src/faces.rs

@@ -2234,6 +2234,17 @@ async fn update_face_handler<D: FaceDao>(
             orientation: None,
             model_version: Some(current.model_version.clone()),
         };
+        // Soft contract on the re-embed: we'd LIKE a fresh ArcFace
+        // vector for the new crop, but the operator's bbox edit is
+        // sacred. If detection finds no face in the new region (they
+        // dragged the box slightly off-center, or moved it to a back-
+        // of-head shot they've already manually tagged), or returns a
+        // bad embedding, we keep the old embedding and apply the bbox
+        // anyway. Cost: stale embedding for that row, which slightly
+        // pollutes clustering for files re-detected against this
+        // person — accepted because dropping the user's drag is a
+        // worse UX. Transient failures (cuda_oom, engine unavailable)
+        // still 503 so the operator can retry once Apollo recovers.
         match face_client.embed(crop_bytes, meta).await {
             Ok(resp) => {
                 if let Some(face) = resp.faces.first() {
@@ -2241,20 +2252,23 @@ async fn update_face_handler<D: FaceDao>(
                         Ok(b) => new_embedding = Some(b),
                         Err(e) => {
                             warn!(
-                                "PATCH /image/faces/{}: bad embedding from face service: {:?}",
+                                "PATCH /image/faces/{}: bad embedding from face service ({:?}); keeping old embedding, bbox still applied",
                                 id, e
                             );
-                            return HttpResponse::BadGateway()
-                                .body("invalid embedding from face service");
                         }
                     }
                 } else {
-                    return HttpResponse::UnprocessableEntity()
+                    info!(
-                        .body("no face in new bbox");
+                        "PATCH /image/faces/{}: no face detected in new bbox — keeping old embedding, bbox still applied",
+                        id
+                    );
                 }
             }
             Err(FaceDetectError::Permanent(e)) => {
-                return HttpResponse::UnprocessableEntity().body(format!("{}", e));
+                info!(
+                    "PATCH /image/faces/{}: embed permanent error ({}); keeping old embedding, bbox still applied",
+                    id, e
+                );
             }
             Err(FaceDetectError::Transient(e)) => {
                 return HttpResponse::ServiceUnavailable().body(format!("{}", e));