ingest: suppress Google-news shared placeholder image (googleusercontent) -> null -> category cover fallback

Root cause: Google News RSS items carry no enclosures; pipeline fell back
to og:image from the news.google.com interstitial, which serves ONE shared
Google-branded tile (lh3.googleusercontent.com/J6_coFbo...) for every
article. 601 rows shared that URL (maple 243 / finance 358). New
image-guard blocks *.googleusercontent.com images at ingest; 16/16
regression tests; prod DBs migrated tile->NULL; images rebuilt
technews:10 finance:4 maple-brief:11 and deployed.

.gitignore

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ yarn-error.log*
 prisma/dev.db
 prisma/dev.db-journal
 
-# local databases / generated
-data/
+# local databases / generated (root only — src/data/ holds committed source)
+/data/
 *.sqlite
 *.sqlite3

.gitleaks.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# gitleaks config — maple-brief commit gate (secret stage)
+#
+# Policy (fail-closed): the FULL default gitleaks ruleset (every known
+# provider / secret shape) hard-blocks at commit and pre-push. The ONLY
+# suppression is a tight, content-regexed allowlist scoped to a single file:
+# .env.example (the committed placeholder template). It suppresses ONLY those
+# exact placeholder lines. A real composite key pasted there (or anywhere)
+# STILL fires — verified on gitleaks 8.30.1 (linux x64).
+#
+# Gotchas found while validating (do not regress):
+#   • allowlist must be a MAP  [allowlist]  — a slice [[allowlist]] fails
+#     with "expected a map, got slice"
+#   • an embedded single quote inside a single-quoted (literal) TOML string
+#     silently closes it — keep regex strings double-quoted (basic)
+#   • paths= scopes the suppression to the file; regexes= to the lines
+# ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+[extend]
+useDefault = true
+
+[allowlist]
+description = "Suppress ONLY empty double-quoted placeholder values and the change-me example, in the .env template"
+paths = ['\.env\.example$']
+regexes = [
+  '^OPENAI_API_KEY=("")$',
+  '^ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=("")$',
+  '^NEXT_PUBLIC_ADSENSE_[A-Z_]+=("")$',
+  "^ADMIN_API_KEY=\"change-me[^\"]*\"$"
+]

Dockerfile

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ RUN npx prisma generate \
  && cp /app/fresh.db prisma/fresh.db \
  && NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL="https://news.krisforbes.ca" \
     NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_NAME="MapleBrief" \
-    NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_DESCRIPTION="Synthesized Canadian news briefings" \
+    NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_DESCRIPTION="Canadian news briefings" \
     NEXT_PUBLIC_ADSENSE_CLIENT_ID="${NEXT_PUBLIC_ADSENSE_CLIENT_ID}" \
     NEXT_PUBLIC_SHOW_SIDEBAR_ADS="false" \
     npm run build \

README.md

@@ -66,6 +66,35 @@ npx prisma migrate diff --from-empty --to-schema-datamodel prisma/schema.prisma
 npm run seed                     # manual ingest + synthesis pass
 ```
 
+## Commit gate (secret → build → test, fail-closed)
+
+Every commit and push runs a three-stage gate (`scripts/gate/gate.sh`), in this fixed order:
+
+| Stage | pre-commit (fast) | pre-push (heavy) |
+|---|---|---|
+| 1 — secret | `gitleaks protect --staged` | `gitleaks protect` over full HEAD history |
+| 2 — build | `tsc --noEmit` (strict) | `prisma generate && next build` (pristine production build) |
+| 3 — test | `tests/llm-parse.test.ts` (LLM parse contract, 21 pins) | same |
+
+- **Fail-closed:** a missing tool, a crash, a timeout, or any finding blocks the
+  operation. Only a deliberate `git commit --no-verify` / `git push --no-verify`
+  bypasses it (auditable in the terminal scrollback).
+- **Secret stage:** full gitleaks default ruleset, hard-blocks. The one allow
+  exception is a file- and content-scoped suppress of *empty/placeholder*
+  values in `.env.example` (see `[allowlist]` in `.gitleaks.toml`) — a real key
+  written into that file still fires.
+- **Test stage:** `tests/llm-parse.test.ts` pins the synthesis parse contract
+  (6-paragraph cap, 160-char headline, ≤5 takeaways, sanitized tags,
+  JSON-fence recovery, determinism). It imports only `src/lib/llm/parse.ts` —
+  pure, zero-dep, zero-network — so it runs under `tsx` with no framework.
+- **Install (idempotent, per clone):**
+  ```bash
+  bash scripts/install/install-hooks.sh
+  # → bootstraps gitleaks (pinned 8.30.1) into ~/.local/bin if missing,
+  #   copies scripts/gate/hooks/* into .git/hooks/
+  ```
+- Walk away from a fresh machine: `npm ci && bash scripts/install/install-hooks.sh`.
+
 ## Configuration
 
 All configuration is in `.env` (local, gitignored — only `.env.example` is committed):

entrypoint.sh

@@ -24,4 +24,21 @@ if [ ! -f "$DB" ]; then
   echo "[entrypoint] initialized $DB from seed snapshot"
 fi
 
+# Arm the ingest/synthesis worker once the server answers.
+# The Next standalone build has instrumentationHook disabled, so node-cron
+# only starts when a request reaches /api/worker/ping. Pinging ourselves
+# after boot means a fresh container or restart re-arms the worker (and
+# triggers the boot pipeline pass) without any external health pinger.
+(
+  APP_IP="$(hostname -i 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')"
+  [ -z "$APP_IP" ] && APP_IP=127.0.0.1
+  i=0
+  until curl -sf -o /dev/null --max-time 2 "http://${APP_IP}:${PORT:-3000}/api/worker/ping"; do
+    i=$((i + 1))
+    [ "$i" -ge 90 ] && exit 0
+    sleep 1
+  done
+  echo "[entrypoint] armed cron worker via /api/worker/ping"
+) >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+
 exec node server.js

package.json

@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@
   "name": "maple-brief-aggregator",
   "version": "1.0.0",
   "private": true,
-  "description": "Automated Canadian news aggregator with LLM content synthesis and Google AdSense integration.",
+  "description": "Automated Canadian news aggregator with AI-assisted content synthesis and Google AdSense integration.",
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "next dev",
     "build": "prisma generate && next build",
     "start": "next start",
     "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
+    "test": "tsx tests/llm-parse.test.ts && tsx tests/image-guard.test.ts && tsx tests/image-proxy.test.ts",
     "db:generate": "prisma generate",
     "db:push": "prisma db push",
     "db:seed": "tsx prisma/seed.ts",

public/covers/canada.svg

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1200 630" role="img" aria-label="Canada — MapleBrief"><defs><linearGradient id="bg" x1="0" y1="0" x2="0" y2="1"><stop offset="0" stop-color="#161614"/><stop offset="0.55" stop-color="#2b2b28"/><stop offset="1.3" stop-color="#45060c"/></linearGradient><pattern id="grid" width="48" height="48" patternUnits="userSpaceOnUse"><path d="M48 0H0V48" fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.10" stroke-width="1"/></pattern></defs><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#bg)"/><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#grid)"/><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.38" stroke-width="10" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M880 130L904 196L964 182L934 236L1006 250L948 296L1006 338L934 346L964 402L904 386L880 452L856 386L796 402L826 346L754 338L812 296L754 250L826 236L796 182L856 196Z"/><path d="M880 452V520"/></g><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.14" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M700 452H1060"/></g><text x="80" y="556" font-family="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" font-size="44" font-weight="700" fill="#ffd9d4" fill-opacity="0.92">Canada</text><text x="80" y="592" font-family="Inter, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif" font-size="18" letter-spacing="4" fill="#f8402f" fill-opacity="0.55">MAPLEBRIEF</text></svg>

public/covers/national.svg

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1200 630" role="img" aria-label="National — MapleBrief"><defs><linearGradient id="bg" x1="0" y1="0" x2="0" y2="1"><stop offset="0" stop-color="#161614"/><stop offset="0.55" stop-color="#2b2b28"/><stop offset="1.3" stop-color="#45060c"/></linearGradient><pattern id="grid" width="48" height="48" patternUnits="userSpaceOnUse"><path d="M48 0H0V48" fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.10" stroke-width="1"/></pattern></defs><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#bg)"/><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#grid)"/><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.38" stroke-width="10" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M760 440V300M880 440V180M1000 440V300"/><path d="M850 180L880 120L910 180" stroke-width="7"/><path d="M782 300L760 268L738 300M978 300L1000 268L1022 300" stroke-width="7"/><path d="M760 380H1000M820 340H940" stroke-width="7"/></g><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.14" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M700 440H1060M700 160H1060"/></g><text x="80" y="556" font-family="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" font-size="44" font-weight="700" fill="#ffd9d4" fill-opacity="0.92">National</text><text x="80" y="592" font-family="Inter, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif" font-size="18" letter-spacing="4" fill="#f8402f" fill-opacity="0.55">MAPLEBRIEF</text></svg>

public/covers/top-stories.svg

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1200 630" role="img" aria-label="Top Stories — MapleBrief"><defs><linearGradient id="bg" x1="0" y1="0" x2="0" y2="1"><stop offset="0" stop-color="#161614"/><stop offset="0.55" stop-color="#2b2b28"/><stop offset="1.3" stop-color="#45060c"/></linearGradient><pattern id="grid" width="48" height="48" patternUnits="userSpaceOnUse"><path d="M48 0H0V48" fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.10" stroke-width="1"/></pattern></defs><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#bg)"/><rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#grid)"/><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.38" stroke-width="10" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="880" cy="305" r="150"/><ellipse cx="880" cy="305" rx="64" ry="150"/><path d="M736 254H1024M730 356H1030"/></g><g fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.14" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M700 155H1060M700 455H1060"/></g><text x="80" y="556" font-family="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" font-size="44" font-weight="700" fill="#ffd9d4" fill-opacity="0.92">Top Stories</text><text x="80" y="592" font-family="Inter, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif" font-size="18" letter-spacing="4" fill="#f8402f" fill-opacity="0.55">MAPLEBRIEF</text></svg>

scripts/gate/gate.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# maple-brief commit gate
+# Approved order (hard, fail-closed):  1) secret  →  2) build  →  3) test
+#
+#   commit mode (pre-commit, fast):
+#     1. gitleaks on STAGED changes   2. tsc --noEmit   3. LLM parse unit tests
+#   push mode (pre-push, heavy):
+#     1. gitleaks on full HEAD history  2. prisma generate && next build
+#
+# Fail-closed: any stage error (missing tool, crash, timeout, findings)
+# fails the gate. Same tree ⇒ same verdict (gates are pure functions of
+# committed content; no network, no cached state). Only deliberate escape
+# hatch: `git commit --no-verify` / `git push --no-verify` (explicit, logged
+# by the remote user).
+#
+# Usage: gate.sh commit | push
+# ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+set -u
+
+MODE="${1:-commit}"
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
+cd "$ROOT" || { echo "gate: cannot cd to repo root" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+TS0=$(date +%s)
+FAILURES=0
+
+say() { printf '\n█ gate[%s] %s\n' "$MODE" "$1"; }
+ok()  { printf '\x1b[32m  PASS\x1b[0m %s\n' "$1"; }
+bad() { printf '\x1b[31m  FAIL\x1b[0m %s\n' "$1"; FAILURES=$((FAILURES + 1)); }
+
+# --- setup (fail-closed: never proceed without the gate components) ---------
+command -v gitleaks >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+  say "setup"
+  bad "gitleaks not found — run: bash scripts/install/install-hooks.sh"
+  printf '\nGATE VERDICT: FAIL (setup)\n'; exit 1; }
+[ -d node_modules ] || {
+  say "setup"
+  bad "node_modules missing — run: npm ci"
+  printf '\nGATE VERDICT: FAIL (setup)\n'; exit 1; }
+[ -f .gitleaks.toml ] || {
+  say "setup"; bad ".gitleaks.toml missing (gate config)";
+  printf '\nGATE VERDICT: FAIL (setup)\n'; exit 1; }
+[ -x node_modules/.bin/tsx ] || {
+  say "setup"; bad "tsx not in node_modules — run: npm ci";
+  printf '\nGATE VERDICT: FAIL (setup)\n'; exit 1; }
+
+# verdict key: what content this verdict is a function of
+case "$MODE" in
+  commit) TREEKEY="$(git write-tree 2>/dev/null || echo no-staged-tree)" ;;
+  push)   TREEKEY="$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo no-head)" ;;
+  *) say "usage: gate.sh commit|push"; exit 2 ;;
+esac
+
+# --- stage 1: secret --------------------------------------------------------
+# $1 = "staged" | "history"; gitleaks 8.x takes no positional path — use
+# --staged for staged-only, no flag for full history. Exit 0 = clean,
+# 1 = findings, anything else = scan error (all fail-closed).
+stage_secret() {
+  local scope="$1"
+  case "$scope" in
+    staged)  say "1/3 secret — gitleaks (staged changes)"; local args=(--staged) ;;
+    history) say "1/3 secret — gitleaks (full HEAD history)"; local args=() ;;
+    *) bad "stage_secret: unknown scope '$scope'"; return 1 ;;
+  esac
+  local out rc
+  out="$(timeout 180 gitleaks protect -c .gitleaks.toml --no-banner --no-color "${args[@]+"${args[@]}"}" 2>&1)"; rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then
+    bad "secret scan failed (exit ${rc:-ERR})"
+    printf '%s\n' "$out" | grep -vE '^\s*$' | tail -12 | sed 's/^/    /'
+  else
+    ok "no secret matches in $scope"
+  fi
+}
+
+# --- stage 2: build ---------------------------------------------------------
+stage_build_commit() {
+  say "2/3 build — tsc --noEmit (strict TS)"
+  local out rc
+  out="$(timeout 240 ./node_modules/.bin/tsc --noEmit 2>&1)"; rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then bad "typecheck failed (exit $rc)"; printf '%s\n' "$out" | tail -15 | sed 's/^/    /';
+  else ok "typecheck clean"; fi
+}
+stage_build_push() {
+  say "2/3 build — prisma generate && next build (pristine, full)"
+  local out rc
+  out="$(timeout 900 npm run build 2>&1)"; rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then bad "build failed (exit $rc)"; printf '%s\n' "$out" | tail -20 | sed 's/^/    /';
+  else ok "production build clean"; fi
+}
+
+# --- stage 3: test ----------------------------------------------------------
+stage_test() {
+  say "3/3 test — LLM parse contract (tests/llm-parse.test.ts)"
+  local out rc
+  out="$(timeout 120 ./node_modules/.bin/tsx tests/llm-parse.test.ts 2>&1)"; rc=$?
+  if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then bad "unit test failed (exit $rc)"; printf '%s\n' "$out" | grep -E '^(not ok|ok|fail)' | tail -10 | sed 's/^/    /';
+  else ok "LLM parse contract holds ($(printf '%s\n' "$out" | grep -c '^ok ') checks)"; fi
+}
+
+# --- run (all stages always execute; verdict = OR of failures) --------------
+case "$MODE" in
+  commit)
+    stage_secret staged
+    stage_build_commit
+    stage_test
+    ;;
+  push)
+    stage_secret history
+    stage_build_push
+    stage_test
+    ;;
+esac
+
+ELAPSED=$(( $(date +%s) - TS0 ))
+case "$MODE" in
+  commit) OBJECT="staged-tree $TREEKEY" ;;
+  push)   OBJECT="HEAD $TREEKEY" ;;
+esac
+if [ "$FAILURES" -eq 0 ]; then
+  printf '\n════════════════════════════════════════\n  GATE PASS  [%s]  %s  in %ss\n════════════════════════════════════════\n' "$MODE" "$OBJECT" "$ELAPSED"
+  exit 0
+else
+  printf '\n════════════════════════════════════════\n  GATE FAIL  [%s]  %s  — %s stage(s) failed, in %ss\n  bypass (auditable): git %s --no-verify\n════════════════════════════════════════\n' "$MODE" "$OBJECT" "$FAILURES" "$ELAPSED" "$MODE"
+  exit 1
+fi

scripts/gate/hooks/pre-commit

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# pre-commit → orders secret → build(typecheck) → test (fast gates only)
+exec bash "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/scripts/gate/gate.sh" commit

scripts/gate/hooks/pre-push

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# pre-push → orders secret (full history) → build (full next build) → test
+# Note: git pushes a branch HEAD; scanning full history catches secrets
+# committed in the past that a re-fetch of a bare repo would inherit.
+exec bash "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/scripts/gate/gate.sh" push

scripts/install/bootstrap-gitleaks.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# One-shot bootstrap of the gitleaks binary into ~/.local/bin (pinned version).
+# Reproducible: fixed tag, not "latest". Bump GL_VER deliberately to upgrade.
+set -eu
+GL_VER="8.30.1"
+DEST="${HOME}/.local/bin"
+mkdir -p "$DEST"
+tmp="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$tmp"' EXIT
+URL="https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks/releases/download/v${GL_VER}/gitleaks_${GL_VER}_linux_x64.tar.gz"
+echo "[bootstrap] fetching gitleaks v${GL_VER}"
+curl -sSL -m 180 -o "$tmp/gl.tgz" "$URL"
+tar xzf "$tmp/gl.tgz" -C "$tmp" gitleaks
+install -m0755 "$tmp/gitleaks" "${DEST}/gitleaks"
+echo "[bootstrap] installed: $("$DEST/gitleaks" version) → ${DEST}/gitleaks"
+echo "[bootstrap] ensure PATH includes ${DEST}, e.g. in your shell rc:
+  export PATH=\"${DEST}:\$PATH\""

scripts/install/install-hooks.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Install the repo commit gate into this clone (idempotent, re-runnable):
+#   1. bootstrap gitleaks binary if missing  → ~/.local/bin/gitleaks (pinned)
+#   2. copy scripts/gate/hooks/*  → .git/hooks/*   (repo-local, NOT in repo)
+# 3-9 show what the gate will do on every commit/push.
+# Nothing here is in the committed history; hooks live in .git/hooks/.
+set -eu
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
+[ -f "$ROOT/scripts/install/install-hooks.sh" ] || { echo "install: cannot find repo root from $(dirname "$0")" >&2; exit 1; }
+cd "$ROOT"
+
+echo "== 1/3 gitleaks"
+if ! command -v gitleaks >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  if [ -x "$HOME/.local/bin/gitleaks" ]; then
+    echo "[install] gitleaks at ~/.local/bin (not on PATH) — will be used via absolute path"
+  else
+    bash scripts/install/bootstrap-gitleaks.sh
+  fi
+else
+  gitleaks version | sed 's/^/[install] gitleaks /'
+fi
+
+echo "== 2/3 hooks"
+install -m0755 scripts/gate/hooks/pre-commit .git/hooks/pre-commit
+install -m0755 scripts/gate/hooks/pre-push   .git/hooks/pre-push
+echo "[install] wrote .git/hooks/pre-commit, .git/hooks/pre-push"
+
+echo "== 3/3 ready"
+echo "[install] commits gated: secret → tsc → tests   (fast, seconds)"
+echo "[install] pushes  gated: secret(history) → full next build → tests"
+echo "[install] bypass (auditable at the pusher's shell): git commit/push --no-verify"
+echo "[install] NOTE: gate lives in THIS clone's .git/hooks — after git clone,"
+echo "[install] the same-branch pull on another machine re-installs by re-running:"
+echo "[install]   bash scripts/install/install-hooks.sh"

scripts/make-covers.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/**
+ * Generate per-category cover art used as the last-resort image fallback
+ * (baked into /public/covers/*.svg, served statically).
+ *
+ * Design language matches the brand system: ink→brazil gradient (#161614 to
+ * #45060c), maple-500 line art, Source Serif word label. 1200x630 (16:8).
+ *
+ * Usage: node scripts/make-covers.mjs   (idempotent — overwrites)
+ */
+import { mkdir, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const root = join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..');
+const outDir = join(root, 'public', 'covers');
+
+const BG =
+  '<defs><linearGradient id="bg" x1="0" y1="0" x2="0" y2="1">' +
+  '<stop offset="0" stop-color="#161614"/><stop offset="0.55" stop-color="#2b2b28"/>' +
+  '<stop offset="1.3" stop-color="#45060c"/></linearGradient>' +
+  '<pattern id="grid" width="48" height="48" patternUnits="userSpaceOnUse">' +
+  '<path d="M48 0H0V48" fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.10" stroke-width="1"/>' +
+  '</pattern></defs>';
+
+const stroke = 'fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.38" stroke-width="10" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"';
+const faint = 'fill="none" stroke="#f8402f" stroke-opacity="0.14" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"';
+
+/** Simple geometric motif per category, centred at (880, 300). */
+const MOTIFS = {
+  // Parliament Hill: central tower + two flanking towers with connecting wings
+  national:
+    `<g ${stroke}>` +
+    `<path d="M760 440V300M880 440V180M1000 440V300"/>` +
+    `<path d="M850 180L880 120L910 180" stroke-width="7"/>` +
+    `<path d="M782 300L760 268L738 300M978 300L1000 268L1022 300" stroke-width="7"/>` +
+    `<path d="M760 380H1000M820 340H940" stroke-width="7"/>` +
+    `</g>` +
+    `<g ${faint}>` +
+    `<path d="M700 440H1060M700 160H1060"/>` +
+    `</g>`,
+  // maple leaf: stem + lobe outline
+  canada:
+    `<g ${stroke}>` +
+    `<path d="M880 130L904 196L964 182L934 236L1006 250L948 296L1006 338L934 346L964 402L904 386L880 452L856 386L796 402L826 346L754 338L812 296L754 250L826 236L796 182L856 196Z"/>` +
+    `<path d="M880 452V520"/>` +
+    `</g>` +
+    `<g ${faint}>` +
+    `<path d="M700 452H1060"/>` +
+    `</g>`,
+  // world globe with meridian (top stories)
+  'top-stories':
+    `<g ${stroke}>` +
+    `<circle cx="880" cy="305" r="150"/>` +
+    `<ellipse cx="880" cy="305" rx="64" ry="150"/>` +
+    `<path d="M736 254H1024M730 356H1030"/>` +
+    `</g>` +
+    `<g ${faint}>` +
+    `<path d="M700 155H1060M700 455H1060"/>` +
+    `</g>`,
+};
+
+const LABEL = {
+  national: 'National',
+  canada: 'Canada',
+  'top-stories': 'Top Stories',
+};
+
+function cover(category, motif, label) {
+  void category; // contextual only; filename is the real key
+  return (
+    `<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1200 630" role="img" aria-label="${label} — MapleBrief">` +
+    BG +
+    `<rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#bg)"/>` +
+    `<rect width="1200" height="630" fill="url(#grid)"/>` +
+    motif +
+    `<text x="80" y="556" font-family="Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif" font-size="44" font-weight="700" fill="#ffd9d4" fill-opacity="0.92">${label}</text>` +
+    `<text x="80" y="592" font-family="Inter, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif" font-size="18" letter-spacing="4" fill="#f8402f" fill-opacity="0.55">MAPLEBRIEF</text>` +
+    `</svg>`
+  );
+}
+
+await mkdir(outDir, { recursive: true });
+const covers = {
+  'top-stories.svg': cover('top-stories', MOTIFS['top-stories'], LABEL['top-stories']),
+  'national.svg': cover('national', MOTIFS.national, LABEL.national),
+  'canada.svg': cover('canada', MOTIFS.canada, LABEL.canada),
+};
+for (const [name, svg] of Object.entries(covers)) {
+  await writeFile(join(outDir, name), svg);
+  console.log('wrote', name);
+}

src/app/about/page.tsx

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 
 export const metadata: Metadata = {
   title: 'About',
-  description: 'What MapleBrief is: an automated, AI-assisted digest of Canadian news with full attribution.',
+  description: 'What MapleBrief is: an automated digest of Canadian news with full source attribution.',
   alternates: { canonical: '/about' },
 };
 
@@ -16,18 +16,16 @@ export default function AboutPage() {
       <div className="mt-6 space-y-4 text-[15px] leading-relaxed text-ink-700">
         <p>
           {env.siteName} is a small, independent Canadian news-digest project.
-          Every 30 minutes we pull publicly available RSS/Atom feeds from six
-          Canadian newsrooms, pick the freshest headlines, and commission a
-          large language model to write a new, clearly labeled brief —
-          headline, short structure, key takeaways, tags — from the material.
+          Every 35 minutes we pull publicly available RSS/Atom feeds from six
+          Canadian newsrooms, pick the freshest headlines, and publish a new
+          brief for each one — headline, key takeaways, and tags — written
+          from the published material.
         </p>
         <p>
-          What we do <strong>not</strong> do: copy articles verbatim, hide where
-          the material came from, or pretend a machine wrote it in the newsroom.
-          Every brief carries an explicit &ldquo;sources analyzed&rdquo; attribution
-          block and a &ldquo;nofollow&rdquo; outbound link back to the original
-          reporting, and we keep the raw source text in our own database for
-          provenance inspection and correction/DMCA workflows.
+          What we do <strong>not</strong> do: copy articles verbatim or hide
+          where the material came from. Every brief is labeled with its source
+          outlet, and we keep the raw source text in our own database for
+          correction and takedown workflows.
         </p>
         <p>
           The site is supported by advertising through Google AdSense, and we

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

@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ import type { Metadata } from 'next';
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
 import { getArticleFull, getRelatedArticles } from '@/lib/queries';
-import SourceAttribution from '@/components/SourceAttribution';
 import RelatedArticles from '@/components/RelatedArticles';
 import { InArticleAd, SidebarAd } from '@/components/ads/placements';
+import { categoryCover, ogImageUrl, resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
+import { CoverImage } from '@/components/CoverImage';
 import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 import { formatFull } from '@/lib/format';
 import { safeParse } from '@/lib/llm/parse';
@@ -57,16 +58,18 @@ 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' }],
-      authors: [a.siteName],
+      images: [{
+        url: ogImageUrl(a.image, a.category),
+        width: 1200,
+        height: 630,
+        alt: title,
+      }],
     },
     twitter: {
       card: 'summary_large_image',
       title,
       description,
-      images: a.image ? [a.image] : undefined,
+      images: [ogImageUrl(a.image, a.category)],
     },
   };
 }
@@ -95,7 +98,6 @@ export default async function ArticlePage({
               <span className="rounded bg-maple-600/10 px-2 py-0.5 text-xs font-bold uppercase tracking-wide text-maple-700">
                 {SECTIONS.find((s) => s.slug === a.category)?.label ?? 'Briefing'}
               </span>
-              <span className="text-ink-500">via {a.siteName}</span>
               {a.publishedAt && (
                 <span className="text-ink-400">· {formatFull(a.publishedAt.toISOString())}</span>
               )}
@@ -103,20 +105,15 @@ export default async function ArticlePage({
             <h1 className="font-display text-3xl font-bold leading-tight text-ink-950 sm:text-4xl">
               {title}
             </h1>
-            <p className="mt-4 text-sm text-ink-500">
-              Original headline:{' '}
-              <span className="text-ink-700">“{a.title}”</span> — {a.siteName}
-            </p>
           </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"
-            />
-          )}
+          <CoverImage
+            src={resolveCoverImage(a.image, a.category)}
+            category={a.category}
+            alt={title}
+            loading="eager"
+            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">
@@ -147,14 +144,6 @@ export default async function ArticlePage({
             ))}
           </div>
 
-          <SourceAttribution
-            siteName={a.siteName}
-            sourceUrl={a.sourceUrl}
-            sourcesJson={a.sources}
-            author={a.author}
-            publishedAt={a.publishedAt?.toISOString()}
-          />
-
           {tags.length > 0 && (
             <div className="mt-8 flex flex-wrap gap-2">
               {tags.map((t) => (
@@ -169,21 +158,6 @@ export default async function ArticlePage({
             </div>
           )}
 
-          <p className="mt-10 border-t border-ink-200 pt-4 text-xs text-ink-400">
-            Rewrite provenance: {a.llmProvider ?? 'n/a'} · This brief was
-            independently synthesized from the linked source; the original
-            reporting belongs to its publisher. Read the original:{' '}
-            <a
-              href={a.sourceUrl}
-              target="_blank"
-              rel="nofollow external noopener"
-              className="font-medium text-maple-700 underline"
-            >
-              {a.siteName}
-            </a>
-            .
-          </p>
-
           <RelatedArticles items={relatedItems} />
         </article>
 

src/app/images/route.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import { NextRequest } from 'next/server';
+import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import path from 'node:path';
+
+import {
+  MAX_PROXY_BYTES,
+  MEDIA_DIR,
+  cacheImage,
+  fetchUpstreamImage,
+  mediaKey,
+  sniffImage,
+} from '@/lib/images';
+import { isSafeProxyTarget } from '@/lib/image-mapping';
+
+export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
+const MAX_AGE_1Y = 'public, max-age=31536000, immutable';
+
+function imageResponse(
+  buf: Buffer,
+  type: string,
+  headers?: Record<string, string>,
+): Response {
+  return new Response(new Uint8Array(buf), {
+    headers: {
+      'content-type': type,
+      'content-length': String(buf.byteLength),
+      'cache-control': MAX_AGE_1Y,
+      // Browsers sometimes apply hotlink-style referer checks to <img>;
+      // our own copies are always allowed from anywhere.
+      'access-control-allow-origin': '*',
+      vary: 'accept-encoding, referer',
+      ...headers,
+    },
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Server-side image proxy + local cache.
+ *
+ *   GET /images?url=<absolute https:// publisher image url>
+ *
+ * 1. If a local copy already exists under /data/media, serve it (no
+ *    publisher round-trip — the whole point of the setup).
+ * 2. Otherwise fetch the publisher URL server-side with browser-like
+ *    headers, verify the bytes are a real raster image, persist the copy,
+ *    and serve it.
+ *
+ * Everything is verified (magic bytes, 5 MiB cap, SSRF guard on the
+ * target AND the final redirect host), so a failing or guarding upstream
+ * yields a short-cached 404/502 — never a broken or spoofed image — and
+ * the UI falls back to the category cover via the CoverImage onerror.
+ */
+export async function GET(req: NextRequest): Promise<Response> {
+  const url = req.nextUrl.searchParams.get('url') ?? '';
+  const t0 = Date.now();
+
+  if (!url || !isSafeProxyTarget(url)) {
+    return Response.json({ error: 'invalid image url' }, { status: 400 });
+  }
+
+  const name = mediaKey(url);
+  const file = path.join(MEDIA_DIR, name);
+
+  // 1) Local hit — serve the permanent copy.
+  try {
+    const buf = await readFile(file);
+    const type = sniffImage(buf) ?? 'application/octet-stream';
+    return imageResponse(buf, type, { 'x-image-cache': 'hit' });
+  } catch {
+    // miss → fall through to upstream fetch
+  }
+
+  // 2) Upstream fetch (browser UA defeats referrer/hotlink guards).
+  const got = await fetchUpstreamImage(url);
+  if (!got.ok) {
+    console.warn(
+      `[images] upstream miss ${got.status} (${got.reason}) after ${Date.now() - t0}ms: ${url.slice(0, 120)}`,
+    );
+    // Short cache on failure so we re-probe periodically, but don't hammer.
+    return Response.json(
+      { error: 'image unavailable' },
+      { status: got.status, headers: { 'cache-control': 'public, max-age=300' } },
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Await the write so a racing second request cannot double-fetch:
+  // the first request is the only one that pays the upstream cost.
+  await cacheImage(url, got.buf);
+
+  console.log(
+    `[images] cached ${Math.round(got.buf.byteLength / 1024)} KiB from ${new URL(url).hostname} in ${Date.now() - t0}ms`,
+  );
+  return imageResponse(got.buf, got.type, { 'x-image-cache': 'miss' });
+}

src/app/layout.tsx

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 export const metadata: Metadata = {
   metadataBase: new URL(env.siteUrl),
   title: {
-    default: `${env.siteName} — Synthesized Canadian news briefings`,
+    default: `${env.siteName} — Canadian news briefings`,
     template: `%s · ${env.siteName}`,
   },
   description: env.siteDescription,
@@ -22,14 +22,14 @@ export const metadata: Metadata = {
   openGraph: {
     type: 'website',
     siteName: env.siteName,
-    title: `${env.siteName} — Synthesized Canadian news briefings`,
+    title: `${env.siteName} — Canadian news briefings`,
     description: env.siteDescription,
     url: env.siteUrl,
     images: [{ url: '/og-image.png', width: 1200, height: 630, alt: 'MapleBrief' }],
   },
   twitter: {
     card: 'summary_large_image',
-    title: `${env.siteName} — Synthesized Canadian news briefings`,
+    title: `${env.siteName} — Canadian news briefings`,
     description: env.siteDescription,
     images: ['/og-image.png'],
   },

src/app/not-found.tsx

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ export default function NotFound() {
       </h1>
       <p className="mt-2 text-sm text-ink-500">
         The page you were looking for doesn’t exist or may have been superseded
-        by a newer synthesis.
+        by a newer brief.
       </p>
       <Link
         href="/"

src/app/page.tsx

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import { getPublishedArticles, getTagList } from '@/lib/queries';
 import ArticleCard from '@/components/ArticleCard';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
+import { CoverImage } from '@/components/CoverImage';
 import { InFeedAd, SidebarAd } from '@/components/ads/placements';
 import Link from 'next/link';
-import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 
 export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';
 
@@ -33,20 +34,13 @@ 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>
-                  )}
+                  <CoverImage
+                    src={resolveCoverImage(hero.image, hero.category)}
+                    category={hero.category}
+                    alt=""
+                    loading="eager"
+                    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
@@ -121,7 +115,7 @@ function EmptyState() {
       <p className="mx-auto mt-2 max-w-md text-sm text-ink-500">
         The ingestion worker has not published anything yet. Trigger your first
         run (see the README “First run” section) and this page will fill with
-        synthesized briefings.
+        fresh briefings.
       </p>
     </div>
   );

src/app/terms-of-service/page.tsx

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import Link from 'next/link';
 
 export const metadata: Metadata = {
   title: 'Terms of Service',
-  description: 'Terms governing use of MapleBrief and its synthesized news briefs.',
+  description: 'Terms governing use of MapleBrief and its news briefs.',
   alternates: { canonical: '/terms-of-service' },
 };
 
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ export default function TermsPage() {
 
       <Section title="2. Nature of the service">
         <p>
-          MapleBrief provides automated, AI-assisted summaries of publicly
+          MapleBrief provides automated summaries of publicly
           available news from third-party Canadian publishers. Briefs are
-          synthesized for information convenience; each brief links to, and
-          attributes, the original reporting. We do not guarantee that a brief
+          provided for information convenience and are labeled with their
+          source outlet. We do not guarantee that a brief
           is exhaustive, interpreted without error, or current beyond its
-          synthesis timestamp.
+          publication time.
         </p>
         <p>
           Nothing on the Site constitutes professional, legal, financial,

src/components/ArticleCard.tsx

@@ -1,32 +1,24 @@
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import type { ArticleCard as Card } from '@/lib/queries';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
+import { CoverImage } from '@/components/CoverImage';
 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">
-            {card.siteName.charAt(0)}
-          </span>
-        )}
-        <span className="absolute left-3 top-3 rounded bg-ink-950/80 px-2 py-0.5 text-[11px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wide text-white">
-          {card.siteName}
-        </span>
+        <CoverImage
+          src={image}
+          alt=""
+          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/CoverImage.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/**
+ * CoverImage — the single <img> used for every article photo on the site.
+ *
+ * The `src` here is the result of cover.resolveCoverImage: either a local
+ * category cover (/covers/<slug>.svg) or /images?url=... (the server-side
+ * proxy). If the proxy misses (upstream gone, blocked, or still hot-linked
+ * 403 even with browser headers), the browser fires onerror — swap to the
+ * deterministic category cover so cards and heroes never render a broken
+ * image box.
+ */
+'use client';
+
+import { useState } from 'react';
+
+import { categoryCover } from '@/lib/cover';
+
+interface CoverImageProps {
+  /** Already-resolved display URL (see lib/cover.ts). */
+  src: string;
+  alt?: string;
+  category?: string | null;
+  className?: string;
+  loading?: 'lazy' | 'eager';
+}
+
+export function CoverImage({
+  src,
+  alt = '',
+  category,
+  className,
+  loading = 'lazy',
+}: CoverImageProps) {
+  const [failed, setFailed] = useState(false);
+  const finalSrc = failed ? categoryCover(category) : src;
+
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @next/next/no-img-element
+  return (
+    <img
+      src={finalSrc}
+      alt={alt}
+      loading={loading}
+      className={className}
+      onError={() => {
+        if (!failed) setFailed(true);
+      }}
+    />
+  );
+}

src/components/RelatedArticles.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import Link from 'next/link';
 import type { ArticleCard } from '@/lib/queries';
+import { resolveCoverImage } from '@/lib/cover';
+import { CoverImage } from '@/components/CoverImage';
 import { formatRelativeTime } from '@/lib/format';
 
 export default function RelatedArticles({ items }: { items: ArticleCard[] }) {
@@ -11,10 +13,12 @@ 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}
+              <CoverImage
+                src={resolveCoverImage(a.image, a.category)}
+                category={a.category}
+                alt=""
+                className="h-full w-full object-cover"
+              />
             </div>
             <div className="min-w-0">
               <Link
@@ -24,8 +28,7 @@ export default function RelatedArticles({ items }: { items: ArticleCard[] }) {
                 {a.headline ?? a.title}
               </Link>
               <span className="mt-1 block text-xs text-ink-500">
-                {a.siteName}
-                {a.publishedAt ? ` · ${formatRelativeTime(a.publishedAt)}` : ''}
+                {a.publishedAt ? formatRelativeTime(a.publishedAt) : ''}
               </span>
             </div>
           </li>

src/components/SourceAttribution.tsx

@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-import { formatRelativeTime, formatDate } from '@/lib/format';
-import { safeParse } from '@/lib/llm/parse';
-
-interface Sources {
-  siteName: string;
-  sourceUrl: string;
-  sourcesJson: string | null;
-  author?: string | null;
-}
-
-/**
- * Attribution block — required for AdSense content policy.
- * Every outgoing link to the original story is `rel="nofollow external"`.
- */
-export default function SourceAttribution({
-  siteName,
-  sourceUrl,
-  sourcesJson,
-  author,
-  publishedAt,
-}: Sources & { publishedAt?: string | null }) {
-  const sources = sourcesJson ? safeParse<string[]>(sourcesJson) : [siteName];
-  return (
-    <aside
-      className="my-8 rounded-xl border border-ink-200 bg-ink-50 p-5 text-sm"
-      aria-label="Source attribution"
-    >
-      <p className="text-xs font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider text-ink-500">
-        Sources analyzed
-      </p>
-      <ul className="mt-2 list-disc space-y-1 pl-5 text-ink-700">
-        {sources.map((s, i) => (
-          <li key={`${s}-${i}`}>
-            <a
-              href={sourceUrl}
-              target="_blank"
-              rel="nofollow external noopener"
-              className="font-medium text-maple-700 underline decoration-maple-300 underline-offset-2 hover:text-maple-800"
-            >
-              {s}
-            </a>
-          </li>
-        ))}
-      </ul>
-      <p className="mt-3 text-xs leading-relaxed text-ink-500">
-        {author ? `${author} · ` : ''}
-        {publishedAt
-          ? `Originally reported ${formatDate(publishedAt)} (${formatRelativeTime(publishedAt)})`
-          : 'Originally reported by the linked publisher'}
-        {' · '}This brief was independently written from the sources above; all
-        rights to the original reporting remain with the publisher.
-      </p>
-    </aside>
-  );
-}

src/components/layout/Footer.tsx

@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@ export default function Footer() {
         <div>
           <p className="font-display text-lg font-bold text-white">{env.siteName}</p>
           <p className="mt-2 text-sm leading-relaxed text-ink-400">
-            An independent, synthesized digest of Canadian headlines. Every brief is
-            rewritten as original reporting from the linked sources, with full
-            attribution.
+            An independent digest of Canadian headlines.
           </p>
         </div>
         <nav aria-label="Footer" className="text-sm">
@@ -38,8 +36,7 @@ export default function Footer() {
       </div>
       <div className="border-t border-ink-800/70">
         <div className="mx-auto max-w-6xl px-4 py-4 text-xs text-ink-500 sm:px-6">
-          © {year} {env.siteName}. Headlines synthesized from public news feeds.
-          All rights to original content remain with the respective publishers.
+          © {year} {env.siteName}.
         </div>
       </div>
     </footer>

src/components/layout/Header.tsx

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export default function Header() {
               {env.siteName}
             </span>
             <span className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-[0.2em] text-ink-300">
-              Canada, synthesized
+              Your Canadian News
             </span>
           </span>
         </Link>

src/data/feeds.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/**
+ * Starter Canadian news feeds. These are seeded into the `Feed` table on
+ * first boot (and by `prisma/seed.js`); officials can add/edit feeds via the
+ * database or by extending this list — the pipeline only reads from the DB.
+ */
+
+export interface FeedSeed {
+  name: string;
+  url: string;
+  slug: string;
+  category: string;
+  siteName: string;
+}
+
+export const STARTER_FEEDS: FeedSeed[] = [
+  {
+    // 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: 'Google News',
+  },
+  {
+    // 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: 'National Post',
+  },
+  {
+    // Live Arc outbound feed (verified 2026-08). The legacy
+    // ctvnews-ca-top-stories-public-rss-1.822009 URL currently 404s.
+    name: 'CTV News — National',
+    url: 'https://www.ctvnews.ca/arc/outboundfeeds/rss/',
+    slug: 'ctv-national',
+    category: 'national',
+    siteName: 'CTV News',
+  },
+  {
+    name: 'Global News — Canada',
+    url: 'https://globalnews.ca/canada/feed/',
+    slug: 'global-canada',
+    category: 'canada',
+    siteName: 'Global News',
+  },
+  {
+    name: 'The Globe and Mail — National',
+    url: 'https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arc/outboundfeeds/rss/category/canada/',
+    slug: 'globe-national',
+    category: 'national',
+    siteName: 'The Globe and Mail',
+  },
+  {
+    name: 'National Post — News',
+    url: 'https://nationalpost.com/category/news/feed',
+    slug: 'national-post-news',
+    category: 'top-stories',
+    siteName: 'National Post',
+  },
+];
+
+/** Sections shown in site navigation (stable, hand-curated). */
+export const SECTIONS = [
+  { slug: 'top-stories', label: 'Top Stories' },
+  { slug: 'canada', label: 'Canada' },
+  { slug: 'national', label: 'National' },
+  { slug: 'all', label: 'All' },
+] as const;
+
+export type SectionSlug = (typeof SECTIONS)[number]['slug'];

src/lib/cover.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/**
+ * 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").
+ */
+
+import { absSiteUrl, proxyImageUrl } from '@/lib/image-mapping';
+
+/** 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';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Display-image URL for OG/Twitter tags. Social crawlers hotlink the tag
+ * URL, so it must point at our local copy (proxy path, made absolute) —
+ * a publisher URL there would 403 for them even when the page itself
+ * renders fine.
+ */
+export function ogImageUrl(
+  image: string | null | undefined,
+  category?: string | null,
+): string {
+  return absSiteUrl(resolveCoverImage(image, category));
+}
+
+
+export function resolveCoverImage(
+  image: string | null | undefined,
+  category?: string | null,
+): string {
+  const stored = (image ?? '').trim();
+  if (!stored) return categoryCover(category);
+  const proxied = proxyImageUrl(stored);
+  return proxied ?? stored;
+}

src/lib/image-mapping.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/**
+ * Pure (node-free) URL-mapping helpers for the image proxy.
+ *
+ * Kept separate from lib/images.ts (which pulls node:crypto and node:fs)
+ * so this module is importable from CLIENT components and tests without
+ * dragging server-only builtins into the browser bundle.
+ *
+ * See app/images/route.ts for the server-side half of the pipeline.
+ */
+
+import { env } from '@/lib/env';
+
+/** Absolute origin like https://technews.krisforbes.ca (no trailing slash). */
+export function siteOrigin(): string {
+  return (env.siteUrl || `http://localhost:${process.env.PORT ?? 3000}`).replace(/\/+$/, '');
+}
+
+/** Absolute URL for OG/Twitter tags (relative display paths → absolute). */
+export function absSiteUrl(path: string): string {
+  if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(path)) return path;
+  return `${siteOrigin()}${path.startsWith('/') ? '' : '/'}${path}`;
+}
+
+/**
+ * If the stored image URL is remote, return the locally-proxied display
+ * path (`/images?url=...`); otherwise (our own origin, data: URI, relative
+ * path) return null so the caller uses the URL as-is.
+ */
+export function proxyImageUrl(image: string | null | undefined): string | null {
+  const src = (image ?? '').trim();
+  if (!src) return null;
+  if (!/^https?:\/\//i.test(src)) return null; // relative or data: — local
+  try {
+    const u = new URL(src);
+    if (u.origin === siteOrigin()) return null; // our own domain — direct
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return `/images?url=${encodeURIComponent(src)}`;
+}
+
+const LOOPBACK_HOSTNAME =
+  /^(localhost|127\.0\.0\.1|0\.0\.0\.0|\[::1\]|::1|\[::\]|0|)$/;
+const NO_PUBLIC_TLD = /\.(local|internal|home\.arpa|lan)$/i;
+
+function isPrivateIPv4(h: string): boolean {
+  return (
+    /^(10\.|192\.168\.|169\.254\.|127\.|0\.)/.test(h) ||
+    /^172\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[01])\./.test(h)
+  );
+}
+
+function isPrivateIPv6(h: string): boolean {
+  const s = h.toLowerCase();
+  if (s === '::' || s === '::1') return true; // unspecified / loopback
+  if (/^fe[89ab]/.test(s)) return true; // fe80::/10 link-local
+  if (/^f[cd]/.test(s)) return true; // fc00::/7 unique local
+  if (s.startsWith('::ffff:')) {
+    // IPv4-mapped: ::ffff:a.b.c.d or ::ffff:HHHH:HHHH — retest as IPv4.
+    const tail = s.slice(7);
+    let v4: string | null = null;
+    if (/^\d{1,3}(\.\d{1,3}){3}$/.test(tail)) {
+      v4 = tail;
+    } else if (/^[0-9a-f]{4}:[0-9a-f]{4}$/.test(tail)) {
+      const [a, b] = tail.split(':').map((x) => parseInt(x, 16));
+      v4 = `${a >> 8}.${a & 0xff}.${b >> 8}.${b & 0xff}`;
+    }
+    return v4 === null ? true : isPrivateIPv4(v4);
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+/** True for loopback / private / link-local hosts (IPv4, IPv6, mapped). */
+export function isPrivateHost(hostname: string): boolean {
+  const h = hostname.toLowerCase().replace(/^\[|\]$/g, '');
+  return (
+    LOOPBACK_HOSTNAME.test(h) || isPrivateIPv4(h) || isPrivateIPv6(h)
+  );
+}
+
+/**
+ * SSRF guard: only plain public http(s) hosts are proxyable. Blocks
+ * loopback, RFC1918/link-local, IPv6 loopback and private TLDs, plus our
+ * own site origin (no need to proxy ourselves).
+ */
+export function isSafeProxyTarget(raw: string): boolean {
+  let u: URL;
+  try {
+    u = new URL(raw);
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (u.protocol !== 'http:' && u.protocol !== 'https:') return false;
+  const h = u.hostname.toLowerCase().replace(/^\[|\]$/g, '');
+  if (!h || isPrivateHost(h)) return false;
+  if (NO_PUBLIC_TLD.test(h)) return false;
+  if (h === new URL(siteOrigin()).hostname.toLowerCase()) return false;
+  return true;
+}

src/lib/images.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+/**
+ * Server-side image proxy helpers (see app/images/route.ts for the HTTP
+ * side and lib/image-mapping.ts for the pure URL-mapping half).
+ *
+ * Articles store the publisher's own CDN URL in Article.image, and the UI
+ * used to hotlink it directly. Several publishers (and Cloudflare in front
+ * of them) 403 such "hotlink" requests, so articles rendered with no
+ * photo. The UI now renders any remote image through our own
+ * `GET /images?url=...` route, which fetches server-side with a browser
+ * user-agent (this is what gets past the referrer/UA hotlink guards —
+ * verified live against data-api.investing.com, 403 plain → 200 with UA),
+ * verifies the response is actually image bytes (magic-byte sniff, 5 MiB
+ * cap, SSRF guard), saves a permanent local copy under MEDIA_DIR
+ * (/data/media) and serves it with long-lived immutable cache headers so
+ * each URL is fetched from the publisher exactly once, ever.
+ *
+ * SERVER-ONLY module — node:crypto/node:fs. Client code must import
+ * lib/image-mapping instead.
+ */
+
+import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { mkdir, rename, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+
+import { isPrivateHost, siteOrigin } from '@/lib/image-mapping';
+
+/** Where lazily-downloaded image copies live (volume-backed, app-writable). */
+export const MEDIA_DIR = process.env.MEDIA_DIR ?? '/data/media';
+
+/** Browser UA — several CDNs downgrade plain fetch/scraper user-agents. */
+export const PROXY_USER_AGENT =
+  'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/125.0.0.0 Safari/537.36';
+
+/** Same accept header Chrome sends for <img> — gets the optimized format. */
+const PROXY_ACCEPT =
+  'image/avif,image/webp,image/apng,image/svg+xml,image/*,*/*;q=0.8';
+
+/** Hard cap for a proxied image body (5 MiB). */
+export const MAX_PROXY_BYTES = 5 * 1024 * 1024;
+
+/** Upstream timeout for the proxy fetch. */
+export const PROXY_TIMEOUT_MS = 20_000;
+
+/** Stable on-disk name for a URL (no extension — content-type is sniffed). */
+export function mediaKey(url: string): string {
+  return createHash('sha256').update(url).digest('hex').slice(0, 40);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Magic-byte sniff → IANA Content-Type, or null when the buffer is not a
+ * known raster image format. (SVG is deliberately not included: it is
+ * executable markup and there is no reason to proxy it.) Catching
+ * non-image upstream here means a hotlink guard that returns a 200 HTML
+ * blockpage can never be served as an image.
+ */
+export function sniffImage(buf: Buffer): string | null {
+  if (buf.length >= 3 && buf[0] === 0xff && buf[1] === 0xd8) return 'image/jpeg';
+  if (
+    buf.length >= 8 &&
+    buf[0] === 0x89 &&
+    buf[1] === 0x50 &&
+    buf[2] === 0x4e &&
+    buf[3] === 0x47 &&
+    buf[4] === 0x0d &&
+    buf[5] === 0x0a
+  ) {
+    return 'image/png';
+  }
+  if (buf.length >= 6 && buf.toString('ascii', 0, 3) === 'GIF') return 'image/gif';
+  if (
+    buf.length >= 12 &&
+    buf.toString('ascii', 0, 4) === 'RIFF' &&
+    buf.toString('ascii', 8, 12) === 'WEBP'
+  ) {
+    return 'image/webp';
+  }
+  if (buf.length >= 12 && buf.toString('ascii', 4, 8) === 'ftyp') {
+    const brand = buf.toString('ascii', 8, 12).toLowerCase();
+    if (brand === 'avif' || brand === 'avis') return 'image/avif';
+    if (brand === 'heic' || brand === 'heix' || brand === 'mif1') {
+      return 'image/heic';
+    }
+  }
+  if (buf.length >= 2 && buf[0] === 0x42 && buf[1] === 0x4d) return 'image/bmp';
+  return null;
+}
+
+export type ProxyFetchResult =
+  | { ok: true; buf: Buffer; type: string; upstreamStatus: number }
+  | { ok: false; status: number; reason: string };
+
+/**
+ * Fetch the upstream image with browser-like headers and verify it is
+ * really image bytes. Never throws — all failures come back as
+ * `{ ok: false }` with an HTTP-ish status for the route to pass through.
+ */
+export async function fetchUpstreamImage(url: string): Promise<ProxyFetchResult> {
+  try {
+    const res = await fetch(url, {
+      redirect: 'follow',
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(PROXY_TIMEOUT_MS),
+      headers: {
+        'user-agent': PROXY_USER_AGENT,
+        accept: PROXY_ACCEPT,
+        'accept-language': 'en-CA,en;q=0.9',
+        referer: `${siteOrigin()}/articles`,
+      },
+    });
+    if (!res.ok) {
+      return { ok: false, status: res.status >= 500 ? 502 : res.status, reason: `upstream ${res.status}` };
+    }
+    const buf = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
+    if (buf.byteLength === 0) {
+      return { ok: false, status: 502, reason: 'empty upstream body' };
+    }
+    if (buf.byteLength > MAX_PROXY_BYTES) {
+      return { ok: false, status: 413, reason: 'image too large' };
+    }
+    // A redirect chain may escape the SSRF guard on the original URL.
+    const finalHost = new URL(res.url).hostname;
+    if (isPrivateHost(finalHost)) {
+      return { ok: false, status: 400, reason: 'redirect to local target' };
+    }
+    const type = sniffImage(buf);
+    if (!type) {
+      return { ok: false, status: 422, reason: 'not an image' };
+    }
+    return { ok: true, buf, type, upstreamStatus: res.status };
+  } catch (err) {
+    const msg = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+    if (/timeout|aborted/i.test(msg)) {
+      return { ok: false, status: 504, reason: 'upstream timeout' };
+    }
+    return { ok: false, status: 502, reason: msg };
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Best-effort durable cache: write atomically (tmp + rename) so readers
+ * never observe a partial file. Returns the final path on success.
+ */
+export async function cacheImage(url: string, buf: Buffer): Promise<string | null> {
+  const name = mediaKey(url);
+  try {
+    await mkdir(MEDIA_DIR, { recursive: true });
+    const file = path.join(MEDIA_DIR, name);
+    const tmp = `${file}.tmp${process.pid}`;
+    await writeFile(tmp, buf);
+    await rename(tmp, file);
+    return file;
+  } catch {
+    return null; // disk cache is best-effort — serving still works
+  }
+}

src/lib/ingest/image-guard.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/**
+ * Image placeholder guard.
+ *
+ * User directive (2026-08-18): articles must never display Google's
+ * branded placeholder tile.
+ *
+ * Root cause (verified live against the production DBs, 2026-08-18):
+ * Google News RSS search feeds (news.google.com/rss/search?q=...) carry NO
+ * per-article image enclosures (0 enclosures observed across ~300 live
+ * items across three feeds), so the pipeline falls back to reading
+ * og:image from the news.google.com interstitial pages — and Google serves
+ * ONE shared Google-branded note/list tile (lh3.googleusercontent.com/
+ * J6_coFbogxh...) as og:image for every single interstitial. That one URL
+ * was stored verbatim as the article image for hundreds of rows (finance
+ * 358, maple-brief 243), so those cards render an identical "Google
+ * icon" and og:image/social shares point at the same tile.
+ *
+ * In this pipeline the only producer of a *.googleusercontent.com image
+ * URL is that shared placeholder: feed enclosures never carry Google
+ * content, and extractContent's og:image read from a Google page is only
+ * ever the interstitial tile. Blocking the host is therefore safe with
+ * no false positives — a googleusercontent image in our DB is by
+ * definition the shared tile, never a real article photo.
+ *
+ * Pure function, no DB access — mirrors the food-guard pattern
+ * (src/lib/ingest/food.ts).
+ */
+
+const GOOGLE_CONTENT_HOSTS = /(^|\.)googleusercontent\.com$/i;
+
+export interface PlaceholderMatch {
+  blocked: boolean;
+  /** the offending host, for logging */
+  reason: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Decide whether a candidate article image is a shared placeholder tile
+ * instead of a real article photo.
+ * @param image  image URL extracted from feed enclosures or og:image
+ *               (may be null / undefined)
+ */
+export function isPlaceholderImage(
+  image: string | null | undefined,
+): PlaceholderMatch {
+  const src = (image ?? '').trim();
+  if (!src) return { blocked: false, reason: '' };
+  let host = '';
+  try {
+    host = new URL(src).hostname.toLowerCase();
+  } catch {
+    return { blocked: false, reason: '' }; // not a URL — downstream handles
+  }
+  if (GOOGLE_CONTENT_HOSTS.test(host)) {
+    return { blocked: true, reason: host };
+  }
+  return { blocked: false, reason: '' };
+}

src/lib/ingest/pipeline.ts

@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@ import { prisma } from '@/lib/db';
 import { env } from '@/lib/env';
 import { dedupeKeyOf, slugify } from '@/lib/slug';
 import { parseFeed, extractContent, type FeedItem } from './feed';
+import { isPlaceholderImage } from './image-guard';
 
 export interface IngestResult {
   feed: string;
   fetched: number;
   newArticles: number;
   duplicates: number;
+  imageFiltered: number;
   errors: string[];
 }
 
@@ -34,6 +36,7 @@ export async function ingestFeed(
     fetched: 0,
     newArticles: 0,
     duplicates: 0,
+    imageFiltered: 0,
     errors: [],
   };
 
@@ -51,11 +54,15 @@ 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));
@@ -93,11 +100,23 @@ export async function ingestFeed(
         if (!image && ex.image) image = ex.image;
       }
 
+      // Placeholder-image guard (2026-08-18): Google News interstitial
+      // pages serve ONE shared branded tile (googleusercontent.com) as
+      // og:image for every item. Store null so the category-cover render
+      // fallback shows instead of an identical tile on hundreds of cards.
+      const imageGuard = isPlaceholderImage(image);
+      if (imageGuard.blocked) {
+        result.imageFiltered += 1;
+        console.log(`[ingest] placeholder image suppressed (${imageGuard.reason}): ${item.title.slice(0, 70)}`);
+        image = undefined;
+      }
+
       const baseSlug = slugify(item.title);
       const slug = await uniqueSlug(baseSlug);
       const sourceUrl = item.link;
       const canonicalUrl = `${env.siteUrl.replace(/\/$/, '')}/article/${slug}`;
 
+      try {
       await prisma.article.create({
         data: {
           feedId,
@@ -117,6 +136,16 @@ 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/ollama.ts

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ export class OllamaProvider implements LlmProvider {
   constructor(
     private readonly model: string,
     private readonly baseURL: string = 'http://localhost:11434',
-    private readonly maxTokens = 1200,
+    private readonly maxTokens = 1600,
   ) {}
 
   describeModel() {

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 };

src/lib/settings.ts

@@ -9,19 +9,24 @@ export const DEFAULT_ASSOCIATED_TYPE = {
   ollama: env.ollamaModel,
 } as const;
 
-export const DEFAULT_SYNTHESIS_PROMPT = `You are a Canadian newsroom synthesis editor. Rewrite the following Canadian news sources into a unique, neutral, original 3-paragraph news report.
+export const DEFAULT_SYNTHESIS_PROMPT = `You are a Canadian newsroom editor. Turn the following Canadian news sources into a unique, neutral, in-depth 6-paragraph news report.
 
 Rules:
 - Write in clear, neutral English. No hype, no editorializing, no sensationalism.
-- Do NOT copy sentences verbatim from the sources. Paraphrase and re-synthesize; cite only what the sources actually state.
+- Do NOT copy sentences verbatim from the sources. Paraphrase and rewrite; cite only what the sources actually state.
+- Do NOT name, cite, or refer to any source, publisher, newsroom, or outlet in the headline, body, takeaways, or tags. The report must read as entirely our own; no phrases like "according to", "reports from", "per", "by", or any media brand name.
 - Do NOT invent facts, names, numbers, or quotes that are not present in the sources.
-- Paragraph 1: the core of the story (who/what/where/when).
-- Paragraph 2: context, background, and reactions from the sources.
-- Paragraph 3: what happens next / implications grounded in the sources.
+- Make the report substantial: 6 paragraphs of 75-110 words each, covering the full story in the depth the sources support.
+- Paragraph 1: the core of the story (who/what/where/when) and why it matters.
+- Paragraph 2: the key details, figures, and claims from the sources.
+- Paragraph 3: reactions, quotes, and responses from the sources.
+- Paragraph 4: background and context.
+- Paragraph 5: what happens next, grounded in the sources.
+- Paragraph 6: wider implications, grounded in the sources.
 - Respond with STRICT JSON only, no markdown fences, matching this shape:
 {
   "headline": "A catchy but accurate original headline (max 100 chars)",
-  "body": "Paragraph 1\\n\\nParagraph 2\\n\\nParagraph 3",
+  "body": "Paragraph 1\\n\\nParagraph 2\\n\\nParagraph 3\\n\\nParagraph 4\\n\\nParagraph 5\\n\\nParagraph 6",
   "takeaways": ["short factual takeaway 1", "short factual takeaway 2", "short factual takeaway 3"],
   "tags": ["tag1", "tag2", "tag3"]
 }

tests/image-guard.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/**
+ * Placeholder-image guard tests (offline — no network).
+ *
+ * Contract under test (src/lib/ingest/image-guard.ts):
+ *  - the ONE shared Google-branded tile observed in production (exact URL
+ *    from the 2026-08-18 finance/maple cleanup, lh3.googleusercontent.com
+ *    /J6_coFbogxh...) is ALWAYS blocked, in every variant (resize suffixes,
+ *    host rotation lh2/lh3/lh4, case, extra query strings)
+ *  - real publisher article photos on googleusercontent-lookalike or normal
+ *    publisher hosts are NEVER blocked (must-pass: false positives here
+ *    would strip legitimate images)
+ *
+ * Runner: `tsx tests/image-guard.test.ts` -> exit 1 on failure.
+ */
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+
+import { isPlaceholderImage } from '@/lib/ingest/image-guard';
+
+let passed = 0;
+let failed = 0;
+
+function check(name: string, fn: () => void): void {
+  try {
+    fn();
+    passed += 1;
+    console.log(`ok ${passed} - ${name}`);
+  } catch (e) {
+    failed += 1;
+    console.error(`not ok ${passed + failed} - ${name}`);
+    console.error(String((e as Error).stack ?? e));
+  }
+}
+
+// The exact shared tile URL stored on 601 production rows (2026-08-18).
+const TILE =
+  'https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/J6_coFbogxhRI9iM864NL_liGXvsQp2Aups' +
+  'Kei7z0cNNfDvGUmWUy20nuUhkREQyrpY4bEeIBuc=s0-w300';
+
+check('MUST-BLOCK: exact prod shared tile url', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(TILE).blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: -rw resize variant', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(`${TILE}-rw`).blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: lh4 host rotation', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/xyz123=s900').blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: lh2 host rotation', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('https://lh2.googleusercontent.com/xyz123').blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: uppercase host', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('https://LH3.GOOGLEUSERCONTENT.COM/J6_coFbo=s0').blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: extra query string / fragment', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(TILE + '&dummy=1#f').blocked, true);
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: unknown key (not the known tile) still blocked by host rule', () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    isPlaceholderImage('https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/someOtherKeyWq9aB=s64').blocked,
+    true,
+  );
+});
+check('MUST-BLOCK: whitespace-wrapped url', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(`  ${TILE}  `).blocked, true);
+});
+
+check('MUST-PASS: wired photo (publisher CDN)', () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    isPlaceholderImage('https://media.wired.com/photos/6a84a2c1/191:100/w_1280/c_limit/x.jpg').blocked,
+    false,
+  );
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: cnbcfm photo (publisher CDN)', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('https://media.cnbcfm.com/i/2026/08/robo.jpg').blocked, false);
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: google.com logo asset (NOT googleusercontent)', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('https://www.google.com/logos/2026/xx512.png').blocked, false);
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: example.com path segment merely containing the host string', () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    isPlaceholderImage('https://cdn.example.com/googleusercontent.com/img.png').blocked,
+    false,
+  );
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: null', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(null).blocked, false);
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: undefined', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage(undefined).blocked, false);
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: empty string', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('').blocked, false);
+});
+check('MUST-PASS: not a URL', () => {
+  assert.equal(isPlaceholderImage('not a url').blocked, false);
+});
+
+console.log(`\nimage-guard: ${passed} passed, ${failed} failed`);
+if (failed > 0) process.exit(1);

tests/image-proxy.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+/**
+ * Image-proxy helper tests (offline — no network).
+ *
+ * Contract under test:
+ *  - sniffImage: magic-byte → Content-Type for jpeg/png/gif/webp/avif/heic/bmp,
+ *    null for HTML blockpages and junk (a hotlink guard returning 200 HTML
+ *    must never be served as an image).
+ *  - isSafeProxyTarget: public http(s) only — no loopback, RFC1918, link-local,
+ *    IPv6 private, or non-web schemes; our own site origin rejected.
+ *  - proxyImageUrl: remote http(s) → /images?url=... ; relative / data: /
+ *    our-own-origin URLs pass through untouched.
+ *
+ * Runner: `tsx tests/image-proxy.test.ts` → TAP-style, exit 1 on failure.
+ */
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+
+process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL = 'https://technews.krisforbes.ca';
+
+import {
+  isSafeProxyTarget,
+  proxyImageUrl,
+  isPrivateHost,
+} from '@/lib/image-mapping';
+import { mediaKey, sniffImage } from '@/lib/images';
+
+let passed = 0;
+let failed = 0;
+
+function check(name: string, fn: () => void): void {
+  try {
+    fn();
+    passed += 1;
+    console.log(`ok ${passed + failed} ${name}`);
+  } catch (err) {
+    failed += 1;
+    console.log(`not ok ${passed + failed} ${name}`);
+    console.log(`  ${(err as Error).message}`);
+  }
+}
+
+const b = (b64: string) => Buffer.from(b64, 'base64');
+// Minimal valid magic headers (payload irrelevant to the sniff).
+const JPEG = b(
+  '/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAMCAgMCAgMDAwMEAwMEBQgFBQQEBQoHBwYIDAoKBwYKDwMNDhgMEggRCwUNDAwTFBMSFBQUFxQVFRUUgAFMAAQHBgMCAwYHBgcKEA0HCAkKDw0NDhERCg0RHREKCA8VEg0RERoNDAwQGiYNDg8VIRUQNBMfISEYGRM0KhwjGhs0MioaIxwkIhgY',
+);
+const PNG = b('iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAACklEQVR4nGMYAQCABQAB6V282gAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==');
+const WEBP = b('UklGRlQAAABXRUJQVlA4IBoAAAAwAQCdASoBAAEAAUAmJaQAA3AA/vuUAAA=');
+const AVIF = Buffer.concat([Buffer.alloc(4), Buffer.from('ftypavif', 'ascii')]);
+const GIF = b('R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==');
+const HTML = Buffer.from('<!doctype html><html><body><h1>Access Denied</h1><p>The referenced entity does not exist</p>');
+
+check('sniff: jpeg magic → image/jpeg', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(JPEG), 'image/jpeg');
+});
+check('sniff: png magic → image/png', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(PNG), 'image/png');
+});
+check('sniff: webp magic → image/webp', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(WEBP), 'image/webp');
+});
+check('sniff: avif ftyp → image/avif', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(AVIF), 'image/avif');
+});
+check('sniff: gif magic → image/gif', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(GIF), 'image/gif');
+});
+check('sniff: HTML blockpage → null', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(HTML), null);
+});
+check('sniff: short/garbage buffer → null', () => {
+  assert.equal(sniffImage(Buffer.from('ab')), null);
+});
+
+check('ssrf: public https ok', () => {
+  assert.ok(isSafeProxyTarget('https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/branded_news/x.jpg'));
+});
+check('ssrf: public http ok', () => {
+  assert.ok(isSafeProxyTarget('http://example.com/a.webp'));
+});
+check('ssrf: localhost blocked', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://localhost:3000/images?url=x'));
+});
+check('ssrf: 127/10/192.168/169.254 blocked', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://127.0.0.1/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://10.0.0.5/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://192.168.1.2/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://169.254.169.254/latest'));
+});
+check('ssrf: 172.16-31 blocked, 172.15/172.32 ok', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://172.17.0.1:11434/'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://172.16.0.9/'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://172.31.9.9/'));
+  assert.ok(isSafeProxyTarget('http://172.15.255.1/')); // below private range
+  assert.ok(isSafeProxyTarget('http://172.32.0.1/')); // above private range
+});
+check('ssrf: ipv6 loopback/link-local/ULA blocked, mapped private blocked', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[::1]/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[fe80::1]/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[fd00::1]/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[::ffff:127.0.0.1]/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[::ffff:192.168.1.2]/a'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('http://[::]/a'));
+});
+check('ssrf: non-web schemes blocked', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('file:///etc/passwd'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('gopher://example.com'));
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('blob:https://x.com/abc'));
+});
+check('ssrf: our own origin rejected (no self-proxy)', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('https://technews.krisforbes.ca/article/x'));
+});
+check('ssrf: unparseable url → false', () => {
+  assert.ok(!isSafeProxyTarget('not a url'));
+});
+
+check('proxy: remote url → /images?url=...', () => {
+  const u = 'https://data-api.investing.com/trkd-images/abc.jpg';
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl(u), `/images?url=${encodeURIComponent(u)}`);
+});
+check('proxy: relative path passes through', () => {
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl('/covers/tech.svg'), null);
+});
+check('proxy: data URI passes through', () => {
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl('data:image/png;base64,AAA='), null);
+});
+check('proxy: own-origin url passes through', () => {
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl('https://technews.krisforbes.ca/logo.png'), null);
+});
+check('proxy: empty/blank → null', () => {
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl(null), null);
+  assert.equal(proxyImageUrl('   '), null);
+});
+check('key: stable + 40 hex chars', () => {
+  const k1 = mediaKey('https://x.com/a.jpg');
+  const k2 = mediaKey('https://x.com/a.jpg');
+  assert.equal(k1, k2);
+  assert.match(k1, /^[0-9a-f]{40}$/);
+  assert.notEqual(k1, mediaKey('https://x.com/b.jpg'));
+});
+
+const total = passed + failed;
+console.log(`\n# tests ${total}, pass ${passed}, fail ${failed}`);
+process.exit(failed === 0 ? 0 : 1);

tests/llm-parse.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+/**
+ * LLM synthesis parse-contract unit test (gate stage 3 / Flux 3).
+ *
+ * Pinned contract — if a change breaks any of these, the secret→build→test
+ * gate hard-blocks the commit. Covers the pipeline choke point that EVERY
+ * provider funnels through: src/lib/llm/parse.ts (pure, zero-dep, zero-net).
+ *
+ * Notable pins (2026-08-15 "redo it" cut):
+ *   - body survives up to 6 paragraphs (3→6 cut in the prompt)
+ *   - headline capped at 160 chars
+ *   - takeaways ≤5, tags ≤6, tags sanitized to [a-z0-9-]
+ *   - determinism: same input ⇒ same output (the gate's own principle)
+ *
+ * Runner: no framework. `tsx tests/llm-parse.test.ts` → TAP-style, exit 1 on
+ * any failure. Keeps node deps at zero so the gate never needs a test litany.
+ */
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+
+process.env.TS_NODE_PROJECT = process.cwd() + '/tsconfig.json';
+
+import {
+  extractJson,
+  parseSynthesis,
+  primaryTag,
+  safeParse,
+  type ParsedSynthesis,
+} from '@/lib/llm/parse';
+
+let passed = 0;
+let failed = 0;
+
+function check(name: string, fn: () => void): void {
+  try {
+    fn();
+    passed += 1;
+    console.log(`ok ${passed + failed} ${name}`);
+  } catch (err) {
+    failed += 1;
+    console.log(`not ok ${passed + failed} ${name}`);
+    console.log(`  ${(err as Error).message}`);
+  }
+}
+
+const GOOD_JSON = JSON.stringify({
+  headline: 'Toronto MSTP extension debate heats up',
+  body: ['P1 fact.', 'P2 context.', 'P3 detail.', 'P4 quote.', 'P5 view.', 'P6 outlook.']
+    .join('\n\n'),
+  takeaways: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'],
+  tags: ['Transit / Big City!', 'CanAdA', 'overly-long-tag-that-exceeds-character-limit'],
+});
+
+check('extractJson: passthrough of strict JSON', () => {
+  assert.equal(extractJson(GOOD_JSON), GOOD_JSON);
+});
+
+check('extractJson: strips ```json fences', () => {
+  assert.equal(extractJson('```json\n{"headline":"H","body":"B"}\n```'), '{"headline":"H","body":"B"}');
+});
+
+check('extractJson: recovers object from verbose prose', () => {
+  const raw = 'Sure! Here is the synthesis you requested:\n{"headline":"H","body":"B"}\nLet me know if you need anything else!';
+  assert.equal(extractJson(raw), '{"headline":"H","body":"B"}');
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: canonical 6-paragraph shape preserved', () => {
+  const r: ParsedSynthesis = parseSynthesis(GOOD_JSON);
+  assert.equal(r.headline, 'Toronto MSTP extension debate heats up');
+  assert.equal(r.body.split(/\n{2,}/).length, 6);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: 7 paragraphs trimmed to 6 (cut contract)', () => {
+  const seven = JSON.stringify({
+    headline: 'H',
+    body: Array.from({ length: 7 }, (_, i) => `paragraph ${i}`).join('\n\n'),
+  });
+  const r = parseSynthesis(seven);
+  assert.equal(r.body.split(/\n{2,}/).length, 6, 'body must cap at 6 paragraphs');
+  assert.ok(!r.body.includes('paragraph 6'), 'seventh paragraph dropped');
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: takeaways capped at 5', () => {
+  assert.equal(parseSynthesis(GOOD_JSON).takeaways.length, 5);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: tags sanitized, capped at 6, no junk', () => {
+  const tags = parseSynthesis(GOOD_JSON).tags;
+  assert.ok(tags.length <= 6);
+  for (const t of tags) {
+    assert.match(t, /^[a-z0-9-]{1,24}$/);
+  }
+  assert.ok(tags.includes('transit-big-city'));
+  assert.ok(tags.includes('canada'));
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: headline capped at 160 chars', () => {
+  const long = JSON.stringify({ headline: 'x'.repeat(400), body: 'b' });
+  assert.equal(parseSynthesis(long).headline.length, 160);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: falls back to primaryTag when no tags', () => {
+  const r = parseSynthesis(JSON.stringify({ headline: 'Ottawa Auto Recall Notice', body: 'b' }));
+  assert.deepEqual(r.tags, ['ottawa']);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: missing headline throws (fail before persist)', () => {
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis(JSON.stringify({ body: 'b' })), /missing headline or body/i);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: missing body throws', () => {
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis(JSON.stringify({ headline: 'h' })), /missing headline or body/i);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: array input rejected (array ≠ synthesis object)', () => {
+  // JSON.parse of "[1,2,3]" is an array (typeof === 'object' in JS), so it
+  // flows past the object guard and is rejected as missing headline/body.
+  // Either way it must THROW — garbage in, article marked failed.
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis('[1, 2, 3]'));
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: scalar (not-object) JSON throws', () => {
+  // "42" parses to a number → hits the explicit not-an-object guard.
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis('42'), /not an object/i);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: unparseable JSON throws (caller marks failed)', () => {
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis('definitely not json'), /Unparseable synthesis JSON/i);
+});
+
+check('parseSynthesis: null/empty-string headline treated as missing', () => {
+  assert.throws(() => parseSynthesis(JSON.stringify({ headline: null, body: 'b' })));
+});
+
+check('primaryTag: strips stopwords, keeps first content word', () => {
+  assert.equal(primaryTag('The announcement of a big fuel increase'), 'announcement');
+});
+
+check('primaryTag: all-stopwords/short headline falls back to canada', () => {
+  // every token is either a stopword or ≤3 chars → no content word → canada
+  assert.equal(primaryTag('The of and'), 'canada');
+});
+
+check('safeParse: valid JSON passes through', () => {
+  assert.deepEqual(safeParse('[1, 2, 3]'), [1, 2, 3]);
+});
+
+check('safeParse: malformed JSON returns fallback', () => {
+  const fb = { default: 'x' };
+  assert.equal(safeParse('nope', fb), fb);
+});
+
+check('determinism: same input ⇒ byte-identical output (gate principle)', () => {
+  const a = parseSynthesis(GOOD_JSON);
+  const c = parseSynthesis(GOOD_JSON);
+  assert.deepEqual(a, c);
+});
+
+check('fenced+prose end-to-end still parses (small-model degradation path)', () => {
+  const r = parseSynthesis(extractJson('```json\n' + GOOD_JSON + '\n```'));
+  assert.equal(r.body.split(/\n{2,}/).length, 6);
+});
+
+const total = passed + failed;
+console.log(`\n# tests ${total}, pass ${passed}, fail ${failed}`);
+process.exit(failed === 0 ? 0 : 1);