backend/src/intake/rembgClient.ts

@@ -33,6 +33,18 @@ const MODEL = 'u2net';
  */
 const TIMEOUT_MS = 120_000;
 
+/**
+ * Thrown only when the sidecar was actually contacted and did not answer
+ * usably — unreachable, timed out, answered with a non-2xx status, or
+ * answered with something that is not a PNG.
+ *
+ * Deliberately not thrown for "REMBG_URL is not set": that failure happens
+ * before any attempt to contact anything, so lumping it in here would tell a
+ * caller "the service did not answer" about a service nothing ever tried to
+ * reach. A caller distinguishes the two to avoid exactly that (#281 review).
+ */
+export class SidecarRequestError extends Error {}
+
 /** The configured base URL, or null when there is none. */
 function baseUrl(): string | null {
   const raw = process.env.REMBG_URL;
@@ -72,14 +84,24 @@ export async function removeBackground(bytes: Buffer, mediaType: string): Promis
   body.append('file', new Blob([new Uint8Array(bytes)], { type: mediaType }), 'photo');
   body.append('model', MODEL);
 
-  const res = await fetch(`${base}/api/remove`, {
+  let res: Response;
+  try {
+    res = await fetch(`${base}/api/remove`, {
       method: 'POST',
       body,
       signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS)
     });
+  } catch (err) {
+    // Unreachable, refused, or timed out — fetch throws for all three rather
+    // than returning a response, so this is the only place that can catch
+    // them and mark them as a sidecar failure rather than a generic error.
+    throw new SidecarRequestError(
+      `rembg did not answer: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`
+    );
+  }
 
   if (!res.ok) {
-    throw new Error(`rembg answered ${res.status}`);
+    throw new SidecarRequestError(`rembg answered ${res.status}`);
   }
 
   const out = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
@@ -88,7 +110,7 @@ export async function removeBackground(bytes: Buffer, mediaType: string): Promis
   // image/png would otherwise be written over a photograph — the same reason
   // uploads are checked by signature rather than by what the caller declared.
   if (!signatureMatches('image/png', out.subarray(0, SIGNATURE_BYTES))) {
-    throw new Error('rembg response is not a PNG');
+    throw new SidecarRequestError('rembg response is not a PNG');
   }
 
   return out;

backend/src/routes/adminItemDrafts.ts

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import {
   removeImageBackground,
   restoreImageOriginal,
 } from '../intake/backgroundRemoval';
-import { isRembgConfigured } from '../intake/rembgClient';
+import { isRembgConfigured, SidecarRequestError } from '../intake/rembgClient';
 
 const router = Router();
 
@@ -274,15 +274,34 @@ router.post(
     try {
       await removeImageBackground(Number(imageId));
     } catch (err) {
-      // 502, not 500. The request was fine and so is this app — the service it
-      // depends on did not answer. The message says the photo is unchanged,
-      // because that is the thing the admin actually needs to know.
       console.error(`[drafts] background removal for image ${imageId}:`, err);
+
+      // 502 only for a SidecarRequestError: the request was fine and so is
+      // this app — the service it depends on was actually contacted and did
+      // not answer usably. The message says the photo is unchanged, because
+      // that is the thing the admin actually needs to know.
+      if (err instanceof SidecarRequestError) {
         return res
           .status(502)
           .json({ error: 'the background-removal service did not answer — the photo is unchanged' });
       }
 
+      // Everything else here never reached the sidecar at all — an
+      // unrecognised file extension (a legacy .jpeg), a file missing from the
+      // uploads volume, or REMBG_URL not being set. Reporting those as "the
+      // service did not answer" would send the admin to retry a service that
+      // was never contacted, and hide the real reason in the server log. The
+      // photo is still unchanged in every one of these cases too:
+      // removeImageBackground only writes the row once the cut-out already
+      // exists on disk.
+      return res.status(500).json({
+        error:
+          err instanceof Error
+            ? `this photo could not be processed: ${err.message}`
+            : 'this photo could not be processed'
+      });
+    }
+
     res.json(await imageOfItem(itemId, imageId));
   })
 );

backend/tests/integration/adminItemDrafts.integration.test.ts

@@ -469,6 +469,24 @@ describe('the review queue’s background-removal control', () => {
     expect(rows[0]?.image_path).toBe('/uploads/original.jpg');
   });
 
+  // MINOR 3 (#281 review): a failure that happens before the sidecar is ever
+  // contacted — here, the file the row points to is missing from the uploads
+  // volume — must not be reported as "the service did not answer". That sends
+  // the admin to retry a service that was never reached, and hides the real
+  // reason in the server log.
+  it('does not answer 502 when the photo cannot be read, even though a sidecar is configured', async () => {
+    await startStub(200, PNG_BYTES);
+    const { itemId, imageId } = await seedDraftWithImage();
+    await fsp.unlink(path.join(uploads, 'original.jpg'));
+
+    const res = await request(app).post(
+      `/api/admin/item-drafts/${itemId}/images/${imageId}/remove-background`
+    );
+
+    expect(res.status).not.toBe(502);
+    expect(res.body.error).not.toMatch(/did not answer/);
+  });
+
   // Scoped by item as well as by image. The id is a serial, so guessing one is
   // not hard, and a photo from another submission must not be reachable
   // through this item's URL.

backend/tests/unit/rembgClient.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import http from 'http';
 import { AddressInfo } from 'net';
-import { isRembgConfigured, removeBackground } from '../../src/intake/rembgClient';
+import { isRembgConfigured, removeBackground, SidecarRequestError } from '../../src/intake/rembgClient';
 
 /** A real PNG header, so the client's own signature check sees what it expects. */
 const PNG = Buffer.from([0x89, 0x50, 0x4e, 0x47, 0x0d, 0x0a, 0x1a, 0x0a, 0, 0, 0, 0]);
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@ describe('asking the sidecar to remove a background', () => {
       },
       async () => {
         await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.toThrow(/500/);
+        await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(
+          SidecarRequestError
+        );
       }
     );
   });
@@ -123,12 +126,21 @@ describe('asking the sidecar to remove a background', () => {
       },
       async () => {
         await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.toThrow(/not a PNG/);
+        await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(
+          SidecarRequestError
+        );
       }
     );
   });
 
-  it('rejects when it is not configured at all', async () => {
+  // Deliberately not a SidecarRequestError (MINOR 3, #281 review): this
+  // failure happens before any attempt to contact the sidecar, and a caller
+  // has to be able to tell "never tried" apart from "tried and failed".
+  it('rejects when it is not configured at all, without it being a sidecar failure', async () => {
     delete process.env.REMBG_URL;
     await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.toThrow(/REMBG_URL/);
+    await expect(removeBackground(JPEG, 'image/jpeg')).rejects.not.toBeInstanceOf(
+      SidecarRequestError
+    );
   });
 });