From 8dbcf6a5a8225ff7746a86dd9e2ecc23b4cb5e52 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: garrytan-agents <garrytan-agents@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2026 16:07:41 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] feat(sync): sort files newest-first for faster salience on
 recent content

Problem: sync processes files in git-diff order (alphabetical), so
meetings/2020-* embeds before meetings/2026-*. After a burst of writes,
new pages can be invisible to search for hours while older pages process first.

Fix: sort addsAndMods descending in both incremental sync and full import.
Brain paths are date-prefixed by convention, so lexicographic descending
naturally prioritizes recent content.

This ensures the most relevant pages become searchable first.
---
 src/commands/import.ts | 5 +++++
 src/commands/sync.ts   | 7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/commands/import.ts b/src/commands/import.ts
index 3f6b4c4ca..c20e14828 100644
--- a/src/commands/import.ts
+++ b/src/commands/import.ts
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ export async function runImport(
     : strategy === 'auto' ? 'syncable' : 'markdown';
   console.log(`Found ${allFiles.length} ${fileTypeLabel} files`);
 
+  // v0.33.1: sort newest-first so recent pages get processed before older ones.
+  // Brain paths are typically date-prefixed (meetings/2026-05-13-*, daily/2026-05-13.md)
+  // so a descending lexicographic sort naturally prioritizes recent content.
+  allFiles.sort((a, b) => b.localeCompare(a));
+
   // Resume from checkpoint if available
   const checkpointPath = gbrainPath('import-checkpoint.json');
   let files = allFiles;
diff --git a/src/commands/sync.ts b/src/commands/sync.ts
index 0cc80e646..9147bb05e 100644
--- a/src/commands/sync.ts
+++ b/src/commands/sync.ts
@@ -700,6 +700,13 @@ async function performSyncInner(engine: BrainEngine, opts: SyncOpts): Promise<Sy
   const failedFiles: Array<{ path: string; error: string; line?: number }> = [];
   const addsAndMods = [...filtered.added, ...filtered.modified];
 
+  // v0.33.1: sort newest-first so recent pages get embedded before older ones.
+  // Brain paths are typically date-prefixed (meetings/2026-05-13-*, daily/2026-05-13.md)
+  // so a descending lexicographic sort naturally prioritizes recent content.
+  // This ensures that after a burst of writes, the most relevant pages become
+  // searchable first instead of waiting behind alphabetically-earlier backlog.
+  addsAndMods.sort((a, b) => b.localeCompare(a));
+
   // v0.22.13 (PR #490 Q5): one source of truth for the concurrency decision.
   // engine.kind === 'pglite' → forced 1; explicit opts.concurrency wins;
   // auto path returns DEFAULT_PARALLEL_WORKERS only when fileCount > 100.