ADR 0110 and 0111: a seat is a module assignment from a closed set, and a build source may live on the git seat

Seats have been doing two jobs and neither is written down. The mechanism ADR 0009 introduced is
enforced — a second holder is refused — but any well-formed name becomes a seat by being claimed,
and nothing can say which seats a mesh has or who holds them: holdings are assembled while planning
and discarded. The enumeration done while preparing this missed the control plane's own manifest,
because core modules' manifests live in its repository rather than the catalogue.

0110 closes the set. Each seat has a name, a scope, what occupying it delivers, and the record that
made it one; a claim outside the set is refused. A seat is held by a module assignment, and what the
mesh knows about the holder is what it knows about that assignment — nothing is stored beside it. A
seat may deliver a provision, and then its holder answers for it among several providers: pin, then
the holder, then the only provider, then refused. That keeps 0009's "refused, never guessed": the
seat is the choice made once, mesh-wide, instead of a pin per consumer node. The first set is the
eleven seats already claimed plus 0109's npm-package-registry, so nothing in use is refused.

Two concepts — seats for exclusion, a new word for consumable singulars — was rejected: both mean
"this mesh's one X", and the overview a person wants is one list.

0111 gives the mesh a git seat and makes a build source one of two explicit forms: a repository on
the seat's holder, recorded by its path and cloned from wherever the holder runs at build time; or
an external URL, recorded and cloned exactly as given. Recognising self-hosted sources by matching
URLs against the forge's address was rejected — it fails in the one case it exists for, after the
forge moves. Credentials for private repositories are left undecided and said so.

Design: new to-be 26 (the seats); 23 gains the seat step in resolution; 18's source entry names
the two forms; the glossary's seat and provision entries say where they meet. 0109 is carried from
its own branch so every link here resolves.
This commit is contained in:
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---
topic: what runs on it
status: accepted
date: 2026-09-25
deciders: jochen
reconstructed: false
extends: 0009-modules-and-the-graph.md
---
# 110. A seat is a module assignment from a closed set, and it may deliver a provision
## Context
[ADR 0009](0009-modules-and-the-graph.md) introduced claims: a module declares something
singular, at a scope, and a second holder is refused. [ADR 0079](0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md)
named the foundation's three after their servers. That mechanism is enforced and works. What it
means has drifted, and three things are now true of it that no record says.
**Any well-formed name becomes a seat by being claimed.** The control plane's manifest check
refuses a claim only for a malformed name or an unknown scope. Nothing says which seats a mesh has.
The names in use were each invented by the module that claims them: `the-showcase`,
`the-build-machine`, `the-intrusion-prevention`.
**Nothing can say what a mesh has, or who fills it.** There is no seat table and no command that
lists seats. Holdings are assembled while planning, one node at a time, and discarded afterwards.
The only way to answer "which seats does this mesh have, and which module holds each" is to read
every manifest in two repositories, because the core modules' manifests moved into the control
plane's own repository ([ADR 0069](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md)). While this record
was being prepared, that enumeration was done once by hand, and it missed the control plane's own
manifest: eleven claims were reported where there are twelve.
**Some seats are the mesh's one of something that others consume, and nothing uses that fact.**
Of the twelve claims, four are held by a module that provides something consumers require:
`mesh-store` (`postgres-database`, eleven consumers), `mesh-broker` (`amqp`), `the-artifact-store`
(`artifact-store`) and `the-dns-port`. The rest deliver nothing to anybody, and are still
meaningful: they say which module is this mesh's packet filter, or resolver configuration.
Meanwhile a requirement for a mesh-scoped provision with more than one provider is refused until a
person pins, **per consumer node**, which provider to use. [ADR 0109](0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md)
anticipates exactly that case — gitea and verdaccio both answering npm — and under today's
resolution it would mean a pin on every machine that builds anything.
## Considered Options
**1. Leave seats as free-form exclusion, and keep provisions as the only thing that delivers.**
Rejected. The overview stays unanswerable, and a second provider of anything costs a pin per
consumer node — the decision "gitea is our npm registry" made again on every machine.
**2. Two concepts: seats for exclusion, and a new word for the mesh's one consumable thing.**
Rejected. Both mean "this mesh's one X". Every existing claim would first have to be classified
into one or the other, and the overview a person wants is one list, not two.
**3. A seat is a module assignment from a closed set, and occupying it may deliver a provision.**
Chosen.
## Decision
**The mesh defines a closed set of seats.** Each entry has a name, a scope, what occupying it
delivers (if anything), and the decision that made it a seat. A claim naming a seat outside the set
is refused, and so is a claim at a scope other than the seat's. Adding a seat is a decision, for the
same reason adding a shape to the host's vocabulary is one: the set is what a person reads to learn
what a mesh can have, and a name added without an argument is a name nobody can explain later.
**A seat is held by a module assignment.** What the mesh knows about a seat's holder is what it knows
about that assignment: its node, the node's settings for it, and what it serves. Holdings are not
stored separately. The seat points at an assignment, and a second record of the same fact would be a
second thing to disagree with the first.
**A seat may deliver a provision, and then its holder answers for it.** A seat that delivers a
provision can only be held by a module that provides it, at the seat's scope, and a claim that does
not is refused. When several providers answer a requirement for that provision, resolution takes, in
order:
1. a provider the consumer's node was **pinned** to — a consumer coupled to one provider's
contents, as [to-be 23](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/23-choosing-a-provider.md) already allows;
2. **the holder of the seat** that delivers it;
3. the **only** provider, when there is one;
4. otherwise, refused with the candidates named, as now.
This keeps [ADR 0009](0009-modules-and-the-graph.md)'s rule that a requirement with several answers is
never guessed. The seat is not a guess. It is the choice made once, mesh-wide, by assigning the holder,
instead of once per consumer by pinning. A second provider may run beside the holder, and whatever
requires the provision still resolves to the holder without anybody naming it.
**Seats are also informational.** The control plane lists every seat in the set, what it delivers,
and which assignment holds it, including seats nobody holds. An unheld seat is an answer, "this mesh
has no X", not an error.
**The first set is the eleven seats already claimed, plus one.** Twelve claims are in use, and they
name eleven seats because two alternative modules claim `the-resolver-configuration`. This record
admits every seat the catalogue and the control plane claim today, so no module is refused by it:
| seat | scope | delivers | held today by | made a seat by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `mesh-controller` | mesh | — | `mesh-controller` | [0079](0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md) |
| `mesh-store` | mesh | `postgres-database` | `postgres` | [0079](0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md) |
| `mesh-broker` | mesh | `amqp` | `lavinmq` | [0079](0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md) |
| `the-artifact-store` | mesh | `artifact-store` | `distribution` | [0075](0075-two-stores-and-which-provides-what.md) |
| `the-catalogue` | mesh | — | `mesh-catalog` | this record |
| `npm-package-registry` | mesh | `npm-package-registry` | `gitea` | [0109](0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md) |
| `the-build-machine` | node | — | `builder` | this record |
| `the-dns-port` | node | — | `dnsmasq` | this record |
| `the-intrusion-prevention` | node | — | `fail2ban` | this record |
| `the-packet-filter` | node | — | `nftables` | this record |
| `the-resolver-configuration` | node | — | `resolv-conf` or `resolved-split-dns` | this record |
| `the-showcase` | node | — | `showcase` | this record |
`npm-package-registry` is the one addition. It is [ADR 0109](0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md)'s
seat, named after the provision it delivers, as 0079 named the foundation's seats after what they are.
gitea claims it. verdaccio provides the same provision and claims nothing, so it is the second
provider this record exists to make harmless.
`the-dns-port` is listed as delivering nothing, although `dnsmasq` provides `wildcard-resolution`.
That provision is node-scoped and answered on the machine, so no preference between providers
arises. Whether the seat should say it delivers it is left for when a second resolver makes the
question real.
## Consequences
- The control plane carries the set in code. A test asserts its size, and that every entry names the
record that made it a seat, so changing the set means finding the argument rather than a number.
This is the pattern the host's vocabulary test already follows.
- Manifest validation refuses an unknown seat, a seat claimed at the wrong scope, and a
provision-delivering seat claimed by a module that does not provide the provision. The three
refusals name the seat and the set.
- Resolution prefers the seat's holder among several providers, after a pin. A provider record
gains the module it came from, because two modules on one node could otherwise not be told apart
as holder and non-holder.
- A `seats` command lists the set with each seat's holders, derived from assignments.
- gitea claims `npm-package-registry`. The catalogue's `package-registry` becomes
`npm-package-registry` throughout, per [ADR 0109](0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md).
- **What got harder:** a module wanting a new singular role can no longer invent a name. It needs a
record. That is the point, and it costs one record per seat.
- **Not changed:** `${seat:<seat>:<port>}` stays as it is. It exists so the control plane can reach a
foundation it made before any module existed, and it cannot be a consumer. A module that needs
something from a seat's holder requires the provision the seat delivers, and receives it the way
any provision is received: through a grant.
## How it is checked
| Rule | Checked by |
|---|---|
| The set is closed, and every entry names its decision | A control-plane unit test asserts the set's size and a non-empty decision for every entry. |
| A claim outside the set is refused | Manifest-validation tests for an unknown seat, the wrong scope, and a delivering seat whose claimant does not provide. |
| Every module in use claims a seat in the set | A control-plane test parses every catalogue manifest and fails on any refused claim. The lab's beds read the same manifests ([ADR 0089](0089-a-bed-reads-the-catalogue-it-proves.md)). |
| The holder answers among several providers | Resolution tests: two providers with the seat held, two with a pin overriding the seat, two with the seat unheld (refused). |
## References
- [ADR 0009](0009-modules-and-the-graph.md): claims, scopes, and "refused, never guessed"
- [ADR 0079](0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md): a seat named after what it is
- [ADR 0109](0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md): the per-ecosystem registry seats
- [to-be 23](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/23-choosing-a-provider.md): pins, co-location and refusal
- `mesh-controller internal/catalogue/resolve.go` (`checkClaims`, the brokered branch of `Resolve`),
`internal/catalogue/manifest.go` (claim validation), `cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go` (holdings)
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
---
topic: building it
status: accepted
date: 2026-09-25
deciders: jochen
reconstructed: false
extends: 0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md
---
# 111. A build source is on the mesh's git seat, or it is an external repository
## Context
[ADR 0069](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md) made a module a repository, a path and a
ref, and the control plane records all three against the module so it can rebuild it and say when
its source has moved ahead. **The repository is recorded exactly as a person typed it.** `build
<repository>` hands the string to a build machine, which runs `git clone` on it, and the same string
becomes the module's recorded source.
**So a self-hosted forge's address is written into every module built from it.** The mesh runs its
own forge, and most of what it builds lives there. Every one of those modules carries the forge's
scheme, host and port in its recorded source. Move the forge to another machine, or change the port
it is published on, and every recorded source is stale at once. Nothing notices until a rebuild fails
to clone.
**And nothing names the mesh's git at all.** gitea serves git over HTTP and over SSH, and the mesh's
vocabulary contains neither. No provision, no `serves`, no seat, as the forge survey
([research 013](../01-RESEARCH/013-the-forge-and-the-registries/the-survey.md)) found. The only trace
is a label on its public route, which the mesh is explicitly not meant to interpret.
**External repositories are ordinary, and must stay so.** An application the mesh hosts may live on a
public forge. Building it from its URL works today and must keep working unchanged.
## Considered Options
**1. Keep recording literal URLs.** Rejected. It is the problem: the forge's address copied into
every module built from it.
**2. Recognise a self-hosted source by matching its URL against the forge's current address.**
Rejected. It infers the kind of source from the shape of a string, and the inference fails in the
one case it exists for: after the forge moves, old URLs no longer match anything.
**3. Two explicit forms: a repository on the holder of the `git` seat, or an external URL.** Chosen.
## Decision
**The mesh has a `git` seat.** It is mesh-scoped and delivers the `git` provision, per
[ADR 0110](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md). Its holder provides `git`,
serving how a repository on it is cloned: the scheme and the port. gitea claims it.
**A source is on the git seat, or it is external, and the mesh records which.**
- `build --self <owner>/<repository>` builds from a repository on the seat's holder. The recorded
source is the repository's path on that holder, and the seat it is on. **It never contains an
address.** At the moment of building, the control plane composes the clone URL from where the
holder runs and what it serves for `git`, so a moved forge changes nothing recorded.
- `build <url>` is unchanged: an external repository, recorded and cloned exactly as given. GitHub
and GitLab are the ordinary cases.
**An unheld seat refuses self-hosted builds and nothing else.** With nobody holding `git`, `build
--self` is refused, naming the seat and saying what would hold it. External builds are unaffected. A
mesh without a forge of its own builds from external repositories only, and says so rather than
failing to clone.
**The build machine is not told the difference.** It receives a URL either way. Composing the URL is
the control plane's job, because only the control plane knows where the seat's holder runs.
## Consequences
- The control plane's inventory gains a column saying which seat a source is on. It is empty for
every module recorded before this, which is correct: they were all recorded as literal URLs.
- `build`, `build --behind` and `build --dry-run` resolve a seat source before asking a builder. The
recorded source keeps the seat form; the build log keeps the URL that was actually cloned, because
that is what happened.
- gitea claims `git` and provides it, serving HTTP clone on its web port.
- **Not decided: credentials for private repositories.** The mesh's own repositories are public, and
clone without one. A private repository still works only if the build machine's own git
configuration authenticates, exactly as before. Delivering a clone credential through the `git`
provision's grant is the obvious next step, and it is its own decision.
- **Not changed:** modules already recorded from the forge keep their literal URLs until they are
rebuilt with `--self`. Rewriting them in place would be the URL-matching this record rejects.
## How it is checked
| Rule | Checked by |
|---|---|
| A seat source records no address | A control-plane test resolves a seat source and asserts the recorded repository is the path alone. |
| The URL comes from the holder | A test composes the clone URL from a holder's node address and served `git` scheme and port, and a second where the port was moved on the node. |
| An unheld seat refuses self-hosted builds only | A test with no holder: `--self` is refused naming the seat; an external URL passes through unchanged. |
## References
- [ADR 0069](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md): a module is a repository, a path and a ref
- [ADR 0110](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md): seats, and a seat delivering a provision
- [Research 013](../01-RESEARCH/013-the-forge-and-the-registries/the-survey.md): git is served and declared nowhere
- `mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/build.go`, `internal/builder/builder.go`
+2
View File
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
- **0087** — [A seeded file is created once, and what grows in it is not the mesh's](0087-a-seeded-file-is-created-once.md)
- **0091** — [A mount is declared, and there are three things it can be](0091-a-mount-is-declared-three-ways.md)
- **0099** — [A step that runs once names what it reads, and runs again when it changed](0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md)
- **0110** — [A seat is a module assignment from a closed set, and it may deliver a provision](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md)
### How it is built
@@ -175,6 +176,7 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
- **0096** — [An upstream image is copied between registries, never through a machine's image store](0096-an-upstream-image-is-copied-between-registries.md)
- **0097** — [A vendor image is a declared build input, and a recipe fetches nothing undeclared](0097-a-vendor-image-is-a-declared-build-input.md)
- **0107** — [Persistent data is a directory bind, never a named volume](0107-persistent-data-is-a-directory-bind-never-a-named-volume.md)
- **0111** — [A build source is on the mesh's git seat, or it is an external repository](0111-a-build-source-is-on-the-git-seat-or-external.md)
### How it is checked