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+# A source checkpoint ends at a timestamp boundary
+
+Proposed 2026-10-19 (#1212, #1213); open: implementation and regression coverage.
+
+## Context
+
+Source syncs can stop after 200 items and still record success. The next run
+uses that successful run's start time as its lower bound, so it can skip items
+that were never imported. [Issue #1212](https://github.com/deeplethe/utopia/issues/1212)
+reproduces this with a custom response containing 201 items.
+
+A checkpoint must describe the data consumed. For GitHub and Jira, an item's
+source update time provides that position, but a timestamp cannot identify a
+position inside a group of items that share the same time.
+
+The [reader probes](https://github.com/deeplethe/utopia/issues/1212#issuecomment-6183423449)
+show why that distinction matters. With one shared update time, GitHub's
+1,001 items span eleven 100-item pages; Jira's 501 items span eleven 50-item
+pages. A fixed ten-page limit repeatedly returns the same prefix. Keeping the
+timestamp repeats that prefix; advancing past it loses the unread tail.
+
+## Decision
+
+Use a timestamp watermark: the latest source update time whose entire group
+has been consumed. **A GitHub or Jira run stops only at a timestamp boundary.**
+This follows the [maintainer's decision](https://github.com/deeplethe/utopia/issues/1212#issuecomment-6261482074).
+
+### GitHub and Jira
+
+Read items in ascending update-time order. Skip items at or before the
+checkpoint before counting either budget. When the 200-item processing budget
+or ten-page listing budget is exhausted inside a group, continue reading and
+processing until that group is complete. Stop before consuming the next
+timestamp group, then save the completed group's time as the checkpoint.
+Reading ahead to identify the next group does not make that group consumed.
+
+For example, if item 200 belongs to a group ending at item 240, consume all
+240 items and leave the next group for the next run. The 1,001-item GitHub
+and 501-item Jira groups above must each arrive in full on the first run.
+
+The next run consumes only items updated strictly after the checkpoint.
+GitHub's `since` is inclusive in practice, and Jira's `updated >=` bound is
+rounded to the minute, so either provider can return items already consumed.
+Skip every returned item at or before the checkpoint; these items count against
+neither the 200-item processing budget nor the ten-page listing budget.
+Pages containing only skipped items therefore cannot exhaust the listing
+budget. For GitHub, `since` can be the checkpoint plus one second.
+
+Store the completed timestamp on the source, independently of retained sync
+audit rows. Do not derive it from a run's start or finish time, or advance it
+to the clock time merely because a query is empty. A failed run leaves the
+previous checkpoint intact. Retry already committed items through the existing
+document, version and processing-job deduplication.
+
+There is no persisted page, offset, fetched response or continuation state.
+An unusually large timestamp group makes one run longer. Do not add a separate
+group cap or a group-size alert; use the existing rate-limit backoff. The
+exception applies to source listing and processing, not permission to replace
+a GitHub document with a truncated comments or events history.
+
+### Custom
+
+The endpoint already returns the whole requested response. Walk its items in
+order, charging only `Created` and `Updated` outcomes against the 200-item
+budget. `Unchanged` items do not consume that budget. Mark the batch incomplete
+only when processing stops with items left, and retain the previous checkpoint.
+Retries can then pass the unchanged prefix and reach the remaining items.
+
+Once the whole response, including its deletions, is processed successfully,
+advance the checkpoint to that run's start time, preserving the existing
+protection for changes during the run. Keep the committed counts visible for
+incomplete runs. No source-update field, pagination token or saved response is
+added to the custom protocol; `doc_time` remains document time.
+
+The custom fix is being reviewed in
+[PR #1246](https://github.com/deeplethe/utopia/pull/1246). It does not resolve
+the GitHub and Jira parts of #1212.
+
+## Recovery and tradeoffs
+
+Old successful runs cannot prove that their windows were complete. On upgrade,
+clear the checkpoint once for these three source kinds and recover from the
+beginning using the same rules. Preserve documents, versions, jobs and audit
+history; deduplication keeps unchanged content from creating new versions.
+Resume incremental reads afterward.
+
+This design trades a hard per-run bound for progress through a timestamp group.
+It does not make a provider's paginated result an atomic snapshot. Concurrent
+updates and failures still need coverage before the implementation can claim
+that checkpoints never cross unread data.
+
+## Rejected approaches
+
+- **Keep the old checkpoint but always take the first 200 items.** Retries
+  never reach the tail. This is why custom must count changed items only.
+- **Use a timestamp with an unconditional ten-page limit.** The equal-time
+  examples above still stall. Completing the group removes that limitation.
+- **Persist continuation state or a full response snapshot.** The original
+  proposal stored pages and consumption positions in `sources.sync_state`.
+  Finishing each timestamp group avoids that storage and recovery machinery.
+- **Resume from a saved offset, even in creation order.** Deletions, transfers
+  and permission changes can move page boundaries. Keeping boundary identities
+  and restarting scans adds complexity the chosen design does not need.
+- **Advance to the run's start time after partial work, or use custom
+  `doc_time`.** Neither proves that the remaining source changes were consumed.
+
+## Acceptance
+
+Reuse the real readers and existing HTTP/database fixtures. The implementation
+must demonstrate:
+
+- GitHub's 1,001-item and Jira's 501-item equal-time groups are fully imported
+  in the first run, beyond ten pages.
+- Exhausting either budget completes the current group but leaves the next
+  group for the next run, with the correct persisted checkpoint and queries.
+- After importing the 1,001-item group at time T, the next run skips any
+  returned items at or before T without charging either budget, imports a
+  later group and advances the checkpoint past T.
+- GitHub's inclusive boundary and Jira's minute-rounded query bound preserve
+  this progress without omissions or duplicate versions and processing jobs.
+- A failed page fetch, detail fetch or write cannot advance the checkpoint;
+  retry recovers the whole group. Updates during pagination remain reachable.
+- Custom's 201 changed items finish on the second run; 450 finish over three
+  capped runs. Cover an unchanged prefix and no custom update field.
+- The one-time recovery scan preserves existing data and returns to incremental
+  sync. GitHub replacements retain complete discussion content.
+
+Database assertions must run with PostgreSQL/pgvector and
+`UTOPIA_TEST_REQUIRE_DB=1`.
diff --git a/docs/decisions/README.md b/docs/decisions/README.md
index 727d60be0..2d0b81998 100644
--- a/docs/decisions/README.md
+++ b/docs/decisions/README.md
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ By domain; the domains are the files of [../design/](../design/README.md). **Sta
 | 0052 | [Document content is a read contract over the retained ledger](0052-document-content-is-a-read-contract.md) | Proposed |  |
 | 0054 | [A source may push statements in the open contract](0054-a-source-may-push-statements-in-the-open-contract.md) | Implemented |  |
 | 0065 | [The OCR reader chooses its provider](0065-readers-choose-their-provider.md) | Implemented |  |
+| 0072 | [A source checkpoint ends at a timestamp boundary](0072-a-source-checkpoint-ends-at-a-timestamp-boundary.md) | Proposed |  |
 
 ### [lakehouse-and-actions](../design/lakehouse-and-actions.md)