# PDR 007: Migrate recipe collections through durable item-level review

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/recipe-site/pdrs/007-durable-item-level-collection-migration
- Project: Recipe Site
- Status: Proposed
- Opened: 2026-08-08

## Context

Moving a recipe collection is different from capturing one recipe. One action
may contain hundreds of independent sources, duplicates, malformed items, and
photographs whose recipe boundaries are unclear. A failed source should not
discard the rest of the migration, and a completed parser should not fill the
recipe box with content nobody has reviewed.

The migration may outlive a browser session. Users need to return to its
progress, find the next item that needs attention, and undo safe results without
deleting unrelated recipes.

## Proposed decision

Treat a collection import as a durable batch of independently reviewable items.
Each URL, file, archive entry, or confirmed photo group has its own processing,
diagnostics, draft, retry, skip, rejection, and acceptance state. One failed
item does not fail valid siblings.

Keep the batch and review queue on the server so work survives navigation and
browser restarts. The workspace shows aggregate progress, but item state remains
authoritative. Shared defaults may reduce repetitive editing without accepting
an item on the user's behalf.

Require the user to confirm how photographs group into recipes before
processing. Automated boundary suggestions may help, but they do not become an
input until confirmed. Apply PDR 004 to every item, including structured archive
entries.

Retain source and batch provenance for accepted recipes. A whole-batch undo
first shows a dry run, then removes only recipes created by that batch that have
not since been transferred, forked, or otherwise made unsafe to delete. Report
unsafe items for manual resolution instead of forcing the rollback.

## Consequences

Large migrations can continue through isolated failures and return users to a
stable review queue. The product gains more preparation and review steps than a
bulk copy operation, especially when grouping photographs or resolving
duplicates.

Precise undo depends on durable provenance and per-item safety checks. Labels
and timestamps are useful for finding a batch but are not safe deletion rules.

## Evaluation

Accept this proposal when a user can leave and resume a mixed-result batch,
review every successful item before publication, retry one failure without
restarting its siblings, confirm multi-page photo groups, and preview a batch
undo that preserves recipes with later dependencies.

## Migration note

This PDR moves the user workflow and recovery policy out of proposed ADR 024.
It preserves the original date and Proposed status. ADR 024 retains the batch,
job, draft, concurrency, provenance, and undo architecture needed to implement
the proposal.

## Related records

- Project: [Recipe Site](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/recipe-site.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 024: Batch Recipe Import Staging](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/recipe-site/adrs/024-batch-recipe-import-staging.md)

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