Infrastructure workstream

[JasonVMo]

Goal

Make desktop behavior and package-cost claims for the agentic component library
provable. Contributors and agents should use one supported desktop-driver and
Storybook workflow, CI results must distinguish authoritative native evidence
from capability skips and simulated evidence, and component/theming bundle
boundaries must be reproducible.

Status

In progress. Four of nine direct work items are closed; five remain open.

PR #4306
completed the native-provider implementation represented by
#4257:

• Added source-built macOS and shared Windows/Win32 helpers behind the public,
  Appium-independent Desktop Driver protocol.
• Added verified native build/cache selection, exact launch and attach leases,
  cancellation, input recovery, normalized accessibility snapshots, and native
  window/element capture.
• Changed stories-and-tests to attach to the exact owned Storybook
  application and execute authored plans through the native provider rather
  than the manifest-derived fake target.
• Added a shared Desktop Driver setup action and explicit helper build,
  verification, doctor, cache, and artifact steps to macOS, Windows Fabric, and
  Win32 Paper pull-request jobs.
• Documented the architecture, native providers, test integration, CI
  authority model, security boundary, and genuinely unfinished qualification
  and release work.

PR #4294
previously landed the public package, shared Storybook orchestration, Windows
and Win32 smoke jobs, native catalog traversal, and the first Button, Checkbox,
and Input plans. The retired windows-tests harness was also removed there.

Current evidence boundary

Authored plans now execute through real native providers on macOS, Windows
Fabric, and Win32 Paper. The hosted jobs deliberately disable capabilities
their desktop sessions cannot authoritatively provide: Windows and Win32
disable keyboard, physical click, and wheel; hosted macOS disables physical
click. Those tests report explicit capability skips. A green hosted job proves
the provider, semantic assertions, application identity, and lifecycle paths
that actually ran; it is not proof of interactive input, durable macOS TCC
authority, DPI coverage, or release readiness.

What remains

1. Promote bundle comparisons from advisory output to reviewed required
   budgets after normal variance is established
   (#4253).
2. Restore the eleven focus-crash/focus-movement regression cases removed with
   the legacy harness as native portable plans wired to Windows Fabric CI
   (#4254).
3. Expand the portable accessibility cohort beyond Button, Checkbox, and Input;
   add accessible-name and keyboard-reachability coverage, reporting, switch
   normalization, and authoritative macOS/Windows runs
   (#4255).
4. Qualify and promote the native Storybook jobs: broaden the story cohort,
   establish matching manifest evidence, measure flake rate, define retry and
   quarantine policy, assign artifact retention/redaction and runner owners,
   and require only capabilities available on authoritative runners
   (#4256).
5. Qualify Windows Graphics Capture on unlocked Windows Fabric and Win32
   sessions at 100%, 150%, and 200% DPI; add explicit provenance and
   locked/non-interactive diagnostics
   (#4260).
6. Complete the remaining Desktop Driver qualification and release hardening
   recorded in
   packages/agentic/desktop-driver/PLAN.md,
   including managed macOS authority, interactive Windows qualification,
   compatibility, security, cache, performance, reliability, packaging, and
   publishing gates.

Work items

Status	Issue	Outcome or remaining work
Open, partial	#4253 - Bundle-size and dependency regression gates	Measurement scenarios, cross-platform baselines, and advisory reporting exist; reviewed required budgets and baseline-promotion policy remain.
Open, partial	#4254 - Windows Jest smoke harness	Retire was selected and the harness was removed; the eleven focus regression cases still need an active native CI path.
Open, partial	#4255 - Story accessibility assertions	Native role/state/value support and Button, Checkbox, and Input plans exist; broader name, reachability, reporting, cohort, and authoritative proof remain.
Open, partial	#4256 - Storybook E2E pipelines	All three desktop PR jobs use native providers and retain diagnostics; coverage expansion, authoritative capabilities, policy, reliability evidence, and required promotion remain.
Done	#4257 - Real-platform driver proof	Native provider implementation and CI integration merged in PR #4306. Remaining production qualification is explicit in the package plan and this rollup.
Done	#4258 - Land desktop driver	Public Appium-free package and shared orchestration merged in PR #4294.
Done	#4259 - Win32 Paper Storybook	Endpoint is available and uses the shared native provider and smoke pipeline.
Open, partial	#4260 - Windows Composition screenshots	Window-scoped Windows Graphics Capture is implemented; interactive fidelity, DPI, provenance, and session diagnostics remain.
Done	#4279 - Initial desktop Storybook pipelines	Initial pipeline foundation completed.

Beta exit criteria

• The public Desktop Driver package is merged, built by the unified graph,
  and covered by package tests.
• Storybook exposes one shared CLI for manifest generation, native catalog
  traversal, authored-plan execution, and ownership-safe process
  lifecycles.
• macOS, Windows Fabric, and Win32 Paper pull-request jobs explicitly build
  and verify native helpers, run stories-and-tests, and retain
  diagnostics.
• At least one authored semantic plan executes through each real native
  provider without a fake fallback.
• Cross-platform component and Flex-theme bundle baselines and dependency
  boundaries are checked and reported.
• At least three components beyond Button have portable role, name, state,
  value, and keyboard assertions validated on an authoritative real
  desktop endpoint.
• The replacement suite preserves all required focus-crash coverage from
  the retired Windows harness.
• Required capabilities have no false-green path: unavailable capabilities
  skip explicitly, and authoritative jobs fail distinctly for product,
  application, helper, authority, and infrastructure failures.

Production exit criteria

• macOS, Windows Fabric, and Win32 Paper run the required authored cohort on
  authoritative environments with auditable manifest and helper identity.
• Retry, quarantine, expiry, artifact retention/redaction, escalation, and
  runner-capacity policies have named owners.
• Backend prerequisites and compatibility ranges are published and tested.
• The driver package passes its security, performance, cache, reliability,
  packaging, external-consumer, and publishing gates.
• Bundle growth budgets are required gates and baseline changes require
  reviewed rationale.
• Flex-only consumers exclude legacy and optional capabilities unless those
  capabilities are explicitly imported.
• Windows Fabric and Win32 Paper publish qualified window-scoped visual
  evidence with capture provenance and locked-session diagnostics; pixel
  differences remain evidence, not a pass/fail gate.
• Portable accessibility assertions are required for the initial component
  cohort on macOS and Windows.

Agent context

• The supported public contract is client-neutral and Appium-free.
• A fake-host pass proves schema and orchestration determinism only.
• Native story traversal proves renderability; authored native plans prove only
  the capabilities and assertions that did not explicitly skip.
• Deterministic gates and optional visual evidence remain separate.
• Interactive Windows qualification requires a logged-in, unlocked desktop.
• Authoritative macOS qualification requires a managed, auto-logged-in Aqua
  session, stable signing identity, and explicit TCC/PPPC authority.
• Windows Fabric still excludes Accordion and Callout because they fail-fast
  the current RNW Fabric host during traversal. Platform exclusions remain
  explicit in generated manifests and reports.

Merged evidence

• PR #4306 - Infrastructure: add native desktop driver providers
• PR #4294 - Infrastructure: land the public desktop driver
• PR #4295 - Add appearance-aware Flex theme sources
• PR #4284 - Infrastructure: add bundle size checks and pipeline with warnings