Add opt-in live launcher server directory

[valzargaming]

Summary

• Build a separate directory-only artifact from a committed minimal Composer lock. The CI matrix installs without scripts/plugins, audits the lock, builds a bounded checksummed archive, verifies it without extraction/execution, and runs the directory suites against the artifact’s own dependencies. The artifact includes patched React HTTP 1.11.1 and no Discord or live application bootstrap.
• Add an optional isolated directory-only entrypoint for installations where restarting the live bot is unsafe. It binds only 127.0.0.1, has a strict default-empty JSON inventory, exposes no bot controls, and never constructs Civ13/GameServer/Discord. Invalid/empty inventory is checked before dependency autoload; runtime logs expose only controlled startup phases.
• Add an opt-in, read-only route on the existing ReactPHP service. One HTTPS authority, civ13.com, serves separate provider snapshots through the exact raw queries provider=civ13.com and provider=valzargaming.com. Other query strings, extra/repeated parameters, alternate encodings and other authorities are rejected.
• Preserve the existing enabled-GameServer mapping and add a separate default-empty, strict five-field status-only inventory. Remote entries never construct or enable GameServer/pers, require no local game directory, accept only the two approved hosts, and cannot carry URLs, IP overrides or lifecycle settings. IDs and host/port pairs are unique across both sources, with a global 32-target cap.
• Resolve public status-only hosts afresh on every probe. Validate all 1–32 IPv4 A answers against the same conservative public-address policy as the launcher and connect to the validated literal without another lookup. No public IP pins; intentional managed local/private mappings remain supported.
• Use bounded asynchronous fixed BYOND status queries, three-second total deadlines, non-overlapping sweeps, per-probe freshness, and online-only metadata projection. Zero-player servers remain visible; stale/offline/malformed entries are omitted without losing healthy peers. Private status/account/admin fields are never published.
• Include shared managed/Unicode/VZG fixtures and offline protocol, endpoint, startup, status-only inventory, DNS/TCP-binding and slow-peer freshness tests on PHP 8.3–8.5.

Validation

• Exact head 2b85f7c88b1f740a450252c714369a72c7bcc44a: all CI is terminal green; docs publication skipped as expected.
• PHP 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5 source/entrypoint lint, all four directory suites, CLI pre-autoload rejection/empty-inventory tests and existing bot regressions passed: https://github.com/Valgorithms/Civilizationbot/actions/runs/39317622904
• PHP 8.3/8.4/8.5 bundle build, audit, artifact verification and artifact-dependency tests passed: https://github.com/Valgorithms/Civilizationbot/actions/runs/39317622909
• Downloaded PHP 8.4 artifact verified locally: commit 2b85f7c88b1f740a450252c714369a72c7bcc44a, 197 files, 1,331,920 expanded bytes, archive SHA256 921a267f4980fe715910f99b62bddf6399fb088127ac8d2ff44f6c4bb309ec8c. No deployed instance is claimed.
• PR dependency and local-profile/supervision checks also passed on the exact head (see Checks tab).
• git diff --check and workflow YAML parsing pass. No local PHP runtime pass is claimed.
• All three shared fixtures pass the paired launcher's production parser. Managed and Unicode bytes are unchanged; VZG fixture SHA256: ccda85f14b96c78d49d7717baacc46edf9e2e4436c2a08d00f70491d07365d1f.
• Tests exercise registry-before-HTTP ordering, no GameServer lifecycle effects for status-only inventory, dynamic public DNS/exact-IP TCP binding, partial failures and per-probe freshness. They do not establish production readiness or genuine joins.

Deployment gate

The optional isolated entrypoint requires the pinned directory-only CI artifact and matching archive/manifest verification, or separately reviewed dependency files. The prepared artifact avoids importing or changing the live bot’s vendor tree. Do not bootstrap unknown application-root/untracked autoload files or modify/restart the live bot. See docs/launcher-directory-standalone.md.

This remains a draft. Both configuration options default to empty and no live configuration, endpoint deployment, bot restart, firewall/TLS change, merge or release is included. Only the existing civ13.com HTTPS route is needed; valzargaming.com does not require a new HTTPS service. The selected provider's actual production inventory and ports must be verified before configuration, including the currently disabled checked-in pers entry. A configured empty provider returns 200/empty; an unconfigured provider returns 404; stale/warmup returns 503. Live status and genuine BYOND join acceptance are separate gates. See docs/launcher-directory.md for exact routing and operator requirements.