The view: one read-only bus user for a page in a browser, composed like every other (hq research 036)

Research 036 names the gap (G1): no way for a browser to reach the bus. The bus module now listens
over WebSocket (mesh-catalog, nats); this is who connects there. The view is a fixed principal
(broker.KindView, user `view`) composed into the user list like every user once its credential is
minted, and left out once it is forgotten: it subscribes the issue tracker's events (opened, moved,
noted, linked), the controller's plan-moved and condition-raised/changed/cleared, and the delivery
owner's transition and group; it publishes only the JetStream API requests a read-only watcher of
the tracker's bucket (mesh-issues_issues) makes — STREAM.INFO, DIRECT.GET, CONSUMER.CREATE/INFO/
DELETE, flow control — answered in its own inbox; no reply, no tool, no event, no `$KV` write.

`bus view-credential` mints and prints it once (hash kept, like a person's); `bus view-revoke`
forgets it, real at the next composition. Tests: the composed grants are exactly these and a write
grant of any shape fails; the view is composed only once minted; and against a real server read from
the composed file over WebSocket, the view binds the bucket, reads a key, watches a put land, and is
refused a put, a delete and an event, the bucket unchanged.

internal/broker/nats.go

@@ -42,8 +42,59 @@ const (
 	// Its authority is the union of what the modules it carries would each have had for their
 	// tools — and nothing of what they consume, because tools are what it runs, not reactions.
 	KindNodeTools Kind = "node-tools"
+	// KindView is the one read-only principal a view onto the bus connects as (novox/hq research 036,
+	// gap G1): a page in a browser, over the bus module's WebSocket listener, watching the issue tracker.
+	// Fixed, and derived from no declaration: what it hears is ViewHears, what it reads is ViewBucket,
+	// and it publishes nothing but the JetStream API requests a read-only watcher of that one bucket
+	// makes (ViewReads), each answered in its own inbox. Composed like every other user, into the same
+	// file, once its credential is minted (`bus view-credential`); forgotten like every other user
+	// (`bus view-revoke`), at the next composition.
+	KindView Kind = "view"
 )
 
+// ViewUser is the view's one username: there is one view, and it is nobody's machine or module.
+const ViewUser = "view"
+
+// ViewBucket is the state the view reads: the issue tracker's issues, as the bus names the bucket
+// (mesh-issues's state `issues`, novox/hq ADR 0201).
+var ViewBucket = BucketName("mesh-issues", "issues")
+
+// ViewHears are the events the view subscribes, each named: the issue tracker's own, the controller's
+// walks and conditions, and the delivery owner's — what a page about issues shows beside them. Subscribe
+// only, and no stream or consumer of its own: a page hears what happens while it is open, and reads the
+// bucket for everything before.
+var ViewHears = []string{
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-issues", "opened"),
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-issues", "moved"),
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-issues", "noted"),
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-issues", "linked"),
+	seatEventSubject(ControllerSeat, "plan-moved"),
+	seatEventSubject(ControllerSeat, "condition-raised"),
+	seatEventSubject(ControllerSeat, "condition-changed"),
+	seatEventSubject(ControllerSeat, "condition-cleared"),
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-delivery", "transition"),
+	moduleEventSubject("mesh-delivery", "group"),
+}
+
+// ViewReads are the JetStream API requests a read-only watcher of ViewBucket makes, on that bucket's
+// stream and no other: the same requests a module reading another's state is granted (stateGrants,
+// measured against the server) — binding (STREAM.INFO), a key read directly (DIRECT.GET), an ordered
+// consumer for a watch or a listing (CONSUMER.CREATE), deleting it, and answering its flow control
+// ($JS.FC) — and CONSUMER.INFO, which the browser client asks of the consumer it just made before it
+// hands a watch over (nats.js kv: `oc.info(true)`). Nothing here is a write: no `$KV.<bucket>.>`, which
+// is what a put or a delete publishes to, and no STREAM.* that defines, purges or deletes.
+func ViewReads() []string {
+	stream := "KV_" + ViewBucket
+	return []string{
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO." + stream,
+		"$JS.API.DIRECT.GET." + stream + ".>",
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE." + stream + ".>",
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO." + stream + ".>",
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE." + stream + ".>",
+		"$JS.FC." + stream + ".>",
+	}
+}
+
 // RuntimeModule is the module that IS the node's tool runtime (novox/hq ADR 0175). Where it is
 // assigned, the mesh composes one runtime principal for the machine in place of that module's own,
 // and the per-module containers that served tools until then stop being the way tools reach a node.
@@ -261,6 +312,8 @@ func (p Principal) Username() string {
 	switch p.Kind {
 	case KindPerson:
 		return "person." + p.Module
+	case KindView:
+		return ViewUser
 	case KindModule, KindNodeTools:
 		// The runtime is named exactly as the module it stands for would have been: the mesh
 		// issues its credential through the same path a module's takes (`module issue`), and
@@ -533,6 +586,14 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		// itself, its replies to the asker's own inbox.
 		pub = append(pub, discovering()...)
 
+	case KindView:
+		// Hears what it is for and reads one bucket, and nothing else (ViewHears, ViewReads): no tool,
+		// no event of its own, no stream, no bucket written. Its requests are answered in its own
+		// inbox, granted below with the person's; a reply to anything is never permitted, because
+		// nothing is ever asked of it.
+		sub = append(sub, ViewHears...)
+		pub = append(pub, ViewReads()...)
+
 	case KindEnrolment:
 		// A leaked token is useless for anything but enrolling: it cannot read a declaration, hear
 		// an event, or subscribe any inbox but the one its own token derives (design 25 §6).
@@ -834,7 +895,7 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		pub = unique(pub)
 	}
 
-	if p.Kind == KindPerson {
+	if p.Kind == KindPerson || p.Kind == KindView {
 		// An inbox to hear answers in, and nothing else. No ack subject: a person has no durable
 		// consumer, because nothing is delivered to a person — they ask and are answered.
 		sub = append(sub, p.inbox())

internal/broker/nats_golden_test.go

@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ func TestTheComposedConfigMatchesTheGolden(t *testing.T) {
 			// The bus's own module: the snapshot API and its inbox, nothing else (novox/hq ADR 0235).
 			{Kind: KindModule, Node: "one", Module: "nats", SnapshotsTheBus: true,
 				Serves: []string{"nats_streams"}, PasswordHash: "$2a$11$bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"},
+			// The view: hears the issue tracker and reads its bucket, writes nothing (research 036).
+			{Kind: KindView, PasswordHash: "$2a$11$vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv"},
 		})
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)

internal/broker/testdata/composed.conf

@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ accounts {
         subscribe: { allow: ["$SRV.INFO", "$SRV.INFO.shop", "$SRV.INFO.shop.>", "$SRV.PING", "$SRV.PING.shop", "$SRV.PING.shop.>", "$SRV.STATS", "$SRV.STATS.shop", "$SRV.STATS.shop.>", "_INBOX.two.shop.>", "mesh.assignment.two.shop", "mesh.mod.shop.tool.>"] }
         allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: "1m" }
       } }
+      { user: "view", password: "$2a$11$vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv", permissions: {
+        publish: { allow: ["$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.KV_mesh-issues_issues.>", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE.KV_mesh-issues_issues.>", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.KV_mesh-issues_issues.>", "$JS.API.DIRECT.GET.KV_mesh-issues_issues.>", "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.KV_mesh-issues_issues", "$JS.FC.KV_mesh-issues_issues.>"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.view.>", "mesh.mod.mesh-delivery.event.group", "mesh.mod.mesh-delivery.event.transition", "mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.linked", "mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.moved", "mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.noted", "mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.opened", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-changed", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-cleared", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-raised", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved"] }
+      } }
     ]
   }
 }

internal/broker/users.go

@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ type Records struct {
 	Enrolling []string
 	// People is each person's name against the tools they may invoke, `*` for an administrator.
 	People map[string][]string
+	// View says the mesh minted the view's credential (`bus view-credential`), so the one read-only
+	// view principal is composed (KindView); forgotten, it is left out, like a person.
+	View bool
 	// Interchangeable is each module whose definition says its instances are the same anywhere
 	// (ADR 0160), which decides whether the module's plain subject is issued to every instance.
 	Interchangeable map[string]bool
@@ -142,6 +145,9 @@ func Users(r Records) ([]Principal, error) {
 	for _, person := range sortedNames(r.People) {
 		out = append(out, Principal{Kind: KindPerson, Module: person, Invokes: r.People[person]})
 	}
+	if r.View {
+		out = append(out, Principal{Kind: KindView})
+	}
 
 	// Refused here rather than discovered by the server. Two users with one name is a file the
 	// server reads as one of them, and which one depends on the order — so a module assigned to a

internal/broker/view_live_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+package broker
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2/server"
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+	"golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt"
+)
+
+// The view against a real server, over WebSocket (novox/hq research 036): the composed user list is
+// what the server reads, the listener is the shape the bus module declares (no TLS, compression on,
+// reached across the overlay only), and the view with its credential binds the issue tracker's bucket,
+// reads a key, watches a change land — and is refused every write: a put, a delete, an event.
+//
+//	go test ./internal/broker/ -run TestTheView
+func TestTheViewWatchesTheIssuesOverWebSocketAndWritesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	hash := func(password string) string {
+		h, err := bcrypt.GenerateFromPassword([]byte(password), bcrypt.MinCost)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		return string(h)
+	}
+	const node = "anchor"
+	tracker := Principal{Kind: KindModule, Node: node, Module: "mesh-issues", State: []string{"issues"},
+		Emits: []string{"opened"}, PasswordHash: hash("tracker")}
+	accounts, err := ComposeAccounts([]Principal{
+		{Kind: KindController, PasswordHash: hash("controller")},
+		tracker,
+		{Kind: KindView, PasswordHash: hash("view")},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	conf := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "accounts.conf")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(conf, []byte(accounts), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// The server reads the composed file as the bus does — through its own parser — and listens as the
+	// bus module's configuration says: a WebSocket listener without TLS and with compression, beside
+	// the client port. Ports chosen by the system, so this runs beside a live bus.
+	opts, err := server.ProcessConfigFile(conf)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the server refused the composed user list: %v", err)
+	}
+	opts.Host, opts.Port = "127.0.0.1", server.RANDOM_PORT
+	opts.JetStream, opts.StoreDir = true, t.TempDir()
+	opts.NoLog, opts.NoSigs = true, true
+	opts.Websocket = server.WebsocketOpts{Host: "127.0.0.1", Port: server.RANDOM_PORT, NoTLS: true, Compression: true}
+	s, err := server.NewServer(opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	go s.Start()
+	if !s.ReadyForConnections(30 * time.Second) {
+		s.Shutdown()
+		t.Fatal("the server did not come up")
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { s.Shutdown(); s.WaitForShutdown() })
+
+	dial := func(url, user, password string, refused chan<- string) *nats.Conn {
+		t.Helper()
+		nc, err := nats.Connect(url, nats.UserInfo(user, password), nats.CustomInboxPrefix("_INBOX."+user),
+			nats.Compression(true), nats.ErrorHandler(func(_ *nats.Conn, _ *nats.Subscription, err error) {
+				if refused != nil && errors.Is(err, nats.ErrPermissionViolation) {
+					refused <- err.Error()
+				}
+			}))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s could not connect to %s: %v", user, url, err)
+		}
+		t.Cleanup(nc.Close)
+		return nc
+	}
+
+	// The controller defines the bucket, as it does for every module's state; the tracker writes it.
+	controller := dial(s.ClientURL(), "controller", "controller", nil)
+	cjs, _ := controller.JetStream()
+	if _, err := cjs.CreateKeyValue(&nats.KeyValueConfig{Bucket: ViewBucket, History: 8}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the controller could not define %s: %v", ViewBucket, err)
+	}
+	trackerConn := dial(s.ClientURL(), tracker.Username(), "tracker", nil)
+	tjs, _ := trackerConn.JetStream()
+	tkv, err := tjs.KeyValue(ViewBucket)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := tkv.Put("365", []byte(`{"number":365,"status":"open"}`)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the tracker could not write its own bucket: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// The view, over WebSocket with its credential.
+	refused := make(chan string, 8)
+	view := dial(s.WebsocketURL(), ViewUser, "view", refused)
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(view.ConnectedUrl(), "ws://") {
+		t.Fatalf("the view is connected to %s, not over WebSocket", view.ConnectedUrl())
+	}
+	vjs, _ := view.JetStream(nats.MaxWait(3 * time.Second))
+	vkv, err := vjs.KeyValue(ViewBucket)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the view could not bind %s: %v", ViewBucket, err)
+	}
+	if got, err := vkv.Get("365"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the view could not read a key: %v", err)
+	} else if !strings.Contains(string(got.Value()), `"number":365`) {
+		t.Fatalf("the view read %q", got.Value())
+	}
+	watch, err := vkv.WatchAll()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the view could not watch the bucket: %v", err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = watch.Stop() })
+	seen := func(key string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		deadline := time.After(10 * time.Second)
+		for {
+			select {
+			case e := <-watch.Updates():
+				if e != nil && e.Key() == key {
+					return
+				}
+			case <-deadline:
+				t.Fatalf("the view's watch never saw %s", key)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	seen("365")
+	if _, err := tkv.Put("366", []byte(`{"number":366,"status":"open"}`)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	seen("366")
+
+	// And every write is refused: the server says so, and the bucket is unchanged.
+	if _, err := vkv.Put("367", []byte(`{"number":367}`)); err == nil {
+		t.Error("the view put a key")
+	}
+	if err := vkv.Delete("365"); err == nil {
+		t.Error("the view deleted a key")
+	}
+	if err := view.Publish("mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.opened", []byte(`{"number":367}`)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	_ = view.Flush()
+	violations := map[string]bool{}
+	deadline := time.After(10 * time.Second)
+	for len(violations) < 3 {
+		select {
+		case v := <-refused:
+			for _, subject := range []string{"$KV." + ViewBucket + ".367", "$KV." + ViewBucket + ".365", "mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.opened"} {
+				if strings.Contains(v, subject) {
+					violations[subject] = true
+				}
+			}
+		case <-deadline:
+			t.Fatalf("the server refused %d of the view's 3 writes as permission violations", len(violations))
+		}
+	}
+	if _, err := tkv.Get("367"); !errors.Is(err, nats.ErrKeyNotFound) {
+		t.Errorf("after the view's put, 367 is %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := tkv.Get("365"); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("after the view's delete, 365 is gone: %v", err)
+	}
+}

internal/broker/view_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+package broker
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// The view (novox/hq research 036): one read-only user, composed like every other, whose whole
+// authority is a list here — so a grant that is not on the list fails a test, not a review.
+
+// Exactly what it hears, exactly what it asks, and nothing it could write or answer. A mutation that
+// adds a publish grant — `$KV.<bucket>.>`, an event, a tool — fails here.
+func TestTheViewHearsAndReadsAndCanPublishNothingElse(t *testing.T) {
+	perms, err := PermissionsFor(Principal{Kind: KindView})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	wantSub := append(append([]string(nil), ViewHears...), "_INBOX.view.>")
+	sort.Strings(wantSub)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(perms.Subscribe, wantSub) {
+		t.Errorf("the view subscribes\n  %v\nand should subscribe exactly\n  %v", perms.Subscribe, wantSub)
+	}
+	wantPub := ViewReads()
+	sort.Strings(wantPub)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(perms.Publish, wantPub) {
+		t.Errorf("the view publishes\n  %v\nand should publish exactly\n  %v", perms.Publish, wantPub)
+	}
+	if len(perms.PublishDeny) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("the view needs no deny, because nothing it may publish reaches the controller's own: %v", perms.PublishDeny)
+	}
+	if perms.AllowResponses {
+		t.Error("the view may answer, and nothing is ever asked of it")
+	}
+
+	// Every publish grant is a JetStream API request about the one bucket's stream, or its flow control.
+	// **The mutation this holds against**: a write grant of any shape.
+	stream := "KV_" + ViewBucket
+	for _, p := range perms.Publish {
+		readOnly := strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.API.STREAM.INFO."+stream) ||
+			strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.API.DIRECT.GET."+stream+".") ||
+			strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE."+stream+".") ||
+			strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO."+stream+".") ||
+			strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.DELETE."+stream+".") ||
+			strings.HasPrefix(p, "$JS.FC."+stream+".")
+		if !readOnly {
+			t.Errorf("the view is granted a publish on %q, which is not a read of %s", p, ViewBucket)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, refused := range []string{
+		"$KV." + ViewBucket + ".365",                              // a put or a delete
+		"$KV.mesh-controller_conditions.x",                        // another bucket
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.CREATE." + stream,                         // defining the stream
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.PURGE." + stream,                          // emptying it
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.DELETE." + stream,                         // deleting it
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.MSG.DELETE." + stream,                     // deleting a message
+		"$JS.API.CONSUMER.CREATE.KV_mesh-controller_conditions.x", // reading another bucket
+		"$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.EVENTS",                              // the events stream
+		"$JS.API.INFO",                                            // the account
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.opened",                       // claiming the tracker said something
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.tool.open",                          // opening an issue
+		"mesh.seat.issue-tracker.tool.open",                       // through the seat
+		"mesh.seat.issue-tracker.tool.open.novox",                 // on one machine
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.status",                   // the controller's verbs
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved",
+		"$SRV.PING",
+		"_INBOX.controller.x",
+	} {
+		if MayPublish(perms, refused) {
+			t.Errorf("the view may publish %q", refused)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, refused := range []string{
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.tool.open",   // a tool asked of the tracker
+		"mesh.mod.telegram.event.received", // another module's events
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.applied",
+		"mesh.control.novox.report",
+		"_INBOX.controller.x",
+		"_INBOX.person.jochen.x",
+		"_DELIVER.controller.EVENTS",
+	} {
+		if MaySubscribe(perms, refused) {
+			t.Errorf("the view may subscribe %q", refused)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, heard := range []string{
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.opened",
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.moved",
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.noted",
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-issues.event.linked",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-raised",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-changed",
+		"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-cleared",
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-delivery.event.transition",
+		"mesh.mod.mesh-delivery.event.group",
+		"_INBOX.view.abc",
+	} {
+		if !MaySubscribe(perms, heard) {
+			t.Errorf("the view cannot subscribe %q", heard)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Composed once the mesh minted its credential, and not before: its row is the whole record of it.
+func TestTheViewIsComposedOnlyOnceItsCredentialIsMinted(t *testing.T) {
+	without, err := Users(Records{Nodes: []string{"anchor"}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, p := range without {
+		if p.Kind == KindView {
+			t.Fatal("the view is composed before its credential was minted")
+		}
+	}
+	with, err := Users(Records{Nodes: []string{"anchor"}, View: true})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	views := 0
+	for _, p := range with {
+		if p.Kind == KindView {
+			views++
+			if p.Username() != ViewUser {
+				t.Errorf("the view is called %q, and its row is %q", p.Username(), ViewUser)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if views != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d view users composed; there is one view", views)
+	}
+	// And without its hash it is named as missing, like any user — never written as a user anybody is.
+	_, missing := WithPasswords(with, map[string]string{})
+	found := false
+	for _, m := range missing {
+		found = found || m == ViewUser
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Error("a view with no password was not named as missing one")
+	}
+}