Prioritize growth retries and randomize intake

src/database/growth-repository.ts

@@ -460,7 +460,11 @@ export class AccountGrowthRepository {
       const row = this.db.prepare(`
         SELECT post_id FROM account_growth_comments
         WHERE account_id = ? AND status IN ('discovered', 'retryable') AND available_at <= ?
-        ORDER BY thread_created_at DESC, discovered_at ASC
+        ORDER BY
+          CASE status WHEN 'retryable' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END,
+          CASE status WHEN 'retryable' THEN available_at END ASC,
+          thread_created_at DESC,
+          discovered_at ASC
         LIMIT 1
       `).get(accountId, now) as { post_id: string } | undefined;
       if (!row) return null;
@@ -474,6 +478,30 @@ export class AccountGrowthRepository {
     })();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Includes retries whose cooldown is still active. Discovery uses this to
+   * avoid growing the backlog while existing work is waiting to recover.
+   */
+  hasPendingQueueWork(accountId: string): boolean {
+    return this.db.prepare(`
+      SELECT 1 FROM account_growth_comments
+      WHERE account_id = ? AND status IN ('discovered', 'retryable')
+      LIMIT 1
+    `).get(accountId) !== undefined;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Clears only work that has not reached Reddit. A posting lease is excluded
+   * because its remote outcome may be uncertain, and posted audit history is
+   * never touched.
+   */
+  clearPendingQueue(accountId: string): number {
+    return this.db.prepare(`
+      DELETE FROM account_growth_comments
+      WHERE account_id = ? AND status IN ('discovered', 'retryable')
+    `).run(accountId).changes;
+  }
+
   markPosted(
     accountId: string,
     postId: string,

src/services/account-growth.ts

@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ export class AccountGrowthService {
 
     let claimed = this.repository.claimNext(this.accountId, this.workerId, LEASE_MS, now);
     if (!claimed) {
+      if (this.repository.hasPendingQueueWork(this.accountId)) {
+        return { kind: 'idle', reason: 'Existing growth queue is waiting for its retry time' };
+      }
       const discovery = await this.discover(signal);
       if (discovery.kind === 'idle') return discovery;
       claimed = this.repository.claimNext(this.accountId, this.workerId, LEASE_MS, this.now());
@@ -241,7 +244,10 @@ export class AccountGrowthService {
       else rejections.set(screening.reason, (rejections.get(screening.reason) ?? 0) + 1);
     }
 
-    const intake = this.repository.enqueueDiscovered(this.accountId, eligible, now, 10);
+    // Queue one thread at a time. Subreddit selection is randomized on every
+    // new unit of work, rather than one random community producing a long,
+    // predictable run of comments from a ten-thread batch.
+    const intake = this.repository.enqueueDiscovered(this.accountId, eligible, now, 1);
     this.logger.info(
       `Growth intake r/${subreddit.subreddit} for u/${this.options.redditUsername}: `
       + `${posts.length} fetched; ${eligible.length} eligible; ${intake.discovered} queued; `

src/web/api-catalog.ts

@@ -189,6 +189,9 @@ export const API_OPERATIONS: readonly ApiOperation[] = [
     access: 'admin',
     responseSchema: GrowthAccountResponseSchema,
   }),
+  operation('clearGrowthQueue', 'DELETE', '/api/growth/{accountId}/queue', 'Clear queued and retryable growth threads that have not been posted', ['Growth'], {
+    access: 'admin',
+  }),
   operation('addGrowthSubreddit', 'POST', '/api/growth/{accountId}/subreddits', 'Add a community to an account\'s growth list', ['Growth'], {
     access: 'admin',
     requestSchema: GrowthSubredditCreateRequestSchema,

src/web/routes/growth.ts

@@ -110,6 +110,18 @@ export function createGrowthRouter(ctx: WebContext): Router {
     return res.json({ success: true, account: detail(repo, accountId, username) });
   });
 
+  router.delete('/growth/:accountId/queue', (req, res) => {
+    const repo = growth();
+    if (!repo) return res.status(503).json({ error: 'Growth storage is unavailable' });
+    const { accountId } = req.params;
+    const username = accountName(accountId);
+    if (username === null) return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Reddit account not found' });
+
+    const cleared = repo.clearPendingQueue(accountId);
+    ctx.broadcaster.push('warn', `Cleared ${cleared} pending growth item(s) for u/${username}`);
+    return res.json({ success: true, cleared, account: detail(repo, accountId, username) });
+  });
+
   router.post('/growth/:accountId/subreddits', (req, res) => {
     const repo = growth();
     if (!repo) return res.status(503).json({ error: 'Growth storage is unavailable' });