WA-NEW-032: Audit and update gem dependency version constraints

[kitcommerce]

Summary

The gemspec has ~40 dependencies, many pinned to very specific versions (~> X.Y.Z). Some of these pins may block Rails 7 or Ruby 3.4. Audit all constraints and loosen where safe.

High-risk pins to check:

• money-rails ~> 1.13.0 — needs 1.15+ for Rails 7
• sassc-rails ~> 2.1.0 — may need update
• premailer-rails ~> 1.11.0 — check Rails 7 compat
• dragonfly ~> 1.3.0 — check for Ruby 3.x issues
• All *-rails JS/CSS asset gems (many are abandoned)

Approach

For each dependency:

1. Check if current pin works with Rails 7 + Ruby 3.2
2. Check latest version compatibility
3. Loosen constraint to allow compatible upgrades
4. Document abandoned/unmaintained gems that may need replacement

Objective

Remove version pins that block the Rails 7 / Ruby 3.4 upgrade.

Client impact

Low — loosening constraints allows upgrades but doesn't force them.

Acceptance Criteria

• All deps audited and documented
• Constraints loosened where safe
• bundle install resolves on Rails 6.1 (regression)
• Document any deps that are hard blockers

Verification Plan

1. bundle install succeeds before and after changes
2. Run full test suite to catch any breakage from updated deps
3. Publish audit results in docs/research/

[kitcommerce]

Build Gate Failed

CI is failing at bundle install with exit code 16 — the Gemfile.lock is out of sync with the gemspec changes. In deployment mode, Bundler requires the lockfile to be fully consistent with the gemspec.

Fix required: After modifying core/workarea-core.gemspec, run bundle install (without --deployment) to regenerate Gemfile.lock, then commit and push the updated lockfile.

# In the workarea root:
export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/shims:$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH" && eval "$(rbenv init - zsh)" && rbenv shell 2.7.8
bundle install
git add Gemfile.lock
git commit -m "Update Gemfile.lock for loosened gem constraints"
git push

Branch: wa-new-032-gem-dep-audit
PR: #709

[kitcommerce]

Fixed: regenerated Gemfile.lock. CI should now pass.

[kitcommerce]

Blocking: PR #709 is currently CONFLICTING (needs rebase/merge conflict resolution against next).

Once conflicts are resolved, remove blocked:merge-conflict and return to status:ready-for-review.