Issues 225, 226, 227 resolved with their live proofs; 232 opened and resolved

225: a grant secret is composed with the account that reads it — the node's
account for a bundle, the declared secrets-owner for a container. Zero EACCES
since 12:30:10 where there had been 4330, both users created, mongodb logging
Authentication succeeded for each. The harness also stops calling a permanent
refusal a race, which is the half that cost three hours.

226: normalising moved to the records, where the provenance is known, and a
reference the sweep will not address is skipped rather than ending the sweep.
The first build after the roll-out collected 200 and said 1126 remain — the
backlog falls with every build instead of standing at 1681 for ever.

227: the three photo modules publish the endpoint they declare, and a
catalogue-wide test makes it a rule: a container publishes only a port its
module declares, or the mesh has nothing to assign and the number escapes.

232 came out from under 225: photos asked for a database its user does not
live in, invisible while no user existed at all.

00-META/glossary.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ another — and a mesh you cannot name precisely is a mesh two people describe d
 - **operator account** — the login name of the person who works on a node, stated on the node
   record; empty for a machine nobody logs into. Everything the mesh places under a person's home is
   resolved against this account's home and owned by it
-  ([ADR 0176](../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)).
+  ([ADR 0181](../02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)).
   Not "the user" (ambiguous with a module's own account) and not a name a definition carries.
 - **control-node** — the one node that also holds the `mesh-controller` seat. There is exactly one
   per mesh. "control-node" is not a separate kind of machine — it is a node that additionally runs
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@ another — and a mesh you cannot name precisely is a mesh two people describe d
   mesh-scoped exclusive claim is how the mesh says "there is one of me". A foundation seat is
   named after the server it guards: the `mesh-controller`, `postgres` and `lavinmq` modules claim
   the `mesh-controller`, `mesh-store` and `mesh-broker` seats ([ADR 0079](../02-DECISIONS/0079-the-foundation-seats-are-named-after-their-servers.md)).
+- **depends on a seat** — a module needing a seat held on its node by some module, without holding
+  it. Derived from the resources it declares, never stated: a `service` depends on
+  `node-service-manager`, a `package` on `node-package-manager`, a `container` on
+  `node-container-runtime` ([ADR 0207](../02-DECISIONS/0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md)).
+  Not a claim: a module **claims** a seat it holds and **declares** resources. Nothing claims a
+  package.
 - **provision** — a service one module `provides` and others `require`; the mesh resolves a provider
   and wires the two with an endpoint and a credential. A provision is a service you offer, a seat
   is a role you occupy, and the two meet where a seat delivers a provision: occupying the seat is
@@ -100,3 +106,21 @@ another — and a mesh you cannot name precisely is a mesh two people describe d
 A new name for an existing thing lands here first, in the same change that introduces it in code. A
 record under `02-DECISIONS/` keeps whatever word it was written with — those are immutable — so a
 term retired here may still appear there, and the mapping above is how to read it.
+
+## The operator's machine
+
+- **node tools** — the one tool runtime per node, a host-side process the host supervises, that loads
+  every assigned module's tools bundle and serves every tool and held seat's verb on the subjects the
+  memberships issue; its serving mode on loopback is what was called **the console**
+  ([ADR 0175](../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)).
+  Replaces **"console"** as the module's name; *console* remains the word for the person's end of it.
+- **bundle** — the artifact a module's own code is built into — its tools, a seat's implementation, a daemon — in any language the mesh has a toolchain for, interpreted or compiled; never an image. One module may declare several ([ADR 0188](../02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)).
+- **kept region** — a marked block in a managed file the mesh writes *into*, where the operator's own
+  lines survive every push and are given back when the module goes
+  ([ADR 0174](../02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)).
+  One of the two ways a node varies a module; the other is a **setting**.
+- **installed / holding** — a module may be assigned (its package installed, its files placed) without
+  holding the seat its family declares; *holding* is being the one — the login shell, the display
+  session — on that node ([ADR 0176](../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md)).
+- ~~flavor~~ — not used. What a flavor varied is a setting or a separate module.
+

01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/00-overview.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-status: active
+status: graduated
 initiated: 2026-10-02
 touches:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md
@@ -15,7 +15,13 @@ touches:
   - 03-DESIGN/00-as-is/10-module-catalogue.md
   - 04-ISSUES/160-a-machine-says-little-about-itself-and-only-when-asked/00-report.md
   - 04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md
-became: []
+became:
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
 ---
 
 # 018 — The operator's machine as modules
@@ -63,7 +69,7 @@ and the catalogue's shape ([as-is 10](../../03-DESIGN/00-as-is/10-module-catalog
 - [04 — The seats of the environment](04-the-seats-of-the-environment.md): the roles a machine
   has once, their candidate contracts, and what gates each.
 
-**What this must settle before it graduates.**
+**What it had to settle, and where each landed.** *(Graduated 2026-10-02.)*
 
 1. A module is one *managed thing*, software or not, and every module may serve tools — or ADR
    0040 already says this and only its examples are narrow.

01-RESEARCH/019-a-warm-twin-of-the-running-mesh/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+status: active
+initiated: 2026-10-02
+touches: [lab, the lab module, the catalogue, assignments, settings, the controller's store]
+became: []
+---
+
+# 019 — A warm twin of the running mesh
+
+## What is being investigated
+
+Whether the lab can keep a **warm twin of the mesh as it actually runs**: the same machines, carrying
+the same catalogue, the same assignments and the same settings as the live mesh, raised once and kept
+ready, so that a change can be tested against the mesh as it is rather than against a scenario
+written to resemble it. A run against the twin would go through the lab module like any other run:
+a branch per repository, the twin restored from its snapshot, the change applied, the beds run.
+
+## Why
+
+The lab's beds raise meshes from declarations written for the bed. They prove the mechanism. They
+do not prove that a change works on the mesh that runs, with its accumulated assignments, its
+operator settings, its adopted machines and its modules in their real combinations. The gap showed
+on 2026-10-02:
+
+- a change to how a module's settings reach its files was correct in every bed, and would have put a
+  setting into the container runtime's configuration on every machine running that module. Only the
+  composed plan for a real machine showed it;
+- a firewall change composed cleanly and still left one machine's wired port unfiltered, because
+  of a link that machine had and no bed did;
+- a recovery step was needed on every machine at once, after a change that every bed had passed.
+
+The lab already has a warm mode, a snapshot of a raised scenario restored between attempts. What it
+does not have is a scenario that **is** the running mesh, kept current with it.
+
+## What it touches
+
+- **What a twin is made of.** The catalogue and the assignments are records; settings are records;
+  secrets are sealed to machines and cannot be copied. Which of these can be carried to the lab as
+  they are, which must be substituted, and how a twin says what it substituted.
+- **Data.** A twin with the real catalogue and no real data proves composition and delivery, not a
+  migration. Whether a twin carries data, a sample of it, or none.
+- **Keeping it current.** A twin raised once goes stale with the first merge. Whether it is
+  re-derived from the live records on each run, refreshed on a schedule, or rebuilt only when asked.
+- **Machines.** The live mesh has machines of different kinds: a server on the internet, machines
+  behind a home router, a laptop that sleeps. Which of their properties a twin must reproduce for a
+  test to mean anything (reachability, the private network, the found firewall).
+- **Cost.** The lab machine's memory and disk, and how long a twin takes to raise from cold.
+- **The lab module's tools.** A run against the twin rather than a named bed: one more tool, or an
+  argument to the run tool.
+
+## Starting point
+
+The lab module (ADR 0172) runs beds through the mesh, and the lab's warm mode already snapshots and
+restores a raised scenario. The beds that raise a machine shaped like one live machine from the
+catalogue are the nearest existing thing, and the first to compare against.

01-RESEARCH/020-what-a-bundled-tool-is-given/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+status: graduated
+initiated: 2026-10-03
+touches: [the tool runtime, the catalogue's tool bundles, the controller's declaration composer, settings, own secrets, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md]
+became: [02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md]
+---
+
+# 020 — What a bundled tool is given
+
+## What is being investigated
+
+How a module's tools, once they are a bundle the node's runtime loads
+([ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md),
+[ADR 0188](../../02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)),
+learn the things their container used to be handed: where the module's configuration file is, where
+its token or password is, which port the service listens on, where a provision's address is written.
+A container is given these as an environment and mounts, composed by the mesh per module per machine.
+A bundle has no environment of its own: the runtime's process carries four words for every bundle it
+loads, and nothing per module ([design 38](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP4).
+
+## Why
+
+Two holders moved on 2026-10-03 — the packet filter and the intrusion prevention — and both could,
+because neither needs anything but a fixed path and root. Of the thirty-three modules whose tools
+still run as containers on the runtime's image, thirty-one are not like that: their environment
+names a configuration file, a credential file, a service address, a grants directory. Moving them
+one by one without a rule for this would give the mesh thirty-one answers to one question. The
+measurement and the options are in [01](01-what-the-containers-are-given.md).
+
+## What it touches
+
+The runtime (which hands a bundle what it is given), the composer (which resolves `${dir:…}` and
+`${port:…}` for a container today and would for a bundle), the manifest (where a bundle would say
+what it needs), and design 38, which records the gap and must say the rule once there is one.

01-RESEARCH/020-what-a-bundled-tool-is-given/01-what-the-containers-are-given.md

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# What the tool containers are given, measured
+
+Counted 2026-10-03 in the catalogue, after the two holders moved.
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| modules whose tools still run as a container on the runtime's image | 33 |
+| tool containers among them (two modules run two) | 36 |
+| modules whose container's environment carries only the bus credential | 1 (the intrusion prevention, now moved) |
+| modules whose container's environment carries more | 32 — 31 still containers |
+
+## What "more" is
+
+Every value a container is given is one of five shapes. The reference kinds the composer resolves
+in those values, over the 36 containers: a module directory (`${dir:…}`) in all 36, a mesh-chosen
+port (`${port:…}`) in 12, a seat and an access grant once each.
+
+1. **A file the mesh already places on the host, mounted in.** The module's configuration as
+   JSON (`…_CONFIG_FILE`), its own secret (`…_TOKEN_FILE`, `…_PASSWORD_FILE`, `MESH_BROKER_FILE`),
+   a provision's address and secret written for it. Every one is a path under one of the module's
+   directories — its mesh state, its state, its grants, what it has written — mounted at a path of
+   the container's choosing and named to the tool through the environment. **The file is on the
+   host already; only the name under which the tool finds it is the container's.**
+2. **The service's address, with the port the mesh chose:** `http://127.0.0.1:${port:3000}`. The
+   port is the composer's; the rest is the manifest's constant.
+3. **A provision's address as a constant string** (a database's URL on the module's own network
+   name), paired with a mounted secret file from shape 1.
+4. **A directory of grants** (`MESH_RECEIVES`): shape 1 again, a directory rather than a file.
+5. **Literals the image needs:** a time zone, a user id, a memory limit. These belong to the
+   service's container where one exists; a tool bundle needs none of them.
+
+So the whole of what a bundled tool needs is: the paths of its module's directories on this
+machine, the ports the mesh chose for its module here, and the constants its own manifest wrote.
+Nothing a container had that a bundle cannot have; the mesh composes all three for the container
+today, per module per machine.
+
+## What the runtime already has for it
+
+- The SDK's tool contributor is `(env) => tools`, and `collectTools(env)` takes the environment to
+  hand each contributor. The runtime calls it without one, so every contributor reads the process's
+  — the four words. The hook for a per-module environment exists and is unused.
+- A launched bundle ([ADR 0188](../../02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md))
+  is spawned with the runtime's environment; the launch takes an environment argument.
+- The composer resolves `${dir:…}` and `${port:…}` for a container's `env` and `volumes`; the same
+  resolution over a bundle's declaration is the same code.
+
+## Options
+
+**A. The bundle declares its environment on its artifact, and the mesh composes it as a
+container's.** The manifest's tools artifact gains `env`, resolved with the same references;
+values that were mount targets become the host-side paths directly (`${dir:mesh-state}/config.json`
+rather than `/run/config/config.json`). The controller composes one environment per bundle per
+machine into the runtime's declaration; the runtime hands it to the bundle's contributor and to a
+launched child, and to nothing else. *For:* the tool code does not change — it reads the same
+names; the conversion of the thirty-one is a mechanical move of the container's `env` with the
+mounts folded in; one rule, one place. *Against:* the runtime's process carries thirty-one
+environments in its declaration, and a bundle's environment is visible to the other bundles in the
+process unless the runtime keeps them apart, which it must — a tool that reads `process.env`
+instead of the environment it was handed would see its neighbours' paths.
+
+**B. The runtime derives the environment from the module's placed manifest.** No new field: the
+runtime reads, for each module it serves, where that module's directories and ports are, and hands
+a conventional set of words. *For:* nothing to declare. *Against:* a convention the tool code must
+be rewritten to, thirty-one times; the runtime learns the composer's job; a module that names its
+file `config.json` and one that names it `settings.json` need different words anyway.
+
+**C. Tools read their module's files through the bus** — ask the controller. *Against:* a tool
+that cannot start without the bus answering a question is a tool that fails in the one case the
+tools exist for, and a secret crossing the bus to reach a file already on the machine is a
+disclosure for nothing.
+
+A is the one that keeps the tool code and the composer's vocabulary as they are, and names the one
+thing the runtime must add: an environment per bundle, kept apart. The thing to decide beside it:
+whether a bundle's environment may name a secret file at all, or whether secrets stay mounts in
+spirit — a path the tool reads, never a value in the environment — which is what every container
+does today and what A keeps if the rule says *paths, not values*.
+
+## What a decision would have to say
+
+- Where a bundle says what it is given (the artifact, option A), and that values are paths and
+  constants, never a secret's content.
+- That the composer resolves it with the references it already has, per module per machine.
+- That the runtime hands each bundle its own environment and nothing of another's, and how that is
+  checked: a test loading two bundles whose environments differ and asserting each sees only its own.
+- That the thirty-one move in one mechanical change after the rule lands, each proven by its tools
+  answering from the runtime, and the registration gate then refuses the container shape for all.

01-RESEARCH/021-finding-a-tool-in-the-mesh/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+---
+status: graduated
+initiated: 2026-10-03
+touches: [the console, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md, the tool runtime, seats, assignments]
+became: [02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md]
+---
+
+# 021 — Finding a tool in the mesh
+
+## What was investigated
+
+How an agent finds the one tool it needs among everything the mesh answers, and how a call names
+exactly what it asks — a role the mesh holds once, a role every machine holds, or one assignment of a
+module on one machine — rather than receiving the whole catalogue and a name that can mean several
+things.
+
+## Why
+
+The operator's observation on 2026-10-03: *Claude should not see all tools at once; they should be
+discoverable — and `postgres.list_databases` is wrong, asking one machine's postgres is not asking
+another's.* Measured the same day from the console's own answer:
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| tools announced to every session at its start | 228, in 110 KB |
+| names (module or seat prefixes) | 43 |
+| node seats' verbs, which require `node` | 22 |
+| modules with tools on more than one machine | 4 — fail2ban, nftables (every machine), postgres, mssql (two each) |
+| modules reported "not answering", most with no tools and several retired | 47 |
+
+The two stateful modules on two machines are listed **once**, with `node` optional and *whichever
+answers* when it is left out — though their two instances hold different databases. Design 34 §3 says
+such a module is listed once per machine; the live console does not do that. The list is taken once
+per session, so a tool that arrives later is invisible until the client reconnects. And only Claude
+Code's own deferral of long tool lists keeps the 228 from the model's context; another MCP client
+would receive them whole.
+
+## Options
+
+1. **Keep the flat list; rely on the client to defer it.** Rejected: a property of one client, and it
+   leaves the ambiguity and the stale list.
+2. **One flat tool per assignment** (`ace_postgres_list_databases`). Removes the ambiguity, multiplies
+   the list, and runs into the API's tool-name limit (letters, digits, `_`, `-`, 64 characters).
+3. **A small fixed set of tools that walk the mesh's own structure**, with the full address as an
+   argument: the mesh's seats; a machine's node seats and assignments; a search; a description; a
+   call. Chosen — see [ADR 0195](../../02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md).
+4. **MCP resources or prompts for discovery.** Clients support them unevenly, and an agent acts
+   through tools; a resource it cannot be relied on to read is not a discovery path.

01-RESEARCH/022-where-a-modules-long-running-code-runs/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+status: graduated
+initiated: 2026-10-03
+touches: [the tool runtime, the per-module containers, the SDK, the bus grants, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md]
+became: [02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md]
+---
+
+# 022 — Where a module's long-running code runs
+
+## What was investigated
+
+Twenty-three modules still run their own code in a container built on the runtime's image. Their tools
+can move as bundles ([ADR 0192](../../02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md),
+[ADR 0193](../../02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md));
+the rest of what those containers run cannot yet. This asks where that code goes and how it reaches
+what its container handed it.
+
+## What that code is, measured 2026-10-03
+
+| | modules |
+|---|---|
+| subscribes to events on the bus | audit-logger (everything), mesh-catalog (two seat events), mesh-vault, records (`gitea.pull.merged`), and postgres, mongodb, mssql, redis, mosquitto logging their own lifecycle |
+| provisioners: read the grants the mesh delivered as files, act on the backend, emit | 12 |
+| a run-once preparation step | mesh-catalog |
+| a command-line client of the backend | psql, mosquitto_ctrl, git (packages on every machine's system); mongosh, sqlcmd (not in its repositories) |
+| a service reached by a container name | icecast, mailu-admin, minio, mongodb-server, mssql |
+| a main of its own | anthropic-consumer, openai-consumer, route-adapter |
+
+A provisioner needs nothing a launched bundle lacks: files named by its words, its backend, and an emit
+that already travels through the runtime. The one thing missing is **a subscription** — events
+delivered to the module's code, acknowledged when it has handled them.
+
+## Options
+
+1. **The runtime launches it and is its bus**: the stdio channel gains a subscription; the runtime
+   binds the module's durable consumer and delivers each event to the child, acknowledging when the
+   child answers. One bus connection per machine; any language. Chosen.
+2. **A process per module with its own bus client and credential.** Every language's SDK would carry
+   a transport and every module a credential on disk — what ADR 0188 rejected for tools, for the same
+   reasons.
+3. **Keep the containers for this code.** Leaves ADR 0188's rule broken for 23 modules indefinitely.

01-RESEARCH/024-state-a-module-keeps-on-the-bus/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+---
+status: graduated
+initiated: 2026-10-04
+touches: [the bus, what a module declares, the tool runtime, the SDK, the bus grants, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md]
+became: [02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md, 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md]
+---
+
+# 024 — State a module keeps on the bus
+
+## What is investigated
+
+A place on the bus where a module's own code keeps **current state** — not history — that every
+machine sees, including a machine that joins after the state was written: put, get, delete, list and
+watch, reached through the node's runtime the way a bundle already publishes, asks and subscribes
+([ADR 0198](../../02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md)).
+On NATS that is a key-value bucket. The questions are what a module declares, who creates the
+bucket, what the grants are, what the runtime's verbs are, and what may never be stored.
+
+## Why
+
+The mesh carries two kinds of module traffic and a third is missing.
+
+- **Events** land in the EVENTS stream: limits retention, seven days, ten thousand messages per
+  subject, a durable consumer per consuming module that replays what it missed. Never a secret
+  ([design 32](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §10).
+- **Requests** are core request/reply — tool calls, a bundle's `mesh/ask` — and are kept nowhere.
+
+Neither is *the current value of something*. Two cases from the first module that needs it, the
+operator's agent on a machine ([design 36](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md)):
+
+1. **An MCP server registered for every machine.** Registering emits an event every machine's copy
+   of the module consumes. A machine the module is assigned to *after* the registration has no
+   durable consumer yet — the consumer is created at assignment — so it never hears of it. Wanted
+   instead: one entry per server, for every machine or for one; every machine reads the whole current
+   set when it starts and watches for changes; unregistering is a delete; any machine can list it.
+2. **Which licence a machine is bound to** ([design 39](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md)).
+   As events, a machine that was off for a day replays every rotation since and asks for a token
+   after each. It needs only the latest binding and its generation. The token itself stays on
+   request/reply and is never stored.
+
+The design already expects this. [Design 25](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §1:
+"conditions and observed state in key-value buckets that anything may watch".
+[Research 017](../017-a-mesh-that-heals-itself/01-the-intended-behaviour.md) wants a provisioner's
+"what I applied" and a rotation's step kept in one rather than in memory. Nothing implements it.
+
+## What exists, measured 2026-10-04
+
+| | fact | where |
+|---|---|---|
+| streams | five kinds of mesh stream: CONTROL (work queue), NODES and ASSIGNMENTS (last per subject), EVENTS (limits: 7 days, 10 000 per subject), one work queue per seat that accepts | the controller's broker streams |
+| the state relationship | [design 32](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §4 already names *state* — 1:1, last per subject — and says it is "declared: the mesh's own". Two streams use it, both written by the controller. No module can declare it | design 32, the controller |
+| key-value buckets | none, anywhere | all four code repositories |
+| the runtime's bus verbs | `mesh/publish`, `mesh/ask`, `mesh/subscribe`; delivery back to the bundle is `mesh/event` | the runtime's launcher |
+| the runtime's principal | one bus user per machine carries every assigned module; its grant is the union of theirs. That one module's code does not act as another is the runtime's to keep: it publishes under the module's own name by construction | the controller's grant composition, the runtime's bus |
+| what a bundle is issued | a membership per assignment, last per subject, read directly by the runtime: where it serves, where it emits, what it reaches | ADR 0160 |
+| who creates bus objects | the controller only — mesh streams on every raise, a seat's stream at registration, a module's consumer at assignment. No module reaches the JetStream API | design 25 §3 |
+
+### What a key-value bucket needs from a grant, against a real server
+
+Measured against nats-server 2.10 with the Go client the runtime already uses, a bucket created by
+an unrestricted user and used by two users holding only the subjects below (`B` is the bucket):
+
+| operation | subject published | writer | reader |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| bind to the bucket | `$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.KV_B` | yes | yes |
+| get | `$JS.API.DIRECT.GET.KV_B.>` | yes | yes |
+| put, delete | `$KV.B.>` | yes | **refused** |
+| list keys, watch | `$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.KV_B.>` — an ordered, ephemeral consumer | yes | yes |
+| stop a watch cleanly | `$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.KV_B.>` | yes | yes |
+| answers | its own inbox, which every principal already subscribes | — | — |
+
+*Checked again once built, 2026-10-04:* the grants the controller composes for two machines' runtimes —
+one carrying the owner, one only a reader — were loaded into a server as composed, and each operation
+was run as each runtime's user. The owner's did all of them; the reader's read, listed and watched,
+and its put and delete were refused by the server.
+
+Three things the measurement showed that reading the documentation would not have:
+
+1. **A refused put is not an error to the caller; it is a timeout.** The server reports the
+   permission violation asynchronously, on the connection, and the client waits out its deadline
+   for an acknowledgement that never comes. So a runtime that relies on the grant alone tells a
+   bundle "timed out" for "you may not write this" — it must refuse first, from what the module was
+   issued, with the reason.
+2. **A watch's current values include deletions.** A key deleted earlier arrives among the initial
+   values as a delete marker, before the end-of-current marker. A bundle asking "what is there now"
+   must not be handed those.
+3. **Without the consumer-delete grant, stopping a watch hangs** until its deadline, and the
+   ephemeral consumer lingers on the server until it times out by itself.
+
+### Whether the events shape is enough instead
+
+Honestly compared, because a new primitive is a cost:
+
+- **EVENTS cannot be made last-per-subject for some subjects.** Retention is per stream, and
+  JetStream refuses a second stream overlapping the first (verified and recorded in design 32 §3).
+  A state subject inside `mesh.mod.*.event.>` keeps EVENTS' seven days: a licence binding unchanged
+  for a week disappears.
+- **A separate last-per-subject stream per module** is possible — it is exactly what a key-value
+  bucket *is* on the server: a stream with one message per subject, a rollup for purge, and direct
+  reads. Building it by hand gives up the client's get, list, delete and watch, which are the
+  operations both cases need, and would be the mesh writing NATS's own key-value layer again.
+- **Consumers are the wrong reader.** A durable consumer per reading module is created at
+  assignment and replays from where it is; state wants "everything current, now, then changes",
+  which an ordered ephemeral consumer from the last value per subject gives and a durable does not.
+
+So key-value is not a convenience over events; it is the state relationship design 32 already
+names, opened to modules.
+
+## Questions, and what this effort proposes
+
+1. **What a manifest says.** `state` names the buckets a module owns, by local name — every
+   instance of the module may write them and read them. `reads` names another module's bucket as
+   `<module>.<name>`, read-only. Names only, never a bucket or subject (design 32 §1). A bucket's
+   options — how many past values it keeps, how long a value lives — are the owner's to declare,
+   the way a seat declares its own retention (design 32 §3).
+2. **Scope.** One bucket per module per name, mesh-wide. A key may carry a machine by the module's
+   own convention (`all.<server>`, `<machine>.<server>`). A bucket per machine was considered and
+   not proposed: "list every server for every machine" becomes a walk over buckets, and the grant
+   could only narrow writes, which nothing asked for — every instance of the owner already writes.
+3. **Who creates the bucket.** The controller, from the catalogue, on every raise — a bucket exists
+   from registration, like a seat's stream, so a reader can watch before the owner is assigned
+   anywhere. Never a module.
+4. **The runtime's verbs.** `mesh/state.get`, `mesh/state.put`, `mesh/state.delete`,
+   `mesh/state.keys`, `mesh/state.watch`, each naming the bucket as the module named it. A watch
+   is answered once the current values are on their way, then each change is delivered to the
+   bundle as a `mesh/state` request it answers — current values first (no deletions among them), an
+   end-of-current marker, then changes. A child that restarts watches again, as it subscribes
+   again. The runtime refuses, with the reason, a bucket the module was not issued, and a write to
+   one it only reads.
+5. **Secrets.** None in a bucket, sealed or not: a bucket is a stream (design 32 §10). Sealed values
+   are plain base64 and cannot be recognised, so the mechanical check is partial and said to be: the
+   runtime refuses a value carrying a field whose name says it is a credential (`password`,
+   `secret`, `token`, `authorization`, …), which catches the ordinary mistake and not a determined
+   one. For the first consumer this has a concrete consequence: an MCP server registered with an
+   authorisation header keeps that header out of the bucket.
+6. **History, lifetime, size.** One value per key unless the owner says more; no expiry unless it
+   says one; a value at most 256 KiB and a bucket at most 64 MiB, the mesh's caps rather than a
+   module's. **A bucket outlives its module's assignment** — what a module stored is data, and data
+   outlives what declared it ([ADR 0030](../../02-DECISIONS/0030-data-outlives-the-mesh-that-declared-it.md));
+   unassigning is not cleaning up. A bucket whose declaration is gone is reported, never removed.
+7. **Events or state.** State (above).
+
+## The work, once decided
+
+1. A decision record, then design 32 (*state* becomes a relationship a module declares) and design
+   25 (key-value buckets are part of the bus) amended.
+2. The controller: the manifest's two words and their registration check; buckets asserted on every
+   raise; the grants for owners' and readers' runtimes; the buckets issued in each membership.
+3. The runtime: the five verbs, the watch delivery, the refusals; tested against a real server.
+4. The SDK, TypeScript and Go: a small state surface over the verbs.
+5. Proved on a running mesh with one small module, then handed to the operator's agent, whose
+   registered servers move from events to a bucket.

01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+---
+status: graduated
+initiated: 2026-10-04
+touches:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/27-a-module-requires-the-mesh-resolves.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md
+became:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md
+---
+
+# 025 — How a module plugs into the operator's shell
+
+## What is investigated
+
+The shell module writes the mesh's part of the account's shell startup file. But the shell is not the
+only module that needs a line there. A prompt theme loads itself from it. A language version manager
+sets a variable and sources its loader. A toolchain puts its directory on `PATH`. A desktop module
+names the browser. Today all of these sit in one hand-written file, and the shell module as written
+carries some of them in its own block and loads others only "if a module placed them". Nothing says
+how they get placed.
+
+This effort asks four things:
+
+1. **How a module contributes to the shell**: what it declares, who composes it, and in what order it
+   lands.
+2. **Where the environment lives.** Variables and `PATH` entries are facts about the account, not
+   lines of one shell's syntax. They should reach every shell (interactive or not), the login shell's
+   `execute` verb, and programs a graphical session starts.
+3. **Where the operator's own lines go,** so that assigning the shell module loses nothing the
+   machine does today.
+4. **Which part of a file the mesh owns.** ADR 0174 calls the kept region the operator's; the host and
+   to-be 38 implement the inverse (the mesh owns a marked block, and everything outside it is the
+   operator's). The record this becomes says which.
+
+## Why
+
+Rolling out the shell module (to-be 38 WP5) was stopped on 2026-10-04 after a review of what assigning
+it would do. Measured in [01](01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md):
+
+- Every machine carries the same predecessor-written startup file, so the module's block would be
+  appended after its own older copy and everything would run twice.
+- The block drops lines the machines rely on today.
+- Nothing installs the prompt theme or the plugins the block loads.
+- The `execute` verb runs a non-interactive login shell, which never reads the file the block is
+  written into.
+
+The operator's direction: other modules must be able to plug themselves into the shell; the prompt
+becomes its own module; assigning the shell module must lose no functionality; and the environment,
+`PATH` above all, needs an answer of its own.
+
+## What it touches
+
+- The manifest. A contribution to the shell is either a new use of the existing `contributes` /
+  `receives` pair or a new gathered field like `jails` (to-be 31).
+- The controller's composition, if the controller assembles the text.
+- The `login-shell` seat (ADR 0176): what a holder must do with what is contributed to it, and
+  whether a module or the mesh declares the seat. Possibly a new seat for the environment, beside it
+  and beside the service manager's (ADR 0177). Research 023 asks the related question of a seat
+  naming the files its holder owns.
+- ADR 0174's wording of the kept region, and ADR 0182's classification of the paths under a home.
+- The zsh module, and the modules this makes possible: an environment module, the prompt, a version
+  manager, a toolchain.
+
+## Where it stands
+
+The operator proposed a separate **environment module**: one module, holding a mesh seat of its own,
+that alone writes the account's environment. It writes a file that shells source and the service
+manager's user environment, from the variables and `PATH` entries every other module contributes to
+it. That is the starting position for the environment ([02](02-how-a-module-plugs-in.md) §1, option
+E6). It leaves the shell's contribution as shell code only (§2), addressed to the `login-shell` seat,
+which moves into the mesh's own seat set beside the new `node-environment` (§6).
+
+Graduated on 2026-10-04 with one change from the starting positions: the controller, not the
+environment module's own code, renders the environment into the module's files, so that the result
+is in the declaration before a machine applies it ([ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md),
+option 6b).
+
+## Documents
+
+- [01 — What the shell file holds today](01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md): evidence.
+- [02 — How a module plugs in](02-how-a-module-plugs-in.md): the options and the starting position.

01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md

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+# 01 — What the shell file holds today
+
+Measured 2026-10-04 on the four machines of one installation: two servers and two workstations. All
+four have the account's login shell set to zsh, zsh installed from the distribution, and a
+predecessor-written startup file. The predecessor is retired, so nothing manages these files any more.
+
+## The startup file is the same everywhere
+
+The account's `~/.zshrc` is **byte-identical on all four machines**: 102 lines, one checksum.
+`~/.zshrc.local`, which the last line of `~/.zshrc` sources, comes in **two variants**: one shared by
+both servers, and one shared by both workstations. So the "per-machine" part is really a
+per-*kind*-of-machine part.
+
+The predecessor produced these from one module with two *flavors*: a prompt flavor and an
+autocomplete flavor, each of which swapped in a different local file. Its install hook also:
+
+- cloned the prompt theme and three plugins from their upstream repositories into `~/.zsh/`;
+- installed fonts;
+- changed the login shell.
+
+On the workstations the theme and plugins are still on disk, left over and now owned by nothing. The
+servers have none of them.
+
+## What the 102 lines are
+
+Sorted by who should own each line once the machine is modules:
+
+| Lines today | What they are | Natural owner |
+|---|---|---|
+| `EDITOR`, `VISUAL`, `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`, `PATH` gaining `~/.local/bin` and two script directories | the account's environment | the shell's default, or the environment itself |
+| `PATH` gaining a toolchain's directory | environment, for one tool | the toolchain's module |
+| a version manager's directory variable plus sourcing its loader | environment *and* shell code | the version manager's module |
+| two variables naming the operator's own script library | environment, the operator's own | the operator |
+| a variable that turns off an agent's terminal-title handling | environment, for one tool | the agent's module |
+| the terminal title hook, keybindings, `dircolors`, the `ls`/`grep` aliases, `ll`/`la`/`l`, a container-run alias, two disk-usage functions, two port aliases | interactive shell behaviour | the shell's default |
+| the prompt's instant-prompt cache, the theme, the prompt's own configuration file | shell code, order-sensitive (instant prompt first) | the prompt module |
+| autosuggestions, syntax highlighting (and, unloaded, an autocomplete plugin on disk) | shell code, order-sensitive (syntax highlighting last) | a plugin module, or the prompt module |
+| sourcing `~/.zshrc.local` | the operator's hook | the operator |
+
+The workstation variant of the local file adds:
+
+- more environment: a desktop toolkit theme, a file manager's plugin list, `BROWSER`, `VISUAL`
+  overridden to a graphical editor, a language toolchain's binary directory on `PATH`;
+- two pieces of shell code: one that pads the prompt to the bottom of the terminal under a display, and
+  one that sources a function file another module places;
+- a hook sourcing a further per-node file.
+
+The server variant holds only that last module-placed source line.
+
+**Count:** a workstation runs 65 non-comment lines from the two files (53 shared, 12 local); a server
+runs 54. Of a workstation's 65:
+
+- about a quarter (15) are environment;
+- about half are interactive defaults no other module cares about;
+- the remaining quarter is other modules' code and hooks (a prompt, plugins, a version manager, an
+  agent's functions), loaded from the shell file only because there was nowhere else to put it.
+
+## The shell module as written
+
+The `zsh` module of to-be 38 WP5 (catalogue change, unmerged):
+
+- writes one block, appended at the end of `~/.zshrc`, holding a subset of the shared file:
+  - its environment lines, minus the toolchain directory, the version manager and the agent variable;
+  - the title hook, keybindings and the most common aliases, minus the port aliases;
+  - guarded `source` lines for the theme and two plugins *if present*;
+  - the source of `~/.zshrc.local`.
+- assigned to any of the four machines, appends that block after the identical lines already there, so
+  every line in it runs twice, `~/.zshrc.local` included.
+- on the servers, the guarded prompt lines find nothing; nothing installs the theme anywhere.
+
+## Which startup file reaches what
+
+zsh's startup order, and what each path through it reads:
+
+| started as | reads |
+|---|---|
+| interactive login (a console, ssh with a terminal) | `.zshenv`, `.zprofile`, `.zshrc`, `.zlogin` |
+| interactive non-login (a new terminal window) | `.zshenv`, `.zshrc` |
+| non-interactive login: `zsh -lc …`, what the `execute` verb runs | `.zshenv`, `.zprofile`, `.zlogin`, **not** `.zshrc` |
+| non-interactive: a script, `ssh host command` | `.zshenv` only |
+
+So an environment written into `.zshrc` reaches neither `execute` nor a script. The distribution's
+system-wide login profile, which zsh's system `zprofile` sources, only ever *appends* to `PATH` when an
+entry is missing. An entry the account's `.zshenv` puts first therefore survives a login.
+
+A graphical session's programs (a launcher, a bar, a window manager's key bindings) are started from the
+display manager and the service manager, not from a shell, and read none of these files. The service
+manager's own place for the account's environment is `~/.config/environment.d/`. Today it holds nothing
+on any of the four machines, so a program launched from the window manager does not see `PATH` entries
+that a terminal does.
+
+## What the mesh already has for "many modules, one file"
+
+Measured over the catalogue's 69 module definitions:
+
+| mechanism | used by | shape |
+|---|---|---|
+| `contributes` / `receives` | 28 contribute, 15 receive | A consumer contributes **facts** keyed by a requirement. The provider receives all of them as one file in the mesh's own format, and **renders them itself**. "The controller does not know what a reverse proxy is." |
+| `listens` / `filtering` | 40 declare listens, 1 composes | The controller derives the whole firewall rule set from every module's ports and writes it where the holder asks. |
+| `jails` / `jailing` | 3 declare, 1 composes | Each module supplies its jail **in the tool's own format**. The controller assembles them, sorted, into the one file the holder names. |
+| `into: block` on a file | 2 | One module's marked region inside a file something else owns. Text outside the region is kept byte for byte. Placement is at the end, or at the start. |
+
+None of these is a contribution of shell code or of environment today.

01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/02-how-a-module-plugs-in.md

@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+# 02 — How a module plugs in
+
+Six questions, taken one at a time: the environment, shell code, the operator's own lines, order,
+who renders, and what a contribution is addressed to. Each has the options weighed and a starting
+position. The positions were set with the operator on 2026-10-04 and are what this effort tests, not
+what it has decided.
+
+## 1. The environment: variables and `PATH`
+
+A variable or a `PATH` entry is a fact about the account. It holds whichever shell is the login shell,
+and it is wanted by:
+
+- every shell, interactive or not;
+- the login shell's `execute`;
+- a graphical session's programs.
+
+[01](01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md) measures that `.zshrc` reaches only the first kind, and
+only interactively.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| E1 | Each module writes lines into the shell's rc file (today) | nothing new | misses `execute`, scripts and the graphical session; written in one shell's syntax, so a second shell module starts over |
+| E2 | A module contributes environment facts (a variable and its value; a `PATH` entry and its position) **to the login shell**. The holder renders them into its shell's always-read file (`~/.zshenv` for zsh) | reaches every zsh, `execute` included; a contributor names no path and no shell | the graphical session sees none of it; the environment is tied to which module holds the shell; every shell module reimplements the same rendering |
+| E3 | E2, and the service-manager holder (ADR 0177) renders the same facts a second time into `~/.config/environment.d/` | the graphical session sees the same `PATH` as the terminal | one fact set, two owners, two renderings that can disagree; the service manager's module gains a duty unrelated to managing services |
+| E4 | One composed file in `environment.d` syntax, sourced by the shell with export-all | one file, two readers | ties the shell to the service manager's syntax, which is close to POSIX assignments but not equal (its `${VAR:-default}` and quoting rules differ); a value with a space breaks one reader or the other |
+| E5 | Shells take the environment from the service manager's environment generator, which prints the merged `environment.d` | no file of the shell's at all | every shell depends on the service manager and starts a process on every start; the generator's output is unquoted, so a value with a space breaks it |
+| **E6** | **An environment module.** A module of its own (working name `node-env`) holds a mesh seat, `node-environment`, and is the only writer of the account's environment. Every module contributes its variables and `PATH` entries to that seat. The holder writes them in each reader's format: a POSIX file of `export` lines that shells source, and the service manager's `~/.config/environment.d/` | the environment no longer depends on which shell holds `login-shell`; one owner and one rendering per format, both from the same facts; the graphical session included without the service manager's module; a contributor addresses "the environment", never a shell; the `PATH` rules (order, de-duplication) live in one module's code, where a test can hold them | one more module and seat, assigned on every node beside the shell; the `login-shell` protocol gains a duty, to source the environment file, which must be written down and checked |
+
+**Starting position: E6.** It was the operator's proposal on 2026-10-04, and it replaces this
+document's first position (E2, then E3).
+
+- The facts are the contribution. Each format is rendered once, by the one module whose subject is the
+  environment.
+- A shell module's part shrinks to one line in its always-read file: `.zshenv` for zsh, sourcing the
+  environment module's POSIX file. A bash or fish module writes the same line in its own file, and no
+  contributor changes when the login shell does.
+
+Sketched, for a node with zsh, the environment module, and a toolchain:
+
+```
+toolchain ──contributes PATH entry──▶ node-environment ◀──contributes EDITOR, ~/.local/bin── zsh
+                                            │ (held by node-env)
+                         ┌──────────────────┴──────────────────┐
+                         ▼                                     ▼
+              POSIX export file                  ~/.config/environment.d/
+                         ▲                                     ▲
+            sourced from ~/.zshenv               read by the service manager
+            (every zsh, execute too)             (the graphical session)
+```
+
+The shell module still contributes its own environment (`EDITOR`, `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`, `~/.local/bin` on
+`PATH`) as a contributor like any other; it does not write those lines itself. Once issue 168 closes,
+the values a person varies become settings of whichever module contributes them (ADR 0174).
+
+## 2. Shell code: a prompt, plugins, a version manager's loader
+
+This *is* one shell's syntax, and order matters: a prompt's instant-prompt cache must run first, and
+syntax highlighting last.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| S1 | **A contribution of code for one shell** (the shell it is for, the code, a slot), gathered by the controller and placed inside the holder's block in slot order. The same shape as `jails`, which a module supplies in fail2ban's own format and the controller assembles | a contributor names no path; the order is declared and checkable; unassigning the contributor removes its code at the next composition; a node holding fish simply has no zsh code rendered, and the resolver can say so | the controller gains one more gathered field; code for a shell travels in the declaration (in the clear, so no secrets in it, as for any file) |
+| S2 | **A drop-in directory**: each module places its own `~/.zsh/rc.d/NN-name.zsh`, and the shell's block sources the directory | no controller change; each file is its module's own, removed when undeclared | every contributor hard-codes a path inside the shell module's territory, against ADR 0112's spirit; order is a naming convention nothing checks; nothing ties the file to the shell actually being zsh |
+| S3 | Contributions as facts the holder renders (`contributes`/`receives` proper) | one mechanism with question 1 | code is not a fact; the holder would only paste it, which is S1 with an extra file |
+
+**Starting position: S1.** A contribution to the shell carries **only code**, for named shells, each
+piece in a slot. Variables and `PATH` entries never go here; they go to the environment (§1). So a
+module touching both makes two contributions:
+
+- A prompt module contributes zsh code in the first slot, and its own configuration file is its own
+  owned file (ADR 0182).
+- A version manager contributes its directory variable to the environment, and its loader as code
+  for each shell it supports.
+- A toolchain contributes a `PATH` entry to the environment and nothing to the shell.
+
+What has to be settled: what each contribution is *addressed to*. Section 6 covers that.
+
+## 3. The operator's own lines: the "local override"
+
+Assigning the shell module must lose nothing the machine does today. That has two halves.
+
+**What is common is the module's default, not an override.** The startup file is identical on all four
+machines ([01](01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md)). A line every machine has is the shell module's
+default, or another module's contribution. It is not a local override that a person would keep in step
+on every machine by hand. Most of today's file therefore moves into the shell module's block and into
+the contributions above. Little of it stays the operator's.
+
+**What is the operator's is everything outside the mesh's block.** The host already works this way:
+
+- the mesh's region is the marked block;
+- text outside it is kept byte for byte, and checked unchanged;
+- the region is given back when the module goes.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| O1 | The mesh's block at the **start** of the file; the operator's lines after it | the operator's lines run last and win, which is what an override means; already supported (`at: start`) | a file the operator later rewrites must keep the markers; the host refuses a broken pair rather than guess |
+| O2 | A named operator region *inside* a file the mesh writes whole (ADR 0174's wording) | the file is entirely the mesh's except one hole | the opposite of what the host implements; a file a person already owns becomes the mesh's |
+| O3 | Only `~/.zshrc.local`, sourced from the block; `~/.zshrc` the mesh's whole | one obvious place | takes over a file the person owns today; ADR 0182 classifies the shell's own file as *written into*, not owned |
+
+**Starting position: O1.** `~/.zshrc.local` keeps working because the operator's own lines source it,
+not because the mesh's block does.
+
+The record this effort becomes corrects ADR 0174's description of the kept region as a **progressive
+insight**: the decision stands (a node varies a module by settings or by the operator's own lines,
+never by an edit), and only its description of which side is marked changes.
+
+**The one-off migration** is a person's act, listed in the module's documentation (ADR 0182):
+
+- remove from today's file every line the block or a contribution now carries;
+- keep the rest below the block.
+
+Until a prompt module and the other contributors exist, the lines they will carry stay among the
+operator's own. Nothing is lost at any step.
+
+## 4. Order
+
+Order matters only for code. The environment is set before any code runs, because zsh reads
+`.zshenv` first. `PATH` entries carry their own position (before or after the system's), which the
+environment module orders, not the shell.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| R1 | Numbers (`10`, `50`, `90`) | familiar | every contributor guesses a number; collisions are silent |
+| R2 | **A few named slots**, `first` / `normal` / `last`, with the module name breaking ties | the prompt says `first` and highlighting says `last` because that is what they mean; the composed result is the same bytes every time | three slots may not be enough |
+
+**Starting position: R2.** Inside the shell module's block, the order is:
+
+1. the line sourcing the environment module's file (in `.zshenv`, so it runs for every zsh; the rest
+   of this list is `.zshrc`);
+2. the `first` slot;
+3. the shell module's own defaults;
+4. the `normal` slot;
+5. the `last` slot.
+
+The operator's lines come after the block, as option O1 says.
+
+## 5. Who renders: the controller or the holder's code
+
+There are two different renderings, and E6 lets them be answered differently.
+
+**The environment** is facts rendered into two fixed formats by the one module whose subject they are.
+
+- The environment module receives the gathered contributions (the `contributes` / `receives` shape:
+  facts in the mesh's own format, rendered by the receiver).
+- Its own code writes the POSIX file and the `environment.d` file whenever what it receives changes.
+  That is ADR 0182's third class, written by the module's own process, owned by the account,
+  atomically.
+- The controller learns no shell and no service manager. The `PATH` rules (prepend or append,
+  de-duplicate, keep the system's entries) are ordinary code with ordinary tests.
+- To settle: what runs that code when the received file changes. The candidates are a host action
+  that restarts on the received file, or a subscription through the runtime (ADR 0198).
+
+**Shell code** is not facts. It is text in the shell's own syntax, assembled in slot order, which is
+what the controller already does for fail2ban jails: sort the pieces and concatenate them into the
+holder's region. The controller assembles; it never interprets the code. This keeps the shell module
+bundle-free for its files, and keeps the composed result visible in the declaration before a machine
+applies it.
+
+## 6. What a contribution is addressed to
+
+Under E6 there are two addressees: the environment and the login shell.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| A1 | **Seats**: environment facts to `node-environment`, shell code to `login-shell`. Each seat's protocol says what its holder does with what is contributed to it | a contributor depends on a role ("the environment", "the login shell"), never on zsh or on one module; works the same for any holder | `login-shell` today is declared by the zsh module itself (ADR 0126). A second shell module may only claim it, never declare it, and the seat exists only while zsh's definition is registered |
+| A2 | Requirements the modules provide (`contributes` keyed by them, as the reverse proxy is) | an existing mechanism | a contributor on a node without the provider fails to resolve, though a toolchain's `PATH` entry with no environment module is merely unwritten |
+
+**Starting position: A1, both seats in the mesh's own seat set** beside the service manager.
+
+- `node-environment` is new, and is the mesh's from the start.
+- `login-shell` moves there from the zsh module's definition. A shell is as universal a role as a
+  service manager, and a protocol that now carries duties (render the shell code contributed to it,
+  source the environment file) should not depend on one module's registration.
+
+Research 023 (a seat's protocol naming what its holder owns) is the general form of this: the
+environment seat would own the two environment files, and the login-shell seat the shell's
+startup-file region. The two efforts should not decide it twice.
+
+## Open questions
+
+- Whether a contribution may be conditional on a capability: the workstation-only environment (a
+  browser, a toolkit theme) is a desktop module's contribution, which arrives only where that module is
+  assigned. Measured, this may need nothing new.
+- What a node without the environment module does with environment contributions: refuse them at
+  resolve, or leave them unwritten and say so. The position here is to say so; a missing `PATH` entry
+  is a visible gap, not a broken machine.
+- Whether the operator's own variables (the script-library paths in [01](01-what-the-shell-file-holds-today.md))
+  are the operator's lines below the shell block, or a kept region of the environment module's file.
+  The first needs nothing new, but reaches only interactive zsh.
+- How the prompt module and a plugin module divide the plugins. Packaging decides it as much as
+  ownership: the plugins come from upstream repositories, not distribution packages, on these machines.
+- Whether the `execute` verb should read the interactive file at all once the environment is in
+  `.zshenv`. The position here is no: a non-interactive login shell plus the environment is what a
+  command needs, and the prompt's code should not run for it.
+- How a contribution reaches a second shell assigned beside the holder, which to-be 38 WP5 names as the
+  first follow-up record. Under A1 a non-holder renders nothing, so the question becomes whether a
+  non-holding shell module may render contributions for interactive use.

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+---
+status: active
+initiated: 2026-10-04
+touches:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md
+became: []
+---
+
+# 026 — The graphical session as modules
+
+## What is investigated
+
+The workstations' graphical session as modules of the mesh, at the same level as the shell
+([to-be 41](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)): a package, files
+under the account's home, a seat, and nothing that names a machine. The pieces are:
+
+- the login manager;
+- how a session starts and what environment it gets;
+- the display server (X today, Wayland as a sibling);
+- the window manager (i3, and sway as its Wayland sibling);
+- the terminal emulator (xterm);
+- the session's companions: bar, compositor, launcher, notifier, lock and idle, clipboard,
+  wallpaper, theming, fonts.
+
+[To-be 38](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) names this WP7, and says
+each seat begins with a record naming its holders and verbs. [To-be 37](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md)
+§4 leaves one question for the resolver: whether a held seat can gate another's assignment.
+
+## Why
+
+The operator asked for the graphical modules next, at the shell's level, and for one consistent
+experience across machines. Since the predecessor retired, nothing manages the workstations'
+desktops. Measured in [01](01-what-the-workstations-run.md):
+
+- Two workstations carry one 983-line predecessor module's output, still byte-identical in its core.
+- One workstation also carries another machine's hardware fragments.
+- One runs a session that predates two fixes, with two notification daemons and two portals.
+- The session's environment is a hand-kept second copy of the account's, beside the one the mesh
+  now writes.
+
+## How it is approached
+
+**Adopting is also improving** (the operator, 2026-10-04). A module is not a copy of what a machine
+does today. Making it is the moment to fix what is broken, drop what is dead, choose the better tool
+and remove the leftovers. Every module's design lists its improvements over today. **Every module
+also serves tools,** many of them, for reading, acting and diagnosing; a module that only places a
+package and a file is unfinished. The tools are catalogued in
+[026/05](../026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/05-the-tools-each-module-serves.md).
+
+## What it touches
+
+- **The seat table:** up to ten node seats.
+- **The resolver:** a seat held on a node gating another module's assignment.
+- **The contribution mechanism of ADR 0204:** whether it generalises beyond shells, or whether
+  tools' own drop-in directories serve.
+- **The host's user-scoped units** (mesh-host #72, still open).
+- **Settings** for per-machine values (issue 168).
+- **ADR 0205's archive** for the two pieces the distribution does not package.
+
+## Documents
+
+- [01 — What the workstations run](01-what-the-workstations-run.md): evidence.
+- [02 — The questions and the options](02-the-questions-and-the-options.md)
+- [04 — Screensaver, displays and menus](04-screensaver-displays-and-menus.md): the lock and idle module, monitor layouts by the monitors' identity, rofi and dmenu behind one launcher seat, the clipboard, fonts
+- [05 — The tools each module serves](05-the-tools-each-module-serves.md): a first catalogue for the modules of 026 and 027
+- [03 — What the predecessor taught](03-what-the-predecessor-taught.md): its 128 modules and 3,395 commits, as patterns to keep and failures not to repeat; shared with research 027.

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/01-what-the-workstations-run.md

@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+# 01 — What the workstations run
+
+Measured 2026-10-04 on the two workstations of one installation, read-only: a laptop with a hybrid
+GPU and an internal panel, and a desktop with one GPU and two external monitors. Both run the same
+predecessor-generated desktop. File equality was checked by checksum across the two machines.
+
+## How a session starts
+
+The chain is the same on both:
+
+1. The login manager (`lemurs`, built from the distribution's user repository, its package now in
+   the official one) runs its X setup script on a virtual terminal.
+2. That script sources the login shell's profile files, then `~/.xprofile`, then the system's
+   `xinitrc.d` drop-ins, then merges `~/.Xresources`.
+3. `~/.xprofile` reuses the systemd user manager's bus, then sources `~/.xinitrc`.
+4. `~/.xinitrc` sets up the session and ends with `exec i3`.
+
+The login manager's own window-manager entry (`exec startx`) is never reached. Its configuration
+file uses a format two releases old, and an unmerged newer one sits beside it.
+
+**What `~/.xinitrc` does**, in order:
+
+1. Sources the system drop-ins, which import `DISPLAY` and `XAUTHORITY` into the user manager.
+2. Starts the keyring and exports its ssh socket.
+3. Exports the session's environment:
+   - `PATH`, with nine entries, one of them a directory that no longer exists;
+   - toolchain variables;
+   - `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` and `XDG_DATA_DIRS` (with flatpak);
+   - five GTK/Qt theme variables;
+   - the desktop's identity (`XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP`, `XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP`);
+   - three of the operator's own variables.
+4. Imports an explicit allowlist of ten of those into the user manager and D-Bus activation. It is
+   never `--all`, because:
+5. a predecessor file of **secrets as environment variables** (package-registry and API tokens) is
+   sourced next.
+6. Sets the screensaver and display power timeouts, restores the wallpaper, and starts the lock
+   watcher in a respawn loop. It is deliberately not a unit, because it needs the login session.
+7. `exec i3`.
+
+**The account's environment, as of today, has three sources that disagree:**
+
+- this file, for the session;
+- the mesh's `environment.sh`, for shells
+  ([ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md));
+- `~/.config/environment.d/`, for the user manager. It holds the mesh's `50-mesh.conf`, and a
+  predecessor file that **sets `PATH` outright** and sorts after it.
+
+## The roles, and what fills them
+
+| role | software | where configured |
+|---|---|---|
+| login manager | lemurs | `/etc/lemurs/*` (identical on both, and to the predecessor's source) |
+| session start and environment | the login manager's X setup, `~/.xprofile`, `~/.xinitrc`, `xinitrc.d`, the D-Bus import, `environment.d` | `~/.xprofile`, `~/.xinitrc`, `~/.config/environment.d/*` |
+| display server | Xorg (`xorg-server`, `xinit`, the X apps; vendor drivers per GPU) | **no** `xorg.conf.d`; monitors by `xrandr` scripts |
+| monitor layout | `xrandr` scripts (arandr), a hotplug rule on the laptop | `~/.screenlayout/`, a scripts folder, a window-manager fragment |
+| window manager | i3 4.25 | `~/.config/i3/config` and `config.d/*`, a reload watcher (user unit) |
+| bar | i3bar with i3status-rust | `~/.config/i3status-rust/*`, 14 themes, a bar watchdog (user unit) |
+| terminal | xterm (the only terminal installed) | `~/.Xresources.d/xterm`, the window manager's binding, the compositor's opacity rule |
+| compositor | picom | `~/.config/picom/picom.conf` |
+| launcher and menus | rofi | `~/.config/rofi/*`, launcher, power-menu and theme-picker scripts |
+| notifier | dunst (D-Bus activated) | `~/.config/dunst/dunstrc`, `dunstrc.d/*` |
+| lock, idle, display power | xss-lock and i3lock-color, `xset` | `~/.xinitrc`, a lock script |
+| clipboard | greenclip, xclip | `greenclip.toml` |
+| wallpaper | feh | `~/.fehbg` (points into the predecessor's tree) |
+| theming | Adwaita dark, qt5ct/qt6ct, the desktop portal (GTK backend pinned) | GTK `settings.ini`, `qt*ct.conf`, `portals.conf`, an appearance script, `.Xresources` cursor |
+| fonts | Hack and Meslo Nerd fonts in `~/.local/share/fonts` (not packaged), noto | `~/.Xresources.d/xft` (DPI fixed at 96) |
+| keyboard | nothing set; the default layout; vendor keys via triggerhappy on the laptop | window-manager bindings, `/etc/triggerhappy` |
+
+**Packages:** every piece except two is in the distribution's official repositories, and the login
+manager now is too. The two exceptions are the lock screen's colour build (`i3lock-color`) and the
+clipboard manager (`rofi-greenclip`). The Nerd fonts exist as official packages, but both machines
+carry hand-copied files instead.
+
+## Identical, different, and why
+
+**Byte-identical on both machines:**
+
+- the session files: `.xinitrc`, `.xprofile`, `.Xresources` and its drop-ins;
+- the i3 main configuration and two of its fragments;
+- the bar's top configuration and themes;
+- picom, rofi, the GTK and Qt settings, the portal configuration, the login manager.
+
+**Different, by cause:**
+
+| cause | what |
+|---|---|
+| hardware | the monitor layout script; the bar's battery block; the laptop's power and vendor-key units and udev rules |
+| misassignment | the desktop carries the **laptop's** hardware fragments: the vendor-key daemon and its triggers, the backlight rule, the brightness drop-in, a touchpad reset, and the laptop's monitor layouts, in an older version |
+| drift | the notifier's position and corner radius; a "temporary" window-manager fragment from a test; the bar watchdog disabled; a second Qt configuration tool; different font builds |
+| a stale session | the desktop's session began before two fixes, so it runs two notification daemons and two portals, and its user manager lacks the desktop's identity |
+
+**Dead references:** the window manager starts a polkit agent that is installed on neither machine,
+so there is no polkit agent at all. `PATH` names a directory that does not exist.
+
+**Per-machine values inside shared files:**
+
+- the DPI;
+- absolute home paths, in the clipboard configuration and the flatpak data directories;
+- the laptop's panel name, inside a fragment both machines carry.
+
+## User units the desktop needs
+
+| unit | does | laptop | desktop |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| reload watcher | reloads the window manager and bar when their files change | on | on |
+| bar watchdog | restarts a dead bar | on | off |
+| clipboard daemon | from its package | via the window manager | unit **and** window manager |
+| vendor power profile, memory guard | laptop power | on | — |
+
+None is managed. Applying them as the account needs the host's user scope
+([ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)),
+which is still an open change.
+
+## The predecessor's module
+
+One manifest of 983 lines covers the window manager, bar, launcher, notifier, compositor, lock
+screen, session bootstrap, theming and scripts. It:
+
+- has four *flavors*: i3, laptop (i3 plus the monitor wizard and hotplug), desktop (i3 plus
+  nothing) and a laptop model (laptop plus vendor keys);
+- has about **105 theme variables** substituted into templates: border, gaps, fonts, workspace
+  names, every colour of bar, launcher, notifier and lock screen, compositor opacity, cursor, idle
+  times, Qt and GTK theme names;
+- enables the two user units from an install hook.
+
+Separate modules held the login manager and the display server (one flavor, `xorg`, with a comment
+calling `wayland` "the intended sibling"). The shell module held no graphical part.
+
+## Wayland and sway
+
+**Nothing exists.** There is no compositor, no sway configuration, no Wayland session entry, and the
+login manager's Wayland directory is empty. What is installed is libraries:
+
+- Wayland itself and the Qt Wayland plugins, which other packages pull in;
+- `xwayland`, explicitly installed and required by nothing;
+- on the desktop, an orphaned compositor library from another desktop environment, and that
+  environment's portal backend, pulled in by a game launcher. The portal configuration pins
+  against it.
+
+Every piece a sway session needs is in the official repositories: the compositor, its lock screen,
+a terminal (`foot`), a bar (`waybar`), a notifier (`mako`) and `xwayland`.

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/02-the-questions-and-the-options.md

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+# 02 — The questions and the options
+
+Seven questions. Each has its options and a starting position, which is what this effort tests, not
+what it has decided.
+
+## 1. How finely the desktop splits into modules
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| G1 | One desktop module, as the predecessor had | one assignment | flavors again, per machine; ADR 0174 refuses them, and the evidence shows a flavor landing on the wrong machine |
+| G2 | **One module per piece of software:** `lemurs`, `xorg`, `i3`, `i3status-rust`, `xterm`, `picom`, `rofi`, `dunst`, `xss-lock` with the lock screen, `greenclip`, `feh`, a theme module, a fonts module | each is what it declares; a machine gets exactly what is assigned; the same split already works for the shell and its plugins | about thirteen assignments per workstation |
+| G3 | G2, plus a named **set** the controller assigns as one (for example *the X desktop*) | G2's precision with G1's convenience | a set is a new controller concept |
+
+**Starting position: G2.** Whether a set is worth a record is left until the thirteen assignments
+have been done by hand once.
+
+## 2. The seats
+
+Research 018 listed the candidates. ADR 0204 has since put the login shell in the mesh's own set,
+because a role with a protocol should not depend on one module's registration. The same reasoning
+applies here:
+
+| seat | holders | protocol, first verbs |
+|---|---|---|
+| `node-login-manager` | lemurs, greetd | which sessions it offers, the default session |
+| `node-display-server` | xorg, sway | `displays`, `layout` |
+| `node-display-session` | i3, sway | `reload`, `workspaces`, `windows` |
+| `node-terminal-emulator` | xterm, foot, alacritty | which terminal `$TERMINAL` names; `open` |
+| `node-bar`, `node-compositor`, `node-launcher`, `node-notifier`, `node-lock-screen`, `node-clipboard` | the pieces above, and their Wayland counterparts | one verb or none each, until a use asks for one |
+
+**A compositor that is its own server holds two seats.** Sway is both the display server and the
+display session. A module may claim several seats, so this needs nothing new.
+
+**Starting position:** the first four seats are in the mesh's own set. The companion seats are
+added only as each holder is written; for those, a module without a seat is acceptable at first.
+
+## 3. One module requiring another seat to be held
+
+i3 needs an X server held on its node, and sway needs nothing below it. A terminal needs a session.
+To-be 37 left open how that is said.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| R1 | A seat **delivers a provision** (`x11-display`, `wayland-display`) and a module requires it at node scope. The seat table has a `delivers` field already, and requirements already resolve | existing machinery; the refusal names the seat and its possible holders, which design 27 already lists | a node-scoped requirement that never crosses machines has to be stated as such |
+| R2 | A new field, *needs the seat X held* | reads plainly | a second way to say what R1 says |
+| R3 | Nothing; assign carefully | — | the mistake the evidence shows (a laptop's fragments on a desktop) is exactly an unchecked assignment |
+
+**Starting position: R1.** `xorg` and `sway` each deliver what they serve. `i3`, `picom` and `xss-lock`
+require `x11-display`. `foot` requires a Wayland display, and xterm requires an X one, which a Wayland
+session gives through `xwayland`.
+
+## 4. Who starts the session, and with what environment
+
+Today `~/.xinitrc` is a hand-kept second environment and the session's whole start script.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| S1 | The display server's module writes `~/.xinitrc` **into**: a mesh block at the start that sources the account's environment (`environment.sh`), merges the X resources, and runs the session's contributed start lines. The session holder's module contributes its `exec` line. The operator's lines stay after the block | one environment for shells, the session and the user manager; nothing to keep in step | the order inside `.xinitrc` becomes the slot order of a contribution (question 5) |
+| S2 | The login manager's module owns the session script under `/etc` | system scope; no home file | the environment is the account's, and the script is the same for every account |
+| S3 | Leave `.xinitrc` the operator's | nothing to build | the third environment stays |
+
+**Starting position: S1.**
+
+- The desktop's identity (`XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP`) and the theme variables become **environment
+  contributions** (ADR 0203) from `i3` and from the theme module. They then also reach the user
+  manager through `environment.d`, which replaces most of today's allowlist import.
+- The secrets file stays out of the environment until research 027 settles how a secret reaches an
+  account.
+
+## 5. How other modules contribute to a holder's file
+
+The terminal's settings are X resources. A bar, a launcher binding and a hardware module's key
+bindings are window-manager configuration. Autostarts are the session's. ADR 0204 built slot
+contributions for shells only.
+
+| | option | for | against |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| C1 | **The tool's own drop-in directory**, where it has one: i3's `include`, dunst's `dunstrc.d`, X resources' `#include`, XDG autostart entries, `environment.d`. Each contributor owns its own file there | no mesh change; the tools already read these directories; unassigning removes the file | each contributor names a path in another tool's directory (ADR 0204 rejected this for shells, where no drop-in convention exists); ordering is by file name |
+| C2 | **ADR 0204's mechanism generalised:** `contributes` text *for a format* (`zsh`, `xresources`, `i3`, `xinitrc`) in a slot, placed by the holder's placeholder | one mechanism, checked by the controller, order declared | every format must be named in the controller; a bigger change to ADR 0204 |
+| C3 | C1 where the tool has a drop-in convention, C2 where it does not (`.xinitrc`, `.Xresources` order) | uses each tool's own grain | two mechanisms to learn |
+
+**Starting position: C3**, with the boundary drawn by the tools. A tool that reads a directory gets
+drop-ins. A file without one gets slots. This means amending ADR 0204's "shell" to "a format", which
+is a progressive extension rather than a reversal.
+
+## 6. What varies per machine
+
+| what | today | option |
+|---|---|---|
+| monitor layout | per-machine `xrandr` scripts, monitor names baked in | a **setting** of `xorg` (issue 168), and a `layout` verb of the display server seat |
+| DPI, fonts' size | fixed in an X resource | a setting |
+| battery block, vendor keys, brightness, touchpad | a laptop model's flavor | **a hardware module** per machine model, contributing its window-manager fragment, bar block and udev rules. The desktop simply is not assigned it |
+| theme (the 105 variables) | template substitution | settings of each tool's module, after issue 168 closes (ADR 0174). Until then each module carries today's values as its default |
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- Hardware modules for what follows the machine.
+- Defaults now, settings after issue 168, for what the operator varies.
+- The monitor layout waits for settings. Until then it is an operator-owned script the display
+  server's block calls if present.
+
+## 7. Wayland and sway
+
+Nothing of a Wayland session exists, and every piece is officially packaged. "Wayland" is a protocol,
+not a piece of software, so it has no module of its own. Its parts are `sway` (server and session),
+`swaylock`, `foot`, `waybar`, `mako`, and `xwayland` for X clients.
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- The seats and the requirements (questions 2 and 3) are designed so that sway fits from the first
+  day.
+- The X stack is built first, because it is what runs.
+- `sway` and its companions are written after that, and proven on one workstation as a second
+  session the login manager offers beside i3. That lets the operator try it without losing the
+  working desktop.
+
+## Prerequisites this effort cannot remove
+
+- **User-scoped units** (mesh-host #72) for the reload watcher and the bar watchdog.
+- **Settings** (issue 168) for monitors and theme values.
+- **The two packages not in the official repositories:** the lock screen's colour build and the
+  clipboard manager. Each is ADR 0205's case, a pinned archive, or a choice of an official
+  alternative (`i3lock` without colours; `clipmenu`/`cliphist`).

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/03-what-the-predecessor-taught.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# 03 — What the predecessor taught
+
+A study on 2026-10-04 of the retired predecessor:
+
+- its 128 module manifests, their hooks, its installer and its sync engine;
+- 3,395 commits of history;
+- what it left on four machines.
+
+This document holds what bears on the graphical session and on the system layer
+([research 027](../027-the-system-layer-as-modules/00-overview.md)). The evidence is in the
+predecessor's history. A commit is cited here by what it fixed, not by its hash, because the
+repository is private.
+
+## Keep: what worked
+
+| pattern | where it shows | in the mesh |
+|---|---|---|
+| ownership marked inside the file: inside the markers is reconciled, outside is kept verbatim | a block marker in a shared file, after an engine that rewrote whole files | kept regions (ADR 0174, ADR 0204) |
+| two writers get two files and an `include`, the include first | the ssh client's configuration, after two writers fought over one file | ADR 0203's two files; research 026 C1 |
+| one writer per file, one authority per action | only the reload watcher restarts the window manager, after three mechanisms each did | ADR 0182 |
+| refuse to write when the source of truth is unreadable; never empty a block because a query found nothing | a block of names was emptied by a failed query | — keep |
+| an unresolved template variable fails the install | a literal unfilled path was installed green | [issue 231](../../04-ISSUES/231-a-misspelled-placeholder-is-written-out-as-text/00-report.md): the mesh still has this gap |
+| prune only what you can prove you placed | stale files from earlier deliveries | ADR 0189 |
+| ensuring never rotates a credential | a silent rotation caused a retry storm, a ban of the shared address and a lost registry | ADR 0114 |
+| vendor only the files you use; never clone and link | three files instead of 77 MB | ADR 0205 |
+| copy, never symlink | a recursive delete followed a link, and every reinstall failed | ADR 0012 |
+| verification says what it did not check | a verifier said *clean* while the secret was still on disk | — keep |
+| alert once per condition | 411 alerts hid a 28-hour outage | ADR 0090 |
+
+## Do not repeat
+
+| failure | what it did | the mesh instead | where the mesh is still exposed |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **Flavors** | variant files and packages per machine type: a gate dropped, the first-seen variant won, packages never installed, the verifier ignored the gate. On the day of the study a desktop carried a laptop model's fragments | one module per piece, assignment per machine (ADR 0174, research 026 §1) | a setting that switches which whole file is rendered is a flavor under another name |
+| **The freeze** | existing values outranked new defaults; templated files were rendered once (*copy if absent*) | files are generated (ADR 0011) | a created-once file (ADR 0087) is a deliberate freeze, and a push must say *kept* |
+| **Adopting drift** | a *merge* strategy made a local edit the record forever; switching strategies clobbered a person's model choice | nothing is read back (ADR 0174) | an edit outside a kept region is overwritten **silently**. The predecessor's *why is this back* loop: the push should name what it overwrote |
+| **Environment templating** | `${VAR}` matched any name; unresolved names stayed literal; comments and destination paths were interpolated | namespaced placeholders; `$` forbidden in contributed values (ADR 0203) | issue 231 |
+| **Hooks with privilege** | install hooks ran `sudo`, `chsh`, `systemctl`, `git clone` and `curl`, and swallowed failures into a warning | the `user` shape, the service shape, archives (ADR 0176, 0177, 0205) | the agent module writes under `/etc` from its own tool through `sudo` (no keep-original, no give-back); the prompt's helper downloads itself unpinned; that the operator escalates without a prompt is assumed by three modules and declared by none (research 027) |
+| **Secrets in environment files** | `.env` files left world-readable; the decryption key beside what it decrypts; a deleted secret stayed in the file, so rotation was a no-op | the vault (ADR 0113, 0114) | a predecessor file of secrets is still sourced into the graphical session on two machines (research 027 Q2) |
+| **Symlinks into a home** | a system file linked into a person's home | ADR 0012 | on the control machine, a fail2ban action file is still a predecessor link into its home tree. Deleting that tree would silently break the repeat-offender jail. The mesh's fail2ban module must own it as a file first |
+| **Green while broken** | a recorded version frozen for four months; a verifier passing what it skipped | ADR 0134, 0145, 0184 | issue 230: a plan waiting for ever reads as healthy |
+
+## What it means here
+
+- **Research 026:** the desktop's 88 flavor-gated files and 92 theme variables are the flavor and
+  templating failures in one module. Question 1 (one module per piece) and question 6 (hardware
+  modules, settings later) are the answer, and nothing in the new modules may switch whole files on a
+  setting.
+- **Research 027:** the hooks that installed the AUR helper, enabled the login manager and changed
+  shells are what the `package`, `service` and `user` shapes replace. Every remaining `sudo` in a module's
+  own code is a debt to be named, starting with the agent module.

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/04-screensaver-displays-and-menus.md

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+# 04 — Screensaver, displays and menus
+
+Three areas the operator named on 2026-10-04, as their own modules. Each sharpens a row of
+[01](01-what-the-workstations-run.md) and a question of [02](02-the-questions-and-the-options.md).
+
+## The screensaver: idle, lock and display power
+
+**Measured on both workstations:**
+
+- **Idle and lock** are three things wired by hand in the session's start script:
+  - the X screensaver timeout (`xset s 1800`);
+  - the display power timeouts (`xset dpms`);
+  - `xss-lock` running the colour build of `i3lock` through a wrapper, in a respawn loop.
+- **A second screensaver,** xscreensaver, is installed and deliberately not started. Earlier it
+  overrode the display power settings with its own, and locked nothing. Its configuration file is
+  still in the home.
+- **The lock screen's 20-odd colours and formats** were predecessor theme variables.
+- **The colour build is not in the official repositories** (research 026/01).
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **One module for the lock screen,** holding `node-lock-screen`: the locker and its wrapper as the
+  module's own files, the screensaver and display power timeouts, and `xss-lock`.
+- The timeouts and colours are its defaults, and settings later (issue 168).
+- The colour build ships as ADR 0205's pinned archive, or the module uses the official `i3lock`.
+  That is the operator's choice, and the colours are the only difference.
+- xscreensaver is not a module; its package and file are removed.
+- `xss-lock` needs the logind session, so it stays a session-start line contributed into
+  `.xinitrc`'s block (question 4), not a unit.
+
+## Monitor layout (xrandr)
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- Each workstation has a layout script generated by `arandr`, with the monitor names baked in. One
+  workstation also has several layouts for named places, a hotplug rule and a wizard.
+- **The desktop carried the laptop's layout scripts.**
+- No `xorg.conf.d`, and no layout tool beyond the scripts.
+
+**Starting position: `autorandr`** (official repositories) inside the display server's module.
+
+- `autorandr` saves a layout as a profile **keyed by the connected monitors' identities** (their EDID)
+  and applies the matching one at login and on hotplug.
+- Profiles therefore need no machine's name. A profile can be shared mesh-wide and simply never
+  matches on a machine without those monitors. That is exactly the "say it by what is there, never by
+  a name" rule (ADR 0112).
+- The profiles are the operator's data, saved by the tool itself, so they are *found* (ADR 0182). A
+  `layout` verb on `node-display-server` lists, saves and applies them.
+- The arandr scripts and the hotplug rule retire once a profile exists for each.
+
+## Menus: rofi and dmenu
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- rofi is the launcher, the power menu, the theme picker and the clipboard menu.
+- The operator's scripts call `rofi -dmenu` in four places and **plain `dmenu` in two. dmenu is
+  installed on neither workstation, so those two fail.**
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **`rofi` holds `node-launcher`**, and the seat's protocol includes a **dmenu-compatible command**:
+  read choices on standard input, print the chosen one. Scripts call that command, not a program by
+  name.
+- **`dmenu` is a module of its own** (official repositories), able to hold the same seat on a machine
+  that wants it, for instance a Wayland session where `wofi` or `fuzzel` would hold it instead.
+- The rofi module carries its theme files, and the menus that belong to other modules arrive as those
+  modules' scripts:
+  - power menu → the session;
+  - clipboard menu → the clipboard module;
+  - theme picker → settings, once issue 168 closes.
+
+## The clipboard: xclip and greenclip
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- **greenclip** keeps the clipboard's history, and rofi shows it on a key binding.
+- **greenclip is not in the official repositories.**
+- It is started two ways: the window manager's configuration starts it on both workstations, and on
+  one a user unit is enabled as well.
+- Its configuration names an absolute home path.
+- **xclip** (official) is the command-line clipboard the operator's scripts use.
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **`xclip` is a module of its own,** a package and nothing else. It is the tool scripts depend on,
+  and a module that needs it requires it.
+- **The clipboard manager holds `node-clipboard`:** its daemon, started once by the session (a session
+  contribution, or a user unit once user-scoped units ship, never both), its configuration with no
+  absolute path, and its menu binding contributed to the window manager.
+- **Which manager holds it is the operator's choice:**
+  - greenclip, as today, shipped under ADR 0205;
+  - or `clipmenu` (official), which feeds the same dmenu-compatible command as the launcher seat above,
+    and needs no archive.
+- **On Wayland** the same seat is held by `cliphist` with `wl-clipboard`, both official.
+
+## Fonts
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- The fonts the desktop uses are **hand-copied files** in the account's font directory, not packages:
+  - a Nerd font for the window manager, the bar and the terminal;
+  - a second one for the prompt;
+  - on one workstation, the same four files twice, once under URL-encoded names;
+  - on the other, a different build of the same font and three more copied from a theme's repository.
+- The system's default monospace is a different font (`Noto Sans Mono`), so anything that asks for
+  `monospace` gets another face than the terminal.
+- The DPI is fixed in an X resource.
+- **Every Nerd font in use is in the official repositories** (Hack, Meslo, Iosevka, JetBrains Mono).
+
+**Decided** (the operator left the choice open, except that it must not be today's Hack):
+
+| role | face | why |
+|---|---|---|
+| monospace: terminal, window manager, bar, launcher, prompt | **JetBrains Mono Nerd Font** | built for long reading in a terminal, unambiguous `0O1lI`, optional ligatures; a version-3 Nerd font, so every icon the prompt and bar use is present |
+| interface: GTK, Qt, notifications | **Inter** | designed for screens, clear at small sizes |
+| icons missing from any face | Nerd Fonts Symbols | a fallback, so a font without icons still shows them |
+| emoji | Noto Color Emoji | |
+| serif and every other script | Noto | |
+
+All five are official packages.
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **A `fonts` module:** those packages, and a fontconfig file it owns that maps `monospace`, `sans-serif`,
+  `serif` and the emoji and symbol fallbacks to the chosen faces, so every program agrees.
+- The terminal, bar, launcher and prompt modules name the family, not a file.
+- The DPI becomes the display server's setting (issue 168).
+- The copied files are removed by the operator once the packages are in (ADR 0182).
+- Fonts are not a seat: several coexist. The module owns the one place where *the* default is said.

01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/05-the-tools-each-module-serves.md

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+# 05 — The tools each module serves
+
+A first catalogue for the modules of research 026 and 027, as the operator asked: "all kinds of useful
+tools for all these modules". Each tool is served by the node's runtime (ADR 0175), on the machine the
+module runs on. Through discovery (ADR 0195) it is reachable from any machine as
+`<machine>/<module>.<tool>`, or as `<machine>/<seat>.<verb>` where a seat defines it.
+
+**Conventions:**
+
+- **(r)** reads.
+- **(a)** acts on the machine, escalating where it must, as the packet filter does (to-be 38 WP4).
+- **(d)** is a desktop act that needs the operator's session.
+- A tool that changes something a module declares says so in its answer: the next push restores the
+  declaration.
+- Every tool answers structured data, not prose (issue 229).
+- **Seat verbs** (marked *seat*) are the protocol every holder of that seat serves. The rest are the
+  module's own.
+
+## The graphical session (026)
+
+| module | tools |
+|---|---|
+| `xorg` (*node-display-server*) | *seat* `displays` (r: outputs, modes, rates, connected monitors with their identity) · *seat* `layout` (r/a: list, save, apply an autorandr profile) · `set-mode` (a: one output's resolution, rate, rotation, scale) · `primary` (a) · `dpi` (r/a) · `input-devices` (r) · `input-set` (a: touchpad tap, natural scroll, pointer speed) · `keyboard` (r/a: layout and options) · `screenshot` (d: one screen or all, as a file) · `x-log` (r: the server's errors since start) |
+| `i3` (*node-display-session*) | *seat* `reload` (a) · *seat* `workspaces` (r) · *seat* `windows` (r: tree with classes, titles, workspaces) · `focus` (d: window or workspace) · `move` (d: window to workspace or output) · `layout-save` / `layout-restore` (d: a workspace's arrangement) · `exec` (d: start a program in the session) · `kill` (d) · `bindings` (r: every key binding and what it runs) · `config-check` (r: validate the composed configuration before a reload) · `marks` (r) · `scratchpad` (d) |
+| `sway` (*node-display-server*, *node-display-session*) | the same seat verbs over Wayland, plus `outputs` (r) and `idle-inhibitors` (r) |
+| `lemurs` (*node-login-manager*) | *seat* `sessions` (r: what the login screen offers) · *seat* `default-session` (r/a) · `logins` (r: who logged in when, from the journal) |
+| `xterm` (*node-terminal-emulator*) | *seat* `open` (d: a terminal, optionally running a command, in a directory) · `font` (r/a: face and size) · `colours` (r) |
+| `i3status-rust` (*node-bar*) | *seat* `reload` (a) · `blocks` (r: what the bar shows and each block's current value) · `block-run` (r: run one block once and answer its output) · `themes` (r) |
+| `picom` (*node-compositor*) | *seat* `restart` (a) · `rules` (r: opacity, shadow and blur rules in force) · `window-opacity` (d) · `toggle` (d: compositing off and on, for a game or a test) |
+| `rofi` (*node-launcher*) | *seat* `menu` (d: show a list, answer the chosen line: the dmenu-compatible command as a tool) · `applications` (r: the desktop entries it would offer) · `themes` (r) · `run` (d) |
+| `dmenu` (*node-launcher*) | *seat* `menu` (d) |
+| `dunst` (*node-notifier*) | *seat* `send` (d: title, body, urgency, actions) · *seat* `history` (r) · `pause` / `resume` (d: do not disturb) · `close-all` (d) · `rules` (r) · `count` (r: shown, waiting, history) |
+| lock module (*node-lock-screen*) | *seat* `lock` (d) · `idle` (r/a: screensaver and display power timeouts) · `inhibit` (d: keep the screen on for a while) · `locked` (r: is the session locked now, and since when) |
+| clipboard manager (*node-clipboard*) | *seat* `history` (r: entries, newest first, length-limited) · *seat* `copy` (d: put text on the clipboard) · `paste` (r: what the clipboard holds now) · `clear` (d) · `delete` (d: one entry) |
+| `xclip` | `copy` (d) · `paste` (r): the plain clipboard without a manager |
+| `feh` (wallpaper) | `set` (d: an image, per output) · `current` (r) |
+| `fonts` | `families` (r: installed faces) · `match` (r: what `monospace`, `sans-serif` and `emoji` resolve to) · `glyph` (r: which installed font has a given character) · `cache-rebuild` (a) |
+| theme module | `appearance` (r/a: dark or light, for GTK, Qt and the portal at once) · `cursor` (r/a) · `icons` (r) · `portal-check` (r: which portal backend answers which interface) |
+| `gnome-keyring` (*node-secret-service*) | *seat* `unlocked` (r) · `lock` (d) · `collections` (r: names and item counts, never secrets) · `ssh-keys` (r: what the agent holds, by fingerprint) |
+| desktop hardware module (laptop) | `brightness` (r/a: panel and keyboard) · `battery` (r: charge, health, cycles, limit) · `charge-limit` (r/a) · `gpu-mode` (r/a: integrated, hybrid, discrete) · *seat* `profile` (r/a: quiet, balanced, performance) · `thermals` (r: temperatures and fan speeds) · `power-draw` (r) |
+
+## The system and the account (027)
+
+| module | tools |
+|---|---|
+| `docker` (*node-container-runtime*, ADR 0166) | *seat* `list`, `inspect`, `logs`, `stats`, `start`, `stop`, `restart` (r/a) · `images` (r: with size and which container uses each) · `prune` (a: dangling images, stopped containers not held by the mesh, build cache, with a dry run first) · `disk-usage` (r) · `networks` (r) · `volumes` (r: with what mounts each and whether the mesh holds it) · `events` (r: the last hour) · `daemon-config` (r) |
+| `docker-compose` | `projects` (r: compose projects running and where their files are) · `up` / `down` / `restart` (a: one project, by directory) · `logs` (r) · `ps` (r) |
+| `sudo` | `rules` (r: what the account may run, without a prompt and with one) · `check` (r: does the escalation the mesh relies on work here) |
+| `pacman` | `search` (r) · `installed` (r: with version and explicitly or as a dependency) · `info` (r) · `owns` (r: which package owns a path) · `files` (r) · `updates` (r: what an upgrade would change) · `upgrade` (a: with the news first) · `orphans` (r) · `remove-orphans` (a) · `cache` (r/a: size, clean to the last N versions) · `history` (r: installs and upgrades from the log) · `mirrors` (r/a: rank and refresh) · `news` (r: distribution news since the last upgrade) |
+| AUR (package repository, 027 question 1) | `search` (r) · `build` (a: on the build machine, into the mesh's repository) · `outdated` (r) · `published` (r) |
+| `snapd`, `flatpak` | `list` (r) · `install` / `remove` (a) · `update` (a) · `runtimes` (r) · `disk-usage` (r) |
+| `time-sync` | `status` (r: synchronised, offset, server) · `servers` (r) · `sync-now` (a) |
+| `localization` | `get` (r: locale, time zone, keymap) · `time-zone` (r/a) · `locales` (r) |
+| `kernel` | `running` (r: version, command line, uptime) · `installed` (r) · `modules` (r: loaded, with what uses them) · `reboot-needed` (r: a newer kernel or library than the one running) · `microcode` (r) · `boot-entries` (r) · `initramfs-rebuild` (a) · `dmesg` (r: errors since boot) |
+| `logrotate` | `status` (r: last rotation per log) · `force` (a: one configuration) · `big-logs` (r: the largest logs on the machine) |
+| `avahi` | `browse` (r: services on the local network) · `resolve` (r) |
+| `cups` | `printers` (r) · `queue` (r) · `cancel` (a) · `print` (a: a file to a printer) · `default` (r/a) |
+| `bluetooth` | `devices` (r: paired, connected, battery where reported) · `connect` / `disconnect` (a) · `scan` (r) · `power` (r/a) |
+| `ssh-client` (owns `~/.ssh`) | `hosts` (r: every `Host` and where it came from: the mesh, a module, the operator) · `check` (r: modes, keys without a passphrase, keys unused for a year, stale `known_hosts` entries) · `authorized` (r: who may log in, by fingerprint and comment) · `revoke` (a: one authorized key, into the operator's region) · `known-host` (r/a: verify, refresh one host's key) · `test` (r: can this machine reach a host and authenticate, batch mode) |
+| `sshd` | `sessions` (r: who is logged in, from where) · `config-effective` (r: `sshd -T`) · `failed-logins` (r: since a time, with fail2ban's verdicts) |
+| scripts modules | `list` (r: each script with its one-line description) · `run` (a: one script by name with arguments, as the account, bounded like `execute`) · `which` (r: which module ships a command) |
+| `node-env` (*node-environment*) | `show` (r: every variable and `PATH` entry with the module that contributed it) · `diff` (r: what a shell actually has versus what the mesh composed) |
+| `zsh` (*node-login-shell*) | *seat* `execute` · `zsh_config` (r) · `history-search` (r: the account's history, by pattern) · `functions` (r: aliases and functions in force, with where each came from) · `startup-time` (r: how long an interactive shell takes to start, per slot) |
+| `memory-pressure` | `status` (r: memory, swap, compressed swap ratio, pressure stall) · `top` (r: the largest processes) · `oom-history` (r: what was killed, when) |
+| `zfs` | `pools` (r: health, capacity, fragmentation) · `datasets` (r) · `snapshots` (r/a: list, create, destroy by name) · `scrub` (r/a: status, start) · `errors` (r) · `arc` (r: cache statistics) |
+| `nfs-server`, `samba` | `exports` / `shares` (r) · `clients` (r: who has it mounted now) · `reload` (a) |
+| `nfs-client`, `smb-client` | `mounts` (r: each share, mounted or not, and since when) · `mount` / `unmount` (a) · `test` (r: is the server reachable, is the export offered) |
+| hosts-file holder (*node-hosts-file*, ADR 0199) | *seat* `entries`, `add`, `remove` |
+| `vnstat`, `lm_sensors` | `traffic` (r: per interface, day, month) · `sensors` (r) |
+| mail consumer (future effort) | `accounts` (r) · `search` (r) · `unread` (r) · `read` (r: one message) · `mark` (a) · `send` (a) |
+
+## What this catalogue is for
+
+It is a starting list, not a contract. A tool becomes a contract only when it is a seat's verb, and
+each seat's verbs are decided in that seat's record (ADR 0132). A module's own tools can grow freely.
+Every row above is a tool the operator would otherwise run by hand over ssh. That is the measure of
+whether one is worth writing.

01-RESEARCH/027-the-system-layer-as-modules/00-overview.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+---
+status: active
+initiated: 2026-10-04
+touches:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md
+  - 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md
+became: []
+---
+
+# 027 — The system layer as modules
+
+## What is investigated
+
+What runs on the machines below the operator's home and outside the mesh's own services, and which
+of it should be modules. That covers:
+
+- the container runtime and its tools;
+- privilege (sudo);
+- the package manager and the software it cannot install;
+- time, locale, the kernel and boot;
+- log rotation;
+- the machine-specific daemons the workstations and servers carry: printing, bluetooth, VPN
+  clients, virtualisation, storage, sharing.
+
+## Why
+
+The operator asked for the system level beside the graphical session. In particular:
+
+- a `docker` module (decided in principle by the proposed ADRs 0165 and 0166, never built);
+- a `docker-compose` module for development work, assigned **only to the two workstations**.
+
+Measured in [01](01-what-the-machines-run.md): on four machines, almost nothing at this level is
+owned by a module. The pieces differ by machine for no recorded reason. Three findings are security
+matters on their own.
+
+## How it is approached
+
+**Adopting is also improving** (the operator, 2026-10-04). A module is not a copy of what a machine
+does today. Making it is the moment to fix what is broken, drop what is dead, choose the better tool
+and remove the leftovers. Every module's design lists its improvements over today. **Every module
+also serves tools,** many of them, for reading, acting and diagnosing; a module that only places a
+package and a file is unfinished. The tools are catalogued in
+[026/05](../026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/05-the-tools-each-module-serves.md).
+
+## What it touches
+
+- **The container runtime seat** (ADRs 0165 and 0166, both proposed).
+- **The host's `package` shape**, which installs from the distribution's official repositories only,
+  while the workstations carry 67 and 114 packages from elsewhere.
+- **How a secret reaches the account's environment.** ADR 0203 forbids it in the contributed
+  environment, but a predecessor file supplies such secrets today.
+- **The facts the mesh assumes and never declares,** above all that the operator account escalates
+  without a prompt.
+
+## Documents
+
+- [01 — What the machines run](01-what-the-machines-run.md): evidence.
+- [02 — Candidates and questions](02-candidates-and-questions.md)
+- [03 — The account's own tools](03-the-accounts-own-tools.md): `~/.ssh` as one module's, scripts on every machine, the keyring, the laptop's power management, mail as events
+- The predecessor's lessons, shared with research 026: [026/03](../026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/03-what-the-predecessor-taught.md)

01-RESEARCH/027-the-system-layer-as-modules/01-what-the-machines-run.md

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# 01 — What the machines run
+
+Measured 2026-10-04 on four machines, read-only, including the host's own record of what it applied:
+two servers (the anchor and a home server) and two workstations (a laptop and a desktop). "Owned"
+means a module the mesh assigns declares it.
+
+## The container runtime
+
+| | anchor | home server | laptop | desktop |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| docker | 29.8.2 | 29.8.2 | 29.7.2 | 29.7.2 |
+| compose | 5.5.1 | 5.6.0 | 5.5.0 | 5.5.0 |
+| buildx | 0.37.2 | — | — | — |
+| podman | — | 6.1.3 | 6.1.0 | 6.1.0 |
+| `docker.socket` | disabled | enabled | enabled | enabled |
+| `containerd.service` | disabled | disabled | disabled | **enabled** |
+| `daemon.json` beyond the shared keys | direct routing, two more insecure registries | log rotation (100 MB × 10) | — | — |
+| docker group | operator, **a CI user** | operator | operator | operator |
+
+**Ownership:**
+
+- The `docker` package is owned on one machine only, by the installer's bootstrap, not by a module.
+- `docker.service` is declared indirectly, by the name resolver and the private-network modules,
+  which each merge their own keys into `daemon.json`.
+- Nothing owns the socket, containerd, compose, buildx or the group.
+
+**Compose in use:**
+
+- On the servers, no running container belongs to a compose project. Their compose files are
+  pre-mesh trees under the operator's and root's homes, plus a dangling enabled unit for one of them.
+- On the workstations, compose runs development stacks, and pre-mesh service trees sit under a
+  top-level directory.
+
+The mesh marks its own containers with a host label. On the workstations, a handful of unlabelled
+development and test containers run beside its build agent.
+
+## Privilege
+
+- The operator account escalates **without a prompt on all four machines**. The mesh relies on this,
+  but it is set by hand in `/etc/sudoers` (a `wheel` rule on two machines, the account named on
+  two), and nothing declares it.
+- On the anchor, a **CI user from the predecessor** keeps passwordless sudo and docker membership,
+  and a predecessor drop-in in `sudoers.d` survives.
+- On the desktop, the operator account is also in the **`root` group**.
+
+## The package manager
+
+- `pacman.conf` is stock except on one server (parallel downloads).
+- The mirror list was generated once by a tool that is no longer installed. On the anchor, it is the
+  hosting provider's single mirror.
+- An AUR helper is installed everywhere.
+- **Packages from outside the official repositories:** 2 on the anchor, 21 on the home server,
+  67 on the laptop, 114 on the desktop. They include:
+  - the agent CLI, which a catalogue module declares as a package and the host cannot install;
+  - a VPN client;
+  - a remote-access client;
+  - printer drivers;
+  - GPU tools;
+  - a kernel module built from source (DKMS) for a storage filesystem;
+  - a snap daemon.
+
+## Time, locale, kernel, boot
+
+| | anchor | home server | laptop | desktop |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| time zone, keymap | **another zone**, a non-US console keymap | local zone, unset | local zone, unset | local zone, unset |
+| time sync | timesyncd plus a provider drop-in | timesyncd | timesyncd | **ntpd**, timesyncd disabled |
+| bootloader | grub (BIOS) | systemd-boot **and** grub | systemd-boot | systemd-boot **and** grub |
+| kernels | one | two, plus a DKMS filesystem module | one | one, plus a DKMS controller driver |
+| microcode | **none** | yes | yes | **none** |
+| swap | RAID partition | partition | zram, a file and a partition | partition |
+| log rotation timer | not found | enabled | not found | not found |
+
+## Daemons and services no module owns
+
+- **All four:** avahi.
+- **Workstations:**
+  - a VPN client daemon (both);
+  - virtualisation (incus) with a hand-made unit that inserts container-runtime firewall rules (both);
+  - printing and bluetooth;
+  - GPU and power tuning per model;
+  - a remote-access daemon (laptop);
+  - snap and flatpak (desktop);
+  - the local model server, run from a hand-written unit although a catalogue module for it exists
+    (desktop);
+  - Samba sharing and a network filesystem mount from the home server (desktop). A second mount is
+    failing, and its **credential is written in clear in `/etc/fstab`**.
+- **Servers:**
+  - a storage pool (about 167 TB) with its import, mount and scrub units, an NFS server and Samba
+    sharing (home server);
+  - traffic and sensor monitoring (home server);
+  - a DHCP client daemon the catalogue has a module for but does not assign there (home server);
+  - cron, an entropy daemon, and the **legacy `iptables` services**, which run beside the mesh's own
+    filter (anchor).
+- **Not found anywhere:** a backup agent, a monitoring agent, a second VPN mesh.
+
+## What is plain debris
+
+- Dangling enabled-unit links on three machines.
+- Predecessor blocks in `/etc/hosts` on both servers.
+- The CI user, and the predecessor sudoers drop-in, on the anchor.
+- Pre-mesh compose trees on the anchor, the home server and the desktop.
+- Unlabelled test containers on the workstations.

01-RESEARCH/027-the-system-layer-as-modules/02-candidates-and-questions.md

@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+# 02 — Candidates and questions
+
+## Decided by the operator on 2026-10-04
+
+- **`docker`** holds the container runtime seat on every machine, as ADRs 0165 and 0166 propose. Those
+  records are promoted from proposed when it is built.
+- **`docker-compose` is a module of its own,** the distribution's package and nothing else. It is
+  assigned **only to the two workstations**, for development work. The servers run nothing through
+  compose.
+
+Later the same day, on the candidates below:
+
+- **Yes, all of them:** `docker`, `docker-compose`, `sudo`, `pacman`, an AUR helper (question 1),
+  `time-sync`, `kernel` (with boot and microcode), `logrotate`, `avahi`, `cups` with the printer's
+  driver, and every server-only candidate.
+- **Locale, time zone and keymap are one module, `localization`.**
+- **`snapd` and `flatpak`** are modules, on the two workstations only.
+- **`incus` is the lab's,** whose module depends on it. It is not a module of its own beside the lab.
+- **The agent's and the local model server's modules are still being developed,** and are not
+  assigned until they are.
+- **The predecessor's CI user is retired.** It was removed from the anchor the same day, with its
+  sudoers line, its docker membership and a dangling unit link; the backup is on the machine.
+
+## Candidate modules
+
+**On every machine:**
+
+| module | owns | first reason |
+|---|---|---|
+| `docker` | the packages (runtime, containerd), the service and socket, `daemon.json`'s base keys (live restore, log rotation), the docker group's members | four machines, four configurations, one owner on one |
+| `sudo` | the operator account's escalation as a drop-in, declared | the mesh's tools rely on it (to-be 38 WP4) and nothing states it |
+| `pacman` | `pacman.conf`'s few keys, the mirror list and its refresher, cache cleaning | mirrors generated once and never again |
+| `time-sync` | timesyncd and its drop-ins | two daemons across four machines |
+| `localization` | locale, time zone, console keymap (one module, the operator's choice) | one machine differs, with no record why |
+| `kernel` | the kernel packages, microcode, initramfs presets | two machines without microcode |
+| `logrotate` | the timer and the base configuration | rotation runs on one machine of four |
+| `avahi` | the daemon and name-service switch entry | on all four, owned by none |
+
+**On the workstations only:**
+
+- `docker-compose`;
+- `lemurs`, the login manager (research 026);
+- a VPN client module;
+- `incus` with its forward unit (the lab module declares the package on one workstation only);
+- `cups` with the printer's driver;
+- `bluetooth`;
+- per-model **hardware** modules: GPU, power, vendor keys, brightness. These are the same modules
+  research 026 needs for the desktop's fragments.
+
+**On the servers only:**
+
+- `zfs` with its scrub timer, and the long-term kernel it builds against;
+- `nfs-server`;
+- `samba`;
+- `vnstat`, `lm_sensors`.
+
+`cron` on the anchor serves one stock file and can go. So can the entropy daemon on a modern
+kernel.
+
+**Retire, not model:** the legacy `iptables` services on the anchor. They duplicate the mesh's
+filter, which is ADR 0100's ground.
+
+## Questions this effort has to answer
+
+1. **Software outside the official repositories.** The host's `package` shape installs from the
+   official repositories only. A catalogue module already declares an AUR package (the agent CLI),
+   which no machine could install, and the workstations carry 181 such packages between them.
+
+   | | option | for | against |
+   |---|---|---|---|
+   | P1 | ADR 0205's pinned vendored archive, per piece | exists | wrong for packages that build native code or kernel modules |
+   | P2 | **The build machine builds AUR packages into a package repository the mesh serves** from its artifact store. The host then installs them as packages, signed | one shape for every package; pinned, reviewed and built once | a repository to serve and a signing key to keep |
+   | P3 | An AUR helper on each machine, driven by the host | nothing to serve | builds on every machine, unpinned: the predecessor's `git clone` in another form |
+
+   Starting position: P2, for anything with native code. ADR 0205 stays for plain files such as a
+   theme.
+
+2. **Secrets in the account's environment.** A predecessor file feeds package-registry and API tokens
+   to the session. ADR 0203 refuses secrets in contributed values, because they travel in the clear.
+   The candidate is ADR 0182's third class: a module's own process writes a mode-0600 file of
+   exports, from secrets the vault hands it over the bus, and the shell and the session source it.
+   This needs its own record.
+
+3. **Per-machine sizing and drivers.** The swap layout, the GPU, the storage pool and the boot
+   loader are facts of one machine's hardware. They belong in hardware modules, or in settings
+   (issue 168), not in the shared ones.
+
+4. **What a module may leave behind.** Compose is installed on both servers, unowned. The mesh
+   removes nothing it did not make. The choice is between an operator's one-off removal and a
+   server-side `absent` declaration.
+
+5. **The hosts file.** ADR 0199 (decided on an open change, not yet merged)
+   gives `/etc/hosts` to one module through a seat, `node-hosts-file`, with an operator region and
+   three verbs. It is not built. Today the private network's foundation writes only its own block, and
+   the rest of each file is a predecessor's stale blocks (both servers) or the operator's development
+   names (both workstations). The candidate module is that seat's first holder. It takes the
+   private-network block as a contribution, and its operator region replaces the hand-kept lines.
+
+6. **Mounts.** The host has no shape for a filesystem mount; ADR 0091 is about what a container
+   mounts. One workstation mounts a share of the home server over NFS, and a second share over SMB.
+   That second one fails, and its credential sits in clear in `/etc/fstab`.
+
+   | | option | for | against |
+   |---|---|---|---|
+   | M1 | **A module owns `/etc/fstab`** and other modules contribute lines | one file, as people know it | the file also carries the root and boot filesystems the installer wrote, which no module should rewrite; a slot contribution into a file that can stop a machine booting |
+   | M2 | **Each client module writes its own systemd mount (and automount) unit**, which is the service manager's drop-in for exactly this. The `nfs-client` or `smb-client` module declares the unit file and the service shape enables it. `/etc/fstab` stays the machine's | no new host shape, and no shared file; the unit names its own dependencies (network online, the private network) and an automount does not hang a boot when the server is away; unassigning removes the mount | a mount reads as a unit, not a line |
+   | M3 | A new `mount` shape in the host | the host knows what a mount is | a second way to say what M2 says |
+
+   Starting position: **M2.** The credential an SMB mount needs is a secret, written by the module's
+   own process from the vault, mode 0600, which is question 2's mechanism. The pair is a server
+   module exporting (`nfs-server`, `samba`) and a client module mounting. The client requires the
+   share the server provides, so the mount is resolved, not hand-typed.
+
+7. **Two DHCP clients on one interface.** The home server runs `dhcpcd`, a DHCP *client* (no machine
+   runs a DHCP server), next to the network manager, which is its assigned networking module. Both
+   lease an address on the same interface, which therefore carries two LAN addresses. The catalogue's
+   `dhcpcd` module is assigned nowhere, and this unit is a leftover. The network manager is the
+   machine's one DHCP client, and `dhcpcd` should be disabled there.
+
+## Security findings, independent of any module
+
+1. A filesystem credential in clear text in a workstation's `/etc/fstab`, for a mount that is failing
+   anyway.
+2. A predecessor CI user with passwordless sudo and docker membership on the anchor, and a
+   predecessor sudoers drop-in. *The user was removed on 2026-10-04; the drop-in remains.*
+3. The operator account in the `root` group on one workstation.
+
+Each is one small change. None waits for a module.

01-RESEARCH/027-the-system-layer-as-modules/03-the-accounts-own-tools.md

@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+# 03 — The account's own tools: ssh, scripts, mail
+
+Three further directions from the operator on 2026-10-04. Each is account-level, like the shell
+([to-be 41](../../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)).
+
+## `~/.ssh` is one module's
+
+*"A module owns `~/.ssh`, so it is its responsibility that every folder is set up consistently and
+correctly."*
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- The catalogue's `ssh-client` module owns the directory (mode 0700) and one region of
+  `~/.ssh/config`: a `Host` block per machine of the mesh. It owns nothing else.
+- On one workstation, a predecessor's header, `Include` and hand-written host block sat **above** the
+  mesh's region. ssh takes the first match, so the predecessor's entries were the ones in force, for
+  the same machines. Removed on 2026-10-04.
+- On the control machine, two keys of a retired CI system were still in the operator's
+  `authorized_keys`, able to log in as the operator. Removed the same day.
+- Permissions differ by file and by machine. Backups of the configuration lie beside it.
+
+**Starting position:** `ssh-client` becomes the holder of everything under `~/.ssh`, classified as
+ADR 0182 asks:
+
+| path | class | how |
+|---|---|---|
+| `~/.ssh/`, its mode, every file's mode | owned | the directory resource, plus a check verb that reports a file with the wrong mode |
+| `~/.ssh/config` | written into, the mesh's block **at the start** | the mesh's hosts win; the operator's lines after it are kept; an `Include config.d/*` line in the block |
+| `~/.ssh/config.d/<module>` | owned by the contributing module | ssh's own drop-in: a work module adds its forge's host there (research 026 C1) |
+| `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` | written into, the mesh's block | the operator's keys as the mesh records them, and nothing a retired system left. The operator's own lines are kept below the block |
+| `~/.ssh/known_hosts` | written into, the mesh's block | every mesh machine's host key, so the first connection never asks |
+| private keys | found | never read and never written by the mesh; a key the mesh should hand out comes from the vault, through the module's own process (ADR 0182, third class) |
+
+The sshd module is the other half: the machine's side. It is already in the catalogue.
+
+## Scripts on every machine, shared and machine-specific
+
+*"All nodes should get some custom scripts, both node-specific and mesh-specific (shared)."*
+
+**Measured:** the operator's script folder holds 64 entries plus 33 in its `bin/`. It is under no
+version control, and exists only where it was copied. It mixes three kinds:
+
+1. scripts belonging to a module (the desktop's watchers, lock, menus; a laptop model's brightness);
+2. the operator's own tools;
+3. installers that modules have replaced.
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **The operator's scripts live in a repository of their own,** registered as any application is
+  ([ADR 0015](../../02-DECISIONS/0015-applications-live-in-their-own-repository.md)), built as archives,
+  unpacked into a directory the module owns under the home. `bin/` goes on `PATH` through an
+  environment contribution ([ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md)),
+  and small functions go into the shell through a `shell` contribution
+  ([ADR 0204](../../02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md)).
+- **"Machine-specific" is said by assignment, never by naming a machine**
+  ([ADR 0112](../../02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md)). One repository
+  holds several modules:
+  - `scripts` (shared, on every machine);
+  - `scripts-workstation`;
+  - `scripts-media`;
+  - and so on, each assigned where it applies.
+
+  A script that belongs to a piece of software or hardware moves into that module instead. A flavor
+  inside one module is what [research 026/03](../026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/03-what-the-predecessor-taught.md)
+  says not to repeat.
+- **A script can also be a tool.** A script with a one-line description is served by the node's
+  runtime, so it can be called through the mesh on any machine that has it.
+- A script that needs a secret gets it through question 2's mechanism, never from a file of
+  environment secrets.
+
+## The keyring
+
+*"A keyring is also a good thing to create a module for."*
+
+**Measured on the two workstations, which both run GNOME Keyring:**
+
+- **On one, the keyring unlocks at login.** The login manager's PAM service includes `login`, which
+  carries `pam_gnome_keyring`.
+- **On the other, it does not.** The PAM line is only in the screensaver's service, so at session
+  start the window manager runs a script that asks for the password a second time and unlocks the
+  keyring with it.
+- **On both, the session's start script starts the daemon again** with the ssh and gpg components,
+  and exports the ssh agent's socket. The keyring's current release serves the ssh agent through a
+  separate per-user socket unit instead.
+
+**Starting position:** a `gnome-keyring` module that holds a node seat, `node-secret-service` (the
+holder of the desktop's secret service; a password manager could hold it instead). It declares:
+
+- the package;
+- its lines in the login manager's PAM file, written into, never over (ADR 0102), so login unlocks it
+  on every machine;
+- the ssh agent's user socket, once user-scoped units ship;
+- the agent's socket path as an environment contribution, which needs a machine fact for the
+  account's runtime directory. ADR 0203 forbids `$` in values, so `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` cannot be
+  written in one.
+
+The second unlock prompt and the second daemon start go away.
+
+## Mail as events
+
+*"Ideally a mail consumer with all my mail accounts configured, so my mail is recorded in the bus."*
+
+**Measured:**
+
+- The predecessor polled one work mailbox every minute. It **read an access token out of the mail
+  client's process memory**, called a mail API with it, and raised a desktop notification per unread
+  message. It worked only while the mail client ran, and stopped silently when the predecessor's units
+  were retired.
+- Two further predecessor modules served mail tools, for one provider and for IMAP.
+- The mesh runs a mail server of its own for its domains.
+
+**Not decided here; it needs an effort of its own.** The questions it would have to answer:
+
+- **Accounts and how each authenticates:**
+  - IMAP with an app password;
+  - a provider's OAuth with a registered application;
+  - the mesh's own mail server, which can publish delivery itself.
+
+  An employer's tenant may forbid registering an application at all.
+- **What the bus records:**
+  - headers and a summary as events;
+  - bodies and attachments in an object store the event points at;
+  - retention, since mail is the most personal data the mesh would hold.
+- **What consumes it:** a notifier bridge to the desktop (the predecessor's notifications), search,
+  an agent's context.
+- **Where it runs:** one long-running module, not per machine (ADR 0198).
+
+The obvious first step is the mail server the mesh already runs.
+
+## Power management on the laptop
+
+*"Power management for the laptop."*
+
+**Measured on the laptop** (a gaming model with a hybrid GPU):
+
+- **The platform profile is driven by a vendor daemon** (`asusd`) and its CLI. The vendor CLI is
+  now in the official repositories; the copy installed came from elsewhere. A predecessor script
+  runs as a user unit and switches the profile every five seconds: quiet on battery, balanced on
+  mains, performance above 50 % CPU.
+- **The hybrid GPU's mode** (now hybrid) is held by a second vendor daemon (`supergfxd`), which is
+  **not** in the official repositories. Kernel-module options for the discrete GPU's power state
+  and its suspend, hibernate and resume units are set by hand. Its own power daemon is masked.
+- **The battery charge limit is 80 %,** set by the vendor daemon.
+- **The lid and power key suspend.** The brightness key is ignored by logind and handled by the
+  vendor-key path. Both are logind drop-ins.
+- **Memory pressure:** compressed swap in RAM (`zram`) beside a swap file and a partition;
+  `systemd-oomd` with drop-ins; a predecessor *memory guard* user unit that notifies before the OOM
+  killer acts.
+- `upower` runs. There is no `power-profiles-daemon`, `tlp`, `auto-cpufreq` or `thermald`, so nothing
+  competes with the vendor daemon, by design.
+
+All of it came from two predecessor modules, one of which was a laptop-model *flavor*. A desktop
+received part of it (research 026/01).
+
+**Starting position:**
+
+- **A hardware module per machine model** (here, the laptop's model). It holds the vendor daemon and
+  its profile configuration, the GPU mode daemon (ADR 0205's case, or the build machine's package
+  repository of research 027 question 1), the discrete GPU's module options and suspend units, the
+  logind drop-ins, the battery charge limit, and the vendor keys and brightness. It is assigned to
+  the one machine of that model, and to any second one later.
+- **The profile switching** moves from a polling script to the module's own long-running code
+  (ADR 0198). It reacts to the power-supply change event instead of polling, and its thresholds
+  become settings (issue 168).
+- **Memory pressure is not the laptop's alone.** `zram` and `systemd-oomd` with the notifier are a
+  `memory-pressure` module, assigned wherever wanted. The swap layout stays the machine's (`kernel`
+  module, question 3).
+- A **`node-power-profile`** seat (vendor daemon, or `power-profiles-daemon` on other hardware)
+  gives the mesh one verb, `profile`, the same on every machine that has one.

02-DECISIONS/0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ reconstructed: false
 
 # 39. What the SDK holds, and what it refuses
 
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md).** The test of this record — frequent *and* cascading does not belong — stands and now applies to one SDK per language. Where *what it holds* names the broker client and the event consumer, read: the local protocol a tools bundle speaks to the node's runtime; the transport lives in the runtime and in no SDK, which is what keeps a bus change from rebuilding any module in any language.
+
 _Reconciliation note (2026-09-05): supersedes the earlier "repository structure" decision, which the consolidation folded; no standalone record remains to point at, so body references to it now point at the nearest surviving record, [ADR 0015](0015-applications-live-in-their-own-repository.md)._
 
 ## Context

02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md

@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ capability. The host hardcodes no firewall, supervisor, package manager or runti
 generic apply primitives and platform detection, so it runs where none of those exist — an Android
 phone has no ufw, systemd, pacman or Docker.
 
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md).** The shell example above — *bash, zsh and fish all join `shell`; one may be default* — is read as *installed is not holding*: the three may all be installed, and the `login-shell` seat is node-scoped and held by exactly one. The decision — what a module is, and the three relationships — stands; [ADR 0173](0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md) applies it to the operator's whole machine.
+
 ## Consequences
 
 - **Supersedes the earlier "grouped by domain" decision** (folded in consolidation; see the

02-DECISIONS/0047-a-module-runs-its-code-as-its-own-process-with-its-own-account.md

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ extends: 0043-a-module-broker-account-is-scoped-by-emits-and-consumes.md
 
 # 47. A module runs its code as its own process, with its own account
 
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md).** A module's *tools* are no longer served by the module's own process under its own account: one tool runtime per node, on the host side, serves every assigned module's bundle. A tool is still served on its own subject and only the module that serves it answers; what moved is the process and the account.
+
 ## Context
 
 A module is one self-contained thing ([ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md)), and it gets a broker

02-DECISIONS/0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md

@@ -204,3 +204,14 @@ only, the refresh token only, the manager node only.**
   record extends, amended to describe the adapter generalisation.
 - The read-only vendor-agnostic analysis, 2026-09-05 (code workspace) — the inventory and the decisions
   taken on the open questions this record encodes.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0183](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md).**
+> What stands: `model-access` is one vendor-blind provision for the consumers that do not care which
+> vendor answers; a vendor's lifecycle is an adapter's; the carve-out that one node holds a refreshable
+> grant's refresh token readably. What moved: the Anthropic adapter is no longer a part of the
+> controller's licences context but a module, `claude-licence-manager`, holding the seat
+> `anthropic-licence-manager`, with the grants in its own store encrypted with a key the vault made for
+> it; and the agent at a terminal is not a consumer of `model-access` — it is coupled to an Anthropic
+> grant and uses the seat. The consequence above that the three binding columns *become three ordinary
+> consumers of `model-access`* therefore no longer describes the agent's bindings; they are the
+> manager's. The static-key adapters and the vendor-blind records stay where this record put them.

02-DECISIONS/0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md

@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ extends: 0007-connectivity.md
 
 # 66. Public routing is name-agnostic, its names are resolved inside the mesh, and an internal authority can certify them
 
+> **Narrowed, not replaced — 2026-10-03.** One clause of the decision below no longer holds: *publishing
+> a granted name into internal resolution, mesh-wide*. A public name now resolves publicly, and only
+> names under the mesh's own suffix get a private answer — [ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md).
+> Inside the mesh a route is reached and certified by its internal name
+> ([ADR 0151](0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md)). The label, the
+> node's public domain and their composition stand as decided here.
+
 ## Context
 
 **[ADR 0007](0007-connectivity.md) and [connectivity §3](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md)

02-DECISIONS/0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md

@@ -283,3 +283,13 @@ modules in the catalogue require it — so a shared secret is a requirement answ
 which is what this record asks for. Private keys are still made where they are used and never
 travel, which is the other half and was never in question.
 
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0183](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md).**
+> What stands: every shared secret the mesh makes is the vault's, a private key is made where it is
+> used, and a long-lived value a backend issues enters the vault's custody — here as the key the vault
+> makes for the licence manager, which encrypts the vendor's grants at rest with it. What this record
+> did not foresee: a credential that lives hours, issued by a vendor to the one module that holds its
+> grant, and handed by that module to the agent on each node sealed to that node's module key, on
+> request/reply over the bus, never through the vault and never as a file the host writes. ADR 0183
+> states that as a bounded exception — one vendor, tokens that live hours, one recipient per message —
+> and a second such channel is a decision of its own.

02-DECISIONS/0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md

@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@ extends: 0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md
 
 # 121. A system seat is named for its scope, and a module may define its own
 
+> **Narrowed, not replaced — 2026-10-03.** *"`the-dns-port` → `node-dns-resolver`"* no longer holds:
+> the serving role moves to mesh scope as `mesh-resolver`, one per mesh, and `node-dns-resolver` is
+> retired ([ADR 0194](0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md)). The
+> distinction this record kept — serving and asking are two roles, two seats — stands, and
+> `node-resolver-config` is unchanged.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0190](0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md).** The naming rule stands. The build role this record made mesh-scoped — *the mesh's single build machine* — is node-scoped now: `node-build-agent`, one holder per machine, every holder taking from one work queue.
+
 ## Context
 
 [ADR 0110](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md) made seats a closed set the

02-DECISIONS/0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ extends: 02-DECISIONS/0047-a-module-runs-its-code-as-its-own-process-with-its-ow
 
 # 150. A module's own code runs as supervised processes under the module's one account
 
+> **Widened — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md).** A module's long-lived process is a bundle in any language the mesh has a toolchain for, run as a unit the host writes; this record never said one language and never meant one, and 0188 says so as the rule.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md).** For a module's *tools*, read that record: one runtime per node, the node's one account, bundles loaded from the memberships. This record still governs a module's long-lived processes — a daemon, a provisioner, a scheduled ingest — and the account invariant for them.
+
 ## Context
 
 The repository answers "what runs a module's own code" two ways and reconciles them nowhere

02-DECISIONS/0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md

@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ extends: 02-DECISIONS/0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md
 
 # 151. A route's internal name is composed under the node that serves it
 
+> **Narrowed, not replaced — 2026-10-03.** *"The roster publishes it as itself, once, at the serving
+> node's address"* no longer holds: a public name is never given a private answer, and resolves publicly
+> ([ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)). The internal name this record
+> composes is what that rests on, and stands.
+
 ## Context
 
 A module that requires a route is given two names from one label: a public one, `<label>.<public

02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md

@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ operator owns; narrowing what it may call is a setting on its assignment, which
 [ADR 0046](0046-a-module-configuration-is-its-assignments-not-its-manifest.md) already provides for
 and nothing here builds.
 
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md).** The surface stays a module assigned per node, on loopback, with the machine's login as the authority. It is no longer a container: it is the node tools runtime's serving mode, host-side, and that runtime also serves every assigned module's tools. The module is renamed `node-tools`.
+
 ## Consequences
 
 - **The way a person drives the mesh is inside the mesh.** It is declared, delivered, replaced and

02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md

@@ -94,6 +94,13 @@ itself restarts, and the console says so rather than hiding the modules' tools w
 **A grant of `*` reaches a role's tools; `seat:<seat>.<verb>` grants one.** The console's `*` needed no
 change to reach the mesh's verbs, which is what a grant meaning *every tool* should mean.
 
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md).**
+> The seat gains a generic verb beside the named ones: `command`, which takes one command line as the
+> controller's binary takes it and answers what it printed. The named verbs stand and keep their
+> schemas; `command` is the whole binary, added because the operator decided any node may call any
+> tool and a verb per command was the only thing keeping `node account`, `node show` and the rest
+> behind a shell on the control node. Additive within the version, as §"additive" above allows.
+
 ## Consequences
 
 - **The console answers the mesh's own questions.** Issue 147's first paragraph closes: what a node

02-DECISIONS/0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ extends: 02-DECISIONS/0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md
 
 # 162. A merge produces a tiered plan the mesh keeps, and a module's dependencies are one relation in the catalogue
 
+> **Progressive insight — 2026-10-02.** The context below says a dependent is *built by whichever build machine is running — the only one there could be*. That was a fact of the day, not of the decision: since [ADR 0190](0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md) a tier's asks are taken by every machine holding the build seat. The plan and its tiers are unchanged.
+
 ## Context
 
 A merge on the forge reaches the controller as an event, and the controller asks the build

02-DECISIONS/0164-a-setting-is-declared-with-its-default-its-meaning-and-what-changing-it-costs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: proposed
+date: 2026-10-01
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0046-a-module-configuration-is-its-assignments-not-its-manifest.md
+---
+
+# 164. A setting is declared with its default, its meaning and what changing it costs
+
+## Context
+
+The operator asked for one thing for every module, with the container runtime as the first case: **one
+consistent default configuration for every machine, overridable per assignment, and easy to change
+later.** The four machines' runtime configurations were each written by hand and differ — one keeps
+running containers through a daemon restart and one does not, their log rotation differs, and each
+names its resolver and its trusted registries in its own words.
+
+Most of this was already decided.
+[ADR 0046](0046-a-module-configuration-is-its-assignments-not-its-manifest.md) said the definition is
+identity and **defaults**, the assignment's settings are the configuration, *unset is the default*, and
+*an unknown setting is refused*. [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md) made
+a setting an operator requirement whose contract is "a type and, optionally, a default", answered by
+"the assignment's, or the requirement's default, or unresolved". An assignment is a module on a node,
+so the node layer of a module's settings already *is* the per-assignment override, and the mesh-wide
+layer is the one consistent default a person changes once.
+
+What was built is narrower than what was decided, measured in the controller on the day of deciding:
+
+- **Nothing declares which keys are settable.** A mergeable file's content is its defaults, and every
+  key of it — and every key not in it — is accepted. Nothing tells a person, or the console, what can be
+  set, of what type, or what it means.
+- **The refusal of an unknown setting is not there for most modules.** The stray-setting report returns
+  nothing at all for a module with any mergeable file, because such a file "takes any key"
+  ([issue 173](../04-ISSUES/173-a-modules-settings-reach-every-fact-it-contributes/00-report.md) left
+  files that way on purpose). It reports rather than refuses where it does run.
+- **A value in a file that is not JSON can have no default.** `${setting:<key>}`
+  ([ADR 0155](0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)) is refused when no
+  layer sets it — right for a mail domain, where a default is the very literal 0155 removes, and wrong
+  for a tunable like the resolver's upstreams, which the resolver module therefore carries as literals
+  in its file.
+- **A setting reaches every mergeable file its module owns.** The layers are one flat map per module,
+  laid over each such file. Adding a setting to the resolver module for its own configuration put the
+  key into the container runtime's file as well — the resolver writes into that file too — and the
+  runtime refuses keys it does not know. The plan showed it before any push; the runtime's file was
+  then made to take no settings at all ([issue 198](../04-ISSUES/198-the-lans-dns-server-ran-outside-the-mesh-and-its-filter-closed-it/00-report.md)). Issue 173 stopped settings leaking into
+  contributions and served facts; between one module's own files the leak remains.
+- **What a change costs is said per file, not per key.** A service names the files it is reloaded or
+  restarted on. The runtime re-reads its trusted registries on a reload and its `dns` key only when it
+  starts; the resolver module declared a reload, so on two machines the key was written, reloaded,
+  and never read, and every container got a public resolver for weeks while everything read as
+  current ([issue 110](../04-ISSUES/110-a-container-on-the-runtimes-own-network-cannot-reach-the-resolver/01-resolution.md)).
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Leave settings implicit; document each module's keys in its README.** Rejected: a key the mesh
+   does not know cannot be refused, typed, listed by the console or costed, and a README is a rule
+   enforced by nothing.
+2. **A second mechanism for tunables beside settings** — defaults in a new block, settings untouched.
+   Rejected: two ways to state one person's value, and design 27 already retires six mechanisms
+   that grew that way.
+3. **Settings declared in the definition, as 0112's operator requirement: a key, a type, a meaning,
+   optionally a default, and what a change costs.** Adopted.
+
+## Decision
+
+**A module declares every setting it takes.** Each declared setting has a name, a type, one sentence
+of meaning, optionally a default, and what a change to it costs. The spelling is design 27's to settle
+with the rest of the requirement form; this record decides the content.
+
+**A setting with a default is a tunable; a setting without one is the operator's.** A tunable resolves
+to its default when no layer sets it — wherever it is read, a mergeable file or `${setting:<key>}` in a
+file of any format. A setting with no default is refused by name when nothing sets it, as 0155 decided;
+0155's refusal is narrowed to exactly that case, not changed for it. Whether a value has a default is a
+fact about the software (a log size does, a mail domain does not), and the definition states it once.
+
+**The layers stay as they are, and every value says where it came from.** The definition's default,
+then the mesh-wide layer, then the node's — later wins, objects merge, lists replace. One consistent
+configuration for every machine is the default plus the mesh-wide layer; one machine that differs says
+so in its own layer and nothing else. Asked for a module's configuration on a machine, the mesh lists
+every declared setting with its effective value and its source: *default*, *mesh*, or *node*.
+
+**Changing later is changing one of three places, and the plan shows its reach before anything moves.**
+A new default ships with the module's next version and reaches every assignment that does not override
+it; a mesh-wide setting reaches every assignment of the module; a node's reaches one. The plan of a
+change names each assignment whose effective value moves.
+
+**A declared setting says where it lands.** Each names the file or files of its module that read it,
+and reaches no other: a module that owns two mergeable files no longer has one flat map laid over both.
+A file that names no setting takes none.
+
+**A declared setting is the only kind accepted.** Setting a key the module does not declare is refused
+when it is set, naming the declared keys, rather than reported when the machine is planned. The mesh's
+own words — where a port, a directory or an operator's data is placed, how far an endpoint reaches —
+are the mesh's to validate as they are today, and no module declares them. A module
+that declares no settings keeps today's behaviour until it does; a catalogue test lists those modules,
+and the list shrinks to empty before the implicit form is removed — design 27's rule for every retired
+mechanism.
+
+**A setting says what it costs: nothing, a reload, or a restart.** When a file changes, the host
+applies the strongest cost among the settings whose values moved in it, so a key the software reads
+only at start can no longer be written and never read. A setting that reaches a container's environment
+costs that container being recreated, which the host already does when a container's specification
+changes; it needs no declaration. A service's `reload-on` and `restart-on` keep
+naming the files that are not settings — a generated roster, a credential.
+
+**The container runtime is the first module to declare its settings** and the model for the rest:
+its log rotation, keeping containers through a daemon restart, and its resolver are tunables, and
+its trusted registries are what the mesh tells it.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The console can show a module's settings as a form: what can be set, of what type, its default,
+  and where the current value came from. That is the surface the operator wants for changing a
+  default later.
+- `settings set` can refuse an unknown key, so ADR 0046's rule is enforced where it was only stated.
+- The resolver's upstreams, the runtime's log rotation, and other literals a definition carries
+  because it could not give them a default become declared tunables.
+- **What got harder:** every module that takes settings must list them, and a mergeable file no
+  longer silently accepts a key its author did not foresee. A person who needs one adds it to the
+  definition, which is a new module version, not a setting.
+- Issue 173's open question — a consumer checks nothing against a contract — is unchanged; this record
+  is the operator half of design 27's contract, not the provider half.
+- Not decided here: the spelling (design 27); whether a node's layer may be narrowed to a single key
+  rather than replaced whole, as `settings set` does today.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Every setting a module takes is declared | A parser test refusing a setting declaration without a type or meaning; a catalogue test listing modules with mergeable files or `${setting:}` and no declarations, which must be empty before the implicit form is removed |
+| A tunable resolves to its default; an operator value without one is refused | Resolution tests: an unset tunable in a JSON file and in a text file both take the default; an unset setting with no default is refused naming it (0155's existing test) |
+| A setting reaches only the files it names | A resolution test: a module with two mergeable files and a setting declared for one; the other file's content is unchanged by it (the case of issue 198) |
+| An undeclared key is refused when set | A controller test: `settings set` with an undeclared key fails naming the declared keys, and nothing is stored |
+| Every effective value names its source | A test listing a module's configuration on a node with one key from each of default, mesh and node |
+| A change's reach is shown before it moves | A plan test: changing a mesh-wide setting names every assignment whose effective value moves and no other |
+| The strongest cost applies | A host test: a file where a reload-cost key and a restart-cost key both moved restarts; a file where only reload-cost keys moved reloads |
+| Live | The container runtime's module lists its settings with their sources on every machine, and a mesh-wide change to its log rotation reaches all four at the next push |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0046](0046-a-module-configuration-is-its-assignments-not-its-manifest.md), [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md), [ADR 0155](0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md), [ADR 0102](0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md)
+- [Design 27 — a module requires, the mesh resolves](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/27-a-module-requires-the-mesh-resolves.md)
+- Issues [110](../04-ISSUES/110-a-container-on-the-runtimes-own-network-cannot-reach-the-resolver/00-report.md), [173](../04-ISSUES/173-a-modules-settings-reach-every-fact-it-contributes/00-report.md)
+- mesh-controller `internal/catalogue/settings.go` (`settle`, `UnusedSettings`), `internal/catalogue/setting_into.go`

02-DECISIONS/0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: proposed
+date: 2026-10-01
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md
+---
+
+# 165. `container-runtime` is what a machine can run; that a runtime is running is its holder's health
+
+## Context
+
+A capability is a requirement a module places on a machine, detected by the host and renewed with
+every report ([ADR 0161](0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md)). The host's `container-runtime` asks the
+daemon for its version: *a running daemon, not an installed client*. It was made that way by
+[issue 007](../04-ISSUES/007-an-installed-package-is-not-a-capability/00-report.md), where an
+installed package was believed to be a working service, and
+[design 05](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md)'s table says the same: *a runtime is
+running*. The installer's preflight borrows the same detector to wait for the runtime the
+foundation bundle installs, so there is one answer to "is there a runtime here".
+
+The mesh is now to have a module for the runtime itself — its packages, its configuration, its
+service — on every machine ([ADR 0166](0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md)).
+That module cannot declare `container-runtime` as defined: it would require the very thing it
+installs, the cycle [research 011](../01-RESEARCH/011-the-module-graph/cases.md)'s case 12 names
+("something the mesh installs that then becomes a node capability"). The operator defined the word
+for it: **`container-runtime` means the machine is able, at the kernel level, to install a runtime and
+execute containers** — not that one is installed, and not that one is running.
+
+The host already draws this line once. `seat` is hardware, a display server *could* run here;
+`graphical-session` is state, one *is* running; the detector's own comment says "assignment needs the
+first". A machine without a display has no seat however much software is installed, and a machine
+with one has a seat before anything is.
+
+Fifty-four catalogue modules declare `container-runtime` today, counted on the catalogue's main
+branch on the day of deciding: every module that delivers a container. Each relies on the current
+meaning to keep it off a machine with no running runtime.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep the meaning; let the runtime's module declare nothing.** Rejected: a module that installs
+   the runtime has requirements on the machine — the kernel features without which installing it is
+   pointless — and would state none of them. The cycle stays, only hidden.
+2. **Two capabilities, "can run" and "is running".** Rejected: the second is made true by assigning a
+   module, so it is the module's state, not a fact of the machine; a capability the mesh itself
+   flips by its own assignment is case 12's cycle with an extra name.
+3. **The capability is the kernel's; whether a runtime runs is the runtime module's health, and a
+   module that delivers a container needs the runtime's seat held.** Adopted.
+
+## Decision
+
+**`container-runtime` is detected from what the kernel offers**, as `seat` is: the namespaces a
+container needs, a control-group hierarchy the runtime can manage, and an overlay filesystem the
+running kernel has or can load. Present when all three are; absent naming the missing one. Nothing is
+run and no runtime is asked. The verdict's detail names what was found, not a runtime's version.
+
+**"A runtime is running and answers" is one probe, owned by the host and used twice:** by the
+installer's preflight, which waits for the runtime the foundation installs, and as the runtime
+module's health. It asks the daemon, as issue 007 requires. The preflight stops borrowing the
+capability's detector, and there is still one answer to "is a runtime running here".
+
+**The runtime's module declares `container-runtime`**, with `package-manager`, `service-manager` and
+`privileged`, like any module that manages machine software.
+
+**A module that delivers a container needs the runtime seat held on its machine**, and is refused
+otherwise, naming the seat and the modules that could hold it — the refusal design 27 already lists
+for an unheld seat. That requirement is derived from the container resource and needs no manifest
+field ([ADR 0166](0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md)).
+The fifty-four existing declarations of the capability stay valid and become redundant; a catalogue
+test lists them, and they retire when the list is empty.
+
+**The order is fixed, not preferred.** The detector changes only once the seat requirement is
+enforced. In between, a machine with the kernel and no running runtime would read as able to run
+every containerised module, which is issue 007 again.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- Design 05's capability table changes its `container-runtime` row from *a runtime is running* to
+  *the kernel can run containers*, and names the runtime module's health as where "running" is now
+  asked.
+- The node listing stops showing the runtime's version beside the capability. The version moves to
+  the runtime module's health and its seat's verbs.
+- A fresh machine with no runtime reads as able to run one, so it can be assigned the runtime's
+  module, which is what makes the mesh able to install the runtime instead of the bootstrap alone.
+- **What got harder:** "is this machine running containers" is no longer one glance at the profile;
+  it is the runtime seat's holder and its health. The node's listing should show both side by side.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The capability is the kernel's | Host detector tests over a fixture `/proc` and `/sys`: all three present → present; each one missing → absent naming it; no runtime binary on the fixture machine changes nothing |
+| One probe asks whether a runtime runs | A host test that the preflight and the runtime module's health call the same probe, and that the probe fails against a stopped daemon with an installed client (issue 007's shape) |
+| A containerised module needs the runtime seat held | A resolution test: a module with a container resource on a machine whose runtime seat is unheld is refused, naming the seat and its candidate holders |
+| The order holds | The host release that changes the detector is gated on the controller release that enforces the seat requirement — stated in both changes' descriptions and checked at review |
+| Live | Every machine's profile shows `container-runtime` present with the kernel's features as its detail; a machine with no runtime installed reads present too |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0161](0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md) — the profile renewed by every report; a capability that names a dialect
+- [ADR 0166](0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md) — the seat and its holder
+- [Issue 007](../04-ISSUES/007-an-installed-package-is-not-a-capability/00-report.md), [research 011](../01-RESEARCH/011-the-module-graph/cases.md) cases 12–13
+- [Design 05 — the node host](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md)
+- mesh-host `internal/profile/detectors.go` (the runtime detector), `internal/profile/seat.go` (the hardware/state split), `internal/bootstrap/preflight.go` (the preflight that borrows it)

02-DECISIONS/0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md

@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: proposed
+date: 2026-10-01
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md
+---
+
+# 166. The container runtime is a node seat, and the host creates containers through its holder
+
+## Context
+
+Every container the mesh runs on a machine is created by the host, which looks for a runtime
+(`docker info`, then `podman info`) and drives that runtime's command line itself: run, inspect,
+remove, exec. Research 012 called this "detected rather than declared": the host takes over whatever
+runtime it finds. Nothing in the mesh owns the runtime. Its package came from the foundation bundle
+or was already on the machine. Its configuration file was written by hand, differs on each of the
+four machines, and is also written into by two modules that are not the runtime's
+([issue 190](../04-ISSUES/190-the-runtimes-configuration-is-written-by-modules-that-are-not-the-runtime/00-report.md)).
+Its service is declared by those same two.
+
+The operator set the direction:
+
+- a module for the runtime, on every machine, owning "what is needed to run containers here": its
+  packages, its configuration and its service;
+- that module holds a node seat for the runtime, so a second runtime (podman) can later compete
+  for the seat;
+- the host stops speaking to the runtime directly and uses the seat's holder. The host stays the one
+  that decides, and the holder becomes the one that executes;
+- every container on the machine is in scope, not only the mesh's. A development environment started
+  by hand, or a test database a tool runs, is legitimate. The host already calls these *strays*: 3,
+  8 and 25 on three of the machines on the day of deciding;
+- the runtime's events and verbs are subjects on the bus, and the mesh's own interface is built on
+  them. The third-party interface run until now was removed by hand.
+
+[ADR 0161](0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md)'s test for a seat is whether the mesh's own code finds it by
+name. Here it does: the host would look up the holder on its own machine. A singular role of a module
+held once per machine is a `node-*` seat ([ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md)),
+in the controller's seed.
+
+The constraint that decides most of this record is a cycle. The bus runs in containers. On the
+broker's machine, the broker's own container is created by the host. A holder's code served from a
+container cannot create the container that runs it. On a first machine, before the controller exists,
+nothing holds anything.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **The host calls the holder's verbs over the bus.** Rejected: with the broker down, no machine can
+   create any container, including the broker's. The mesh would be unable to restart its own
+   transport.
+2. **The holder picks a dialect that the host speaks itself, as with the uplink.** Rejected: the
+   host would still drive the runtime, and the module would drive it too for every other caller.
+   That is two programs speaking to one daemon, and they come to disagree about the same machine
+   (the installer's preflight already exists to avoid this).
+3. **The holder's code runs as a supervised process on the machine and serves the seat's verbs
+   twice: locally to the host, on the bus to everyone else.** Adopted.
+
+## Decision
+
+**`node-container-runtime` is a seat of the mesh's own, node-scoped,** in the controller's seed under
+this record. It delivers no provision; what it carries is its role's protocol: verbs its holder must
+serve ([ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md)) and events its holder emits
+([ADR 0129](0129-a-seat-carries-the-protocol-of-its-role.md)). The runtime's module, `docker`, claims
+it and is assigned to every machine. A podman module may claim it later; one machine runs one.
+
+**The seat's verbs cover every container on the machine:** list, inspect, logs, stats, start, stop,
+restart, create and remove. A mesh-held container is marked by the host's label and says which
+assignment holds it. **A container the runtime runs can be root on the machine** — privileged, a host
+path mounted, the host's network or process namespace, the runtime's own socket — so a caller other
+than the host may not create one that is any of these; only a declaration the mesh composed may ask
+for them. And the verbs that change anything are granted by name, never by a wildcard: a grant of
+every tool (the console's today) reaches the reading verbs only. Issue 193 is what a verb that trusts
+its caller costs. **Creating or removing a mesh-held container is the host's alone.** Any other
+caller is refused naming the assignment, because the host would undo it at its next apply. Starting,
+stopping or restarting one is allowed, and the answer says the host will restore what its
+declaration says. A container the mesh does not hold is the caller's to do anything with.
+
+**The seat's events are the runtime's own** — a container created, started, stopped, died, removed,
+its health changed. They are emitted on the seat's subjects, so every holder emits the same events and
+no reader depends on which runtime holds the seat. As
+[ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)
+decides, the subjects are issued by the controller, not composed by the module.
+
+**The holder's code is a supervised process, not a container** ([ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md)).
+A runtime cannot be run by the thing it runs. The process serves the seat's verbs on the bus to the
+console, to tools and to the mesh's interface. The same verbs are served on a local socket on the
+machine, which only the host may use. **The host creates, inspects and removes its containers
+through that socket and nothing else.** If the holder does not answer, the host creates nothing. It
+says so in its report, naming the seat. It never falls back to the command line.
+
+**A container needs the seat held on its machine.** An assignment that delivers a container on a
+machine whose runtime seat is unheld is refused, naming the seat and its candidates
+([ADR 0165](0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md)).
+Mounting the runtime's socket into a container is granted by the seat, not by the capability. The
+socket's path is the holder's to state, because podman's is not docker's.
+
+**The runtime module owns the runtime's configuration.** Its settings are declared with defaults
+([ADR 0164](0164-a-setting-is-declared-with-its-default-its-meaning-and-what-changing-it-costs.md)):
+the resolver containers use, the registries it trusts, log rotation, and keeping containers through a
+daemon restart. The module is given the resolver's address and the mesh's registry as values; no other
+module writes the runtime's file or declares its service.
+
+**The first machine is bootstrapped with the holder, and adopted afterwards.** The foundation bundle
+already installs the runtime's package and service. It also carries the holder's process, delivered as
+a binary the way the host is ([ADR 0142](0142-the-mesh-delivers-its-own-components-as-binaries.md)).
+When the runtime module is assigned, it adopts what the bundle made, as the store and broker modules
+adopt theirs ([ADR 0078](0078-the-store-and-broker-are-modules.md)).
+
+## Consequences
+
+- **The migration on the running mesh has a fixed order:**
+  1. Each machine's hand-written configuration is read, because the module's defaults replace what
+     differs.
+  2. In one push per machine: the resolver module and the private network stop writing the
+     runtime's file ([issue 190](../04-ISSUES/190-the-runtimes-configuration-is-written-by-modules-that-are-not-the-runtime/00-report.md)),
+     and the runtime module is assigned and adopts the runtime, its file and its service. Split in
+     two, either the controller refuses two modules declaring one path, or a machine is left with
+     nothing setting `dns` and `live-restore`.
+  3. The controller seeds the seat and enforces the container requirement.
+  4. The host releases the version that uses the holder.
+  5. The host's command-line path is removed in the release after every machine's holder answers.
+     Until then, the host reports per machine which path it used.
+- **Every container the host makes depends on the holder's process.** A crash-looping holder stops
+  new containers on its machine. Running containers are unaffected. The host's report names the cause.
+- The process form of a module's own code must serve tools on the live mesh before this ships. Only the
+  showcase declares it, and [issue 117](../04-ISSUES/117-a-modules-own-code-is-a-container-and-a-process/01-diagnosis.md)
+  found the showcase's tools declared in a form nothing runs. The runtime module is the first whose
+  tools cannot fall back to a container.
+- A user interface subscribing to events directly does not exist. Today a reader of events is a module
+  that consumes them. The mesh's container view is a module, or waits for that path.
+- [ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md) ("a container runtime is detected, not chosen") and
+  [ADR 0006](0006-the-substrate-and-the-control-plane.md)'s matching line describe the mechanism this replaces: on
+  acceptance, each gets a dated note saying the runtime is now a seat's holder, as the decision
+  records' rule for a moved mechanism requires. Design 05 and design 26 are amended after acceptance.
+- The operator's decision to remove the third-party interface by hand needs no mechanism. No
+  module-retires-module rule is introduced.
+- **What got harder:** the host gains a dependency it did not have, and a first machine's bundle gains
+  a component. The direct path was simpler and is what makes a runtime a black box to the rest of the
+  mesh.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The seat is the mesh's own, node-scoped, with its verbs and events | A catalogue test on the default seats; registration refuses a claimant that does not serve every verb (design 33's existing check) |
+| Creating or removing a mesh-held container is the host's alone | A test of the runtime module's verbs: create or remove of a container carrying the host's label, from any caller but the host's socket, is refused naming the assignment; the same verbs on an unlabelled container succeed |
+| No caller but the host creates a container that is root on the machine | A test of `create` from the bus: privileged, a host path, the host's namespaces and the runtime's socket are each refused; the same request on the host's socket is accepted. A broker test: a grant of every tool does not reach a changing verb |
+| The host uses the holder and never the command line | A host test with a fake holder on the local socket: every container operation goes to it, and with the holder absent the apply creates nothing and reports the seat; after step 5, the host carries no command-line runtime code (checked by build: the package is gone) |
+| A container needs the seat held | A resolution test refusing a containerised assignment on a machine with the seat unheld, naming the seat |
+| Socket mounts are granted by the seat | A catalogue test: a module mounting the runtime's socket on a machine whose holder states a different path is refused |
+| No other module writes the runtime's file | The existing collision check, once the private network's computed resources are inside it ([issue 190](../04-ISSUES/190-the-runtimes-configuration-is-written-by-modules-that-are-not-the-runtime/00-report.md)) |
+| Live | `seats` lists `node-container-runtime` held on every machine; the node listing shows each machine's containers, strays included, from the seat's `list` verb; a container started by hand appears as an event on the bus |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md), [ADR 0129](0129-a-seat-carries-the-protocol-of-its-role.md), [ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md), [ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md), [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md), [ADR 0161](0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md)
+- [ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md), [ADR 0142](0142-the-mesh-delivers-its-own-components-as-binaries.md), [ADR 0078](0078-the-store-and-broker-are-modules.md), [ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md)
+- [ADR 0164](0164-a-setting-is-declared-with-its-default-its-meaning-and-what-changing-it-costs.md), [ADR 0165](0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md), [issue 190](../04-ISSUES/190-the-runtimes-configuration-is-written-by-modules-that-are-not-the-runtime/00-report.md)
+- [Design 26 — the seats](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/26-the-seats.md), [design 33 — the tools the mesh answers](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md)
+- mesh-host `internal/apply/apply.go` (the runtime lookup and the command line it drives)

02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md
+---
+
+# 173. The operator's machine is the mesh's, and a module is whatever it declares
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md) says a module is *one self-contained piece of software the
+mesh installs and manages*, and every example it gives is a service: a database, an analytics
+server, a forge. The catalogue followed the examples. Of the predecessor's 34 modules on one
+workstation, 28 are the operator's environment — a login manager, a window manager with 88 files
+and four flavors, a shell, a terminal, a launcher, an audio setup, scripts — and the migration
+scoped all 28 out as *the workstation's own environment*, to be managed by nobody
+([research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/02-what-exists-and-what-is-missing.md)).
+Since the predecessor retired, nobody is exactly who manages them: a fix is a hand edit that
+nothing records and nothing regenerates.
+
+[To-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) reached under the home for
+one directory and drew a boundary inside it. The operator's statement is wider: *the mesh manages
+my entire machine, all four of them, as far as it makes sense* — system folders and the home
+alike, the servers and the workstations from the same catalogue. And the operator refused a
+distinction this effort first drew between modules that ship code and modules that ship only
+declarations: *a module can have some tools, a seat implementation, some containers, a unit, a
+binary, some config files — one of these, or all, or two.*
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep 0040's reading and manage the environment outside the catalogue** — dotfiles in a
+   repository, a script that places them. Rejected: that is the predecessor's first two days, the
+   origin of every inherited shape [as-is 10](../03-DESIGN/00-as-is/10-module-catalogue.md)
+   documents, and it puts the one thing a person looks at outside the one mechanism that is
+   checked.
+2. **Add a second kind of module for configuration** — a "config module" with files and no
+   process. Rejected by the operator: a kind is a distinction the manifest already makes by what
+   it declares, and a second kind is a second set of rules to keep in step.
+3. **One definition: a module is one managed thing, described by what it declares.** Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Everything configurable on a node is declared by a module.** Services, and equally the login
+manager, the display server, the window manager, the shell, the terminal, the launcher, the
+notifier, the audio setup, the boot images, the package manager's configuration, the agent at the
+terminal, and a folder a person works in. The test is *can it be configured on a machine*; if it
+can, some module owns it. What no module declares is found and left alone, as adoption already
+says of a machine ([ADR 0100](0100-a-node-in-use-is-adopted-before-it-is-converged.md)).
+
+**2. A module is whatever it declares, and there are no kinds of module.** A package, files, a
+container, a unit, a binary, a seat claim, tools — any one, or all. 0040's *one self-contained piece
+of software* stands; its examples were services, and that was the whole of the bias. A downloads
+folder with a process that tidies it, backs it up and answers questions about it is a piece of
+software by 0040's own test, and so is a shell that is a package, three files and a seat.
+
+**3. The home has no boundary of its own.** A file under the operator's home is placed and owned
+the way [to-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) §2 built it: by a
+module, resolved against the account's home, owned by the account. Which files are the mesh's is
+decided by what modules declare, not by a line drawn through a directory. A person's documents,
+projects and history are data under [ADR 0051](0051-shared-data-is-the-operators.md) and no module
+declares them.
+
+**4. One module ships one default configuration.** No flavors. What differed between the
+predecessor's four flavors of one desktop module is what [ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)
+is for.
+
+**5. Servers and workstations take the same catalogue.** A module declares what it needs; a
+machine reports what it has; assignment refuses by name
+([ADR 0161](0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md) §3). The shell, the prompt, git and the agent are universal.
+A display server needs a graphical session; a window manager needs the display server held. Nothing
+in a manifest says *workstation*.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The catalogue grows by a family of modules that run no service. Each is still built,
+  registered, assigned, pushed and reported like every other, and `status` says whether a
+  machine has applied them.
+- The account fact becomes load-bearing for every node a person uses. Today it is empty on all
+  four node records of this mesh; stating it is the first step of the build.
+- A module that *installs* a thing is distinct from a module that *holds its role*: zsh, fish and
+  bash may all be installed, and one holds the login shell
+  ([ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md)).
+- The host's `package` shape drives the distribution's package manager only. A module whose
+  package is outside the distribution's repositories — the login manager in use is one — needs
+  either an official package or a shape the host does not have. Recorded as a gap, not decided.
+- The predecessor's hooks go. What they did becomes declared state the host applies, or a verb a
+  seat serves ([ADR 0177](0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)).
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A manifest with no container, no unit and no binary registers and resolves like any other | the catalogue's registration tests, with a package-and-files manifest |
+| A file resource under the home resolves against the account and is owned by it | the controller's composition tests (to-be 29 §2, built) |
+| A home-scoped module is refused on a node with no account, naming the fact | the same tests |
+| A module needing a capability the machine lacks is refused by name | the resolver's tests (ADR 0161 §3) |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/00-overview.md), documents
+  01 and 02 — the behaviour wanted and the inventory measured.
+- [ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md), [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md),
+  [ADR 0051](0051-shared-data-is-the-operators.md), [ADR 0100](0100-a-node-in-use-is-adopted-before-it-is-converged.md)
+- [To-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) — the account and the home
+  as a placement root, built; the records for them are proposed in an open change.

02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+---
+topic: building it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0011-managed-files-are-generated-never-edited.md
+---
+
+# 174. A node varies a module through settings and kept regions, never through an edit
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-04, by [ADR 0204](0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md).** Where this record calls a kept region *a marked block in which the operator's own lines are kept*, read the inverse, which is what the host built: the mesh's region is the marked block, and every line outside it is the operator's, kept byte for byte and given back when the module goes. The decision stands: a node varies a module by settings and by the operator's own lines, never by an edit.
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0011](0011-managed-files-are-generated-never-edited.md) says a managed file is derived and an
+edit to it is overwritten without warning. The predecessor said the same and then undid it twice:
+a `merge` strategy that adopted disk drift back into its database, so a local edit became the
+record; and a theming layer of about 90 environment variables substituted into templates at sync
+time, with tools to list and set them, so that *nearly every value was a variable* — a second
+configuration language laid over the first.
+
+The operator wants both the variation and the rule. One window-manager module with one default
+configuration, and each node tweaking it; and the file carrying the wanted value rather than a
+variable the file reads. Two mechanisms already exist for exactly this: a **setting**, declared by
+the module and set per mesh or per node, rendered at composition
+(`${setting:…}` is live in the resolver's manifest); and a **kept region**, a block in a file the
+mesh writes *into* where the operator's own lines survive every push
+([ADR 0102](0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md), used by the ssh-client module
+for the operator's own `Host` blocks).
+
+What stands in the way is [issue 168](../04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md):
+a setting today reaches every mergeable file and every contribution of its module. Ninety theme
+knobs on that mechanism would reach ninety files. The record that fixes it — a setting declared
+with its type, meaning, default and the file it lands in — is proposed in an open change alongside
+the container-runtime records.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Carry the predecessor's merge strategy.** A local edit is adopted into the node's layer.
+   Rejected: two writers and no arbiter, which is the option 0011 removed, and the reason a
+   `/model` choice was silently reverted on every node for weeks before anyone found the cause.
+2. **Carry the environment-variable theming.** Rejected by the operator: the value belongs in
+   the file; a variable the file reads is a second place for the same fact.
+3. **A per-node file override** — a whole file replaced for one node. Rejected: it is a flavor
+   under another name, and a module update then misses that node entirely.
+4. **Settings rendered into the file, and kept regions, and nothing else.** Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**A node varies a module in exactly two ways.**
+
+- **A setting.** Declared by the module with a default, set for the mesh or for one node, rendered
+  into the file at composition. The value is in the file. Asked, the mesh lists every setting
+  with its effective value and where it came from.
+- **A kept region.** A marked block in a file the mesh writes into, in which the operator's own
+  lines are kept across every push and given back when the module goes (ADR 0102).
+
+**An edit outside a kept region is overwritten, as ADR 0011 says, and never adopted.** Nothing
+reads a managed file back into the record.
+
+**The predecessor's theme knobs become settings** of the modules whose files they render — the
+window manager's colours are the window manager's settings, the bar's are the bar's — each
+landing in the file that reads it and no other.
+
+**Issue 168 is fixed before any environment module declares a setting.** A setting must name the
+file it lands in; until that ships, the environment modules carry their defaults in their files
+and no settings.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- No flavors, no per-node file copies, no environment layer. A module's definition is one set of
+  files; a node's difference is data in its layer, visible by asking.
+- The settings record proposed alongside the container-runtime records is on the critical path
+  of every module with a knob, and this record depends on it shipping as proposed.
+- A kept region is the only place a person edits a managed file, and the file says where it is.
+  The operator's own prompt customisations, aliases and window rules live there.
+- What got harder: a change that is neither a setting the module declared nor the operator's own
+  lines has no home, and is refused by the mechanism rather than silently kept. That is the point.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A setting reaches only the file its declaration names | the controller's settings tests, once the proposed record ships; issue 168 closes on it |
+| A kept region survives a push with its content and is given back on undeclare | the host's write-into tests (ADR 0102), with a region declared by an environment module |
+| An edit outside a region does not survive a push | the same tests, asserting the file equals the composed content outside the region |
+| Every effective value names its source | `mesh-controller.settings` and the module's own `show-config` tool |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/01-the-intended-behaviour.md) §"One default, varied by settings, never by edits"
+- [ADR 0011](0011-managed-files-are-generated-never-edited.md), [ADR 0102](0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md),
+  [issue 168](../04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md)

02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md
+---
+
+# 175. One tool runtime per node serves every module's tools, on the host side
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-02, by [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md).** Everything decided here stands: one runtime per node, host-side, every module's tools and every held seat's verbs on the memberships' subjects, root the module's concern, any node calls any tool, the console its serving mode. What moved is how the runtime brings a bundle to life. Decision 3 and the consequence *the node tools runtime needs an interpreter on the machine* read as though a bundle were always interpreted code the runtime imports; a tools bundle is now a process in any language that speaks MCP over stdio to the runtime, and importing a TypeScript bundle is the shortcut, not the contract.
+
+## Context
+
+A module's tools are code the module wrote, one function behind each verb, served on the subjects
+the controller issues in the module's membership
+([ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)).
+What *runs* that code is [ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md):
+a supervised process per module under the module's own account, and in the catalogue as built,
+that process is a container per module per node, built on the tool runtime's base image.
+
+Measured on the live mesh ([research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/03-one-tool-executor-per-node.md)):
+67 module tools, each served from its module's container; the packet-filter seat's three verbs
+served by a container with `NET_ADMIN` on every one of four machines, for a module that is
+otherwise a package, three files and a service; and the console, a container per node, calling
+everything and serving nothing. The operator's environment adds a dozen modules of the
+packet-filter shape, and the operator's judgement is plain: *I would never run MCP tools inside
+a container; that is a very bad design.* And: *I don't care about permissions or account per
+module, that just complicates things for no good reason. Just a node-level tool executor. If a
+command needs root, that's the module's concern.*
+
+The tool runtime itself was written for this. Its own description: *the per-node process that
+makes a module's tools actually serve — imports the assigned modules' compiled tool entrypoints,
+each of which registers its tools as it loads; on a node the host resolves the list and starts it
+like any other supervised workload.* What the catalogue did instead was build one image per module
+around it.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep a process per module.** Rejected: one container per module per node for software that
+   is not a container, and the account-per-module invariant it exists to protect is one the
+   operator declines to pay for.
+2. **The host executes tools itself.** Rejected: the host is a static Go binary that loads no
+   plugins; a module's tools are TypeScript on the SDK, and building a second SDK in Go for the
+   host's sake is the cost ADR 0039 refuses.
+3. **One tool runtime per node, a sibling of the host, loading every assigned module's bundle.**
+   Chosen. It is what the runtime was written to be.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. One tool runtime per node, supervised by the host, on the host side — never a container.**
+The host starts it the way the launcher starts the host
+([ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md)): a process on the machine, restarted when it dies. It holds one
+bus credential, the node's. It is module-agnostic: it knows bundles and subjects, nothing of what
+any module does.
+
+**2. It serves every assigned module's tools and every held seat's verbs** on the subjects the
+memberships issue. ADR 0159 and ADR 0160 are unchanged in what they say about subjects, grants
+and memberships; what changes is that one process on the node subscribes to all of them instead of
+one process per module. A module that runs a long-lived service of its own — a daemon, a
+container — keeps it; this record is about tools.
+
+**3. A module brings its tools as a bundle**, the artifact kind the catalogue already has for
+interpreted code, built by the pipeline and delivered to the node by the host as it delivers any
+artifact. Never an image. The runtime loads each bundle as the membership names it, and a push
+that adds or replaces a bundle reaches a running runtime as a reload.
+
+**4. Root is the module's concern.** A tool that must change the packet filter or rebuild boot
+images escalates itself. The runtime does not run as root for everyone's sake; the caller does not
+know and need not.
+
+**5. Any node may call any tool on any node.** The runtime's credential may call everything, as
+the console's already may. A per-module calling grant is not kept.
+
+**6. The console is this runtime's serving mode, renamed.** [ADR 0152](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md)
+stands in substance — a module assigned per node, MCP on the machine's loopback, the machine's
+login is the authority — and changes in form: host-side, serving as well as calling, and named for
+what it is: **node tools**. The mesh's own verbs stay with the controller
+([ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md)); a mesh-scoped seat's verbs
+run on the node that holds it ([ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md)).
+
+**Where ADR 0047 and ADR 0150 say a module's tools are served by the module's own process under
+the module's own account, read this record.** Everything else they decided stands: a tool is served
+on its own subject, only the module that serves it answers, a module's long-lived processes are the
+machine's to supervise. The invariant 0150 kept — one account per module — no longer holds for
+tools, and the reason is stated above: every tool is callable from everywhere by decision 5, so the
+account no longer scopes anything a caller cannot already reach.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The packet-filter module's container goes; its verbs run on the host side and escalate as they
+  need. [ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md) §3's container capability is moot
+  for it.
+- The tool runtime's base image stays the way a module's *service* may be built; it is no longer
+  the way tools reach a node.
+- The node tools runtime needs an interpreter on the machine. The module that is the runtime
+  declares it as a package.
+- The container-runtime seat proposed in an open change says its holder *runs as a supervised
+  process and serves the verbs locally to the host and on the bus*. A supervised process serving
+  verbs is what this runtime is; whether that holder keeps a process of its own or serves through
+  the runtime is for that record's build to say.
+- What got harder: one process carries every module's tool code on a node, so one module's
+  faulty bundle can take down the node's tools. The runtime loads each bundle guarded and names
+  the one that failed; the others serve.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The runtime loads every bundle its memberships name and serves each tool on its subject | the runtime's tests against a real bus: two bundles, three tools, each answers |
+| A bundle that fails to load is named and the others serve | the same tests, with one bundle that throws on load |
+| The host supervises the runtime and restarts it | the host's tests over the launcher's shape |
+| A push that replaces a bundle reloads it without a restart | the runtime's tests: a bundle replaced on disk, the membership re-read, the new tool answers |
+| No module in the catalogue declares a container whose only purpose is tools | a catalogue check: a manifest with `tools` and an image artifact built on the tool runtime's base is refused once the runtime is live |
+| Live | `login-shell.execute@<node>` answers on every node from the node tools runtime; `docker ps` shows no per-module tool container |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/03-one-tool-executor-per-node.md)
+- [ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md), [ADR 0047](0047-a-module-runs-its-code-as-its-own-process-with-its-own-account.md),
+  [ADR 0152](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md), [ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md),
+  [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md), [ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md)
+- [To-be 33](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md), [to-be 34](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md)

02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md
+---
+
+# 176. The login shell is a node seat held by one shell module, and `execute` is its contract
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-04, by [ADR 0204](0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md).** The seat is no longer declared by the shell modules (§1). It is `node-login-shell`, in the mesh's own seat set, which a shell module claims. Its holder also places the shell code other modules contribute, and sources the account's environment ([ADR 0203](0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md)). What stands: one holder per node, the login shell set by the `user` shape and given back, `execute` as the contract, and any node may call it.
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md) names the shell as its example of a *shared* seat: bash, zsh
+and fish all join `shell`, and one may be default. The operator's reading is sharper, and it
+matches [ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md) better: *installing* a shell is
+installing software, and several may be installed; *holding* the seat is being the login shell,
+which a node has exactly one of. A definition says which seats a module can hold; the assignment
+says which it does.
+
+A seat carries the tools its holder must serve ([ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md)),
+and [to-be 33](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md) leaves which verbs each
+seat serves as a decision per seat, taken slowly. This is the first seat of the operator's
+environment, and the one every node has.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **A shared `shell` seat with a default**, as 0040's example reads. Rejected: *default* is a
+   second concept beside *holder* for the same fact, and the `user` shape already makes the
+   login shell declared state ([to-be 05](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md)).
+2. **No seat; each shell module sets the login shell for itself.** Rejected: two assigned shell
+   modules would fight over `chsh`, and nothing would say which won.
+3. **An exclusive node-scoped seat, `login-shell`, declared by the shell modules, held by one
+   per node.** Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. `login-shell` is a node-scoped seat declared by the shell modules.** zsh, fish and bash each
+declare that they can hold it; a node's assignment says which does; the controller refuses a
+second holder by name as for every seat. A shell module that is assigned without holding the seat
+is installed and nothing more.
+
+**2. Holding the seat sets the account's login shell.** The holder's declaration carries the
+`user` shape with the shell it provides, so the login shell is declared state the host applies and
+gives back when the holding moves — `chsh` stops being a hook.
+
+**3. The seat's contract is `execute`.** One verb, one argument, the command, run on the node the
+seat is scoped to as the operator account, answering with what it printed and how it exited.
+Every holder serves it; a holder may serve its own tools beside it
+([ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md) §2) — show the rendered configuration, list
+the plugins, set a prompt value.
+
+**4. Any node may call it on any node.** The grant is the node tools runtime's
+([ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md) §5):
+*run `uptime` on every node* is five calls to one verb.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The first environment module is a shell: a package, files under the home owned by the account,
+  a seat declaration and claim, a `user` shape, and one tool. It proves the whole pattern on every
+  node, servers included, before anything graphical is written.
+- ADR 0040's shell example is read as *installed is not holding*; a dated note in that record says
+  so. Its decision is untouched.
+- `execute` is a shell on every machine, addressed over the bus. That is the point, and it is
+  the widest verb the mesh serves; it exists because the operator decided every node may call
+  every tool, and this record does not narrow that.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Two shell modules assigned to one node, one holding: one `user` shape in the declaration, naming the holder's shell | the controller's composition tests |
+| A second claimant is refused by name | the catalogue's seat tests |
+| `execute` runs as the account and answers output and exit status | the module's tool tests over a fake runner, and live on every node |
+| The seat's verb appears with its scope and machine in the node tools listing | the runtime's tests (to-be 33 §4) |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/04-the-seats-of-the-environment.md)
+- [ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md), [ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md),
+  [ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md), [ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)

02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md
+---
+
+# 177. A unit may be user-scoped, and the service manager is a node seat whose holder answers for the units
+
+## Context
+
+The host's `service` shape puts a system unit into a state. It has no user scope.
+[To-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) states the gap: *a
+workstation's per-user daemons have no form the mesh can send.* Four of the predecessor's
+environment modules ship user units — the desktop's reload watcher and bar watchdog, the audio
+module's masks, the power module's memory guard, the thermal daemon's profile switcher — and the
+predecessor needed a hook to enable them because *shipping a unit file does not run it*; one unit
+was deployed for months and ran on one machine only.
+
+[ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md) says the host hardcodes no supervisor, and a swappable
+machine mechanism is a module implementing a capability — which is what the nftables module is for
+the packet filter ([ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)). The service manager is
+reported today as a capability, `service-manager`, and held by nobody. The operator's proposal: a
+systemd module that holds the seat and serves the tools about units, system and user.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep user units as a module concern** — each module runs `systemctl --user` in a hook.
+   Rejected: that is the hook that silently never ran, and an action over the link is refused.
+2. **The service-manager module applies units** on behalf of others, as a provision. Rejected by
+   the operator: provisioning is for resources a provider creates for a consumer; a unit is
+   declared state the host applies, as every resource is.
+3. **The host's `service` shape gains a user scope; a systemd module holds the service-manager
+   seat and serves the verbs about units.** Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. The `service` shape gains `scope`: `system` (the default) or `user`.** A user-scoped unit
+is applied as the operator account through the account's own service manager: enabled, started,
+stopped, reloaded on its triggers, exactly as a system unit is, and refused on a node with no
+account, naming the fact. The host applies it; no module does.
+
+**2. `node-service-manager` is a seat of the mesh's own, node-scoped**, seeded by the controller
+under this record, as ADR 0121 requires of a `node-*` name. The `systemd` module claims it and is
+assigned to every machine whose profile reports `service-manager`.
+
+**3. The seat's verbs answer for every unit on the machine**, each taking an optional `scope`:
+`units`, `status`, `start`, `stop`, `restart`, `enable`, `disable`, `journal`. The host applies what
+is declared; the holder answers questions and operator acts about it, and says, for a mesh-held
+unit, that the host will restore what its declaration says.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The host's vocabulary grows by one field on one shape, asserted by its count test
+  ([to-be 05](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md)); an older host refuses a declaration
+  carrying it, so the host rolls before the first module that uses it.
+- The predecessor's four user-unit modules become declarable without a hook.
+- The seat's holder is the first system seat held by a module that runs nothing of its own: its
+  verbs are served by the node tools runtime ([ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)).
+- What got harder: `journal` and `status` on a user unit need the account's manager reachable
+  from the runtime's process, which runs as the node's account; the holder's tool escalates or
+  switches user as it needs, which is ADR 0175 §4 applied.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A `service` with `scope: user` is enabled and started under the account, and refused with no account | the host's tests with a fake service manager |
+| The seat declares its verbs; a claim serving fewer is refused by name | the catalogue's seat tests |
+| The verbs act on a named unit in the named scope and name the unit's holder when the mesh declares it | the module's tests over a fake runner |
+| Live | the desktop's reload watcher declared `scope: user` on a workstation; `node-service-manager.status@<node>` reports it active |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/04-the-seats-of-the-environment.md)
+- [ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md), [ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md),
+  [ADR 0040](0040-what-a-module-is.md), [ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)
+- [To-be 05](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md), [to-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md)

02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md

@@ -1,142 +0,0 @@
----
-topic: what runs on it
-status: accepted
-date: 2026-10-02
-deciders: jochen
-reconstructed: false
-extends: 02-DECISIONS/0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md
----
-
-# 178. The mesh binds and delivers a licence; the module alone writes the tool's credential; a switch is the binding changed, asked for through the console
-
-## Context
-
-**The operator's stance, set on 2026-10-02:** the controller has no part in the agent module. The
-module owns the agent's directory under the operator's home and every related file, handles them
-itself, and carries a licence-switching function as the predecessor's did.
-
-**What the predecessor's switching actually was.** A registry of accounts held server-side; a tool,
-callable from a session, that decrypted the chosen account's token on the server, refreshed it if near
-expiry, and wrote the agent's credentials file on the target node — never returning the token. Beside
-it, a shell helper that ran the agent with a token read from a plaintext file in the operator's own
-configuration directory, one token per account, on every workstation; and an enrolment helper that
-logged in once in a throwaway home and registered what came out. So the central half did the
-refreshing and the writing; the node held nothing it could refresh with; and the convenience path kept
-every account's token readable on disk wherever it was wanted.
-
-**What the mesh has.** [To-be 14](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/14-model-access.md) is built as far as it goes:
-a licence is a named record with a vendor; a consumer is a module on a node and is put on one licence;
-the access token is sealed per holder and delivered to the holder's machine; for a refreshable grant
-the manager node alone holds the refresh token, encrypted, and refreshes centrally — the one stated
-carve-out of [ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md). The controller has commands to add a
-licence, put a consumer on it, release it, accept a key, set a manager, set and refresh a grant. **None
-of them is a verb on the `mesh-controller` seat**, so none can be asked for through the console
-([ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md) exposes eighteen commands and
-not these). The catalogue has the manager module and a consumer module that already writes an
-access-token-only credentials file at a path it is told; both are assigned to nothing.
-
-**Why refresh is central and must stay so.** A refreshable grant rotates its refresh token on use. Two
-machines each refreshing one account's grant race: the second refresh presents a token the first
-retired. The predecessor refreshed centrally for this reason, and ADR 0024 kept that half on purpose
-(*the hard half of this already — and it works*). ADR 0050 narrowed the consequence to one node.
-
-**The two designs are not in conflict, and the line has to be drawn in a record.** The controller
-resolving *whose* home a file lands in ([ADR 0176](0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md))
-and *which* licence a consumer holds (to-be 14) is what the controller does for every module. "No
-part" cannot mean that, or the module could not be assigned. It can mean — and this record says it
-means — that **the controller learns nothing about the agent**: no file shape, no path, no key, no
-word beyond the vendor adapter it already has.
-
-## Considered Options
-
-1. **The module keeps its own registry of accounts and tokens**, the stance read literally. Rejected: a
-   second secret store outside the vault ([ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md)); a refresh
-   token on every workstation, widening ADR 0050's one-node carve-out to every machine a person sits
-   at; and two records of one licence, which drift.
-2. **The agent refreshes itself**: the mesh delivers a full grant once at a switch and the agent's own
-   refresh keeps it alive. Rejected: the refresh race above, between the agent and the manager and
-   between two machines on one account; and every node then holds a refresh token, which ADR 0050
-   decided no node does.
-3. **The mesh binds and delivers; the module writes; a switch is the binding changed, asked for through
-   the console.** Chosen.
-
-## Decision
-
-**The consumer is the module on the machine: the operator's interactive sessions on that node, under
-that account, hold one licence at a time.** That is to-be 15's `(node, module)` identity, with the
-agent module as the module. Two machines may hold different licences, the ordinary case. The mesh's own
-sessions on a machine are other modules and hold theirs in their own right.
-
-**The mesh delivers; the module writes.** The module requires `model-access`. The mesh resolves the
-licence the consumer is on, delivers the access token sealed to the machine as a secret in the module's
-own state, and delivers the non-secret facts — the licence's name, what it serves — beside it. **The
-module's own process writes the agent's credentials file** from the delivered secret: under the
-account's home, owned by the account, readable by nobody else, written atomically, and access-token-only
-— a refresh token found there is removed, because a node never holds one (ADR 0050). The file's content
-is never a declared file's content ([ADR 0177](0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)).
-The step runs when the delivered secret changes and on a schedule as a backstop, so a refreshed token
-reaches the file without anyone asking.
-
-**The controller learns nothing about the agent.** Where the file is, what shape it has, what the
-agent calls its keys, how it is told about the console — all of that is the module's definition and
-code. The controller contributes the facts it contributes to every module: the account, the home, the
-licence, the delivery.
-
-**A switch is the binding changed.** Putting the consumer on another licence is the mesh's existing
-act — *use this licence, for this consumer* — and it becomes a verb on the `mesh-controller` seat the
-way the other verbs did (ADR 0154): the command it already has, served on the bus, listed by the
-console. The module serves two tools of its own: one that reports which licence the machine holds and
-when its token expires, and one that invokes the seat's verb for a named licence and then waits until
-the credentials file carries the new licence's token, answering with the licence's name — **never the
-token, in any answer, log or event**. A skill in the agent's directory wraps the second so a person
-asks in a sentence. Switching remains a reaction, not a declaration (ADR 0024): a person asks for it,
-and nothing in the declaration language grows a conditional.
-
-**Enrolling an account is the mesh's act on the manager node.** A new licence is added by name, its
-grant obtained by a login in a throwaway home on the manager node and adopted sealed to that node's
-key, as the manager module already does. No token is pasted into a prompt, printed, or passed as an
-argument (to-be 14's rule for keys).
-
-**The shell helper that read tokens from a file is retired, not replaced.** A second concurrent
-session on the same machine under a different licence would need a second consumer identity — the
-unbuilt half of to-be 14's gap — and is not provided here. Stated so it is not rediscovered as a bug.
-
-**A licence the mesh no longer grants is withdrawn** at the binding (ADR 0024). The credentials file
-the module wrote is the module's own output: unassigning the module leaves it, like the agent's other
-files, and the access token in it expires within hours. Releasing the consumer from the licence is the
-act that ends its access.
-
-## Consequences
-
-- The agent on a workstation authenticates with a token the mesh delivered and refreshes centrally,
-  and no workstation holds a refresh token or any other account's token.
-- **The manager must run.** The refresh path exists in the catalogue and is assigned to nothing; it is
-  a prerequisite of this record, on the control node, and the first thing the build proves.
-- **The controller gains a verb, not knowledge.** The licence commands become seat verbs, each
-  running the command it names, as ADR 0154 did for the others; nothing in them is about the agent.
-- A switch is a round trip — binding, composition, push, apply — rather than the predecessor's direct
-  write: seconds to a minute, and reported when done rather than assumed.
-- **What got harder:** running two sessions on one machine under two accounts at once, which the
-  retired helper allowed by keeping tokens readable. The price of not keeping them so.
-
-## How it is checked
-
-| Rule | Checked by |
-|---|---|
-| The module's definition declares no secret in a file's content, and requires `model-access` | a catalogue test on the module's definition |
-| The credentials file is access-token-only, owned by the account, atomic | the consumer module's existing unit tests on the strip and the write, carried into this module; a live check that the file names no refresh token |
-| A switch through the console changes the licence and the token, and no answer carries a token | a live check: the bound facts name the new licence, the file's fingerprint changes, the tool's answer and the module's log contain neither token |
-| The controller's licence verbs run the commands they name and carry no agent vocabulary | the seat verb's test, as for the eighteen before it |
-| The refresh path is live before the module is | the manager assigned on the control node and a refresh observed in the licence's record, before the module's first assignment |
-| No workstation holds a refresh token | the live check above, on every machine the module is assigned to |
-
-## References
-
-- [ADR 0024](0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md), [ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md),
-  [ADR 0055](0055-model-access-is-answered-by-a-licence-or-a-node.md) — what a licence is, who refreshes, what answers
-- [to-be 14](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/14-model-access.md), [to-be 15](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/15-the-agent-session.md) — the consumer identity and the gap this leaves where it is
-- [ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md), [ADR 0152](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md) — how a verb reaches a person
-- [ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md) — why there is no second registry
-- [ADR 0177](0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md) — the class the credentials file is in
-- the predecessor's `claude-code` module: its switch tool, its shell helpers and the rules of its skill
-- mesh-catalog `modules/anthropic-manager`, `modules/anthropic-consumer` — the refresh and the write, as built

02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md

@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md
+---
+
+# 179. The intrusion seat serves its verbs, a container may log to the journal, and every door declares its jail
+
+## Context
+
+Read on the control node on 2026-10-02, the day the machines were confirmed filtered by the mesh
+alone ([ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md)): the intrusion
+prevention watched one door. Its two jails read the ssh daemon's journal and its own log, banned
+five failures in ten minutes for ten minutes, and in a day had seen twelve thousand failed logins
+from three hundred addresses and banned none of the busiest, which paced themselves at one try every
+ten minutes. The mail submission port took a hundred and sixty password guesses in the same day from
+thirty-eight addresses with no jail reading it at all; the forge and the public proxy had no jail
+either, and the proxy logged nothing a jail could read. Nobody could see the jails without a shell:
+the module's three tools existed in code and were served by nothing, and the seat it holds declared
+no verbs.
+
+Three things were missing and they are three shapes the mesh already has. The packet filter's seat
+serves verbs every holder owes ([ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)); the
+intrusion seat serves none. A module's `listens` compose into the machine's filter, and [to-be 31](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md)
+says a module's `jails` compose into the machine's intrusion prevention the same way — the controller
+composes them, and no module declares one. And a jail reads a log; a container's output goes to a
+file of the runtime's own under a path that changes when the container is recreated, which is why
+no jail could read the mail front end, the forge or the proxy, however they logged.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. The `node-intrusion-prevention` seat serves four verbs**, and a module that claims it serves
+all four or is refused the claim, as with every seat:
+
+- `status` — every jail with what it watches, how many addresses it is counting failures against and
+  holding now, and the totals since it started; one jail's detail when named. Read-only.
+- `banned` — every address banned now, with the jail holding it, when it was banned and when the ban
+  ends. Read-only.
+- `ban` — ban one address in one jail now, for that jail's ban time. An operator's act on the live
+  ban list, which the mesh composes the rules for and never writes itself.
+- `unban` — let one address go, from one jail or from every jail.
+
+A holder may serve its own tools beside these; the fail2ban module reads one jail's effective
+settings as its own.
+
+**2. A container may log to the journal.** `logging: journald` on a container has the host run it
+with the journal as its log driver; the journal keeps the container's name on every line, and
+`docker logs` keeps working. Where a container logs is part of its spec, so moving it recreates the
+container, and the only place besides the runtime's own file is the journal: a machine's intrusion
+prevention reads the journal already, for the ssh daemon, and a container that logs there is read
+the same way, by the container's name, whatever the container is called by the runtime this time.
+
+**3. A module with a door declares its jail, and the holder composes them.** What to-be 31 designed
+is now the rule: a module whose service authenticates from outside — the mail front end, the forge,
+the public proxy — declares in its manifest what a failed attempt looks like in its log and how to
+ban on it, naming no node and no path; the module that holds the intrusion seat declares where the
+composed jails and filters land, and the mesh writes them on every machine that runs both. A machine
+not running the module has no such jail. The holder restarts its daemon on the composed file.
+
+**4. The base is strict, and the mesh's own range is never banned.** Three failures in a day ban for
+a day, on every jail unless the jail says otherwise; banned twice in two weeks, by any jail, is
+banned for four. The attackers this mesh sees pace themselves under any ten-minute window; a day's
+window counts them. A person who mistypes three times from one address is out for a day from that
+address, and never from a machine of the mesh, whose range stays in the never-banned list the module
+has carried since [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md). The operator
+chose this knowing it.
+
+**5. The proxy says a refused name in its log.** A request for a name this mesh does not serve, from
+outside, is what a scanner does; the proxy already logged a certificate refused for such a name, and
+now logs the plain request too, with the asking address last, as its own jail's filter expects it.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The seat's row gains four verbs; a mesh that already runs widens its row at the next controller
+  start. The fail2ban module claims them and gains a runtime — a tool server whose image carries the
+  fail2ban client, with the daemon's socket shared in from the machine, and nothing else of the
+  machine. The daemon stays the machine's; what runs in the container is only the client.
+- **That runtime is the shape the catalogue has today, and it is on its way out.**
+  [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md),
+  accepted the same day as this record, replaces a tool container per module with one tool runtime
+  per node on the host side, taking each module's tools as a bundle. Nothing here depends on the
+  container: the verbs, the client that speaks to the daemon over its socket, and the jails are the
+  same code under either. This module converts with the packet filter's, whose runtime that record
+  names, and the socket it needs becomes the node runtime's to reach rather than a mount of its own.
+- The host's container vocabulary grows by `logging`; an older host refuses a declaration that carries
+  it, so the host rolls before the modules. Three containers are recreated once, when their modules
+  are pushed with the field: the mail front end, the forge and the proxy — each a moment's outage.
+- The fail2ban module declares where jails compose (`jailing`) and the directory the filters go in;
+  the mail, forge and proxy modules each declare one jail reading the journal by their container's
+  name. The composed jail file is the one resource the daemon restarts on when a module arrives or
+  leaves a machine.
+- The two base jails and the composed ones take the day's window; the ssh jail's ten minutes are
+  gone. An address banned on the first day of this record stays banned for the day.
+- The module's three old tools, served by nothing, are replaced by the seat's four verbs and one
+  own tool; `fail2ban_status` as a name is gone.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The seat declares the four verbs; a claim that serves fewer is refused by name | the catalogue's seat tests |
+| `status`, `banned`, `ban` and `unban` read and steer the daemon through its client, with the shapes fail2ban 1.1.0 printed live; a non-address and a non-name are refused before anything runs | the module's tests over a fake command runner |
+| A container's `logging` reaches the runtime's arguments and its spec; a place other than the journal is refused | host tests |
+| A module's jails compose into the holder's file and a filter per jail, and the file is written empty when none is declared | the controller's composition tests (to-be 31) |
+| The proxy logs a refused name with the address last | the proxy's tests |
+| A jail's pattern names `<HOST>` once per shape, since two is a duplicate capture group and costs the machine every ban | the catalogue's manifest tests |
+| Live | done 2026-10-02: `status` and `banned` answered on both servers through the console; the proxy's jail counted seven refusals on the home server; a documentation address banned in the ssh jail came back with its end time and was released |
+
+## Built and proven live, 2026-10-02
+
+All five rules are in the mesh. The host carries `logging`; the controller's seat row carries the four
+verbs and the proxy says a refused name in its log; the fail2ban module holds the seat from a runtime
+with the daemon's socket shared in, composes the jails, and the mail front end, the forge and the
+proxy each declare one. Through the console on the control node: `status` listed five jails with what
+each watches, `banned` listed the nine the long jail holds, and a documentation address banned in the
+ssh jail came back with its ban's end time and was released again. On the home server the proxy's jail
+had counted seven refusals within minutes of starting.
+
+**One fault, found by the machine and not by a test.** The proxy's pattern matched two shapes of
+refusal in one expression and so named `<HOST>` twice. fail2ban expands that placeholder into a named
+capture group; two of them is a duplicate group name, and the daemon refuses *its whole configuration*
+and exits — both servers kept no bans at all for about ten minutes, every jail and not the one at
+fault. The pattern is now one per shape. A manifest check refuses the mistake at merge time, naming
+what it would cost, which is the only reason this record can claim the rule rather than the instance.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0170](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md), [ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md), [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md), [ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md), [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)
+- [Design 31 — A module declares its fail2ban jail](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md), [Design 33 — The tools the mesh answers](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md), [Design 08 — Connectivity](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md)

02-DECISIONS/0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md

@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ reconstructed: false
 extends: 02-DECISIONS/0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md
 ---
 
-# 175. The found front end is uninstalled once a machine is converged
+# 180. The found front end is uninstalled once a machine is converged
+
+> **Renumbered 2026-10-02.** Written and merged as 0175 while another record already held that number on main (one tool runtime per node, merged minutes earlier); `cycle.py` refused main. The branch that lands last renumbers: 0178 and 0179 are claimed by open changes, so this is 0180. Nothing cited it by number.
 
 ## Context
 
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ configuration file; the rollback path it described is given up on purpose.
 |---|---|
 | An absent package is removed when present, left when not, and read back | host tests over a fake package manager |
 | An uninstalled front end is recorded as removed and nothing is asked of it | a host test with ufw missing on a converged apply |
-| Live | the two machines report ufw gone: `pacman -Q ufw` has no answer, `node show` says removed, `status` is well |
+| Live | done 2026-10-02: both machines report ufw gone — `pacman -Q ufw` has no answer, `node show` says *removed*, `status` is well. The home server said *retired* for six hours after the package went, because this record's step runs only after a clean apply ([ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md)) and one dead tracker was failing its applies ([ADR 0187](0187-a-dead-tracker-is-not-the-machines-failure.md)) |
 
 ## References
 

02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md

@@ -7,7 +7,13 @@ reconstructed: true
 extends: 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
 ---
 
-# 176. The operator account is a node fact, and a home is a placement root
+# 181. The operator account is a node fact, and a home is a placement root
+
+> **Progressive insight — 2026-10-04.** This record called a resource under a home *home-scoped*, and a
+> module that places one a *home-scoped module*. There is no such kind of module
+> ([ADR 0173](0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md) §2: a module is
+> what it declares), so the three places now say *a resource placed under a home* and *a module placing
+> files under a home*. What was decided is unchanged.
 
 *Reconstructed. The controller shipped this on 2026-09-27 and
 [to-be 29](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) recorded it as built without a
@@ -35,7 +41,7 @@ its home; the account and its home are machine facts a definition may name in a
 and content; a roster file may say it lives under the home, and is then rendered per node, placed under
 that node's account's home, owned by the account, and left out on a node with no account. On
 2026-10-02 **all four nodes of the live mesh carry an empty account**: the fact exists and nobody has
-stated it, so no home-scoped resource can land anywhere yet.
+stated it, so no resource placed under a home can land anywhere yet.
 
 ## Considered Options
 
@@ -68,7 +74,7 @@ account. A definition names the account and its home as machine facts, never as
 may say it is a home file and is then placed and owned the same way. The controller resolves both at
 composition, and the host chowns what it creates.
 
-**A node with no account cannot carry a home-scoped resource, and says so.** A roster fact that lives
+**A node with no account cannot carry a resource placed under a home, and says so.** A roster fact that lives
 under the home is left out of that node's declaration rather than written to nowhere. A resource naming
 the account fact on such a node is refused at composition, naming the fact the machine does not have.
 A module that writes a person's files is thereby unassignable to a machine with no person on it, which
@@ -80,7 +86,7 @@ anything.
 
 ## Consequences
 
-- **The operator states the account before any home-scoped module lands.** Today none is stated, so the
+- **The operator states the account before any module placing files under a home lands.** Today none is stated, so the
   first assignment of such a module begins with four node records.
 - The roster carries each node's account, so a composed ssh configuration logs in as the right person
   on every machine — the gap that surfaced this, closed by the same fact.
@@ -112,7 +118,7 @@ anything.
   a login name may not be in a definition
 - [ADR 0120](0120-a-roster-fact-carries-its-format-as-a-template.md) — the roster fact a home file
   may be
-- [ADR 0177](0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md) — what
+- [ADR 0182](0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md) — what
   the mesh may and may not do inside the home this record lets it reach
 - mesh-controller `internal/inventory/nodes.go` (the account and its home on the node record),
   `internal/catalogue/machine_into_files.go` and `roster.go` (resolution and the home fact)

02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md

@@ -7,11 +7,17 @@ reconstructed: false
 extends: 02-DECISIONS/0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md
 ---
 
-# 177. Inside a home, the mesh owns the directory and the files it places, writes into the tool's own files, and holds everything else as found
+# 182. Inside a home, the mesh owns the directory and the files it places, writes into the tool's own files, and holds everything else as found
+
+> **Progressive insight — 2026-10-04.** This record said *a home-scoped module* and *the family of
+> home-scoped modules*. There is no such kind of module
+> ([ADR 0173](0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md) §2), and the rule
+> is about a directory under a home, whichever module declares it; the three places now say so. The
+> decision, its options and its consequences are unchanged.
 
 ## Context
 
-[ADR 0176](0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md) lets a module
+[ADR 0181](0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md) lets a module
 place files under a person's home. A home is unlike any directory the mesh has written into so far:
 it is shared with the person, and with every program the person runs. The agent's configuration
 directory on the laptop makes the point. On 2026-10-02 it holds thirty entries. The predecessor placed
@@ -35,7 +41,7 @@ use tools that no longer exist. Nothing owns them; nothing will ever rewrite or
 `~/.ssh`: the mesh owns the directory and the files it places; it holds the person's private keys and
 personal drop-ins as found. That was argued from the lockout `~/.ssh` can cause. The argument here is
 the same shape with a different stake — the person's work rather than the person's way in — and it has
-to hold for every directory the family of home-scoped modules will touch, so it is a rule, not a
+to hold for every directory under a home that any module will touch, so it is a rule, not a
 section.
 
 ## Considered Options
@@ -52,7 +58,7 @@ section.
 
 ## Decision
 
-**A home-scoped module owns the directory it declares: its existence, owner and mode.** The host creates
+**A module that declares a directory under a home owns that directory: its existence, owner and mode.** The host creates
 it if absent, owned by the account, and never removes it while it holds anything
 ([ADR 0030](0030-data-outlives-the-mesh-that-declared-it.md)). Inside it, every path the module touches
 is in exactly one of four classes, and **the class is visible in the definition from the shape
@@ -62,7 +68,7 @@ declared**, not inferred from what happened to be on disk:
 |---|---|---|
 | **owned** | a file with content, or a roster fact | written whole, regenerated, removed when undeclared; a file found there with no record of the mesh making it is kept once before it is written over ([ADR 0102](0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md)) |
 | **written into** | a file written *into* a structured document | only the keys the definition names are set, every other key is kept, and each set key is given back when undeclared (ADR 0102). The key list is the module's and is short |
-| **written by the module's own process** | a secret the mesh delivers to the module, and a step that writes the file from it | the file's content is never a declared file's content, because a declaration travels in the clear on the bus and the host records it; the module's process writes it, owned by the account, atomically. [ADR 0178](0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md) says how for a credential |
+| **written by the module's own process** | nothing the host applies: the module's code writes it from what it was handed | the file's content is never a declared file's content, because a declaration travels in the clear on the bus and the host records it; the module's code writes it, owned by the account, atomically. [ADR 0183](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md) says how for a credential |
 | **found** | nothing | never read, never rewritten, never removed. The person's memory, history, projects, local settings, their own rules and skills |
 
 **A file the tool writes for itself is written into, never over.** The agent's settings file and its
@@ -105,7 +111,7 @@ finished its definition.
 | An owned file found with no record is kept once, then written | host tests of ADR 0102's kept-original rule |
 | Only the declared keys of a written-into file change, and are given back | host tests of ADR 0102: declared keys set, the rest kept, restored when undeclared |
 | Nothing found is touched | the family's lab check: a machine with a seeded home holding a person's file beside a predecessor's; after apply the person's file is byte-identical, the predecessor's is kept as the original, the mesh's keys are set and the person's keys in the same file remain; after unassign the mesh's files are gone, the keys are restored, the person's files are untouched and the directory stands |
-| Every path a home-scoped module touches is classified | a catalogue review rule for this family: each path is a directory, a file, a file written into, a secret-and-step, or absent — the first module written to it is [to-be 36](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md) |
+| Every path a module touches under a home is classified | a catalogue review rule for this family: each path is a directory, a file, a file written into, a secret-and-step, or absent — the first module written to it is [to-be 36](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md) |
 
 ## References
 

02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md

@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md
+---
+
+# 183. The Anthropic licence manager is a module holding a seat; it hands each node's agent its token over the bus, sealed; the controller and the host have no part
+
+## Context
+
+**The operator's stance, set on 2026-10-02 and sharpened during the day.** The controller has no part in
+the agent module. The host is module-agnostic: it knows no vendor, no agent, no path under a home. The
+agent module owns its own files. And there must be a *real* licence manager — a module that doles out
+the correct licence in every situation the mesh has: two subscription accounts and one API key today,
+used by a person's interactive agent on each workstation, by the mesh's own sessions, and by workers.
+
+**What the predecessor built, read from its code the same day.** Two modules, split after an incident.
+A *manager* on exactly one node held every account's full OAuth grant encrypted, rotated each grant
+under a per-licence lease on a cadence and an expiry floor, published each rotation over its bus with
+the tokens encrypted, collected the vendor's usage figures per licence, and alerted once a day on
+repeated failure or on a refresh token within three days of its own expiry. A *consumer* on every node
+was the single writer of the agent's credentials file: it applied a published rotation, stripped the
+refresh token so a node could never rotate, pulled when stale, refused a stale grant by comparing
+expiries within one lineage, and mirrored a local login back to the manager only after checking the
+account's identity against the licence's record — because an unchecked mirror had once written one
+account's grant into another's row and published it mesh-wide. Three **touchpoints** with fallbacks: the
+node's interactive agent; the mesh's own sessions on the node, falling back to the node's licence; a
+worker's own account, falling back to the node's, and refusing to spawn when assigned a licence that
+could not be served. The split exists because four nodes refreshing one grant destroyed it: an OAuth
+refresh rotates the refresh token, and the predecessor's own code records both that a reused token
+killed a licence and that a malformed client id was once misdiagnosed as the same fault. **Whether a
+refresh token is single-use is not documented by the vendor**; the predecessor treated it as so, and
+this record keeps one rotation source for that reason while leaving the fact to be measured.
+
+**What the mesh has.** [ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md) put a per-vendor adapter
+inside the controller's licences context, with the carve-out that the manager node holds the refresh
+token readably; the catalogue has a manager and a consumer module built on it, assigned to nothing. The
+controller's licence commands are not seat verbs and cannot be asked for through the console
+([to-be 33](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md)). `model-access` is a vendor-blind
+provision ([ADR 0024](0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md)), and the operator's judgement is that the
+agent is not a vendor-blind consumer: it is coupled to an Anthropic subscription grant and nothing else,
+so a name that hides the vendor misdescribes the coupling
+([ADR 0027](0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md)).
+
+**The bus's rule for a secret** ([to-be 32 §10](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md)): the
+bus is not trusted with one; a secret travels sealed to its recipient, on core request/reply, never
+through a stream that persists it.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep the lifecycle in the controller** ([ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md) as
+   built), and make the agent module a consumer of `model-access` delivered by the host as a sealed
+   file. Rejected by the operator: the controller and the host would both carry a part of an
+   Anthropic-specific mechanism, and the agent's coupling is misnamed.
+2. **The manager delivers each short-lived token through the vault**, as a backend-issued secret the
+   vault provides to each consumer ([ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md)). Rejected: every
+   hourly rotation becomes a vault delivery, a composition and a push to every node, and the host
+   ends up writing a vendor's credential as a file — the module-agnostic host, carrying a vendor's
+   traffic.
+3. **A seat-holding manager module that talks to the agent module on every node over the bus.**
+   Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**The Anthropic licence manager is a module, `claude-licence-manager`, holding the mesh-scoped seat
+`anthropic-licence-manager`.** The seat's contract is the licence verbs: list the licences and their
+health, list the bindings, bind or switch a consumer, release one, refresh now, read usage, adopt a
+grant, register a node's key, answer a consumer's current token. One holder, on a node the operator
+assigns, is what makes rotation happen once ([ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md),
+[ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md)). The seat is named for the vendor,
+because what it manages is one vendor's grants and nothing else is coupled to it. The vendor-blind
+`model-access` provision stands for the consumers that do not care which vendor answers; the agent is
+not among them.
+
+**The manager owns the licences.** The records, the grants, the bindings per touchpoint, the usage
+readings and the audit of every switch live in the manager's own store, not in the controller's
+licences context, which keeps only what it already serves to vendor-blind consumers. The manager is the
+one rotation source: it alone calls the vendor's token endpoint, under a lease per licence, on an expiry
+floor and a cadence it declares as a setting.
+
+**The long-lived grants are encrypted at rest with a key the vault made for the manager.** The vault
+keeps custody of that one key as the manager's own secret ([ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md));
+the grants themselves — a refresh token per subscription account, the API key — are the manager's
+rows, readable only by it. This is [ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md)'s carve-out,
+moved with the manager: *one module, one node, the long-lived grants only.*
+
+**The short-lived tokens travel module to module, sealed, on request/reply.** The agent module on each
+node makes a keypair of its own when it first runs — a private key made where it is used, never leaving
+([ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md)) — and registers its public half with the seat. The
+manager hands a node its token by calling that node's agent module (`<module>.<tool>@<node>`,
+[ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md)) with the token
+sealed to that key, and the module answers *applied* or *refused* and why. An agent module that starts,
+or finds its token near expiry, asks the seat for its current token the same way. **A token is never
+published as an event**: what the manager emits — rotated, switched, failing, usage read — names the
+licence and nothing secret, and the audit logger records it. This is a second channel for a secret
+beside the vault's, and it is bounded as 0050's carve-out is: this vendor, tokens that live hours, sealed
+to one recipient, request/reply only.
+
+**The agent module alone writes what the agent reads.** For a subscription licence it writes the
+agent's credentials file under the operator's home, as the operator, access-token-only, atomically. For
+the API-key licence it serves the key through the agent's own key-helper setting, so nothing is written
+under the home at all. For the mesh's own sessions and workers on that node, it is the local source of
+their token. **The host delivers the module's package and its state directory and knows nothing else**:
+no path under the home, no vendor, no file shape.
+
+**A binding is explicit, and a switch is a reaction.** Every consumer — a node's interactive agent, the
+mesh's session on a node, a worker — is bound to a licence by the operator through the seat's verb, with
+the predecessor's fallbacks: a session inherits its node's licence, a worker inherits its node's, and a
+worker assigned a licence that cannot be served is refused rather than lent another. Exhaustion is
+observed and warned about once per crossing of a declared threshold; moving a consumer to another
+licence is a person's act through the seat's verb, as [ADR 0024](0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md)
+says, and the declaration language grows no conditional. An automated policy is not decided here.
+
+**A login is attributed only to the account it belongs to.** When a person logs in on a node, the
+agent module reads the account's identity from the agent's own state and offers the grant to the
+manager sealed to the manager's key; the manager adopts it only when the identity matches the licence
+the node is bound to, and refuses with a notification otherwise.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- One module decides which licence every consumer gets, one module writes what each agent reads, and
+  neither the controller nor the host carries a word of the vendor.
+- **A second sealed channel exists** beside the vault's, bounded as stated. A record that widens it to
+  another vendor or a longer-lived secret is a new decision, not an application of this one.
+- The catalogue's `anthropic-manager` and `anthropic-consumer` modules, built on ADR 0050's placement,
+  are retired once the manager runs; the controller's licences context stops holding Anthropic licences.
+- The console lists the seat's verbs, so a person switches a licence in a sentence, and the controller
+  gains no `licence` verb.
+- **What got harder:** a manager that is down leaves every node on its last token until it expires;
+  the agent module keeps the last token and says so. And a node whose agent module has not registered
+  its key cannot be handed a token, which the manager reports by name.
+- Every interactive session on a machine shares the node's one agent directory, and so its licence;
+  twenty sessions share it as one does. A consumer with a licence of its own on the same machine is a
+  worker running from a home of its own with its own agent directory — the worker touchpoint above, for
+  when workers exist ([ADR 0003](0003-agents-are-persistent-employees.md)); the predecessor ran its
+  agents that way.
+- **Not decided here:** an automated switch on exhaustion; whether a refresh token is single-use, to be
+  measured in the lab.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Only the seat's holder calls the vendor's token endpoint | a catalogue test: no module but the manager names it; the manager's refresh runs under a lease per licence, tested with two concurrent runs |
+| A token crosses the bus only sealed, only on request/reply | a bus test: every message the manager publishes as an event carries no token; the hand-over is a request whose payload opens only with the receiving module's key |
+| The agent module's private key never leaves the node | the per-key test of ADR 0113, extended to this module's key |
+| The host writes nothing under a home and names no vendor | a catalogue test on the agent module's definition: no file resource under a home, no vendor word in anything the host applies |
+| A grant is attributed only to a matching identity | a manager test: a grant whose account identity differs from the bound licence's is refused and a notification emitted |
+| An unservable binding refuses rather than lends | a manager test: a worker bound to a dead licence is answered with a refusal, never another licence's token |
+| A switch through the console changes the token on the node and nothing in the answer is a token | a live check on one workstation |
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-03, by [ADR 0193](0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md)
+> and [ADR 0198](0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md).**
+> What stands: one manager holding the seat, one rotation source, a token sealed to the receiving
+> module's key on request/reply and never an event, the agent module alone writing what the agent
+> reads, the identity guard, the host knowing nothing. What moved: both modules' code is bundles the
+> node's runtime launches over stdio and is the bus for — `mesh/ask` for a call made on the module's
+> behalf, `mesh/publish` and `mesh/subscribe` beside it — so neither holds a bus credential of its own.
+> The manager's refresh and visits are a long-running bundle the control node's runtime launches. And,
+> by the operator's direction, **the manager starts every exchange**: it asks each bound node's agent
+> module for its public key, hands it a token, asks it for a login waiting to be adopted, and reconciles
+> every node on a schedule — which is what "the agent module asks the seat for its current token" and
+> "offers the grant to the manager" in the decision above now mean in practice. The agent module could
+> ask through its runtime; it does not need to.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-04, by [ADR 0206](0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md).**
+> What stands: the manager holding the seat, one rotation source, the grants encrypted in its store, a
+> token sealed to the receiving module's key on request/reply and never an event, the agent module alone
+> writing what the agent reads, the identity guard, bindings as a person's act. What moved: the dated note
+> above — the manager no longer starts every exchange. Each node reports what it holds as state, without
+> the secret; the manager asks a node for its grant only when a report shows one it does not hold, adopts
+> a licence by refreshing it rather than into a licence configured beforehand, and keeps what each
+> consumer should hold as state, from which the node fetches its token by request. The rotation and switch
+> events are gone.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0024](0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md), [ADR 0050](0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md) — the licence as a named thing, the carve-out this moves with the manager
+- [ADR 0027](0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md) — why the seat is named for the vendor
+- [ADR 0113](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md) — the vault's custody of the manager's key, and the exception stated here
+- [ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md), [ADR 0132](0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md), [ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md) — a module's seat, its verbs, a call addressed to one machine
+- [to-be 32 §10](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) — a secret on the bus
+- [to-be 36](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md), [to-be 39](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md) — the two modules
+- the predecessor's `claude-licences` and `claude-code` modules, read 2026-10-02: the lease, the floor, the lineage comparison, the identity guard, the touchpoints

02-DECISIONS/0184-a-service-the-mesh-asked-to-run-is-still-running-a-moment-later.md

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0005-the-node-host.md
+---
+
+# 184. A service the mesh asked to run is still running a moment later
+
+## Context
+
+The host already refuses to take a service manager's word for it. Three places in one function read
+a unit back after acting on it, each with a comment saying why: *a service manager accepting a
+command says the transaction was accepted, not that the unit is running — one that starts and
+immediately dies satisfies it.* The intent was right and the implementation did not reach it.
+
+On 2026-10-02 the mesh composed a fail2ban jail whose pattern the daemon refused. The host wrote the
+files, restarted the service, read the unit back and reported *restarted*. The unit was `active` at
+that instant and `failed` 221 milliseconds later, which the unit's own record states. Both public
+machines then kept no bans at all — every jail, not the one at fault — and nothing in the mesh said
+so. The fault was found by calling a tool that needed the daemon, not by the mesh noticing.
+
+The read-back races the failure. A service manager returns when it has started the process; a daemon
+that reads its configuration, refuses it and exits does so a fraction of a second afterwards. One
+look sees `activating` or `active` whatever the process is about to do, and *the host reports success
+for a machine that is already wrong* — the one shape of failure this host exists to refuse
+([ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md)).
+
+A command the module declares — *test the configuration before restarting* — was considered and
+rejected. The link carries no actions ([ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md)), and a verification
+command is a command: a declaration that carried one would be remote execution over the bus,
+arriving as root on every machine, which is a far larger door than the fault it closes. The host
+does not need one. It already knows what it asked for.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A unit the host has just asked to run is read twice**, with a pause between the reads long
+enough for a daemon that refuses its configuration to have exited. Not running at the second look is
+a failure of that resource, named with the unit and the state it is in — the same failure the single
+read was always meant to catch.
+
+**2. It is never a wait for a unit to come up.** A unit still starting reads as running at both
+looks and is accepted, exactly as before. What the second look catches is a unit that *was* running
+and is not any more. A service asked to be stopped is not waited on at all.
+
+**3. The host tests nothing and runs nothing of a module's.** The second look is the host checking
+the state it was told to establish, which is its whole job; the declaration gains no vocabulary, and
+no command reaches a machine that did not already come from a built artifact.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- Every apply that starts, restarts or reloads a service spends a moment confirming it. The cost is
+  bounded by the number of services that changed in that apply, which is usually none.
+- A module whose configuration the mesh composes — the packet filter, the intrusion prevention, the
+  resolver — now fails its apply when the composition is bad, instead of reporting success onto a
+  dead daemon. `status` names the machine, which is how the operator finds out.
+- It does not prevent the bad composition. [ADR 0179](0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md)'s
+  manifest check is what refuses the one that caused this, at merge time; this record is what makes
+  the *next* one visible within a minute rather than invisible until something asks the daemon a
+  question.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A unit that is running at the first look and dead at the second fails the apply, naming the unit and its state | a host test over a service manager that answers as systemd does |
+| A unit still starting is accepted at both looks | a host test |
+| A service asked to be stopped is not waited on | a host test |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0005](0005-the-node-host.md), [ADR 0179](0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md)
+- [Design 05 — The node host](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md)

02-DECISIONS/0185-a-control-plane-behind-its-seats-row-serves-what-it-can.md

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md
+---
+
+# 185. A control plane behind its seat's row serves what it can
+
+## Context
+
+The mesh's own verbs are the controller seat's tools, and the seat's row is the store's
+([ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md)). A control plane reads the
+row at start and installs a handler per verb; a verb the row carries that the binary cannot run was
+refused at start rather than at the first call, so that a disagreement between the row and the
+binary was said early. The refusal aborted the start.
+
+On 2026-10-02 a merge added one verb. The new control plane started, widened the row, and ran. A
+push a few seconds later recreated its container at the previous image — a stale declaration from
+an overlapping wave, [issue 201](../04-ISSUES/201-a-push-recreated-the-controller-behind-the-row-its-successor-wrote/00-report.md) —
+and the older binary read a row naming a word it had never heard. It refused to start, and kept
+refusing. The mesh had no voice for ten minutes: no verb answered, no node could be pushed, no build
+was dispatched, and `status` said nothing because `status` is one of the verbs that had stopped
+being served. The way back was a person running the binary by hand outside its service, because the
+push that would have replaced it is itself a verb of the control plane that was down.
+
+The check was right about the fact and wrong about the cost. A row ahead of a binary is the ordinary
+state of a roll-out: the row is widened by whichever control plane starts first, and a mesh with one
+control plane sees that gap on every merge that adds a verb. Making it fatal turned a transient into
+an outage with no path out that did not need a human.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A control plane serves the verbs it can run and does not refuse to start for the ones it
+cannot.** The row remains the authority on what the seat serves; this is only about what this binary
+does when it is behind the row.
+
+**2. A verb it cannot run answers the reason.** Not silence and not a missing subject: a caller gets
+a sentence naming the verb, saying this control plane cannot run it and that it is a verb of a newer
+build. A verb that is simply absent from the row is still not served at all — that is the row
+deciding, which is unchanged.
+
+**3. It says so once at start**, naming every verb of the row it cannot run, so the gap is visible
+in the log of the thing that has it rather than only at the moment somebody calls one.
+
+**4. A mesh with no controller seat at all is still a refusal.** That is not a version gap, it is a
+mesh that has not been seeded, and nothing this control plane does would be meaningful.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- An overlapping roll-out costs the verbs the newer build added, for as long as the older binary is
+  in place. Everything else — every push, every build, every read — keeps working, and the ordinary
+  machinery that notices a machine is behind is what puts the newer binary back.
+- The log gains one line on a control plane that is behind, and nothing on one that is not.
+- Issue 201's other half remains: the push that sent a stale declaration is a race worth closing on
+  its own terms. This record makes that race survivable rather than fatal, which is the difference
+  between a transient and an outage, and is deliberately the cheaper half.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A row carrying a verb this build cannot run still serves every verb it can, and names the one it cannot | a controller test over a widened row |
+| The unknown verb answers a sentence naming itself and saying this build is behind | the same test |
+| A mesh with no controller seat is refused | the existing start-up path |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0154](0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md), [ADR 0162](0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md)
+- [Issue 201](../04-ISSUES/201-a-push-recreated-the-controller-behind-the-row-its-successor-wrote/00-report.md)
+- [Design 33 — The tools the mesh answers](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md)

02-DECISIONS/0186-a-ban-list-never-holds-a-neighbour.md

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md
+---
+
+# 186. A ban list never holds a neighbour, and the mesh's own bans are its own wherever they hang
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0179](0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md) gave the
+public proxy a jail. Within the hour the home server's ban list held `192.168.1.1` — the house's own
+router. The router reflects local traffic, so every client in the building reaches that machine as
+the gateway's address; one local request for a name the mesh does not serve, three times in a day,
+and the whole house is refused by the machine it was asking. The jails inherited an `ignoreip` of
+the loopback and the mesh's own range, which was right when the only jail read the ssh daemon and
+the only clients were the mesh's; a jail on a public front door sees the neighbours too.
+
+The same jail broke the other half of [ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md).
+The home server began reading *NOT the mesh alone: 1 rule set the mesh did not write refuses traffic
+here*, and the rule set named was the mesh's own ban chain, written by the mesh's own intrusion
+prevention minutes earlier. The host's reader of the legacy filter required every path into a chain
+of refusals to come from a built-in chain whose policy accepts, before it would call that chain a
+ban. On that machine the chain hangs off the container runtime's user chain as well as the input
+chain, and the runtime had set the forward policy to DROP — so the mesh reported its own work as a
+foreigner's, on the one machine where the group's exit condition was supposed to hold.
+
+Both faults are one mistake in two places: a rule written about the public internet, applied to
+everything that arrives.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A ban list never holds a neighbour.** The jails the mesh composes never ban a source on a
+private range — the mesh's own range, which was already named rather than written
+([ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md)), and every address space
+reserved for private use beside it, in both families. A machine behind a router that reflects local
+traffic sees its whole building as one address; a ban there is a self-inflicted outage, and the
+sources worth banning are not on those ranges in the first place.
+
+**2. The mesh's own bans are its own wherever they hang.** A chain of refusals is a ban list when
+every refusal names the sources it refuses and the chain accepts nothing — the rule the host already
+applied to the packet filter's own tables, now applied to the legacy filter too, and nothing more.
+The policy of the chains that jump into it says nothing about what it is: that policy is already
+classified where it belongs, as the container runtime's, and requiring it here counted it twice.
+
+**3. A chain that accepts anything is still not a ban.** That is what keeps a predecessor's
+allow-these-and-drop-the-rest chain classified as something an operator must look at, which is the
+distinction [ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md) exists to draw.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The composed jails gain the private ranges in their never-ban list. An address already banned
+  stays banned until it is released; the house's router was released by hand the moment it was found.
+- The home server reads *the mesh alone* again, which is group 7's exit condition and was false for
+  about an hour.
+- A machine whose apply fails for an unrelated reason does not revisit its found firewall's record
+  at all — the step runs only after a clean apply ([ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md)).
+  The home server's record therefore still reads *retired by the mesh* although the front end is
+  uninstalled, and will correct itself once that machine's own stuck module is fixed. It is a stale
+  record, not a wrong machine.
+- The record number the front end's removal was given moved under it: another session took 0175
+  while that record was in review, and it is now
+  [ADR 0180](0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md). The citations
+  the host and the control plane print were pointing at an unrelated record and are corrected here.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A private source is never banned | the module's jail configuration, read back by `fail2ban.fail2ban_settings` on a machine |
+| The mesh's own ban chain reads as a ban behind a dropping forward policy | a host test over the home server's own captured rule set |
+| A chain that accepts anything is not a ban | a host test |
+| Live | done 2026-10-02: all four machines read *the mesh alone*, the home server counting its own ban chain as a ban; no ban held anywhere is a private address |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0179](0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md), [ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md), [ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md), [ADR 0180](0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md)
+- [Design 08 — Connectivity](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md), [Design 31 — A module declares its fail2ban jail](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md)

02-DECISIONS/0187-a-dead-tracker-is-not-the-machines-failure.md

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0136-a-step-gates-its-module-not-the-machine.md
+---
+
+# 187. A dead tracker is not the machine's failure
+
+## Context
+
+The home server had not applied a declaration cleanly since midday. One run-once step — the one
+that writes a media app's download clients and indexers through the app's own API — exited
+non-zero, forty-nine times over six hours, for one public tracker that had stopped answering. The
+step's own words: the entry was *written*, and the app's test of it then failed with a 400 from the
+indexer proxy. The machine reported *not doing what it was told* for the rest of the day.
+
+What that gated matters more than the step. A converged machine retires the firewall it was found
+with only after a clean apply ([ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md)),
+so that machine went on recording its found front end as merely *retired* long after the package
+had been uninstalled ([ADR 0180](0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md)).
+A dead public tracker was holding a firewall record hostage, which is not a connection anybody
+would design.
+
+The step already knew this was not its business. It had a rule for exactly this: an entry the mesh
+only *found and re-pointed*, rather than one it was told to make, whose feed is gone, is said and
+left as found — *failing the node's apply on every heartbeat for it reports the mesh as wrong about
+a tracker*. The rule was there and matched one shape of the fault. An app can refuse to save such an
+entry, and it can save it and then fail its own test; saving validates settings, and the test runs a
+live search. The rule caught the first and let the second through.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. An entry the mesh only found is never the machine's failure.** Whatever shape the app's
+refusal takes — it would not save it, or it saved it and its own test fails — an indexer the mesh
+found and re-pointed is reported as a notice and left as found. What decides is whose entry it is,
+not which sentence the app returned.
+
+**2. What the mesh is answerable for is the plumbing.** That the entry exists, points at this
+mesh's indexer proxy, and carries the credential the mesh delivered — which was checked against the
+proxy before anything was written. Whether a public tracker answers today is not the mesh's to
+promise, and a machine that reports itself broken because one did is lying about itself.
+
+**3. An entry the operator listed is theirs to insist on.** An indexer named in the step's settings
+is one the mesh was told to make, and it still fails the step when it cannot be made to work. The
+notice says so, and says that listing the indexer is how to turn it back into a failure.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The home server applies cleanly again, and everything a clean apply gates — its found firewall's
+  record among it — follows.
+- A tracker that dies is a line in a report rather than a machine that reads as broken. An operator
+  who wants it gone removes the entry or repairs the feed; the mesh says which, every time it runs.
+- The four Servarr modules carry one byte-identical copy of this step each
+  ([ADR 0069](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md)), so the change lands in four places and
+  a test refuses any drift between them.
+- It does not widen to a download client: one the mesh was told to write and cannot is still a
+  failure, because the mesh chose it and nothing else will fix it.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A found feed whose tracker answers an error after the entry was written is a notice | the step's tests, with the home server's own message and the app's two validations modelled apart |
+| An indexer the settings list is still a failure | the same test |
+| The four copies of the step do not drift | the step's own sameness test |
+| Live | done 2026-10-02: the home server applies cleanly after six hours of failing, `status` holds no machine wrong or behind, and its found firewall reads *removed* |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0136](0136-a-step-gates-its-module-not-the-machine.md), [ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md), [ADR 0180](0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md), [ADR 0069](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md)

02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md

@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+---
+
+# 188. A module's own code is bundles in any language, and a tools bundle speaks MCP to the runtime
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md) put one
+tool runtime on every node and said a module brings its tools as a bundle. The runtime that exists
+is written in TypeScript and brings a bundle to life by **importing it into its own process**, which
+only JavaScript can be. The SDK ([ADR 0039](0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md)) is one
+TypeScript package. The builder knows three toolchains — TypeScript, Go, Python — and every one of
+the 35 catalogue modules with tools wraps them in a container on the runtime's TypeScript image.
+Nothing in the records says a module's code may be written in anything else, and nothing refuses a
+module that wraps its own code in an image to get around that.
+
+The operator's direction, stated on 2026-10-02 and repeated: *the SDK is the most important part;
+we must not limit developers; tools can be written in any possible language — Rust, C, Go,
+JavaScript. A service in Go or Rust as a systemd unit must be possible too. One module can deliver
+all kinds of bundles: one for its tools, one for a seat's implementation, one for a daemon. Support
+the bare minimum first, as a skeleton; a full implementation comes when the work requires it.*
+
+Measured against that: the `bundle` artifact kind already names a language and the `process`
+resource already runs a command from an unpacked bundle as a unit the host writes
+([ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md)), so a Go
+daemon as a native service is possible today and one module in the catalogue does it. What is not
+possible is a tool in any language but one, and what is not written is that any of this is the
+rule.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **One SDK, one language, as now.** Rejected: it limits who can write a module to one
+   ecosystem, which the operator declines, and it is what made every module's tools a container
+   on one image.
+2. **A full bus client per language.** Each SDK speaks the bus itself; the runtime only
+   supervises. Rejected: a transport in every SDK is what ADR 0039 refuses, and a bus change
+   would then rebuild every module in every language — the cascade, multiplied.
+3. **A tools bundle is a process the runtime launches and speaks a small local protocol to,
+   and that protocol is MCP over stdio.** Chosen. The runtime already speaks MCP outward (the
+   console); speaking it inward to a child process is the same vocabulary. Every language that
+   has an MCP server library can write a tools bundle today with no mesh SDK at all, and the
+   mesh's own SDK for a language is a thin convenience over it. The transport stays in the
+   runtime, so a bus change rebuilds nothing.
+4. **A protocol of the mesh's own design.** Rejected: a second way to describe a tool, its
+   schema and its call, inventing what MCP already settled, for no gain.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A module's own code is bundles, in any language the mesh has a toolchain for, and never an
+image.** A `bundle` names its language and what it is for. Images are for third-party software a
+module installs — a database, a forge — never for code the module wrote. One module may declare
+several bundles: its tools, its implementation of a seat's verbs, a daemon, a step. Each is built
+alone and delivered alone, as [ADR 0156](0156-an-artifact-is-what-a-build-produces-and-the-store-is-named-for-its-scope.md)
+already has it.
+
+**2. A bundle the runtime serves is a process that speaks MCP over stdio.** The node's runtime
+launches it as the bundle names it — an interpreter and a file, or a binary — with the runtime's
+environment, asks `tools/list`, and answers each call on the bus by `tools/call`. A tool whose name
+is `<seat>.<verb>` is the module's implementation of that seat's verb; any other name is the
+module's own tool. Everything the runtime does with what it is told — subjects from the membership,
+a held seat's verbs, the `tools` answer, a bundle that fails named and the others serving — stays as
+[ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md) and
+[ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)
+have it. A TypeScript bundle may still be imported into the runtime's own process; that is a
+shortcut over the same contract, not a second contract, and a TypeScript bundle written against
+the protocol is served the same way as any other.
+
+**3. A bundle that is a service is a `process`**, run by the host as a unit, in whatever language it
+is compiled from, exactly as the host's own bundle already is. Nothing new is decided here; it is
+said so that it is the rule and not an example.
+
+**4. One thin SDK per language, and the test of ADR 0039 applies to each.** An SDK for a language
+holds the MCP-over-stdio loop, the tool-definition type and the few primitives a module's code
+needs; it holds no transport, no module's client and nothing volatile. Where a language has a
+sound MCP library, the SDK wraps it rather than re-implementing it. The languages are those that
+make sense to write a module in; the first set is TypeScript, Go, Python, Rust and C, and the set
+grows when a module needs one, not before.
+
+**5. Skeleton first.** Each piece — a toolchain, a launcher, an SDK — exists at the bare minimum
+that lets one bundle in that language be built, delivered and answer one tool on the live mesh.
+Anything beyond that is added when a module needs it. A skeleton that is not proven by one bundle
+answering is not a skeleton; it is a promise.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-03, by ADR 0193.** §2's allowance that a TypeScript bundle may
+> be imported into the runtime's own process is withdrawn: every served bundle is launched, and the
+> build makes each served entrypoint executable. The rest of §2 stands.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The runtime gains a launcher beside its loader. The loader, the memberships, the seats and the
+  failure handling built for ADR 0175 stand; the launcher is the one new step.
+- The builder gains a toolchain per language, each at the skeleton: compile, pack, name the
+  entrypoint. Rust and C are new; a language that compiles to a binary says its operating system
+  as a Go bundle already does.
+- An existing MCP server in any language is already a valid tools bundle. What the mesh adds is
+  the subjects, the seats and the memberships around it.
+- The gate [to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP2 adds —
+  refusing a tools container built on the runtime's image — widens: a module whose own code is
+  an image artifact is refused at registration, naming this record.
+- What got harder: a tools bundle is now a process per module on the node rather than code in
+  one process, so the runtime supervises children and restarts one that dies. The one-process
+  shape ADR 0175 counted on for the TypeScript shortcut remains available for it.
+- ADR 0039's "what the SDK holds" now reads per language; its refusals are unchanged and are the
+  reason option 2 was rejected.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A module's own code is never an image | the catalogue's registration check: a manifest with a `bundle` kind of own code *and* an image artifact built from the module's own directory is refused, naming this record |
+| A tools bundle in a language other than TypeScript answers on the bus | the runtime's tests: a bundle written against the protocol in a second language, launched, its tool called over a real bus |
+| A TypeScript bundle written against the protocol is served like any other | the same tests, with the TypeScript shortcut off |
+| Each SDK is thin | each SDK's own README states what it holds under ADR 0039's test, and its size is in the mesh's records |
+| Live | a tool in a compiled language answers from the node's runtime on one machine |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md),
+  [ADR 0039](0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md),
+  [ADR 0150](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md),
+  [ADR 0156](0156-an-artifact-is-what-a-build-produces-and-the-store-is-named-for-its-scope.md),
+  [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)
+- [To-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) — the work packages this
+  record widens
+- The Model Context Protocol's stdio transport — the local protocol a tools bundle speaks

02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md

@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0082-the-registry-is-reached-by-name-and-trusted-by-the-overlay.md
+---
+
+# 189. The store keeps what the records name, and a maintenance step holds its writers still
+
+## Context
+
+The mesh's artifact store has never collected anything
+([issue 108](../04-ISSUES/108-the-registry-has-no-garbage-collection-once-it-has-two-doors/00-report.md)).
+Every build pushes another layer set; nothing has ever removed one. The predecessor ran a routine
+on a timer — stop the registry, collect, start it — and the conversion carried the settings that
+routine depends on without the routine, because the routine was a script beside the module and not
+a resource in it. The store now holds fifty-three repositories on the machine that serves
+everything else, and the only outcome of leaving it is a full disk reported as somebody else's
+failure.
+
+Three things stood in the way, and the issue names all three.
+
+**Nothing in the mesh's vocabulary expresses a maintenance window.** The collector requires every
+writer stopped while it runs. A `run-once` step runs *beside* containers, not instead of them, and
+a scheduled step is the same container on a cadence. There is no way for a module to say *hold this
+container of mine still while this runs*.
+
+**Deletion is not enabled, and the door it would be enabled on has no accounts.** The store is
+internal, reached by name over the overlay, trusted because being on that network is the permission
+([ADR 0082](0082-the-registry-is-reached-by-name-and-trusted-by-the-overlay.md)). The predecessor
+kept deletion behind an authenticated door, which it could, having one.
+
+**Nothing says what may be removed.** The registry's own answer — collect everything no tag names —
+is wrong here. The mesh pushes each artifact under one moving tag and pins machines by digest, so
+every build but the newest is untagged and some machine may still be running it.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Deletion is enabled on the store's one door, and the overlay stays the permission.** The
+objection dissolves on inspection: that door **already accepts a push**, and a writer who can push
+can replace any tag in the store with anything it likes. Delete takes nothing a push did not
+already have, and the machines that can reach the door are the ones the mesh's own filter admits
+([ADR 0168](0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md)). Putting an authenticated
+door in front of deletion while leaving push open would be a lock on the window beside an open
+door, and it would cost the thing ADR 0082 bought: a store every machine can reach without a
+credential to distribute first.
+
+**2. The mesh deletes what it made and no longer keeps; the store reclaims the bytes.** Two halves,
+each doing what only it can.
+
+The **mesh** decides. It does not need to enumerate the store to do it — it has never put anything
+there it did not record, so **every digest it could remove is already in its own build records**.
+It deletes those manifests through the store's door, by digest, and remembers that it did.
+
+The **store** reclaims. A deleted manifest frees no bytes until the registry's own collector walks
+the storage with nothing writing to it, so the module declares that collector as a scheduled step
+with the server held still for its duration. Plain collection, not `--delete-untagged`: what the
+mesh keeps is still a manifest in the store, so it is still referenced, so its blobs stay — the
+dangerous flag is not needed at all once the mesh is the one deciding.
+
+**3. What the mesh keeps, stated as three reasons rather than a number.** A digest is kept because:
+
+- **a definition names it** — every artifact reference in any module's current recorded manifest,
+  which is what the mesh would hand a machine now. No age limit: this is the floor;
+- **the mesh can still go back to it** — every artifact of the **five most recent successful
+  builds** of each module, so a release that turns out wrong has somewhere to return to;
+- **nothing else.** An artifact older than that, which no definition names, is what the store is
+  carrying for no stated reason.
+
+A digest the mesh did not record making is never touched. That is not a safety margin, it is the
+whole rule restated: the mesh removes what it put there and can account for, and the images genesis
+pushed before any record existed are exactly what this must not reach
+([04-ISSUES/102](../04-ISSUES/102-an-address-recorded-at-genesis-or-build-does-not-follow-the-nodes-ports/00-report.md), F4).
+
+**4. A scheduled step may hold its module's own containers still while it runs** —
+`while-stopped`, naming resource ids in the same module. The host stops each, runs the step, and
+starts them again **whatever the step did**, including when it failed or the host was interrupted.
+Three boundaries:
+
+- **Its own module's containers only.** A module that could quiesce a neighbour could stop the
+  mesh; a maintenance window is a statement about one service's own insides.
+- **Scheduled steps only, not `run-once`.** At apply time the host already has a window: the
+  declaration is applied in order and a step gates what follows, so a one-time offline migration
+  says *before* rather than *instead of*. A recurring window is the case order cannot express.
+- **Restoring is not conditional.** A step that fails must leave the service running; the whole
+  risk of this field is a window that never closes.
+
+**5. The sweep runs where the records change — after a build the mesh recorded.** That is the
+moment new bytes landed and the moment the keep set moved, and it needs no new timer. The
+store's collection runs nightly, because reclaiming is slow and the thing it reclaims is already
+unreferenced.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- Disk stops growing without bound on the machine that serves the mesh. That is the whole point
+  and it has no other way to be true.
+- A machine behind by more than five builds of a module, which recreates a container, cannot pull
+  what it was running. It is already a machine the mesh reports as behind, and the answer is the
+  one the mesh already gives it: the current declaration. Stated here rather than discovered.
+- The store is a little less of a museum. A digest in an old build record may no longer be
+  fetchable, and the record still says what that build made — the record is history, not an
+  index of what is on disk. The collected mark is kept beside it so the two can be told apart.
+- `while-stopped` is a second thing the host does to a container it did not start this pass. It is
+  deliberately the narrowest form: the module's own, by id, restored unconditionally.
+- The store is briefly unavailable each night, for as long as collection takes. Everything that
+  pulls from it retries; nothing in the mesh treats a momentary store as a failure
+  ([ADR 0185](0185-a-control-plane-behind-its-seats-row-serves-what-it-can.md)).
+- **An apply arriving during the window reopens it**, because the host's rule for a container it
+  finds stopped is to replace it, and `while-stopped` is the first thing that makes a stopped
+  container intentional. Found by reading this before it merged, recorded as
+  [issue 224](../04-ISSUES/224-an-apply-reopens-a-maintenance-window-by-recreating-what-it-held-still/00-report.md)
+  rather than fixed here: the two candidate fixes — the window takes the apply lock, or the apply
+  learns which containers are held — are each a decision with its own cost, and neither belongs
+  inside this record. Nothing is worse than it was; the store has never collected at all.
+- **The sweep is bounded**: at most two hundred artifacts and sixty seconds per build, stopping at
+  the first refusal, because it runs inside somebody's build. What is left over is offered again
+  next time. The store stops growing from the first sweep; it does not empty in one.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+- The host: a scheduled step with `while-stopped` stops the named containers before the run and
+  starts them after; it starts them again **when the step fails**; it refuses an id that is not a
+  container of the same module, its own id, and `while-stopped` on a `run-once` step. Each refusal
+  is tested for what it says, not only that it says something.
+- The controller: given build records and current manifests, the keep set holds every reference a
+  manifest names and every reference of the five most recent builds per module, and nothing else;
+  a reference the mesh never recorded is never in the delete set; a delete that answers 404 is
+  recorded as collected rather than retried forever.
+- The sweep is tested against a fake store that records what it was asked to delete, so what is
+  asserted is the decision and not the registry's behaviour.
+- Live: the store's size before and after the first nightly collection, read from the machine.
+
+## References
+
+- [issue 108 — the registry has no garbage collection](../04-ISSUES/108-the-registry-has-no-garbage-collection-once-it-has-two-doors/00-report.md)
+- [ADR 0082 — the registry is reached by name and trusted by the overlay](0082-the-registry-is-reached-by-name-and-trusted-by-the-overlay.md)
+- [ADR 0053 — a step that runs on a schedule](0053-a-step-that-runs-on-a-schedule.md)
+- [ADR 0156 — an artifact is what a build produces, and the store is named for its scope](0156-an-artifact-is-what-a-build-produces-and-the-store-is-named-for-its-scope.md)
+- [design 32 — what a module declares](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md)

02-DECISIONS/0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md
+---
+
+# 190. A seat's work is shared by its holders, and building is the first such role
+
+## Context
+
+Work addressed to a role goes to the seat's `accept` subjects, on a per-seat work queue
+([design 25](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §1, [ADR 0041](0041-events-are-a-relationship.md)).
+The holder's worker on that queue is already a queue group — *"even though the seat guarantees one
+holder … the day somebody allows two holders for throughput, every message is processed twice with
+nothing reporting it"* — and design 25 already says what a build queue shared by several machines is:
+*a seat's `accept` subjects, on a work queue with a queue group of holders*. The mechanism was drawn.
+Two things stopped it being used.
+
+First, the build role is a **mesh-scoped** seat, `mesh-build-machine`, so there is one holder in the
+whole mesh ([ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md):
+*the mesh's single build machine*). Second, the worker is a push consumer with **one delivery in
+flight** — set so after 2026-10-01, when a push consumer handing out many at once left twenty-six of
+forty-three asks undelivered ([issue 175](../04-ISSUES/175-an-announcement-behind-a-long-build-comes-back/00-report.md)) —
+and one in flight on a shared consumer is one build at a time across every holder there could be.
+
+Measured on 2026-10-02: a change to code comments in the tool runtime rebuilt its thirty-five
+dependent images, one after another, on one machine, for about half an hour, while three other
+machines with a container runtime sat idle; the work the mesh wanted next waited behind it. The
+operator's words: *this is our first occurrence of a mesh advantage* — and: *make sure the setup is
+done generically, so if another module also requires mesh functionality it can re-use the pattern.*
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **A second build machine by configuration** — a concurrency setting on the one holder, or a second
+   holder admitted by hand. Rejected: a setting on one machine shares nothing, and a second holder
+   of a mesh-scoped seat contradicts what a mesh seat means.
+2. **A build-specific dispatcher** — the controller choosing a machine per build and asking it by
+   name. Rejected: it reinvents the queue the bus already is, it makes the controller a scheduler,
+   and it is specific to building; the next role needing the same would build its own.
+3. **A seat's work is shared by its holders, and the build role becomes node-scoped.** Chosen. It is
+   what the bus was drawn to do, it is one rule for every role rather than one for building, and
+   "the machines that are online and hold the seat" is exactly the set a queue group's members is.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Work asked of a seat is taken by whichever of its holders is idle.** Every holder of a seat with
+`accepts` reads the seat's one work queue; a node-scoped seat held on several machines has several
+holders, and an ask goes to one of them. The asker addresses the role — `mesh.seat.<seat>.accept.<verb>`
+— and never a machine. The outcome, the role's own event, says which machine did the work (`on`), as a
+build's already does ([ADR 0157](0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md)).
+
+**2. A holder takes one ask at a time, when it is idle, by pulling.** The worker is a pull consumer:
+a holder fetches one ask, works it, acknowledges, fetches the next. The server never hands an ask
+to a busy holder, so a slow machine never holds work an idle one could take — the fault issue 175
+found in push delivery is removed by the shape rather than by a limit, and the one-in-flight limit
+that made the shared queue serial goes with it. A holder that dies mid-work leaves its ask to be
+redelivered to another, as today.
+
+**3. Work that must run on one particular machine is not a work queue.** That is a node seat's verb
+asked of that machine ([design 33](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md) §4), and
+nothing here changes it. A role's work queue is for work whose result is the same whichever holder
+does it: a build is, because what comes out is published by digest to the mesh's store.
+
+**4. This is one pattern, not one role's.** Any module that declares a node-scoped seat with
+`accepts` gets decisions 1 and 2 with no further mechanism: the controller derives the queue and the
+worker, the holders pull, the module's manifest says what every holding machine must have. The
+build agent is the first; a module needing work done *somewhere on the mesh* — a scan, a
+conversion, a fetch — declares a seat of its own the same way
+([ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md)).
+
+**5. Building is the first such role.** The build role is `node-build-agent`, scope node, with the
+same `build` ask and the same `started`, `built` and `log.<id>` events as before. Its holder is the
+`build-agent` module: the builder as it is — a container runtime, the artifact store and the package
+registry resolved as provisions, a workspace, the bus credential — assignable to every machine that
+has a container runtime. `mesh-build-machine` and the `builder` module are retired when the new
+holder is assigned where the old one was. The tiered plan ([ADR 0162](0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md))
+is unchanged: a tier's asks go out together and are now worked together.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A tier of thirty-five images is built by as many machines as hold the seat and are online. A
+  machine that is off builds nothing and blocks nothing.
+- Every holding machine fetches base images from the store and pushes what it builds; the store is
+  reached as a provision, so this is what the provision was for. A machine with a slow link builds
+  slowly, and takes fewer asks for it, which is the point of pulling.
+- A build's outcome carries which machine built it, so a build that fails on one machine and not
+  another is a fact the record shows, not a mystery.
+- What got harder: a build's cache is per machine, so a cold machine pays the first pull of every
+  base it has never seen; the artifact store is now asked by several machines at once, and the
+  package registry likewise. Both are provisions and both are made for that.
+- ADR 0121's *"the mesh's single build machine"* and ADR 0162's *"built by whichever build machine
+  is running — the only one there could be"* were true and are no longer; both records carry a note.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Two holders of one seat each take one of two asks, and a third ask waits for the first to be idle | the controller's test over the work queue against a real bus: two machines bound to one worker, three asks |
+| An ask is never delivered to a busy holder | the same test: the busy holder's ask count stays at one until it acknowledges |
+| A holder that dies mid-work leaves its ask for another | the same test, one holder closed mid-ask |
+| The asker names no machine | the controller's seat table: `node-build-agent` accepts `build` and the asking side publishes to the seat's accept subject, as the existing tests of `build` already require |
+| Live | `builds` shows a tier's builds `on` more than one machine within one plan; `seats` shows `node-build-agent` held on every machine with a container runtime — *held on all four machines and a build taken by a workstation's agent, 2026-10-03* |
+
+## References
+
+- [Design 25](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §1 and §5 — the work queue and the queue
+  group of holders this uses as drawn
+- [Design 18](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/18-building-a-module.md) — building a module, amended for
+  where a build runs
+- [ADR 0041](0041-events-are-a-relationship.md), [ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md),
+  [ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md), [ADR 0157](0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md),
+  [ADR 0162](0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md)
+- [Issue 175](../04-ISSUES/175-an-announcement-behind-a-long-build-comes-back/00-report.md) — why the
+  worker had one in flight, and why pulling removes the cause rather than the symptom

02-DECISIONS/0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md

@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+---
+topic: the tiers
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+supersedes-in-part:
+  - 0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md
+  - 0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md
+---
+
+# 191. The mesh's resolver holds only the mesh's own names; a public name resolves publicly
+
+> **Progressive insight — 2026-10-03.** The first implementation told the mesh's names from public
+> ones by their spelling — a name ending in the mesh suffix — and this record said so: the Decision
+> read *"only names under its own suffix"*, and the roster check *"every name the roster carries ends
+> in the mesh suffix"*. The mesh needs no such test, nor any per-route name: domains are a node's. A
+> node has **one internal domain**, `<node>.internal`, and every route on it is a name under that domain
+> (ADR 0151), answered by one wildcard per node; a node has **one or more public domains**, which public
+> DNS answers. So the mesh's resolver holds the nodes' internal domains and nothing else, and the roster
+> carries the machines and no routed name. Both sentences now say that; what was decided — a public
+> name is never given a private answer — is unchanged.
+
+## Context
+
+**[ADR 0066](0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md) published every routed name into internal
+resolution, mesh-wide, at the address of the node that serves it.** The reason was an internal
+certificate authority in the lab: it validates by connecting to the name it certifies, and a routed
+public name that nothing inside the mesh resolved could not be certified.
+[ADR 0151](0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md) kept it:
+*the roster publishes it as itself, once, at the serving node's address.*
+
+**So every machine's resolver answered public names with private-network addresses.** On a
+production mesh on 2026-10-03, each machine's hosts region carried 47 lines of the form
+`<private address> <label>.<public domain>` — every public name of the control-node at its tunnel
+address, every public name of the home server at its own. For the machines themselves this is merely
+a detour: their traffic to a public name goes through the tunnel instead of the internet.
+
+**For anything that is not a member it is an outage.** The home server's resolver also answers its
+LAN — a listen address added as a setting on 2026-10-02. A phone on that LAN asked for the mail
+server's public name, was given the control-node's tunnel address, and could not connect:
+*couldn't connect to host, port: 10.10.0.1:143*. Every public name of the mesh failed the same way for
+every non-member on that LAN — a phone, a television, a guest — while every check the mesh runs
+reported success, because every check runs from a member.
+
+**And the reason for publishing them is gone.** ADR 0151 gave every route an internal name,
+`<label>.<serving node>.internal`, under the node's own name. It resolves inside the mesh without any
+entry of its own, the proxy serves it, and the internal authority certifies it — the proxy has two
+authorities since 2026-09-25: a public one for public names, the internal one for internal names.
+Measured the same day: `drive.<control-node>.internal` resolves to the control-node's tunnel address
+and answers 200 with a certificate that verifies against the internal root. Nothing the mesh runs
+needs a public name to resolve to a private address. The one consumer that did — an internal
+authority validating a public name — is the case the second authority removed.
+
+The predecessor's resolver held exactly this and no more: an address per machine under `.internal`,
+and everything else forwarded to public resolvers.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+**1. Keep publishing public names; stop the resolver answering the LAN.** Fixes the phone and
+nothing else. The mesh would still hold a second, private answer for names the public DNS already
+answers — two answers for one name, which disagree by design and are correct in different places.
+And it forbids a reasonable setup: a home server's resolver serving its own LAN.
+
+**2. Answer per source: private addresses to members, public ones to everyone else.** Split-horizon
+by client. It is what a resolver serving two audiences would need *if* the private answer were worth
+giving. It is not — option 3 shows nothing needs it — and it makes a name's address depend on who
+asks, which is the hardest kind of fault to see from a member.
+
+**3. The mesh's resolver holds only the mesh's own domain.** Names under the mesh suffix — machines,
+and routes' internal names under them — resolve to private addresses. Every other name, including
+every public name the mesh serves, is forwarded and resolves publicly. Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**The mesh's resolver holds each node's internal domain and nothing else** — `<node>.internal` and
+everything under it, at that node's private address. A machine's name,
+and through it every `<label>.<node>.internal`, resolve to that machine's private address. **A public
+name is never given a private answer by the mesh**: it resolves through public DNS to the public
+address, from members and non-members alike.
+
+This replaces ADR 0066's clause *"when the proxy is granted a name, the mesh publishes that name →
+the node that serves it into internal resolution, mesh-wide"*, and ADR 0151's *"the roster publishes
+it as itself, once, at the serving node's address."* Everything else in both stands: the label, the
+node's public domain, the composition, and the internal name under the serving node.
+
+**Inside the mesh, a route is reached by its internal name.** A container or a validator that must
+reach a routed service inside the mesh uses `<label>.<node>.internal`; the internal authority
+certifies that name, and a public authority certifies the public one. A mesh with no public
+reachability — the lab — certifies its internal names and has no public names to resolve.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- **A resolver serving a LAN is safe.** What it adds to public resolution is the mesh's own domain,
+  which no public resolver answers.
+- **A member reaches a public name over the internet, as anyone does.** A route the proxy restricts
+  to the private network is reached by its internal name, never by its public one — a public name
+  is, by this decision, public.
+- **The internal authority certifies internal names only.** It was the only consumer of a public
+  name's private answer; the proxy's second authority already took that role away from it.
+- **Public names leave every machine's hosts region** on the first push after the change.
+  Containers do not move with it: the roster is not part of a container's identity
+  ([ADR 0148](0148-the-meshs-names-are-resolved-not-copied-into-containers.md)).
+
+**How each is checked:**
+
+- **The roster:** the controller's tests assert that the roster names the machines and nothing
+  else — a routed name in it, public or internal, fails the build.
+- **On a machine:** asking the machine's resolver for a public name the mesh serves returns the
+  public address, and asking it for that route's internal name returns the private one. Asked from a
+  non-member on a LAN the resolver answers, the first must hold as well.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0066 — public routing is name-agnostic](0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md), whose
+  propagation clause this replaces.
+- [ADR 0151 — a route's internal name is composed under the node that serves it](0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md),
+  which made the private answer unnecessary.
+- [Connectivity design §2 and §5](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md), amended alongside this
+  record.

02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md
+---
+
+# 192. A tools bundle declares what it is given, and the runtime hands it to that bundle alone
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md) put one
+runtime on every node serving every module's tools from a bundle, and
+[ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+said a module's own code is bundles and never an image. The two holders that moved first
+([to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP4) needed nothing a
+bundle does not have: a fixed path, and root. Research
+[020](../01-RESEARCH/020-what-a-bundled-tool-is-given/00-overview.md) measured the rest before
+they move: thirty-three modules still run their tools as a container on the runtime's image, and
+thirty-one of them are handed, through the container's environment and mounts, things a bundle
+has no way to receive — the module's configuration file, its own secret as a file, the service's
+address with the port the mesh chose, a provision's address, a directory of grants. Every one of
+those is a file the mesh already places on the machine or a value the controller already composes
+for the container, per module per machine, from references the manifest writes: a placed
+directory, a chosen port. And the SDK's tool contributor is a function of an environment that the
+runtime calls without one, so every bundle reads the process's four words.
+
+Without a rule, each of the thirty-one would answer the question its own way, and the runtime's
+process would be the one place where every module's paths meet.
+
+> **Progressive insight — 2026-10-03.** The context above calls the thirty-one remaining containers
+> tool containers handed what a bundle cannot receive. Measured the same day while building this
+> record: nine of them run only tools; three run a main of their own; twenty import, beside their
+> tools, the module's own long-running code — event handlers that subscribe on the bus and
+> provisioners that act on grants — under the module's own bus identity, and some reach their
+> service by a container network name or need a package the image installed. That code is not a
+> tool and is not this record's to move: under
+> [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+> §3 it is a `process` bundle, and how it is given its credential, its words and its reach is the
+> open question of [design 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP4c.
+> Decision 4 applies to these containers' tools; the containers themselves go when their other
+> code has moved. The decision and its options stand.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **The bundle declares its environment on its artifact, and the mesh composes it as a
+   container's.** Chosen. The tools artifact gains `env`: names to values, the values written with
+   the references the composer already resolves for a container — `${dir:…}`, `${port:…}` — and
+   what was a mount target becomes the host path itself. The controller composes one environment
+   per bundle per machine into the runtime's declaration. The runtime hands it to that bundle's
+   contributor, or to the child it launches, and to nothing else. The tool code reads the names it
+   read before.
+2. **The runtime derives it from the module's placed manifest** — a conventional word per
+   directory and port, no new field. Rejected: a convention the thirty-one tools must be rewritten
+   to, the runtime learning the composer's job, and a module that names its file one way and a
+   module that names it another needing different words regardless.
+3. **The tool asks the controller over the bus.** Rejected: a tool that cannot start until the
+   bus answers fails in the one case tools exist for, and a secret crossing the bus to reach a file
+   already on the machine is a disclosure for nothing.
+4. **Leave each module to its own device.** Rejected by the measurement: thirty-one modules, one
+   question.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A tools bundle says what it is given, on its artifact.** `build.artifacts[].env` names the
+words the bundle reads and their values. A value is a path or a constant, composed with the
+references a container's environment may use; **never a secret's content.** A secret reaches a
+tool the way it reaches a container: as a file the mesh places, whose path the environment names.
+A bundle that declares no `env` is given nothing beyond the runtime's own words, which is what the
+two holders that moved have.
+
+**2. The mesh composes it, per bundle per machine, as it composes a container's.** The same
+references, resolved the same way, to the host's own paths. The composed environment travels in
+the node's declaration beside the bundle's archive; a change to it is a change to the bundle for
+the purpose of `restart-on`.
+
+**3. The runtime hands each bundle its own environment, and nothing of another's.** A bundle
+imported into the runtime's process receives it as the argument its contributor is written to
+take; a bundle launched as a child ([ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md) §2)
+receives it as the child's environment, over the runtime's own words. The runtime's process
+environment is not where a module's words go, and a tool that reads the process's environment
+rather than the one it was handed finds the runtime's four words and no module's.
+
+**4. The remaining tool containers move in one change** after this is built, each proven by its
+tools answering from the runtime, and the registration gate of
+[to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP2 then refuses the
+container shape for every module, as ADR 0188 already provides.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-03, by ADR 0193.** Decision 3's imported path — the environment
+> handed to an imported bundle's contributor — has nothing left to do: every served bundle is
+> launched, and a launched bundle's environment is its own. The decision stands.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The manifest gains one field on one artifact kind; the composer gains one more thing to resolve
+  with references it has; the runtime gains the hand-off and the separation. The thirty-one modules'
+  tool code does not change, and their conversion is the move of a container's `env` with its
+  mounts folded into host paths.
+- A tool's inputs become legible in the manifest where its container hid them in mounts: what a
+  module's tools read is declared beside what the module writes.
+- What got harder: the runtime must keep thirty-one environments apart in one process, and a
+  bundle's author must not reach for the process's environment. The separation is a rule the
+  runtime's test holds, not a property of the language.
+- `MESH_BROKER_FILE` is not a bundle's to declare: the runtime speaks with the node's credential
+  ([ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)), and
+  a module's own bus credential went with its container.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A value in a bundle's `env` is a path or a constant, never a secret's content | the catalogue's manifest check refuses a `${secret:…}` reference in a bundle's `env`, naming this record |
+| The composer resolves a bundle's `env` as a container's | the controller's composition test: one module, one bundle with `${dir:…}` and `${port:…}` in its `env`, the declaration carrying the host paths and the chosen port |
+| Each bundle sees its own environment and no other's | the runtime's test: two bundles with different `env`, loaded in one runtime, each answering with its own words and none of the other's; the same for a launched bundle |
+| A change to a bundle's environment restarts the runtime | the composition test above, with `restart-on` naming the bundle |
+| Live | a module whose tools read a configuration file and a token file answers from the runtime on one machine with no container |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md),
+  [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+- Research [020](../01-RESEARCH/020-what-a-bundled-tool-is-given/00-overview.md) — the measurement
+  and the options
+- [to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) — where the work is listed

02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md
+---
+
+# 193. Every bundle the runtime serves is launched, and the runtime knows no language
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+§2 made a served bundle a process that speaks MCP over stdio, and kept one exception: a TypeScript
+bundle may be imported into the runtime's own process, "a shortcut over the same contract". Every
+module's tools today take the shortcut, and it is where the day's defects came from:
+
+- [Issue 209](../04-ISSUES/209-a-bundles-own-sdk-copy-registers-into-a-registry-the-runtime-never-reads/00-report.md):
+  an imported bundle's own copy of the SDK registered into a registry the runtime never read; fixed
+  by a resolve hook that redirects every bundle's SDK import to the runtime's copy.
+- [ADR 0192](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md):
+  thirty modules' environments in one process had to be kept apart by an SDK change and runtime
+  bookkeeping, where a process of its own has an environment of its own by construction.
+- One faulty module can block or crash every other module's tools on its node.
+
+And the shortcut ties the runtime to Node.js: only a JavaScript runtime can import JavaScript. The
+operator's direction on 2026-10-03: *a module's tools are written in any language and the builder
+builds them; the runtime runs them all and announces them; it should be fully language agnostic,
+and node-tools can be rewritten in Go.*
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep the shortcut.** Rejected: it is the cause of the three defects above, and it pins the
+   runtime's language.
+2. **Launch every served bundle; the runtime knows how to start each language** (`node` for a
+   `.js`, exec for a binary). Rejected: the runtime would hold a table of interpreters, and a
+   runtime in Go would carry Node.js's knowledge for nothing.
+3. **Launch every served bundle, and the build makes each served entrypoint executable.** Chosen.
+   A compiled language's binary is executable already; for an interpreted one the toolchain writes
+   a launcher beside the entrypoint — for TypeScript, a file that imports the entrypoint and serves
+   what it registered over stdio, using the bundle's own SDK. The runtime execs what it is given.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Every bundle the node's runtime serves is a child process speaking MCP over stdio.** The
+in-process shortcut of ADR 0188 §2 is withdrawn. Everything else ADR 0188 §2 says — `tools/list`,
+`tools/call`, `<seat>.<verb>` naming a seat's verb, the runtime serving each on the bus — stands.
+
+**2. The runtime knows no language.** It is given an executable per served entrypoint and starts
+it, with that bundle's environment ([ADR 0192](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md))
+over its own words, and the module it serves it as. What makes an entrypoint executable is the
+toolchain's business: a binary is one; an interpreted language's toolchain writes a launcher.
+
+**3. A launched bundle is told the module it serves as**, so that what it lists unprefixed is that
+module's own tools and a seat's verbs are always `<seat>.<verb>`, whichever it registered first.
+
+**4. The runtime may be written in any language.** Nothing it does needs it to share a language
+with a bundle; the mesh's runtime moves to Go, against this contract, once the contract is proven
+in the runtime that exists.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A process per served module per node. On the busiest machine that is a score of small children
+  where there was one process; a Go bundle costs a fraction of a Node.js one.
+- The SDK resolve hook (issue 209) and the per-registration environment hand-off (ADR 0192 §3,
+  imported bundles) have nothing left to do and go; a launched bundle's environment is its own.
+- A module's TypeScript tool code does not change: it registers as before, and the generated
+  launcher serves what it registered.
+- A bundle that crashes or hangs takes only its own tools down, and is started again on its next
+  call, as ADR 0188 already provides for a launched bundle.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Every served bundle is launched | the runtime's tests: a TypeScript bundle and a bundle in a second language, both launched, both answering over a real bus; a non-executable entrypoint is refused by name |
+| The runtime knows no language | the runtime holds no interpreter: it execs the path it is given (code review; the Go runtime has no Node.js dependency at all) |
+| A TypeScript served entrypoint is executable | the builder's test: a TypeScript bundle's served entrypoint has a launcher beside it, mode 0755 |
+| A seat's verbs are named as the seat's whichever registers first | the SDK's test: a bundle registering its seat first and its own tools second lists `<seat>.<verb>` and its own tools unprefixed |
+| Live | the packet filter's and intrusion prevention's seat verbs and the moved tools answer from launched bundles on every machine |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md),
+  [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md),
+  [ADR 0192](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md)
+- [to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP4d

02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+---
+topic: the tiers
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+supersedes-in-part:
+  - 0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md
+extends: 0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md
+---
+
+# 194. The mesh has one resolver, and every node asks it for the mesh's names
+
+> **Narrowed, not replaced — 2026-10-03.** How a node asks is decided again by
+> [ADR 0196](0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md): every
+> node and container asks `mesh-resolver` first and a public resolver only when it is silent. There is
+> no `systemd-resolved` module and no runtime `dns` naming `mesh-resolver`, and step 2 of the migration
+> reads as 0196 states it. Option 2 below was rejected for a laptop with its tunnel down resolving
+> nothing; a public resolver listed second answers exactly then. The one resolver, its placement and
+> the retirement of every per-node copy stand.
+
+## Context
+
+**Every node runs its own resolver and holds its own copy of the mesh's names.** On the production
+mesh on 2026-10-03, each of the four nodes held `node-dns-resolver` with dnsmasq, fed on every push
+with a zones file (one wildcard per node) and a region of `/etc/hosts` (the machines), and pointed
+its own `/etc/resolv.conf` at itself. The controller computes the names once; four daemons then hold
+four copies, each read in its own way.
+
+**Every resolution fault found that day was a copy disagreeing with the truth, not the truth being
+wrong:**
+
+- **A copy read once.** dnsmasq reads `/etc/hosts` at start. After the controller stopped publishing
+  public names ([ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)), every node's
+  hosts file was right and every resolver still answered the mail server's public name with a
+  tunnel address, until each was restarted.
+- **A copy beside other copies.** On the workstation, a name resolved to two addresses in rotation:
+  the mesh's region gave the tunnel address, and two lines the operator had written before the mesh
+  existed — one in `/etc/hosts`, one in a file the resolver also reads — gave the LAN address. A
+  comment beside one of them said to delete it once the mesh took over; nothing made that happen.
+- **A copy that became somebody else's resolver.** The home server's resolver also answers its LAN
+  (a listen address added 2026-10-02), and the LAN's router hands that address out as the only DNS
+  server. Every phone and television on the LAN resolved through a mesh node's private copy, which is
+  how ADR 0191's outage reached them.
+
+**And the overlay already has one centre.** Every node has exactly one tunnel peer — the anchor —
+and routes the whole private range through it. Two nodes on the same LAN reach each other through
+the anchor. So a name under `.internal` is only ever useful while the anchor is reachable: a resolver
+anywhere else adds a copy without adding an answer anybody can use.
+
+**What a node asks is already a separate role.** The connectivity design split *serving* (answers
+the names) from *asking* (decides what the machine asks), because systemd-resolved cannot answer a
+wildcard and can only route the mesh's suffix to something that can
+([connectivity §2](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md)). ADR 0121 kept them as two seats,
+`node-dns-resolver` and `node-resolver-config`, both at node scope. No node runs systemd-resolved
+today; each writes `/etc/resolv.conf` as a plain file pointing at its own dnsmasq.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+**1. Keep a resolver on every node, and make the copies more careful.** Restart on every file it
+reads, own every file it reads, refuse to listen on a LAN. Each is a fix for one way a copy goes
+stale, and the next way is not on the list yet. It keeps four answers to one question.
+
+**2. One resolver for the mesh, and every node sends it every query.** The simplest asking side —
+`resolv.conf` names the mesh's resolver and nothing else. Rejected: public resolution then depends on
+the tunnel. A laptop whose tunnel is down could resolve nothing at all, and a public name would take
+a detour through the anchor for no reason ADR 0191 left standing.
+
+**3. One resolver for the mesh's names; each node asks it for those only.** The mesh's resolver holds
+every node's internal domain. Each node's asking role routes the mesh's suffix to it and every other
+name to public resolvers. Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**The mesh has one resolver.** It is a module holding a new mesh-scoped seat, **`mesh-resolver`**
+(capacity one). It holds each node's internal domain — `<node>.internal` and everything under it, at
+that node's private address ([ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md))
+— and listens on the private network only. It is placed on the node every tunnel converges on, so
+that it shares the overlay's single point rather than adding one. Which daemon fills the seat stays
+the module's business, as the connectivity design says.
+
+**Every node asks it for the mesh's names and nothing else.** `node-resolver-config` routes the
+mesh's suffix to `mesh-resolver` and leaves every other name with public resolvers.
+
+**Why a stub on every node.** `resolv.conf` cannot route by domain: the C library asks the servers it
+lists in order, for every name, and moves to the next only when one does not answer — an NXDOMAIN
+from the first is final. Listing `mesh-resolver` first sends every public name through the tunnel
+(option 2); listing a public resolver first means `.internal` is never asked of the mesh. Something on
+the node has to look at the name before choosing a server, and that is a stub resolver. Keeping
+dnsmasq for it would keep a daemon that reads hosts files and can be told to answer a LAN — the two
+ways copies went wrong. systemd-resolved holds no names of its own, routes by domain natively (a
+routing domain `~<suffix>` on the server that answers it), and is part of systemd, already installed
+on every node and enabled on none.
+
+**So the asking side is a `systemd-resolved` module**, claiming `node-resolver-config` — the same claim
+as the `resolv-conf` module it replaces, so the mesh refuses both on one node. It enables the service,
+writes its configuration (the mesh resolver for the suffix, public resolvers for everything else), and
+writes `/etc/resolv.conf` as a file naming the stub — a file the module owns, not a link to one.
+
+**A container asks the mesh's resolver directly.** The container runtime cannot use a loopback stub
+and drops its routing domains, so the runtime's `dns` names `mesh-resolver`, which forwards public
+names for the containers that ask it. This is the one place a public name passes through the mesh,
+and it is stated rather than hidden.
+
+**`node-dns-resolver` is retired**, and with it every per-node copy: the zones file, the mesh's region
+of `/etc/hosts` (the floor connectivity §2 already planned to remove), and the daemon on every node
+but the one holding `mesh-resolver`. This narrows ADR 0121's *"the-dns-port → node-dns-resolver"*:
+the serving role keeps its distinction from the asking role and moves to mesh scope, as ADR 0121 did
+for the private network.
+
+**A LAN's resolver is not the mesh's.** No device that is not a member can reach a private address,
+so no member's resolver answers a LAN on the mesh's behalf. A router that hands out a node's address
+as a LAN's DNS server is pointed elsewhere before that node stops answering.
+
+**The order is fixed, because every step before the last leaves a working resolver:**
+
+1. `mesh-resolver` is assigned and answers on the private network.
+2. Each node's `node-resolver-config` moves from `resolv-conf` to `systemd-resolved`, and the container
+   runtime's `dns` to `mesh-resolver`.
+3. A LAN whose router points at a node's resolver is pointed at its router or a public resolver.
+4. `node-dns-resolver` is unassigned from every node, and the hosts region is withdrawn.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- **One answer per name.** A name is wrong in one place or right everywhere; no node can hold a copy
+  that disagrees, and no operator file on a node is read by the mesh's resolver.
+- **The anchor down means no `.internal` names** — which it already meant for `.internal` traffic,
+  since every tunnel goes through it. Public resolution on every node is unaffected.
+- **A container's public resolution depends on the mesh's resolver.** Accepted, and named in the
+  decision; a container that must resolve public names with the tunnel down is the case it costs.
+- **Every node runs systemd-resolved**, through the `systemd-resolved` module. It is installed
+  everywhere already and enabled nowhere; the mesh still ships no resolver of its own.
+- **The runtime's `dns` changes once per node**, which the runtime reads only at start. With
+  `live-restore` already on, that restart keeps every container running.
+- **A LAN loses a resolver it had borrowed.** The router change is an explicit step, done through
+  the module that manages the router, before the node's resolver goes.
+
+**How each is checked:**
+
+- **One holder:** the seat has capacity one, so a second assignment is refused by the controller.
+- **Asking:** on each node, `resolvectl` shows the tunnel's link with `mesh-resolver` and the suffix as
+  its routing domain; a name under `.internal` is answered by it, and a public name is answered
+  without it (its query log shows no public name from a node).
+- **No copies:** no node but the holder answers DNS on a private or LAN address — every other node's
+  port 53 is systemd-resolved's loopback stub and nothing else — and no node's `/etc/hosts` carries a
+  mesh region.
+- **A LAN:** the router's DHCP DNS option names no node's address.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md) — what the mesh's resolver
+  holds; this record decides where it runs and how nodes reach it.
+- [ADR 0121](0121-a-system-seat-is-named-for-its-scope-and-modules-define-their-own.md) — the two
+  resolver seats, and the private network's move to mesh scope this mirrors.
+- [Connectivity §2](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md) — serving and asking as two roles;
+  amended alongside this record.
+- [The seats](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/26-the-seats.md) — the seat table, amended alongside.

02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md
+---
+
+# 195. The mesh's tools are found by address, not announced whole
+
+## Context
+
+The console answers MCP on a machine's loopback ([ADR 0152](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md),
+[to-be 34](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md)) and announces, at a session's start, every tool
+the mesh can say it has: 228 on 2026-10-03, 110 KB, taken once. Three things are wrong with that,
+measured in research [021](../01-RESEARCH/021-finding-a-tool-in-the-mesh/00-overview.md):
+
+- **Size.** Only one client's habit of deferring long lists keeps them out of the model's context.
+- **Ambiguity.** A module on two machines is listed once, `node` optional, *whichever answers* — for
+  postgres and mssql, whose instances hold different data, a call that names no machine asks an
+  arbitrary one.
+- **Staleness.** A tool that arrives after the session started is not listed until it reconnects.
+
+The mesh already has the structure a caller needs: seats held once for the mesh, seats held once per
+machine ([ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md)), and
+modules assigned to machines, each assignment issued its own subjects
+([ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)).
+The operator's direction: *tools are discoverable, in layers, and asking novox's postgres is not asking
+ace's.*
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. Keep the flat list and rely on the client. Rejected: the ambiguity and the staleness stay, and it
+   is one client's behaviour.
+2. One tool per assignment, the machine in the name. Rejected: the list multiplies, and an address in
+   a tool's name meets the API's limit — letters, digits, `_` and `-`, at most 64 characters.
+3. **A fixed handful of tools that walk the mesh's structure, the address an argument.** Chosen.
+4. MCP resources or prompts. Rejected: unevenly supported, and an agent acts through tools.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Everything the mesh answers has one address, by the layer it lives in:**
+
+| layer | address | answered by |
+|---|---|---|
+| a seat held once for the mesh | `<seat>.<verb>` | that seat's holder |
+| a seat held once per machine | `<node>/<seat>.<verb>` | that machine's holder |
+| a module assigned to a machine | `<node>/<module>.<tool>` | that assignment |
+| a module whose instances are interchangeable (ADR 0160) | `<module>.<tool>` as well | any of them |
+
+**A call to a module that is not interchangeable names its machine, or is refused** naming the machines
+it runs on. "Whichever answers" is no longer an answer for state a machine holds.
+
+**2. The console announces a fixed set of tools, not the catalogue:**
+
+- **`mesh_overview`** — the mesh's seats with their verbs, and its machines;
+- **`mesh_machine`** — one machine: the node seats it holds and the modules assigned to it, each with
+  its tools by name;
+- **`mesh_search`** — words in, matching addresses out with one line each, across every layer;
+- **`mesh_describe`** — one address in, its description and argument schema out;
+- **`mesh_call`** — an address and its arguments in, the answer out, with the machine that gave it.
+
+Each is answered from the mesh when it is asked, so a tool that arrived a minute ago is found without
+the client reconnecting. The names are the API's kind of name; addresses never have to be.
+
+**3. The flat catalogue stays reachable, not announced:** the `mesh` client and a console setting can
+still list it whole, for a person reading it or a client that wants it. An agent pointed at the console
+sees the five.
+
+> **The mechanism changed — 2026-10-03, by ADR 0197.** Where the console learns what exists: not
+> from the catalogue's roster and the controller's printed lists, but from every runtime announcing
+> itself on the bus in the NATS services protocol, checked against the controller's records read as
+> JSON. The addresses and the five tools stand.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- An agent spends a call or two finding a tool it does not know, and none on one it does; the context
+  no longer carries 110 KB it mostly never uses.
+- The ambiguity is closed by the address, not by a description asking the agent to remember `node`.
+- What got harder: an agent that once saw a tool's schema up front now asks for it. `mesh_describe` and
+  `mesh_search` answering with the schema of a close match keep that to one call.
+- The discovery verbs are the console's; the mesh's own records — seats, machines, assignments — are
+  the controller's, and the console asks it rather than keeping a copy.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The console announces five tools | the console's test: `tools/list` answers exactly the five |
+| An address resolves to one subject per layer | the console's tests: a mesh seat, a node seat, an assignment, an interchangeable module, each called by address over a real bus |
+| A non-interchangeable module without a machine is refused, naming its machines | the same tests |
+| A tool that arrives after the session started is found | a test registering a module after the console's first answer and finding it by `mesh_search` |
+| Live | from a fresh session, *which databases does novox's postgres hold* is answered by novox's postgres, found through the five |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0152](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md),
+  [ADR 0159](0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md),
+  [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)
+- Research [021](../01-RESEARCH/021-finding-a-tool-in-the-mesh/00-overview.md)
+- [to-be 34](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md)

02-DECISIONS/0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+---
+topic: the tiers
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+supersedes-in-part:
+  - 0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md
+---
+
+# 196. A node asks the mesh's resolver first, and a public one only when it is silent
+
+## Context
+
+**[ADR 0194](0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md) gave the
+mesh one resolver and had each node ask it for the mesh's names only.** Because `resolv.conf` cannot
+route by domain, that needed a stub on every node — a `systemd-resolved` module — and a separate
+`dns` for the container runtime, which cannot use a loopback stub. It rejected the simpler shape,
+every node sending every query to the mesh's resolver, on the grounds that *"a laptop whose tunnel is
+down could resolve nothing at all."*
+
+**That is true only of a `resolv.conf` naming the mesh's resolver alone.** The C library asks the
+servers it lists in order and moves to the next when one does not answer within its timeout. A public
+resolver listed second is asked exactly when the mesh's is unreachable — the anchor down, the tunnel
+down, a laptop behind a captive portal that has not let the tunnel up — and never otherwise. An answer
+from the first, including "no such name", is final, so `.internal` is never asked of a public resolver
+while the mesh's answers.
+
+**And the container runtime copies a machine's resolvers into its containers when they are not
+loopback addresses.** With the mesh's resolver and a public one listed, every container gets both, as
+they are, with nothing configured for the runtime.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+**1. Keep ADR 0194's stub.** Public names never touch the mesh, and a node with the anchor down
+resolves public names at full speed. It costs a module and a running service on every node, a second
+configuration for containers, and the one asymmetry ADR 0194 had to state — containers' public names
+through the mesh, nodes' not.
+
+**2. Every node asks the mesh's resolver for everything, with a public resolver as the silent
+fallback.** One server answers every node and every container; nothing on a node routes, holds names,
+or runs. Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**A node's `/etc/resolv.conf` names the mesh's resolver first and a public resolver second, with a
+short timeout and a single attempt.** It is written by the module holding `node-resolver-config` — the
+existing `resolv-conf` — which now names `mesh-resolver`'s address instead of the machine's own. The
+mesh's resolver answers the mesh's names from what it holds and forwards every other name, giving the
+public answer ([ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md) is unchanged: no
+public name gets a private answer).
+
+**Containers take the same two resolvers from their machine.** The container runtime's own `dns`
+setting is not written; the runtime copies the machine's non-loopback resolvers into every container.
+
+**This replaces, from ADR 0194:** the asking side as a stub (*"So the asking side is a
+`systemd-resolved` module"*), the container runtime's `dns` naming `mesh-resolver`, and step 2 of the
+migration as written. There is no `systemd-resolved` module. Everything else in ADR 0194 stands — one
+`mesh-resolver`, on the node every tunnel converges on, holding each node's internal domain, the
+retirement of `node-dns-resolver` and every per-node copy, and a LAN's resolver not being the mesh's.
+
+**The migration, as it now reads:**
+
+1. `mesh-resolver` is assigned and answers on the private network.
+2. Each node's `resolv-conf` names `mesh-resolver` first and a public resolver second.
+3. A LAN whose router points at a node's resolver is pointed at its router.
+4. `node-dns-resolver` is unassigned from every node, and the hosts region is withdrawn.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- **Every name a node or container asks goes through the anchor while it is up.** A public lookup
+  takes a few milliseconds longer than asking a public resolver directly, and the mesh's resolver sees
+  every name its nodes look up. It is the operator's own server.
+- **With the anchor unreachable, each lookup waits out one timeout, then resolves publicly.**
+  `.internal` names fail then — as `.internal` traffic does, every tunnel going through the anchor.
+- **A LAN is unaffected by this choice.** Devices that are not members never read a node's
+  `resolv.conf`; they get their resolver from their router, which step 3 points at itself.
+- **Nothing new runs on a node.** No stub, no module, no per-node configuration for containers.
+- **The runtime's `dns` key goes with `node-dns-resolver`.** The dnsmasq module wrote it into the
+  runtime's configuration; unassigning that module in step 4 withdraws it, and the runtime reads the
+  change only when it next starts — with `live-restore` on, that restart keeps every container
+  running.
+
+**How each is checked:**
+
+- **Order:** each node's `/etc/resolv.conf` lists `mesh-resolver`'s private address first and a public
+  resolver second, and nothing else.
+- **Fallback:** with `mesh-resolver` unreachable from a node, a public name still resolves there, after
+  the timeout.
+- **Containers:** a container started on a node lists the same two resolvers.
+- **A LAN:** the router's DHCP DNS option names the router, not a node.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0194](0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md) — the one
+  resolver; this record replaces how nodes and containers ask it.
+- [ADR 0191](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md) — what the resolver holds.
+- [Connectivity §2](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md), amended alongside this record.

02-DECISIONS/0197-every-tool-announces-itself-on-the-bus-in-the-nats-services-protocol.md

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md
+---
+
+# 197. Every tool announces itself on the bus, in the NATS services protocol
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0195](0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md) gave every tool an
+address and the console five tools to find them. Where the console learns what exists, it inherited
+from [to-be 34](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md) §3: ask the catalogue for its roster, ask
+each module on the roster for its `tools`, and read the machines and assignments from the
+controller's printed `node list` and `module list`. Built that way on 2026-10-03, it worked and showed
+what is wrong with it:
+
+- **It asks what should exist and infers what does.** The roster holds every module the catalogue
+  ever registered; 47 of them were reported "not answering" on 2026-10-03, most with no tools at all
+  and several retired.
+- **It parses prose.** Two of the controller's answers are text for a person, and a reworded column
+  breaks discovery.
+
+The bus already knows what answers. NATS has a services protocol for exactly this: a service answers
+`$SRV.PING` and `$SRV.INFO` — every instance, on one request — with its name, its instance, and every
+endpoint's subject and metadata, in a published format the NATS tools read. The operator's direction:
+*every tool announces itself; the mesh has the full picture, so nothing should be inferred or parsed.*
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep asking the roster, and give the controller JSON answers.** Fixes the parsing, keeps the
+   inference.
+2. **Re-serve every tool through a NATS services library.** The announcement for free, but every
+   runtime's serving path rewritten around a library, in two languages, for no change in behaviour.
+3. **Every runtime answers the services protocol's discovery subjects with what it serves; serving
+   is unchanged.** Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. What answers announces itself.** Every runtime that serves tools — each machine's tool runtime,
+the per-module runtimes still in containers, and the controller for the seat it holds — answers
+`$SRV.PING` and `$SRV.INFO` in the NATS services format: one service per module or seat it serves,
+named for it, its instance the machine; one endpoint per tool, its subject and queue exactly as
+served, its metadata the tool's description, argument schema, the machine, the seat and scope where
+it is a seat's verb, and whether the module's instances are interchangeable.
+
+**2. The console finds what exists by asking the bus,** one `$SRV.INFO` request, every answer
+gathered for a short window. What it announces through ADR 0195's five tools is what answered.
+
+**3. What should exist is the mesh's records, read as data.** The controller answers its machines and
+modules as JSON, and says which modules declare tools; the console names as *not answering* only an
+assignment that declares tools and did not announce them. A module with no tools is never listed.
+
+**4. The grants say so.** Every principal that serves tools may subscribe the services discovery
+subjects for what it serves; the console's and every runtime's account may publish the discovery
+request. Replies travel to the asker's own inbox as every reply does.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The standard `nats micro list` and `nats micro info` show the mesh's tools, live, to anybody holding
+  a credential — the bus's own view, not the mesh's description of it.
+- Discovery costs one request and a gathering window, not one request per roster entry.
+- What got harder: three runtimes must answer the same format the same way — the Go tool runtime, the
+  TypeScript runtime the containers still run, and the controller. The format is NATS's, so a test
+  reads all three with the NATS services client and nothing of the mesh's.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A runtime announces exactly what it serves | each runtime's test: `$SRV.INFO` answered with one service per served module or seat, its endpoints' subjects the subjects served |
+| The format is NATS's | the same tests read the answer with the NATS services client's own types |
+| A module with no tools is never listed; an assignment with tools that did not answer is | the console's test, against controller records with both |
+| Nothing is parsed from prose | the console reads only JSON answers (code review; the text parsers are deleted) |
+| Live | `nats micro list` against the mesh's bus lists every machine's tool runtime and the controller |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0195](0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md),
+  [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md),
+  [ADR 0175](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)
+- [to-be 34](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md)

02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-03
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md
+---
+
+# 198. A module's long-running code is launched by the node's runtime, and reaches the bus through it
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0193](0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md) made
+every tools bundle a child the node's runtime launches, speaking MCP over stdio, and gave the channel
+one bus verb: a tool's emit, published by the runtime as the module. Twenty-three modules still run the
+rest of their own code — event handlers, provisioners, a preparation step, three mains — in a container
+on the runtime's image, because that code needs what a container gave it: a bus connection that can
+*subscribe*, and its module's words. Research [022](../01-RESEARCH/022-where-a-modules-long-running-code-runs/00-overview.md)
+measured what it uses. [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+§1 says a module's own code is never an image.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **The runtime launches it and is its bus.** Chosen.
+2. A process per module with its own bus client and credential. Rejected for the reasons ADR 0188
+   rejected it for tools: a transport in every language's SDK, a credential per module on disk, and a
+   bus change rebuilding every module.
+3. Keep the containers for it. Rejected: ADR 0188's rule stays broken for most of the catalogue.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A module's long-running code is a bundle the node's runtime launches and supervises,** exactly as
+its tools are: an executable entrypoint, given the runtime's words and its module's
+([ADR 0192](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md)),
+started at the runtime's start and again when it exits. A bundle may serve tools, run long, or both.
+
+**2. The runtime is its bus.** The stdio channel carries, beside MCP, the mesh's verbs a module's code
+uses: `mesh/publish` (ADR 0193), **`mesh/subscribe`** — the runtime binds that module's durable
+consumer, as the module's own runtime did, and delivers each event to the child as a `mesh/event`
+request, acknowledging it on the bus only when the child has answered — and **`mesh/ask`**, a tool
+call made on the module's behalf. The runtime's account is granted what each module it carries
+consumes, and the consumer keeps the module's name, so no event is lost or replayed in the move.
+
+**3. A preparation step is a run-once process the host runs before the runtime starts the module,**
+with its module's words and no bus — what it already was.
+
+**4. What a container reached by its network is reached on the machine.** A service by its published
+port (`${port:…}`) on loopback; a backend's command-line client as a package of the machine's system,
+or, where the system has none, the backend's own driver inside the bundle.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The per-module containers go, and with them the runtime image as a way module code runs; ADR 0188's
+  registration rule can then refuse a module's own image without exception.
+- One bus connection per machine carries every module's events; a module's handler is a function of
+  the events it is handed, in any language, with no bus client of its own.
+- What got harder: the runtime holds every carried module's consumer and must not acknowledge an event
+  before the child has handled it — a child that dies mid-event leaves it unacknowledged, and it is
+  delivered again. The runtime's grants widen to what its modules consume.
+- Two modules need code before they can move: their backends' clients exist on no machine's system,
+  so they talk to the backend through a driver instead.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A subscribed event reaches the child and is acknowledged only after it answered | the runtime's test over a real bus: a child that answers is acknowledged once; one that dies mid-event is delivered again |
+| The module's consumer keeps its name | the composer's test: the durable consumer the runtime binds is the one the module's own runtime bound |
+| No module's own code is an image | the catalogue's registration check, without exception, once the last container has moved |
+| Live | every moved module's provisioner and handlers act, on their machines, from the node's runtime; `docker ps` shows no runtime-image container on any machine |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md),
+  [ADR 0192](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md),
+  [ADR 0193](0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md)
+- Research [022](../01-RESEARCH/022-where-a-modules-long-running-code-runs/00-overview.md)
+- [to-be 38](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP4c

02-DECISIONS/0200-genesis-pivots-to-the-controller-as-a-container-and-the-first-push-hands-it-to-a-process.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+---
+topic: building it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0067-genesis-is-a-pivot.md
+---
+
+# 200. Genesis pivots to the controller as a container, and the first push hands it to a process
+
+## Context
+
+The controller is Go, compiled to one static binary, and is the last of the mesh's own programs a
+machine runs from an image ([issue 213](../04-ISSUES/213-the-controller-is-a-go-program-run-in-a-container/00-report.md)).
+[ADR 0188](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+§1 says a module's own code is bundles, never an image, and §3 that a service bundle is a `process` the
+host runs. The handover exists: a process may name the container it `replaces`, and the host removes
+that container only after the process has stayed up across two checks; two controllers are safe
+together for that moment, the second standing by on the controller's consumers and every plan held by
+one lock.
+
+What stands in the way is genesis ([ADR 0067](0067-genesis-is-a-pivot.md)), which
+[issue 223](../04-ISSUES/223-a-new-mesh-installs-its-controller-as-a-container/00-report.md) found
+assumes an image and a container at every step from its third: it builds the controller's image,
+starts a temporary controller from it, publishes it, finds the controller's container in the pivot
+declaration, and from then on talks to the controller through it. A process's bundle is fetched from
+the artifact store, and genesis raises the artifact store only after the pivot.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Raise the artifact store before the pivot**, publish the controller's bundle to it, and talk to
+   the controller from the host's side. Rejected for now: it reorders genesis around a store that is
+   itself a module the controller deploys, and rewrites the steps that talk to the controller — a
+   larger change to the one path that is exercised least, to remove a container that exists for
+   minutes.
+2. **Pivot to the controller as a container, as today, and let the first push hand it over to the
+   process**, through the handover that already exists. Chosen.
+3. **Keep the controller a container.** Rejected: it is the exception to ADR 0188 that every other
+   module's code has now left, and it costs a container runtime on the control machine and a
+   container recreation in the middle of a plan.
+
+## Decision
+
+**Genesis raises the controller as a container, under the resource the controller's process
+`replaces`, and the first declaration the controller composes for its own machine hands it over.**
+The container is genesis's own shape, built from the controller's repository, and is recorded on the
+control machine exactly as the manifest's `replaces` names it, so the first apply after the pivot
+finds a replacement for it and removes it once the process is up. The controller's manifest declares
+only the process; the image form exists for genesis alone and is not a second way to run the
+controller on a live mesh.
+
+This is the one bounded exception to ADR 0188 §1: a module's own code in an image, for the minutes
+between the pivot and the first push, on a mesh being created.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A new mesh ends where a running one is: the controller a process, no controller container.
+- Genesis keeps its steps; what changes is that it no longer reads the controller's container from the
+  manifest, and that it records the container under the name the handover expects.
+- The controller's repository keeps its image build for genesis and the lab.
+- The handover is now on genesis's path too: a process that fails to stay up leaves the genesis
+  container serving, and the apply says so — the same rule as on a live mesh.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+The installer's test raises a mesh whose controller manifest is the process form, and asserts that the
+container genesis recorded is exactly what the process `replaces`, so the first apply hands over and
+leaves one controller. Live, on the running mesh: after the manifest change is pushed, the control
+machine runs the controller as a process and no controller container, and the controller's seat
+answers throughout.
+
+## References
+
+- [Issue 213](../04-ISSUES/213-the-controller-is-a-go-program-run-in-a-container/00-report.md),
+  [issue 223](../04-ISSUES/223-a-new-mesh-installs-its-controller-as-a-container/00-report.md)
+- mesh-host#86 (the handover), mesh-controller#252 (two controllers safe together),
+  mesh-controller#253 (the controller's manifest as a process)

02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md
+---
+
+# 201. A module keeps its current state in key-value buckets it declares, and reaches them through the runtime
+
+## Context
+
+A module's code reaches the bus through the node's runtime: it publishes events, subscribes to them
+and asks tools ([ADR 0198](0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md)).
+Events are kept for a week and replayed to a consumer that was away; requests are kept nowhere. What
+neither gives is **the current value of something**, seen by every machine, including one that joins
+after it was written. The first module to need it — the operator's agent on a machine — registers MCP
+servers for every machine as events, and a machine assigned later never hears of them; and it would
+replay a week of licence rotations where it needs only the binding that holds now. Research
+[024](../01-RESEARCH/024-state-a-module-keeps-on-the-bus/00-overview.md) measured the alternatives and
+the grants against a real server.
+
+[Design 32](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §4 already names *state* as one of the
+mesh's relationships — 1:1, last per subject — and reserves it to the mesh's own declarations.
+[Design 25](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §1 expects key-value buckets on the bus.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Key-value buckets a module declares, created by the controller, reached through the runtime.**
+   Chosen.
+2. **State as events on EVENTS, read last-per-subject.** Rejected: retention is per stream and EVENTS
+   keeps seven days, so a value unchanged for a week disappears; a second stream over the same subjects
+   is refused by the server (design 32 §3). And events give no get, list or delete.
+3. **A last-per-subject stream per module, written by hand.** Rejected: it is what a key-value bucket
+   is on the server, without the client's get, list, delete and watch — the mesh writing NATS's
+   key-value layer again.
+4. **State in a module's own files or database, shared by asking a tool.** Rejected for state every
+   machine must see: a machine joining later has to know whom to ask and poll, and an owner that is
+   down answers nothing — the property the bus exists to remove.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A module declares its state by name.** `state` names the buckets it owns, by local name; every
+instance of the module may write and read them. `reads` names another module's bucket as
+`<module>.<name>`, read-only. A bucket's options are its owner's: how many past values a key keeps,
+and how long a value lives. A manifest names no bucket, stream or subject (design 32 §1).
+
+**2. One bucket per module per name, mesh-wide.** A key may name a machine by the module's own
+convention; the mesh does not scope buckets per machine.
+
+**3. The controller creates the buckets, from the catalogue, on every raise** — from registration,
+like a seat's stream, so a reader can watch a bucket whose owner is not yet assigned anywhere. A module
+never creates one. The runtime's grant on each bucket is the union of what its carried modules may do:
+an owner's instances write and read, a reader's read.
+
+**4. Each assignment is issued its buckets in its membership** ([ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)),
+by the name the module uses for each and whether it may write. The runtime serves `mesh/state.get`,
+`put`, `delete`, `keys` and `watch` on the bundle's channel from that list, and refuses — with the
+reason — a bucket the module was not issued and a write to one it only reads. A watch delivers the
+current values first, without deletions, then an end-of-current marker, then every change, each as a
+`mesh/state` request the bundle answers.
+
+**5. No secret is stored in a bucket, sealed or not.** A bucket is a stream, and design 32 §10 keeps
+every secret off streams. A value that needs a secret names it; the secret travels on request/reply.
+
+**6. The mesh caps size; a bucket outlives its module.** One value per key and no expiry unless the
+owner says otherwise; at most 256 KiB a value and 64 MiB a bucket. Unassigning a module leaves its
+buckets and what is in them ([ADR 0030](0030-data-outlives-the-mesh-that-declared-it.md)); a bucket
+whose declaration is gone from the catalogue is reported, never removed by the mesh.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A machine that joins reads the current state at once, and every machine sees a change as it
+  happens, with no consumer created per reader and nothing replayed.
+- The runtime's channel has a sixth verb family, and the SDKs a small state surface over it — a
+  contract, which ADR 0039 admits: it changes when the verbs do, rarely, and every module should be
+  rebuilt when it does.
+- What got harder: the runtime must keep each module to its own buckets, because one principal per
+  machine carries all of them and the server enforces only the union. A write the server refuses
+  surfaces to a client as a timeout, not a refusal, so the runtime's own refusal is what a module sees.
+- The secrets rule is only partly mechanical. Sealed values cannot be recognised; the runtime refuses
+  a value with a field whose name says it is a credential, which catches the ordinary mistake and not a
+  determined one. For the operator's agent this means an MCP server's authorisation header stays out of
+  its bucket.
+- Buckets accumulate as modules come and go; that they are reported rather than removed is the price
+  of not deleting data.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A manifest's state names are local, and a read names a bucket its owner declares | the catalogue's registration check, per manifest; a catalogue test that every `reads` whose owner is present names a bucket that owner declares |
+| Buckets exist for every declared state | the controller's raise asserts them idempotently; its test over a real bus |
+| Owners write, readers only read | the composer's test of the grants, per principal kind; the runtime's refusal test over a real bus |
+| A watch hands current values first, without deletions, then changes | the runtime's test over a real bus |
+| No credential-named field in a value | the runtime's refusal test |
+| Live | one module puts on one machine and another machine's watch sees it; a machine assigned afterwards reads it at start |
+
+## References
+
+- Research [024](../01-RESEARCH/024-state-a-module-keeps-on-the-bus/00-overview.md)
+- [Design 32](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §4 and §10, [design 25](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §1 and §3
+- [ADR 0030](0030-data-outlives-the-mesh-that-declared-it.md), [ADR 0039](0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md),
+  [ADR 0160](0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md),
+  [ADR 0198](0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md)

02-DECISIONS/0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-02
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0048-a-provider-creates-the-credential-the-mesh-minted.md
+---
+
+# 202. A provider declares what it derives for each consumer, and the mesh tells both ends
+
+> **Written as 0188 on 2026-10-02, renumbered to 0201, and to 0202 on 2026-10-04.** Twice, for the
+> same reason twice: the bundles refactor took 0188 while this waited in a pull request, and the
+> key-value-buckets record took 0201 while this waited again. Both times the number was free when
+> it was chosen and taken by the time this merged. Only the number moved; the decision is the one
+> taken on the 2nd. The check that refuses two records sharing a number is what caught it, both
+> times — a number is how a record is cited, and three repositories cite this one.
+
+## Context
+
+An arrangement between a consumer and a provider is delivered entirely by the mesh. Where the
+provider is, which port it answers on, what name the consumer must present, where its password
+is — each arrives as a fact the consumer reads from its binding, or as `${bound:…}` filled into a
+file before the declaration leaves the control plane. The provider invents none of it and hands
+none of it back ([ADR 0048](0048-a-provider-creates-the-credential-the-mesh-minted.md)).
+
+One kind of value escapes that. Where the **provider names the resource** — a bucket, a database,
+a vhost — the name is derived from the consumer, per consumer, and the mesh has no way to carry
+it. `serves` is a literal block in the provider's definition: the same values for every consumer.
+A provisioner's contract takes a provision and returns nothing. So a value the mesh's own rule
+produced reaches neither end as a statement; it is recomputed at one end and transcribed at the
+other.
+
+The object store is the instance ([issue 124](../04-ISSUES/124-a-consumer-cannot-be-told-what-its-provider-derived/00-report.md)).
+Its provisioner normalises the login the mesh minted into a bucket name and creates, checks and
+removes exactly that; the rule lives in twenty lines of the module's own TypeScript. Its three
+consumers each write the answer into their own definition by hand. Two transcribed it correctly;
+one named a predecessor's bucket, and would have authenticated successfully and been refused on
+every object, which reads like a credential fault and is not one.
+
+Even corrected, the transcriptions are wrong in a second way. Each is `mesh-<node>-<slug>`, so
+each **names the machine the module happens to run on today** — a definition stating a fact about
+one installation, which [ADR 0155](0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)
+forbids and whose check does not catch because the name is not a domain. Move any of the three to
+another machine and its configuration points at a bucket its key cannot open.
+
+The shape is not the object store's. A database provisioner that prefixed names, a queue provider
+that scoped vhosts, any provider that derives a resource from who is asking: each forces the
+consumer to reproduce somebody else's rule and keep it in agreement by hand.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. A served value may name the consumer the mesh is serving.** A `serves` block, which is
+literal today, may interpolate the mesh's own statement of who the consumer is:
+
+- `${consumer:as}` — the identity the mesh minted for this consumer, exactly as the login it is
+  told to present ([ADR 0049](0049-a-consumers-identity-fits-the-tightest-backend.md));
+- `${consumer:as:dns}` — the same identity written as a DNS label.
+
+Nothing else. **The mesh learns no protocol here; it spells its own name in an alphabet it already
+knows.** The identity is the mesh's, minted by the mesh, already capped at twenty characters
+because of what an S3 access key accepts; `dns` is that same name with its separator written `-`
+instead of `_`, which is the whole of the difference between the mesh's identifier alphabet and
+the one buckets, vhosts and hostnames use. A provider that needs a prefix or a suffix writes it
+around the placeholder, because a served value is a string.
+
+The rejected alternative is **the provider returning values from provisioning** — the natural
+channel, since the provider is what derived them. It is rejected for three reasons, in order of
+weight. It inverts the delivery the mesh is built on: a grant would carry data the provider wrote
+rather than only data the mesh minted, and [ADR 0048](0048-a-provider-creates-the-credential-the-mesh-minted.md)
+removed exactly that second path once already. It makes a consumer's declaration incomplete until
+its provider's reconcile loop has run, so a consumer could not be composed before a provider
+answered — a bootstrap order the mesh does not have and does not want. And it puts the rule where
+nothing can check it: a value that arrives from a running process cannot be refused at resolution,
+only discovered wrong later, which is the failure this record exists to end.
+
+**2. The mesh resolves it once, per consumer, and tells both ends from the one resolution.** At the
+moment a consumer's declaration is composed, the mesh knows exactly who the consumer is. There, and
+only there, the placeholders are filled. The result reaches:
+
+- the **consumer**, as the served facts in its binding file and as `${bound:<provision>:<key>}` in
+  any file it writes — unchanged mechanisms, carrying one more key;
+- the **provider**, as `serves` on that consumer's entry in its contributions file, so the
+  provisioner is *told* the name rather than recomputing it.
+
+**The provider stops deriving in code and starts declaring.** One statement, filled once, delivered
+to both ends: the two cannot disagree, because there is no second computation to disagree with.
+
+**3. A served value stays settled before it is per-consumer.** Settings still compose into `serves`
+([ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)), and the consumer
+placeholders are filled after that, so an operator may set a prefix and the mesh still derives the
+rest. A `${consumer:…}` naming a fact or an alphabet the mesh does not have is refused when the
+definition is parsed, with what it may say.
+
+**4. A consumer may no longer name the resource its provider derives.** With the value delivered,
+a literal in a consumer's definition is not merely redundant — it is the one thing that can
+disagree with what the provider will actually create. The three object-store consumers lose their
+hand-written bucket names in this change.
+
+**5. A consumer that keeps several holders of one provision may not be served a derived value.**
+Each holder gets its own login, `…_<local>` ([ADR 0094](0094-a-module-may-hold-several-secrets-from-one-provider.md)),
+and a provider derives from the login — so it would make one resource per holder, while the
+consumer's side has one binding and one `${bound:<provision>:<key>}`, both derived from the
+un-suffixed identity. That is this record's own failure one case to the side, and just as quiet:
+the consumer would authenticate and be refused on every object. Refused at resolution, naming
+both ends. Lifting it means giving the consumer's side a local dimension, which is a decision and
+not an omission.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- One more thing a definition may say, and one less thing a module may be wrong about. The
+  vocabulary grows by a placeholder; the catalogue loses three literals that named this
+  installation's control node.
+- A provider's naming rule becomes readable in its definition instead of in its source. `minio`'s
+  `bucketFor` goes; the manifest says `"bucket": "${consumer:as:dns}"` and the provisioner uses
+  what it is given.
+- A provider that already serves consumers keeps serving them: the derived value equals what the
+  code derived, so no bucket, database or login changes name. This is a change of **who says it**,
+  not of **what is said**.
+- A refusal here fails **that machine's push**, naming the definition, and nothing else. That is
+  deliberate and is the opposite of a module quietly left out: a definition that transcribes
+  somebody else's rule is wrong everywhere, not just here, and the loud failure is in front of
+  whoever can fix it.
+- The mesh now holds a rule in another system's alphabet — one rule, `dns`, stated once. A second
+  alphabet is a decision, not an addition: the cost of each is that the mesh must be right about
+  somebody else's naming, and that cost is only worth paying where the mesh already mints the name.
+
+## How this is checked
+
+- A served value naming an unknown fact or alphabet is refused at parse, with the list of what it
+  may say — tested on both halves of the message.
+- Resolving a consumer whose provider derives a value puts that value in the consumer's binding
+  file, in its `${bound:…}` substitutions, and in the provider's contributions entry for that
+  consumer — one test asserting the three agree, because agreeing is the whole point.
+- Two consumers of one provider on one machine get two different derived values, and neither gets
+  the other's.
+- A consumer with several holders of a deriving provider is refused, with both ends named — the
+  test asserts the refusal, not merely that something failed.
+- A catalogue-wide test refuses a consumer definition that writes a literal where its provider
+  derives: the provider's `serves` names the key, so the catalogue can say which definitions
+  transcribe one.
+- `dns` is checked against the identity the mesh actually mints, not against an invented string:
+  the test derives an identity with `ConsumerIdentity` and asserts the label it becomes.
+
+## References
+
+- [issue 124 — a consumer cannot be told a value its provider derived for it](../04-ISSUES/124-a-consumer-cannot-be-told-what-its-provider-derived/00-report.md)
+- [ADR 0048 — a provider creates the credential the mesh minted, and seals nothing](0048-a-provider-creates-the-credential-the-mesh-minted.md)
+- [ADR 0049 — a consumer's identity fits the tightest backend](0049-a-consumers-identity-fits-the-tightest-backend.md)
+- [ADR 0174 — a node varies a module through settings and kept regions, never through an edit](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)
+- [ADR 0155 — a definition names no installation, and how that is checked](0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)
+- [design 27 — a module requires, the mesh resolves](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/27-a-module-requires-the-mesh-resolves.md)

02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md

@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+---
+
+# 203. The account's environment is one module's, and every module contributes to it
+
+## Context
+
+A variable or a `PATH` entry is a fact about the operator's account. A toolchain needs its directory
+on `PATH`, a version manager needs a variable naming its directory, an agent needs a variable that
+turns one of its behaviours off, and the shell sets an editor. Today every one of these is a line of
+one shell's syntax in one hand-written startup file. [Research 025](../01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md)
+measured on four machines:
+
+- about a quarter of the 65 lines a workstation runs at shell start are environment;
+- written into `.zshrc`, that environment reaches only interactive zsh. It misses the login shell's
+  `execute` verb ([ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md)),
+  every script, and every program a graphical session starts;
+- the service manager's place for the account's environment, `~/.config/environment.d/`, holds
+  nothing on any machine.
+
+The shell module as first written carried some of these lines in its own block and dropped the rest.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Each module writes its own lines into the shell's startup file.** Rejected: one shell's syntax,
+   read by one kind of start, and the same lines rewritten by every shell module.
+2. **Contribute the facts to the login shell, whose holder renders them.** Rejected: the environment
+   then depends on which module holds the shell, every shell module renders the same facts again, and
+   the graphical session sees nothing.
+3. **Option 2, and the service manager's holder renders the same facts a second time** into
+   `environment.d`. Rejected: one fact set with two owners, whose renderings can disagree, and a
+   duty for the service manager unrelated to managing services.
+4. **One file in `environment.d` syntax, sourced by shells.** Rejected: that syntax is close to
+   POSIX assignment but not equal, and a value one reader accepts breaks the other.
+5. **Shells read the service manager's environment generator.** Rejected: every shell start then
+   runs a process and depends on the service manager, and the output is unquoted.
+6. **A module of its own holds the environment.** One mesh seat, held by one module per node,
+   whose files are the account's environment. Every module contributes facts to it, and those facts
+   are written in each reader's format. Chosen. It was the operator's proposal.
+
+Within option 6, two ways to write the files:
+
+- **a. The holder's own code renders what it receives.** This was research 025's starting position.
+  Rejected: the code needs something to run it whenever a contribution changes, and the result exists
+  only after a machine has applied and run it.
+- **b. The controller renders the facts into the holder's files,** in two named formats, at
+  composition. Chosen. The result is in the declaration before any machine applies it, nothing has to
+  trigger anything, and the two formats are standards: POSIX shell assignment and the service
+  manager's `environment.d`. The controller learns no shell. It writes an assignment in a standard
+  syntax, as it already writes a fail2ban stanza a module supplied.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. The environment is a node seat, `node-environment`, in the mesh's own set.** One module per node
+holds it, and it is the only writer of the account's environment. The first holder is a module of its
+own (working name `node-env`), with no package and no process.
+
+**2. Any module contributes to it with `environment`:**
+
+- **`variables`:** names and values. A name is a POSIX variable name and never `PATH`. A value is
+  literal; it may use `${machine:…}`, resolved first, and may not contain `$`, a quote, a backslash or
+  a line break. The only expansion is the mesh's own, so the two formats cannot read one value
+  differently.
+- **`path`:** entries, each placed at the `start` or the `end` of the account's `PATH`.
+
+**3. The holder places the rendered environment with two placeholders** in its own files:
+
+- **`${environment:posix}`** renders lines a POSIX shell sources:
+  - every variable exported;
+  - every `PATH` entry added only if missing, so sourcing twice changes nothing.
+- **`${environment:systemd}`** renders the same facts as the service manager's user environment, with
+  the account's existing `PATH` kept between the start and the end entries.
+
+Each rendered line names the module that contributed it, so the file answers *where did this come
+from*. Contributions are ordered by module name, and then in the order a module declared them.
+
+**4. The seat's protocol fixes where the POSIX file is:** `~/.config/mesh/environment.sh` under the
+account's home. A shell sources that path without knowing which module wrote it. The service
+manager's file is `~/.config/environment.d/50-mesh.conf`.
+
+**5. Refused at composition:**
+
+- two modules on one node setting the same variable, both named;
+- an environment placeholder in a module that does not claim `node-environment`.
+
+A node with contributions and no holder writes them nowhere. The holder's absence is visible in the
+node's assignments, and no contributor is refused for it, because a missing `PATH` entry is a gap, not
+a broken machine.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A shell's part in the environment is one line in its always-read startup file, sourcing the
+  POSIX file. A second shell module writes the same line in its own syntax, and no contributor
+  changes when the login shell does.
+- The graphical session sees the same `PATH` as the terminal, from the same facts.
+- The controller gains one gathered field and two renderers. Both are tested byte for byte, like
+  the jails a node composes ([to-be 31](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md)).
+- What a person sets for themselves stays theirs: variables of their own sit in their own lines of
+  their shell's file, read after the mesh's.
+- **What got harder:** a value that needs another variable expanded (`$HOME`, `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME`)
+  must be written with the mesh's own `${machine:…}` facts, or it is refused. Expansion at shell start
+  is exactly what made one value mean two things in two readers.
+- Once [issue 168](../04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md)
+  closes, a value a person varies becomes a setting of the module that contributes it
+  ([ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)).
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Both renderings, byte for byte, from a fixed set of contributions | the controller's environment tests |
+| Sourcing the POSIX rendering twice leaves `PATH` unchanged | the same tests, running `sh` over the rendering |
+| A variable set by two modules is refused, naming both | the controller's resolve test |
+| An environment placeholder outside the holder is refused | the catalogue check, which registration runs |
+| A value with `$`, a quote, a backslash or a line break is refused | the manifest's parse test |
+| The zsh holder sources the path the seat fixes | the catalogue's zsh test |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 025](../01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md)
+- [ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md),
+  [ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md),
+  [ADR 0177](0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md),
+  [ADR 0182](0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
+- [To-be 41](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)

02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md

@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+---
+
+# 204. A module contributes shell code to the login shell in named slots, and the login shell is the mesh's seat
+
+## Context
+
+Some of what a shell runs at start is code in that shell's own syntax, and it belongs to other
+modules:
+
+- a prompt theme loads itself and its configuration;
+- plugins load themselves;
+- a version manager sources its loader.
+
+Order matters: a prompt's instant-prompt cache must run first, and syntax highlighting last. The
+predecessor kept all of this in one file per machine, and installed the theme and plugins by cloning
+them in a hook.
+[Research 025](../01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md) measured that file
+as byte-identical on four machines. It carries:
+
+- the shell's defaults;
+- code belonging to four other pieces of software;
+- a handful of the operator's own lines.
+
+Nothing gave the other pieces a way in.
+
+Two further facts bear on the seat itself:
+
+- **The seat is declared by the zsh module** ([ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md)
+  §1, under [ADR 0126](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md)). The controller refuses a second
+  module declaring a seat name, so fish or bash could only ever claim it, and the seat exists only
+  while zsh's definition is registered.
+- **The kept region is the other way round.** [ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)
+  describes a kept region as a marked block holding the operator's lines. The host built the inverse:
+  the mesh's region is the marked block, and every byte outside it is kept, verified unchanged, and
+  given back when the module goes.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **A drop-in directory** that each module places a file in, and the shell sources. Rejected: every
+   contributor names a path inside the shell module's territory
+   ([ADR 0112](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md)); order becomes a naming
+   convention nothing checks; and nothing ties the file to the shell actually being the one it is
+   written for.
+2. **Facts the holder renders**, through `contributes` / `receives`. Rejected: code is not a fact,
+   and the holder would only paste it.
+3. **Code contributed for a named shell in a named slot, assembled by the controller into the
+   holder's file.** This is what the controller already does for fail2ban jails: each module supplies
+   text in the tool's own format, and the controller sorts and concatenates it into the holder's file
+   without interpreting it. Chosen.
+
+For order, numbers (`10`, `50`, `90`) were rejected: every contributor guesses one, and collisions are
+silent. **Three named slots** were chosen: `first`, `normal`, `last`.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. `node-login-shell` is a node seat in the mesh's own set,** with the verb `execute`. It replaces
+the module-declared `login-shell`. Everything else ADR 0176 decided stands: the holder sets the
+account's login shell through the `user` shape, `execute` is the contract, and any node may call it.
+A shell module claims the seat; none declares it.
+
+**2. Any module contributes shell code with `shell`:** entries naming the shell they are for (`zsh`,
+`bash`, `fish`), the slot, and the code. The controller does not read the code.
+
+**3. The holder places the code with placeholders** in its own files: `${shell:<shell>:<slot>}`. Each
+is filled with that shell's code for that slot, from every module on the node:
+
+- ordered by module name;
+- each piece preceded by a line naming its module;
+- empty when nothing is contributed.
+
+A shell-code placeholder in a module that does not claim `node-login-shell` is refused.
+
+**4. The holder's duties, which are the seat's protocol:**
+
+- Source the account's environment ([ADR 0203](0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md))
+  from the startup file every start of that shell reads. For zsh that is `.zshenv`, which a script, a
+  login and `execute` all read.
+- Write its interactive block at the **start** of the interactive startup file, so the operator's own
+  lines run after the mesh's and win.
+- Run `execute` as a non-interactive login shell in the account's home:
+  - bounded below the runtime's call limit;
+  - its output bounded;
+  - its whole process group ended on timeout.
+
+**5. The marked block is the mesh's; everything outside it is the operator's.** This is how ADR 0174's
+"kept region" is built. That record keeps its decision and gains a note saying where the mechanism
+lives.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A prompt, a plugin and a version manager are each a module with its own package or archive, its own
+  configuration file, and a contribution. Assigning one adds its line to the shell, and unassigning it
+  takes the line away at the next composition.
+- Assigning the shell module loses nothing the machine does today:
+  - what is common to every machine becomes the shell module's default or another module's
+    contribution;
+  - what is the operator's stays below the block.
+- **The one-off migration is a person's act**, listed in the shell module's documentation
+  ([ADR 0182](0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)):
+  delete the lines the block now carries from the found file.
+- `login-shell.execute` becomes `node-login-shell.execute`. Nothing has called it yet; the shell
+  module was never assigned.
+- **What got harder:** a module wanting a line in the shell must say which shell and which slot, and a
+  module supporting three shells writes its code three times. That is the honest cost of code in
+  three syntaxes.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| Code lands in its slot, in module order, only for its shell | the controller's shell-contribution tests |
+| A shell-code placeholder outside the holder is refused | the catalogue check |
+| `node-login-shell` is the mesh's, and no module may declare it | the seat table's tests |
+| The zsh block sits at the start, sources the environment from `.zshenv`, and holds the three slots | the catalogue's zsh test |
+| `execute` is bounded in time and output and kills its process group | the zsh module's tool tests over real child processes |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 025](../01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md)
+- [ADR 0174](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md),
+  [ADR 0176](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md),
+  [ADR 0203](0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md),
+  [to-be 31](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md)
+- [To-be 41](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)

02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+---
+
+# 205. Software the distribution does not package ships as a pinned archive of the module's own
+
+## Context
+
+The prompt theme the operator uses is not in the distribution's repositories. Its two plugins and an
+autocomplete plugin are. The predecessor installed all four by running `git clone` against their
+upstream repositories from an install hook. That way:
+
+- the version on a machine was whatever upstream's default branch held the day the hook ran;
+- two machines set up a week apart could differ;
+- a machine with no route to upstream failed its install.
+
+The mesh already has a pinned, delivered form for a module's own files: an **archive artifact** built
+from a directory of the module's source, delivered by the artifact store, unpacked by the host's
+`archive` resource, and pinned by digest. One showcase module uses it.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Clone from upstream on the machine,** as the predecessor did. Rejected: unpinned, unreproducible,
+   and it needs upstream reachable from every machine.
+2. **Build from the distribution's user repository.** Rejected: the host installs packages from the
+   distribution's own repositories. A user-repository build is a toolchain on every machine for one
+   theme.
+3. **Vendor a pinned upstream release into the module's directory and ship it as the module's archive
+   artifact.** Chosen. The release and its version are named in the module, its licence travels with
+   it, and every machine gets the same bytes from the mesh's own store.
+
+## Decision
+
+**A module whose software the distribution does not package carries a pinned upstream release in its
+own source directory and ships it as an archive artifact.**
+
+- The module's documentation names the upstream, the version and the licence.
+- The host unpacks it with the `archive` resource into a directory the module owns.
+- An upgrade is a change to the module, reviewed like any other.
+
+Software the distribution *does* package is installed as a package; a vendored copy of it is
+refused in review.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The catalogue grows by the size of what it vendors: 1.4 MB for the prompt theme at the pinned
+  release.
+- Upstream's security fixes reach a machine only when somebody updates the module. That is the same
+  trade every pinned dependency makes, and it is visible: the version is in the module.
+- **What got harder:** a vendored program that downloads more at run time, as the prompt theme does
+  for its git status helper, still fetches that part from upstream on first use. This record pins
+  what the mesh ships, not what the software fetches for itself. The module's documentation says so.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The archive is pinned by digest | the host's declaration validation, which refuses an archive without one |
+| The upstream, version and licence are named | review of the module's documentation; the module's test asserts the licence file is in the archive |
+| Packaged software is not vendored | review |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0204](0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md)
+- [To-be 41](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)

02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md

@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md
+---
+
+# 206. A node reports the Anthropic grant it holds; the licence manager adopts a licence by refreshing it, and what each node should hold is the manager's state
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0183](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md)
+made the licence manager a module holding the `anthropic-licence-manager` seat: one rotation source, the
+long-lived grants in its own store, a short-lived token handed to a node sealed on request/reply, the
+agent module alone writing what the agent reads. How the manager *learns* a licence, and who starts each
+exchange, it left to a later shape, and three texts have since disagreed: ADR 0183 has a node register
+its key and the manager adopt a login only into a licence the node is already bound to; its dated note
+of 2026-10-03 has the manager start every exchange and visit every node on a schedule; the agent module
+as built asks the seat for its token when an event says to, and pushes a login to the seat.
+
+**The operator settled it on 2026-10-04, in the operator's own words:** the manager must hold the active refresh token;
+whichever node a login happened on holds the latest one; every client publishes what its credentials
+file holds, the manager sees a licence it does not own yet and takes it into its store, and from then on
+rotates it and distributes the access token. A manager launched for the first time holds no licence and
+accepts what the clients report. Several nodes report the same account — today the nodes are all logged in
+to one personal account — and before the manager adopts a grant it must know the refresh token still
+works.
+
+Two facts bound how that is built:
+
+- **A refresh token cannot be published.** Anything published on the bus is kept, and a secret never
+  enters a stream, sealed or not ([design 32](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §10).
+  A module's state is a stream too, and the runtime refuses a value carrying a field named like a
+  credential ([ADR 0201](0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md);
+  refused live on 2026-10-04 for an `Authorization` header).
+- **A refresh token can only be checked by using it.** No endpoint answers "is this refresh token
+  valid" without exchanging it, and an exchange is presumed to rotate it (ADR 0183: the predecessor
+  lost a licence to a reused one). Checking and adopting are therefore one act, and whoever checks
+  becomes the token's only live holder.
+
+Since ADR 0201 the bus has the shape this needs: **state** every node sees, including one that joins
+later or a manager that starts later, read whole on start and then watched.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Each node publishes its credentials file, the token included.** What the operator described,
+   literally. Rejected for the token only: it would sit in a stream every principal that reads the
+   bucket can read, for as long as the bucket keeps it, and the runtime refuses it anyway.
+2. **The manager visits every node on a schedule and collects a waiting login** (ADR 0183's dated
+   note). Rejected: the manager must know every node in advance and poll it, a node that joins later
+   waits for the next visit, and "what does each node hold" lives nowhere anyone can read.
+3. **Each node reports what it holds as state, without the secret; the manager asks for the secret
+   only when the report shows a grant it does not hold, and adopts by refreshing.** Chosen: the
+   operator's flow, with the one part that cannot be on the bus moved onto request/reply.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Every agent module reports what its node holds, as its own state.** One key per node in the
+module's `holdings` state: the account's identity as the agent's own state file names it (account id,
+address, organisation), the kind, the refresh token's **fingerprint** and whether one is present at
+all, the access token's fingerprint and expiry, the licence it was last handed, and when the credentials
+file last changed. Written when the module starts — a node already logged in when the module is first
+assigned reports at once — and again whenever the credentials file changes. **No token, ever**: a
+fingerprint names a token without being one.
+
+**2. A licence is an account, and the manager learns it from the reports.** The manager reads every
+node's `holdings` at start and watches them. A report carrying a refresh token whose fingerprint the
+manager does not hold is a **candidate**: for an account it has no licence for yet, a new licence; for
+one it has, a login made since. A manager launched for the first time holds no licence and treats
+every report as a candidate. An API key still enters only through the seat's `adopt` verb, from a file
+on the manager's node.
+
+**3. The secret travels only when asked for.** For a candidate, the manager calls that node's agent
+module on request/reply, giving its own public key, and is answered with the grant sealed to that key
+(ADR 0183's channel, unchanged).
+
+**4. Adopting is refreshing.** The manager exchanges the candidate's refresh token at the vendor's
+endpoint under its lease for that account. If the exchange succeeds, the grant it got back is the
+licence's, stored encrypted, and the manager is from then on its only rotation source. If it fails, the
+candidate is recorded dead, nothing is adopted, and the report says so. **Several nodes, one account:**
+candidates for one account are tried newest login first; the first that refreshes is adopted, and the
+manager does not exchange the others.
+
+**5. A node holds an access token only, so the latest login wins.** A node bound to an adopted licence
+is handed the access token and nothing else, and the agent module writes the credentials file without a
+refresh token — so the agent on the node can never refresh it, and two refreshers never hold one grant.
+A refresh token appearing in a node's file afterwards can therefore only be a person's login there; its
+report makes it a candidate, and if it refreshes it replaces the licence's grant. That is the operator's
+"whichever node a login happened on holds the latest one", made mechanical.
+
+**6. What each consumer should hold is the manager's state.** One key per consumer in the manager's
+`bindings` state: the licence, its kind, and a **generation** that increases with every rotation and
+every switch. The agent module watches its own key; when the generation is newer than the one it
+applied, it asks the seat's `current` verb for the token, sending its public key, and is answered sealed
+(request/reply). A node that was away reads its key when it is back and asks once. The `licence.rotated`
+and `licence.switched` events go: what they announced is now the state itself, and a node needs the
+latest, not the history.
+
+**7. A first binding follows the login.** When the manager adopts a licence from a node's report, a
+node with no binding yet whose report names that account is bound to it. Every later change is a
+person's act through `bind`, `switch` and `release`, as ADR 0183 says.
+
+**8. The identity guard stands, on two sources.** The account a grant is filed under is the identity
+the node read from the agent's own state. Where the vendor's answer to the refresh names the account,
+the manager compares the two and refuses a mismatch with a notification; whether it names it is
+measured when the manager is built, and the record of which source decided is kept in the audit.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The manager needs no configuration to start: launched on a mesh whose nodes are logged in, it adopts
+  every account they hold, one licence each, from the newest login that still refreshes.
+- Every node's holding is readable by anyone allowed to read the state — the console, an agent, the
+  operator — without a token in sight, which is what `licence_status` on each node answered one at a
+  time.
+- **What got harder:** adoption consumes the refresh token the node held. On a node whose grant was
+  adopted, the agent's own copy is dead from that moment; until the manager hands it an access token
+  (decision 6), the agent keeps the access token it already had, which lives hours. And a node whose
+  file still holds a refresh token after adoption — it was not handed one yet — is a second holder of a
+  dead grant, not a live one, so the rotation-source rule holds.
+- A candidate whose refresh fails is not retried by the manager: a dead refresh token does not come
+  back. A person logs in again, and the new report is a new candidate.
+- Nothing in the reports is secret, but they do say which account each node uses; readers of the state
+  are declared in manifests like any other.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| No report carries a token | the runtime refuses a credential-named field (ADR 0201's test); the agent module's test: a report built from a full credentials file holds fingerprints and identity only |
+| A node already logged in reports at start | the agent module's test: with a credentials file present and unchanged, starting writes its `holdings` key |
+| A candidate is adopted only by a successful refresh, newest login first, once per account | the manager's tests against a stub vendor: two reports for one account, the newer refreshes and is adopted, the older is never exchanged; a failing refresh adopts nothing and records the candidate dead |
+| A node is handed an access token only | the agent module's test: the file it writes after a hand-over holds no refresh token |
+| A newer generation is fetched once, by request | the agent module's test: a `bindings` change with a newer generation asks `current` once; an equal one asks nothing |
+| No event carries a token, and none announces a rotation any more | the manager's test of everything it publishes |
+| Live | the manager launched with no licence on a mesh whose four nodes are logged in to one account adopts one licence, binds the four nodes, and each node's file then holds an access token and no refresh token |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0183](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md) — the manager, its seat and its channel, which this extends
+- [ADR 0201](0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md) — module state, and the refusal of a secret in it
+- [design 32](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md) §10 — no secret in a stream
+- [to-be 36](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md), [to-be 39](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md) — the two modules, amended by this record

02-DECISIONS/0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md

@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+---
+topic: the mesh
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+---
+
+# 207. A module depends on the node seats that apply its resources
+
+## Context
+
+A module declares resources: packages, services, containers, files. Some of those are applied
+through software on the machine that is itself a module:
+
+- a service through the service manager;
+- a package through the package manager;
+- a container through the container runtime.
+
+Until now nothing said so. A module carried a *capability* such as `service-manager` or
+`package-manager`, which the host detects on the machine. A capability says the software is
+installed. It does not say that a module of the mesh holds the role and answers for it.
+
+The cost showed on 2026-10-04:
+
+- **A networking module declared the service manager's own package.** The controller allows one
+  declaration of a resource per node, so the module that *is* the service manager could not declare
+  its package and had been written without it. The networking module's real relation to the service
+  manager, that it needs one held on its node, was nowhere.
+- **The container runtime** has had this decided for its own case since ADR 0165 and ADR 0166
+  (proposed): a module that delivers a container needs the runtime seat held on its machine, derived
+  from the container resource, with no manifest field.
+- **The operator's order for building the machines' modules** (to-be 42) is *the most core first*.
+  That is an order the mesh should enforce, not one a person should remember.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+1. **Keep capabilities as the only gate.** Rejected: a capability is a fact about the machine, not
+   about the mesh. Software installed by hand satisfies it, and nothing then answers for it.
+2. **A manifest field per module naming the seats it needs.** Rejected: a module would restate what
+   its resources already say, and a module that adds a service but forgets the field passes.
+3. **Derive the dependency from the resources,** as ADR 0165 already does for containers, and refuse
+   an assignment whose seats are not held on the node. Chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. Three node seats apply resources,** each in the mesh's own set:
+
+| resource | applied through | seat | first holder |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| `service` | the service manager | `node-service-manager` (ADR 0177) | `systemd` |
+| `package` | the package manager | `node-package-manager` (new) | `pacman` |
+| `container` | the container runtime | `node-container-runtime` (ADR 0166) | `docker` |
+
+`node-package-manager` is new and has no verbs yet. `node-container-runtime` is seeded now as ADR 0166
+names it. Its verbs, and the host creating containers through its holder, stay with that record's
+acceptance.
+
+**2. A module depends on each seat its resources need.** The controller derives this from the
+resource types the module declares. A module never states it.
+
+**3. A dependency is met when any module assigned to the same node holds the seat,** the module
+itself included. The holders of these seats declare resources of each other's kinds: the service
+manager's package needs the package manager, and the package manager's timer needs the service
+manager. They are therefore judged as the node's whole set of assignments, never one at a time.
+
+**4. Where it is checked:**
+
+- **At `assign`,** an assignment whose dependencies are unmet by the node's assignments, including the
+  new one, is refused. The refusal names each seat and the modules in the catalogue that can hold it.
+- **At composition,** an unmet dependency on a node is **reported** in `status` until the three holders
+  are assigned to every node. Then it is **refused** like any unresolved requirement. The switch is one
+  line in the controller, made when `status` reports none.
+
+**5. The mesh's own foundation is exempt.** These are the pieces genesis lays before any module exists:
+the host, the private network and the bootstrap runtime. Their declarations are the installation's,
+not a module's.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- The order of to-be 42 becomes the mesh's: `systemd`, `pacman` and `docker` on a node before
+  anything that installs, runs or contains.
+- **Two modules no longer declare one shared package to say they need it.** A component's module
+  (networkd's) declares what it configures and depends on the seat. The component's own package
+  belongs to the module that holds the seat.
+- Capabilities stay what they are, facts about the machine, used where a module needs the machine to
+  be able to do something.
+- **What got harder:** a module can no longer be tried on a node that lacks the core three. That is
+  the point.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The dependency is derived from resources: a service, a package and a container each need their seat | the controller's resolve tests |
+| A node whose assignments hold the seats passes; one missing a holder is refused at `assign`, naming the seat and its possible holders | the same tests, and `assign` live |
+| Mutual dependencies among the holders resolve when they are assigned together | the same tests |
+| Until the switch, an unmet dependency is reported in `status` and does not refuse a push | the controller's status test |
+| Foundation declarations are exempt | the composition test with genesis's declarations |
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0165](0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md),
+  [ADR 0166](0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md),
+  [ADR 0177](0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)
+- [To-be 42](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/42-the-machines-modules-in-order.md)

02-DECISIONS/0208-the-graphical-session-is-one-module-per-piece-on-the-meshs-seats.md

@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+---
+topic: what runs on it
+status: accepted
+date: 2026-10-04
+deciders: jochen
+reconstructed: false
+extends: 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+---
+
+# 208. The graphical session is one module per piece, on the mesh's seats
+
+## Context
+
+The two workstations run one predecessor desktop
+([research 026](../01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/00-overview.md)). It was a module of
+983 lines with four flavors and 92 theme variables. One of its machines carried another machine model's
+hardware files, and its session's environment was a hand-kept copy of the account's. The operator asked
+for the desktop as modules at the shell's level, consistent across machines, with sway as a sibling of i3.
+To-be 38 named this WP7, and to-be 37 left one question for the resolver: how a module says it needs a
+display server held on its node.
+
+## Considered Options
+
+- **One desktop module, as before** (research 026 §1, G1). Rejected: flavors again, and the evidence is
+  a flavor on the wrong machine.
+- **One module per piece of software.** Chosen.
+- **For "i3 needs an X server" (research 026 §3):**
+  - a new field (R2), rejected as a second way to say what provisions already say;
+  - assigning carefully (R3), rejected because that is the misassignment the evidence shows;
+  - **a provision with the machine's reach** (R1), chosen.
+- **For other modules' lines in a holder's file (research 026 §5):**
+  - only drop-ins (C1), rejected because two files the session needs have no drop-in convention;
+  - only slots (C2), rejected as needless where the tool already reads a directory;
+  - **both, the boundary drawn by the tool** (C3), chosen.
+
+## Decision
+
+**1. One module per piece of software:** `lemurs`, `xorg`, `i3`, `xterm`, `picom`, `rofi`, `dmenu`,
+`dunst`, the lock screen, `xclip`, the clipboard manager, `feh`, `i3status-rust`, a theme module,
+`fonts`, `gnome-keyring`, and later `sway`, `foot`, `waybar` and `mako`. No flavors. What follows a
+machine's hardware is that model's hardware module (research 027/03).
+
+**2. The roles are node seats in the mesh's own set,** each with the verbs research 026/05 starts it with:
+
+| seat | holders | verbs to start with |
+|---|---|---|
+| `node-login-manager` | lemurs | `sessions` |
+| `node-display-server` | xorg, sway | `displays`, `layout` |
+| `node-display-session` | i3, sway | `reload`, `workspaces`, `windows` |
+| `node-terminal-emulator` | xterm, foot | `open` |
+| `node-launcher` | rofi, dmenu | `menu`, the dmenu-compatible command |
+| `node-notifier` | dunst, mako | `send`, `history` |
+| `node-lock-screen` | the lock module, swaylock | `lock` |
+| `node-clipboard` | the clipboard manager | `history`, `copy` |
+| `node-bar`, `node-compositor` | i3status-rust, waybar; picom | none yet |
+| `node-secret-service` | gnome-keyring | none yet |
+
+A compositor that is its own server holds two seats, as sway does.
+
+**3. A display is a provision with the machine's reach.**
+
+- A display server provides `x11-display` or `wayland-display`, reachable only on its own machine.
+- A module that draws on a display requires the one it speaks: i3, picom, xterm and the X lock require
+  `x11-display`; sway's companions require `wayland-display`.
+- A requirement with the machine's reach is resolved on the requiring module's own node, or not at
+  all, and is refused naming the seat's holders.
+- `xwayland`, as its own module, provides `x11-display` inside a Wayland session.
+
+This answers to-be 37 §4 by reusing provisions and reach rather than a new field. A capability the host
+reports, `graphical-session`, still gates the display server itself.
+
+**4. Other modules contribute to a holder's file in the tool's own grain.**
+
+- Where the tool reads a directory, the contributor places its own file there:
+  - i3's `include` directory;
+  - dunst's `dunstrc.d`;
+  - XDG autostart;
+  - `environment.d`;
+  - fontconfig's `conf.d`;
+  - ssh's `config.d`;
+  - the login manager's session directory.
+- Where it does not, **ADR 0204's slots serve beyond shells.** A `shell` contribution's `for` may also
+  name:
+  - `xinitrc`: POSIX code the session's start runs;
+  - `xresources`: X resources merged at session start.
+
+  The holder of `node-display-server` places them with `${shell:xinitrc:<slot>}` and
+  `${shell:xresources:<slot>}`.
+
+**5. The display server's module writes the session's start.** It writes a block at the start of
+`~/.xinitrc`, in this order:
+
+1. it sources the account's environment (ADR 0203);
+2. it imports the session's own variables into the user manager and D-Bus activation, by an explicit
+   list;
+3. it merges the X resources;
+4. it runs the `xinitrc` slots;
+5. it ends by starting the session holder's command, which the session module contributes in the
+   `last` slot.
+
+The desktop's identity and the theme variables are environment contributions of the session and
+theme modules. The hand-kept environment in today's file goes, and so does the predecessor's file of
+secrets (research 027 question 2).
+
+**6. Per-machine values:**
+
+- Monitor layouts are profiles keyed by the monitors' identities (research 026/04). They are the
+  operator's data, and the display server's `layout` verb manages them.
+- DPI and theme values are module defaults now, and settings after issue 168.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- A workstation's desktop is a list of assignments, the same on both. The one machine model's
+  hardware is one more assignment.
+- The X stack is built first, and sway is designed in from the start.
+- The controller learns:
+  - the eleven seats;
+  - provisions with the machine's reach;
+  - two more names for a contribution's `for`.
+- **What got harder:** a module that draws must say which display it speaks, and one that wants both
+  ships twice.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Rule | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| The seats are in the mesh's own set, refused to any module that declares them | the seat table's tests |
+| A machine-reach requirement resolves on its own node only, refused naming the holders | the controller's resolve tests |
+| `xinitrc` and `xresources` slots are placed only by the display server's holder | the catalogue check |
+| The session block sources the environment, merges resources, runs the slots and ends with the session | the `xorg` module's manifest test, and on the proving workstation |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 026](../01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/00-overview.md), its 02, 04 and 05
+- [ADR 0203](0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md),
+  [ADR 0204](0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md),
+  [ADR 0207](0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md)
+- [To-be 42](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/42-the-machines-modules-in-order.md)

02-DECISIONS/README.md

@@ -182,7 +182,16 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py            fail if stale
 - **0169** — [A machine joins through the tunnel, and the bus is never public](0169-a-machine-joins-through-the-tunnel-and-the-bus-is-never-public.md)
 - **0170** — [The firewall seat serves its verbs, and a foreign rule set is removed through one of them](0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)
 - **0172** — [The lab is a module, and runs a bed when the mesh asks](0172-the-lab-is-a-module-and-runs-a-bed-when-the-mesh-asks.md)
-- **0175** — [The found front end is uninstalled once a machine is converged](0175-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md)
+- **0179** — [The intrusion seat serves its verbs, a container may log to the journal, and every door declares its jail](0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md)
+- **0180** — [The found front end is uninstalled once a machine is converged](0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md)
+- **0184** — [A service the mesh asked to run is still running a moment later](0184-a-service-the-mesh-asked-to-run-is-still-running-a-moment-later.md)
+- **0185** — [A control plane behind its seat's row serves what it can](0185-a-control-plane-behind-its-seats-row-serves-what-it-can.md)
+- **0186** — [A ban list never holds a neighbour, and the mesh's own bans are its own wherever they hang](0186-a-ban-list-never-holds-a-neighbour.md)
+- **0187** — [A dead tracker is not the machine's failure](0187-a-dead-tracker-is-not-the-machines-failure.md)
+- **0189** — [The store keeps what the records name, and a maintenance step holds its writers still](0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md)
+- **0190** — [A seat's work is shared by its holders, and building is the first such role](0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md)
+- **0202** — [A provider declares what it derives for each consumer, and the mesh tells both ends](0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md)
+- **0207** — [A module depends on the node seats that apply its resources](0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md)
 
 ### Its tiers, from the bottom up
 
@@ -216,6 +225,9 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py            fail if stale
 - **0126** — [A module declares its own seats; the mesh reserves its own](0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md)
 - **0148** — [The mesh's names are resolved, not copied into every container](0148-the-meshs-names-are-resolved-not-copied-into-containers.md)
 - **0151** — [A route's internal name is composed under the node that serves it](0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md)
+- **0191** — [The mesh's resolver holds only the mesh's own names; a public name resolves publicly](0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)
+- **0194** — [The mesh has one resolver, and every node asks it for the mesh's names](0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md)
+- **0196** — [A node asks the mesh's resolver first, and a public one only when it is silent](0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md)
 
 ### What runs on them, and how it gets there
 
@@ -273,9 +285,28 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py            fail if stale
 - **0150** — [A module's own code runs as supervised processes under the module's one account](0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md)
 - **0152** — [The operator's surface is a module the mesh assigns: the console](0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md)
 - **0155** — [A definition names no installation: how that is checked, and the three ways a value that did gets out](0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)
-- **0176** — [The operator account is a node fact, and a home is a placement root](0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)
-- **0177** — [Inside a home, the mesh owns the directory and the files it places, writes into the tool's own files, and holds everything else as found](0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
-- **0178** — [The mesh binds and delivers a licence; the module alone writes the tool's credential; a switch is the binding changed, asked for through the console](0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md)
+- **0164** — [A setting is declared with its default, its meaning and what changing it costs](0164-a-setting-is-declared-with-its-default-its-meaning-and-what-changing-it-costs.md)  *(proposed)*
+- **0165** — [`container-runtime` is what a machine can run; that a runtime is running is its holder's health](0165-container-runtime-is-what-a-machine-can-run-and-a-running-runtime-is-its-holders-health.md)  *(proposed)*
+- **0166** — [The container runtime is a node seat, and the host creates containers through its holder](0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md)  *(proposed)*
+- **0173** — [The operator's machine is the mesh's, and a module is whatever it declares](0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md)
+- **0175** — [One tool runtime per node serves every module's tools, on the host side](0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)
+- **0176** — [The login shell is a node seat held by one shell module, and `execute` is its contract](0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md)
+- **0177** — [A unit may be user-scoped, and the service manager is a node seat whose holder answers for the units](0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)
+- **0181** — [The operator account is a node fact, and a home is a placement root](0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)
+- **0182** — [Inside a home, the mesh owns the directory and the files it places, writes into the tool's own files, and holds everything else as found](0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
+- **0183** — [The Anthropic licence manager is a module holding a seat; it hands each node's agent its token over the bus, sealed; the controller and the host have no part](0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md)
+- **0188** — [A module's own code is bundles in any language, and a tools bundle speaks MCP to the runtime](0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+- **0192** — [A tools bundle declares what it is given, and the runtime hands it to that bundle alone](0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md)
+- **0193** — [Every bundle the runtime serves is launched, and the runtime knows no language](0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md)
+- **0195** — [The mesh's tools are found by address, not announced whole](0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md)
+- **0197** — [Every tool announces itself on the bus, in the NATS services protocol](0197-every-tool-announces-itself-on-the-bus-in-the-nats-services-protocol.md)
+- **0198** — [A module's long-running code is launched by the node's runtime, and reaches the bus through it](0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md)
+- **0201** — [A module keeps its current state in key-value buckets it declares, and reaches them through the runtime](0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md)
+- **0203** — [The account's environment is one module's, and every module contributes to it](0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md)
+- **0204** — [A module contributes shell code to the login shell in named slots, and the login shell is the mesh's seat](0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md)
+- **0205** — [Software the distribution does not package ships as a pinned archive of the module's own](0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md)
+- **0206** — [A node reports the Anthropic grant it holds; the licence manager adopts a licence by refreshing it, and what each node should hold is the manager's state](0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md)
+- **0208** — [The graphical session is one module per piece, on the mesh's seats](0208-the-graphical-session-is-one-module-per-piece-on-the-meshs-seats.md)
 
 ### How it is built
 
@@ -297,6 +328,8 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py            fail if stale
 - **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)
 - **0149** — [The live mesh is the test bed](0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md)
+- **0174** — [A node varies a module through settings and kept regions, never through an edit](0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)
+- **0200** — [Genesis pivots to the controller as a container, and the first push hands it to a process](0200-genesis-pivots-to-the-controller-as-a-container-and-the-first-push-hands-it-to-a-process.md)
 
 ### How it is checked
 

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/05-the-node-host.md

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ status: in-progress
 code: [mesh-host]
 updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0184-a-service-the-mesh-asked-to-run-is-still-running-a-moment-later.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0163-taking-a-module-over-is-a-comparison.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0141-the-host-delivers-its-own-successor.md
@@ -498,3 +499,17 @@ run and reported; the exit follows an in-flight apply rather than interrupting i
 not start is rolled back once and the second failure halts; a completed reconcile retires what is older
 than the predecessor and never the predecessor; and the newest of two delivered versions is the one
 that runs.
+
+## A service is still running a moment later, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0184](../../02-DECISIONS/0184-a-service-the-mesh-asked-to-run-is-still-running-a-moment-later.md).
+The host has always read a unit back after acting on it, because a service manager accepting a
+command says the transaction was accepted and nothing about the process. The read raced the failure:
+a daemon that refuses the configuration the mesh just wrote exits a fraction of a second after the
+manager returns, and one look sees it alive. So the host looks twice, with a pause between, and a
+unit that was running and is not any more fails its resource by name. A unit still coming up reads
+as running at both looks and is accepted; a service asked to stop is not waited on.
+
+No command for this reaches a machine. A module declaring *how to test my configuration* was weighed
+and refused: the link carries no actions, and a verification command is one. The host is checking
+the state it was told to establish, which is what it is for. *How it is checked:* ADR 0184's table.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/08-connectivity.md

@@ -5,11 +5,15 @@ code:
   - mesh-controller internal/catalogue/filtering.go
   - mesh-controller examples/route-proxy
   - mesh-controller internal/identity/authority.go
+  - mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go (the names the roster publishes)
   - mesh-host internal/identity/serving.go
   - mesh-host internal/apply (the service that reflects a rule set)
-updated: 2026-10-02
+updated: 2026-10-03
 decisions:
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0169-a-machine-joins-through-the-tunnel-and-the-bus-is-never-public.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0168-a-converged-machine-is-filtered-by-the-mesh-alone.md
@@ -288,8 +292,10 @@ expensively enough to be worth restating:
 - **A node must not pin its own public name locally.** The duplicate record breaks resolution of
   that name for everything else that needs it.
 
-**What the host receives:** the resolver's configuration, as files, listing every peer's internal
-name and overlay address.
+**What the host receives:** what to ask, not what to answer. The mesh has **one resolver**, holding
+every node's internal domain; a node asks it first and a public resolver only when it is silent
+([ADR 0194](../../02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md),
+[ADR 0196](../../02-DECISIONS/0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md)).
 
 **What goes away:** the `/etc/hosts` floor. It exists because a node had to reach the mesh
 database before its own DNS existed; with [ADR 0004](../../02-DECISIONS/0004-a-node-and-how-it-joins.md)
@@ -347,6 +353,33 @@ not a list of containers.
 somebody starts by hand is not the mesh's to configure, and reaching into every container on a
 machine — declared or not — is what a nameserver in `resolv.conf` would be for.
 
+### One resolver for the mesh
+
+*2026-10-03.* **The mesh's names live in one place: the module holding `mesh-resolver`**, a mesh-scoped
+seat of capacity one, placed on the node every tunnel converges on. It holds one wildcard per node —
+`<node>.internal` and everything under it — and listens on the private network only. It answers the
+mesh's names from what it holds and forwards every other name, giving the public answer.
+
+**Every node asks it for everything, and a public resolver only when it is silent.** The module
+holding `node-resolver-config` writes `/etc/resolv.conf` naming `mesh-resolver` first and a public
+resolver second, with a short timeout and one attempt: the C library moves to the second only when the
+first does not answer — the anchor or the tunnel down, a captive portal holding the tunnel back — so
+public names keep resolving then, and `.internal` is never asked of a public resolver while the mesh's
+answers. Containers take the same two from their machine, the runtime copying non-loopback resolvers
+into every container, so the runtime is given no `dns` of its own
+([ADR 0196](../../02-DECISIONS/0196-a-node-asks-the-meshs-resolver-first-and-a-public-one-only-when-it-is-silent.md),
+replacing ADR 0194's per-node `systemd-resolved` stub).
+
+**No node holds a copy.** The per-node resolver, its zones file and the mesh's region of `/etc/hosts`
+go: every resolution fault found on 2026-10-03 was a copy disagreeing with the truth — a hosts file
+read once at start, an operator's old line beside the mesh's, a node's resolver lent to a LAN. No
+member's resolver answers a LAN; a router pointing at one is moved first. *Checked by each node's
+`/etc/resolv.conf` naming `mesh-resolver` then a public resolver, by no node but the holder answering
+DNS on any address, and by the router's DHCP DNS option naming the router.*
+
+*What follows describes the per-node resolver this replaces — how it was built and why the roles were
+split. The split stands; the serving role's scope is what moved.*
+
 ### The resolver, built
 
 *2026-08-31.* **A service is reached at `<service>.<node>.internal`** — the first label is the
@@ -421,7 +454,22 @@ that module and nothing else.
 the argument for the table in ADR 0009 being a table: the pattern is only obvious once seen, and
 the cost of not seeing it is inventing a mechanism that already exists.
 
-### And the public names a proxy serves must resolve in the mesh too
+### The mesh resolves only its own names; a public name resolves publicly
+
+**The mesh's resolver holds each node's internal domain and nothing else** — `<node>.internal` and
+everything under it, so every route's internal name `<label>.<node>.internal` with no line of its own
+([ADR 0151](../../02-DECISIONS/0151-a-routes-internal-name-is-composed-under-the-node-that-serves-it.md)).
+**A node's public domains — one or more — are never given a private answer**: it is forwarded and resolves to the
+public address, from a member and from anything else the resolver answers — a resolver may serve a
+machine's LAN, and a phone on that LAN must get the address it can reach
+([ADR 0191](../../02-DECISIONS/0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)). Inside the
+mesh, a routed service is reached, and certified by the internal authority, under its internal name.
+*Checked by the controller's tests — the roster names the machines and no routed name —
+and on a machine by asking its resolver for a public name the mesh serves: the answer is the public
+address.*
+
+*What follows is how the mesh got here, kept because the reasoning it rejects is the expensive half to
+rediscover.*
 
 *2026-09-09, found by an internal certificate authority that could not issue.* The mesh writes every
 `<node>.internal` name into every declared container and treats the public names a proxy serves as a
@@ -444,6 +492,13 @@ would go stale the day one changes. The mesh propagates the names it was told to
 knows nothing about what they mean
 ([ADR 0066](../../02-DECISIONS/0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md)).
 
+*2026-10-03, withdrawn.* Publishing public names with private answers turned every resolver that also
+serves a LAN into an outage for that LAN's non-members — a phone was handed the control-node's tunnel
+address for the mail server — while every check, run from a member, passed. Its reason had gone: routes
+have internal names since ADR 0151, and the proxy certifies public names from a public authority and
+internal names from the internal one. Superseded by the rule at the head of this section
+([ADR 0191](../../02-DECISIONS/0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)).
+
 ## 3 — Exposure
 
 Settled by [ADR 0007](../../02-DECISIONS/0007-connectivity.md); summarised here because
@@ -773,7 +828,7 @@ the host reports as *other* is reached through the packet filter seat's `remove`
 by name on the bus; the seat also serves `rules` and `reload`, and its holder's runtime declares the
 `NET_ADMIN` capability on the machine's network. See design 33.
 
-*2026-10-02, [ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md):*
+*2026-10-02, [ADR 0180](../../02-DECISIONS/0180-the-found-front-end-is-uninstalled-once-a-machine-is-converged.md):*
 once a machine is converged, the front end it was found with is uninstalled, not merely disabled — the
 packet filter's holder declares its package absent after the mesh's filter is loaded, and a return to
 adopted then enables nothing. The rollback path ADR 0100 kept on disk is given up on purpose.
@@ -871,13 +926,15 @@ is unchanged. **The same code path certifies against an internal authority as ag
 only the issuer differs.** That is what makes trusted certificates possible for a mesh whose names
 the public internet cannot resolve.
 
-**And it does not work until the routed name resolves inside the mesh** — the §2 finding above,
-arriving here because this is what needed it. The authority's challenge reaches the routed name only
-once that name is in internal resolution; a public authority is handed that dependency by public
-DNS, and an internal one has to be handed it by the mesh. *Checked by a handshake to a routed name
-that verifies against the internal root and nothing else — which cannot succeed unless the issuer
-first reached the name to certify it*
-([ADR 0066](../../02-DECISIONS/0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md)).
+**The internal authority certifies internal names; a public one certifies public names.** The
+authority's challenge reaches the name it certifies, so each certifies what it can resolve: the
+internal authority a route's `<label>.<node>.internal`, which the mesh resolves, and a public authority
+the public name, which public DNS resolves. A proxy holds both, and a public name is never certified
+by the internal authority. *Checked by a handshake to a route's internal name that verifies against
+the internal root and nothing else, and one to its public name that verifies against the public
+roots* ([ADR 0191](../../02-DECISIONS/0191-the-meshs-resolver-holds-only-the-meshs-own-names.md)).
+Until 2026-10-03 this paragraph had the internal authority certify public names, which needed them
+resolved inside the mesh ([ADR 0066](../../02-DECISIONS/0066-public-routing-is-name-agnostic.md)).
 
 ## 6 — One statement behind exposure, filtering and certificates
 
@@ -962,6 +1019,9 @@ The list is worth having in one place, because it is most of the argument:
 
 ## Open
 
+- **One resolver ([ADR 0194](../../02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md)).** Not built: every node still runs
+  `node-dns-resolver`. The migration's four steps are in the record, in order.
+
 - ~~**What happens when the hub is down.**~~ **Resolved** by
   [ADR 0006](../../02-DECISIONS/0006-the-substrate-and-the-control-plane.md), together with `06`'s
   matching question — they were one question. Nothing takes over. WireGuard has no failover, the
@@ -983,10 +1043,6 @@ The list is worth having in one place, because it is most of the argument:
   operator's to move between meshes, but the manifest layer still stores it as a literal — so today
   the composition is a per-node override rather than the design. The interpolation that would let a
   module carry a label and a node carry the domain, and the mesh join them, does not yet exist.
-- **Publishing route names into internal resolution.** The same ADR requires a granted route to be
-  resolvable inside the mesh, not only routable from outside it; the mechanism that writes
-  `<node>.internal` into containers does not yet also write the routed names, which is why an
-  internal issuer cannot currently validate one without a hand-placed entry.
 
 ## The hub adopts the predecessor's tunnel
 

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/14-model-access.md

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ code:
 updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0009-modules-and-the-graph.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0054-model-usage-is-recorded-at-two-grains.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0055-model-access-is-answered-by-a-licence-or-a-node.md
@@ -97,12 +97,13 @@ So `(node, module)` tells them apart, and asking for a licence per session neede
 identity. Checked rather than argued: two sessions on one machine hold different licences, each is
 given its own key, and releasing one leaves the other.
 
-*2026-10-02:* the operator's own interactive agent on a workstation is a consumer the same way —
-`(node, claude-code)`, one licence at a time per machine, delivered by the mesh and written by the
-module, switched through the console
-([ADR 0178](../../02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md),
-[36 — The operator's agent on a machine](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md)). The licence commands
-become verbs on the controller's seat for it; none was one before.
+*2026-10-02:* the operator's own agent at a terminal is **not** a consumer of this provision: it is
+coupled to an Anthropic grant and nothing else, so it uses the `anthropic-licence-manager` seat, whose
+holder owns the Anthropic licences, their bindings and their rotation, and hands each node's agent its
+token over the bus
+([ADR 0183](../../02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md),
+[36](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md), [39](39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md)). This
+provision stays for the consumers that do not care which vendor answers.
 
 **What is still open is the rest of the gap, and it is the harder half.** A *worker* is not one
 per machine — many can run on one, from one module — so `(node, module)` cannot name them apart

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/18-building-a-module.md

@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ status: proposed
 code:
   - mesh-controller cmd/mesh-builder
   - mesh-controller internal/builder
-  - mesh-catalog modules/builder
-updated: 2026-10-01
+  - mesh-catalog modules/build-agent
+updated: 2026-10-04
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0142-the-mesh-delivers-its-own-components-as-binaries.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0111-a-build-source-is-on-the-git-seat-or-external.md
@@ -268,6 +270,29 @@ ships one and wrong for code the mesh built, which has no unit until the mesh wr
 **Tools, hooks and consumers are not further modes**, which is the test of whether three is the
 right number: they are loaded by a tool host, and a tool host is a process that stays up.
 
+## Where a build runs
+
+**On whichever machine holding the build role is idle** ([ADR 0190](../../02-DECISIONS/0190-a-seats-work-is-shared-by-its-holders-and-building-is-the-first-such-role.md)).
+The role is `node-build-agent`, a node seat; its holder is the `build-agent` module, assignable to
+every machine with a container runtime. The controller asks the role, never a machine: a tier's asks go
+onto the seat's one work queue together, and each holder pulls one at a time when it is idle, so a
+tier of many images is built by as many machines as hold the seat and are online, and a machine that
+is off builds nothing and blocks nothing. What a holding machine needs is what the builder always
+needed — a container runtime, the artifact store and the package registry as provisions, a workspace,
+the bus credential — said once in the module's manifest. The outcome names the machine that built it.
+
+This is the bus's shared-work pattern, not a build-specific one: any module declaring a node seat with
+`accepts` has its work shared by its holders the same way. Building is the first use.
+
+*Built and proven live 2026-10-03.* `build-agent` holds `node-build-agent` on all four machines; the first
+build taken by a workstation's agent was a catalogue module at 09:35 UTC; the one-holder `builder` is
+retired. The switch found five gaps, each an issue: a worker whose type changed stranded its holder
+([206](../../04-ISSUES/206-a-seats-worker-changing-type-strands-the-holder-and-the-build-that-would-fix-it/00-report.md)),
+a re-made worker replayed the stream's history ([207](../../04-ISSUES/207-a-re-made-worker-replayed-every-ask-the-stream-kept/00-report.md)),
+a seat's worker is made only when the controller starts ([208](../../04-ISSUES/208-a-seats-worker-is-made-only-when-the-controller-starts/00-report.md)),
+a module's identifier must fit the tightest backend's key (the slug), and an idle machine's empty fetch
+was read as the end (fixed in the controller the same day).
+
 ## A build says what it does, as it happens
 
 *2026-10-01 — [ADR 0157](../../02-DECISIONS/0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md).*
@@ -293,6 +318,44 @@ build's lines reach a reader of its subject in order and the stream holds them a
 against a real server); the seat verb with an id reads the log (controller test); and, live, a build
 after the roll-out read line by line through the console.
 
+## The store keeps what the records name
+
+*2026-10-02 — [ADR 0189](../../02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md),
+[issue 108](../../04-ISSUES/108-the-registry-has-no-garbage-collection-once-it-has-two-doors/00-report.md).*
+
+Every build pushes another layer set and, until this, nothing ever removed one. The registry's own
+answer — collect what no tag names — is wrong for this mesh: each artifact is pushed under one
+moving tag and machines are pinned by digest, so every build but the newest is untagged and some
+machine may still be running it.
+
+**The mesh decides and the store reclaims.** Deletion is enabled on the store's one door — that
+door already accepts a push, and a writer who can push can replace any tag, so delete takes
+nothing a push did not already have, and ADR 0082's bargain (a store every machine reaches with no
+credential to distribute first) is kept. The mesh then removes what it put there and no longer
+keeps, **naming it from its own build records** rather than enumerating the store: it has never
+put anything there it did not record, so a digest it did not record making is never named, which
+is what keeps the sweep away from the images genesis pushed before any record existed.
+
+An artifact stays for one of two reasons and otherwise goes: a definition the mesh holds names it
+(no age limit — this is the floor), or it belongs to one of the five most recent successful builds
+of its module (somewhere for a wrong release to return to). The sweep runs after a build the mesh
+recorded, which is the moment new bytes landed and the moment the keep set moved; it needs no
+timer. Deleting a manifest frees no bytes, so the store's own collector runs nightly as a
+scheduled step with the server held still — which is what `while-stopped` exists for
+([design 20](20-writing-a-module.md)). Plain collection, not `--delete-untagged`: what the mesh
+keeps is still a manifest and so still referenced, and the dangerous flag is not needed once the
+mesh is the one deciding.
+
+A machine behind by more than five builds of a module, recreating a container, cannot pull what it
+was running. It is already a machine the mesh reports as behind, and the answer is the current
+declaration.
+
+*How it is checked:* the keep set, against records, holds what a manifest names and the five most
+recent builds and nothing else; a reference the mesh never recorded is never in the delete set; an
+image and an archive are asked for at their own endpoints; a store with deletion off names the
+remedy rather than the status code; a store that does not have it is recorded collected rather
+than retried for ever. Live: the store's size before and after the first nightly collection.
+
 ## The builder compiles the languages the mesh is written in
 
 *2026-09-29 —

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/20-writing-a-module.md

@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ code:
   - mesh-catalog modules/showcase
   - mesh-controller internal/builder
   - mesh-sdk src
-updated: 2026-09-30
+updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0053-a-step-that-runs-on-a-schedule.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0074-the-wire-is-specified-not-the-types.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md
@@ -208,3 +209,27 @@ is recreated with the new fact
 ([ADR 0099](../../02-DECISIONS/0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md)). *How it is
 checked:* the host's unit tests run a step again when its named file changed and not otherwise,
 and recreate a container naming a step after the step ran.
+
+## A recurring step may hold its own module's containers still
+
+*Written 2026-10-02, from [ADR 0189](../../02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md)
+and [issue 108](../../04-ISSUES/108-the-registry-has-no-garbage-collection-once-it-has-two-doors/00-report.md).*
+
+Some work cannot be done underneath a running service: an artifact store's collector walks the
+storage and requires every writer stopped. A `run-once` step runs *beside* containers and a
+scheduled one is the same container again, so until this a module had no way to say it — and the
+mesh inherited a store that has never collected anything, because the predecessor said it with a
+shell script and a script beside a module is not a resource in it.
+
+A scheduled step may name `while-stopped`: resource ids of **its own module's** containers, which
+the host stops before the run and starts again after it, in the reverse order, **whatever the step
+did**. Three boundaries, each refused where it can be seen earliest — its own module's containers
+only, because a module that could quiesce a neighbour could stop the mesh; scheduled steps only,
+because at apply the declaration is applied in order and a step already gates what follows, so a
+one-time offline job says *before* rather than *instead of*; and restoring that is not conditional
+on anything, because the only real risk of the field is a window that never closes.
+
+*How it is checked:* the host's unit tests assert stop–run–start in that order, the restart after a
+step that **failed**, the reverse order for several containers, and a service left down said
+loudly. The controller refuses, from the definition alone, a window with no schedule, one on a
+run-once step, one naming a container the module does not declare, and one naming itself.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/25-the-bus-on-nats.md

@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ code:
   - mesh-tools src/broker-amqp.ts (to be replaced)
   - mesh-catalog modules/nats (to be written)
   - mesh-sdk src (the protocol's NATS binding, step 3)
-updated: 2026-10-02
+  - mesh-tools node-tools/internal/bus (a module's state, ADR 0201)
+updated: 2026-10-04
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0167-a-membership-carries-what-its-module-receives-and-who-the-mesh-is.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md
@@ -48,6 +50,7 @@ mesh's own state lives, and where what a module may say is decided by what it de
 | **events** — a module says something happened | 1:many | delivered to every consumer that declared it; dead-lettered when it cannot be |
 | **tools** — a module or a person asks another's tool | request/reply | one answer, from one server, or a timeout |
 | **work to a role** — a module submits to a capability without knowing who provides it | job | exactly one holder does it; it queues while nobody does |
+| **state** — a module's current value of something, every machine reading it | key-value | the newest per key, kept until replaced or deleted; read whole by a machine that joins later |
 
 The last two rows are the ones worth dwelling on, because they are not messaging in the sense of
 carrying bytes from A to B. **A role is addressable**, so a caller names the capability and never
@@ -56,7 +59,8 @@ changing ([ADR 0126](../../02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md)
 property of the mesh's architecture that happens to be expressed in subjects.
 
 And more of the mesh lands here as it is built: conditions and observed state in key-value
-buckets that anything may watch, the server's own advisories becoming observations like any other
+buckets that anything may watch — the first of them a module's own declared state, *2026-10-04*
+([ADR 0201](../../02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md)) — the server's own advisories becoming observations like any other
 ([research 017](../../01-RESEARCH/017-a-mesh-that-heals-itself/00-overview.md)), and a person's
 client speaking the bus directly rather than through a surface built over it (§7). None of that
 is a message being moved; all of it is the bus being the mesh's centre.
@@ -84,8 +88,16 @@ mesh.seat.<seat>.event.<verb>     a role's own event           (JetStream: EVENT
 mesh.seat.<seat>.tool.<verb>      a role's tool                (core request/reply)
 mesh.ask.<node>.<command>         the controller's command api (core request/reply)
 mesh.assignment.<node>.<module>   an assignment's membership   (JetStream: ASSIGNMENTS, last-per-subject)
+$KV.<module>_<name>.<key>          a module's state             (JetStream: a key-value bucket per declared name)
 ```
 
+**Added 2026-10-04** ([ADR 0201](../../02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md)):
+the last row is outside `mesh.` on purpose. A key-value bucket is NATS's own construct and lives
+under NATS's own prefix, which is what lets the server's key-value layer — direct reads, rollups,
+delete markers, watches — do the work instead of the mesh writing it again. The bucket is named for
+the module and the local name joined by an underscore, which neither may contain, so two modules can
+never derive one bucket.
+
 **Revised 2026-10-01** ([ADR 0160](../../02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)): the rows above
 for a module's and a seat's tools are the shapes the controller *issues*, not rules a runtime carries.
 Every assignment is published a membership — what it serves and where, in which queue, its seat verbs,
@@ -155,6 +167,7 @@ Core NATS is at-most-once. Everything the mesh must not lose lives in a JetStrea
 | CONTROL | `mesh.control.>` except `alive` (a build's outcome moved to its seat, ADR 0121) | work queue, one consumer (the controller), explicit ack | the store-window guarantee ([ADR 0083](../../02-DECISIONS/0083-one-push-leaves-the-mesh-consistent.md)): the controller `nak`s with a delay while its store is away and the message is redelivered; nothing is dropped |
 | NODES | `mesh.node.>` | last per subject | one declaration per node, always the newest |
 | EVENTS | `mesh.mod.*.event.>` and `mesh.seat.*.event.>` | limits (age, size), durable consumer per subscribing module | a subscriber that was down catches up; after `max-deliver` attempts the advisory feeds `mesh.events.dead` (its own small stream). *2026-10-01:* a build's whole log is here too, as the build-machine seat's `log.<build id>` events ([ADR 0157](../../02-DECISIONS/0157-a-build-says-what-it-does-on-the-bus-as-it-happens.md)) — one subject per build, a week of retention, read back by `builds --log <id>` with a consumer that is gone when the reading is done |
+| `KV_<module>_<name>` | `$KV.<module>_<name>.>` | the newest value per key — as many past values as the owner declared — no age unless the owner declared one; a value at most 256 KiB, a bucket at most 64 MiB | a module's state (ADR 0201): one per name in a manifest's `state`, created from the catalogue on every raise, so it exists before its owner runs anywhere; kept when the module is unassigned, because what it holds is data |
 
 Tool calls and heartbeats stay on core NATS: a lost heartbeat is the next heartbeat; a lost tool
 call is a timeout the caller already handles.
@@ -234,6 +247,14 @@ expresses this exactly, per subject, and better than a vhost could:
   permissions for each consumed event's subject, its tool subjects, and that same inbox prefix.
   Nothing else. A module that tries to publish outside its emits is refused by the server, not by
   convention.
+- **A module's state** (ADR 0201), for whichever principal carries the module — today the machine's
+  runtime, whose grant is the union of its modules': binding to the bucket, reading a key directly,
+  and an ordered consumer for listing and watching, created and deleted on the bucket's own stream
+  and nothing else's; and, for the owner's instances only, publishing under the bucket's own
+  `$KV.<bucket>.>`. *Measured 2026-10-04 against a running server:* without the consumer-delete
+  grant a watch cannot be stopped cleanly, and a write the server refuses reaches the writer as a
+  timeout rather than a refusal — so the runtime refuses first, from the membership, and the grant
+  is the second line.
 - **The controller's user** owns `mesh.control.>`, `mesh.node.>` and the streams, and may submit work
   to the seats the mesh's own flows use — a build, for one (ADR 0121).
   **A host's user** may publish its own `mesh.control.<node>.>` and subscribe its own

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/26-the-seats.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 layer: to-be
-status: implemented
+status: in-progress
 code:
   - mesh-controller internal/catalogue/seats.go
   - mesh-controller internal/catalogue/resolve.go
@@ -10,8 +10,9 @@ code:
   - mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/source.go
   - mesh-controller internal/inventory/migrations/0032-a-source-may-live-on-a-seat.sql
   - mesh-catalog modules/gitea/module.json
-updated: 2026-10-01
+updated: 2026-10-03
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0131-everything-on-the-mesh-speaks-to-the-broker-seat.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md
@@ -126,7 +127,8 @@ convention, which later seats departed from.
 | `mesh-npm-package-registry` | `npm-package-registry` | mesh | `npm-package-registry` | the forge |
 | `mesh-git` | `git` | mesh | `git` | the forge |
 | `mesh-build-machine` | `the-build-machine` | node | — | a builder |
-| `mesh-dns-port` | `the-dns-port` | node | — | the local resolver |
+| `mesh-resolver` | — | mesh | — | the mesh's one resolver, holding every node's internal domain ([ADR 0194](../../02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md)) |
+| ~~`mesh-dns-port`~~ | `the-dns-port` | node | — | retired by [ADR 0194](../../02-DECISIONS/0194-the-mesh-has-one-resolver-and-every-node-asks-it-for-the-meshs-names.md): the local resolver became the mesh's one |
 | `mesh-intrusion-prevention` | `the-intrusion-prevention` | node | — | an intrusion-prevention service |
 | `mesh-packet-filter` | `the-packet-filter` | node | — | the packet filter |
 | `mesh-private-network` | `the-private-network` | node | — | the private network the mesh runs over |

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/27-a-module-requires-the-mesh-resolves.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 layer: to-be
 status: in-progress
 code: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue]
-updated: 2026-09-30
+updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0084-which-provider-serves-a-consumer.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0046-a-module-configuration-is-its-assignments-not-its-manifest.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0038-the-mesh-assigns-the-port.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md
 ---
 
 # 27 — A module requires, the mesh resolves
@@ -206,6 +207,22 @@ name when nothing sets it. That is the contract half of this design's operator p
 the placeholder allows: the definition says which values reach which requirement, and nothing else
 does. *How it is checked:* the unit tests named in issue 173, and the plan comparison that closed it.
 
+*A provider says once what it derives for each consumer (2026-10-02,
+[ADR 0202](../../02-DECISIONS/0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md),
+[issue 124](../../04-ISSUES/124-a-consumer-cannot-be-told-what-its-provider-derived/00-report.md)):*
+where a provider **names the resource** it gives each consumer — a bucket, a database, a vhost — the
+name is derived per consumer, and a literal `serves` block could not carry it. A served value may
+now name the consumer the mesh is serving: `${consumer:as}`, the identity the mesh minted, and
+`${consumer:as:dns}`, that same identity written as a DNS label. Nothing else — **the mesh learns no
+protocol here; it spells its own name in an alphabet it already knows.** Settings are laid on first,
+so an operator may still set a prefix and the mesh derives the rest. The mesh fills it at the one
+moment it knows who the consumer is, and the one filled value reaches both ends: the consumer, as
+its binding's served facts and as `${bound:<provision>:<key>}` in any file it writes; the provider,
+as `derived` on that consumer's entry in its contributions file, so its provisioner is told the name
+rather than recomputing it. A consumer that writes the derived value into its own definition instead
+of asking for it is refused, naming the placeholder to use. *How it is checked:* the unit tests in
+ADR 0202's "how this is checked", each run against the unchanged controller first.
+
 ## How a definition reads what was resolved
 
 **One form, naming a requirement and a field of its contract.** A definition that needs the database's
@@ -214,7 +231,9 @@ name in a configuration file writes the same thing: the requirement's name and t
 controller fills it at resolution.
 
 This one form replaces the placeholders that exist today, one per mechanism: bound values, secrets,
-ports and machine facts.
+ports and machine facts. It subsumes the consumer placeholder too — a value a provider derives is
+read by the consumer exactly as any other field of the contract is, and `${consumer:…}` is only
+how the *provider* states the rule.
 
 **The seat placeholder stays, for the controller alone.** The controller composes its own
 declaration and reaches the store and broker it made before any module existed, so it cannot be

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md

@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ code:
   - mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller
 updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0120-a-roster-fact-carries-its-format-as-a-template.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0051-shared-data-is-the-operators.md
@@ -173,12 +173,13 @@ fact, the home as a placement root, and what the mesh may and may not do under a
 decision this document names but no record states. They are the next records to write, before the
 family of §2 modules is built.
 
-*2026-10-02:* two of them are written. [ADR 0176](../../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)
+*2026-10-02:* two of them are written. [ADR 0181](../../02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)
 records the account as a node fact and the home as a placement root, reconstructed from what shipped;
-[ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
+[ADR 0182](../../02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
 generalises §3's boundary to every directory under a home. The first member of the §2 family is
-designed in [36 — The operator's agent on a machine](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md). Still
-unwritten: user-scope units, several accounts per node, and the CA. On the same day every node of the
+designed in [36 — The operator's agent on a machine](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md). User-scoped
+units are [ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md),
+written the same day; still unwritten: several accounts per node, and the CA. On the same day every node of the
 live mesh still carried an empty account.
 
 ## Why now, and why not yet
@@ -215,6 +216,10 @@ keeping the predecessor running, so the model questions above are no longer defe
 record, the home as a placement root, user-scoped services and the one-off steps a hook used to run
 each need a decision before the modules that replace the generators can be written.
 
+## The family beyond `~/.ssh` — 2026-10-02
+
+The modules §2 calls *a family* — the shell, the terminal, the desktop, everything under a home that is not `~/.ssh` — are designed in [37 — The operator's machine](37-the-operators-machine.md), under [ADR 0173](../../02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md) to [0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md). This document keeps `~/.ssh`, the CA and the roster files. Two things it listed as not built are decided there: user-scoped services (ADR 0177) and the one-off steps a hook used to run (declared state, or a seat's verb).
+
 ## References
 
 - The gap was found generating `~/.ssh/config` from the *HAL* registry (`hal/terminal`'s

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/31-a-module-declares-its-fail2ban-jail.md

@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 ---
 layer: to-be
-status: proposed
-code: []
-updated: 2026-09-27
+status: in-progress
+code:
+  - mesh-controller: internal/catalogue/jails_into.go, internal/catalogue/manifest.go (Jail, Jailing)
+  - mesh-catalog: modules/fail2ban (jailing, the base and the seat's verbs), modules/mailu, modules/route-proxy, modules/gitea (jails)
+  - mesh-host: internal/declaration/declaration.go (a container's logging)
+updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0186-a-ban-list-never-holds-a-neighbour.md
 ---
 
 # 31 — A module declares its fail2ban jail, and the mesh composes them per node
@@ -63,3 +68,38 @@ jail, composed from the postgres module's manifest, without anyone editing a nod
   beside)
 - mesh-catalog `modules/fail2ban` (the base: sshd, recidive, ignoreip); the service modules
   (`postgres`, `mssql`, `mailu`) that will declare jails
+
+## Decided and built, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0179](../../02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md)
+made this the rule and built it. A module declares `jails` — each a name, the `failregex` of a
+failed attempt in its log, and the stanza's own keys — and the fail2ban module declares `jailing`:
+the one file the stanzas compose into and the directory each filter lands in. The controller gathers
+every assigned module's jails per node into those; the holder's daemon restarts on the composed file.
+
+What made it workable was the log. A container's output went to a file of the runtime's own, under
+a path that changes when the container is recreated, so no jail could read a container's service
+however it logged. A container now declares `logging: journald`, the host runs it with the journal as
+its driver, and a jail reads it with `backend = systemd` and a `journalmatch` on the container's
+name — the same way the base's ssh jail has always read the ssh daemon. The first three doors: the
+mail front end (every login failure on its proxying ports), the forge (a failed authentication
+attempt) and the public proxy (a certificate or request for a name the mesh does not serve, which
+the proxy now says in its log). The base is strict — three in a day for a day; twice banned in two
+weeks for four — and the mesh's own range stays never banned.
+
+The seat the module holds serves `status`, `banned`, `ban` and `unban`, from a runtime that carries
+only the fail2ban client with the daemon's socket shared in; the jails are composed, the ban list is
+the daemon's, and both are read through the console.
+
+*How it is checked:* ADR 0179's table.
+
+## What the first jails taught, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0186](../../02-DECISIONS/0186-a-ban-list-never-holds-a-neighbour.md). Within an hour of the
+first public jail the home server had banned the house's own router: the router reflects local
+traffic, so every client in the building arrives as the gateway's address. The never-ban list now
+holds every private range as well as the mesh's own. And the mesh read its own ban chain as a
+foreign rule set on that machine, because the chain hangs off the container runtime's user chain and
+that machine's forward policy is the runtime's DROP — the reader now calls a chain of source-named
+refusals a ban wherever it hangs, as it already did for the packet filter's own tables.
+

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/32-what-a-module-declares.md

@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ code:
   - mesh-host internal/apply/apply.go
   - mesh-tools src/main.ts
   - mesh-catalog modules/mesh-catalog
-updated: 2026-09-28
+  - mesh-tools node-tools/internal/runtime (a module's state, ADR 0201)
+updated: 2026-10-04
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0131-everything-on-the-mesh-speaks-to-the-broker-seat.md
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0129-a-seat-carries-the-protocol-of-its-role.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0135-a-module-version-prepares-its-state-before-it-runs.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0136-a-step-gates-its-module-not-the-machine.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0187-a-dead-tracker-is-not-the-machines-failure.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0134-the-mesh-says-what-it-applied.md
 ---
 
@@ -66,6 +69,8 @@ the catalogue, and the mesh would have hundreds of copies of a decision it made
 | `tools: status` | queue-group subscription on `mesh.mod.<module>.tool.status` |
 | seat `telegram-sender`, `accepts: send` | work-queue consumer on `mesh.seat.telegram-sender.accept.send` |
 | `uses: telegram-sender` | publish on that seat's `accept` subjects, and nothing else |
+| `state: servers` | a key-value bucket for the module, created by the controller; its instances write and read it |
+| `reads: billing.orders` | read and watch billing's `orders` bucket, and nothing else of it |
 
 **Wildcards, and they are the mesh's rather than a bus's.** *Added 2026-09-27, from
 [issue 127](../../04-ISSUES/127-a-module-event-derives-a-subject-nothing-publishes/00-report.md).* A
@@ -220,7 +225,7 @@ service" versus "one worker per machine".
 | credential | sealed, per consumer | none | none | none | none |
 | reply | — | none | none, or an event later | a report | awaited |
 | retention | — | age and size | work queue, explicit ack | **last per subject** | none |
-| declared | `provides`/`requires` | `emits`/`consumes` | seat `accepts` / `uses` | the mesh's own | `serves` |
+| declared | `provides`/`requires` | `emits`/`consumes` | seat `accepts` / `uses` | the mesh's own; a module's `state` / `reads` | `serves` |
 
 **Job** is the one [ADR 0041](../../02-DECISIONS/0041-events-are-a-relationship.md) had no room
 for. Its table has events at 1:many and provisions at 1:1; a module submitting work to a service
@@ -235,6 +240,31 @@ last-per-subject retention, and a node that has seen sequence *n* refuses *n−1
 That is the wire-level answer to
 [issue 107](../../04-ISSUES/107-a-declaration-carries-no-order/00-report.md).
 
+**A module declares state too.** *Added 2026-10-04,
+[ADR 0201](../../02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md).*
+State was the mesh's alone, and modules had the same need with nowhere to put it: an MCP server
+registered for every machine, sent as an event, never reached a machine assigned afterwards — its
+consumer did not exist yet when the event passed — and a licence binding sent as events replays a
+week of rotations where only the latest matters. So a module names the state it **owns** with
+`state`, and another module's it **reads** with `reads: <module>.<name>`. Each is a key-value bucket
+the controller creates from the catalogue, mesh-wide, existing from registration so a reader can
+watch before the owner runs anywhere ([design 25](25-the-bus-on-nats.md) §3). Every instance of the
+owner writes; a reader reads and watches. A key may name a machine by the module's own convention;
+the mesh keeps one bucket per name, not one per machine, because "every server, for every machine"
+is then one list rather than a walk.
+
+What a module sees is what it named. Its assignment's membership lists its buckets by those names,
+with whether it may write, and the runtime answers `get`, `put`, `delete`, `keys` and `watch` for
+them on the bundle's channel — refusing, with the reason, a name it was not issued or a write to a
+bucket it only reads. A watch hands the current values first, then every change: a bundle that starts
+late, or starts again, has the whole of the state before it has any of the news.
+
+The owner says how many past values a key keeps and how long a value lives, as a seat says how long
+its backlog survives (§3); the mesh caps a value's size and a bucket's. **A bucket outlives its
+module's assignment** — what a module stored is data
+([ADR 0030](../../02-DECISIONS/0030-data-outlives-the-mesh-that-declared-it.md)) — and one whose
+declaration is gone is reported, never removed by the mesh.
+
 ## 5. Seats
 
 A module declares a seat with its protocol, and the mesh enforces one holder at its scope
@@ -453,6 +483,14 @@ sealing key leaks, that stream is an archive rather than a moment. So:
   existing discipline — *fetched from it, not carried* — applied to the one payload where carrying
   it is worst.
 
+**A key-value bucket is a stream, so the same holds for it.** *Added 2026-10-04,
+[ADR 0201](../../02-DECISIONS/0201-a-module-keeps-its-current-state-in-key-value-buckets-it-declares-and-reaches-through-the-runtime.md).*
+No secret is put in a module's state, sealed or not: state is exactly what a machine joining a year
+later reads in full. A value that needs a secret names it, and the secret travels on request/reply.
+Sealed values are plain text to anything inspecting them, so this is checked only partly — the
+runtime refuses a value carrying a field whose name says it is a credential, which catches the
+ordinary mistake and not a determined one.
+
 **The bootstrap, which is circular and has a precedent.** The vault makes every secret
 ([ADR 0113](../../02-DECISIONS/0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md)), including the bus's own
 passwords. The vault is a module, and a module needs a bus account, whose password the vault
@@ -470,6 +508,21 @@ moment the mesh can mint for itself: **the bus's own accounts** (§the bootstrap
 needs an account before it can run) and **the vault's own credential**. Any third exception is a
 design failure, and naming these two is what makes a third one visible.
 
+## What a step is answerable for, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0187](../../02-DECISIONS/0187-a-dead-tracker-is-not-the-machines-failure.md). A step gates its
+module and not the machine ([ADR 0136](../../02-DECISIONS/0136-a-step-gates-its-module-not-the-machine.md)),
+but a step that exits non-zero still leaves the machine reporting that it is not doing what it was
+told — and a clean apply gates other things entirely, the found firewall's retirement among them. So
+what a step calls a failure matters beyond the step.
+
+The rule the media step now follows, and the one to copy: a step fails for what the mesh chose and
+can fix, and reports what it merely found and cannot. An indexer entry the mesh re-pointed at this
+mesh's proxy is plumbing the mesh is answerable for; whether the public tracker behind it answers
+today is not. An entry the operator listed is the operator's to insist on, and still fails. Six
+hours of a machine reading as broken, for one tracker that had died, is what the distinction costs
+when it is missing.
+
 ## 11. Open
 
 **Semantic change has no mechanical defence** (§8). Recorded as open rather than solved, because
@@ -507,3 +560,9 @@ billing existing under that name.
   on, and exactly those two are rebuilt.
 - **A stale declaration is refused.** A bed: replay sequence *n−1* after *n*, and the node refuses
   it rather than applying it.
+- **A module reaches only the state it declared.** The composer's test: an owner's runtime may write
+  its buckets, a reader's may only read, and nothing else is granted; the runtime's test over a real
+  bus: a name not issued and a reader's write are refused with the reason.
+- **State is current at once.** The runtime's test over a real bus: a watch hands the current values
+  without deletions, then an end-of-current marker, then changes. Live: a machine assigned after a put
+  reads it at start.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ code: [mesh-controller, mesh-tools]
 updated: 2026-10-02
 decisions:
   - 02-DECISIONS/0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md
@@ -122,6 +123,8 @@ module-specific names that changes the day the forge is replaced.
 asked of the module, through a `tools` verb every runtime answers) and lists a role's tools when the
 records carry them.
 
+*Amended 2026-10-02 by [ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md):* the module that serves this to an agent is the node tools runtime — one per node, host-side, serving every assigned module's tools as well as answering the person on loopback. The console is its serving mode, renamed. See [37 — The operator's machine](37-the-operators-machine.md) §3.
+
 ## 7. Versioning
 
 A seat's tools are an interface and change like one. Additive within a version. A change that would
@@ -182,6 +185,18 @@ container to declare a capability. Removing a predecessor's rule set is an opera
 through the seat, recorded on the bus, instead of a shell on the machine. *How it is checked:* ADR
 0169's table.
 
+## The intrusion seat's verbs, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0179](../../02-DECISIONS/0179-the-intrusion-seat-serves-its-verbs-and-every-door-declares-its-jail.md).
+The second node-scoped seat to carry verbs: `node-intrusion-prevention` serves `status` (every jail
+with what it watches and holds), `banned` (every address held now, with its jail and when the ban
+ends), `ban` and `unban` (an operator's act on the live ban list). The fail2ban module serves them
+from a runtime that carries only the daemon's client, the socket shared in from the machine — no
+capability, no machine network, since the daemon on the machine does the banning. That runtime is the
+per-module container [ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)
+retires; the verbs and the client are the same code once the node's own runtime loads them as a bundle.
+The module's own tool beside them reads one jail's effective settings. *How it is checked:* ADR 0179's table.
+
 ## What this does not settle
 
 - Which verbs each seat should serve. That is a decision per seat, and the reason to do it slowly: a

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/34-the-console.md

@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 ---
 layer: to-be
-status: implemented
+status: designed
 code: [mesh-catalog, mesh-tools, mesh-controller]
-updated: 2026-10-01
+updated: 2026-10-03
 decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0197-every-tool-announces-itself-on-the-bus-in-the-nats-services-protocol.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md
@@ -20,6 +22,8 @@ An agent reaches them over MCP on the machine's loopback; a person reaches the s
 installed by hand, nothing is configured with an address, and the mesh knows the surface exists because
 it put it there ([ADR 0152](../../02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md)).
 
+> **Amended 2026-10-02 by [ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md).** What this document describes stays true in substance and changes in form: the console becomes the serving mode of the node tools runtime, a host-side process the host supervises rather than a container, which also serves every assigned module's tools from their bundles. The module is renamed `node-tools`. [37 — The operator's machine](37-the-operators-machine.md) §3 is where it now lives.
+
 ## 1. What it is
 
 A module, `mesh-console`, in the catalogue. Its image is the tool runtime's own — the client that
@@ -91,6 +95,28 @@ prerequisites are listed in that record. When the seat serves them, the console
 modules' own, and the person stops opening a shell for the mesh's own questions. Until then the console
 says so in its handshake.
 
+## 3a. Found by address, not announced whole (2026-10-03)
+
+*By [ADR 0195](../../02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md);
+this section governs where it and §2–§3 disagree.* The console announces five tools —
+`mesh_overview`, `mesh_machine`, `mesh_search`, `mesh_describe`, `mesh_call` — and every tool the mesh
+answers is reached through them by its address: `<seat>.<verb>` for a seat held once for the mesh,
+`<node>/<seat>.<verb>` for one held per machine, `<node>/<module>.<tool>` for an assignment, and
+`<module>.<tool>` as well for a module whose instances are interchangeable. A module that is not
+interchangeable is called with its machine or refused with the machines it runs on. Each discovery
+verb asks the mesh when it is called, so nothing is kept for a session's length; the flat catalogue
+stays reachable through the `mesh` client and a setting, unannounced.
+
+**What exists is what announced itself** ([ADR 0197](../../02-DECISIONS/0197-every-tool-announces-itself-on-the-bus-in-the-nats-services-protocol.md)):
+every runtime answers the NATS services protocol's `$SRV.INFO` with what it serves, and the console
+gathers one request's answers; the controller's records, read as JSON, say which assignments with
+tools should have answered.
+
+*Found 2026-10-03, measuring for that record:* §3's statement that a stateful module on two machines is
+listed once per machine does not hold on the live console — postgres and mssql are listed once, `node`
+optional, answered by whichever instance replies. The address replaces that statement rather than
+repairing it.
+
 ## 4. Where it runs
 
 On whichever machines an operator sits at, by assignment. It is not on the control node by default and

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md

@@ -2,256 +2,226 @@
 layer: to-be
 status: designed
 code: []
-updated: 2026-10-02
+updated: 2026-10-04
 decisions:
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md
-  - 02-DECISIONS/0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md
   - 02-DECISIONS/0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
 ---
 
 # 36 — The operator's agent on a machine: the `claude-code` module
 
-**The agent a person runs at a terminal, put on the machine by the mesh, instructed by the mesh,
-pointed at the console, and authenticated with a licence the mesh delivers.** It is the first member of
-the family [to-be 29 §2](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) names — the modules that place files under
-an operator's home — and the smallest, so it is where the pattern is proven before the shell, the
-terminal and the desktop follow.
+**The agent a person runs at a terminal, put on the machine by the mesh, instructed by the mesh, pointed
+at the console, and holding the licence the manager hands it.** It is a member of the family
+[to-be 29 §2](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) names, the modules that touch a person's machine, and
+its counterpart is [39 — The Anthropic licence manager](39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md).
 
-What it replaces: the predecessor's module of the same name, which installed the agent's package and
-placed five files under the operator's home, and a sibling that placed a sixth. The predecessor is
-retired; those six files are still on both workstations telling every session to use tools that no
-longer exist. That is the symptom this design answers, and it answers it by making the files a module's
-again rather than by editing them.
+What it replaces: the predecessor's module of the same name and a sibling, which placed six files under
+the operator's home. The predecessor is retired; the six files are still on both workstations telling
+every session to use tools that no longer exist.
 
-## 1. What it is
+**Three rules shape everything below.** The host is module-agnostic: it installs the package and gives
+the module a state directory, and knows no vendor, no agent, no path under a home. The controller has no
+part beyond resolving what it resolves for every module. And the module handles its own files: the
+mesh's part of the agent's configuration is written by the module's own code, from what the mesh
+delivered it and what the manager handed it.
 
-A module, `claude-code`, universal tier: assigned to every node a person logs into, which is every node
-with an operator account ([ADR 0176](../../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)).
-It declares the agent's package, owns the agent's configuration directory under the account's home, and
-requires two things: `model-access`, for the licence
-([ADR 0178](../../02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md)),
-and the console on the same machine, for the tools
-([ADR 0152](../../02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md)). It names no
-node, no path and no login: the account and its home are machine facts, the node's name is a machine
-fact, the node's role is a setting on the assignment, and the console's address is what the console
-serves.
+## 1. Where the mesh's configuration lives: the agent's managed directory, not the home
 
-**The controller has no part in it beyond what it has in every module.** It resolves the account, the
-home, the licence and the console's port, and delivers them. It holds nothing about the agent: no file
-shape, no key name, no path. The one controller change this design asks for is not about the agent at
-all — the licence commands become verbs on the controller's seat, as the other commands did
-([ADR 0154](../../02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md)).
+The agent reads a machine-wide, administrator-owned configuration directory under `/etc`, documented
+by the vendor: a managed settings file that outranks every user and project setting; a key in it that
+adds HTTP tool servers *beside* a person's own without blocking them; and a managed instruction file every
+session reads before the user's and the project's. The agent has **no** machine-wide directory for
+rules, skills, slash commands or hooks; those exist only under a home or a project.
 
-## 2. What it owns under the home, and what it leaves alone
+So the mesh's part of the agent's configuration lives there, **owned whole by the module**, and the home
+is left alone. What the predecessor shipped as two rule files and two skills folds into the managed
+instruction file and the manager's tools:
 
-Every path the module touches is in one of the four classes
-[ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
-draws, and the class is visible from the shape the definition declares. The agent's directory is
-`~/.claude`; its own state file is `~/.claude.json` beside it.
-
-| path | class | declared as |
-|---|---|---|
-| `~/.claude/` | owned directory | a directory, owner the account, readable by the account alone |
-| `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` | owned | a file: how a session on this mesh works (§4) |
-| `~/.claude/rules/00-mesh.md` | owned | a file: this node's identity (§4) |
-| `~/.claude/rules/conventions.md` | owned | a file: the rules of the repositories (§4) |
-| `~/.claude/skills/mesh-licence/SKILL.md` | owned | a file: the licence skill (§5) |
-| `~/.claude/settings.json` | written into | the agent's settings; the mesh's key is `attribution`, and only that (below) |
-| `~/.claude.json` | written into | the agent's own state; the mesh's key is the console's entry under the servers the agent speaks to (§3) |
-| `~/.claude/.credentials.json` | written by the module's process | a delivered secret and a step (§5) |
-| everything else | found | nothing — the person's memory, history, projects, local settings, plugins, their own rules and skills |
-
-**Which keys of the settings file are the mesh's.** A key is the mesh's when it encodes a rule of the
-mesh, and the person's when it is a preference. `attribution` — the trailers the agent adds to commits
-and pull requests — encodes the repositories' convention and is the mesh's. The model, the spinner, the
-drafts, the automation mode and everything else are the person's, and the predecessor's experience with
-the model key is the evidence: a mesh that sets a preference reverts a person's choice on every push. A
-preference the operator wants on every machine belongs to the family's dotfiles module, not here.
-
-**The agent's own state file is written into for one key.** The agent is told about the console as one
-entry among the servers it speaks to, in the file where it keeps that list. Everything else in that
-file — the account it is logged in as, its caches, its history of projects — is the agent's, and
-ADR 0102's rule is exactly what keeps it: the mesh sets one key and gives it back on undeclare.
-
-## 3. The predecessor's six files
-
-They were placed by a generator that no longer exists; to the mesh they are found. ADR 0177 says what
-happens to each kind, and this is the list:
-
-| file | fate |
+| the predecessor placed | becomes |
 |---|---|
-| `CLAUDE.md`, `rules/conventions.md` | **adopted.** The module declares the same paths; the host keeps the found original once and writes the mesh's content ([ADR 0102](../../02-DECISIONS/0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md)) |
-| `settings.json` | **written into.** The values the predecessor merged and the person changed since — the model among them — stay; the mesh sets its one key |
-| `rules/00-hal-mesh.md` | **removed by the operator, once.** Its successor is `rules/00-mesh.md`; the old name carries the predecessor's and stays otherwise |
-| `skills/hal-switch-license/SKILL.md` | **removed by the operator, once.** Its successor is `skills/mesh-licence/SKILL.md` |
-| `skills/cleanup/SKILL.md` | **removed by the operator, once.** A repository hygiene skill naming the predecessor's forge and repository; not the mesh's |
+| `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` | the managed instruction file: how a session on this mesh works (§3) |
+| `~/.claude/rules/00-hal-mesh.md`, `~/.claude/rules/conventions.md` | sections of the same file: this node's identity, the repositories' conventions |
+| `~/.claude/settings.json`, merged | the managed settings file: the mesh's keys only, outranking nothing a person did not also set |
+| `~/.claude/skills/hal-switch-license/SKILL.md` | the manager seat's `switch` verb, listed by the console, and a sentence in the instruction file saying to use it |
+| `~/.claude/skills/cleanup/SKILL.md` | nothing; it named the predecessor's forge |
+| the console's entry in the agent's user-scope state | the managed settings' tool-server key, from the console's provision (§4) |
 
-The module's documentation names the three removals, so a person assigning it on a workstation that
-carried the predecessor knows the step. On a fresh machine there is nothing to remove.
+**The home.** Under [ADR 0182](../../02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md)
+the module owns the directory `~/.claude` — that it exists, that the operator owns it, its mode,
+`0700` — and declares it, so the mesh refuses a second module owning it. Of what is inside, it owns only
+the agent's credentials file, which its own code writes for a subscription licence (§5); every other path
+is *found*. The person's memory, history, projects, local
+settings, their own rules, skills and tool servers are never read or written by the mesh. **The six
+predecessor files are the operator's to remove, once, on each workstation**; the module's documentation
+lists them, and until they go the agent reads stale instructions beside the mesh's.
 
-**The console's entry changes name.** The agent on both workstations today reaches the console under
-an entry named after this installation. A definition names no installation
-([ADR 0155](../../02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)), so
-the module writes the entry as `mesh`, and every tool an agent sees is prefixed accordingly. The
-hand-made entry is the person's to remove; until they do, the agent sees the mesh's tools twice.
+## 2. What the module declares and what its code writes
 
-## 4. What the three documents say
+**Declared, applied by the host:** the agent's package (§7); the module's state directory; a facts file
+in that directory carrying the node's name and the console's endpoint, and a settings file carrying the
+role and the extra tool servers, merged from the module's settings layers — the bundle is told the two
+files' paths, because a bundle's words are paths and constants only (ADR 0192); the bus, the console's provision, and that it uses the `anthropic-licence-manager` seat.
+Two directories, declared so the ownership check sees them: the agent's managed directory under
+`/etc`, root's, and `~/.claude` under the operator's home, the operator's. No *file* resource under
+either: what is in them is written by the module's code (§2 below) or is the person's.
 
-**Prose, not a paste** — the files are the module's; this is what they are for.
+**Written by the module's code**, from the facts file and the manager's hand-over, whenever either
+changes:
 
-**`CLAUDE.md` — how a session on this mesh works.** The console is the only path to the mesh, and its
-tools are the vocabulary: the record is asked through the records module's tools, symptom first — the
-literal error text before a hypothesis — and that is the *search before you dig* rule rewritten for a
-knowledge base that is now the record itself ([ADR 0153](../../02-DECISIONS/0153-the-record-is-read-by-a-module-and-the-console-lists-it.md));
-the mesh is asked and changed through the controller seat's verbs — status, plan, assign, push,
-settings, and licence once it exists; the forge through the forge module's tools. The hard rules are the
-same rules in new words: a file the mesh manages is changed through the verb that owns it or through
-the catalogue, never on disk, and `plan` says what the mesh would write; a store's database is never
-written by hand; main is never pushed; the mesh creates no symlinks and nobody else does either; a
-package is declared, not installed by hand. It uses the glossary's words — controller, foundation,
-node, seat, console — and none of the predecessor's.
-
-**`rules/00-mesh.md` — who this node is.** Two facts and one pointer: the node's name, from the
-machine; the node's role, from the assignment's settings on this node; and that the other nodes are
-asked of the controller's `nodes` verb rather than listed here. The predecessor's rule carried a table
-of every node with its public domain and role; a table is a copy that drifts, and the live answer is
-one tool call away. No address, no public domain.
-
-**`rules/conventions.md` — the rules of the repositories.** Concise commit messages in the imperative,
-focused on why; a branch, a pull request and a human approval for every merge; test before pushing,
-because nodes update unattended; follow the playbooks in the record; shared logic in the SDK; the
-module repository's rules on manifests. Nothing that names a tool of the predecessor's.
-
-**Where the module gets the name and the role.** The name is a machine fact the controller already
-offers a definition. The role is a value a person chooses per node — *the laptop*, *the home-server* —
-and is an operator value on the assignment's node layer, refused by name when unset
-([ADR 0155](../../02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)).
-So assigning the module to a node is two acts: the assignment, and the node's role in its settings.
-
-## 5. The licence
-
-[ADR 0178](../../02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md)
-decides it; this is the shape.
-
-**The consumer** is `(node, claude-code)`: the operator's interactive sessions on that machine, under
-that account, on one licence at a time. The module requires `model-access` and is put on a licence like
-the consumer module already in the catalogue.
-
-**Delivery and the write.** The mesh delivers the access token sealed to the machine, as a secret in
-the module's own state directory, and the bound facts beside it. A step in the module's own process —
-the consumer module's existing write, carried over — reads the secret and writes
-`~/.claude/.credentials.json`: owned by the account, readable by the account alone, atomically,
-access-token-only. The step names the secret file as what it reads and runs again when it changes
-([ADR 0099](../../02-DECISIONS/0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md)), and on a schedule as
-a backstop, so a refreshed token reaches the file unasked. It runs in the module's own context and
-never as the person.
-
-**Refresh** is the manager module's on the control node, as [ADR 0050](../../02-DECISIONS/0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md)
-built it. It is assigned to nothing today and is the first prerequisite of the build.
-
-**The two tools** the module serves, listed by the console under the module's name:
-
-| tool | answers |
+| path | content |
 |---|---|
-| `licence_status` | which licence this machine's agent holds, from the bound facts; when its access token expires; whether the file on disk matches what was delivered — by fingerprint, never by value |
-| `licence_switch` | asks the controller seat's `licence` verb to put this consumer on the named licence, waits until the credentials file carries the new licence's token, and answers with the licence's name and expiry. Refuses with the mesh's own words when the licence does not exist or the consumer cannot be put on it |
+| the managed settings file | the mesh's keys: the tool servers (the console, plus any the operator declared as settings), the attribution trailers, and — for an API-key binding only — the key-helper that serves the key |
+| the managed instruction file | §3 |
+| the agent's credentials file under the operator's home | for a subscription binding only: the access token the manager handed over, as the operator, readable by the operator alone, atomic, no refresh token |
+| the module's keypair in its state | made once, the private half never leaves (§5) |
 
-Neither tool, nor the module's log, nor any event it emits, ever carries a token. The module declares
-that it invokes the controller seat's `licence` verb, and nothing else.
+Writing under `/etc` and as the operator under the home are two escalations the module's code performs
+for itself; the mesh does not run the module as root for everyone, and the caller does not know
+([ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)).
 
-**The skill** — `skills/mesh-licence/SKILL.md` — wraps `licence_switch` so a person asks in a sentence,
-and carries the predecessor's rules unchanged in substance: never ask for or print a token; never edit
-the credentials file by hand; the tool writes the file and the record together; with no licence named,
-ask rather than guess.
+**Which settings keys are the mesh's.** A key is the mesh's when it encodes a rule of the mesh: the tool
+servers that reach the mesh, the attribution convention of its repositories, the key-helper a binding
+requires. The model, the spinner, the drafts and every other preference are the person's, and the
+predecessor's experience with the model key is the evidence: a mesh that sets a preference reverts a
+person's choice on every push.
 
-**Enrolling an account** happens on the manager node: a licence added by name, its grant obtained by a
-login in a throwaway home and adopted sealed to that node's key, as the manager module does. **The
-shell helper** that ran the agent with a token from a plaintext file is retired and not replaced
-([ADR 0178](../../02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md)
-says why).
+## 3. What the instruction file says
 
-## 6. The console
+Prose, not a paste; the file is the module's.
 
-The agent reaches the mesh through the console on the machine's loopback
-([to-be 34](34-the-console.md)). The module must tell the agent the console's address, and the port is
-the console's to say: today the console's manifest declares it and the host assigns it, and nothing but
-the console knows what was assigned. So **the console provides a node-scoped provision** — the MCP
-endpoint on loopback — serving its port, and the module requires it. A requirement names what the
-consumer is coupled to ([ADR 0027](../../02-DECISIONS/0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md)):
-the agent is coupled to an MCP endpoint on its own machine, not to a module name. Co-location resolves
-it, and a machine without the console refuses the agent module by name — which is right, because an
-agent without the console is the predecessor's situation again.
+**How a session on this mesh works.** The console is the only path to the mesh, and its tools are the
+vocabulary: the record is asked through the records module, symptom first — the literal error text before
+a hypothesis ([ADR 0153](../../02-DECISIONS/0153-the-record-is-read-by-a-module-and-the-console-lists-it.md));
+the mesh is asked and changed through the controller seat's verbs; the forge through the forge module's
+tools; a licence through the `anthropic-licence-manager` seat's verbs, never by editing a file. The hard
+rules in new words: a file the mesh manages is changed through the verb that owns it or through the
+catalogue, never on disk; a store's database is never written by hand; main is never pushed; the mesh
+creates no symlinks and nobody else does; a package is declared, not installed by hand. The glossary's
+words, none of the predecessor's.
 
-This is a change to the console's definition, not to the controller. [To-be 34 §1](34-the-console.md)
-says the console has *no provision*; this is the one it gains, at node scope, and the design is amended
-in the same change.
+**Who this node is.** The node's name, from the facts file; the node's role, from the module's settings
+on the node's layer; and that the other nodes are asked of the controller's `nodes` verb rather than
+listed here, because a table is a copy that drifts.
 
-## 7. Scope, settings and the order of assignment
+**The repositories' conventions.** Concise commit messages in the imperative, about why; a branch, a
+pull request and a human approval for every merge; test before pushing, because nodes update unattended;
+the playbooks in the record.
 
-**Every node with an operator account.** None has one today; the operator states them first. A node
-with no account refuses the module, naming the fact.
+## 4. The console
 
-**Per node:** the role, in the module's settings on the node layer. **Per mesh:** nothing.
+> **Revised 2026-10-03, building it.** The vendor's managed-settings key for tool servers refuses any
+> URL that is not `https://`, including one on loopback, so it cannot carry the console. The module
+> owns the vendor's **exclusive** managed tool-server file instead (operator's choice): the console as
+> `mesh`, over HTTP on loopback, and every server in the module's `mcp_servers` setting — and no other.
+> A server added by hand, a project's own file and a plugin's servers stop loading; claude.ai's
+> connectors are kept by a managed setting. A person's own servers move into the setting, for the mesh
+> or for one node. Stdio straight to the bus, through the runtime's own client, was weighed and left
+> for later: it needs a verb the delivered runtime does not have, and a session holding its own bus
+> connection breaks on a credential rotation.
 
-**Order:** the manager on the control node and a refresh observed; the licences the operator uses,
-enrolled; the console's provision and the module in the catalogue; one workstation assigned, the three
-predecessor files removed there, and a new session read to confirm it sees the mesh's instructions and
-the console's tools; then the rest.
+**Other tool servers** a person wants on every machine, or on one, are a declared setting of this module
+— mesh layer or node layer — rendered into the same managed file. The person sets them with the
+controller's `settings` verb on this module, so the list stays declared state; the list is the operator's
+choice, set where every setting is set. The agent's own HTTP-only constraint for managed servers applies; a person's local
+command-based servers stay their own, in their own file.
 
-## 8. The package
+**The entry's name is `mesh`.** The hand-made entry both workstations carry today is named after this
+installation, which a definition may not be ([ADR 0155](../../02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md));
+it is the person's to remove, and until then the agent sees the mesh's tools twice.
 
-The module declares the agent's package. The distribution every node of the live mesh runs does not
-carry it in its repositories: the two workstations have it from a build the predecessor's helper made
-from the community repository, and nothing updates it since the predecessor retired. On those two the
-declaration is satisfied — the package is present. **On a fresh machine the host's package manager
-refuses it, in its own words, and the module is not applied there.** That is correct and is a gap.
+## 5. The licence: the consumer side
 
-The answer the mesh already has a shape for is a package repository for this ecosystem as a seat
-([ADR 0109](../../02-DECISIONS/0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md)), fed by the
-builder with a package it builds from the vendor's release, and trusted by every node's package manager.
-Then `package: claude-code` is answered the way every package is, and updates arrive the way every
-update does. It is not built, and it is not this module's to build: it is a seat and a provider module
-of its own, needed by every package the distribution does not carry.
+[ADR 0183](../../02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md)
+decides it and [ADR 0206](../../02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md) says how it moves; to-be 39 is the manager's half. This module:
 
-Rejected as the answer: the vendor's own installer, which puts a self-updating binary under the
-person's home. It is a hand-installed package the mesh cannot see, reproduce or roll back, and it
-updates itself outside the mesh — the arrangement the manifest rule *never install a package by hand*
-exists to end.
+- **makes a keypair** in its state the first time it runs, and sends the public half with every request
+  that is answered sealed;
+- **reports what the node holds**, as its own `holdings` state, one key for this node: the account's
+  identity read from the agent's state file, the kind, the refresh token's fingerprint and whether one is
+  present, the access token's fingerprint and expiry, the licence and generation it last applied, when the
+  credentials file last changed. Written at start — a node already logged in reports at once — and on every
+  change of the file. Never a token: the runtime refuses one anyway;
+- **hands over a grant only when asked**: `claude_code_grant` answers the manager, which gives its public
+  key, with the full grant in the credentials file sealed to that key — the one time a refresh token
+  leaves the node, for the manager to adopt by refreshing it;
+- **watches the manager's `bindings` state** for this node, and when the generation is newer than the one
+  it applied, asks the seat's `current` verb for the token, sealed to its own key. A rotation of the same
+  licence is applied only if newer within one lineage; a switch is applied regardless;
+- **writes** for a subscription licence the credentials file as the operator, **access-token-only** — so
+  the agent here never refreshes, and a refresh token appearing later is a person's login, reported like
+  any change; for the API-key licence sets the key-helper in the managed settings to a small program that
+  prints the key from the module's state, so no file under the home is touched;
+- **serves `claude_code_status`**: which licence and kind this node holds, when the token expires, whether
+  the file matches what was handed over — by fingerprint, never by value.
+
+Switching is the seat's `switch` verb, asked through the console; this module only applies what the
+state says it should hold. *2026-10-04:* this replaces the manager's visits of 2026-10-03 (ADR 0183's dated
+note): the node reports, the manager asks for a secret only when a report shows one it does not hold, and
+a token is fetched by request when the state says it changed.
+
+## 6. Scope, settings and the order of assignment
+
+**Every node with an operator account** ([ADR 0181](../../02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md)).
+All four nodes carry one since 2026-10-03. **Per node:** the role. **Per mesh or per node:**
+extra tool servers. **Prerequisite:** the manager holds its seat and has adopted the licences.
+
+**Order:** the manager assigned and a refresh observed; the console's provision in the catalogue; this
+module on one workstation; the six predecessor files and the hand-made console entry removed there; a
+new session read to confirm it sees the mesh's instruction file, the console's five tools under `mesh`, and
+its licence; then the rest.
+
+## 7. The package
+
+The module declares the agent's package. The distribution every node runs does not carry it in its
+repositories: the two workstations have it from a build the predecessor's helper made from the community
+repository, and nothing updates it since. On those two the declaration is satisfied. **On a fresh machine
+the host's package manager refuses it, in its own words, and the module is not applied there.** The
+answer is a package repository for this ecosystem as a seat
+([ADR 0109](../../02-DECISIONS/0109-a-package-registry-seat-is-one-per-ecosystem.md)), fed by the builder
+and trusted by every node's package manager; not built, and not this module's to build. The vendor's own
+installer is rejected: it puts a self-updating binary under the person's home, invisible to the mesh.
 
 ## How it is checked
 
 | Check | Defends |
 |---|---|
-| the module's definition names no node, path or login, and declares no secret in a file's content | ADR 0112, ADR 0155, ADR 0178 |
-| on a lab machine with an account, a seeded home holding a person's rule file, the predecessor's three leftovers and a settings file with the person's model: after assign, the mesh's files are present and owned by the account, the person's file and model are byte-identical, the leftovers are untouched, the console's entry is set; after unassign, the mesh's files are gone, the two keys are given back, the directory and everything else stand | ADR 0177 |
-| on a lab machine with no account, the assignment is refused naming the fact | ADR 0176 |
-| the credentials file is owned by the account, readable by it alone, and names no refresh token; a switch through the console changes the licence named in the bound facts and the file's fingerprint; neither the tool's answer nor the module's log holds a token | ADR 0178, ADR 0050 |
-| the console's provision resolves by co-location and a machine without the console refuses the module by name | ADR 0027, ADR 0152 |
-| a new session on the assigned workstation lists the console's tools under the `mesh` prefix and answers "which node am I" from the identity rule | the exit of the build |
-| the package is reported present on the workstations and refused in the package manager's words on a machine without it | §8, honestly |
+| the module's definition names no node, path or login, declares no file under a home or `/etc` (only the two directories), and no file resource carries a secret | ADR 0112, ADR 0155, ADR 0183 |
+| on a lab machine with an account and a seeded home holding a person's rule file and the predecessor's leftovers: after assign, the managed directory holds the mesh's files, the home is byte-identical except the credentials file, which is owned by the operator and names no refresh token; after unassign, the managed directory's files are gone and the home is untouched | ADR 0182, the host's agnosticism |
+| on a lab machine with no account, the assignment is refused naming the fact | ADR 0181 |
+| a switch asked of the seat through the console changes the licence and the token on the node; no tool answer and no log line holds a token | ADR 0183 |
+| the API-key binding writes nothing under the home and the agent authenticates through the helper | ADR 0183 |
+| the console's provision resolves by co-location; a machine without the console refuses the module by name | ADR 0027, ADR 0152 |
+| a new session on the assigned workstation lists the console's five tools under `mesh` ([ADR 0195](../../02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md)) and answers "which node am I" from the instruction file | the exit of the build |
 
 ## What this does not settle
 
-- **Several operator accounts on one node.** ADR 0176 decides one; the module follows.
-- **A parallel session under another licence on the same machine.** The retired helper allowed it by
-  keeping tokens readable; a clean form needs a second consumer identity (to-be 14's open half).
-- **The package repository seat.** §8 names it and leaves it to its own design.
-- **The rest of the family** — shell, terminal, desktop, user-scoped services — each a module of the
-  same shape, each proving nothing new about ownership and something new about its own tool.
+- **Several operator accounts on one node** (ADR 0181 decides one).
+- **A worker's own licence on a machine.** Every interactive session shares the node's one agent
+  directory and its licence, however many run. A worker runs from a home of its own with an agent
+  directory in it, bound to its own licence through the manager (to-be 39 §5); that is for when workers
+  exist, and nothing here changes for it.
+- **The package repository seat** (§7).
+- **How the module's tools are run** is decided: the node's tool runtime, host-side
+  ([ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)).
+  The managed files and the credential write are tools of this module that runtime serves. Until the
+  runtime exists on every node, the module's code runs as a supervised process of its own
+  ([ADR 0150](../../02-DECISIONS/0150-a-modules-own-code-runs-as-supervised-processes-under-one-account.md)),
+  which changes nothing in what it writes.
 
 ## References
 
-- [ADR 0176](../../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md),
-  [ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md),
-  [ADR 0178](../../02-DECISIONS/0178-the-mesh-binds-and-delivers-a-licence-and-the-module-writes-the-tools-credential.md) — the three decisions this rests on
-- [to-be 29](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) — the family; [to-be 14](14-model-access.md),
-  [to-be 15](15-the-agent-session.md) — the licence and the consumer; [to-be 34](34-the-console.md) — the console
-- the predecessor's `claude-code` module and its sibling's identity rule — what is replaced, read from the workstations on 2026-10-02
-- mesh-catalog `modules/anthropic-consumer` — the write this module carries over; `modules/anthropic-manager` — the refresh it depends on
+- [ADR 0181](../../02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md),
+  [ADR 0182](../../02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md),
+  [ADR 0183](../../02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md) — the decisions
+- [39 — The Anthropic licence manager](39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md), [34 — The console](34-the-console.md), [29 — A node has operator accounts](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md)
+- [research 018](../../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/00-overview.md) — the operator's machine as modules, and where tools run
+- the vendor's documentation on managed settings, managed tool servers, the managed instruction file and the key-helper, read 2026-10-02
+- the predecessor's two modules and the six files on the workstations, read 2026-10-02

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/37-the-operators-machine.md

@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: in-progress
+code: [mesh-host, mesh-controller, mesh-tools, mesh-catalog]
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0161-what-deserves-a-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md
+---
+
+# 37 — The operator's machine
+
+**Every configurable thing on a node is a module, the home included, and the same catalogue serves
+a server and a laptop.** One default configuration per module, varied per node by a setting or a
+kept region; roles a machine has once as node-scoped seats with tool contracts; one tool runtime
+per node serving every module's tools on the host side
+([ADR 0173](../../02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md)
+to [0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)).
+This is the design [to-be 29](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) §2 called *a family* and
+[research 018](../../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/00-overview.md) measured.
+
+## 1. What a module of the environment looks like
+
+Worked on the first one, a shell. The `zsh` module declares:
+
+- a **package**, `zsh`;
+- **files under the home**, owned by the account: the mesh's block at the start of the shell's rc
+  file with the module's default configuration and the slots other modules' code lands in, the
+  operator's own lines kept after it, and `${setting:…}` placeholders for the few values a node
+  varies; the account and its home are machine facts the controller resolves
+  ([ADR 0112](../../02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md),
+  to-be 29 §2). Its environment is a contribution to the environment module, not lines of its own
+  ([ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md),
+  [ADR 0204](../../02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md),
+  [to-be 41](41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md));
+- a **claim** on the mesh's node-scoped seat `node-login-shell`, with its one verb;
+- a **`user` shape** naming the shell, applied only where the module holds the seat;
+- a **tools bundle**, the artifact kind for interpreted code, with `execute` and the module's own
+  `show-config`.
+
+No container, no unit, no service. It is assigned to every node with an operator account. The
+`fish` and `bash` modules are the same with another package and other files; one of the three
+holds the seat on each node.
+
+The second shape is **system scope**: the login manager declares a package, two files under
+`/etc`, and a service, which is exactly what the ssh daemon module declares today. The third
+shape is **graphical**: the window manager declares a package, files under the home, a
+user-scoped unit or two, a claim on the display-session seat, a dependency on the display server
+being held, and a bundle with its tools. Nothing in any of them says which machine it is for.
+
+## 2. Variation
+
+A node differs from the default in two ways and no other
+([ADR 0174](../../02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md)):
+a **setting** the module declared, set in the node's layer and rendered into the file; or lines in
+a **kept region** the file marks. The predecessor's ninety theme variables become the settings of
+the modules whose files read them. Until the settings record proposed alongside the
+container-runtime records ships — a setting names the file it lands in — environment modules carry
+defaults in their files and declare no setting; that is the order, not a preference.
+
+## 3. The node tools runtime
+
+One per node, started and restarted by the host as a sibling process, never a container
+([ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md)).
+It is the tool runtime that exists, in the role it was written for: it reads the memberships of
+every module assigned to the node, loads each module's tools bundle, and serves every tool and
+every held seat's verb on the subjects issued. It holds the node's one bus credential and may call
+every tool on the mesh. Its serving mode on the machine's loopback is what the console was
+([to-be 34](34-the-console.md)); the module is renamed **node-tools** and declares the interpreter
+it needs as a package.
+
+A bundle reaches the node as any artifact does. A push that adds or replaces one is a reload. A
+bundle that fails to load is named in the node's report and the others serve. A tool that needs
+root escalates itself.
+
+## 4. The seats of the environment
+
+Decided now: **`node-login-shell`** (the mesh's own, ADR 0204; zsh, fish, bash; verb `execute`),
+**`node-environment`** (the mesh's own, ADR 0203; the environment module; no verbs) and
+**`node-service-manager`** (the mesh's own; systemd; verbs over units in both scopes). The rest
+are candidates from [research 018](../../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/04-the-seats-of-the-environment.md),
+one record each when its first holder is written: display server, display session, terminal
+emulator, launcher, notifier, compositor, lock screen, bar, login manager, audio, clipboard, boot.
+Editors, browsers, media players, the agent, the downloads and scripts folders are modules with
+tools and no seat.
+
+A module that needs a role filled depends on **the seat being held** on the node, not on a
+capability: the window manager needs the display server seat held, by xorg or by a compositor
+that is its own server. Whether a held seat can gate an assignment is the first question the
+resolver is asked by the second graphical module; the display server itself is gated by the
+`graphical-session` capability the profile already reports.
+
+## 5. What the host gains, and what it does not
+
+- `service` gains `scope: user`, applied as the account
+  ([ADR 0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md)).
+- The host starts and supervises the node tools runtime as it would any host-side process, and
+  delivers bundles as artifacts.
+- Nothing else. No hooks, no actions: `chsh` is the `user` shape, enabling a unit is the `service`
+  shape, rebuilding boot images is a verb of the boot seat when that seat is written.
+- A gap, recorded: the `package` shape drives the distribution's package manager and nothing
+  outside its repositories. The login manager in use is such a package; it waits on an official
+  package or a decision the host does not yet have.
+
+## 6. The order of the build
+
+1. **The operator account on every node** — `mesh-controller node` with the login name; empty on
+   all four today. Nothing home-scoped composes before it.
+2. **The node tools runtime** — mesh-host supervises it; mesh-tools serves bundles from memberships
+   and reloads; mesh-controller composes the bundle into the declaration and the memberships to one
+   runtime per node; the catalogue renames the console. Proven when the packet-filter verbs answer
+   from it and its container is gone.
+3. **`zsh`**, the first environment module: seat, `user` shape, home files, `execute`. Proven on a
+   server first, then every node.
+4. **`systemd`** and user scope: the host's field, the seat seeded, the module. Proven by the
+   desktop's reload watcher declared `scope: user` on a workstation.
+5. **The login manager**, system scope, once its package is installable; then the display server,
+   the window manager, and the rest of the graphical stack, each seat its own record.
+6. **Settings** for the theme knobs, after the settings record ships and issue 168 closes.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Claim | Checked by |
+|---|---|
+| A module with a package, home files, a seat and a bundle resolves and composes on a node with an account, and is refused on one without | the controller's composition tests |
+| One runtime per node serves every assigned module's tools; a per-module tool container no longer exists | the runtime's tests; `docker ps` on a converged machine |
+| A user-scoped unit is applied as the account | the host's tests |
+| A node's difference from a module's default is visible as a setting with a source or a kept region | `mesh-controller.settings`; the host's write-into tests |
+| The same manifests assign to a server and a workstation; the graphical ones are refused on the server by name | the resolver's tests and the live mesh |
+
+## References
+
+- [Research 018](../../01-RESEARCH/018-the-operators-machine-as-modules/00-overview.md)
+- [To-be 29](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) — the account and the home; this design is the
+  family its §2 names, beyond `~/.ssh`.
+- [To-be 33](33-the-tools-the-mesh-answers.md), [to-be 34](34-the-console.md) — the tools and
+  the console, amended by ADR 0175.
+- [To-be 05](05-the-node-host.md) — the host's vocabulary, widened by ADR 0177.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/38-building-the-operators-machine.md

@@ -0,0 +1,379 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: in-progress
+code: [mesh-tools, mesh-controller, mesh-host, mesh-catalog]
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+---
+
+# 38. Building the operator's machine
+
+**The work of [design 37](37-the-operators-machine.md), broken into packages small enough that each
+ends at something a person can see run, in the order their dependencies allow.** Design 37 is the
+authority on *what* is built; this document holds only the packages, their order, their sizes and
+their proofs, and is wrong the moment it disagrees with 37 rather than the other way round. It is
+the shape [design 28](28-building-the-bus.md) gave the bus work, applied here.
+
+## How this is built, and where it is run
+
+**On the live mesh, by the operator's decision.** Every package is written with unit tests and
+committed on one branch per repository; its proof runs on the four machines, not in the lab.
+[ADR 0149](../../02-DECISIONS/0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md) already says the live mesh is
+the test bed; the operator's words on 2026-10-02 were *skip the lab, it is not too bad if something
+is broken*. The cost accepted: a package that breaks the runtime breaks every tool on a node until
+the next push, and the controller's own verbs stay reachable through the controller seat whatever
+happens to a node's runtime — which is the one thing that must hold, and does by construction
+([ADR 0154](../../02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md)).
+
+Each package names what proves it. A package that cannot name its proof is divided until it can.
+
+## What exists already, measured
+
+Counted 2026-10-02 in the four repositories, non-test source. The point of the count is the same
+as design 28's: nothing here is new ground; every package reshapes something standing.
+
+| Piece | Today | Size | Becomes |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| the tool runtime | TypeScript: loads `MESH_TOOL_MODULES`, serves one module's tools and its claimed seats' verbs; `serve` is the console | ~1 700 lines over six files | loads every assigned module's bundle; `serve` is node tools |
+| the host's `process` shape | Go: fetch a bundle by digest, unpack under the mesh's daemons directory, write the unit, run it | 343 lines | **unchanged** — the runtime is one such process |
+| the host's `archive` shape | Go: fetch and unpack an artifact at a path | 185 lines | **unchanged** — a module's tools bundle is one such archive |
+| the controller's bus principals | Go: one principal per module per node, grants from what it declares | 132 lines | gains one principal per node for the runtime |
+| the controller's memberships | Go: one per assignment, the subjects a runtime serves | 143 lines | **unchanged** in shape; the runtime reads several |
+| the controller's declaration composer | Go, one file | 2 053 lines | gains the runtime's process, the bundles' archives, two env words |
+| the catalogue | 35 manifests build a per-module tool container on the runtime's base image | — | none do; the runtime is a module of its own |
+
+**Two measurements decide the shape.** The host needs no change: a `process` and an `archive` are
+what the runtime and a bundle are, and both are applied today. And the runtime already does
+nine-tenths of the job — the loop over entrypoints, the seat verbs, the membership subscription —
+for one module; the work is to let it do the same for a list.
+
+## The order the work allows
+
+```
+WP1  the runtime serves many modules            (mesh-tools)        ──┐
+WP2  the controller composes one runtime a node (mesh-controller)   ──┤ independent, test-proven
+                                                                      │
+WP3  the runtime is a module; the console is its serving mode (mesh-tools, mesh-catalog)
+                                                                      │
+WP4  the first holder moves: the packet filter  (mesh-catalog)      ── the live proof
+                                                                      │
+WP5  the shell, on a server                      (mesh-catalog)      ── the first environment module live
+WP6  the service manager, on a workstation       (mesh-host #72, mesh-catalog)
+                                                                      │
+WP7  the login manager, the display server, the window manager …     ── one record per seat, after this document
+WP8  settings for the theme knobs                                    ── after issue 168 closes
+```
+
+WP1 and WP2 touch different repositories and meet only at the membership's shape, which neither
+changes; they are built in parallel. WP3 needs both. WP4 is the first time anything on a machine
+changes, and it is the proof of the whole. WP5 and WP6 are the first environment modules; the
+packages after them are design 37 §4's candidates and are not broken down here, because each
+begins with a decision record this document cannot anticipate.
+
+## WP1 — The runtime serves many modules
+
+*mesh-tools. About a day.*
+
+**What changes.** `serve` takes a list of modules to serve, each with its entrypoints, rather than
+one module and one credential. The runtime reads one membership per module from the subjects
+[ADR 0160](../../02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md)
+derives for each, and serves each module's tools on that module's subjects and each held seat's
+verbs on the seat's. The filter that drops a registration under any name but the one module goes;
+what remains is the rule that a registration under a seat's name is served only where some module
+the runtime serves claims that seat. A bundle that throws on import is named in the log and in
+what `tools` answers, and the others serve. The runtime reads `MESH_OPERATOR_ACCOUNT` and
+`MESH_OPERATOR_HOME` and hands them to every tool's environment.
+
+**What does not change.** The SDK. The broker client. The MCP surface. A module's tool code.
+
+**Proof.** The runtime's test against a real bus: three bundles, one of which throws on import;
+five tools and two seat verbs answer on their subjects; `tools` names the failed bundle; a
+membership republished mid-run re-subscribes without a restart.
+
+*Built and proven 2026-10-02* (mesh-tools, branch `feat/the-operators-machine`, commit `6390d1d`).
+
+**WP1b — the launcher beside the loader** ([ADR 0188](../../02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)).
+*mesh-tools, mesh-sdk. A day for the skeleton.* A bundle whose entry is not JavaScript is launched
+as a child process with the runtime's environment and spoken to over MCP on stdio: `tools/list`
+once, `tools/call` per call; a tool named `<seat>.<verb>` is the seat's implementation. A child
+that exits is named as a failed bundle and restarted on the next call. The TypeScript import stays
+as the shortcut. Beside it, one skeleton SDK per language of the first set — the stdio loop and the
+tool-definition type, nothing else — each proven by one bundle in that language answering one tool
+in the runtime's test. **Proof.** The runtime's test: a bundle in a second language, launched, its
+tool answering on its subject over a real bus; the TypeScript fixture served through the protocol
+with the shortcut off answers the same.
+
+## WP2 — The controller composes one runtime per node
+
+*mesh-controller. Two to three days; the largest package.*
+
+**What changes**, in four pieces, each its own commit:
+
+1. **A node principal.** Beside one principal per module per node, one per node of kind
+   `node-tools`: its serving grants are the union of every assigned module's tool subjects and every
+   held seat's verbs on that node, its invoking grant is `*`, and it consumes nothing. The
+   per-module memberships are composed as today; nothing else on the bus learns a new shape.
+2. **Bundle delivery.** For every assigned module whose build produced a `bundle`, the node's
+   declaration gains an `archive` placed under a directory the controller derives, so the host
+   fetches and unpacks it as it does any artifact. The bundle's digest is what the build recorded.
+3. **The runtime's process.** One `process` per node running the runtime from its own bundle
+   (WP3), `MESH_TOOL_MODULES` composed from the unpacked entrypoints — each as
+   `<module>=<path>`, and the runtime decides from the file whether it is loaded or launched
+   (WP1b) — `MESH_OPERATOR_ACCOUNT` and
+   `MESH_OPERATOR_HOME` from the account fact, `restart-on` naming every bundle so a push that
+   changes one restarts it. A node with no account composes the runtime without the two words.
+4. **The gate.** A manifest declaring `tools` and a container built on the runtime's base image is
+   refused at registration once the runtime module is registered, naming this record. It is the
+   mechanism that keeps the old pattern from returning by habit. ADR 0188 widens it, after WP4:
+   a module whose own code is an image artifact is refused, whatever image it is built on.
+
+   *Amended 2026-10-02, at WP3.* The gate refuses the pattern **spreading**, not standing: a module
+   new to the catalogue in that shape, or one that had already moved to a bundle and returns to it,
+   is refused; a module the catalogue already holds in that shape — judged from the manifest it
+   holds and what that module's newest build stood on — is rebuilt without complaint. The day the
+   runtime arrives some thirty such modules stand, each moves in its own change from WP4 on, and a
+   gate refusing every rebuild in the meantime would stop the catalogue's pipeline to make a point
+   this record already makes.
+
+**Proof.** Composition tests: a node with three assigned modules, one holding a seat, yields one
+process, three archives, one node principal whose grants are the union, and the same three
+memberships as before. The gate's test: the packet-filter manifest as it is today is refused once
+the runtime is registered.
+
+## WP3 — The runtime is a module, and the console is its serving mode
+
+*mesh-tools and mesh-catalog. A day.*
+
+**What changes.** mesh-tools gains a `bundle` artifact of itself beside its images, and its manifest
+becomes the `node-tools` module: a package for the interpreter, the loopback listener the console
+declared, `invokes: *`, and nothing else — the process is the controller's to compose (WP2). In the
+catalogue, `mesh-console` is retired as a module and `node-tools` assigned where it was. The
+runtime's `serve` keeps answering MCP on loopback; the person's end of it keeps the name *console*
+([glossary](../../00-META/glossary.md)).
+
+**Proof.** On every node: the console's container is gone, `node-tools` runs as a unit the host
+wrote, `tools/list` on loopback answers as before, and the controller's verbs answer through it.
+This is the first live step, and it is reversible by re-assigning `mesh-console`.
+
+*Decided 2026-10-02:* `mesh-tools` keeps its name as the module the TypeScript images come from, and
+`node-tools` is a second module in the same repository ([ADR 0069](../../02-DECISIONS/0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md))
+rather than a rename — the thirty-five manifests that build `on` `mesh-tools` stay true. Three things
+WP3 found that the plan did not say: a TypeScript bundle must carry its dependencies and a
+`package.json` naming its files as ES modules, which the toolchain now copies in from its own image;
+the runtime's credential must be owned by the account the runtime runs as, which the controller
+composes; and `MESH_TOOL_MODULES` is empty on a node where the runtime is the only bundle, which the
+runtime accepts. *Built 2026-10-02* (mesh-tools `c46f950`, mesh-controller `ca7e81e` `773b561`
+`729a5f9`). *Proven live 2026-10-02/03, on all four machines*: the console's container is gone,
+`node-tools` runs as a unit the host wrote, as the operator's account, `tools/list` on each loopback
+answers with the same 219 tools as before, and the controller's verbs answer through it; `mesh-console`
+retired from the catalogue. Three things the step found are issues
+[203](../../04-ISSUES/203-a-fresh-assignment-is-pushed-before-its-credential-exists/00-report.md),
+[204](../../04-ISSUES/204-a-controller-handover-re-sent-every-node-a-stale-declaration/00-report.md) and
+[205](../../04-ISSUES/205-a-package-resource-fails-against-a-stale-package-database/00-report.md).
+
+## WP4 — The first holder moves: the packet filter
+
+*mesh-catalog. Half a day. The live proof of ADR 0175.*
+
+**What changes.** The nftables module drops its container, its `NET_ADMIN` and its runtime
+artifact; its tools bundle stays and its claim stays. Its `remove` and `reload` escalate inside the
+tool where they need root, which they have, since the runtime runs as the node's account.
+
+**Proof.** `node-packet-filter.rules@<node>`, `reload` and `remove` answer from the runtime on all
+four machines; `docker ps` shows no `mesh-nftables`; `status` is well. Then the fail2ban holder
+proposed in an open change follows the same way when it lands.
+
+*Found 2026-10-03, before the step ran:* a bundle imported in-process brings its own copy of the SDK
+(WP3's *carry its dependencies*), and the SDK's tool registry is the copy's own — the first module
+loaded beside the runtime would have registered its tools where the runtime never looks, and served
+nothing, silently. Issue
+[209](../../04-ISSUES/209-a-bundles-own-sdk-copy-registers-into-a-registry-the-runtime-never-reads/00-report.md):
+the runtime now resolves every bundle's import of the SDK to its own copy, one registry and one
+broker per node. Two things the package did not say, settled in the module: the filter's commands
+run through `sudo` without a prompt where the runtime is not root, since the operator's account may
+escalate as the operator would; and a bundle has no environment of its own, so the tool reads the
+filter from the path the manifest's `filtering` names rather than from a variable the container used
+to carry, a test holding the two together. Three things a review of the change found: the module's
+own bus credential and state directory went with the container, since nothing reads them once the
+runtime speaks with the node's (the shell module of WP5 declares neither); the `iptables` package the
+image used to carry is now declared on the host; and that the operator's account may escalate without
+a prompt is a fact about the machine the mesh neither declares nor checks — true on all four today,
+and when it is not, the tool names it by how it failed, which is the only check there is until a
+record says where the fact belongs.
+*Built 2026-10-03* (mesh-tools `7152148` for issue 209, mesh-catalog `db5e7c8`). *Proven live
+2026-10-03, on all four machines*: `node-packet-filter.rules`, `reload` and `remove` answer from the
+node's runtime on each — `rules` and the module's own tool list the mesh's table, `reload` loads the
+file and answers with the table, `remove` refuses the mesh's own table by name — `docker ps` shows no
+`mesh-nftables` on any, the container's credential is gone with it, and `status` is well. One thing
+the step found is issue
+[210](../../04-ISSUES/210-the-host-re-creates-the-nodes-runtime-on-every-reconcile/00-report.md):
+the host re-creates the runtime's process on every reconcile (resolved the same day, mesh-host #80).
+*fail2ban followed 2026-10-03* (mesh-catalog `aa5bf7d`), the same shape: container, base images,
+credential and state directory gone, the client through `sudo` since the daemon's socket is root's;
+proven on all four machines — `status`, `banned` and the module's own `fail2ban_settings` answer from
+the runtime, no `mesh-fail2ban` container, the runtime serving both bundles. Two holders moved; of the
+thirty-three tool containers the catalogue held, thirty-one remain, and all but these two carried their
+module's configuration and secrets in the container's environment, which a bundle does not have — the
+question research [020](../../01-RESEARCH/020-what-a-bundled-tool-is-given/00-overview.md) opened
+and [ADR 0192](../../02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md)
+settled the same day: a tools bundle declares `env` on its artifact, the composer resolves it as a
+container's, the runtime hands each bundle its own. That is WP4b below.
+
+## WP4b — Every tool container moves
+
+*mesh-controller, mesh-tools, mesh-catalog. One day. The rest of ADR 0175, under ADR 0192.*
+
+**What changes**, in order: the manifest's tools artifact gains `env` and the catalogue check
+refuses a secret's content in it; the composer resolves a bundle's `env` per machine and carries it
+beside the bundle's archive, `restart-on` included; the runtime hands each bundle its own
+environment — the contributor's argument for an imported bundle, the child's environment for a
+launched one — and a test holds two bundles apart. Then the thirty-one remaining tool containers
+move in one change: each container's `env` becomes its tools artifact's, mount targets folded into
+the host paths they came from, the container, its base images, its Dockerfile and its own bus
+credential gone. Last, the registration gate refuses the container shape for every module.
+
+**Proof.** The controller's and the runtime's tests named in ADR 0192; live, every module's tools
+answer from the runtime on the machines that run it, `docker ps` shows no tool container on any of
+the four, and `status` is well.
+
+*Found 2026-10-03, building it:* of the thirty-one, nine run only tools, three a main of their own,
+and twenty import the module's own event handlers and provisioners beside their tools (ADR 0192's
+dated note). WP4b moves the tools-only nine; WP4c holds the rest. Two of the nine stay with WP4c as
+well — one carries a run-once provisioning step in a second container, one reads an env-file and two
+sockets — so seven move here. *Built 2026-10-03:* mesh-sdk #12 (`collectToolsEach`), mesh-tools #33
+(each bundle its own environment), mesh-controller #236 and #237 (the words composed, made the
+account's to read, and named files restarting the runtime), and the seven modules in one change.
+Building it found issue [211](../../04-ISSUES/211-a-bundle-is-built-before-the-toolchain-it-is-compiled-in/00-report.md).
+*Proven live 2026-10-03* (mesh-catalog #242, #243): on the one machine that runs them, baserow,
+letta, searxng and unifi answer from the runtime with no tool container — each reading its
+configuration file as the operator's account — and the runtime serves seventeen tools for six
+modules there. confluence, gitlab and jira are assigned nowhere and retire with the predecessor.
+Two traps met on the way: a tools bundle whose module declares no `tools` list must say `loads`, or
+the composer delivers it nowhere while the build reports success; and a module whose builds are
+pinned to an old commit is left out of a merge's plan and must be built from `main` by hand.
+
+## WP4d — Every served bundle is launched; the runtime in Go
+
+*mesh-sdk, mesh-controller, mesh-tools. [ADR 0193](../../02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md).*
+
+**In order.** The SDK's stdio loop serves what a bundle registered under the module it is told it
+serves as. The builder writes, beside every TypeScript entrypoint, an executable launcher that
+imports it and serves what it registered; the composer names the launcher where it named the
+entrypoint. The runtime launches every served entrypoint and imports none; the resolve hook and the
+per-registration environment go. Proven live on all four machines. Then the runtime is rewritten in
+Go against the same contract — the bus, the memberships and seats, the launcher, the console's MCP
+over HTTP — and replaces the TypeScript one, proven the same way.
+
+**Proof.** The tests ADR 0193 names; live, every moved module's tools and both node seats answer from
+launched bundles on every machine, and then do again from the Go runtime.
+
+*Built and proven live 2026-10-03.* mesh-sdk #13/#14 (0.1.4, 0.1.5: served as the named module; an
+emit travels through the runtime), mesh-controller #239/#240 (a launcher beside every TypeScript
+entrypoint; a runtime compiled to a binary runs itself), mesh-host #81 (`./name` is the process's own
+binary), mesh-tools #35/#36/#37/#38 (the module named; launch-only; the toolchain requiring 0.1.5; the
+runtime in Go). On all four machines node-tools is now the Go binary, launching every served bundle:
+both node seats answered from it on every machine and the four moved modules on theirs. Found on the
+way: issue [212](../../04-ISSUES/212-a-toolchain-rebuild-keeps-the-sdk-it-cached/00-report.md) (the
+toolchain image kept a cached SDK, and the seats' verbs went unanswered on three machines for an hour),
+and the controller's plan losing track of its own rebuild when it restarts mid-plan.
+
+## WP4c — The module's own long-running code moves
+
+*Not yet broken down.* Twenty-three containers carry code that is not a tool: event handlers,
+provisioners, a step, a main. [ADR 0188](../../02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md)
+§3 already says such code is a `process` bundle the host runs. What no record says yet is how that
+process is given what its container was: the module's own bus credential and the subscriptions it
+consumes with, the words its code reads at import, the packages the image installed (a database's
+client), and the service it reaches by a container network name. That begins with a decision record,
+after which the twenty-three move and the registration gate refuses the container shape for all.
+
+*Decided 2026-10-03, [ADR 0198](../../02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md):*
+the node's runtime launches that code as it launches tools, and is its bus — `mesh/subscribe` and
+`mesh/ask` beside `mesh/publish` on the stdio channel, the module's own durable consumer bound by the
+runtime and acknowledged only after the child answered. **In order:** the runtime's subscription and
+its grants; the SDK's `on` and provisioner bound to the channel; then the modules in three waves — the
+provisioners and handlers whose backends are reached on loopback with a system package (postgres,
+redis, mosquitto, influxdb, keycloak, umami, cloudflare-dns, grafana, icecast, home-assistant, nodered,
+nextcloud, minio), the two whose clients exist on no system (mongodb, mssql: a driver in the bundle),
+and last the mesh's own (mesh-catalog, mesh-vault, records, gitea, mailu, audit-logger, lab, and the
+three mains).
+
+*Built 2026-10-04.* Thirty-four modules no longer run their own code in a container: the first wave
+(mesh-catalog#245), the mesh's own and the media modules (mesh-catalog#248, mesh-media-catalog#13),
+with a step run where and as it is declared (mesh-host#85) and a process's words filled like a
+container's (mesh-controller#250). **Proven live** on every machine that runs them: each moved
+module's tools answer from the node's runtime, the steps run as their oneshot units, and the forge's
+merge events reach the build pipeline from the runtime — the merge after the move started its own
+plan. **Two corrections the machines taught:** a tool that called a broker's command-line client now
+runs it inside the broker's own container, because a host package may be uninstallable on a machine
+whose package index is stale (mesh-catalog#249); and a module reading its application's own key reads
+it through the application's container, because that directory belongs to the account the application
+runs as there, which is not the runtime's (mesh-media-catalog#14). *Completed 2026-10-04:* the last three — mesh-catalog, mongodb and mssql, whose code imports npm
+packages of its own — moved once the builder installs a bundle's own dependencies before compiling,
+keeping the toolchain's SDK authoritative (mesh-controller#255, mesh-catalog#250). Their database
+clients are now drivers inlined into the bundle, not command-line clients fetched by a container; one
+more correction the machines taught: a driver reaching its server on loopback must give TLS a host
+name, since the runtime's Node refuses an address (mesh-catalog#252). **No module's own code runs in
+a container any more;** every module with tools answers from its node's runtime, proven by calling a
+tool of each.
+
+## WP5 — The shell, on a server first
+
+*Replaced on 2026-10-04 by [to-be 41](41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md).* A review before
+assigning found that the shell module would duplicate every machine's existing startup file, drop
+lines from it, leave the prompt uninstalled, and could not be unassigned
+([issue 228](../../04-ISSUES/228-a-login-the-mesh-set-is-never-given-back/00-report.md)). The shell,
+its environment, the modules that plug into it, and the host's fix are built and proven there. What
+follows is the original plan, kept for the record.
+
+*mesh-catalog #224, already written. Half a day to assign and prove.*
+
+**Order.** Assign `zsh` to one server; push; `login-shell.execute@<server> command="uptime"`
+answers; the account's login shell reads zsh; its `~/.zshrc` carries the mesh's block with the
+operator's lines around it. Then the other three nodes. The two things the manifest cannot say
+— the `user` shape applying only where the seat is held, and a second shell module installed
+beside the holder — are the first follow-up record after this document.
+
+## WP6 — The service manager, on a workstation
+
+*mesh-host #72 merged first; mesh-catalog #224. Half a day.*
+
+**Order.** Merge the host's user-scope change and let it roll. Assign `systemd` everywhere;
+`node-service-manager.units@<node> scope=user` answers on a workstation. Then the first user-scoped
+unit the mesh sends: the window manager's reload watcher, declared `scope: user` by the window
+manager module when WP7 writes it — until then, the host's change is proven by its tests and by
+the verb answering.
+
+## What is deliberately not here
+
+- **The graphical stack's seats** (WP7). Each begins with a record naming its holders and verbs,
+  and the first graphical module asks the resolver a question this document cannot answer for it:
+  whether a held seat gates another's assignment.
+- **Settings for the theme knobs** (WP8). Blocked on the settings record proposed in an open change
+  and on [issue 168](../../04-ISSUES/168-a-setting-reaches-every-file-and-contribution/00-report.md).
+- **Reload without restart.** WP2 restarts the runtime on a bundle change; a reload that keeps the
+  other modules' tools up during one module's change is a refinement for after WP4 proves the
+  simple form.
+- **Lingering.** A user-scoped unit answers only while the account's manager runs; declaring
+  lingering for the account is a field on the `user` shape, decided when a server first needs a
+  user unit.
+
+## How this list is kept true
+
+Each package's proof is run on the live mesh when the package is finished and its line here gains
+the date and the commit, the way [ADR 0170](../../02-DECISIONS/0170-the-firewall-seat-serves-its-verbs.md)
+carries *built and proven live*. A package whose proof fails is not reworded; the failure is
+recorded under it and the package stays open. When WP6 is proven, design 37's status moves to
+`implemented` for what it covers and this document's to the same.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md

@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: designed
+code: []
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0050-model-access-is-vendor-agnostic.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0054-model-usage-is-recorded-at-two-grains.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0132-a-seat-carries-the-tools-its-holder-must-serve.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md
+---
+
+# 39 — The Anthropic licence manager
+
+**One module knows every Anthropic licence the mesh has, keeps each alive, decides which consumer gets
+which, and hands every node's agent its token over the bus.**
+[ADR 0183](../../02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md)
+decides it; this is the shape. It is the successor of the predecessor's manager module, built from what
+that module learned the hard way, and the counterpart of [36 — The operator's agent on a machine](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md),
+which is the consumer on every node.
+
+## 1. What it is
+
+A module, `claude-licence-manager`, holding the mesh-scoped seat **`anthropic-licence-manager`**. One
+holder, on the node the operator assigns it to — the control node is the natural one, and nothing in the
+definition says so. It requires a database for its own store and the bus; it claims the seat; it serves
+the seat's verbs. It has no port, no route, no file under anyone's home.
+
+Its store holds four things:
+
+| table | holds |
+|---|---|
+| **licences** | name, kind (`subscription` or `api-key`), the account's identity (id, address, organisation) once adopted, the grant encrypted at rest, when the access token expires, when the refresh token expires, consecutive failures, the refresh lease, when a person was last notified |
+| **bindings** | one row per consumer: kind (`node-agent`, `node-session`, `worker`), its key (the node, or the node and the worker), the licence, or *inherit* |
+| **usage** | the vendor's readings per licence per period, raw beside normalised ([ADR 0054](../../02-DECISIONS/0054-model-usage-is-recorded-at-two-grains.md)) |
+| **audit** | every switch, adoption, refusal and drift, with who asked |
+
+**The grants are encrypted with a key the vault made for the manager** — its one `secret` requirement.
+The vault keeps that key; the manager keeps the grants. That is ADR 0050's carve-out, one module, one
+node, the long-lived grants only.
+
+## 2. The licences it manages today
+
+Two subscription accounts and one API key. They differ in kind and the manager treats them so:
+
+| kind | what the grant is | refresh | what a node is handed | how the agent uses it |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| `subscription` | an OAuth grant: an access token that lives hours and a refresh token that lives weeks | the manager rotates it, alone | the access token only | written into the agent's credentials file by the agent module, as the operator |
+| `api-key` | a key the operator obtained from the vendor | none; a new key is a new adoption | the key | served to the agent through its key-helper setting; nothing is written under the home |
+
+## 3. Keeping a grant alive
+
+Carried from the predecessor, where each rule was earned by an incident:
+
+- **One rotation source.** Only this module calls the vendor's token endpoint. An OAuth refresh is
+  presumed to rotate the refresh token, so a second refresher presenting the old one would kill the
+  grant; whether that presumption holds is to be measured in the lab, and the design is safe either way.
+- **A lease per licence**, taken in the store before the row is read. A duplicate run sees the token its
+  predecessor just wrote, finds hours of life on it, and does nothing.
+- **An expiry floor and a cadence.** Within an hour of expiry a refresh must happen; otherwise a grant is
+  rotated once it is older than a declared setting, so a node that misses one rotation still holds hours
+  of life and a broken refresh surfaces in minutes rather than the next morning.
+- **Failure is counted and escalated once.** Consecutive failures are recorded; past a threshold a
+  notification is emitted, and at most once a day while it stays broken — the predecessor sent one alarm
+  411 times in 35 hours and the incident went unnoticed inside its own alarm.
+- **A refresh token's own expiry is warned about three days ahead**, because the only remedy is a person
+  logging in again.
+- **The vendor's reason is logged**, never only the status code: a malformed request and a revoked grant
+  both answer 400, and the predecessor built three concurrency fixes for a bug that was a wrong client id.
+
+## 4. Handing a token to a node
+
+*Amended 2026-10-04 by [ADR 0206](../../02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md)*, replacing the manager's visits: **what each consumer
+should hold is the manager's state, and the token is fetched when it changes.**
+
+- **The manager keeps a `bindings` state**, one key per consumer: the licence, its kind, and a
+  **generation** that increases with every rotation and every switch. Nothing in it is secret.
+- **The agent module on each node watches its own key.** When the generation is newer than the one it
+  applied, it asks the seat's `current` verb, sending its public key, and is answered with the token
+  sealed to it — request/reply, never an event. A node that was away reads its key when it is back and
+  asks once; a manager that is down leaves every node on its last token, which lives hours.
+- **On a switch** the agent applies the new licence's token without comparing expiries, because across
+  two licences the numbers are unrelated; within one licence it applies only a newer grant.
+- **No event announces a rotation or a switch.** What they announced is the state itself, and a node
+  needs the latest, not the history. What the manager still emits names an outcome and carries no token.
+
+A consumer that never asks is visible: its own report (§6) names the licence and generation it holds,
+and a node behind its binding is drift the manager reports.
+
+## 5. Who gets which licence
+
+Three consumer kinds, the predecessor's touchpoints with their fallbacks:
+
+| consumer | bound by | falls back to | if the bound licence cannot be served |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **the node's interactive agent** | the node | nothing: an unbound node has no licence and the agent says so | keeps the last token, which expires within hours; a notification is emitted |
+| **the mesh's session on a node** | the node, for that session | the node's agent licence | refused |
+| **a worker** | the worker | the node's session licence, then the node's | refused: a worker never borrows a person's account |
+
+**One agent directory per machine, shared by every interactive session**, so a node's binding is the
+licence of all its sessions at once. A worker is a consumer of its own because it runs from a home of its
+own, with its own agent directory and credentials file, which the agent module on that node writes for
+it as it writes the operator's — the predecessor ran its agents exactly so.
+
+**Binding is a person's act through the seat's verbs**, listed by the console: `bind`, `switch`,
+`release`. **Exhaustion is observed, not acted on**: usage is read every few minutes, a crossing of a
+declared threshold in the five-hour window is notified once per crossing, and moving a consumer is the
+operator's call. Switching remains a reaction, not a declaration
+([ADR 0024](../../02-DECISIONS/0024-model-access-is-a-provision.md)), and an automated policy — move to the
+least-used licence, stay off a dying one — is designed later if wanted, on the readings this module
+already keeps.
+
+## 6. Adopting a grant
+
+*Amended 2026-10-04 by [ADR 0206](../../02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md)*: a licence is an account, learned from what the nodes
+report, and adopted by refreshing it.
+
+- **Every node reports what it holds**, as the agent module's `holdings` state, one key per node: the
+  account's identity read from the agent's own state file, the kind, the refresh token's fingerprint and
+  whether one is present, the access token's fingerprint and expiry, the licence and generation it was
+  last handed, when the credentials file last changed. Written when the module starts — a node already
+  logged in reports at once — and on every change. Never a token.
+- **The manager reads every report at start and watches them.** A report with a refresh token whose
+  fingerprint the manager does not hold is a candidate: a new licence for an account it has none for, a
+  login made since for one it has. A manager launched for the first time holds no licence and takes every
+  report as a candidate.
+- **The secret is asked for, never published.** For a candidate the manager calls that node's agent
+  module, giving its own public key, and is answered with the grant sealed to it.
+- **Adopting is refreshing.** The manager exchanges the candidate's refresh token under its lease for
+  that account; success makes the returned grant the licence's and the manager its only rotation source;
+  failure records the candidate dead and adopts nothing. Candidates for one account are tried newest login
+  first, and the first that refreshes ends the search — the others are never exchanged.
+- **The latest login wins.** A bound node is handed an access token only and its file holds no refresh
+  token, so a refresh token appearing there later is a person's login; its report makes it a candidate,
+  and if it refreshes it replaces the licence's grant.
+- **A first binding follows the login**: a node with no binding whose report names the adopted account
+  is bound to it. Every later change is `bind`, `switch` or `release`.
+- **The identity guard** files a grant under the identity the node read; where the vendor's refresh
+  answer names the account too, a mismatch is refused and notified. Which source decided is audited.
+- **An API key** is delivered to the manager by the operator through the seat's `adopt` verb from a file
+  on the manager's node, never as an argument.
+
+## 7. What it emits and serves
+
+**Events**, no secret in any: `licence.adopted`, `licence.failing`, `licence.refused`, `usage.read` —
+the audit logger records them all. *2026-10-04 (ADR 0206):* `licence.rotated` and `licence.switched` are
+gone; a rotation or a switch is a new generation in the `bindings` state.
+
+**State**: `bindings`, which it keeps; the agent module's `holdings`, which it reads.
+
+**The seat's verbs**, the contract every future holder must serve: `licences` (each with kind,
+identity, expiry, failures, who is bound), `bindings`, `bind`, `switch`, `release`, `refresh` (now, one
+or all), `usage` (current and history), `adopt`, and `current` (a consumer's token, sealed to the key the
+consumer sends — ADR 0206). The manager asks a node for a candidate grant by the agent module's own tool.
+
+## 8. Settings
+
+The refresh cadence; the usage threshold; the notification cooldown. Each declared with a default, so
+one definition serves and one mesh may differ.
+
+## How it is checked
+
+| Check | Defends |
+|---|---|
+| two refresh runs started together rotate one grant once; the second does nothing and says so | ADR 0183, one rotation source |
+| every event the manager emits is free of any token; the hand-over opens only with the receiving module's key | ADR 0183, to-be 32 §10 |
+| a worker bound to a dead licence is refused, never answered with another licence's token | ADR 0183, the fallbacks |
+| a grant offered with a mismatching identity is refused and one notification emitted | ADR 0183, attribution |
+| a failing licence notifies once, and once a day after, not once per tick | §3 |
+| the console lists the seat's verbs and `switch` changes a workstation's token end to end | ADR 0132, the exit of the build |
+
+## What this does not settle
+
+- An automated switch on exhaustion (§5).
+- Whether an OAuth refresh token is single-use; the lab measures it, and §3 holds either way.
+- How the mesh's own session and a worker read their token on a node once those exist
+  ([to-be 15](15-the-agent-session.md), [ADR 0003](../../02-DECISIONS/0003-agents-are-persistent-employees.md)):
+  the agent module on that node is their local source, and the reading is theirs to design.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0183](../../02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md) — the decision
+- [36 — The operator's agent on a machine](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md) — the consumer on every node
+- [14 — Model access](14-model-access.md) — the vendor-blind provision this sits beside
+- the predecessor's `claude-licences` module: the lease, the floor, the cadence, the cooldown, the identity guard — read 2026-10-02

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/40-building-the-operators-agent-and-its-licence-manager.md

@@ -0,0 +1,216 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: designed
+code: []
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0206-a-node-reports-the-anthropic-grant-it-holds-and-the-licence-manager-adopts-a-licence-by-refreshing-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0183-the-anthropic-licence-manager-is-a-module-and-hands-tokens-to-the-agent-over-the-bus.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0181-the-operator-account-is-a-node-fact-and-a-home-is-a-placement-root.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0188-a-modules-own-code-is-bundles-in-any-language-and-a-tools-bundle-speaks-mcp-to-the-runtime.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0192-a-tools-bundle-declares-what-it-is-given-and-the-runtime-hands-it-to-that-bundle-alone.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md
+---
+
+# 40. Building the operator's agent and its licence manager
+
+**The work of [design 36](36-the-operators-agent-on-a-machine.md) and [design 39](39-the-anthropic-licence-manager.md),
+broken into packages that each end at something a person can see run, in the order their
+dependencies allow.** The two designs are the authority on *what* is built; this document holds the
+packages, their order, their sizes and their proofs, and is wrong the moment it disagrees with them.
+It is the shape [design 38](38-building-the-operators-machine.md) gives the operator's machine.
+
+*Revised 2026-10-03, after design 38's WP1–WP4b ran:* the node's tool runtime is live on all four
+machines, tools are bundles it serves and each is given only the words its artifact declares, every
+bundle is a child the runtime launches over stdio and is the bus for
+([ADR 0193](../../02-DECISIONS/0193-every-bundle-the-runtime-serves-is-launched-and-the-runtime-knows-no-language.md),
+[ADR 0198](../../02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md)),
+and the console offers five tools over addresses
+([ADR 0195](../../02-DECISIONS/0195-the-meshs-tools-are-found-by-address-not-announced-whole.md)). What changed
+in this plan: the wait on design 38's WP3 is over; the manager starts every exchange, by the operator's
+direction (ADR 0183's dated note); and the manager's daemon is a long-running bundle the runtime launches,
+which ADR 0198 decided the same day — nothing in this plan waits on another record.
+
+## How this is built, and where it is run
+
+**On the live mesh, by the operator's decision** ([ADR 0149](../../02-DECISIONS/0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md)).
+Every package is written with unit tests, committed on one branch per repository
+([playbook 07](../../00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md)), and proven on the machines: one
+workstation first for the agent, the control node first for the manager, then the rest. A broken agent
+module leaves a workstation's agent without the mesh's instructions or with a stale token until the next
+push; the person's own files under the home are out of the failure's reach, by
+[ADR 0182](../../02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md).
+
+Each package names what proves it. A package that cannot name its proof is divided until it can.
+
+## What exists already, measured
+
+Measured 2026-10-03 on the four machines and in the repositories.
+
+| Piece | Today | Becomes |
+|---|---|---|
+| the node's tool runtime | live on all four, a host process; **runs as the operator account**; listens for the console on loopback at a port its own code fixes; launches or imports every assigned module's tools bundle and hands each its declared words | serves the agent module's tools; gains one provision for its endpoint (WP1) |
+| the operator account | **stated on all four** — the runtime runs as it | read by the agent module from the runtime's own words |
+| escalation | passwordless `sudo` for the operator account on all four — a fact about the machines, checked by nobody | how the agent module writes its managed directory under `/etc` |
+| the agent itself | installed on all four, at four different versions, all above the one the managed tool-server key needs | declared as the module's package |
+| a bundle's words | paths and constants written with `${dir:…}` and `${port:…}` only; a fact the mesh knows reaches a bundle as a file whose path is a word | the agent module's facts file and settings file |
+| a bundle calling a tool | `mesh/ask` through the runtime that launched it (ADR 0198); no bundle holds a bus credential | how the manager visits every node |
+| a module's own long-running code | a bundle the runtime launches and restarts (ADR 0198); the runtime's subscription and grants built, the modules moving in design 38 WP4c's waves | the manager's daemon (WP3, WP4) |
+| the vendor's refresh, the sealed box, the grant file | `anthropic-manager` in the catalogue, built on the controller placement ADR 0183 moved away from; assigned to nothing | its client ported into the manager; the module retired (WP6) |
+| the credentials write, the strip, the identity read | `anthropic-consumer` in the catalogue; tested; assigned to nothing | ported into the agent module with its tests; the module retired (WP6) |
+| the predecessor's manager and consumer | the lease per licence, the expiry floor, the lineage comparison, the identity guard, three touchpoints, cooldowns | ported as logic with its tests |
+
+## The order the work allows
+
+```
+WP0  the operator names the licences and each node's role   (the live mesh)   ── an hour
+WP1  the runtime provides its endpoint                       (mesh-tools)       ── small
+WP2  the agent module                                        (mesh-catalog)     ──┐ WP2 needs WP1;
+WP3  the manager's code, built and tested                    (mesh-catalog)     ──┘ WP3 is independent
+                                                                                  │
+WP2 live: one workstation, configuration only — no licence yet                  ── the first live proof
+                                                                                  │
+WP4  the manager live on the control node   ── its daemon a long-running bundle (ADR 0198)
+WP5  the licence end to end on one workstation
+WP6  the rest of the nodes, and the predecessor's remains
+```
+
+## WP0 — The operator names the licences and each node's role
+
+*The live mesh. An hour, and it is the operator's.* The accounts are stated already. What remains: the
+names of the two subscription licences and the API key; each node's role, as the agent module's setting
+on the node layer once the module is registered.
+
+**Proof.** The module's settings list a role for every node; the licences have names.
+
+## WP1 — The runtime provides its endpoint
+
+*mesh-tools. An hour.*
+
+**What changes.** The `node-tools` manifest provides a node-scoped provision, `mcp-endpoint`, serving
+the port its code listens on, the way the local model server serves its API
+([ADR 0027](../../02-DECISIONS/0027-a-provision-names-what-the-consumer-is-coupled-to.md)). Co-location
+resolves it. The runtime's port stays what its code fixes; assigning it is
+[issue 192](../../04-ISSUES/192-the-meshs-tools-reach-a-person-only-by-a-registration-made-by-hand/00-report.md)'s
+second question and not this package's.
+
+**Proof.** The plan for a workstation carrying a consumer of `mcp-endpoint` shows it bound to the
+runtime's port; the controller's tests and the catalogue's checks pass.
+
+## WP2 — The agent module
+
+*mesh-catalog. A day and a half.*
+
+**What is written**, as design 36 says:
+
+1. **The manifest.** The agent's package. A state directory. A facts file in it, rendered by the mesh:
+   the node's name and the console's address from `mcp-endpoint`. A settings file in it, merged from
+   the module's settings layers: the node's role and the extra tool servers. A tools bundle whose
+   words name the two files, the state directory and nothing else. The two directories it owns declared — the agent's managed
+   directory and `~/.claude` — and **no file resource under either.**
+2. **The renderer**, run whenever the runtime collects the module's tools: from the two files, the
+   managed settings file (the tool servers under the entry `mesh`, the attribution trailers, the
+   key-helper for an API-key binding) and the managed instruction file, written under the agent's
+   managed directory through the account's escalation, only when their content changed.
+3. **The keypair**, made once in the state directory; X25519 and an authenticated cipher from the
+   language's own library, so the bundle carries no dependency.
+4. **The tools and the state** (*2026-10-04, ADR 0206*): `claude_code_status` (what is rendered, what
+   licence is held, when its token expires, fingerprints only); `claude_code_render` (render now);
+   `claude_code_grant` (the full grant in the credentials file, sealed to the key the manager gives).
+   The `holdings` state, written at start and on every change of the credentials file; a watch of the
+   manager's `bindings` key for this node, which asks the seat's `current` on a newer generation and
+   applies the sealed answer — only if newer within one lineage unless it is a switch; the credentials
+   write as the operator, access-token-only, atomic; the key-helper program for an API key.
+5. **The documentation**: the six predecessor files and the hand-made console entry a person removes.
+
+**Proof, before anything runs live.** Unit tests: the renderer writes the mesh's keys and nothing else;
+it writes nothing when nothing changed; the credentials write strips a refresh token and is atomic; the
+lineage cases from the predecessor; a sealed hand-over opens only with the module's key; no tool's answer
+contains a token. The catalogue's checks pass.
+
+**Proof, live, on one workstation, configuration only.** Assign the module; set the node's role; push.
+The agent's managed directory holds the two files; everything under the person's agent directory is
+byte-identical to before; a new session lists the console's five tools under `mesh` and answers *which node am
+I* from the managed instruction file. `claude_code_status` answers through the console. No licence is
+touched: the module writes the credentials file only when it is handed a token.
+
+## WP3 — The manager's code, built and tested
+
+*mesh-catalog. Two to three days.*
+
+**What is written**, as design 39 says: the manifest (the seat and its verbs, a database, a `secret`
+for the key the grants are encrypted with, a tools bundle and a long-running bundle for the daemon, both launched by the runtime, settings
+with defaults); the store's migrations; the refresh with its plan, lease, floor and cadence as pure
+functions; the vendor client from `anthropic-manager`; adoption from a file and from a node's waiting
+login with the identity guard; usage and its threshold; the seat's verbs. *2026-10-04 (ADR 0206):* in place
+of the visit, the watch of every node's `holdings`, adoption of a candidate by refreshing it (newest login
+first, once per account), the `bindings` state with a generation per consumer, and `current`.
+
+**Proof, before anything runs live.** Unit tests: two refresh runs started together rotate one grant
+once; a mismatching identity is refused; a worker bound to a dead licence is refused and never lent
+another; nothing the daemon emits carries a token; a hand-over sealed for one node opens with no other
+node's key.
+
+## WP4 — The manager live on the control node
+
+*The live mesh. Half a day.* The daemon is a long-running bundle the control node's runtime launches
+(ADR 0198); it calls each node's agent module by `mesh/ask`. If the runtime's half of ADR 0198 is not
+yet live on the control node when this package starts, this package waits for it: no tool container, no
+credential copied by hand.
+
+**Order.** Assign the manager on the control node; push. It reads every node's `holdings` and adopts each
+account the nodes are logged in to, by refreshing the newest login's grant (ADR 0206); each node with no
+binding is bound to the account it reported. Adopt the API key from a file there. A second subscription
+account enters by a login on a workstation carrying the agent module.
+
+**Proof.** Through the console: `anthropic-licence-manager.licences` lists three licences with identity
+and expiry; within the cadence the audit shows a rotation and a later expiry; a forced `refresh` is
+logged with the vendor's answer.
+
+## WP5 — The licence end to end on one workstation
+
+*The live mesh. Half a day. The proof of the whole.*
+
+**Order.** Record the checksums under the person's agent directory. Bind the workstation to a
+subscription licence. Remove the six predecessor files and the hand-made console entry. Start a session.
+
+**Proof.** Everything under the person's agent directory is byte-identical but the credentials file,
+which is owned by the operator, readable by nobody else, and names no refresh token. A session makes a
+model request. `switch` to the second subscription licence changes the token on the workstation within a
+minute, and neither the verb's answer nor either module's log holds a token. Switched to the API key, the
+credentials file is left as it was and the agent authenticates through the key-helper. Switched back.
+
+## WP6 — The rest of the nodes, and the predecessor's remains
+
+*The live mesh and mesh-catalog. One day.* The module on every node, the predecessor's files removed on
+the second workstation; a login under a licence's account collected and adopted, and one under the wrong
+account refused and notified; `anthropic-manager` and `anthropic-consumer` retired from the catalogue;
+designs 36 and 39 set to `implemented` with the as-is written
+([playbook 02](../../00-META/process/02-graduation.md)).
+
+**Proof.** `claude_code_status` answers on every node; the refusal's notification arrived; the catalogue
+has no module built on the old placement.
+
+## What is deliberately not here
+
+- **The package repository seat** for a distribution that does not carry the agent's package (design 36
+  §7). The four machines have the package; a fifth would refuse the module in its package manager's
+  words.
+- **Escalation as a checked fact.** The agent module's write under `/etc` relies on the operator
+  account's passwordless `sudo`, true on all four and checked by nothing. A machine without it refuses
+  the render in the tool's own words; making escalation a reported capability is design 38's to decide.
+- **An automated switch on exhaustion.** The readings are kept from WP4; the policy is a later record.
+- **Workers and the mesh's own sessions as consumers.** The manager knows them from WP3; the consumers do
+  not exist yet ([to-be 15](15-the-agent-session.md)).
+- **Whether a refresh token is single-use.** WP4 may measure it; the design holds either way.
+
+## How this list is kept true
+
+Each package's proof is run when the package is finished and its line here gains the date and the
+commit, as design 38 does. A package whose proof fails is not reworded; the failure is recorded under it
+and the package stays open. When WP2's live proof runs, design 36 moves to `in-progress` with its owning
+repository; when WP5's does, design 39 does too; and when WP6's does, both move to `implemented`, with
+the as-is written.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md

@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: in-progress
+code: [mesh-host, mesh-controller, mesh-catalog]
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+---
+
+# 41. The shell and the account's environment
+
+What it takes for the operator's shell to be modules, without a machine losing anything it does
+today. This design replaces the shell half of
+[to-be 38](38-building-the-operators-machine.md) WP5, and finishes the service-manager module of WP6
+short of its user-scoped units. The decisions are [ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md)
+(the environment), [ADR 0204](../../02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md)
+(shell code and the seat) and [ADR 0205](../../02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md)
+(vendored software). The evidence is [research 025](../../01-RESEARCH/025-how-a-module-plugs-into-the-shell/00-overview.md).
+
+## What a node with a shell looks like
+
+```
+ toolchain, agent, …             prompt, plugins, version manager
+        │ environment                     │ shell (zsh, slot)
+        ▼                                 ▼
+ node-environment  ── holds ──  node-env           node-login-shell ── holds ── zsh
+        │                                                 │
+        ├─▶ ~/.config/mesh/environment.sh  ◀─ sourced from zsh's block in ~/.zshenv
+        └─▶ ~/.config/environment.d/50-mesh.conf  ◀─ read by the account's service manager
+                                                          │
+                                       ~/.zshrc: the mesh's block FIRST — defaults and the
+                                       three slots — then the operator's own lines, kept
+```
+
+**The environment module** (`node-env`) holds `node-environment`. It has no package and no process.
+Its two files are written by the host from placeholders the controller fills.
+
+**The shell module** (`zsh`) holds `node-login-shell`. It:
+
+- installs the package;
+- sets the login shell through the `user` shape;
+- writes two blocks:
+  - one in `.zshenv`, sourcing the environment;
+  - one at the start of `.zshrc`, holding the defaults every machine shares today: the title, the
+    keybindings, the aliases and the two small functions, with the three slots in place;
+- contributes its own environment: the editor, the configuration home, and `~/.local/bin` plus the
+  two script directories on `PATH`;
+- serves `execute` and its own `zsh_config`.
+
+**The prompt module** (`powerlevel10k`) ships the theme as a pinned vendored archive, and the prompt's
+configuration as its own file in a directory it owns. It contributes the zsh code that loads both.
+
+**Two plugin modules** (`zsh-autosuggestions`, `zsh-syntax-highlighting`) each install their
+distribution package and contribute one line. Syntax highlighting goes in the `last` slot, which is
+what its upstream asks for.
+
+**What stays the operator's** is everything below the block in `.zshrc`, and `~/.zshrc.local`, which
+the operator's lines source as they do today. On every machine today that means:
+
+- the version manager's lines and the toolchain's `PATH` entry, until those modules exist;
+- the two variables naming the operator's own script library;
+- the agent's title variable;
+- the port aliases;
+- the workstation's desktop variables, which live in `~/.zshrc.local` already.
+
+Nothing is lost at any step, because a line moves out of the operator's part only when a module
+carries it.
+
+**The migration is a person's act**, listed in the zsh module's documentation (ADR 0182): after the
+first push, delete from `.zshrc` the lines the block now carries. Until then they run twice, which is
+harmless and visible.
+
+## Work packages
+
+```
+WP1  the host gives a login back                 (mesh-host)            issue 228
+WP2  the controller composes environment and shell code (mesh-controller)
+WP3  the modules                                 (mesh-catalog)         needs WP2 to resolve
+WP4  the service manager's module, finished      (mesh-catalog)         independent
+WP5  assign and prove                            (operator-gated)       needs WP1–WP3 merged and rolled
+```
+
+WP1, WP2 and WP4 are independent, and are built in parallel on one feature branch per repository
+([playbook 07](../../00-META/process/07-feature-branches.md)). WP3 is written in parallel and proven
+against WP2's controller before anything is published.
+
+## WP1 — The host gives a login back
+
+*mesh-host. Half a day. [Issue 228](../../04-ISSUES/228-a-login-the-mesh-set-is-never-given-back/00-report.md).*
+
+**What changes.**
+
+- The `user` shape records, in its applied record, the login shell it found whenever it changes it.
+- Removing a `user` never deletes the account, whether or not the mesh created it. If the account's
+  shell is still the one the mesh set, and the recorded shell is still executable, the recorded shell
+  is set back. Otherwise the shell is left as it is, and the outcome says why.
+- Before a shell is set, it is refused unless it is executable and listed among the machine's shells.
+  The exception is a shell that refuses logins (`nologin`, `false`): the distribution does not list
+  those, and the controller's own account uses one, so it need only be executable. The refusal fails
+  that resource and leaves the account untouched.
+- A directory the host creates on the way to a file, a block or an archive inside an account's home
+  belongs to that account, the home itself included when the host makes it. A directory that was
+  already there keeps its owner and mode (ADR 0182). Until this, a fresh account's `~/.config` or
+  `~/.local/share` would have been created as root's.
+- Giving the shell back is reported, never fatal. A failed `usermod` on removal is named in the
+  outcome and the record is dropped, because a fatal removal is exactly the wedge issue 228 is about.
+
+**Proof.** The host's tests:
+
+- an undeclared `user` no longer stops the apply;
+- the found shell comes back;
+- a shell changed by a person since is left alone;
+- a missing shell is refused before `usermod` runs;
+- a created account survives its removal.
+
+## WP2 — The controller composes environment and shell code
+
+*mesh-controller. One to two days.*
+
+**What changes.**
+
+- **The seat table.** It gains `node-environment` (node scope, no verbs) and `node-login-shell`
+  (node scope, the verb `execute`). A module may no longer declare a seat named `login-shell` or
+  `node-login-shell`. Both new seats are seeded into a live store by the existing additive seeding.
+- **The manifest.** It gains two contribution fields, each refused at parse when malformed:
+  - `environment`, with `variables` and `path`: a variable name must be a POSIX name and not `PATH`;
+    a value may not contain `$`, a quote, a backslash or a line break; a path entry's place is
+    `start` or `end`;
+  - `shell`: each entry names a known shell, a known slot, and non-empty code.
+- **Composition.** It fills `${environment:posix}`, `${environment:systemd}` and
+  `${shell:<shell>:<slot>}` in the claiming holder's file contents, from every module assigned to
+  the node. The rendering is ADR 0203's and ADR 0204's: module order, a naming line per contribution,
+  `PATH` entries added only when missing. `${machine:…}` in a contributed value is resolved first.
+- **Refusals.** A variable set by two modules on one node is refused, naming both. A placeholder in a
+  module that does not claim the matching seat is refused, both at the catalogue check and at
+  composition.
+
+**Proof.** The controller's tests:
+
+- both environment renderings, byte for byte, from a fixed set of contributions;
+- the POSIX rendering sourced twice by `sh` leaves `PATH` unchanged;
+- slot order and per-shell filtering;
+- each refusal, by name;
+- the seat table carries both seats and refuses a module declaring either.
+
+The catalogue check over the whole catalogue passes.
+
+## WP3 — The modules
+
+*mesh-catalog. One day.*
+
+**What changes.**
+
+- **`node-env`, new.** It claims `node-environment` and declares two owned files: the POSIX file at
+  the path the seat fixes, and the service manager's file, each holding its placeholder. It declares
+  no tools.
+- **`zsh`, rewritten.**
+  - It drops its seat declaration and claims `node-login-shell`.
+  - Its environment moves to a contribution.
+  - It writes a `.zshenv` block that sources the environment file.
+  - Its `.zshrc` block goes at the start and carries today's shared defaults, with the three slots.
+  - It keeps the `user` shape.
+  - `execute` runs `zsh -lc` in the account's home, with the runtime's session words for the user
+    manager. Its timeout is bounded below the runtime's thirty-second call limit; its output is cut at
+    a bound and marked as cut; on timeout it kills the process group.
+  - Tests cover the tool over real child processes and the manifest's shape.
+  - Its documentation lists the one-off migration.
+- **`powerlevel10k`, new.**
+  - The theme is vendored at a pinned upstream release, with its licence, as an archive artifact
+    unpacked into the module's directory under the account's home.
+  - The prompt configuration is today's file, as its own owned file in the same directory.
+  - It contributes the zsh code that loads the theme and the configuration.
+  - Today's file has the instant-prompt cache commented out, so the module does not turn it on.
+- **`zsh-autosuggestions` and `zsh-syntax-highlighting`, new.** Each declares its package and
+  contributes its loader from the distribution's path, in the `normal` and `last` slots.
+
+**Proof.** The controller's catalogue check over the whole catalogue passes. The modules' tests pass.
+A rehearsal composition for a node holding all five shows:
+
+- the `.zshrc` block with the prompt in `normal` and highlighting in `last`;
+- the environment file with the shell's `PATH` entries;
+- the service manager's file.
+
+## WP4 — The service manager's module, finished
+
+*mesh-catalog. Half a day. From the review of 2026-10-04.*
+
+**What changes.**
+
+- System-scope `start`, `stop`, `restart`, `enable` and `disable` escalate with `sudo -n` when the
+  runtime is not root, as the packet filter and intrusion modules do. They name a refusal by how it
+  failed.
+- User scope reaches the account's manager by its runtime directory, which the runtime's environment
+  lacks.
+- A failed `systemctl` is an error, not an empty list.
+- The package resource goes: the service manager is always present, and it collided with the network
+  module's identical declaration on a machine running both.
+- `status` says whether the mesh declares the unit. The restore note is attached only to such a unit.
+- Tests cover a fake runner.
+
+The user-scoped units of mesh-host #72 stay to-be 38's WP6.
+
+**Proof.** The module's tests. Live, after WP5:
+
+- `node-service-manager.units` answers in both scopes on a workstation and on a server;
+- `restart` of a harmless unit answers `ok`.
+
+## WP5 — Assign and prove
+
+*Operator-gated. Nothing here runs without the operator's go-ahead.*
+
+**Order.**
+
+1. Merge WP1 and roll the host.
+2. Merge WP2, and push the controller.
+3. Merge WP3 and WP4, and build the new modules by hand: a new catalogue module's first build is asked
+   for, not automatic.
+4. On one server, assign `node-env`, `zsh`, `zsh-autosuggestions` and `zsh-syntax-highlighting`, and
+   push. Then check:
+   - `node-login-shell.execute@<server> command="echo $PATH"` shows the shell's entries;
+   - `.zshrc` begins with the block;
+   - the operator's lines follow untouched;
+   - the environment file and the service manager's file exist.
+5. The operator deletes the duplicated lines, per the zsh module's documentation.
+6. The other server, then the two workstations, the workstations also with `powerlevel10k`.
+7. Assign `systemd` everywhere, and prove WP4.
+8. Unassign one plugin module on one machine. Its line leaves the block at the next push, and nothing
+   else changes.
+
+The follow-up records to-be 38 names are still owed:
+
+- what a shell module assigned beside the holder does;
+- how a person's own environment variable is a setting rather than a line, once issue 168 closes.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/42-the-machines-modules-in-order.md

@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+---
+layer: to-be
+status: in-progress
+code: [mesh-catalog, mesh-controller, mesh-host]
+updated: 2026-10-04
+decisions:
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0040-what-a-module-is.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0198-a-modules-long-running-code-is-launched-by-the-node-runtime-and-reaches-the-bus-through-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md
+  - 02-DECISIONS/0208-the-graphical-session-is-one-module-per-piece-on-the-meshs-seats.md
+---
+
+# 42. The machines' modules, in order
+
+The order in which the modules of [research 026](../../01-RESEARCH/026-the-graphical-session-as-modules/00-overview.md)
+and [research 027](../../01-RESEARCH/027-the-system-layer-as-modules/00-overview.md) are built and rolled
+out, as the operator set it on 2026-10-04.
+
+Three phases, in order, each built from the bottom up (the most core module first):
+
+1. the modules every machine shares;
+2. those both workstations share;
+3. those of one machine model.
+
+The shell came first ([to-be 41](41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md)). Each module's
+definition, improvements and tools follow the research. A position that needs a new mechanism (a new
+seat, a gated assignment, generalised contributions) gets its record when its first module needs it,
+not before. Modules that need none go ahead now.
+
+## How every module moves
+
+1. Written in the catalogue, with its tools and their tests, and checked by the controller's catalogue
+   check.
+2. Merged, which builds it.
+3. Assigned to **the first workstation, the proving machine**, and pushed. Its tools and files are
+   proven there.
+4. Then assigned to every other machine it applies to, and pushed.
+
+The operator delegated the go-ahead for each step on 2026-10-04 ("non-important decisions, easily
+reversed"). Each step is reported.
+
+**Adopting is also improving** (research 026, 027 overviews): every module lists what it fixes over
+today, and leaves no predecessor copy of what it now owns.
+
+## Phase 1 — every machine
+
+In order:
+
+| | module | owns | improves |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | `sudo` | the operator account's escalation, as a drop-in it owns | declares what three modules' tools assume and nothing stated |
+| 2 | `localization` | locale, time zone, console keymap | one machine on another zone and keymap |
+| 3 | `time-sync` | timesyncd and its servers | two different daemons across four machines |
+| 4 | `pacman` | the package manager's configuration, mirrors and their refresh, cache cleaning | mirrors generated once and never again; caches never cleaned |
+| 5 | `logrotate` | the timer and base configuration | rotation running on one machine of four |
+| 6 | `avahi` | the daemon | on all four, owned by none |
+| 7 | `systemd` | the service manager's tools (to-be 41 WP4) | built, assigned nowhere |
+| 8 | `docker` | the runtime's packages, base configuration, group | four configurations, one owner on one machine |
+| 9 | `ssh-client` | everything under `~/.ssh` (research 027/03) | a predecessor's entries winning over the mesh's; stale keys |
+| 10 | scripts | the operator's own scripts, shared and per role (research 027/03) | under no version control, copied by hand |
+| 11 | `kernel` | kernel, microcode, boot entries | two machines without microcode |
+
+`systemd`, `pacman` and `docker` hold the three seats that apply resources
+([ADR 0207](../../02-DECISIONS/0207-a-module-depends-on-the-node-seats-that-apply-its-resources.md)):
+every module that declares a service, a package or a container depends on them being held on its node.
+They go on every machine before the rest, and once they have, an unmet dependency is refused rather
+than reported.
+
+`kernel` is last because a mistake in it costs a boot. `docker` stays a module without the runtime seat
+until ADRs 0165 and 0166 are accepted.
+
+## Phase 2 — both workstations
+
+In order:
+
+1. `fonts`;
+2. `xorg` with autorandr;
+3. `lemurs`;
+4. `i3`;
+5. `xterm`;
+6. the theme module;
+7. `picom`, `rofi`, `dmenu`, `dunst`, the lock module, `xclip`, the clipboard manager, `feh` and
+   `i3status-rust`;
+8. `gnome-keyring`;
+9. `docker-compose`, `snapd`, `flatpak`, `cups`, `bluetooth`.
+
+The seats, gating, contributions and session start are [ADR 0208](../../02-DECISIONS/0208-the-graphical-session-is-one-module-per-piece-on-the-meshs-seats.md).
+
+## Phase 3 — one machine model
+
+The laptop's hardware module (vendor daemon, GPU mode, charge limit, logind, brightness and vendor keys)
+and `memory-pressure` (research 027/03).
+
+## How it is checked
+
+Each module's own tests and the catalogue check, at merge. On the proving machine, each tool answered
+through the mesh and each owned file checked in place, before any other machine is assigned. This
+document's tables are updated as each module lands.

03-DESIGN/01-to-be/README.md

@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ document is written and this one's status becomes `implemented`.
 | [`29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md`](29-a-node-has-operator-accounts.md) | **In progress.** A node has an operator account and a resource may live under its home — built in the controller; the ssh-client module, the SSH CA, the `~/.ssh` boundary and user-scoped services are not. The account fact still wants its decision record | [ADR 0112](../../02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md), [ADR 0051](../../02-DECISIONS/0051-shared-data-is-the-operators.md) |
 
 | [`32-what-a-module-declares.md`](32-what-a-module-declares.md) | **Proposed.** What a module declares and what the bus derives from it: three namespaces, subjects from local names, queues never declared, the five relationships, and the build-publish-deploy lifecycle on one bus | [ADR 0126](../../02-DECISIONS/0126-a-module-declares-its-own-seats.md), [ADR 0127](../../02-DECISIONS/0127-amqp-is-a-provision-not-the-bus.md), superseded by [ADR 0131](../../02-DECISIONS/0131-everything-on-the-mesh-speaks-to-the-broker-seat.md) (superseding [ADR 0125](../../02-DECISIONS/0125-the-bus-is-the-only-broker.md)), [ADR 0041](../../02-DECISIONS/0041-events-are-a-relationship.md) |
+| [`37-the-operators-machine.md`](37-the-operators-machine.md) | **In progress.** Every configurable thing on a node is a module, the home included; one default per module varied by settings or kept regions; roles a machine has once as seats with tool contracts; one tool runtime per node on the host side | [ADR 0173](../../02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md), [0174](../../02-DECISIONS/0174-a-node-varies-a-module-through-settings-and-kept-regions-never-an-edit.md), [0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md), [0176](../../02-DECISIONS/0176-the-login-shell-is-a-node-seat-and-execute-is-its-contract.md), [0177](../../02-DECISIONS/0177-a-unit-may-be-user-scoped-and-the-service-manager-is-a-node-seat.md) |
+| [`38-building-the-operators-machine.md`](38-building-the-operators-machine.md) | **In progress.** The work of design 37 as packages: the runtime serves many modules, the controller composes one per node, the console becomes its serving mode, the packet filter moves first, then the shell and the service manager — tested on the live mesh by the operator's decision | [ADR 0175](../../02-DECISIONS/0175-one-tool-runtime-per-node-serves-every-modules-tools-on-the-host-side.md), [0160](../../02-DECISIONS/0160-the-mesh-issues-an-assignments-subjects-and-a-runtime-serves-what-it-is-issued.md), [0149](../../02-DECISIONS/0149-the-live-mesh-is-the-test-bed.md) |
+| [`41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md`](41-the-shell-and-the-accounts-environment.md) | **In progress.** The shell and the account's environment as modules: an environment module every module contributes variables and `PATH` entries to, shell code contributed to the login shell in named slots, the prompt and plugins as modules, the host giving a login back, and the service manager's module finished | [ADR 0203](../../02-DECISIONS/0203-the-accounts-environment-is-one-modules-and-every-module-contributes-to-it.md), [ADR 0204](../../02-DECISIONS/0204-a-module-contributes-shell-code-to-the-login-shell-in-named-slots.md), [ADR 0205](../../02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md) |
+| [`42-the-machines-modules-in-order.md`](42-the-machines-modules-in-order.md) | **In progress.** The order the machines' modules of research 026 and 027 are built and rolled out: every machine's first (sudo, localization, time sync, pacman, logrotate, avahi, systemd, docker, `~/.ssh`, scripts, kernel), then both workstations', then one machine model's; each proven on one workstation before the rest | [ADR 0173](../../02-DECISIONS/0173-the-operators-machine-is-the-meshs-and-a-module-is-what-it-declares.md), [ADR 0182](../../02-DECISIONS/0182-inside-a-home-the-mesh-owns-what-it-places-and-holds-the-rest-as-found.md), [ADR 0205](../../02-DECISIONS/0205-software-the-distribution-does-not-package-ships-as-a-pinned-archive-of-the-module.md) |
 
 ## Not yet written
 

04-ISSUES/108-the-registry-has-no-garbage-collection-once-it-has-two-doors/00-report.md

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 ---
-status: open
+status: resolved
 opened: 2026-09-23
-located-in: []
-fixed-by:
-amended-design:
+located-in: [mesh-controller internal/inventory, mesh-controller internal/artifacts, mesh-host internal/apply, mesh-catalog modules/distribution]
+fixed-by: 02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md
+amended-design: 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/18-building-a-module.md
 ---
 
 # 108 — The registry has no garbage collection, and two doors make it harder to add
@@ -75,3 +75,32 @@ real thing services need, and the mesh cannot express one.
   images by digest and moves by version — is retention "the digests no recorded build names"?
 - Who owns the routine when the store and its public door are two modules — the store, since the
   volume is its?
+
+## Answered, 2026-10-02 — [ADR 0189](../../02-DECISIONS/0189-the-store-keeps-what-the-records-name.md)
+
+The three open questions, answered:
+
+- **A maintenance step, or a backend that does not need its writers stopped?** The step. A
+  scheduled container may name `while-stopped` — resource ids of **its own module's** containers,
+  which the host stops before the run and starts again after it whatever the step did. A storage
+  backend the mesh does not run would be a bigger thing to own than the mechanism it avoids, and
+  the mechanism is wanted anyway: a service that cannot have work done underneath it is a real
+  shape and the mesh could not express it at all.
+- **Is retention "the digests no recorded build names"?** Nearly. An artifact stays because a
+  definition the mesh holds names it (no age limit), or because it belongs to one of the five most
+  recent successful builds of its module. Last-N-tags was the predecessor's rule for a registry
+  that knew nothing else; this mesh knows what each digest is for.
+- **Who owns the routine now the second door is gone?** Both halves, each where it can be. The
+  **mesh** decides what may go — only it holds the records — and asks the store to drop it. The
+  **store** reclaims the bytes, because only it can stop its own server. Neither half can be done
+  by the other.
+
+And the sharpened point — enabling deletion on a door with no accounts — dissolved on inspection:
+**that door already accepts a push**, so a writer who can reach it can already replace any tag.
+Delete takes nothing a push did not have. What it does not do is undo ADR 0082's bargain, which
+putting an authenticated door in front of deletion would have.
+
+The second registry process is not built, as the 2026-09-26 note says, so the shared blob cache
+and the deletion-cached-by-the-other-door problem never arise. Plain `garbage-collect` is enough:
+what the mesh keeps is still a manifest in the store, so `--delete-untagged` — the flag that would
+delete images machines are running — is not needed at all.

04-ISSUES/124-a-consumer-cannot-be-told-what-its-provider-derived/00-report.md

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 ---
-status: located
+status: resolved
 opened: 2026-09-26
-located-in: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue/declaration.go, mesh-sdk src/provisioner, mesh-catalog modules/minio]
-fixed-by:
-amended-design:
+located-in: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue, mesh-sdk src/provisioner, mesh-catalog modules/minio]
+fixed-by: 02-DECISIONS/0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md
+amended-design: 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/27-a-module-requires-the-mesh-resolves.md
 ---
 
 # 124 — A consumer cannot be told a value its provider derived for it, so it transcribes one
@@ -63,3 +63,27 @@ compares it to what the provider will actually create. The one wrong instance wa
 - What would have caught the wrong instance? A test that resolves a consumer's grant and compares the
   bucket in its own configuration against the one the provider would create is a check that could
   exist today, for any interface, without the mechanism above.
+
+## Answered, 2026-10-02 — [ADR 0202](../../02-DECISIONS/0202-a-provider-declares-what-it-derives-for-each-consumer.md)
+
+The channel is the provider's own `serves` block, which may now name the consumer the mesh is
+serving: `${consumer:as}` and `${consumer:as:dns}`. The mesh fills it once, where it knows who the
+consumer is, and delivers the one filled value to both ends — the consumer's binding and its
+`${bound:…}` substitutions, and the provider's contributions entry, so a provisioner is told the
+name rather than deriving it. Each open question above, answered:
+
+- **Should a provider return values from provisioning?** No. It would make a grant carry data the
+  provider wrote, make a consumer's declaration wait on its provider's reconcile loop, and put the
+  rule where nothing can refuse it. The reasoning is in the record.
+- **Or should `serves` say a value is derived?** Yes, and the mesh performs the derivation — but it
+  learns no protocol doing it. The only fact is the identity the mesh itself minted, in one of two
+  alphabets it already knows.
+- **Should a consumer that names the resource be refused?** Yes. A consumer's file that already
+  contains the value the mesh is about to derive for it is refused at resolution, naming the
+  placeholder to write instead. That is the check this report asked for, and it is exact rather than
+  heuristic: a derived value carries the identity minted for this consumer on this machine, which
+  nothing else would spell out.
+
+minio's `bucketFor` is gone; its manifest serves `"bucket": "${consumer:as:dns}"`. The three
+consumers' hand-written bucket names are gone with it — each of them also named the machine the
+module happens to run on, which is the second thing wrong with a transcription.

04-ISSUES/162-an-archive-cannot-be-undeclared/00-report.md

@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 ---
-status: located
+status: resolved
 opened: 2026-09-30
 located-in: [mesh-host internal/apply (no removal for an archive)]
 fixed-by:
+  - mesh-host#90
 amended-design:
 ---
 
@@ -54,3 +55,15 @@ argue for elsewhere: the mesh gives back what it found.
 A module with an archive is assigned, pushed, unassigned and pushed again; what the archive put on the
 machine is gone, anything that was in the directory beforehand is still there, and the apply that
 removed it applied everything else in the same declaration.
+
+## Resolved
+
+*2026-10-04.* Hit again live the same day: a race between two pushes delivered a declaration without
+a just-assigned module, and removing its tools bundle stopped a workstation's apply until the next push.
+mesh-host#90 records what an archive unpacked: its files, the directories it made, whether the host
+made the target and its parents. Undeclaring removes exactly those, never a file it did not place and
+never a directory that was there before, and a failed removal is reported, never fatal.
+
+An archive recorded before the change learns its list from its own bytes on the next apply while it is
+still declared. One already orphaned is left in place, said and forgotten. Applying an archive no longer
+deletes files the mesh did not place in its target directory (ADR 0030).

04-ISSUES/190-the-runtimes-configuration-is-written-by-modules-that-are-not-the-runtime/00-report.md

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+---
+status: located
+opened: 2026-10-01
+located-in: [mesh-catalog modules/dnsmasq, mesh-controller internal/overlay/generator.go, mesh-controller internal/catalogue/resolve.go (checkResources)]
+fixed-by:
+amended-design:
+---
+
+# 190 — The container runtime's configuration is written by modules that are not the runtime's
+
+## What was observed
+
+The runtime's configuration file and its service are declared by two parties, neither of which is
+the runtime:
+
+- **The resolver module** writes the runtime's `dns` key (the machine's private address) and
+  `live-restore` into the runtime's file, written into rather than over
+  ([ADR 0102](../../02-DECISIONS/0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md)). It also
+  declares the runtime's service, reloaded when that file changes. The `dns` key has been written
+  since the resolver module was converted from its predecessor on 2026-09-23; `live-restore` and the
+  service were added on 2026-09-30 while fixing
+  [issue 110](../110-a-container-on-the-runtimes-own-network-cannot-reach-the-resolver/00-report.md),
+  where containers silently resolved through a public resolver.
+- **The private network** writes the runtime's `insecure-registries` into the same file, and declares
+  the same service reloaded on it, as [ADR 0082](../../02-DECISIONS/0082-the-registry-is-reached-by-name-and-trusted-by-the-overlay.md)
+  and ADR 0102 decided. The controller generates both resources per machine.
+
+On the three machines that run the resolver module, both declare one path and one unit. Nothing refuses
+it. The collision check compares the resources of catalogue modules. The private network is computed,
+so its resources are produced when a machine's declaration is composed, and the check never sees them.
+
+The machine without the resolver module shows the other half. Its runtime still has the predecessor's
+resolver and `live-restore` off, because the only module that sets them is a DNS server. A machine
+gets a correct container runtime only as a side effect of being given a resolver.
+
+> **Later the same day, 2026-10-02.** The resolver module and its sibling for the resolver file were
+> assigned to the fourth machine ([issue 198](../198-the-lans-dns-server-ran-outside-the-mesh-and-its-filter-closed-it/00-report.md)),
+> so all four now have the resolver writing into the runtime's file, and the predecessor's
+> `live-restore: false` there is gone. The same work made the runtime's file, as the resolver declares
+> it, take no settings: a setting meant for the resolver's own configuration had reached it. The
+> collision and the ownership question above are unchanged.
+
+## Why this is here
+
+The operator ruled it a defect, not a design: **a module does not write another software's
+configuration.** The need behind each write is real. Containers must resolve the mesh's names
+([ADR 0148](../../02-DECISIONS/0148-the-meshs-names-are-resolved-not-copied-into-containers.md) step 2).
+A daemon restart must not stop every container. Every machine on the network must trust the mesh's
+registry. But each of these is a fact the runtime must be *given*, and the module that gives it is the
+runtime's own. With three writers, nobody can say what the file should contain. Two of the facts are
+reloaded when one of them needs a restart (issue 110's first fault). And the moment a module for the
+runtime exists, it is refused on every machine with the resolver, or, through the private network's
+path, accepted without anyone noticing a collision.
+
+## What resolves it
+
+[ADR 0166](../../02-DECISIONS/0166-the-container-runtime-is-a-node-seat-and-the-host-creates-containers-through-its-holder.md)
+gives the runtime a module that holds its seat and owns its file and service.
+[ADR 0164](../../02-DECISIONS/0164-a-setting-is-declared-with-its-default-its-meaning-and-what-changing-it-costs.md)
+gives that module declared settings with defaults. The fix, once both are accepted:
+
+1. The resolver module drops its runtime file and runtime service. It knows nothing of the runtime.
+2. The private network stops generating either resource. ADR 0082's decision stands — being on the
+   network is what grants the trust, and no module author is involved — and only *who writes it*
+   moves. The mesh gives the registry to the runtime module as a value. ADR 0082 and ADR 0102 each
+   get a dated note saying where their mechanism now lives.
+3. The runtime module writes `dns`, `live-restore` and `insecure-registries`, each a declared
+   setting with its cost: `dns` costs a restart, which `live-restore` makes harmless.
+4. Steps 1–3 land in one push. A runtime module declaring the file beside a resolver module still
+   declaring it is refused.
+5. The collision check sees a computed module's resources as well, so a second writer cannot come
+   back through generated code.
+
+## Open questions
+
+- **How the resolver's address reaches the runtime.** Either the resolver seat (`node-dns-resolver`)
+  delivers an address its holder serves, or the runtime module reads a machine fact and the seat
+  being held is only a precondition. The first tracks a resolver moving off the private address. The
+  second needs nothing new.
+- **What `dns` defaults to on a machine with no resolver seat held.** Nothing, leaving the runtime's
+  own behaviour, is the honest default. A public resolver hides exactly the failure issue 110 took a
+  day to find.
+- **The adopted machine's predecessor values.** The runtime module adopting a file with a
+  hand-written `dns` and `live-restore: false` replaces both. That is intended, and is the one
+  restart the operator must make on that machine.

04-ISSUES/192-the-meshs-tools-reach-a-person-only-by-a-registration-made-by-hand/00-report.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+---
+status: open
+opened: 2026-10-02
+located-in: [mesh-catalog modules/mesh-console, mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go (port assignment)]
+fixed-by:
+amended-design:
+---
+
+# 192 — The mesh's tools reach a person only by a registration made by hand
+
+## What was observed
+
+A design session on a workstation had none of the mesh's tools. The console was running on that
+machine and answering on its loopback port. It was reached over the bus as the console's account, and
+listed every running module's tools and every seat's verbs
+([ADR 0152](../../02-DECISIONS/0152-the-operators-surface-is-a-module-the-console.md)). What was missing
+was the registration that tells the person's coding agent where the console is. That registration had
+been made by hand, once, while migrating the machine, and scoped to the one project directory it was
+made in. Every session started anywhere else had no mesh tools. Nothing said so: the agent simply
+offered no mesh tools, and the session fell back to a pull-request link for a person to open by hand.
+
+The predecessor did this job itself: it wrote its tool server into the agent's user configuration on
+every machine. Migrating removed that entry, as it should have, and no module took the job over.
+
+## Why this is here
+
+Three gaps, each of which would have stopped a module from doing it even if one existed.
+
+**1. The console tells nobody where it is.** Its definition listens on a port and provides nothing.
+A module that wanted to point an agent at the console has no requirement it could name, so it
+would have to write the address into its own definition as a literal. That is exactly what
+[ADR 0112](../../02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md) and
+[ADR 0155](../../02-DECISIONS/0155-a-definition-names-no-installation-and-how-that-is-checked.md)
+remove.
+
+**2. The console's port is one its definition chose.** The definition names a port, and the mesh
+never assigned one: no port assignment exists for the console on any machine. The plan assigns a
+machine port only to a port a container publishes through a mapping, "without one the software binds
+what it binds". The console runs on the host network with no mapping, but it reads its listening
+address from `${port:…}`, so the mesh could move it and does not. That is a module choosing a
+machine port, which [ADR 0038](../../02-DECISIONS/0038-the-mesh-assigns-the-port.md) exists to
+prevent, through a gap in how the rule is applied rather than a decision against it. A module that
+reads its port from the mesh should be assigned one like any other.
+
+**3. Nothing in the mesh owns a person's agent configuration.** No catalogue module writes the agent's
+settings, its tool-server registrations, or the rules and skills the predecessor delivered. On the
+four machines these are hand-kept, or left over from the predecessor, or missing.
+
+## What a fix looks like (not decided)
+
+- **The console provides its endpoint.** A provision, working name `mesh-tools`, served as the URL on
+  the machine port the mesh gives it. The console listens only on loopback, so the provider must be on
+  the consumer's own machine. Co-location already chooses it
+  ([ADR 0084](../../02-DECISIONS/0084-which-provider-serves-a-consumer.md)), and a machine with no
+  console refuses the consumer, naming the provision.
+- **A module for the coding agent requires it** and writes the registration into the agent's
+  system-wide managed settings. The agent reads tool servers from a `managedMcpServers` key there. That
+  file is the machine's rather than a user's, so the module owns it whole and no home directory is
+  named. People keep their own registrations beside it. The agent's separate *exclusive* managed
+  file is the wrong one: it blocks every registration a person makes and hides the hosted connectors.
+  The agent's per-user file is rewritten by the agent continuously and sits in a home directory,
+  which would make its path an operator value. These facts come from the agent's documentation
+  (managed MCP and managed settings pages), not yet verified on a machine.
+- **The same module owns the rest of the agent's configuration** the predecessor delivered: managed
+  settings and the rules, skills and instructions every session reads. Each declared setting carries
+  a default (ADR 0164,
+  proposed on its own branch), so one configuration serves every machine and one machine may differ.
+
+## Open questions
+
+- **Is the agent's configuration one module or several?** Tool registration, managed settings, and
+  the instruction files have different readers and change at different rates.
+- **Whose machine port is the console's?** Should a host-network container that reads its port from
+  `${port:…}` be assigned one, or should a machine-only listener keep its declared number? The second
+  needs a decision, because ADR 0038 does not allow it today.
+- **Credentials.** The console's authority is the machine's login (ADR 0152). A registration that
+  reaches it carries no secret today. If the console ever listens beyond loopback, the registration
+  needs one, from the vault.

04-ISSUES/193-the-store-seats-read-only-query-is-read-only-by-convention/00-report.md

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+---
+status: resolved
+opened: 2026-10-02
+located-in: [mesh-catalog modules/postgres/client.ts (readOnlyQuery)]
+fixed-by: [mesh-catalog PR 209 (postgres), mesh-catalog PR 210 (mssql)]
+amended-design:
+---
+
+# 193 — The store seat's read-only query is read-only by convention, and its answer is unreadable
+
+## What was observed
+
+Asking the store seat's `query` verb for a count through the console returned this. Rows are each
+wrapped in an object under a key named `BEGIN`: the column name, then the value, then the word
+`ROLLBACK`. A query returning nothing gave the column name and `ROLLBACK` alone. The answer to
+`select count(*) as n from <table>` was:
+
+> `rows: [ {BEGIN: "n"}, {BEGIN: "46"}, {BEGIN: "ROLLBACK"} ]`
+
+A reader can work it out. A program cannot, and a query with two columns loses which value belongs to
+which.
+
+## Why this is here
+
+**The cause is the same line that makes the query read-only.** The holder's tool sends
+`BEGIN TRANSACTION READ ONLY; <the caller's statement>; ROLLBACK;` to the command-line client as one
+string. The client prints a command tag for each of the three statements, and the parser takes the
+first line, `BEGIN`, as the header.
+
+**And it is not read-only.** [ADR 0159](../../02-DECISIONS/0159-a-tool-call-names-the-machine-and-a-holder-serves-its-seats-verbs.md)
+decided the store seat's `query` verb is "one read-only statement against one database". The only
+thing enforcing that is the wrapping transaction, and the caller's statement is pasted inside it as
+text. A statement that begins by ending the transaction (a commit, then anything) runs whatever
+follows it outside the read-only transaction, with the holder's own role, the administrative one that creates every
+consumer's role and database. A rule stated in a decision and enforced by string concatenation is enforced by nothing.
+
+*This is read from the code, not tried against the live store, and it should not be tried there.*
+The lab bed is where it gets proven.
+
+Every caller with `invokes` on the store seat's `query` can do this. The console has `invokes: ["*"]`,
+so that includes anyone logged in on a machine running the console.
+
+## What a fix looks like
+
+- **One statement, refused otherwise.** Send the caller's statement alone, through the client's
+  single-statement path (the extended protocol takes one statement per call and refuses more). The
+  read-only property then comes from the session, not from text around the statement.
+- **Read-only by role, not by transaction.** Run the verb as a role that can only read, granted
+  `pg_read_all_data`, not as the administrative role. A statement that escapes every wrapper still cannot write.
+- **Rows as rows.** Parse the client's output with the column names it returns, or use a driver
+  instead of the command-line client, so a row is an object keyed by its columns.
+- **The check 0159 lacks:** a test that sends a commit followed by a write and asserts the write is
+  refused and nothing changed. Another asserts a two-column row comes back keyed by both columns.
+
+## Proven, 2026-10-02
+
+On a throwaway server — the same engine image, no network, reached over a socket — the module's code
+from the catalogue's main branch ran `COMMIT; COPY (select 1) TO PROGRAM '<a command>'` and **the
+command ran on the database host** as the server's own user. `COMMIT; DROP TABLE t` executed the drop
+outside the read-only transaction; the wrapper's own trailing rollback happened to undo it, which a
+caller ending their statement with a commit of their own would get past (not tried). Nothing was tried
+against the live store.
+
+The fix (mesh-catalog PR 209) runs the caller's statement as a login granted `pg_read_all_data` and
+nothing else, read-only by its role and its session, with a password the mesh mints as one of the
+module's own secrets; without that password the call is refused rather than run as the admin. On the
+same throwaway server every escape above, and `SET ROLE`, `RESET SESSION AUTHORIZATION`, turning
+read-only off, creating a table, altering the role and reading a server file, is refused; a plain
+select comes back keyed by its columns. One attempt — turning the transaction's read-only off, then
+deleting — got past the first layer and was stopped by the second, which is why both exist.
+
+**Not answered by the statement-count fix proposed above.** The command-line client sends one string
+in one message, so several statements still arrive together. They are harmless as the reader, and
+refusing them is left to whoever moves the module to a driver.
+
+## The same hole, elsewhere — and two worse ones
+
+The `mssql` module wrapped a caller's statement the same way (`BEGIN TRANSACTION; … ROLLBACK;` as its
+administrator) for its `mssql_query` tool. Its command-line client added two holes of its own. Both
+were proven on a throwaway server, running the client the way the module ran it:
+
+- **It substitutes `$(NAME)` from its environment into the caller's text**, and the administrator's
+  password is in that environment. Selecting it as a string returned the password.
+- **It reads a line beginning `:!!` as a command that starts a program**, in the container that holds
+  the administrator's password and the module's bus credentials. Its switch for refusing such commands
+  makes the shipped version ignore the statement entirely, so the switch cannot be the guard.
+
+None of it was reachable on the live mesh, for a reason that is a defect of its own: the runtime image
+never installed the client, so every mssql tool failed (`spawn sqlcmd ENOENT`). The fix (mesh-catalog
+PR 210) installs the client at a pinned digest and runs the caller's statement as a login that can
+connect and read and do nothing else. Substitution is off. The statement must be one line, placed after
+the module's own text, so no line of it can begin a command; a line break is refused before the client
+starts. On the throwaway server, writes, `xp_cmdshell`, impersonating the administrator, and joining
+the administrators' role were all refused, and the variable came back as the literal text.
+
+**The general lesson**, worth more than either module: *a command-line client is an interpreter with
+its own syntax, and a caller's text handed to it is a program in that syntax as well as in SQL.* A
+module that passes a caller's text to a client has two languages to defend, and a transaction drawn
+around the text defends neither.
+
+## Resolved, 2026-10-02
+
+Both pull requests merged, built and pushed to the two machines that run each module. Checked live, on
+every copy, by asking each one who it is:
+
+- the store seat's `query`, and postgres's own tool on each machine, answer as the reader login —
+  not a superuser, in a read-only transaction — with rows keyed by their columns;
+- mssql's tool, on each machine, answers as its reader login, outside the administrators' role, and
+  returns `$(SQLCMDPASSWORD)` as the literal text it is. Its tools work for the first time.
+
+The escapes themselves were tried only on the throwaway servers above; on the live mesh the check is
+the identity a statement runs as, which is what makes every escape a statement that the login cannot do.

04-ISSUES/201-a-push-recreated-the-controller-behind-the-row-its-successor-wrote/00-report.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+status: open
+opened: 2026-10-02
+located-in:
+  - mesh-controller
+fixed-by: 02-DECISIONS/0185-a-control-plane-behind-its-seats-row-serves-what-it-can.md
+amended-design:
+---
+
+# 201 — A push recreated the controller at a digest older than the seat row its successor had written
+
+## What was observed
+
+2026-10-02, two merges a minute apart on the control node: one to the controller, adding a verb to the
+controller seat's row; one to the host, adding a container field. Each made a plan. The controller's plan
+built and rolled the new controller, which started, widened its seat row with the new verb, and ran. The
+host's plan then pushed the control node with the controller digest it had recorded when it was made —
+the previous build — and recreated the controller container on it. The older binary read the row, found
+a verb it could not run, and refused to start:
+
+```
+mesh-controller: the mesh-controller seat's row declares "command", which this control plane
+cannot run: "command" is not a verb the mesh-controller seat serves
+```
+
+A crash loop followed for ten minutes: nothing answered on the bus, and no build was dispatched, since
+the controller is what fills the builder's queue. Recovery was the mesh's own binary run once from the
+newer image, outside the service, to push the control node again; the push sent the newer digest and
+the controller came up.
+
+## Why it matters beyond this instance
+
+The row is the store's and the binary follows it ([ADR 0154](../../02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md));
+a start-up check that refuses a row the binary cannot serve is right, and was built after the outage of
+2026-09-27 for exactly this reason. What is wrong is a plan sending a controller older than the one that
+wrote the row. A plan is made at a moment and sends what it recorded ([ADR 0162](../../02-DECISIONS/0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md));
+for every other module an older digest is a brief regression a later push corrects. For the controller
+it is the mesh losing its voice, and the correction needs a hand, because the thing that would correct
+it is the thing that is down. Two plans that overlap will happen again whenever two people merge within
+a minute.
+
+## What a fix would have to do
+
+Either of two, and the first is the smaller:
+
+- A push never sends a controller digest older than the one the running controller is — the controller
+  knows its own digest and refuses to downgrade itself through a plan, saying so in the plan's words.
+- Or the start-up check tolerates a row wider than the binary while a roll-out is in flight, and serves
+  what it can. Weaker: it makes the row and the binary disagree on purpose, which is what the check
+  exists to refuse.
+
+Until one is built: do not merge a controller change while another plan is rolling, and after merging
+one, wait for `node show` on the control node to report the new controller before merging anything else.
+
+## References
+
+- [ADR 0154](../../02-DECISIONS/0154-the-meshs-own-verbs-are-the-controller-seats-tools.md), [ADR 0162](../../02-DECISIONS/0162-a-merge-produces-a-tiered-plan-the-mesh-keeps.md)
+- mesh-controller `cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go` (`seatToolHandlers`, the start-up check), `cmd/mesh-controller/push.go`
+
+## Half of it is closed, 2026-10-02
+
+[ADR 0185](../../02-DECISIONS/0185-a-control-plane-behind-its-seats-row-serves-what-it-can.md) takes
+the outage out of it: a control plane behind its seat's row now serves every verb it can run, says
+which it cannot, and answers the reason when one of those is called. The same race today would cost
+the verbs the newer build added, for as long as the older binary is in place, and the ordinary
+"this machine is behind" machinery would put the newer one back without a hand.
+
+**The race itself is still open**, and this report stays open for it. What was established while
+closing the other half, so the next reader does not redo it:
+
+- Composing and sending are serialised per machine by a session advisory lock in the store, so two
+  control planes cannot compose one machine's declaration at the same time. The stale content did
+  not come from two concurrent composes.
+- A container's image is resolved into the module's manifest when it is *built*, and a push composes
+  from the catalogue as it is at that moment, under the hold. So a compose that ran after the build
+  was taken in could not have named the older image.
+- The declaration's sequence orders arrival and nothing else (the numbering of
+  [issue 107](../107-a-declaration-carries-no-order/00-report.md)); it cannot tell a later send
+  carrying earlier content from a later send carrying later content. The host refuses a declaration
+  numbered below the last it applied, and both of these were above it.
+- The machine's own journal shows the two applies ten seconds apart and which replaced what; it does
+  not record which image each declaration named, which is the one fact that would settle it. A host
+  that recorded the digest it was told, per apply, would have answered this in a minute.
+
+So the trigger is not yet pinned, and guessing at the push path is the most expensive place in the
+mesh to guess. The fix the report first suggested — a push never sending a control plane a digest
+older than the one that machine reports running — closes the class without needing the trigger, and
+is now a correctness nicety rather than the difference between a working mesh and a dead one.