fix(management): serialize lifecycle maintenance paths

- serialize deleteInstance with the same profile and plugin-layout locks as ensure

- lock non-account marketplace normalization paths and ignore .locks as an instance source

src/auth/commands/create-command.ts

@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ export async function handleCreate(ctx: CommandContext, args: string[]): Promise
 
     if (!profileExistedBeforeCreate) {
       try {
-        ctx.instanceMgr.deleteInstance(profileName);
+        await ctx.instanceMgr.deleteInstance(profileName);
       } catch {
         // Best-effort cleanup.
       }

src/auth/commands/remove-command.ts

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ export async function handleRemove(ctx: CommandContext, args: string[]): Promise
     }
 
     // Delete instance
-    ctx.instanceMgr.deleteInstance(profileName);
+    await ctx.instanceMgr.deleteInstance(profileName);
 
     // Delete profile from appropriate config
     if (isUnifiedMode() && existsUnified) {

src/management/instance-manager.ts

@@ -153,15 +153,22 @@ class InstanceManager {
   /**
    * Delete instance for profile
    */
-  deleteInstance(profileName: string): void {
+  async deleteInstance(profileName: string): Promise<void> {
     const instancePath = this.getInstancePath(profileName);
 
     if (!fs.existsSync(instancePath)) {
       return;
     }
 
-    // Recursive delete
+    await this.contextSyncLock.withLock(profileName, async () => {
-    fs.rmSync(instancePath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      await this.pluginLayoutLock.withNamedLock('__plugin-layout__', async () => {
+        if (!fs.existsSync(instancePath)) {
+          return;
+        }
+
+        fs.rmSync(instancePath, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      });
+    });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -173,6 +180,10 @@ class InstanceManager {
     }
 
     return fs.readdirSync(this.instancesDir).filter((name) => {
+      if (name.startsWith('.')) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
       const instancePath = path.join(this.instancesDir, name);
       return fs.statSync(instancePath).isDirectory();
     });

src/management/profile-context-sync-lock.ts

@@ -176,6 +176,79 @@ class ProfileContextSyncLock {
   async withLock<T>(profileName: string, callback: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
     return this.withNamedLock(profileName, callback);
   }
+
+  withNamedLockSync<T>(lockName: string, callback: () => T): T {
+    const lockPath = this.getLockPath(lockName);
+    const retryDelayMs = 50;
+    const staleLockMs = 30000;
+    const timeoutMs = staleLockMs + 5000;
+    const start = Date.now();
+    const ownerPayload: ContextSyncLockPayload = {
+      version: 1,
+      pid: process.pid,
+      nonce: createHash('sha1')
+        .update(`${process.pid}:${Date.now()}:${Math.random()}`)
+        .digest('hex')
+        .slice(0, 16),
+      acquiredAtMs: Date.now(),
+    };
+    const ownerPayloadRaw = JSON.stringify(ownerPayload);
+
+    fs.mkdirSync(this.locksDir, { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
+
+    while (true) {
+      try {
+        const fd = fs.openSync(lockPath, 'wx', 0o600);
+        fs.writeFileSync(fd, ownerPayloadRaw, 'utf8');
+        fs.closeSync(fd);
+        break;
+      } catch (error) {
+        const err = error as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+        if (err.code !== 'EEXIST') {
+          throw error;
+        }
+
+        const lockSnapshot = this.readContextSyncLockSnapshot(lockPath);
+        if (lockSnapshot) {
+          if (this.tryRemoveDeadOwnerLock(lockPath, lockSnapshot)) {
+            continue;
+          }
+
+          if (!lockSnapshot.owner) {
+            try {
+              const lockStats = fs.statSync(lockPath);
+              if (Date.now() - lockStats.mtimeMs > staleLockMs) {
+                if (this.tryRemoveLockIfUnchanged(lockPath, lockSnapshot.raw)) {
+                  continue;
+                }
+              }
+            } catch {
+              // Best-effort stale lock cleanup.
+            }
+          }
+        }
+
+        if (Date.now() - start > timeoutMs) {
+          throw new Error(`Timed out waiting for profile context lock: ${lockName}`);
+        }
+
+        const until = Date.now() + retryDelayMs;
+        while (Date.now() < until) {
+          // Busy wait only during rare lock contention.
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    try {
+      return callback();
+    } finally {
+      this.tryRemoveLockIfUnchanged(lockPath, ownerPayloadRaw);
+    }
+  }
+
+  withLockSync<T>(profileName: string, callback: () => T): T {
+    return this.withNamedLockSync(profileName, callback);
+  }
 }
 
 export default ProfileContextSyncLock;

src/management/shared-manager.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import * as os from 'os';
+import ProfileContextSyncLock from './profile-context-sync-lock';
 import { ok, info, warn } from '../utils/ui';
 import { AccountContextPolicy, DEFAULT_ACCOUNT_CONTEXT_GROUP } from '../auth/account-context';
 import { getCcsDir } from '../utils/config-manager';
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ class SharedManager {
   private readonly sharedDir: string;
   private readonly claudeDir: string;
   private readonly instancesDir: string;
+  private readonly pluginLayoutLock: ProfileContextSyncLock;
   private readonly sharedItems: SharedItem[];
   private readonly sharedPluginEntries: readonly SharedItem[] = [
     { name: 'cache', type: 'directory' },
@@ -134,6 +136,7 @@ class SharedManager {
     this.sharedDir = path.join(ccsDir, 'shared');
     this.claudeDir = path.join(this.homeDir, '.claude');
     this.instancesDir = path.join(ccsDir, 'instances');
+    this.pluginLayoutLock = new ProfileContextSyncLock(this.instancesDir);
     this.sharedItems = [
       { name: 'commands', type: 'directory' },
       { name: 'skills', type: 'directory' },
@@ -785,6 +788,12 @@ class SharedManager {
     this.normalizeMarketplaceRegistryPaths(configDir);
   }
 
+  normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPathsLocked(configDir?: string): void {
+    this.pluginLayoutLock.withNamedLockSync('__plugin-layout__', () => {
+      this.normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPaths(configDir);
+    });
+  }
+
   /**
    * Normalize plugin registry paths to use canonical ~/.claude/ paths
    * instead of instance-specific ~/.ccs/instances/<name>/ paths.
@@ -890,7 +899,7 @@ class SharedManager {
 
     if (fs.existsSync(this.instancesDir)) {
       for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(this.instancesDir, { withFileTypes: true })) {
-        if (!entry.isDirectory()) {
+        if (!entry.isDirectory() || entry.name.startsWith('.')) {
           continue;
         }
 

src/shared/claude-extension-setup.ts

@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ async function resolveExtensionEnv(
       profileType: result.type,
       target: 'claude',
     });
-    new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPaths(continuity.claudeConfigDir);
+    new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPathsLocked(continuity.claudeConfigDir);
     if (continuity.claudeConfigDir) {
       notes.push(`Default profile inherits continuity from account "${continuity.sourceAccount}".`);
       return {
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ async function resolveExtensionEnv(
     );
   }
 
-  new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPaths(env.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR);
+  new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPathsLocked(env.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR);
 
   if (result.type === 'copilot') {
     warnings.push(

src/utils/shell-executor.ts

@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export function execClaude(
 
   if (profileType !== 'account') {
     try {
-      new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPaths(env.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR);
+      new SharedManager().normalizeSharedPluginMetadataPathsLocked(env.CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR);
     } catch {
       // Best-effort normalization should never block Claude launch.
     }

src/web-server/routes/account-routes.ts

@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ router.delete('/reset-default', (_req: Request, res: Response): void => {
 /**
  * DELETE /api/accounts/:name - Delete an account
  */
-router.delete('/:name', (req: Request, res: Response): void => {
+router.delete('/:name', async (req: Request, res: Response): Promise<void> => {
   try {
     const { name } = req.params;
 
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ router.delete('/:name', (req: Request, res: Response): void => {
     }
 
     // Match CLI remove ordering: delete instance first, metadata second.
-    instanceMgr.deleteInstance(name);
+    await instanceMgr.deleteInstance(name);
 
     if (existsUnified) {
       registry.removeAccountUnified(name);

tests/unit/instance-manager-mcp-sync.test.ts

@@ -159,6 +159,17 @@ describe('InstanceManager MCP sync', () => {
     expect(String(warnSpy.mock.calls[0]?.[0] || '')).toContain('MCP sync skipped');
   });
 
+  it('does not list lock housekeeping as an instance', async () => {
+    spyOn(SharedManager.prototype, 'syncProjectContext').mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    spyOn(SharedManager.prototype, 'syncAdvancedContinuityArtifacts').mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    spyOn(InstanceManager.prototype, 'syncMcpServers').mockImplementation(() => false);
+
+    const manager = new InstanceManager();
+    await manager.ensureInstance('work', { mode: 'isolated' });
+
+    expect(manager.listInstances()).toEqual(['work']);
+  });
+
   it('skips shared symlinks and MCP sync for bare instance creation', async () => {
     const linkSharedSpy = spyOn(
       SharedManager.prototype,