Research 039: a tool or verb that needs a person's approval #233

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mesh-admin merged 2 commits from research/039-a-tool-that-needs-a-persons-approval into main 2026-10-08 22:30:04 +00:00

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mesh-admin commented 2026-10-08 21:59:57 +00:00

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Opens research 039 (status: active). A short note to design from later, not a design. Do not merge without review.

• The idea (the operator, 2026-10-08): a tool or seat verb declares in its manifest that calling it needs a person's approval.
• Enforced in the mesh, not the MCP client: the tool runner or the controller refuses the call unless it carries a warrant from ADR 0259's flow (pull request 211). An agent may ask; it cannot act alone.
• The ask carries what, why, the exact arguments and who asks; Approve or Decline at the approve assurance level; the call goes ahead once, with those arguments, before the warrant expires.
• Candidates seen on 2026-10-08: zfs_snapshot, push, the bus's upgrade, mesh-delivery.release, plans go and stop, a secret's rotate, the places and accesses settings, the media library's share and mounts.
• Bears on: ADR 0259, ADR 0266 (pull request 225), the record upgrade policy, the held delivery's release, issue 336 (pull request 228), the hand-act log.
• Open questions: per tool or per argument; who may approve; replay and expiry; how a waiting call is shown; the MCP client while it waits; where it is answered before a verified channel exists (the desk answers only acknowledge); audit.

Checks run locally: records.py, index.py, cycle.py and words.py all pass (words.py without the catalogue's list).

Opens research 039 (status: active). A short note to design from later, not a design. Do not merge without review. - **The idea (the operator, 2026-10-08):** a tool or seat verb declares in its manifest that calling it needs a person's approval. - **Enforced in the mesh, not the MCP client:** the tool runner or the controller refuses the call unless it carries a warrant from ADR 0259's flow (pull request 211). An agent may ask; it cannot act alone. - **The ask** carries what, why, the exact arguments and who asks; Approve or Decline at the `approve` assurance level; the call goes ahead once, with those arguments, before the warrant expires. - **Candidates seen on 2026-10-08:** `zfs_snapshot`, `push`, the bus's upgrade, `mesh-delivery.release`, `plans` go and stop, a secret's `rotate`, the places and accesses settings, the media library's share and mounts. - **Bears on:** ADR 0259, ADR 0266 (pull request 225), the `record` upgrade policy, the held delivery's release, issue 336 (pull request 228), the hand-act log. - **Open questions:** per tool or per argument; who may approve; replay and expiry; how a waiting call is shown; the MCP client while it waits; where it is answered before a verified channel exists (the desk answers only acknowledge); audit. Checks run locally: records.py, index.py, cycle.py and words.py all pass (words.py without the catalogue's list).

mesh-admin added 1 commit 2026-10-08 21:59:57 +00:00

Research 039: a tool or verb that needs a person's approval, so an agent may ask but cannot act alone c31a76cac5

mesh-admin commented 2026-10-08 22:00:08 +00:00

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Delivery novox/hq@ccb54450eabb — delivered since 2026-10-08T22:30:15Z

Delivery plan — builds nothing: the change touches no module of the mesh's graph

Transitions

• 2026-10-08 22:02 (new) → proposed (announced): novox/hq#233's head announced
• 2026-10-08 22:02 proposed → checked (checked): the verdict names this commit
• 2026-10-08 22:02 checked → ready (accepted): the gate passed or warned, and the repository's own check did not fail
• 2026-10-08 22:30 ready → published (merged): on the trunk its modules follow: merged there, and its walk opened — or nothing for a walk to move
• 2026-10-08 22:30 published → delivered (done): nothing for a walk to move

The commit's note under refs/notes/mesh-plan keeps every transition: git log --notes=mesh-plan.

<!-- mesh-delivery:view --> **Delivery** `novox/hq@ccb54450eabb` — **delivered** since 2026-10-08T22:30:15Z **Delivery plan** — builds nothing: the change touches no module of the mesh's graph **Transitions** - 2026-10-08 22:02 (new) → proposed (announced): novox/hq#233's head announced - 2026-10-08 22:02 proposed → checked (checked): the verdict names this commit - 2026-10-08 22:02 checked → ready (accepted): the gate passed or warned, and the repository's own check did not fail - 2026-10-08 22:30 ready → published (merged): on the trunk its modules follow: merged there, and its walk opened — or nothing for a walk to move - 2026-10-08 22:30 published → delivered (done): nothing for a walk to move The commit's note under `refs/notes/mesh-plan` keeps every transition: `git log --notes=mesh-plan`.

jschoubben added 1 commit 2026-10-08 22:01:49 +00:00

Research 039: the login shell's execute is the first case, and narrow read tools must come first or approvals become noise ccb54450ea

mesh-admin referenced this pull request 2026-10-08 22:13:12 +00:00

ADR 0268: the login shell's execute is withheld on the control-node until a call to it needs a person's approval #235

mesh-admin merged commit ef2a38474f into main 2026-10-08 22:30:04 +00:00

mesh-admin deleted branch research/039-a-tool-that-needs-a-persons-approval 2026-10-08 22:30:04 +00:00

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Reviewed and ready: mesh-delivery merges at the marked head once its checks pass (hq ADR 0364)

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Reference: novox/hq#233