Change preview_id to reference asset by reference ID, not content ID

Clients receive preview_id in API responses but could not dereference it
through public routes (which use reference IDs). Now preview_id is a
self-referential FK to asset_references.id so the value is directly
usable in the public API.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

app/assets/database/models.py

@@ -45,13 +45,7 @@ class Asset(Base):
         passive_deletes=True,
     )
 
-    preview_of: Mapped[list[AssetReference]] = relationship(
-        "AssetReference",
-        back_populates="preview_asset",
-        primaryjoin=lambda: Asset.id == foreign(AssetReference.preview_id),
-        foreign_keys=lambda: [AssetReference.preview_id],
-        viewonly=True,
-    )
+    # preview_id on AssetReference is a self-referential FK to asset_references.id
 
     __table_args__ = (
         Index("uq_assets_hash", "hash", unique=True),
@@ -91,7 +85,7 @@ class AssetReference(Base):
     owner_id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(128), nullable=False, default="")
     name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(512), nullable=False)
     preview_id: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(
-        String(36), ForeignKey("assets.id", ondelete="SET NULL")
+        String(36), ForeignKey("asset_references.id", ondelete="SET NULL")
     )
     user_metadata: Mapped[dict[str, Any] | None] = mapped_column(
         JSON(none_as_null=True)
@@ -119,10 +113,10 @@ class AssetReference(Base):
         foreign_keys=[asset_id],
         lazy="selectin",
     )
-    preview_asset: Mapped[Asset | None] = relationship(
-        "Asset",
-        back_populates="preview_of",
+    preview_ref: Mapped[AssetReference | None] = relationship(
+        "AssetReference",
         foreign_keys=[preview_id],
+        remote_side=lambda: [AssetReference.id],
     )
 
     metadata_entries: Mapped[list[AssetReferenceMeta]] = relationship(

app/assets/database/queries/__init__.py

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from app.assets.database.queries.asset_reference import (
     list_references_by_asset_id,
     list_references_page,
     mark_references_missing_outside_prefixes,
+    reference_exists,
     reference_exists_for_asset_id,
     restore_references_by_paths,
     set_reference_metadata,
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ __all__ = [
     "list_tags_with_usage",
     "mark_references_missing_outside_prefixes",
     "reassign_asset_references",
+    "reference_exists",
     "reference_exists_for_asset_id",
     "remove_missing_tag_for_asset_id",
     "remove_tags_from_reference",

app/assets/database/queries/asset_reference.py

@@ -137,6 +137,21 @@ def reference_exists_for_asset_id(
     return session.execute(q).first() is not None
 
 
+def reference_exists(
+    session: Session,
+    reference_id: str,
+) -> bool:
+    """Return True if a reference with the given ID exists (not soft-deleted)."""
+    q = (
+        select(sa.literal(True))
+        .select_from(AssetReference)
+        .where(AssetReference.id == reference_id)
+        .where(AssetReference.deleted_at.is_(None))
+        .limit(1)
+    )
+    return session.execute(q).first() is not None
+
+
 def insert_reference(
     session: Session,
     asset_id: str,
@@ -496,19 +511,19 @@ def soft_delete_reference_by_id(
 def set_reference_preview(
     session: Session,
     reference_id: str,
-    preview_asset_id: str | None = None,
+    preview_reference_id: str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Set or clear preview_id and bump updated_at. Raises on unknown IDs."""
     ref = session.get(AssetReference, reference_id)
     if not ref:
         raise ValueError(f"AssetReference {reference_id} not found")
 
-    if preview_asset_id is None:
+    if preview_reference_id is None:
         ref.preview_id = None
     else:
-        if not session.get(Asset, preview_asset_id):
-            raise ValueError(f"Preview Asset {preview_asset_id} not found")
-        ref.preview_id = preview_asset_id
+        if not session.get(AssetReference, preview_reference_id):
+            raise ValueError(f"Preview AssetReference {preview_reference_id} not found")
+        ref.preview_id = preview_reference_id
 
     ref.updated_at = get_utc_now()
     session.flush()

app/assets/services/asset_management.py

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def update_asset_metadata(
             set_reference_preview(
                 session,
                 reference_id=reference_id,
-                preview_asset_id=preview_id,
+                preview_reference_id=preview_id,
             )
             touched = True
 
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ def delete_asset_reference(
 
 def set_asset_preview(
     reference_id: str,
-    preview_asset_id: str | None = None,
+    preview_reference_id: str | None = None,
     owner_id: str = "",
 ) -> AssetDetailResult:
     with create_session() as session:
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ def set_asset_preview(
         set_reference_preview(
             session,
             reference_id=reference_id,
-            preview_asset_id=preview_asset_id,
+            preview_reference_id=preview_reference_id,
         )
 
         result = fetch_reference_asset_and_tags(

app/assets/services/ingest.py

@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ from app.assets.database.queries import (
     add_tags_to_reference,
     fetch_reference_and_asset,
     get_asset_by_hash,
-    get_existing_asset_ids,
     get_reference_by_file_path,
     get_reference_tags,
     get_or_create_reference,
+    reference_exists,
     remove_missing_tag_for_asset_id,
     set_reference_metadata,
     set_reference_tags,
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def _ingest_file_from_path(
 
     with create_session() as session:
         if preview_id:
-            if preview_id not in get_existing_asset_ids(session, [preview_id]):
+            if not reference_exists(session, preview_id):
                 preview_id = None
 
         asset, asset_created, asset_updated = upsert_asset(