neuron-tai/.scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/042-carry-native-frames-through-direct-and-existing-relay-seams.md

DGR-042: Carry native frames through direct and existing relay seams

• Status / triage: specification only; ready-for-agent; passes: false
• Execution mode: AFK
• Milestone: M2
• Dependencies: DGR-024, DGR-040
• Blocks (derived): DGR-054, DGR-058
• Labels: area:meshnet, area:relay, area:grpc, type:integration, priority:p0, ready-for-agent
• Evidence class: fixture
• Hardware: none
• Model: generic
• Upstream: no

Objective / description

Fresh Ralph session: read .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/RALPH-CONTEXT.md, source issue .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/042-carry-native-frames-through-direct-and-existing-relay-seams.md, and evidence READMEs for dependencies (DGR-024, DGR-040) before changing code. Inspect live source/tests rather than trusting legacy pass states. Objective: Use direct gRPC where available and the existing relay as opaque protobuf transport without redesigning relay behavior.

Acceptance criteria

• Direct paths use the long-lived gRPC activation stream.
• Relayed paths carry byte-identical versioned protobuf frames through the existing relay contract.
• Request/work identity, cancellation, deadlines, telemetry, billing correlation, and per-node attribution survive both paths.
• Fake-worker tests cover direct, relay, disconnect, cancellation, and bounded buffering.
• Applicable shared quality gates in prd.json pass, and the evidence handoff records exact commands/results, changed files, limitations, and dependency handoff.

Shared quality gates

• Targeted deterministic tests pass; Python changes also pass python -m compileall packages tests.
• git diff --check passes.
• Default tests are model-download-free, API-credit-free, and GPU-free.
• Evidence README records exact changed files, commands/results, limitations, and dependency handoff; no fabricated evidence or inherited completion credit.
• Native changes pass focused out-of-tree CMake build and CTest; patch changes verify clean apply/check/reverse against the exact llama.cpp pin.
• Runs are opt-in and record exact artifact/split hashes, runtime/upstream pin, backend/driver, hardware, network, commands, and raw metrics. Model artifacts use configured mounted-drive storage and never /home.
• Preserve existing Transformers behavior and backend-agnostic Tracker routing/load balancing/billing/relay semantics unless an explicit versioned contract says otherwise. One scoped story commit is expected during execution, but this specification-materialization change is not committed.

Evidence handoff

Write and verify .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/evidence/DGR-042/README.md. Until every criterion and applicable gate has real evidence, this story remains passes: false. Legacy evidence is provenance only, not completion credit.