Document shared checkpoint persistence

docs/internal/manifest.md

@@ -193,6 +193,25 @@ establish a current immutable snapshot.
 - writes through a sibling temporary file and atomic replacement visibility;
 - updates `updated_at` on save.
 
+### Checkpoint persistence boundary
+
+Analyze and transcribe share one private checkpoint operation in
+`internal/stage`. Their typed callers still decide when to checkpoint, validate
+their collections, populate stage-owned fields, and serialize access. The
+shared operation copies the manifest and its checkpoint-relevant mutable
+collections, applies the typed update to the copied target record, and calls
+the existing `manifest.Store` exactly once. Only after that save succeeds does
+it promote the saved target record and manifest `updated_at` into live state;
+it preserves an existing target record's identity and leaves unrelated live
+stage records in place.
+
+The copy boundary includes stage records, input and artifact slices, aggregate
+output/log/configuration slices, and the typed analyze and transcribe
+collections that callbacks or `LocalStore.Save` may modify. Metadata and other
+pointer fields remain shared read-only because neither checkpoint callback nor
+the store mutates them. This is a bounded execution helper, not a general
+manifest clone or a transaction across transcript/artifact files.
+
 Manifest replacement provides atomic visibility, not a crash- or power-loss
 durability guarantee. Callers reload after a returned save error before retrying.
 A transcribe or analyze checkpoint error leaves the prior manifest collection

docs/internal/stage-analyze.md

@@ -115,7 +115,11 @@ Supported source families:
 - before the first adapter call, checkpoints the reconciled starting collection
   when it removed configuration records or cleared obsolete authority. After
   each successful artifact, checkpoints the complete collection before making
-  that artifact available to the next scheduled dependent.
+  that artifact available to the next scheduled dependent. Analyze supplies
+  its typed update to the shared
+  [checkpoint persistence boundary](manifest.md#checkpoint-persistence-boundary)
+  and refreshes its working and committed collections only after the save
+  succeeds.
 - keeps adapter output in the invocation's run-local analyze directory until
   it is a safe, non-empty, bounded regular file with a calculated checksum and
   complete output contract. Canonical replacement uses the shared atomic file

docs/internal/stage-transcribe.md

@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ Generate raw per-speaker transcripts from prepared audio using WhisperX.
 - output path returned by adapter must match requested output path.
 - an empty adapter result path means the requested path; adapters cannot select
   an alternate destination.
-- candidate collection construction, manifest save, and installation into live
-  state are serialized. Expensive hashing and HTTP work remain outside that
-  critical section.
+- candidate collection construction, the shared
+  [checkpoint persistence boundary](manifest.md#checkpoint-persistence-boundary),
+  and installation into live state are serialized by transcribe's mutex.
+  Expensive hashing and HTTP work remain outside that critical section.
 - a canonical file has no completion authority until its manifest checkpoint
   succeeds. A save failure preserves the last successfully committed
   collection for ordinary retry.

docs/roadmap/implementation.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Implementation Plan: Shared Stage Checkpoint Mechanics
 
-Status: Implementation in progress; Stages 1-3 complete.
+Status: Complete.
 
 ## Scope and Authority
 
@@ -273,7 +273,24 @@ copy implementation, with their different models and synchronization intact.
 
 ## Stage 4: Document, Review Scope, and Validate
 
-Status: Pending.
+Status: Complete.
+
+Completion marker (2026-09-22): Documented the private shared checkpoint
+persistence boundary and linked the stage guides back to it while retaining
+their separate analyze and transcribe progress policies. The refactor removed
+the two local candidate/save/promotion sequences and the transcription-only
+bounded clone; the retained thin wrappers own typed validation, updates,
+working-state refresh, and their existing serialization and failure behavior.
+The collective test review retained focused helper integrity coverage plus
+stage/application recovery tests, without duplicating the helper's isolation
+matrix. A cumulative scope audit found no schema, validation-policy,
+scheduling, force, concurrency, output-selection, stage-order, adapter-call,
+configuration, or public-interface change.
+
+Verified with `go test ./...`, `go test -race ./...`, `go vet ./...`,
+`go build ./...`, `go test ./internal/doccheck`,
+`go test ./internal/config -run '^TestExamplesLoadAndValidate$'`, and
+`git diff --check`; all passed.
 
 Preparation: `docs/internal/manifest.md`, `docs/internal/stage-transcribe.md`,
 `docs/internal/stage-analyze.md`, documentation/testing policies, and the