chore(ci): bump CI tool pins to match the deployed cluster

From the update audit (#426): the tools CI drives the cluster with
trailed what the cluster runs.

ci/images/k8s/Containerfile
- talosctl v1.12.6 -> v1.13.9, the Talos version on the nodes. An older
  talosctl can misjudge or reject config generated for a newer machine.
- kubectl v1.36.2 -> v1.36.3, the cluster's Kubernetes version.
- flux CLI 2.9.2 -> 2.9.5, the current 2.9.x. Checksums verified against
  the upstream release assets (talos sha256sum.txt, flux checksums.txt)
  and against a local download.

.woodpecker/ci-manifests-test.yml
- woodpecker-cli v3.17.0 -> v3.18.0, the version the server and agent
  already run; the lint step was one minor behind its own server.

Merging triggers build-ci-images (path ci/images/**), which publishes
ci-k8s:<date>. The six pipelines pinned to ci-k8s:2026-08-10 move to
that tag in a follow-up once it exists.

Refs #426

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.woodpecker/ci-manifests-test.yml

@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ steps:
   # whenever it trails the deployed server. If you bump the server, bump here.
   - name: woodpecker-lint
     depends_on: [] # see note above `steps:`
-    image: woodpeckerci/woodpecker-cli:v3.17.0-alpine
+    image: woodpeckerci/woodpecker-cli:v3.18.0-alpine
     commands:
       - |
         set -eu

ci/images/k8s/Containerfile

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 FROM alpine:3.21@sha256:48b0309ca019d89d40f670aa1bc06e426dc0931948452e8491e3d65087abc07d
 
-ARG TALOS_VERSION=v1.12.6
+ARG TALOS_VERSION=v1.13.9
 ARG VELERO_VERSION=v1.16.0
-ARG KUBECTL_VERSION=v1.36.2
-ARG FLUX_VERSION=2.9.2
+ARG KUBECTL_VERSION=v1.36.3
+ARG FLUX_VERSION=2.9.5
 
 RUN apk add --no-cache \
       aws-cli \
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache \
 
 RUN curl -sfL -o /usr/local/bin/talosctl \
       "https://github.com/siderolabs/talos/releases/download/${TALOS_VERSION}/talosctl-linux-amd64" \
- && echo "4c41a3b10b075292e64b182283d558e9d8e935f43239de1ed4e4b14359593efb  /usr/local/bin/talosctl" | sha256sum -c - \
+ && echo "7e1d4b7d5846964bdcf63a794e3c8161bb6ef2983d5ace58ea5322f3bf32a27e  /usr/local/bin/talosctl" | sha256sum -c - \
  && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/talosctl
 
 RUN curl -sfL -o /usr/local/bin/kubectl \
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ RUN curl -sfL -o /usr/local/bin/kubectl \
 
 RUN curl -sfL -o /tmp/flux.tar.gz \
       "https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2/releases/download/v${FLUX_VERSION}/flux_${FLUX_VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz" \
- && echo "4092b367fd060097976fb7261601f79420ecf7266328417dfd8dfee27de0e6a3  /tmp/flux.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - \
+ && echo "b853df82adfd7736f580692f9f734473d571606307139f8fd20c2a80dd1ff473  /tmp/flux.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c - \
  && tar -xzf /tmp/flux.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin flux \
  && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/flux \
  && rm -f /tmp/flux.tar.gz

kubernetes/apps/monitoring-rules/prometheusrule-ci-openbao.yaml

@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ spec:
           # query parameter, and an exact match would break silently if the
           # instance label ever encodes it differently.
           expr: probe_success{job="blackbox-http", instance=~"https://openbao\\.renner\\.uno/v1/sys/health.*"} == 0
-          for: 5m
+          # Two consecutive failed probes: enough to skip a single lost probe
+          # through Traefik, not enough to sit on a sealed store.
+          for: 1m
           labels:
             severity: critical
           annotations:

kubernetes/apps/monitoring-rules/prometheusrule-openbao.yaml

@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ spec:
           # A replica that is sealed never recovers on its own, so the
           # duration is only there to ignore ordinary rescheduling: a healthy
           # pod moving between nodes is Ready again in well under a minute.
-          expr: kube_statefulset_status_replicas_ready{namespace="openbao", statefulset="openbao"} < 3
+          # max by: kube-state-metrics stamps instance/pod on the series, so a
+          # rescheduled exporter starts a new series and resets the timer.
+          expr: max by (namespace, statefulset) (kube_statefulset_status_replicas_ready{namespace="openbao", statefulset="openbao"}) < 3
           for: 10m
           labels:
             severity: warning
@@ -53,11 +55,11 @@ spec:
           # the ClusterSecretStore goes InvalidProviderConfig and no
           # ExternalSecret can refresh.
           #
-          # Shorter window than the warning above because this is an outage,
-          # not a degradation — but not zero, so a rolling restart that
-          # briefly dips does not page.
-          expr: kube_statefulset_status_replicas_ready{namespace="openbao", statefulset="openbao"} < 2
-          for: 5m
+          # No window: below quorum the secret store is down and every
+          # ExternalSecret stalls with it. A sealed replica never recovers on
+          # its own, so waiting only delays the page.
+          expr: max by (namespace, statefulset) (kube_statefulset_status_replicas_ready{namespace="openbao", statefulset="openbao"}) < 2
+          for: 0m
           labels:
             severity: critical
           annotations:

kubernetes/infrastructure/openbao/helmrelease.yaml

@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ spec:
         name: openbao
         namespace: openbao
   install:
-    # A fresh OpenBao pod is 0/1 Ready until `bao operator init` + unseal
-    # (readiness probe reports sealed). helm --wait would time out and
-    # remediation would uninstall the release, so don't wait here; the
-    # init/unseal procedure is manual (see kubernetes/MIGRATION-sops-openbao.md).
+    # A fresh OpenBao pod is 0/1 Ready until `bao operator init` (readiness
+    # reports sealed). helm --wait would time out and remediation would
+    # uninstall the release, so don't wait here; init is manual (see
+    # kubernetes/MIGRATION-sops-openbao.md). Unseal is automatic (static seal).
     disableWait: true
     remediation:
       retries: 3
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ spec:
       # the agent-injector mutating webhook is unused surface.
       enabled: false
     server:
+      # The static seal key, from the openbao-seal-key Secret (bootstrap.sh).
+      extraSecretEnvironmentVars:
+        - envName: BAO_SEAL_KEY
+          secretName: openbao-seal-key
+          secretKey: key
       # Raft (not standalone/file) for two reasons: `bao operator raft
       # snapshot` as a consistent backup primitive, and real HA across three
       # nodes. TLS terminates at the Traefik ingress; in-cluster traffic is
@@ -53,16 +58,8 @@ spec:
         # the moment one pod is sealed or rescheduled, which is worse than
         # the single replica it replaced. Three tolerates one.
         #
-        # What this buys, and what it does not: a node drain seals the replica
-        # on it, and raft elects a new leader from the remaining standbys
-        # within seconds, so the service does not go down. It does NOT remove
-        # the manual unseal — a sealed server can neither serve requests nor
-        # act as standby, so that replica stays out until someone unseals it.
-        #
-        # The consequence for rolling node maintenance is worth stating: a
-        # Talos upgrade drains all three nodes in turn, sealing each replica
-        # as it goes. Unseal each one as it comes back, or the third drain
-        # takes the last unsealed replica with it and quorum is lost anyway.
+        # A restarted replica unseals itself from the static seal and rejoins
+        # raft, so a rolling reboot only ever costs one replica at a time.
         replicas: 3
         raft:
           enabled: true
@@ -111,6 +108,14 @@ spec:
 
             service_registration "kubernetes" {}
 
+            # Auto-unseal. The key is a 32-byte AES key in the openbao-seal-key
+            # Secret, created from pass at bootstrap before this release. The
+            # former shamir key is the recovery key (#805).
+            seal "static" {
+              current_key_id = "1"
+              current_key    = "env://BAO_SEAL_KEY"
+            }
+
             audit "file" "stdout" {
               description = "audit trail to pod stdout -> Loki"
               options {