Current state with latest updates

app/Models/Artwork.php

@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasOne;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
-use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
 use Laravel\Scout\Searchable;
 use Laravel\Scout\SearchableScope;
 
@@ -73,6 +72,8 @@ class Artwork extends Model
         'has_missing_thumbnails',
         'missing_thumbnail_variants_json',
         'thumbnails_checked_at',
+        'featured_thumbnail_variants_json',
+        'featured_thumbnails_checked_at',
         'file_size',
         'mime_type',
         'width',
@@ -154,6 +155,8 @@ class Artwork extends Model
         'published_at' => 'datetime',
         'missing_thumbnail_variants_json' => 'array',
         'thumbnails_checked_at' => 'datetime',
+        'featured_thumbnail_variants_json' => 'array',
+        'featured_thumbnails_checked_at' => 'datetime',
         'published_as_type' => 'string',
         'published_as_id' => 'integer',
         'publish_at' => 'datetime',
@@ -271,18 +274,64 @@ class Artwork extends Model
             ?? 'https://files.skinbase.org/default/missing_xl.webp';
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Audit state of `featured_thumbnail_variants_json`, distinguishing "never checked"
+     * from "checked, nothing found":
+     *
+     * - `null`             → not audited yet (FeaturedArtworkThumbnailGenerator has never
+     *                        run plan()/generate() for this artwork).
+     * - `[]`                → audited, but no featured variant exists in object storage.
+     * - non-empty string[] → audited; these variant names are known to exist.
+     *
+     * A value that fails to decode as an array (e.g. legacy/malformed data) is treated
+     * the same as `null` — "not audited" — rather than throwing or reporting variants
+     * that were never actually confirmed to exist.
+     *
+     * @return array{status: 'not_audited'|'no_variants'|'available', variants: list<string>}
+     */
+    public function featuredThumbnailAuditState(): array
+    {
+        $raw = $this->featured_thumbnail_variants_json;
+
+        if (! is_array($raw)) {
+            return ['status' => 'not_audited', 'variants' => []];
+        }
+
+        $variants = array_values(array_filter($raw, 'is_string'));
+
+        if ($variants === []) {
+            return ['status' => 'no_variants', 'variants' => []];
+        }
+
+        return ['status' => 'available', 'variants' => $variants];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Whether a dedicated featured-hero variant is known to exist in object storage.
+     *
+     * This reads precomputed state from `featured_thumbnail_variants_json` (see
+     * `featuredThumbnailAuditState()`) rather than checking the remote disk directly —
+     * remote existence checks must only happen from `FeaturedArtworkThumbnailGenerator`
+     * (admin commands / queued jobs), never during public homepage rendering, since a
+     * live `Storage::exists()` per variant is a synchronous network round trip.
+     */
     public function hasFeaturedThumbnail(?string $variant = null): bool
     {
         if (empty($this->hash)) {
             return false;
         }
 
+        $known = $this->featuredThumbnailAuditState()['variants'];
+
+        if ($known === []) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
         $helper = app(ArtworkFeaturedImagePath::class);
         $variants = $variant !== null ? [$helper->normalizeVariant($variant)] : $helper->variantNames();
-        $disk = Storage::disk((string) config('uploads.object_storage.disk', 's3'));
 
         foreach ($variants as $variantName) {
-            if ($disk->exists($helper->objectPath($this, $variantName))) {
+            if (in_array($variantName, $known, true)) {
                 return true;
             }
         }