FIX: report initializer catalog outages as unavailable, not unregistered

frontend/src/components/Initializers/AdditionalInitializers.tsx

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import ConfirmDialog from '../ConfirmDialog'
 interface AdditionalInitializersProps {
   items: AdditionalInitializerSetting[]
   registeredInitializers: RegisteredInitializer[]
+  catalogAvailable?: boolean
   creating: boolean
   savingInitializerId?: string | null
   saveErrors?: Record<string, string>
@@ -157,6 +158,7 @@ function AdditionalInitializerCard({
 export default function AdditionalInitializers({
   items,
   registeredInitializers,
+  catalogAvailable = true,
   creating,
   savingInitializerId = null,
   saveErrors = {},
@@ -237,7 +239,7 @@ export default function AdditionalInitializers({
             <AdditionalInitializerCard
               key={`${item.id}:${formatInitializerParameters(item.parameters)}:${item.order_index ?? ''}`}
               item={item}
-              initializer={resolveRegisteredInitializer(item.initializer_name, registeredInitializers)}
+              initializer={resolveRegisteredInitializer(item.initializer_name, registeredInitializers, catalogAvailable)}
               isSaving={savingInitializerId === item.id}
               isApplying={applyingInitializerId === item.id}
               isDeleting={deletingInitializerId === item.id}

frontend/src/components/Initializers/BaselineInitializers.tsx

@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ import { useInitializersStyles } from './Initializers.styles'
 interface BaselineInitializersProps {
   items: BaselineInitializerSetting[]
   registeredInitializers: RegisteredInitializer[]
+  catalogAvailable?: boolean
 }
 
 export default function BaselineInitializers({
   items,
   registeredInitializers,
+  catalogAvailable = true,
 }: BaselineInitializersProps) {
   const styles = useInitializersStyles()
 
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ export default function BaselineInitializers({
       ) : (
         <div className={styles.baselineGroup} role="list" aria-label="Baseline initializers">
           {items.map((item: BaselineInitializerSetting) => {
-            const initializer = resolveRegisteredInitializer(item.initializer_name, registeredInitializers)
+            const initializer = resolveRegisteredInitializer(item.initializer_name, registeredInitializers, catalogAvailable)
             return (
               <div
                 key={`${item.initializer_name}:${item.order_index}`}

frontend/src/components/Initializers/Initializers.test.tsx

@@ -285,6 +285,31 @@ describe('Initializers', () => {
     expect(screen.getByText('Service Unavailable')).toBeInTheDocument()
   })
 
+  it('should describe rows as temporarily unavailable, not unregistered, when the catalog fails', async () => {
+    mockedInitializersApi.listRegistered.mockRejectedValue(new Error('Service Unavailable'))
+
+    renderInitializers()
+
+    const row = await screen.findByTestId('baseline-initializer-row-target')
+    // A metadata outage must not be presented as a configuration problem.
+    expect(within(row).getByText(/temporarily unavailable/i)).toBeInTheDocument()
+    expect(within(row).queryByText(/no longer registered/i)).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+
+    mockedInitializersApi.listRegistered.mockResolvedValue({
+      items: [targetInitializer],
+      pagination: { limit: 200, has_more: false },
+    })
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: 'Refresh' }))
+
+    // Refresh re-runs the load effect (and remounts rows via the loading
+    // state), so assert on a freshly queried node.
+    await waitFor(async () => {
+      expect(screen.getByTestId('baseline-initializer-row-target')).toHaveTextContent(
+        'Registers targets.',
+      )
+    })
+  })
+
   it('should remove an additional initializer and show success feedback', async () => {
     const user = userEvent.setup()
     renderInitializers()

frontend/src/components/Initializers/Initializers.tsx

@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ export default function Initializers() {
   const styles = useInitializersStyles()
   const [settings, setSettings] = useState<InitializerSettingsResponse>(EMPTY_SETTINGS)
   const [registeredInitializers, setRegisteredInitializers] = useState<RegisteredInitializer[]>([])
+  // A failed catalog request leaves registration state unknown; rows must
+  // then say "temporarily unavailable" instead of "no longer registered",
+  // which would present a metadata outage as a configuration problem.
+  const [catalogAvailable, setCatalogAvailable] = useState(true)
   const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)
   const [statusMessage, setStatusMessage] = useState<StatusMessage | null>(null)
   const [refetchCount, setRefetchCount] = useState(0)
@@ -55,7 +59,9 @@ export default function Initializers() {
 
       if (registeredResult.status === 'fulfilled') {
         setRegisteredInitializers(registeredResult.value.items)
+        setCatalogAvailable(true)
       } else {
+        setCatalogAvailable(false)
         const catalogError = toApiError(registeredResult.reason).detail
         setStatusMessage((current: StatusMessage | null) =>
           current
@@ -207,10 +213,12 @@ export default function Initializers() {
           <BaselineInitializers
             items={settings.baseline}
             registeredInitializers={registeredInitializers}
+            catalogAvailable={catalogAvailable}
           />
           <AdditionalInitializers
             items={settings.additional}
             registeredInitializers={registeredInitializers}
+            catalogAvailable={catalogAvailable}
             creating={creating}
             savingInitializerId={savingInitializerId}
             saveErrors={saveErrors}

frontend/src/components/Initializers/initializerLookup.test.ts

@@ -45,3 +45,24 @@ describe('resolveRegisteredInitializer', () => {
     expect(result.initializer_type).toBe('UnknownInitializer')
   })
 })
+
+describe('resolveRegisteredInitializer with catalog availability', () => {
+  it('reports temporary unavailability instead of unregistered when the catalog request failed', () => {
+    const result = resolveRegisteredInitializer('target', [], false)
+
+    expect(result).toEqual({
+      initializer_name: 'target',
+      initializer_type: 'UnverifiedInitializer',
+      description: expect.stringContaining('temporarily unavailable'),
+      required_env_vars: [],
+      supported_parameters: [],
+    })
+    expect(result.description).not.toContain('no longer registered')
+  })
+
+  it('still resolves matches from stale-but-loaded catalog data when available flag is true', () => {
+    const result = resolveRegisteredInitializer('target', registered, true)
+
+    expect(result).toBe(registered[0])
+  })
+})

frontend/src/components/Initializers/initializerLookup.ts

@@ -1,16 +1,36 @@
 import type { RegisteredInitializer } from '@/types'
 
+export const UNREGISTERED_INITIALIZER_DESCRIPTION = 'Initializer is no longer registered.'
+export const CATALOG_UNAVAILABLE_DESCRIPTION =
+  'Initializer catalog is temporarily unavailable; registration state cannot be confirmed.'
+
 /**
  * Resolve a settings entry's `initializer_name` to its catalog definition.
  *
  * Settings reference an initializer by name; the catalog (from `listRegistered`)
  * is the single source of truth for display metadata. When a persisted name is no
  * longer registered, return a placeholder so the row still renders.
+ *
+ * `catalogAvailable` distinguishes the two ways a name can fail to resolve:
+ * a successful catalog response that lacks the name means the entry is truly
+ * unregistered, while a failed catalog request only means registration state
+ * is unknown and must not be reported as a configuration problem.
  */
 export function resolveRegisteredInitializer(
   initializerName: string,
   registeredInitializers: RegisteredInitializer[],
+  catalogAvailable: boolean = true,
 ): RegisteredInitializer {
+  if (!catalogAvailable) {
+    return {
+      initializer_name: initializerName,
+      initializer_type: 'UnverifiedInitializer',
+      description: CATALOG_UNAVAILABLE_DESCRIPTION,
+      required_env_vars: [],
+      supported_parameters: [],
+    }
+  }
+
   const match = registeredInitializers.find((item) => item.initializer_name === initializerName)
   if (match) {
     return match
@@ -19,7 +39,7 @@ export function resolveRegisteredInitializer(
   return {
     initializer_name: initializerName,
     initializer_type: 'UnknownInitializer',
-    description: 'Initializer is no longer registered.',
+    description: UNREGISTERED_INITIALIZER_DESCRIPTION,
     required_env_vars: [],
     supported_parameters: [],
   }