Answer 499 to an image request whose client went away (closes #339)

When the client of an image request goes away before its image is
ready, the image proxy returns context.Canceled. serveImage now logs
this once at info level, with the request_id, host and path, and
answers 499, the status nginx calls "client closed request". It was
answered 500 and logged at error level, as pixa's own failure. The
check sits in serveImage, before respondImageError, which cannot see
the request's context. A cancellation while the request's context is
live is still answered 500. README.md lists the 499 on both image
routes.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -310,8 +310,7 @@ path under `/v1/` answers 200, in maintenance mode too.
     - 403 when the upstream host, or a host it redirects to, has an address in a
       blocked network (see `blocked_networks`).
     - 429 over `image_requests_per_minute` (below).
-    - 499 when the client goes away while waiting for an image another request
-      is making (below).
+    - 499 when the client goes away before the image is ready.
     - 415 when the upstream answers with a `Content-Type` that is not one of the
       source formats (below).
     - 415 when the upstream sends a body whose first bytes are not those of the

TODO.md

@@ -30,10 +30,9 @@ P2: security: per-origin rate limiting
 
 # Completed Steps
 
-- 2026-10-26 on both image routes, a request is answered 499 and logged at info
-  level when its client goes away while waiting for an image another request is
-  making (closes #339). It was answered 500 and logged at error level, as pixa's
-  own failure.
+- 2026-10-26 on both image routes, a request whose client went away before its
+  image was ready is answered 499 and logged at info level (closes #339). It was
+  answered 500 and logged at error level, as pixa's own failure.
     - The line is "client went away before the image was ready". It carries the
       `request_id`, the host and the path.
     - The 499 has no body, since nobody reads it.

internal/handlers/client_gone_internal_test.go

@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ func TestImageRoutes_ClientGoneAnswers499(t *testing.T) {
 			close(fetcher.release)
 			<-firstDone
 
-			if rec.Code != 499 {
-				t.Errorf("status = %d, want 499", rec.Code)
+			if rec.Code != statusClientClosedRequest {
+				t.Errorf("status = %d, want %d", rec.Code, statusClientClosedRequest)
 			}
 
 			var clientGoneLines int

internal/handlers/image.go

@@ -21,9 +21,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 // statusClientClosedRequest is the status nginx calls "client closed
-// request". The image routes answer it when the client goes away while
-// waiting for an image another request is making. Nobody reads it; it is for
-// logs and metrics.
+// request". The image routes answer it to a request whose client went away
+// before its image was ready. Nobody reads it; it is for logs and metrics.
 const statusClientClosedRequest = 499
 
 // HandleImage handles the main image proxy route:
@@ -353,8 +352,8 @@ func notModified(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, etag string) bool {
 // once they have the request and its URL's expiry, which ends the
 // Cache-Control max-age. It chooses the format for the format auto, answers
 // If-None-Match with 304 and HEAD with the headers only. It answers 499 when
-// the client goes away while waiting for an image another request is making.
-// It answers any other error of the image service with respondImageError.
+// the client went away before the image was ready, and any other error of
+// the image service with respondImageError.
 func (s *Handlers) serveImage(
 	w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request,
 	req *imagerequest.Request, expires time.Time,