Sync phase 1+2: upstream v0.9.29 bugfixes, env hydration, consolidation lifecycle, provider retry, unified data-dir - #7

Node.js 20 is deprecated. The following actions target Node.js 20 but are being forced to run on Node.js 24: actions/upload-artifact@v4. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-deprecation-of-node-20-on-github-actions-runners/