CRT
81313b6fa4
A real `console fill apple-app-privacy` clicked Next onto a console page the engine did not recognise and logged nothing for 8 hours. - Step watchdog: after a click, or while the form is expected, no known page within --step-timeout seconds (default 30) -> "the page after "Next" is not a page storebound knows ... Buttons there: ...", a debug dump, and the manual steps. It keeps watching, but 20 min without progress closes the window and exits 1. - A heartbeat line every minute while waiting (also during sign-in); the final review wait is bounded (2 h) with a reminder every 10 min. - Debug dump (cli/console/debug.ts) in .storebound/console-debug/ <form>-<time>/: page.json (URL without query, headings, dialogs, every visible control with role and name), page.html (rebuilt from a clone: no scripts, values, hidden inputs or non-whitelisted attributes) and a small screenshot. Emails, phone numbers and the header / account area are replaced; cookies, storage and tokens are never read. --debug-dump writes one at every step for bug reports. - Guardrail tests: an unknown-page fixture (dump sanitized, bounded exit) and a scan of cli/console for while loops without a deadline and Playwright waits without a timeout (one waitForLoadState fixed). - Pitfall 14 (docs/pitfalls.md, store-pitfalls skill); the console-autofill skill says how to send a dump.
140 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
140 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
name: store-pitfalls
|
|
description: Known pitfalls with App Store Connect, Google Play and storebound itself, learned from real releases, and what to do about each - store lists that lag right after a create, dry runs that print a count instead of a plan, App Store names taken on a storefront, keyword limits in bytes, Data safety answers without code evidence, missing font glyphs in screenshots, console sign-in and sessions, Capacitor monorepo plugins, duplicates from retries, re-runs and parallel runs, App Store search ranks that are only a trend, Play without a search API, Play's Create app form (no API, opener and submit share a name, Free is final), App Privacy purposes over-mapped (Play advertising is Third-Party Advertising only), an unknown console page (bounded wait and a debug dump). Read it before any store task, and when a store command does something you did not expect.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Store pitfalls
|
|
|
|
Each entry: **symptom** → cause → what to do → what guards it now. The full changelog of lessons with dates is
|
|
`docs/pitfalls.md` in the storebound repository. When you hit a new one, tell the owner and add it there (and here).
|
|
|
|
## 1. A product you just created is "not there"
|
|
- **Symptom:** `apple iap-review` uploads nothing for a product `apple iap` created a minute ago; a list looks short.
|
|
- **Cause:** App Store Connect's `/inAppPurchasesV2` list (and Play's product list) can lag for a short while after a
|
|
create. A command that walks the list skips what is not in it yet.
|
|
- **Do:** wait a minute and re-run. Never assume a product was handled because the command finished.
|
|
- **Guard:** `apple iap-review` compares the config's products with the store's list, names the missing ones
|
|
("the store's list can lag a minute after creating; re-run") and exits 1. `apple iap` and `play products` read the
|
|
list again after creating and warn about any new product that is not in it yet; their dry runs name products that
|
|
are not on the store.
|
|
|
|
## 2. A dry run that only prints a count
|
|
- **Symptom:** `--dry` says "listing: 20 locales" or "3 change(s)", but not which fields would change to what.
|
|
- **Cause:** the command logged a summary instead of the plan.
|
|
- **Do:** never ask the owner to approve a count. Show the rows that change (item, action, old → new). If a command
|
|
only prints a count, say so and show the owner the diff from `pull` / `--json` output instead.
|
|
- **Guard:** `cli/lib/dry.ts` `dryPlan(title, rows)` prints the standard plan table (`apple iap`, `apple iap-review`,
|
|
`play products` use it); `tests/pitfalls.test.ts` scans `cli/**` for `--dry` branches that print nothing but a count.
|
|
|
|
## 3. "The app name you entered is already being used"
|
|
- **Symptom:** creating the App Store record or saving the name fails although you own no app with that name.
|
|
- **Cause:** App Store app names are unique per storefront, across all developers.
|
|
- **Do:** ask the owner for a variant (a short suffix such as "Example Notes: Lists") and set `apple.name` in the config;
|
|
keep `app.name` for Play and the brand. Do not pick the suffix yourself.
|
|
- **Guard:** `apple.name` overrides the App Store name.
|
|
|
|
## 4. Keyword field "too long" at fewer than 100 characters
|
|
- **Symptom:** App Store Connect rejects keywords that look short enough, mostly in Turkish, German, CJK.
|
|
- **Cause:** the 100 limit counts UTF-8 bytes, not characters ("ş" is 2 bytes, a CJK character 3).
|
|
- **Do:** shorten by bytes; drop words, not commas.
|
|
- **Guard:** `storebound check` counts bytes for keywords.
|
|
|
|
## 5. Data safety says "email collected" for an app that never asks for one
|
|
- **Symptom:** the proposal marks email (or phone) as collected because the app has accounts.
|
|
- **Cause:** account features do not imply email collection (anonymous ids, Game Center, Play Games sign-in).
|
|
- **Do:** answer only what the code proves; ask the owner for the rest (rule 5).
|
|
- **Guard:** `storebound scan` marks email only with evidence (an email field, an email sign-up call) and otherwise
|
|
says "ask owner".
|
|
|
|
## 6. Boxes or wrong glyphs in localized screenshots
|
|
- **Symptom:** Turkish, Polish or Vietnamese captions show fallback glyphs (ş, ğ, ł, ệ) while the English ones are fine.
|
|
- **Cause:** the font (or the Google Fonts subset that was downloaded) does not cover those characters, and the
|
|
browser silently draws them with another font.
|
|
- **Do:** check every language's characters before rendering, pick a font that covers them or let the fallback fill in.
|
|
- **Guard:** `storebound shots fonts` / `shots check` check each language's characters against the fonts' glyphs.
|
|
|
|
## 7. Console automation stops at sign-in or loses the session
|
|
- **Symptom:** `console fill` waits on a sign-in page, cannot find fields, or is signed out on the next run.
|
|
- **Cause:** the App Store Connect sign-in runs inside an `idmsa.apple.com` iframe; "User Access" is a plain heading,
|
|
not a labeled group; Chrome drops session cookies unless the last session is restored.
|
|
- **Do:** let the owner sign in in the opened window (never type credentials); re-run after the sign-in.
|
|
- **Guard:** the console session handles the iframe and the plain heading and starts Chrome with
|
|
`--restore-last-session`; a partial miss fills every field found and leaves only the missing ones to the owner.
|
|
|
|
## 8. `scan` misses Capacitor plugins in a monorepo
|
|
- **Symptom:** SDKs or privacy manifests of Capacitor plugins are not found.
|
|
- **Cause:** the plugins live in `apps/native/node_modules` (a workspace package), not in the root `node_modules`.
|
|
- **Do:** run `scan` from the project root; check that the stack line lists the plugins.
|
|
- **Guard:** `storebound scan` and `privacy-manifest` resolve packages through workspace folders too.
|
|
|
|
## 9. A second run (or a retry) creates a duplicate
|
|
- **Symptom:** two in-app purchases or subscription groups with the same name, a screenshot twice in a set, an
|
|
offer code campaign or a custom product page twice, after a timeout, a crash, a re-run a minute later, or two runs
|
|
at once.
|
|
- **Cause:** a POST create retried after a timeout or a 5xx may have been applied the first time; the store's lists lag
|
|
right after a create, so a re-run does not see what the last run made; two writers race; a Play edit redone after
|
|
a commit whose answer was lost.
|
|
- **Do:** just run the command again: every write command is an upsert and converges (`docs/idempotency.md`). Never
|
|
retry a create by hand (`storebound api`) without a GET first. If a run says another storebound run holds the lock,
|
|
wait for it; use `--force-unlock` only when that run is really gone. Never run two write commands for the same app
|
|
in parallel.
|
|
- **Guard:** `cli/lib/upsert.ts` (findOrCreate: fresh re-check + journal `.storebound/created.json`; createOnce: 409
|
|
= found, an unclear answer is looked up, never re-sent blindly), retries only for requests that are safe twice,
|
|
Play edits deleted on every error and never redone after an unclear commit, screenshot / preview sets keep the
|
|
matching prefix in order, `.storebound/locks/` per app and store. `tests/idempotency.test.ts`.
|
|
|
|
## 10. "We rank #4 for this keyword" (from the Search API)
|
|
- **Symptom:** `aso rank` says #4, the owner's phone shows the app lower (or higher) in App Store search.
|
|
- **Cause:** the iTunes Search API order is close to, not equal to, App Store search: no personalisation, no search
|
|
ads, no in-app event rows. It has no subtitle field either.
|
|
- **Do:** read ranks as a trend over weeks (`aso audit` arrows), never as a promise; never claim a competitor's
|
|
subtitle (no public API has it); a popularity number exists only from Apple Ads, never estimate one.
|
|
- **Guard:** `aso rank`, `aso competitors` and `aso audit` say it in their output; `aso suggest` shows popularity
|
|
"unknown" without Apple Ads credentials.
|
|
|
|
## 11. "Check our Google Play keyword ranks"
|
|
- **Symptom:** the owner asks for Play ranks or Play competitors per keyword.
|
|
- **Cause:** Google Play has no public search API; reading Play search pages would be scraping.
|
|
- **Do:** say so. Measure Play through the Play Console acquisition reports (search terms) and `analytics snapshot`
|
|
(store listing visitors, acquisitions); improve the listing text with `aso audit` (short description, density).
|
|
- **Guard:** `aso` covers App Store search only; the aso-basics skill states the limit.
|
|
|
|
## 12. A new Play app: "Create app" is both the opener and the submit
|
|
- **Symptom:** an agent cannot create the Play app through the API, or clicks "Create app" without knowing whether it
|
|
opens the form or submits it; or an app goes out as Free and the owner later wants it paid.
|
|
- **Cause:** the Play Developer API cannot create apps. Play Console's Home has a "Create app" button that opens the
|
|
form, and the form's final button has the same words. Free cannot become Paid later on Google Play. The package
|
|
name is not in this form: the first AAB upload sets it.
|
|
- **Do:** `storebound console fill play-app-record` (pick the account with `play.developerId` or
|
|
`play.developerAccount`); tell the owner that Free is final; the owner ticks the declarations and presses Create
|
|
app; then `storebound play upload --track internal` (or `flow run release`) sets the package name.
|
|
- **Guard:** `createAppAllowed` lets the opener through only on the app list, never inside a form or dialog (English
|
|
and Turkish); agreement checkboxes are never ticked; Free or paid is outlined as an owner check.
|
|
|
|
## 13. App Privacy purposes over-mapped
|
|
- **Symptom:** App Privacy says Developer's Advertising or Marketing for Device ID, Coarse Location, Product Interaction
|
|
or Performance Data, although the app only shows an ad SDK's ads.
|
|
- **Cause:** a Play purpose was turned into two Apple purposes ("advertising" -> Third-Party Advertising AND
|
|
Developer's Advertising or Marketing). Apple's definitions (developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/):
|
|
third-party ads are Third-Party Advertising; Developer's Advertising is first-party ads or marketing to your users.
|
|
- **Do:** one Apple purpose per Play purpose; put the owner's real answers in `appPrivacy.types` (Apple type ids,
|
|
purposes, linked, tracking) and let `storebound check` compare them with Info.plist and PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy.
|
|
- **Guard:** `applePurpose` (cli/lib/declarations.ts), `appPrivacy.types` validation and `appPrivacyMismatches`
|
|
(cli/lib/app-privacy.ts), `tests/app-privacy.test.ts`.
|
|
|
|
## 14. An unknown console page: bounded wait and a debug dump
|
|
- **Symptom:** `console fill` clicked Next (or opened the form) and then nothing happened in the log for a long time.
|
|
- **Cause:** the console showed a page storebound does not recognise (a changed layout, a new question): no field it
|
|
can fill and no button it may click.
|
|
- **Do:** read the warning: it names the page ("the page after "Next""), its buttons, and where the debug dump is.
|
|
Do that part by hand (the manual steps follow), or stop. To report it, re-run with `--debug-dump` and attach the
|
|
folder `.storebound/console-debug/<form>-<time>/` after the owner looked at `screen.jpg` (the screenshot shows what
|
|
the window showed). `page.json` / `page.html` hold labels and structure only: no values, cookies or tokens; emails,
|
|
phone numbers and the account area are replaced.
|
|
- **Guard:** the watchdog in `fillSession` (`--step-timeout`, default 30 s; a heartbeat line a minute; 20 min without
|
|
progress ends the run with exit 1), `cli/console/debug.ts`, `tests/console-flow.test.ts` (unknown-page fixture and a
|
|
scan for waits without a deadline).
|
|
|
|
## Adding a lesson
|
|
Every bug found in real use gets an entry in `docs/pitfalls.md` and here, and, where possible, a check or a test
|
|
that fails without the fix (see CONTRIBUTING.md).
|