ADR 0113 and to-be 27: the vault makes every secret — provisioning all the way down

A secret comes into being seven ways today: provider credentials, own secrets (54 modules), broker
accounts through a command that is easy to forget, a vault that only records what the controller
mints (6 modules), operator values, licences, and root secrets. The vault was built to end own secrets
and did not; the old path was never retired.

0113 is rewritten as a waterfall. The vault makes every secret and nothing else does. A provider that
needs a secret for a consumer requires it from the vault, declared once in its provision's contract
and expanded per consumer by resolution; the vault delivers it to both holders, each sealed to its own
node, so a provider's code is unchanged. Own secrets, broker passwords, operator values and licence
credentials take the same path. Genesis is not an exception: it raises the vault first and asks it,
so there is one way a secret is made from the first one on. The vault can sit at the bottom because it
requires nothing but a broker account.

One shared mint function in the SDK was considered and rejected: generation becomes uniform but custody
stays spread over every provider's machine, and each SDK language needs its own implementation.

Rotation is asked of the vault and is provider-first: the value goes to the holder that accepts it,
which confirms, before the holder that presents it gets it, so the lockout window shrinks to the
consumer's own restart, and an unconfirmed provider holds the rotation rather than half-doing it. The
host derives which processes to restart or recreate from the requirement a definition reads, so no
definition declares restart-on for a secret. A rotation shows unconfirmed until each consumer restarted
and passed its health check. Issue 103 becomes a prerequisite.

The file is renamed to match what it now decides. 0112 follows.
This commit is contained in:
jochen
2026-09-25 23:10:52 +02:00
parent 6e3373c879
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@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
- **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)
- **0112** — [A module definition names no node, no mesh and no path: everything it needs is a requirement the mesh resolves](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md) *(proposed)*
- **0113** — [A provider makes what it provides, and the mesh carries it back to the consumer](0113-a-provider-makes-what-it-provides-and-the-mesh-carries-it.md) *(proposed)*
- **0113** — [The vault makes every secret, a provider makes resources and data, and the mesh carries both](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md) *(proposed)*
### How it is built