fix: conversation budget is env-only — admin panel shows CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS read-only and never saves the key; server ignores saved overrides

public/components/admin.html

@@ -337,8 +337,8 @@
             <div class="admin-row">
               <strong class="admin-row-label">Conversation input budget</strong>
               <div style="flex:1;display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:4px;min-width:0;">
-                <input id="assistant-conversation-budget" type="number" min="1000" max="1000000" class="admin-control" placeholder="e.g. 120000" aria-label="Conversation input budget (UTF-16 code units)">
-                <p id="assistant-conversation-budget-meta" role="status" style="margin:0;font-size:12px;color:var(--g500);">UTF-16 code units. Leave empty to use CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS.</p>
+                <input id="assistant-conversation-budget" type="number" min="1000" max="1000000" class="admin-control" placeholder="e.g. 120000" aria-label="Conversation input budget (UTF-16 code units)" readonly style="background:var(--g50);color:var(--g600);">
+                <p id="assistant-conversation-budget-meta" role="status" style="margin:0;font-size:12px;color:var(--g500);">Controlled by CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS — saved settings cannot change it.</p>
               </div>
             </div>
             <section aria-labelledby="clinical-prompts-heading">

public/js/admin/clinicalAssistant.js

@@ -138,13 +138,13 @@ export function initClinicalAssistantAdmin(adminEscapeHtml) {
       setValue('assistant-translate-provider', ['libretranslate', 'deepl'].includes(cfg['clinical_assistant.translate_provider']) ? cfg['clinical_assistant.translate_provider'] : 'libretranslate');
       var budgetInput = document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget');
       if (budgetInput && budget && Number.isInteger(budget.limit)) {
-        var cfgBudget = cfg['clinical_assistant.conversation_chars'];
-        budgetInput.value = cfgBudget ? String(cfgBudget) : String(budget.limit);
+        budgetInput.value = String(budget.limit);
+        budgetInput.readOnly = true;
       }
       var budgetMeta = document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget-meta');
-      if (budgetMeta) budgetMeta.textContent = budget && budget.source === 'environment'
-        ? 'Currently from CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS (' + budget.limit.toLocaleString() + '). Set a value here to override it; clear it to use the environment again.'
-        : 'UTF-16 code units. Leave empty to use CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS.';
+      if (budgetMeta) budgetMeta.textContent = budget && Number.isInteger(budget.limit)
+        ? 'Controlled by CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS (' + budget.limit.toLocaleString() + ' UTF-16 code units). Saved settings cannot change it.'
+        : 'Controlled by CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS — saved settings cannot change it.';
       configState = 'ready';
       updateAssistantLoadState();
       loadAssistantImageModels();
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ export function initClinicalAssistantAdmin(adminEscapeHtml) {
       putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.search_limit', getValue('assistant-search-limit') || '8'),
       putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.context_chars', getValue('assistant-context-chars') || '1400'),
       putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.translate_provider', getValue('assistant-translate-provider') || 'libretranslate'),
-      putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.conversation_chars', getValue('assistant-conversation-budget')),
+
       putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.allowed_models', checkedAssistantModels('assistant-allowed-chat-models').join(',')),
       putAssistantConfig('clinical_assistant.allowed_image_models', checkedAssistantModels('assistant-allowed-image-models').join(','))
     ]).then(function() {

src/routes/clinicalAssistant.js

@@ -757,13 +757,8 @@ function isUsefulIndexedTopicExample(item) {
 }
 
 async function getConversationLimit() {
-  // Admin-set value wins over the environment so the administrator can test
-  // the warning/refusal behavior with a lower limit.
-  var override = await getSetting('clinical_assistant.conversation_chars', '');
-  if (override !== '') {
-    var parsed = parseInt(override, 10);
-    if (Number.isInteger(parsed) && parsed >= 1000 && parsed <= 1000000) return parsed;
-  }
+  // The conversation budget is controlled by CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS
+  // only. Saved settings never change it (adminConfig.js rejects the key).
   return conversationBudget(process.env).limit;
 }
 

test/admin-clinical-assistant-wiring.test.js

@@ -54,9 +54,11 @@ test('native admin initializer preserves lazy navigation, assistant actions and
   assert.match(document.getElementById('assistant-prompt-pool-status').textContent, /3 prompts/);
   const budget = document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget');
   assert.equal(document.querySelectorAll('#assistant-conversation-chars').length, 0);
-  assert.equal(budget.type, 'number', 'the conversation budget is an editable admin input');
-  assert.equal(budget.value, '999999', 'prefilled with the server-reported limit');
+  assert.equal(budget.type, 'number', 'the conversation budget is an admin input');
+  assert.equal(budget.readOnly, true, 'the budget is read-only: the env var controls it');
+  assert.equal(budget.value, '240000', 'prefilled with the environment limit');
   assert.match(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget-meta').textContent, /CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS/);
+  assert.match(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget-meta').textContent, /cannot change it/);
   const initialConfigLoads = calls.filter(c => c.url === '/api/admin/config').length;
   document.querySelector('[data-tab="home"]').click(); await tick();
   document.querySelector('[data-tab="admin"]').click(); await tick();
@@ -66,9 +68,9 @@ test('native admin initializer preserves lazy navigation, assistant actions and
   const writes = () => calls.filter(c => c.options.method === 'PUT');
   const save = document.getElementById('btn-save-assistant-config');
   save.click(); await tick();
-  assert.equal(writes().length, 7);
+  assert.equal(writes().length, 6);
   assert.deepEqual(writes().map(c => c.url.split('/').pop()).sort(), [
-    'clinical_assistant.allowed_image_models', 'clinical_assistant.allowed_models', 'clinical_assistant.chat_model', 'clinical_assistant.context_chars', 'clinical_assistant.conversation_chars', 'clinical_assistant.search_limit', 'clinical_assistant.translate_provider'
+    'clinical_assistant.allowed_image_models', 'clinical_assistant.allowed_models', 'clinical_assistant.chat_model', 'clinical_assistant.context_chars', 'clinical_assistant.search_limit', 'clinical_assistant.translate_provider'
   ]);
   assert.ok(toasts.some(([message, kind]) => message === 'Assistant settings saved' && kind === 'success'));
 
@@ -95,7 +97,7 @@ test('real extracted initializer never invents a cap when metadata is missing, i
       document.dispatchEvent(new dom.window.CustomEvent('tabChanged', { detail: { tab: 'admin' } }));
       await tick();
       assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').value, '', 'failed load leaves the budget input empty');
-      assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget-meta').textContent, 'UTF-16 code units. Leave empty to use CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS.');
+      assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget-meta').textContent, 'Controlled by CLINICAL_ASSISTANT_CONVERSATION_CHARS — saved settings cannot change it.');
     });
   }
 });
@@ -109,5 +111,6 @@ test('real extracted initializer displays the server default only when returned
   initClinicalAssistantAdmin(value => value);
   document.dispatchEvent(new dom.window.CustomEvent('tabChanged', { detail: { tab: 'admin' } }));
   await tick();
-  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').value, '120000', 'editable budget prefilled from the server metadata');
+  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').value, '120000', 'read-only budget prefilled from the server metadata');
+  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').readOnly, true);
 });

test/clinical-release-integration.test.js

@@ -80,12 +80,13 @@ test('native admin and assistant modules retain budget, table/source identity an
   document.dispatchEvent(new window.CustomEvent('tabChanged', { detail: { tab: 'admin' } }));
   await tick();
   assert.equal(document.querySelectorAll('#assistant-conversation-chars').length, 0);
-  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').value, '999999');
+  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').value, '2000');
+  assert.equal(document.getElementById('assistant-conversation-budget').readOnly, true, 'the budget is read-only: the env var controls it');
   document.getElementById('btn-save-assistant-config').click();
   await tick();
   assert.equal(limit, 2000);
-  assert.equal(calls.filter(call => call.options.method === 'PUT').length, 7, 'one native admin initializer; prompts and ENV budget are not generic setting saves');
-  assert.equal(calls.some(call => call.url.endsWith('/config/clinical_assistant.conversation_chars')), true, 'the conversation budget is now an admin-settable override');
+  assert.equal(calls.filter(call => call.options.method === 'PUT').length, 6, 'one native admin initializer; prompts and ENV budget are not generic setting saves');
+  assert.equal(calls.some(call => call.url.endsWith('/config/clinical_assistant.conversation_chars')), false, 'the conversation budget is never saved as a setting');
   document.dispatchEvent(new window.CustomEvent('tabChanged', { detail: { tab: 'assistant' } }));
   await tick(); await tick(); await tick();
   const input = document.getElementById('assistant-input');

test/frontend-prompt-env.test.js

@@ -310,7 +310,8 @@ test('assistant config GET503 plus Save makes zero PUTs; failed retry preserves
   assert.equal(setting(ui, 'chat-model').value, 'saved-chat');
   assert.equal(setting(ui, 'search-limit').value, '17');
   assert.equal(setting(ui, 'context-chars').value, '2300');
-  assert.equal(setting(ui, 'conversation-budget').value, '240000', 'editable budget prefilled from environment metadata');
+  assert.equal(setting(ui, 'conversation-budget').value, '240000', 'read-only budget prefilled from environment metadata');
+  assert.equal(setting(ui, 'conversation-budget').readOnly, true);
   assert.match(setting(ui, 'admin-status').textContent, /ready/i);
   assert.equal(retry.hidden, true);
   adminVisit(ui); adminVisit(ui); await tick();
@@ -321,7 +322,6 @@ test('assistant config GET503 plus Save makes zero PUTs; failed retry preserves
     ['clinical_assistant.chat_model', 'saved-chat'],
     ['clinical_assistant.search_limit', '19'], ['clinical_assistant.context_chars', '2300'],
     ['clinical_assistant.translate_provider', 'libretranslate'],
-    ['clinical_assistant.conversation_chars', '240000'],
     ['clinical_assistant.allowed_models', ''], ['clinical_assistant.allowed_image_models', '']
   ]);
 });