refactor(/new): background archival with guaranteed persistence

Replace fire-and-forget consolidation with archive_messages(), which
retries until the raw-dump fallback triggers — making it effectively
infallible. /new now clears the session immediately and archives in
the background. Pending archive tasks are drained on shutdown via
close_mcp() so no data is lost on process exit.

nanobot/agent/loop.py

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ class AgentLoop:
         self._mcp_connected = False
         self._mcp_connecting = False
         self._active_tasks: dict[str, list[asyncio.Task]] = {}  # session_key -> tasks
+        self._pending_archives: list[asyncio.Task] = []
         self._processing_lock = asyncio.Lock()
         self.memory_consolidator = MemoryConsolidator(
             workspace=workspace,
@@ -330,7 +331,10 @@ class AgentLoop:
                 ))
 
     async def close_mcp(self) -> None:
-        """Close MCP connections."""
+        """Drain pending background archives, then close MCP connections."""
+        if self._pending_archives:
+            await asyncio.gather(*self._pending_archives, return_exceptions=True)
+            self._pending_archives.clear()
         if self._mcp_stack:
             try:
                 await self._mcp_stack.aclose()
@@ -380,28 +384,17 @@ class AgentLoop:
         # Slash commands
         cmd = msg.content.strip().lower()
         if cmd == "/new":
-            # Capture messages before clearing for background archival
+            snapshot = session.messages[session.last_consolidated:]
-            messages_to_archive = session.messages[session.last_consolidated:]
-
-            # Immediately clear session and return
             session.clear()
             self.sessions.save(session)
             self.sessions.invalidate(session.key)
 
-            # Schedule background archival (serialized with normal consolidation via lock)
+            if snapshot:
-            if messages_to_archive:
+                task = asyncio.create_task(
-
+                    self.memory_consolidator.archive_messages(snapshot)
-                async def _archive_in_background():
+                )
-                    lock = self.memory_consolidator.get_lock(session.key)
+                self._pending_archives.append(task)
-                    async with lock:
+                task.add_done_callback(self._pending_archives.remove)
-                        try:
-                            success = await self.memory_consolidator.consolidate_messages(messages_to_archive)
-                            if not success:
-                                logger.warning("/new background archival failed for {}", session.key)
-                        except Exception:
-                            logger.exception("/new background archival error for {}", session.key)
-
-                asyncio.create_task(_archive_in_background())
 
             return OutboundMessage(channel=msg.channel, chat_id=msg.chat_id,
                                   content="New session started.")

nanobot/agent/memory.py

@@ -290,14 +290,14 @@ class MemoryConsolidator:
             self._get_tool_definitions(),
         )
 
-    async def archive_unconsolidated(self, session: Session) -> bool:
+    async def archive_messages(self, messages: list[dict[str, object]]) -> bool:
-        """Archive the full unconsolidated tail for /new-style session rollover."""
+        """Archive messages with guaranteed persistence (retries until raw-dump fallback)."""
-        lock = self.get_lock(session.key)
+        if not messages:
-        async with lock:
+            return True
-            snapshot = session.messages[session.last_consolidated:]
+        for _ in range(self.store._MAX_FAILURES_BEFORE_RAW_ARCHIVE):
-            if not snapshot:
+            if await self.consolidate_messages(messages):
+                return True
         return True
-            return await self.consolidate_messages(snapshot)
 
     async def maybe_consolidate_by_tokens(self, session: Session) -> None:
         """Loop: archive old messages until prompt fits within half the context window."""

tests/test_consolidate_offset.py

@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_new_clears_session_immediately_even_if_archive_fails(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
-        """/new clears session immediately, archive failure only logs warning."""
+        """/new clears session immediately; archive_messages retries until raw dump."""
         from nanobot.bus.events import InboundMessage
 
         loop = self._make_loop(tmp_path)
@@ -516,7 +516,11 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
             session.add_message("assistant", f"resp{i}")
         loop.sessions.save(session)
 
+        call_count = 0
+
         async def _failing_consolidate(_messages) -> bool:
+            nonlocal call_count
+            call_count += 1
             return False
 
         loop.memory_consolidator.consolidate_messages = _failing_consolidate  # type: ignore[method-assign]
@@ -524,14 +528,15 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
         new_msg = InboundMessage(channel="cli", sender_id="user", chat_id="test", content="/new")
         response = await loop._process_message(new_msg)
 
-        # /new returns immediately with success message
         assert response is not None
         assert "new session started" in response.content.lower()
 
-        # Session is cleared immediately, even though archive will fail in background
         session_after = loop.sessions.get_or_create("cli:test")
         assert len(session_after.messages) == 0
 
+        await loop.close_mcp()
+        assert call_count == 3  # retried up to raw-archive threshold
+
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_new_archives_only_unconsolidated_messages(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
         from nanobot.bus.events import InboundMessage
@@ -545,12 +550,10 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
         loop.sessions.save(session)
 
         archived_count = -1
-        archive_done = asyncio.Event()
 
         async def _fake_consolidate(messages) -> bool:
             nonlocal archived_count
             archived_count = len(messages)
-            archive_done.set()
             return True
 
         loop.memory_consolidator.consolidate_messages = _fake_consolidate  # type: ignore[method-assign]
@@ -561,8 +564,7 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
         assert response is not None
         assert "new session started" in response.content.lower()
 
-        # Wait for background archival to complete
+        await loop.close_mcp()
-        await asyncio.wait_for(archive_done.wait(), timeout=1.0)
         assert archived_count == 3
 
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
@@ -587,3 +589,31 @@ class TestNewCommandArchival:
         assert response is not None
         assert "new session started" in response.content.lower()
         assert loop.sessions.get_or_create("cli:test").messages == []
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_close_mcp_drains_pending_archives(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        """close_mcp waits for background archive tasks to complete."""
+        from nanobot.bus.events import InboundMessage
+
+        loop = self._make_loop(tmp_path)
+        session = loop.sessions.get_or_create("cli:test")
+        for i in range(3):
+            session.add_message("user", f"msg{i}")
+            session.add_message("assistant", f"resp{i}")
+        loop.sessions.save(session)
+
+        archived = asyncio.Event()
+
+        async def _slow_consolidate(_messages) -> bool:
+            await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
+            archived.set()
+            return True
+
+        loop.memory_consolidator.consolidate_messages = _slow_consolidate  # type: ignore[method-assign]
+
+        new_msg = InboundMessage(channel="cli", sender_id="user", chat_id="test", content="/new")
+        await loop._process_message(new_msg)
+
+        assert not archived.is_set()
+        await loop.close_mcp()
+        assert archived.is_set()