give: never take a trusted party's secret at a desk, and announce it before it is kept (hq ADR 0259 §10, the confirmation review's N1-give)

A desk's prompt is answered over the desk machine's bus, on a subject that machine's runtime answers;
on a desk machine agents run as the operator, who holds that credential, so an agent could answer first
with a bot token of its own sealed to the call's key. The secret of a module running as an account of
its own (the Telegram bot's token) is now refused at the desk, before anybody is asked, naming the line
to type at the controller's terminal; there it is announced on every channel, the old one among them,
before it is kept, and not kept when that announcement fails. What is typed at the terminal is not
echoed. Tests: the refusal with nobody asked, and only the desk machine's launcher may answer its
prompt (MaySubscribe).

cmd/mesh-controller/desk_secret.go

@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ const deskPromptWithin = 25
 type deskGive struct {
 	// declares refuses a module or a secret the mesh would refuse, before anybody is asked to type.
 	declares func(module, name string) error
+	// trusted says a module runs as an account of its own: its secret is never taken at a desk (below). Nil is
+	// never (a test that does not look).
+	trusted func(module string) (bool, error)
 	// ask asks one machine's node-launcher.secret and answers its result, or the holder's refusal.
 	ask func(machine string, args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error)
 	// accept seals the value as `secret accept` does, and says whether it lives until the module's start.
@@ -63,6 +66,24 @@ func (d deskGive) give(node, module, name, desk string) (string, error) {
 	if err := d.declares(module, name); err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: %w", err)
 	}
+	// **A trusted party's secret is not taken at a desk** (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give). The
+	// prompt's answer comes back over the desk machine's bus, on a subject that machine's runtime answers — and
+	// on a desk machine agents run as the operator, who holds that runtime's credential. An agent could answer
+	// first, with a bot token of its own sealed to this call's key, and the channel the operator's answers are
+	// proven on would be the agent's. So the value of a module running as its own account is typed at the
+	// controller's terminal, where no bus carries it.
+	if d.trusted != nil {
+		trusted, err := d.trusted(module)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: whether %s is a trusted party could not be read: %w", module, err)
+		}
+		if trusted {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: %s runs as an account of its own and proves the "+
+				"operator's answers, so its %s is given at the controller's terminal alone — there, run `mesh-controller "+
+				"secret accept %s %s %s` and type it at its prompt. A desk's prompt is answered over the desk machine's "+
+				"bus, where an agent may answer first (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10)", module, name, node, module, name)
+		}
+	}
 	public, private, err := secrets.Keypair()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("no key could be made to take the value: %w", err)
@@ -143,6 +164,7 @@ func giveAtDesk(ctx context.Context, node, module, name, desk string) error {
 	defer open.Close()
 	d := deskGive{
 		declares: func(module, name string) error { return open.inventory.DeclaresOwnSecret(ctx, module, name) },
+		trusted:  func(module string) (bool, error) { return open.inventory.RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx, module) },
 		ask: func(machine string, args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 			var result json.RawMessage
 			err := onTheBus(func(conn *nats.Conn) error {

cmd/mesh-controller/desk_secret_test.go

@@ -245,3 +245,51 @@ func TestOnlyTheGiveLinePassesTheTerminalRuleForSecrets(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// The confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give: a desk's prompt is answered over the desk machine's bus, and
+// on a desk machine agents run as the operator, who holds its runtime's credential — so a trusted party's
+// secret (a module running as an account of its own: the Telegram bot's token) is never taken at a desk.
+// Refused before anybody is asked to type, whoever called, naming the terminal's line.
+func TestATrustedPartysSecretIsNeverTakenAtADesk(t *testing.T) {
+	d, accepted, acts, asked := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	d.trusted = func(module string) (bool, error) { return module == "telegram", nil }
+	_, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop")
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "controller's terminal alone") ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "secret accept anchor telegram telegram-token") {
+		t.Fatalf("a trusted party's secret was taken at the desk, or refused without the line: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(*asked)+len(*accepted)+len(*acts) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("asked %v, accepted %d, recorded %v", *asked, len(*accepted), *acts)
+	}
+	d.trusted = func(string) (bool, error) { return false, errors.New("the store did not answer") }
+	if _, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop"); err == nil || len(*asked) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("a module not known to be untrusted was asked at the desk: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// And who may answer the desk's prompt at all: only the runtime of the machine it is asked on, carrying the
+// launcher that holds the seat there — never the controller, another machine's runtime, or a module's own
+// account (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give).
+func TestOnlyTheDeskMachinesLauncherMayAnswerItsPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	launcher := broker.Declared{Module: "rofi", Holds: []broker.Seat{{Name: "node-launcher", Scope: "node",
+		Serves: []string{"run", "secret"}}}}
+	subject := "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.laptop"
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		p       broker.Principal
+		answers bool
+	}{
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNodeTools, Node: "laptop", Module: broker.RuntimeModule, Carries: []broker.Declared{launcher}}, true},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNodeTools, Node: "anchor", Module: broker.RuntimeModule, Carries: []broker.Declared{launcher}}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindController}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindModule, Node: "laptop", Module: "lab"}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNode, Node: "laptop"}, false},
+	} {
+		perms, err := broker.PermissionsFor(c.p)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if got := broker.MaySubscribe(perms, subject); got != c.answers {
+			t.Errorf("%s may answer %s: %v, want %v", c.p.Username(), subject, got, c.answers)
+		}
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/hidden_input.go

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
+)
+
+// hideTyping turns a terminal's echo off while a secret is typed at it, and gives back what restores it. On
+// anything that is not a terminal (a pipe, a file) it does nothing.
+func hideTyping(f *os.File) func() {
+	fd := int(f.Fd())
+	before, err := unix.IoctlGetTermios(fd, unix.TCGETS)
+	if err != nil {
+		return func() {}
+	}
+	hidden := *before
+	hidden.Lflag &^= unix.ECHO
+	if err := unix.IoctlSetTermios(fd, unix.TCSETS, &hidden); err != nil {
+		return func() {}
+	}
+	return func() {
+		_ = unix.IoctlSetTermios(fd, unix.TCSETS, before)
+		_, _ = os.Stderr.WriteString("\n")
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/secret.go

@@ -108,12 +108,27 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		fmt.Printf("  run `push %s` and `push %s` to send it\n", *provider, node)
 		return nil
 	}
+	// A trusted party's secret is announced before it is kept (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give):
+	// on every channel, the one it replaces among them, which still runs on its old value until the next push.
+	// Not announced, it is not kept: a channel whose token changed unheard of answers for somebody else.
+	trusted, err := open.inventory.RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx, module)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if trusted {
+		if err := announceSecretGiven(ctx, node, module, name, "at the controller's terminal"); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s runs as an account of its own, and the change of its %s could not be announced on "+
+				"your channels first, so nothing was kept: %w", module, name, err)
+		}
+	}
 	untilStart, err := open.inventory.AcceptGivenSecret(ctx, node, module, name, value)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := announceSecretGiven(ctx, node, module, name, "at the controller's terminal"); err != nil {
-		fmt.Printf("  this change could NOT be announced on the operator's channels: %v\n", err)
+	if !trusted {
+		if err := announceSecretGiven(ctx, node, module, name, "at the controller's terminal"); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("  this change could NOT be announced on the operator's channels: %v\n", err)
+		}
 	}
 	// Not printed back, and there is nowhere it could be printed from: it is sealed to that
 	// machine and the mesh cannot read it again.
@@ -387,6 +402,8 @@ func valueFor(node, module, name, from string) (string, error) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr,
 			"reading %s's %q for %s from standard input; it is not echoed anywhere\n",
 			module, name, node)
+		// At a terminal, what is typed is not shown either: echo off while it is read.
+		defer hideTyping(os.Stdin)()
 		line, err := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin).ReadString('\n')
 		if err != nil && line == "" {
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("nothing was given on standard input: %w", err)

internal/broker/nats.go

@@ -216,6 +216,16 @@ func MayPublish(perms Permissions, subject string) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+// MaySubscribe says whether a principal with these permissions may subscribe to (and so answer) a subject.
+func MaySubscribe(perms Permissions, subject string) bool {
+	for _, a := range perms.Subscribe {
+		if SubjectsOverlap(a, subject) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // VerbsTheControllerAsksTheDeliveryOwner are the mesh-delivery seat's verbs the controller calls (novox/hq
 // ADR 0239): its self-check reads `stalled`, and healer H2 takes the one transition the table allows
 // through `close`. A mesh seat's verb is flat: no machine in the subject.

internal/inventory/secrets.go

@@ -564,6 +564,17 @@ func (i *Inventory) DeclaresOwnSecret(ctx context.Context, module, name string)
 	return GivableAtDesk(m, name)
 }
 
+// RunsAsItsOwnAccount says a module runs as an account of its own (novox/hq ADR 0259 §8): a trusted party — the
+// router, a channel that proves its sender or shows a link's code — whose own secret is what the operator's
+// answers are believed by. Its value is given at the controller's terminal alone.
+func (i *Inventory) RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx context.Context, module string) (bool, error) {
+	m, err := i.declared(ctx, module)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return m.RunsAs != "", nil
+}
+
 // BrokerSecret is the own secret that is a module's bus account, which `issue` mints.
 const BrokerSecret = "broker"