The mesh's four streams, asserted on every start

Task 1.4. The foundation set only — a seat's streams come at registration
and a module's consumers at assignment, neither of which has happened at
genesis (ADR 0118).

Asserted rather than created: a stream that was deleted, or a mesh raised
from a backup, must converge rather than run without the guarantee its
messages assume.

Two things the definitions have to get right, both tested:
- CONTROL names its subjects instead of taking mesh.control.>, because
  heartbeats live under that prefix and a stream of them competes for
  retention with the messages that matter
- EVENTS filters on the event token, which is why that token exists; a
  filter over a module's whole namespace would persist every tool call

Overlapping filters are refused where the set is written: NATS accepts two
streams matching one subject and stores the message twice under two
retentions, which nothing reports.

Adds nats.go as a dependency; it pulled golang.org/x/* forward. Full suite
green.
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-26 21:02:18 +02:00
parent c753f9d5c0
commit 1f36787d75
7 changed files with 335 additions and 31 deletions
+134
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@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
package broker
import (
"fmt"
"sort"
)
// The mesh's own streams.
//
// **These four and no more** (novox/hq ADR 0116 task 1.4, as revised by ADR 0118). An earlier
// reading had the controller create *every* stream at genesis, from a fixed set. That is only the
// mesh's own half: a seat's streams are created when the module declaring it is registered, and a
// module's durable consumers when it is assigned — neither of which has happened at genesis. What
// is here is the foundation, which exists before any module does.
//
// The controller is the only writer of stream definitions (design 25 §3). A module declares
// nothing about them and cannot reach the JetStream API to make one.
// Retention is how a stream decides what to keep, which is the whole of what distinguishes the
// mesh's four relationships on the wire (design 29 §4).
type Retention string
const (
// RetentionWorkQueue: a message is removed once a consumer acknowledges it. Exactly one
// worker does the work, and a worker that dies has its message redelivered.
RetentionWorkQueue Retention = "workqueue"
// RetentionLastPerSubject: only the newest message on each subject survives. This is the
// state shape — a node that was away gets exactly the current declaration and nothing older.
RetentionLastPerSubject Retention = "last_per_subject"
// RetentionLimits: kept until it ages or the stream fills. Events, where a subscriber that
// was down catches up and nobody is obliged to act.
RetentionLimits Retention = "limits"
)
// A Stream is one of the mesh's own, as the controller asserts it.
type Stream struct {
Name string
Subjects []string
Retention Retention
// MaxAge in seconds, zero for unbounded.
MaxAge int
// Why is carried into the assertion so an operator reading the server's own state finds the
// reason there, rather than only in a repository they may not have.
Why string
}
// MeshStreams is the foundation set, in the order a person reads it.
//
// **CONTROL names its subjects rather than taking `mesh.control.>`**, because heartbeats live
// under that prefix and must not be persisted: a lost heartbeat is the next heartbeat, and a
// stream of them is a stream of the least valuable messages the mesh sends, competing for the
// same retention as the ones that matter.
//
// **EVENTS filters on the `event` token**, which is the reason that token exists. A module's
// namespace carries both its events and its tool calls; a filter of `mesh.mod.*.>` would persist
// every tool invocation in the mesh, and a tool call must never be persisted (design 25 §3 keeps
// tools on core NATS, where a lost call is a timeout the caller already handles).
func MeshStreams() []Stream {
return []Stream{
{
Name: "CONTROL",
Subjects: []string{"mesh.control.*.report", "mesh.control.enrol", "mesh.control.built"},
Retention: RetentionWorkQueue,
Why: "the store-window guarantee (ADR 0083): the controller naks with a delay while its " +
"store is away and the message is redelivered; nothing is dropped",
},
{
Name: "NODES",
Subjects: []string{"mesh.node.*.declare"},
Retention: RetentionLastPerSubject,
Why: "one declaration per node, always the newest; a node that sees sequence n refuses " +
"n-1 by construction (issue 107)",
},
{
Name: "BUILDS",
Subjects: []string{"mesh.build.request"},
Retention: RetentionWorkQueue,
Why: "at least once, one builder at a time; a builder that dies mid-build has its message redelivered",
},
{
Name: "EVENTS",
Subjects: []string{"mesh.mod.*.event.>"},
Retention: RetentionLimits,
MaxAge: 7 * 24 * 60 * 60,
Why: "a subscriber that was down catches up; tool traffic under the same prefix is excluded by the event token",
},
}
}
// An Asserter is the part of a JetStream connection stream assertion needs. Narrow on purpose: it
// keeps this testable without a server, and keeps the client library out of everything that only
// wants to know what the streams are.
type Asserter interface {
// EnsureStream creates the stream if absent and updates it to match if present. It must be
// idempotent: the controller asserts on every start, not only at genesis.
EnsureStream(s Stream) error
}
// AssertMeshStreams brings the foundation set into being, in order, and says which one failed
// rather than that something did.
//
// Asserted on every start rather than created once at genesis, because a stream that was deleted,
// or a mesh raised from a restored backup, must converge rather than run without the guarantee
// its messages assume. Idempotence is the whole requirement.
func AssertMeshStreams(a Asserter) error {
for _, s := range MeshStreams() {
if err := a.EnsureStream(s); err != nil {
return fmt.Errorf("asserting stream %s: %w", s.Name, err)
}
}
return nil
}
// Overlaps reports subject filters claimed by more than one stream.
//
// Two streams matching one subject is not a warning in NATS; it is accepted, and the message is
// stored twice under two retentions. For the mesh that would mean a declaration kept as both
// state and a work queue, acknowledged in one and lingering in the other — a divergence nothing
// reports and nobody would think to look for. So it is refused here, where the set is written.
func Overlaps() []string {
seen := map[string]string{}
var clashes []string
for _, s := range MeshStreams() {
for _, subject := range s.Subjects {
if first, ok := seen[subject]; ok {
clashes = append(clashes, fmt.Sprintf("%s and %s both claim %s", first, s.Name, subject))
continue
}
seen[subject] = s.Name
}
}
sort.Strings(clashes)
return clashes
}