http_utils.py: CODE_PUPPY_DISABLE_RETRY_TRANSPORT silently disables TLS verification; SSL_CERT_FILE misconfig ignored; retry loop duplicated with claude_cache_client

Problem

code_puppy/http_utils.py::get_cert_bundle_path (lines ~200-204):

def get_cert_bundle_path() -> str | None:
    # First check if SSL_CERT_FILE environment variable is set
    ssl_cert_file = os.environ.get(\"SSL_CERT_FILE\")
    if ssl_cert_file and os.path.exists(ssl_cert_file):
        return ssl_cert_file

1. The comment says "First check" — implying more checks were planned — but the function silently falls off the end and returns None. If SSL_CERT_FILE is set but points to a missing file, the misconfiguration is silently ignored (errors passing silently) and httpx falls back to default verification with no warning.

2. _resolve_proxy_config() (lines ~32-70): when CODE_PUPPY_DISABLE_RETRY_TRANSPORT is set, it silently disables all TLS verification (verify = False). The env var name says "disable retry transport"; nothing about it suggests it also turns off certificate checking for every model API call. A user setting it to work around retry behavior unknowingly downgrades transport security. Explicit is better than implicit — couple verify=False to its own clearly named variable (e.g. CODE_PUPPY_INSECURE_SKIP_VERIFY) and emit a warning when active.

3. RetryingAsyncClient.send() and ClaudeCacheAsyncClient._send_with_retries() (claude_cache_client.py lines ~478-565) are two near-identical ~90-line retry loops (exponential backoff, Retry-After parsing incl. http-date, cap 0.5-60s, ConnectError/ReadTimeout/PoolTimeout handling). Differences are cosmetic (status tuples, Cerebras special-case, logging channel). Extract a shared _retry_send(send_fn, request, *, status_codes, max_retries, ignore_retry_after) helper so the inevitable bug fixes land in one place. Related: open issue #210 proposes a retry engine — consolidation is a prerequisite.

Suggested fix

• Warn when SSL_CERT_FILE is set but missing.
• Split insecure-verify off the retry-disable env var, with a loud warning.
• One shared retry helper for both clients.

Filed by Zen Reviewer A (code-puppy-60635a)

Start with code_puppy/http_utils.py, reading get_cert_bundle_path, _resolve_proxy_config(), and RetryingAsyncClient.send(), then compare claude_cache_client.py::_send_with_retries() and issue #210. Done means missing SSL_CERT_FILE is surfaced, insecure verification requires its own explicit setting and warning, and both clients use one shared retry helper without changing the stated retry behavior.