One consumer, one reader, however many patterns a module registers

A module has exactly one durable consumer, and each subscribe() started its own reader of it. Two
readers split the stream between them, and a reader that receives a message its own pattern does not
match acknowledges it — which is the right answer for a filter wider than anything registered, and
silent loss when the message was another handler's. The first module to subscribe twice would have
dropped roughly half of each kind of event with nothing reporting it.

Every registration is now dispatched from one reader, and a message is acknowledged once every handler
it is for has taken it.

src/broker-nats.ts

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import net from "node:net";
 import tls from "node:tls";
-import { connect as natsConnect, headers as natsHeaders, StringCodec, type JsMsg, type Subscription } from "nats";
+import { connect as natsConnect, headers as natsHeaders, StringCodec, type JsMsg, type Subscription, type TlsOptions } from "nats";
 import type { Broker, Envelope, EventHeaders } from "@novox/mesh-sdk/messaging";
 
 const sc = StringCodec();
@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ export async function connectNats(
     pass: cred.password,
     name: `${cred.node ?? "?"}.${self}`,
     tls: cred.fingerprint ? await pinnedTls(cred.url, cred.fingerprint) : undefined,
+    // Its own inbox, not a random one: every user's inbox is private to it (design 25 §4), and the
+    // grant names `_INBOX.<user>.>` — a reply space the client invented would be refused, and with
+    // it every pull for the next message and every answer to a tool call.
+    inboxPrefix: cred.user ? `_INBOX.${cred.user}` : undefined,
     // Reconnect forever: the bus being restarted is an upgrade, not a reason for every module on
     // the mesh to exit. `close()` stays the only thing that ends the connection.
     maxReconnectAttempts: -1,
@@ -92,6 +96,10 @@ export async function connectNats(
   const js = conn.jetstream();
 
   const subs: Subscription[] = [];
+  // Every registration, and the one reader that dispatches to them. A module has one durable
+  // consumer; the loop belongs to the connection rather than to a subscription.
+  const listeners: { pattern: string; handler: (env: Envelope<unknown>) => Promise<void> }[] = [];
+  let reading: Awaited<ReturnType<Awaited<ReturnType<typeof js.consumers.get>>["consume"]>> | undefined;
   let closed = false;
 
   return {
@@ -176,21 +184,38 @@ export async function connectNats(
      * consumes (design 29 §3) — this binds to it and never creates one. A runtime that created
      * its own would be a module deciding its own delivery semantics, and its account cannot
      * reach the JetStream API to do it anyway.
+     *
+     * **One consumer, one loop, however many patterns a module registers.** A module has exactly one
+     * durable consumer, so two loops reading it would each take half the messages — and a loop that
+     * received one its own pattern does not match acknowledges it, which is the right answer for a
+     * filter wider than anything registered and silent loss when it is another handler's. Every
+     * registration is therefore dispatched from one reader, and a message is acknowledged once every
+     * handler it is for has taken it.
      */
     async subscribe<T>(
       pattern: string,
       handler: (env: Envelope<T>) => Promise<void>,
     ): Promise<() => void> {
-      const durable = `${cred.node ?? "?"}_${self}`;
+      const listener = { pattern, handler: handler as (env: Envelope<unknown>) => Promise<void> };
-      const consumer = await js.consumers.get("EVENTS", durable);
+      listeners.push(listener);
-      const messages = await consumer.consume();
+      if (!reading) {
-      void (async () => {
+        const durable = `${cred.node ?? "?"}_${self}`;
-        for await (const msg of messages) {
+        const consumer = await js.consumers.get("EVENTS", durable);
-          await deliver(msg, pattern, handler);
+        const messages = await consumer.consume();
-        }
+        reading = messages;
-      })();
+        void (async () => {
+          for await (const msg of messages) {
+            await deliver(msg, listeners);
+          }
+        })();
+      }
       return () => {
-        void messages.close();
+        const at = listeners.indexOf(listener);
+        if (at >= 0) listeners.splice(at, 1);
+        if (listeners.length === 0 && reading) {
+          void reading.close();
+          reading = undefined;
+        }
       };
     },
 
@@ -205,15 +230,20 @@ export async function connectNats(
   };
 }
 
-/** Deliver one event, acknowledging only once a handler has taken it. */
+/**
-async function deliver<T>(
+ * Deliver one event to every handler it is for, acknowledging only once each has taken it.
+ *
+ * Several registrations share one durable consumer, so matching happens here rather than by having
+ * each registration read the stream: two readers of one consumer would split it between them, and a
+ * message that reached the wrong one would be acknowledged as not-for-me and lost.
+ */
+async function deliver(
   msg: JsMsg,
-  pattern: string,
+  listeners: { pattern: string; handler: (env: Envelope<unknown>) => Promise<void> }[],
-  handler: (env: Envelope<T>) => Promise<void>,
 ): Promise<void> {
-  let env: Envelope<T>;
+  let env: Envelope<unknown>;
   try {
-    env = toEnvelope<T>(msg);
+    env = toEnvelope<unknown>(msg);
   } catch {
     // Unparseable: acknowledge it. Redelivering a message no version of this code can read is
     // an infinite loop, and the stream's dead-letter is for handlers that fail, not for bytes
@@ -221,15 +251,16 @@ async function deliver<T>(
     msg.term();
     return;
   }
-  if (!topicMatches(pattern, env.key)) {
+  const forThis = listeners.filter((l) => topicMatches(l.pattern, env.key));
-    // The consumer's filters are the controller's, and may be wider than one subscription's
+  if (forThis.length === 0) {
-    // pattern when a module subscribes twice. Acknowledge what this handler is not for, or it
+    // The consumer's filters are the controller's, derived from what the module declared it
+    // consumes, and may be wider than anything it registered a handler for. Acknowledge it, or it
     // would be redelivered until it expired.
     msg.ack();
     return;
   }
   try {
-    await handler(env);
+    for (const l of forThis) await l.handler(env);
     msg.ack();
   } catch {
     // Negative-acknowledge with a delay, so a handler failing on a transient cause gets another
@@ -298,14 +329,15 @@ function normalizeFingerprint(fingerprint: string): string {
  * A certificate authority is not consulted: the mesh issued this and knows its fingerprint,
  * which is stronger than trusting whoever a machine's trust store happens to contain.
  *
- * **A constraint on the mesh, not a detail of this file.** Pinning the exact certificate makes
+ * **The pin is the only check.** What comes back is handed to the client as its TLS options, and
- * hostname verification redundant in principle, but the NATS client exposes no hook to replace
+ * the client's transport spreads them into Node's own `tls.connect` — so the pinned certificate
- * it — its TLS options are file paths and PEM strings, with no verify callback. So the
+ * is the one authority the handshake accepts, and the hostname check beside it is replaced with
- * certificate the mesh issues the bus **must carry a subject-alternative name matching the
+ * one that always passes. Pinning the exact certificate makes verifying its name redundant, and
- * address nodes dial it by**. The fingerprint check below still happens and is still the real
+ * the bus's certificate names the seat (`mesh-broker`), not the address a machine happens to
- * guarantee; what cannot be switched off is the check *beside* it.
+ * dial it by: every module on the mesh met "does not match certificate's altnames" the first time
+ * it reached the handshake (2026-09-28).
  */
-async function pinnedTls(rawUrl: string, fingerprint: string): Promise<{ ca: string }> {
+async function pinnedTls(rawUrl: string, fingerprint: string): Promise<TlsOptions> {
   const url = new URL(rawUrl.includes("://") ? rawUrl : `nats://${rawUrl}`);
   const port = url.port ? Number(url.port) : 4222;
   // **The bus speaks first, in the clear.** A NATS server sends its INFO line before TLS begins,
@@ -342,7 +374,9 @@ async function pinnedTls(rawUrl: string, fingerprint: string): Promise<{ ca: str
     );
   }
   const pem = `-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n${certificate.raw.toString("base64").replace(/(.{64})/g, "$1\n")}\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n`;
-  return { ca: pem };
+  // Node's option, not the client's: the transport passes the whole object on. `undefined` from
+  // checkServerIdentity is "the name is fine"; the pin above already decided the rest.
+  return { ca: pem, checkServerIdentity: () => undefined } as TlsOptions;
 }
 
 /** The mesh's topic matching: `*` is one token, `#` the rest. This is the module's vocabulary —

src/main.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 //                                 starts consuming as it is imported, so this also runs consumers.
 //   mesh-tools emit TYPE [JSON]   emit one event onto the mesh and exit — an operable primitive,
 //                                 and what an events test uses to put a message on the wire.
+//   mesh-tools prepare            bring this module's state to the shape this version needs and exit
+//                                 — the runtime's answer to the word the mesh asks every module
+//                                 (novox/hq ADR 0135). The entrypoints come from MESH_PREPARE, which
+//                                 the module's own image names beside MESH_TOOL_MODULES.
 //   mesh-tools run ENTRYPOINT     run one compiled module entrypoint to completion and exit — the
 //                                 runtime side of a run-once step (novox/hq ADR 0052). It imports
 //                                 the given entrypoint, whose top-level code does its work — seed a
@@ -18,6 +22,7 @@
 //                      amqps account scoped to this module. Preferred: a module holds its own.
 //   MESH_BROKER_URL    a plain URL, for the bootstrap/admin case before a module has an account.
 //   MESH_TOOL_MODULES  /path/a,/path/b,…   compiled module entrypoints (serve mode)
+//   MESH_PREPARE       /path/a,/path/b,…   compiled entrypoints that prepare this module's state
 //   MESH_MODULE / MESH_NODE                the identity stamped onto emitted events (ADR 0042)
 
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
@@ -177,12 +182,49 @@ async function runEntry(entrypoint: string): Promise<void> {
   await import(pathToFileURL(entrypoint).href);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Bring this module's state to the shape this version needs, and exit — the runtime's answer to the
+ * one word the mesh asks every module (novox/hq ADR 0135).
+ *
+ * The entrypoints come from `MESH_PREPARE`, which a module's own image sets beside the entrypoints it
+ * already lists there: the module knows which of its files prepares its state, and nothing else could.
+ * Each is imported in the order given, to completion, with no broker — preparation runs before the
+ * version that would use it, so there is nothing yet to talk to.
+ *
+ * **An empty list is a failure, not a no-op.** The mesh only asks this of a module whose manifest says
+ * it prepares something; a module that says so and names nothing has been built wrong, and exiting 0
+ * would let that version serve against a state nobody shaped.
+ */
+async function prepareState(): Promise<void> {
+  const named = (process.env.MESH_PREPARE ?? "")
+    .split(",")
+    .map((entry) => entry.trim())
+    .filter((entry) => entry !== "");
+  if (named.length === 0) {
+    console.error(
+      "mesh-tools prepare: this module was asked to prepare its state and its image names nothing " +
+        "to do it with — set MESH_PREPARE to the compiled entrypoint(s) that prepare it, the way " +
+        "MESH_TOOL_MODULES names the ones it serves",
+    );
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+  for (const entrypoint of named) {
+    console.log(`[mesh-tools] preparing with ${entrypoint}`);
+    await runEntry(entrypoint);
+  }
+  console.log(`[mesh-tools] prepared: ${named.length} entrypoint(s) ran to completion`);
+}
+
 async function main(): Promise<void> {
   const [command, ...rest] = process.argv.slice(2);
   if (command === "run") {
     await runEntry(rest[0] ?? "");
     return;
   }
+  if (command === "prepare") {
+    await prepareState();
+    return;
+  }
   if (command === "invoke") {
     const [module, tool] = rest;
     if (!module || !tool) {

test/patient-connect.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { test } from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { fatalBrokerReason, PinMismatchError } from "../src/broker-nats.ts";
+import { fatalBrokerReason, PinMismatchError, topicMatches } from "../src/broker-nats.ts";
 
 // novox/hq issue 058 (and its review): serve mode retries a broker that is not up yet, but must
 // give up at once on a failure waiting cannot fix — otherwise a permanent fault loops for ever
@@ -41,3 +42,39 @@ test("a non-Error value does not crash the classifier", () => {
   assert.equal(fatalBrokerReason("just a string"), null);
   assert.equal(fatalBrokerReason(undefined), null);
 });
+
+// **A module asked to prepare its state and naming nothing is a failure, not a no-op** (novox/hq
+// ADR 0135). The mesh asks this only of a module whose manifest says it prepares something, so an
+// image that names nothing was built wrong, and exiting 0 would let that version serve against a
+// state nobody shaped.
+test("preparing with nothing named fails rather than passing quietly", async () => {
+  const runtime = new URL("../dist/main.js", import.meta.url).pathname;
+  const ran = await new Promise<{ code: number | null; said: string }>((resolve) => {
+    const child = spawn(process.execPath, [runtime, "prepare"], {
+      env: { ...process.env, MESH_PREPARE: "" },
+    });
+    let said = "";
+    child.stderr.on("data", (chunk) => (said += String(chunk)));
+    child.on("close", (code) => resolve({ code, said }));
+  });
+  assert.notEqual(ran.code, 0, "a module that prepares nothing exited 0, so its version would serve");
+  assert.match(ran.said, /MESH_PREPARE/);
+});
+
+// **One durable consumer feeds one reader, however many patterns a module registers.**
+//
+// A module has exactly one consumer, so two readers of it would each take half the messages — and a
+// reader that received one its own pattern does not match acknowledges it, which is right for a
+// filter wider than anything registered and silent loss when it is another handler's. The matching is
+// therefore pure and tested as such: what a message is for is decided by the patterns registered, not
+// by which reader happened to fetch it.
+test("a message is for every pattern that matches it, and nothing else", () => {
+  const registered = ["mesh-build-machine.built", "mesh-controller.built-before"];
+  const matched = (key: string) => registered.filter((p) => topicMatches(p, key));
+  assert.deepEqual(matched("mesh-build-machine.built"), ["mesh-build-machine.built"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(matched("mesh-controller.built-before"), ["mesh-controller.built-before"]);
+  // Nothing registered for it: the consumer's filter is the controller's and may be wider.
+  assert.deepEqual(matched("mesh-catalog.upgraded"), []);
+  // And a handler that asked for everything gets both, which is what the audit logger does.
+  assert.deepEqual(["#"].filter((p) => topicMatches(p, "mesh-controller.built-before")), ["#"]);
+});