Improve VPN status reporting and recovery

docs/goals/startup-dns-and-icons/GOAL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Goal: Recover stale VPN DNS and ship the approved icons
+
+Use Krypton Execution on `docs/goals/startup-dns-and-icons/PLAN.md`. Preserve user work and auth behavior. Root owns privileged DNS logic and integration; the icon agent has an explicitly disjoint write scope. Prove recovery using synthetic journal/process/DNS fixtures, never real network changes. Report unrun native/reboot acceptance and snapshotless legacy limits.
+
+## Result — 2026-10-08
+
+Implemented in source. Normal installation updates the root helper and ships the native icon renderer. The app gates connection on a capability-checked startup recovery, displays failures/external sessions, and retries through Refresh. CLI exit replaces its finished process before recovery, retaining the client's exit code. DNS snapshots are data-only, versioned, private, durable and serialized with native lockf; no arbitrary private-address reset remains.
+
+PRE review passed after adding unresolved-journal retention, shared locking and verified owner ancestry. Post-review fixes cover Bash pipeline/progress siblings and custom DNS on newly enabled network services. Final integration review: no outstanding blockers.
+
+Automated evidence:
+
+- `python3 tests/dns_recovery.py`: all 16 cases passed; subsequent focused competing-engine regression under the same CLI also passed. Original helper replay fails the new reboot recovery contract as expected.
+- `python3 tests/dns_cli.py`: noninteractive command, legacy helper rejection, fixed JSON, path quoting and preserved client exit codes passed.
+- `python3 tests/menu.py` and `python3 tests/icons.py`: startup lifecycle, fake CLI, real session timing, both icon themes and offscreen pixel checks passed.
+- `tests/smoke.sh`, `python3 tests/configuration.py`, `python3 tests/auth_settings.py`, `python3 tests/logging.py`, and the installed openconnect-lite Python running `tests/yandex_import.py`: passed.
+- Shell syntax, `git diff --check` and `swift build -c release --package-path app`: passed.
+
+Real installation, app/GUI launch, live VPN/DNS changes and actual reboot acceptance were not run. Snapshotless pre-upgrade DNS must first be restored to the user's normal settings; no software can infer an unrecorded custom value. Other network locations, deleted services or invalid journals fail visibly and preserve the record.