Fix native health polling and isolate file operation traffic

docs/maintenance.md

@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@ Drift includes missing promoted files, changed bytes, and extra files in managed
 script, config, and plugin directories. Config comparison includes the composed
 baseline, overlays, and the selected map. Unmanaged default config is exempt until
 a baseline is promoted. Missing mounts are scan errors, not empty directories.
+Routine drift scans run every five minutes per server, reducing file traffic
+while health observations continue every minute. **Check now**, a replacement
+registration, or a new lifecycle submission bypasses the drift interval. Failed
+file scans retry on the next observer pass; post-rebuild verification still reads
+fresh files.
 
 Drift repair creates a Campaign capturing observed differences and requests a
 Provisioning rebuild. The Campaign observes that rebuild without requesting

docs/native-hosts.md

@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ instance never uses Komodo or a filesystem mounted into the controller. The
 controller owns desired state, campaigns, collections, safety queues and history;
 the agent owns local execution and its durable operation journal.
 
+Fleet health checks query RCON even when container inspection is unavailable. A
+fresh successful RCON reply can establish game health while container state stays
+unknown; confirmed stopped, unhealthy, and restarting states still take precedence.
+Agent 1.4.4 retries transient failures of the read-only `status` query up to three
+times, with 250 ms and 500 ms delays. Commands that change the game are not retried.
+Status replies still expire normally, and native timeout diagnostics are retained.
+
 ## Install and launch
 
 1. Run the controller with persistent `/data` storage. Set `EC_PUBLIC_URL` to its
@@ -479,9 +486,14 @@ of which task delayed a previous deployment.
 
 Campaign, beta and maintenance observers run independently of provisioning.
 New requests and completed agent commands wake provisioning; an arrival during a
-pass schedules another pass. File drift scans use bounded batches of four reads
-per scan to reduce agent polling round trips. Startup and disruption safety gates
-remain enforced at command admission.
+pass schedules another pass. Routine file drift scans run every five minutes;
+manual checks bypass that interval. Overlapping identical native observations
+share one operation until it completes, without caching results for later checks.
+Agent 1.4.5 reserves two observation workers for instance health and read-only RCON,
+and one for files, logs, and host inventory. Background reads arrive in batches of
+up to four. File receipt uploads release the instance lock before contacting the
+controller. Older agents retain the shared read lane until upgraded. Startup and
+disruption safety gates remain enforced at command admission.
 
 Older completed operations whose progress snapshots were already discarded
 cannot recover missing check results from this change. Their surviving events