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jschoubben 2b5119ecd2 Issue 114 is answered: the controller is a process, by ADR 0142
It asked a question rather than reporting a defect, and the question was taken
five days later — the mesh's own components are binaries on the machine, and
third-party software stays a container because an image is the right way to
carry somebody else's build. The delivery of them is issue 142.
2026-09-29 22:38:11 +02:00
jschoubben 96bdffa9bc Two records were numbered 127; the second becomes 149, and is resolved
A number identifies a record, and two were given 127 on 2026-09-27. The one
three documents and three source files cite by number keeps it; the other
becomes 149, says so in its own heading, and its two inbound references are
repointed.

It is also resolved: an empty declaration is sent carrying owns_nothing rather
than skipped, and the host refuses an empty body that does not carry it, so
emptiness cannot be read as a truncated declaration.
2026-09-29 22:33:40 +02:00
jschoubben 4eb16f1028 Three proposed records were already built; two are still yours to call
0037 (where a module lives), 0113 (the vault makes every secret) and 0115 (one
assignment of a module per node) described arrangements the mesh has — a
catalogue of other people's software plus a table filled by module add, a vault
answering a secret requirement six modules make, and a rule the assignment
table's primary key already enforces. Each is accepted against what was built,
and says so in its own words.

0037's other half is not built: a manifest outside this catalogue has no check,
which is issue 148.

0068 (the lab takes requests) and 0114 (a shared credential rotates over two
credentials) stay proposed. Neither is built, and both are decisions rather
than records of something that happened.
2026-09-29 22:31:55 +02:00
jschoubben d199de40db Merge the 146/147 records, which 006's note links to 2026-09-29 22:31:46 +02:00
jschoubben 9a1dc4665c Grooming: issue 006's knowledge base is the predecessor's, and is gone
The record catches README claiming this repository is indexed into a knowledge
base. Nothing indexed it, and since the cut-over there is nothing to index it
into — the surface that answered is on the transport the mesh removed (issue
147). Noted where the record is, so the next reader does not go looking for a
search that cannot exist.
2026-09-29 22:26:13 +02:00
jschoubben 14be8576f8 Grooming: five issues were fixed and never closed, and one is not
088, 089, 120, 128 and 130 each name a commit that is on main and cites them —
the forge's address following a moved port, a route naming its endpoint, a
provisioner asking the backend what is there, the hosts file written into a
marked block, and undeclaring giving a unit back the state it was found in.
Each says it was closed by reading commits rather than by a run, so nobody
reads a green that was never measured.

129 stays located on purpose: ca-trust is merged and no machine holds it, so
the symptom it opened on is still true everywhere.
2026-09-29 22:25:25 +02:00
jschoubben 3c0f7082e6 Issue 147: the tool surface is not the mesh's, it is the predecessor's
Diagnosed from the configuration: the tool server is HAL's brain, a local
process on the workstation with the predecessor's broker URL in the assistant's
own config. No manifest, no assignment, no seat, no account. Nothing regressed
— the mesh removed a transport this program still dials, and the program was
never part of the mesh. The mesh has a tool model and nothing publishes an
operator-facing surface onto it.
2026-09-29 21:50:50 +02:00
jschoubben 0dd00e88b6 Issue 147: the operator's tools still dial the bus that was removed
Every tool call fails with 'AMQP not connected', on every node including the
local one, because the tool surface still opens an AMQP connection and that
transport was deleted at the cut-over. The mesh reports healthy throughout —
what broke is the thing standing outside asking it questions, so nothing the
mesh checks is about it.
2026-09-29 21:39:55 +02:00
jschoubben eef54917ec Issue 146: the double enrolment was two consumers sharing a delivery subject
Not about enrolment. A push consumer delivers onto an ordinary subject and
everything subscribed to it gets a copy; the controller's two consumers were
both named after it, so both were given the same subject and the one process
acted on every message twice. Enrolment is where it drew blood because a second
enrolment mints a second credential.
2026-09-29 21:32:52 +02:00
jschoubben e9b1010bc0 Issue 146: what made it slow, and what was changed so it is not 2026-09-29 17:45:25 +02:00
jschoubben f6ed3545b7 Issue 146: a first node now enrols, and is enrolled twice
Two more faults behind the three already fixed. The account a token is the
password of was never recorded, and the comment above the issuing code said
it was; issuing now records it. Placing the composed list at genesis is the
other half — the control plane says what it composed and whoever raises the
machine writes it beside the bus, because no declaration can reach a machine
that has not enrolled.

With that a first node enrols. It is then enrolled twice from one attempt,
each minting a credential, and it keeps the answer to the first while the mesh
keeps the second. The trail for that one stops at a duplicate that survived
message-id deduplication.
2026-09-29 17:36:40 +02:00
18 changed files with 350 additions and 94 deletions
+17 -1
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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
--- ---
topic: building it topic: building it
status: proposed status: accepted
date: 2026-09-01 date: 2026-09-01
deciders: jochen deciders: jochen
reconstructed: false reconstructed: false
@@ -101,3 +101,19 @@ the digest down after building.
**Whether kind 4 deserves a module at all.** Thirty-five descriptions that say *install this and **Whether kind 4 deserves a module at all.** Thirty-five descriptions that say *install this and
write these files* may be better as one module with settings than as thirty-five modules. Left write these files* may be better as one module with settings than as thirty-five modules. Left
open deliberately; it is a question about the shape of the catalogue, not about whether to have one. open deliberately; it is a question about the shape of the catalogue, not about whether to have one.
## Accepted, 2026-09-29, against what was built
*Marked in a grooming pass: the mesh was built to this record and the record still said `proposed`.*
The proposal is the arrangement that exists. `mesh-catalog` holds descriptions of software we did
not write and the programs that provision it, and holds neither the mesh's own components nor an
application's own module. The mesh's list of modules is a table in the control plane, filled by
`module add`, and every module records the source it came from with the commit it was read at.
**One half is not built: `module check` as a command on the control plane's binary.** A manifest is
still validated by a test that reaches into the control plane's internals — which works for this
catalogue and gives nothing at all to somebody describing their own application in their own
repository, which this record says is the case that matters most. That is
[issue 148](../04-ISSUES/148-a-manifest-outside-this-catalogue-has-no-check/00-report.md).
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
--- ---
topic: what runs on it topic: what runs on it
status: proposed status: accepted
date: 2026-09-25 date: 2026-09-25
deciders: jochen deciders: jochen
reconstructed: false reconstructed: false
@@ -275,3 +275,11 @@ On acceptance, each of these is superseded or amended by this record, not edited
everything a module needs is a requirement everything a module needs is a requirement
- [Issue 095](../04-ISSUES/095-a-module-assigned-after-genesis-has-no-broker-account/00-report.md), - [Issue 095](../04-ISSUES/095-a-module-assigned-after-genesis-has-no-broker-account/00-report.md),
[issue 103](../04-ISSUES/103-a-container-is-not-recreated-when-a-file-it-reads-changes/00-report.md): what fails today [issue 103](../04-ISSUES/103-a-container-is-not-recreated-when-a-file-it-reads-changes/00-report.md): what fails today
## Accepted, 2026-09-29, against what was built
*Marked in a grooming pass.* The vault is a module providing `secret` at mesh scope, and six
modules in the catalogue require it — so a shared secret is a requirement answered by the vault,
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.
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
--- ---
topic: what runs on it topic: what runs on it
status: proposed status: accepted
date: 2026-09-26 date: 2026-09-26
deciders: jochen deciders: jochen
extends: 0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md extends: 0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md
@@ -47,3 +47,10 @@ other boundary already is: the module name.
node runs one of each (ADR 0115)" — instead of failing on whichever name collides first. node runs one of each (ADR 0115)" — instead of failing on whichever name collides first.
- Multi-tenant asks are answered in the catalogue (a second module definition), not in the - Multi-tenant asks are answered in the catalogue (a second module definition), not in the
control plane. control plane.
## Accepted, 2026-09-29, against what was built
*Marked in a grooming pass.* The rule is enforced where it cannot be forgotten: `assignment`'s
primary key is `(node, module)`, so a second assignment of one module to one machine is not a thing
the mesh can hold. The record read `proposed` while the schema had already settled it.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ extends: 0102-the-mesh-writes-into-a-shared-file-never-over-it.md
## Context ## Context
When a resource stops being declared — its module unassigned, the node sent a When a resource stops being declared — its module unassigned, the node sent a
deliberately-empty declaration ([issue 127](../04-ISSUES/127-a-declaration-that-shrinks-to-empty-is-skipped-not-sent/00-report.md)), deliberately-empty declaration ([issue 149](../04-ISSUES/149-a-declaration-that-shrinks-to-empty-is-skipped-not-sent/00-report.md)),
or a new catalogue version renaming its id — the host undoes it. The host's own code states or a new catalogue version renaming its id — the host undoes it. The host's own code states
the rule it means to follow: **it removes what it made and leaves what it merely configured.** the rule it means to follow: **it removes what it made and leaves what it merely configured.**
For almost every resource it does exactly that: For almost every resource it does exactly that:
+3 -3
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@@ -207,9 +207,9 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
- **0099** — [A step that runs once names what it reads, and runs again when it changed](0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md) - **0099** — [A step that runs once names what it reads, and runs again when it changed](0099-a-step-that-runs-once-names-what-it-reads.md)
- **0110** — [A seat is held by one assignment, from a closed set, and it may deliver a provision](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md) - **0110** — [A seat is held by one assignment, from a closed set, and it may deliver a provision](0110-a-seat-is-a-module-assignment-from-a-closed-set.md)
- **0112** — [A module definition names no node, no mesh and no path: everything it needs is a requirement the mesh resolves](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md) - **0112** — [A module definition names no node, no mesh and no path: everything it needs is a requirement the mesh resolves](0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md)
- **0113** — [The vault makes every shared secret, a provider makes resources and data, and the mesh carries both](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md) *(proposed)* - **0113** — [The vault makes every shared secret, a provider makes resources and data, and the mesh carries both](0113-the-vault-makes-every-secret.md)
- **0114** — [A credential two parties hold rotates over two credentials; one a single party holds rotates in place, staged; and retiring a credential never removes what it reached](0114-a-shared-credential-rotates-over-two-credentials.md) *(proposed)* - **0114** — [A credential two parties hold rotates over two credentials; one a single party holds rotates in place, staged; and retiring a credential never removes what it reached](0114-a-shared-credential-rotates-over-two-credentials.md) *(proposed)*
- **0115** — [One assignment of a module per node: the module's name is the assignment's identity](0115-one-assignment-of-a-module-per-node.md) *(proposed)* - **0115** — [One assignment of a module per node: the module's name is the assignment's identity](0115-one-assignment-of-a-module-per-node.md)
- **0117** — [A machine's uplink is a seat: the mesh configures the manager, never the link](0117-a-machines-uplink-is-a-seat.md) - **0117** — [A machine's uplink is a seat: the mesh configures the manager, never the link](0117-a-machines-uplink-is-a-seat.md)
- **0118** — [Undeclaring removes what the mesh made, and gives a unit back the state it was found in](0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md) - **0118** — [Undeclaring removes what the mesh made, and gives a unit back the state it was found in](0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md)
- **0120** — [A roster fact carries its format as a template: the mesh owns the data, the module owns the format](0120-a-roster-fact-carries-its-format-as-a-template.md) - **0120** — [A roster fact carries its format as a template: the mesh owns the data, the module owns the format](0120-a-roster-fact-carries-its-format-as-a-template.md)
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
- **0014** — [No workspace — each module is a standalone package consuming published dependencies](0014-no-npm-workspace.md) - **0014** — [No workspace — each module is a standalone package consuming published dependencies](0014-no-npm-workspace.md)
- **0015** — [Applications live in their own repository; the monorepo is for the mesh](0015-applications-live-in-their-own-repository.md) - **0015** — [Applications live in their own repository; the monorepo is for the mesh](0015-applications-live-in-their-own-repository.md)
- **0016** — [The lab](0016-the-lab.md) - **0016** — [The lab](0016-the-lab.md)
- **0037** — [Where a module lives](0037-where-a-module-lives.md) *(proposed)* - **0037** — [Where a module lives](0037-where-a-module-lives.md)
- **0039** — [What the SDK holds, and what it refuses](0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md) - **0039** — [What the SDK holds, and what it refuses](0039-what-the-sdk-holds-and-refuses.md)
- **0068** — [The lab takes requests, one at a time, and runs each from its own copy](0068-the-lab-takes-requests.md) *(proposed)* - **0068** — [The lab takes requests, one at a time, and runs each from its own copy](0068-the-lab-takes-requests.md) *(proposed)*
- **0069** — [A module is a repository and a path within it](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md) - **0069** — [A module is a repository and a path within it](0069-a-module-is-a-repository-and-a-path.md)
@@ -155,3 +155,17 @@ design document here, and get it back. That check fails today by design.
**What stands until then** is the signpost, and the honest description of it: reachable, not **What stands until then** is the signpost, and the honest description of it: reachable, not
surfacing. surfacing.
## Where this stands, 2026-09-29
*Added in a grooming pass.* The knowledge base this record is about is the **predecessor's**, and it
is no longer reachable from anything: the surface that answered `recall_search` speaks the transport
the mesh removed at the cut-over
([issue 147](../147-the-operators-tools-still-dial-the-bus-that-was-removed/00-report.md)).
So the sentence in `README.md` that this record catches — *these documents are still indexed into
the knowledge base* — is now wrong twice over: nothing indexed them, and there is nothing to index
them into. The record stays open, and its answer is no longer "index this repository somewhere"; it
is whatever the mesh grows as its own knowledge surface, if it grows one. Until then the honest fix
is the README, which should stop claiming a property nothing provides.
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
--- ---
status: open status: resolved
opened: 2026-09-22 opened: 2026-09-22
located-in: [] located-in: [mesh-catalog modules/gitea, mesh-controller internal/catalogue/declaration.go]
fixed-by: fixed-by: mesh-controller 7352c84, merged in #46 — a module is told its port in a container's environment too, as a file already was
amended-design: amended-design:
--- ---
@@ -39,3 +39,9 @@ the assignment happens to differ.
- Should composition refuse an environment value that names a port the module does not fix, the - Should composition refuse an environment value that names a port the module does not fix, the
way it refuses other claims a module cannot make? way it refuses other claims a module cannot make?
- Which other modules write their own address, with a port, into their environment? - Which other modules write their own address, with a port, into their environment?
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass rather than by whoever fixed it.* The forge's address follows a moved port the same way every other reader does. Found by
reading what the code repositories' commits cite: the fix names this issue and is on `main`. It was
not re-verified on a machine, and this record says so rather than implying a run that did not happen.
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
--- ---
status: open status: resolved
opened: 2026-09-22 opened: 2026-09-22
located-in: [] located-in: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue/declaration.go, mesh-catalog (every routed module)]
fixed-by: fixed-by: mesh-controller bdf965d (a route names the endpoint it serves) with `portOfEndpoint` and `AtPublishedPort` — the contribution carries the endpoint's declared port and the machine-side redirection is applied to it like any other
amended-design: amended-design:
--- ---
@@ -45,3 +45,9 @@ precisely because the predecessor holds the usual one.
keeping the mapping out of rendered configuration? keeping the mapping out of rendered configuration?
- What should refuse a declaration whose contributed route names a port nothing on that node - What should refuse a declaration whose contributed route names a port nothing on that node
listens on? listens on?
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass rather than by whoever fixed it.* A route names an endpoint rather than a port, and the redirection that turns a declared port into the published one is applied to contributions too. Found by
reading what the code repositories' commits cite: the fix names this issue and is on `main`. It was
not re-verified on a machine, and this record says so rather than implying a run that did not happen.
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
--- ---
status: open status: resolved
opened: 2026-09-24 opened: 2026-09-24
located-in: [mesh-controller module.json, mesh-host internal/apply] located-in: [mesh-controller module.json, mesh-host internal/apply]
fixed-by: fixed-by: ADR 0142 — the mesh's own components are delivered as binaries on the machine, so the controller is a process; the delivery itself is issue 142
amended-design: amended-design:
--- ---
@@ -84,3 +84,21 @@ restart and run-to-completion semantics — so this would not need host-side wor
The two do not collapse into one. The controller is not a code-carrying sidecar, and `network: host` The two do not collapse into one. The controller is not a code-carrying sidecar, and `network: host`
is what makes the asymmetry visible here and nowhere else. is what makes the asymmetry visible here and nowhere else.
## Answered
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass.* This asked a question rather than reporting a defect, and the
question was taken: [ADR 0142](../../02-DECISIONS/0142-the-mesh-delivers-its-own-components-as-binaries.md)
decides that the mesh's own components — the host, the controller, the catalogue, the builder, the
vault — are **binaries on the machine**, delivered by the mechanism
[ADR 0141](../../02-DECISIONS/0141-the-host-delivers-its-own-successor.md) built, and that
third-party software (the store, the registry, the broker) stays a container because an image is the
right way to carry somebody else's build.
So the operating experience this record was written from — every mutating command reached through
`docker exec mesh-controller` — is answered, and answered against the container.
**The delivery is a separate matter and is not this record's.** Step 1 of it is built and no
component travels yet; that is
[issue 142](../142-the-host-is-the-one-thing-the-mesh-does-not-deliver/00-report.md).
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
--- ---
status: located status: resolved
opened: 2026-09-26 opened: 2026-09-26
located-in: [mesh-sdk src/provisioner, mesh-catalog modules/redis] located-in: [mesh-sdk src/provisioner, mesh-catalog modules/redis]
fixed-by: fixed-by: mesh-catalog bbda88c, merged in #84 — every credential provider says whether it still holds a consumer
amended-design: amended-design:
--- ---
@@ -60,3 +60,9 @@ checks it after the first pass.
instance and leaves the gap for the others. instance and leaves the gap for the others.
- Where does the record of what was applied live, if not in memory? ADR 0114, still - Where does the record of what was applied live, if not in memory? ADR 0114, still
proposed, puts rotation state with the vault. The same place may answer this. proposed, puts rotation state with the vault. The same place may answer this.
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass rather than by whoever fixed it.* A provisioner asks the backend what is there rather than trusting what it remembers doing. Found by
reading what the code repositories' commits cite: the fix names this issue and is on `main`. It was
not re-verified on a machine, and this record says so rather than implying a run that did not happen.
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
--- ---
status: located status: resolved
fixed-by: mesh-host 1cb8953 and fdc768c — the mesh writes into a marked block of a text file instead of over it
opened: 2026-09-26 opened: 2026-09-26
located-in: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue/facts.go, mesh-host internal/apply] located-in: [mesh-controller internal/catalogue/facts.go, mesh-host internal/apply]
--- ---
@@ -71,3 +72,9 @@ private network loses that name too.
- The host's file resource supports `into: "json"` only; anything else is a whole write. - The host's file resource supports `into: "json"` only; anything else is a whole write.
- `node show <node>` on the adopted workstation: `holds file /etc/hosts - `node show <node>` on the adopted workstation: `holds file /etc/hosts
mesh-wireguard.fact-node-names`, original kept. mesh-wireguard.fact-node-names`, original kept.
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass rather than by whoever fixed it.* A shared hosts file keeps every line that is not the mesh's. Found by
reading what the code repositories' commits cite: the fix names this issue and is on `main`. It was
not re-verified on a machine, and this record says so rather than implying a run that did not happen.
@@ -30,3 +30,16 @@ network, installs it as a trust anchor, refreshes the machine's bundles, and —
unassigned stops its unit, and stopping the unit is what undoes it — takes both away again. unassigned stops its unit, and stopping the unit is what undoes it — takes both away again.
The owner is therefore `mesh-catalog`, module `ca-trust`, and nothing in the control plane. The owner is therefore `mesh-catalog`, module `ca-trust`, and nothing in the control plane.
## The module exists, and this stays open until a machine holds it
*2026-09-29.* `ca-trust` is in the catalogue and merged
([ADR 0147](../../02-DECISIONS/0147-a-module-anchors-the-meshs-authority.md)), and what it renders
is checked in the control plane's own suite: the script fetches from the authority it was bound to,
and the unit runs it both ways.
**No machine has been assigned it, and nothing has verified a name because of it.** The bed written
for that cannot run ([issue 146](../146-the-foundation-cannot-be-raised-on-the-bus-the-mesh-runs-on/00-report.md)),
and the live mesh has not been given the module. So the symptom this record opened on — every
internal name failing verification on every machine — is still true everywhere, and the record stays
`located` until it is not. Closing it on a module that exists would be closing it on an intention.
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
--- ---
status: located status: resolved
fixed-by: mesh-host 3112c88 — undeclaring gives a unit back the state it was found in, and removes only a process the mesh made
opened: 2026-09-27 opened: 2026-09-27
located-in: [mesh-host internal/apply/apply.go (remove)] located-in: [mesh-host internal/apply/apply.go (remove)]
amended-design: 02-DECISIONS/0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md amended-design: 02-DECISIONS/0118-undeclaring-gives-a-unit-back-the-state-it-was-found-in.md
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ found that the host's `remove` path stops every `service` resource that is no lo
delete". `store.Orphans` matches by id alone. So any of these stops the unit: delete". `store.Orphans` matches by id alone. So any of these stops the unit:
- the module is unassigned — by mistake, or to switch it for another; - the module is unassigned — by mistake, or to switch it for another;
- the node is sent a deliberately-empty declaration ([issue 127](../127-a-declaration-that-shrinks-to-empty-is-skipped-not-sent/00-report.md)); - the node is sent a deliberately-empty declaration ([issue 149](../149-a-declaration-that-shrinks-to-empty-is-skipped-not-sent/00-report.md));
- a later catalogue version renames the resource's `id`. - a later catalogue version renames the resource's `id`.
That is right for a service the mesh brought into being. It is wrong for a unit the mesh That is right for a service the mesh brought into being. It is wrong for a unit the mesh
@@ -64,3 +65,9 @@ something to settle in passing.
The unassign preview is partly answered — the host's plan names each unit it will stop — and the The unassign preview is partly answered — the host's plan names each unit it will stop — and the
controller's side is left open. controller's side is left open.
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass rather than by whoever fixed it.* Undeclaring no longer stops a unit the mesh only reloaded or only kept running. Found by
reading what the code repositories' commits cite: the fix names this issue and is on `main`. It was
not re-verified on a machine, and this record says so rather than implying a run that did not happen.
@@ -82,12 +82,100 @@ managing, or genesis carries a user list that includes the first node's enrolmen
takes over from there. Both are decisions, not patches, and both belong to the genesis step that was takes over from there. Both are decisions, not patches, and both belong to the genesis step that was
deliberately left until last. deliberately left until last.
## 5 — the composed user list has to be placed by hand at genesis *(fixed)*
The account a token is the password of is **not recorded at all**: the composer names an enrolment
user for every machine with a live token, nothing minted a credential for it, and the composition
left it out as a user with no password. The comment above the issuing code already claimed
otherwise — *"the account is created before the token is handed over"* — which is how it went
unnoticed. Issuing a token now records that account, with the token's own secret as its password,
because that is the string the machine will present.
Placing it is the other half. The list reaches the machine running the bus in that machine's
declaration, which a machine that has not enrolled does not get, so at genesis it cannot arrive
that way. **The control plane composes and says what it composed** — `broker accounts`, to standard
output — and whoever is raising the machine writes it beside the bus's configuration and makes the
server re-read it. Twice, because two accounts come into existence at different moments: the
enrolment when the token is issued, and the machine's own when it enrols. A control plane that
wrote the file itself would have to know where the bus keeps its configuration and how to make it
reload, which is the module's knowledge and is what the module takes over on the first push.
With that, **a first node enrols against the bus it just raised** — measured, from bare, in the
lab.
## 6 — and is enrolled twice, keeping a credential the mesh has replaced *(fixed)*
```
mesh-controller: enrolled anchor
mesh-controller: enrolled anchor (the same second)
```
One `enrol` on the machine, two enrolments in the control plane. Each mints the node a fresh bus
password and returns it; the machine keeps the answer to the first, and the mesh keeps the hash of
the second. The machine then reconnects for ever as a user whose password the mesh rotated out from
under it — *authentication error - User "node.anchor"* on the bus, `Authorization Violation` in the
host's log, and a node that never reports.
What is ruled out: the host asking twice — it asks again only when the mesh says *try again*, and
a refused attempt is not logged as an enrolment. Redelivery by the consumer — there is one
consumer, its acknowledgement window is thirty seconds, and the handler is quick.
What is left: the client re-publishing when an acknowledgement is slow, which is what its defaults
do. That was addressed by giving the publish a message id derived from its own bytes, so the stream
discards the copy — **and the duplicate survived it**, so either the id is not reaching the stream
or the second copy is not a copy. This is where the trail stops.
Worth saying plainly: **the mint is the fragile part, not the delivery.** An enrolment answered
twice is survivable if the answer is the same both times, and it cannot be — the mesh keeps only
the hash, so a second answer is necessarily a different credential.
**Found, and it is not about enrolment at all** *(fixed)*. The bus's own counters settled it: one
message published, one held in the stream, one delivery, nothing redelivered — and the controller
enrolled the machine twice. So the handler ran twice on one delivery.
A push consumer delivers onto an ordinary subject, and **everything subscribed to that subject gets
a copy**. The controller holds a consumer called `controller` on CONTROL and another called
`controller` on EVENTS, and the delivery subject was derived from the consumer's name alone — so
both were `_DELIVER.controller`, the one process held both subscriptions, and every message from
either stream was acted on twice.
Enrolment is where it drew blood, because enrolling twice mints twice and the second credential
replaces the first. But it applied to **every report and every event the controller follows**, and
it is the kind of fault that leaves no trace: nothing is redelivered, no counter is wrong, the work
simply happens twice. The comment in the receiving code about a merge that ran the whole catalogue
five times over on 2026-09-28 is the same shape seen from the other end.
The stream is in the delivery subject now, because the pair is what identifies a consumer — the
server scopes a durable's name to its stream, and this subject was the one place that scoping was
dropped. A subscriber's permission gains the same shape, keeping the bare name so an existing
consumer keeps working until the controller's next assertion moves it.
*How it is checked:* the consumers the mesh asks for are asserted to deliver onto distinct subjects,
in the controller's own suite. Against a server it would be invisible, which is the point.
## Where it belongs ## Where it belongs
`mesh-host` (the bundle and the enrolment path) and `mesh-controller` (the certificate command, and `mesh-host` (the bundle and the enrolment path) and `mesh-controller` (the certificate command, and
the composition that cannot reach the bus at genesis). Three of the four are fixed on branches; the the composition that cannot reach the bus at genesis). Three of the four are fixed on branches; the
fourth is the genesis work. fourth is the genesis work.
## What made it slow, and what was changed so it is not
Six faults behind one another, each found by raising a machine and reading what it said. What cost
the most was not the faults:
- **Every bed's own instructions named the bundle that cannot work**, so the first three attempts
ended in a control plane crash-looping on a missing bus. They name the working one now.
- **A host binary built without its system** refuses everything it is given with *this host was
built for ""*, which reads like a broken bundle. The lab's README says so.
- **`make image` in the control plane had been broken for as long as its base was pinned**: the
Dockerfile's fallback is a Go older than the module asks for, and the pipeline never saw it
because the pipeline passes the declared base in. It reads the base from the manifest now.
- **Leaving the machine standing is what answers the question.** Every finding above came from
shelling in afterwards — the host's log, the bus's log, the file the bus was actually handed —
and none from the test's own output, which says only that nothing converged. The bed takes
`MESH_LAB_KEEP`, and the README says to reach for it first.
## What it cost, for the next person ## What it cost, for the next person
Every lab bed still names `foundation-first-node.lock` in its own instructions, and that bundle Every lab bed still names `foundation-first-node.lock` in its own instructions, and that bundle
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
---
status: located
opened: 2026-09-29
located-in: [nothing in the mesh — the surface in use is the predecessor's, installed on the workstation]
---
# 147 — the operator's tools still dial the bus that was removed
## What was observed
Every tool call an operator makes against the mesh fails, on every machine, with the same answer:
```
AMQP not connected — cannot reach hal/mesh@novox
AMQP not connected — cannot reach hal/mesh@shanks
```
The mesh moved to one bus and the previous transport was deleted
([ADR 0131](../../02-DECISIONS/0131-everything-on-the-mesh-speaks-to-the-broker-seat.md), cut over
2026-09-28). The surface an operator drives the mesh through — the tool bridge their assistant
speaks to — still opens an AMQP connection, so it cannot reach anything. Not one node answers,
including the machine the operator is sitting at.
**What that leaves.** The mesh itself is healthy: nodes are current, modules run, the bus carries
the mesh's own traffic. What is gone is the way a person asks it anything. Every question — what a
node runs, what is assigned, what a module's settings are — has to be asked by opening a shell on
the machine and running the control plane's binary inside its container, which is precisely the
path the tool surface exists to remove, and which nothing checks, records or permits.
It also silently changes how work gets done: an assistant told to use the mesh's tools finds them
dead, falls back to `ssh` and `docker exec`, and the operator discovers the fallback rather than
the fault.
## Why this is here and not a note in the knowledge base
The rule is that everything happens over the mesh's bus. A surface that cannot reach that bus is
that rule enforced by nothing — and the mesh reports itself healthy throughout, because what broke
is not a module, a node or a provision but the thing standing outside asking them questions.
The same cut-over removed the assistant's long-term memory (`recall`, `memorize`) for the same
reason, which is why lessons from the last two days were written into this repository by hand.
## What would have prevented it
- **The tool surface as a consumer of the bus like any other**, so moving the bus moves it — rather
than a separate bridge with its own connection settings that nothing resolves.
- **A check that a tool call reaches a node**, run where the mesh's other checks run. Every check
the mesh makes today is about the relationship between the mesh and a machine; none asks whether
a person can ask it anything ([issue 145](../145-a-machine-reads-healthy-while-its-modules-cannot-reach-each-other/00-report.md),
the same shape one level out).
## Diagnosed at once, because the answer was in the configuration
**The surface is not the mesh's.** The tool server the operator's assistant speaks to is the
predecessor's brain, installed on the workstation and started as a local process, with the
predecessor's broker URL — `amqp://…@<the control node>` — written into the assistant's own
configuration. Nothing about it is a module: it has no manifest, no assignment, no seat, no account
on the mesh's bus, and the mesh has never known it exists.
So nothing regressed. The mesh removed a transport that this program still dials, and the program
was never part of the mesh to be moved. **The mesh has a tool model** — `tools` in a manifest, the
calls a seat accepts, the subjects a module answers on, and a control-plane command that asks one —
and **nothing publishes an operator-facing surface onto it.** What an operator uses is the thing
that came before, kept alive by a URL in a file.
That is the issue, and it is larger than a broken connection: the way a person drives this mesh is
outside the mesh.
## Evidence to carry into diagnosis
- The failure text names `hal/mesh@<node>`, so the bridge is resolving a node and then dialling the
old transport.
- It fails identically for the local machine, which rules out reachability and points at the
transport alone.
- The mesh's own traffic over the new bus is unaffected: nodes report, declarations apply.
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
---
status: open
opened: 2026-09-29
located-in: [mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller]
---
# 148 — a manifest outside this catalogue has no check
## What was observed
A module's manifest is validated by a **test** — `internal/catalogue`'s suite parses every manifest
in the catalogue checkout beside it and fails on one it cannot resolve. That works, and it is how
several real faults were caught before a machine saw them.
It is available to exactly one repository: this one. Somebody describing their own application in
their own repository — the case
[ADR 0037](../../02-DECISIONS/0037-where-a-module-lives.md) calls *the case that matters most* —
has no check at all. They write a manifest, register it with a running mesh, and find out whether
it is valid when the mesh refuses it, or later, when a machine applies something that resolved and
should not have.
The same record asks for the answer: **a `module check` command on the control plane's binary**, so
a manifest is checked by the tool rather than by a test that imports the tool's internals.
## What would have prevented it
Nothing prevents this; it was noticed and left. ADR 0037 named it on 2026-09-01 and the record sat
`proposed` until 2026-09-29, so the missing half was never anybody's task.
## Evidence to carry into diagnosis
- `mesh-controller/internal/catalogue` — `ParseManifest` and `CatalogueProblems` are the check, and
both are internal.
- The catalogue-wide test is `TestEveryCatalogueManifestDeclaresWhatItMounts` and its siblings; they
take a path from `MESH_CATALOG`, so the mechanism is already path-driven and not repository-bound.
- `mesh-controller module add` refuses a bad manifest at registration, which is the same check far
too late: by then it is in a running mesh's records.
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
--- ---
status: located status: resolved
opened: 2026-09-27 opened: 2026-09-27
located-in: [mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/push.go] located-in: [mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/push.go, mesh-controller cmd/mesh-controller/sendable.go]
fixed-by: mesh-controller sendable.go and push.go — an empty declaration is sent carrying `owns_nothing`, and the host refuses an empty body that does not carry it
--- ---
# A declaration that shrinks to empty is skipped, so the node keeps what it should drop # 149 — a declaration that shrinks to empty is skipped, so the node keeps what it should drop
*Opened as 127 and renumbered on 2026-09-29: two records were given that number on the same day.*
*The other kept it, because three documents and three source files cite it by number and nothing
cited this one but a decision and a sibling issue, both corrected with this move.*
## What was observed ## What was observed
@@ -37,3 +42,17 @@ mean "own nothing", which the host already applies correctly when it receives on
On ace, one command drops it permanently (the corrected controller never re-composes it): On ace, one command drops it permanently (the corrected controller never re-composes it):
`sudo ufw delete allow 5671`. At ace's converge it would clear on its own. `sudo ufw delete allow 5671`. At ace's converge it would clear on its own.
## Closed
*2026-09-29, in a grooming pass.* Both halves are on `main` and both name this issue.
- The control plane **sends** it: a declaration that composes to no resources goes out with
`owns_nothing`, and `push` says *sent, not skipped*.
- The host **refuses an empty body that does not carry it**, so a truncated or mis-composed
declaration can never be read as "own nothing" — which is the failure the fix had to avoid while
making the empty case expressible.
Closed by reading the code rather than by watching a machine let go of a stray resource; the record
says so rather than implying a run.
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
---
status: open
opened: 2026-09-29
located-in:
- mesh-controller internal/catalogue/dir_into.go (dirsFor: a stated path or <data root>/<module>/<id>, nothing else)
- mesh-controller (accesses: the path is the manifest's literal)
fixed-by:
amended-design:
---
# 149 — An adopted machine's data cannot be placed where it is
## What was observed
Preparing ace's media modules (plex, sonarr, radarr, lidarr, bazarr, nzbget, qbittorrent, bookshelf)
for migration. ace is adopted; its data is where the predecessor put it and **must stay there**:
- the library and download spool: `/storage/media/*`, `/storage/downloads` — a separate ZFS pool,
~40 TB, the operator's shared data (ADR 0051);
- plex's own state: `/mnt/plex/{config,data,temp}` — 133 GB on a second disk;
- large configuration directories held in place: lidarr 46 GB, radarr 17 GB, sonarr 3.2 GB.
The catalogue's manifests name `/services/media/*` (as `accesses`) and `/services/<m>/config` (as
owned directories), which is novox's layout, not ace's, and not a value a definition may carry.
## What was decided, and what exists
[ADR 0112](../../02-DECISIONS/0112-a-module-definition-names-no-node-mesh-or-path.md) (accepted) says
exactly what is needed:
> *Where* it is on the machine is the assignment's. A node has a default layout, and an assignment may
> place a directory elsewhere: on a second disk, or where an adopted machine's data already is.
> [ADR 0051]: an access keeps its shape and its semantics; its path moves from the definition to the
> assignment.
What the control plane implements (`dirsFor`): a directory is either a path the manifest states, or
`<data root>/<module>/<id>` under the node's one data root. There is **no per-assignment placement of
one directory**, and an `access` path is the manifest's literal — no setting reaches either.
## Consequence
Every module whose data an adopted machine already holds somewhere other than the default layout can
only be migrated by (a) writing the machine's path into the manifest — which 0112 forbids and which
is wrong on the next machine — or (b) moving the data into the placed layout in a window. (b) is
acceptable for a 40 MB configuration and impossible for a 40 TB library the operator has ruled must
never be moved, copied or re-owned.
The same gap covers ownership: the predecessor runs ace's media stack as `1001:2000`; a manifest's
`owner` is one value for every machine.
## What would be right
The two assignment halves 0112 decided: a setting that places a declared directory (by id) at a given
path on this node, and a setting that says where an access's data is — both validated like
`endpoints` (unknown ids refused), and an access placed by the assignment still never created,
chowned or removed.
## Addendum 2026-09-30 — whose the data is, not only where
The same modules need to run **as the owner of the data they access**: linuxserver images take
`PUID`/`PGID`, and ace's library is `media:media` (`1001:2000`, group members `ace`, `n8n`, `media`).
A manifest default is one value for every machine, and an assignment's settings do not reach a
container's environment. Adding user and group management to the mesh would contradict ADR 0051 —
the mesh owns nothing about the operator's data.
The data already says whose it is, and the host already looks at it when it confirms an access exists.
Proposed: expose that as a fact the module can ask for, like `${port:…}` — e.g. `${access:<id>:uid}`
and `${access:<id>:gid}`, read from the accessed path on the machine — so a media module declares
`PUID=${access:media:uid}` and is right on every machine without the mesh creating, naming or
chowning anyone.