✨ Update Go module dependencies and enhance NATS consumer metrics. Add github.com/kylelemons/godebug as an indirect dependency. Upgrade github.com/prometheus/common to version 0.67.3. Change NATS consumer mode to "jetstream" in the development configuration. Improve observability by ensuring metrics for pending messages are initialized and recorded correctly in JetStream mode. Update documentation to reflect changes in metrics handling and consumer behavior.

docs/reliability.md

@@ -107,14 +107,16 @@ Recommended pattern:
   restarted and returns `ErrNoResponders`), the consumer uses an exponential
   backoff when retrying `Fetch` calls (roughly `1s, 2s, 4s, ...` up to
   around `30s`) to avoid log spam while allowing the system to recover.
-- In dev/test environments, if the stream or consumer is detected as missing at
-  runtime (for example after `docker compose down -v`), the consumer calls the
-  shared `EnsureStream` and `ensureConsumer` logic to recreate them and
-  re-establish subscriptions.
-- In production environments, missing streams/consumers are treated as
-  configuration or operational errors:
-  - They are **not** auto-recreated.
-  - Errors are logged prominently so operators can diagnose and fix the issue.
+- At startup the receiver always calls `StreamManager.EnsureStream` and
+  `ConsumerManager.EnsureConsumer`. If the JetStream account allows it,
+  missing streams are created with the configured retention limits
+  (`max_msgs`, `max_bytes`, `max_age`, discard/storage policy, replicas) before
+  the durable consumer is created. This keeps dev/test clusters self-healing
+  after `docker compose down -v` and removes the race where a consumer was
+  created without its stream.
+- When the JetStream account lacks permissions to create protected resources
+  (a common production posture), the same code path fails fast with a clear
+  error message so operators know they must provision the stream out-of-band.
 - On the publishing side, JetStream `ErrNoResponders` and similar errors are
   treated as temporary by the processor:
   - Such errors cause the consumer to NAK messages and rely on the configured
@@ -142,4 +144,3 @@ Dashboards should combine:
 - NATS consumer statistics (pending, redelivered, ack_pending).  
 - DB health indicators (latency, error counts, connection usage).
 
-