.env.example

@@ -90,3 +90,16 @@ DISCORD_REDIRECT_URI=
 # HTTP handler 500s any /json/version request whose Host header isn't an IP or
 # "localhost", which silently breaks every kagane poll.
 # BROWSER_WS_URL=ws://172.28.0.10:9222
+
+# Clock zone the headless browser reports. A UTC clock is itself the bot
+# signal — Cloudflare treats it as the datacenter default — and kagane's
+# challenge then never clears. Measured 2026-08-08, identical container, one
+# Indonesian egress IP: UTC never cleared in 60s (twice); Asia/Jakarta and
+# America/New_York both cleared in 4s. So any real zone works; it does not
+# have to match the IP's country, it just must not be UTC.
+#
+# Unset falls back to the host's /etc/timezone, which is a real zone whenever
+# the host clock is set to local time. Set this when the host runs UTC — a UTC
+# server is exactly the case that fails. Only the browser sidecar reads it;
+# the backend keeps its UTC clock.
+# BROWSER_TZ=Asia/Jakarta

AGENTS.md

@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ Userscript targets **Violentmonkey**, so `GM_*` APIs available, but stay GM-free
 - Userscript run in **isolated world**, so embedded API token safe from site's JS.
 - Cloudflare's block on manga sites **IP-reputation-based, not universal — and not reliably reproducible.** Verified 2026-07-26: plain `curl` from both CGNAT dev machine *and* deployed VPS got clean 200s with real HTML on both asurascans.com and demonicscans.org (homepage, series, chapter pages) — no interactive Turnstile challenge from either IP at test time. Contradicts earlier untested assumption CGNAT dev IP blocked; wasn't, at least this date. Treat "does curl work right now" as live, time-varying fact to re-check, not fixed property of machine — Cloudflare's bot scoring can flip previously-clean IP without notice. Backend fetcher still needs graceful-degrade path for when challenged, and adapters should be **verified against live pages** (Playwright MCP, on-device devtools, direct probe) before finalizing, not assumed from single earlier test.
 - **kagane.to and novelfull.com are the exception to the above** — both sit behind a Cloudflare JavaScript challenge no TLS fingerprint clears, so the backend polls them over CDP (`BROWSER_WS_URL`) and skips them entirely when that's unset. The four other sites poll fine over plain TLS.
-- **The CDP sidecar must look like a real browser, and stock headless images don't.** Measured 2026-08-08 against kagane.to, all from the same IP: `chromedp/headless-shell:stable` never cleared the challenge in 90s (`navigator.webdriver` true, empty plugin list, Chromium-branded client hints — suppressing `webdriver` alone changed nothing); `zenika/alpine-chrome` ships Chrome 124, refused outright; real Chrome with the default `--headless=new` UA never cleared, because the UA says `HeadlessChrome`; real Chrome with a stock UA **and** a clock zone matching the egress IP's country cleared in ~4s. Hence `chrome/` — a Debian image with `google-chrome-stable`, a version-derived UA, and `TZ`/`BROWSER_TZ`. Chrome reads the zone *name* through ICU from `/etc/localtime`'s symlink target, so mounting the host's `/etc/localtime` does **not** work; `/etc/timezone` is mounted instead.
+- **The CDP sidecar must look like a real browser, and stock headless images don't.** Measured 2026-08-08 against kagane.to, all from the same IP: `chromedp/headless-shell:stable` never cleared the challenge in 90s (`navigator.webdriver` true, empty plugin list, Chromium-branded client hints — suppressing `webdriver` alone changed nothing); `zenika/alpine-chrome` ships Chrome 124, refused outright; real Chrome with the default `--headless=new` UA never cleared, because the UA says `HeadlessChrome`; real Chrome with a stock UA **and** a non-UTC clock zone cleared in ~4s. Hence `chrome/` — a Debian image with `google-chrome-stable`, a version-derived UA, and `TZ`/`BROWSER_TZ`. Chrome reads the zone *name* through ICU from `/etc/localtime`'s symlink target, ignoring the file's contents, so mounting the host's `/etc/localtime` does **not** work; `/etc/timezone` is mounted instead.
+- **UTC is the tell, not a country mismatch.** A UTC clock is the datacenter default, so Cloudflare scores it as one; any real zone clears. Measured 2026-08-08, identical container, one Indonesian egress IP: UTC never cleared in 60s (twice), while `Asia/Jakarta` **and** `America/New_York` both cleared in 4s. An earlier note here claimed the zone had to match the egress IP's country — that was wrong, inferred from the host clock (`Asia/Bangkok`) rather than the measured egress. `BROWSER_TZ` therefore needs a plausible zone, not a geolocated one.
 - **A challenged page needs the tab kept open.** The interstitial takes seconds to solve and only then writes clearance into the browser's shared cookie jar. Navigate-read-close never clears anything; `BrowserFetcher.run` holds one tab and re-reads until the payload arrives.
 
 ## Architecture

chrome/entrypoint.sh

@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -eu
 
-# Cloudflare scores a browser whose clock zone disagrees with its egress IP's
+# A UTC clock is itself the bot signal — Cloudflare treats it as the datacenter
-# country as a proxy, and kagane's challenge then never clears (measured
+# default — and kagane's challenge then never clears. Measured 2026-08-08 with
-# 2026-08-08 from a Thai IP: identical container, UTC never cleared in 90s,
+# an identical container on one Indonesian egress IP: UTC never cleared in 60s
-# Asia/Bangkok cleared in 4s). So the zone has to be right, and it has to be
+# (twice), while Asia/Jakarta and America/New_York both cleared in 4s. Any real
-# right the way Chrome reads it.
+# zone will do; the zone does not have to match the IP's country, it just must
+# not be UTC. It does have to be right the way Chrome reads it.
 #
 # TZ must carry the zone *name*. Chrome resolves the zone through ICU, which
 # takes the name from /etc/localtime's symlink target and ignores the file's

docker-compose.yml

@@ -101,13 +101,14 @@ services:
     image: bookmarkmanager-chrome:latest
     restart: unless-stopped
     environment:
-      # Cloudflare scores a browser whose clock zone disagrees with its egress
+      # A UTC clock is itself the bot signal: Cloudflare treats it as the
-      # IP's country as a proxy, and kagane's challenge then never clears
+      # datacenter default, and kagane's challenge then never clears. Measured
-      # (measured 2026-08-08: identical container, UTC never cleared in 90s,
+      # 2026-08-08, identical container, one Indonesian egress IP: UTC never
-      # Asia/Bangkok cleared in 4s from a Thai IP). Unset falls back to the
+      # cleared in 60s (twice); Asia/Jakarta and America/New_York both cleared
-      # host's /etc/timezone below, which is right whenever the host clock is
+      # in 4s. So any real zone works and it need not match the IP's country —
-      # set to local time; set BROWSER_TZ when the host runs UTC somewhere that
+      # only UTC fails. Unset falls back to the host's /etc/timezone below,
-      # isn't, since it is the IP's country that has to match, not the clock's.
+      # which is a real zone whenever the host clock is set to local time; set
+      # BROWSER_TZ when the host runs UTC.
       TZ: ${BROWSER_TZ:-}
     volumes:
       # The zone *name*, which is what Chrome's ICU needs — see chrome/entrypoint.sh.