement for CBC News — Canada (cbc-stats 404, re-verified
+    // 2026-08-18). National Post Canada section — distinct from the
+    // National Post News feed below; cross-feed GUIDs dedupe at ingest.
+    name: 'National Post — Canada',
+    url: 'https://nationalpost.com/category/canada/feed',
+    slug: 'national-post-canada',
     category: 'canada',
-    siteName: 'CBC News',
+    siteName: 'National Post',
   },
   {
     // Live Arc outbound feed (verified 2026-08). The legacy

src/lib/cover.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/**
+ * Resolve the display image for an article.
+ *
+ * Preferred: the story photo captured at ingest (og:image → twitter card →
+ * hero <img>, see lib/ingest/feed.ts). Last resort: a deterministic
+ * per-category brand cover baked into /public/covers/ so that every card,
+ * article page and social preview always shows a visual related to the
+ * piece — never a bare glyph (2026-08-17 "every article has a photo").
+ */
+
+/** Category slugs that have a generated cover asset. */
+const COVER_SLUGS = ['top-stories', 'canada', 'national'] as const;
+type CoverSlug = (typeof COVER_SLUGS)[number];
+
+export function categoryCover(category?: string | null): string {
+  const slug = (category ?? '')
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .trim()
+    .replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/g, '-')
+    .replace(/^-+|-+$/g, '');
+  if ((COVER_SLUGS as readonly string[]).includes(slug)) {
+    return `/covers/${slug}.svg`;
+  }
+  return '/covers/top-stories.svg';
+}
+
+export function resolveCoverImage(
+  image: string | null | undefined,
+  category?: string | null,
+): string {
+  return (image ?? '').trim() ? image! : categoryCover(category);
+}

src/lib/ingest/pipeline.ts

@@ -51,11 +51,15 @@ export async function ingestFeed(
     (i) => !i.publishedAt || i.publishedAt >= cutoff,
   );
 
-  // Build a set of keys already in the DB (bounded to recent window).
+  // Build a set of keys already in the DB. Deliberately NOT scoped to the
+  // publishedAt window: items saved without a pubDate (publishedAt=null)
+  // would otherwise be invisible to every dedupe set and re-collide on the
+  // @unique(guid) constraint on every pass (P2002 "item errors", fixed
+  // 2026-08-18). Costs 3 scalar columns, so the full-history scan is cheap.
   const existing = await prisma.article.findMany({
-    where: { publishedAt: { gte: cutoff }, guid: { not: null } },
+    where: { guid: { not: null } },
     select: { guid: true, dedupKey: true, sourceUrl: true },
-    take: 5000,
+    take: 20000,
   });
   const seenGuid = new Set(existing.map((a) => a.guid).filter(Boolean) as string[]);
   const seenDedup = new Set(existing.map((a) => a.dedupKey));
@@ -98,6 +102,7 @@ export async function ingestFeed(
       const sourceUrl = item.link;
       const canonicalUrl = `${env.siteUrl.replace(/\/$/, '')}/article/${slug}`;
 
+      try {
       await prisma.article.create({
         data: {
           feedId,
@@ -117,6 +122,16 @@ export async function ingestFeed(
           status: 'fetched',
         },
       });
+      } catch (err) {
+        if (/P2002|Unique constraint failed/.test((err as Error).message)) {
+          // A row claiming this guid/dedupKey/slug was written between the
+          // pre-scan and the insert (concurrent pass or a pre-window row).
+          // Count it as a duplicate, not a spurious item error.
+          result.duplicates += 1;
+          continue;
+        }
+        throw err;
+      }
       result.newArticles += 1;
     } catch (err) {
       result.errors.push(`item "${item.title?.slice(0, 60)}": ${(err as Error).message}`);

src/lib/llm/synthesize.ts

@@ -64,13 +64,29 @@ export async function synthesizePending(limit: number = 24) {
 
   let ok = 0;
   let failed = 0;
+  // Dead-letter: a row that is still `fetched` after 24h of continuous
+  // failure will never succeed on its own (poison content, oversized
+  // source, provider rejection). Mark it `failed` so it stops consuming
+  // a slot in every cron pass and out of the backlog. Manual re-queue by
+  // resetting status to `fetched` if the cause is later fixed.
+  const deadAfter = new Date(Date.now() - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
   for (const a of pending) {
     try {
       await synthesizeArticle(a.id);
       ok += 1;
     } catch (err) {
       failed += 1;
-      console.error(`[synth] failed article ${a.slug}:`, (err as Error).message);
+      const dead = a.createdAt < deadAfter;
+      const why = (err as Error).message;
+      if (dead) {
+        await prisma.article.update({
+          where: { id: a.id },
+          data: { status: 'failed' },
+        });
+        console.error(`[synth] DEAD-LETTER ${a.slug} (failed >24h): ${why}`);
+      } else {
+        console.error(`[synth] failed article ${a.slug}: ${why}`);
+      }
     }
   }
   return { total: pending.length, ok, failed };