How a JSON identity file on each node prevents control plane from reinstalling live servers

A developer working on a VM provisioning control plane discovered that the system could only verify a host by checking a database row, which failed to distinguish between three distinct machine states sharing the same IP address. To solve this, the bootstrap pipeline now writes a small JSON manifest file to each node, creating a two-sided identity check between the database and the machine itself. The file is intentionally world-readable and contains no secrets, allowing any operator to identify a machine over SSH without elevated privileges. An outcome enum with six possible states — including three hard refusals — gates every pipeline entry point, ensuring unrecognised or foreign nodes are never silently overwritten. The key design principle is that a corrupt or missing manifest is treated identically: neither can be counted as a match, forcing the issue to surface rather than proceeding destructively.