Explicit-grant management could produce states an operator could not reason about, and pushed request-shaped problems into the database. Two identical createGrant calls produced two grants; five concurrent identical calls produced five. Revoking one returned success while the equivalent kept authorizing the same user — an operator could believe they had removed access that was still live. Two issuances are now the same authorization source when user_id, permission_id, scope, source_kind, and source_ref are all equal, with NULL equal only to NULL; expiry, creation metadata, actor, and grant id do not distinguish them. Creating one while an equivalent is currently effective fails with AUTHORIZATION_GRANT_ALREADY_EXISTS (HTTP 409, no-store) naming nothing about the grant that already exists, and writing no grant and no audit row. A revoked or expired equivalent does not block a fresh issuance. Conflict rather than idempotent return: the caller asked to record a new authorization with their own actor and expiry, and answering "done" while recording neither would hide that nothing happened. Enforcement is database-backed, since nothing constrains the number of API processes: every create and revoke touching one equivalence tuple takes a transaction-scoped advisory lock keyed by a hash of that tuple, encoded as a JSON array so NULL stays distinct from the empty string and a crafted scope cannot forge a separator. A collision can only make unrelated tuples serialize, never hide a conflict, because the decision is always an exact SQL predicate. Its single-key lock space is verified disjoint from the two-key space the migration runner and bootstrap use. A time-dependent partial unique index was rejected: now() is not immutable and cannot be indexed. One revocation now clears every unrevoked equivalent — including expired-but- unrevoked legacy rows, so the history is left in one state — with one audit row per grant actually revoked, each carrying its own id, in one transaction. Differently scoped or sourced grants are untouched. Historical duplicates are not silently revoked by migration; the store prevents new effective equivalents and an operator's explicit revocation resolves the class. The request boundary no longer leaks into PostgreSQL. GrantId accepts exactly the canonical lowercase hyphenated UUID the database emits, with no trimming and no case folding, so a malformed path parameter is a 400 decided after authorization but before any store call instead of reaching the UUID comparison and returning an indistinguishable 503; a canonical unknown id still returns 404. expiresAt accepts exactly YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ, byte-for-byte equal to the parsed date's own toISOString, and must be strictly future — bare new Date silently rewrote 2026-02-31 to March 3rd and accepted locale, date-only, offset, and millisecond-free forms, and a past expiry was stored as a grant dead on arrival. The store validates the same thing before any SQL so trusted internal callers get the guarantee too. The generic HTTP surface now rejects a scope field in every form, including null. No route middleware supplies a scope to the evaluator, so a scope accepted here produced a grant that persisted, listed, and authorized nothing. Core's scope semantics are unchanged for internal callers; no resolver was added. Listing was unbounded and returned a user's entire history. It is now keyset pagination over created_at DESC, id DESC with a strict boundary on both values, so rows sharing a timestamp are neither skipped nor repeated, at most limit + 1 rows read, explicit-source filtering server-side on every page, and an opaque unsigned position cursor that is strictly decoded and reveals nothing on rejection. Core's list method requires a validated finite bound with no unbounded fallback anywhere. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
289 lines
18 KiB
Markdown
289 lines
18 KiB
Markdown
# Ekklesia
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Ekklesia is an open, modular church technology platform for composing backend capabilities
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into independently developed dashboards, websites, mobile apps, kiosks, displays, and other
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surfaces.
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## Current status
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Phase 3 is complete, and Phase 4A (Core identity foundation), Phase 4B (identity HTTP transport),
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Phase 4C (Core authorization), Phase 5A (module authorization integration), Phase 5B (module HTTP
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transport), and Phase 5C (module database access) have landed. Phase 5D (public request perimeter
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hardening against an independent security audit) is in progress; pass 1 of 5 has landed — see
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below. **Phase 5D is not complete, and Phase 6 (Surface work) remains blocked until every audit
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finding is resolved and a final re-audit passes.** The repository includes
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public module contracts, independently versioned capabilities, static module manifests,
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deterministic automatic discovery, compiled server loading, a staged capability registry,
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dependency-ordered lifecycle with rollback, module-owned Drizzle table contracts, deterministic
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schema aggregation, and a cloneable backend-only module template. Migration artifacts have
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module-owned Drizzle contracts, deterministic offline discovery, explicit destructive-change
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declarations, and exact checksums. Core provides read-only applied-history planning and a locked,
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whole-batch transactional PostgreSQL runner with exact external destructive approval matching. A
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hermetic live PostgreSQL suite proves history, rollback, statement breakpoints, advisory-lock
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concurrency and release, exact destructive approvals, and sanitization against the production
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adapter. A Core-owned `pnpm doctor` dashboard combines the existing static discovery and read-only
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migration-planning services into one concise readiness report.
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Phase 4A added Core-owned identity foundations: a Core-owned Better Auth database schema
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(`ekklesia_core_user`, `ekklesia_core_session`, `ekklesia_core_account`,
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`ekklesia_core_verification`), a first-class Core-owned migration source that coexists with
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module-owned migrations under the exact same migration system, minimal opaque-identity contracts
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in `@ekklesia/contracts`, and an explicit Better Auth construction boundary in Core. See
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[Identity](docs/development/identity.md) and
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[ADR 0010](docs/architecture/decisions/0010-core-identity-and-better-auth-adoption.md).
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Phase 4B adds identity HTTP transport: a minimal Hono-based `apps/api` composition root
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(`pnpm api:start`) mounts Better Auth at `/api/auth/*` and exposes `GET /api/v1/principal` behind
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Core's own Fetch-compatible identity runtime — Core still does not depend on Hono, and modules
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still cannot reach any of this. Public email/password registration is the intended eventual
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product policy — every account receives identical lowest-privilege baseline status and signup
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order never grants elevation — but is now **disabled by default, and cannot be enabled in
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production at all** until durable abuse controls exist (Phase 5D pass 1, below). See
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[API](docs/development/api.md) and
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[ADR 0011](docs/architecture/decisions/0011-identity-http-transport-and-public-enrollment.md).
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**No email verification, password recovery, or Dashboard exists yet** — that, along with
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production approval-provider composition, jobs, physical storage provisioning, surfaces, and
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feature modules, remains later vertical slices. Public registration is not yet ready for a real
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public launch.
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Phase 4C adds Core's authorization foundation on top of identity: a schema, evaluator, and store
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for platform owners, explicit grants, and relationship-derived grants; a smallest-possible
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immutable permission registry; an explicit, single-use, concurrency-safe platform-owner bootstrap
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command (`pnpm authorization:bootstrap-owner`, never HTTP-exposed, never inferred from signup
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order); and, in `apps/api`, reusable Hono authorization enforcement plus a narrowly scoped
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`/api/v1/grants` HTTP API for managing *explicit* grants only, requiring an exact trusted `Origin`
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on every mutation. Roles/groups/teams/tenants, an owner-management HTTP endpoint, and service
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accounts/API tokens remain later work. See [Authorization](docs/development/authorization.md) and
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[ADR 0013](docs/architecture/decisions/0013-core-authorization-and-owner-bootstrap.md).
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Phase 5A wires module-declared permissions into that same authorization system: a version-3 module
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manifest declares permissions as complete `{id, baseline, description}` declarations (never a bare
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string), and `apps/api` discovers every installed module and composes one immutable platform
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permission registry — Core's own declarations plus every module's — before constructing its
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database pool, Better Auth instance, or HTTP server. A module's declared permission is then
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enforceable and grantable through the exact same `requirePermission` middleware and
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`/api/v1/grants` HTTP API Core's own permissions already use, with `core.*` reserved and never
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claimable by a module. `pnpm doctor` and `pnpm modules:validate` both validate permission
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composition. Installing, removing, or editing a module currently requires an API restart; removing
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one makes its permission unavailable to new checks and new grants without deleting or revoking any
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historical grant or audit row. See
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[Authorization](docs/development/authorization.md#module-permission-composition),
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[Module development](docs/module-development/README.md), and
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[ADR 0014](docs/architecture/decisions/0014-module-permission-declarations-and-platform-registry.md).
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Phase 5B mounts a module's own HTTP routes in production. A module registers framework-neutral
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Fetch (`Request`/`Response`) route handlers during its existing `register` hook; Core collects them
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into an immutable snapshot alongside its capabilities, and `apps/api` discovers modules exactly
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once, starts the module runtime from that same discovered inventory, and mounts its published
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routes under `/api/v1/modules/<module-id>` — after every module has registered and started
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successfully, so no request can reach a module before startup completes. Every route is enforced
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through the identical `requirePermission` middleware and composed permission registry Core's own
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routes use (a module can never supply its own baseline), state-changing methods require a trusted
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`Origin`, and a handler failure or non-`Response` return becomes a fixed, sanitized `500` — never a
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raw error, stack, path, or permission id. Relationship-derived grant creation remains later work.
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See [API](docs/development/api.md#module-http-routes),
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[Module development](docs/module-development/README.md#http-routes), and
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[ADR 0014](docs/architecture/decisions/0014-module-permission-declarations-and-platform-registry.md#deferred).
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Phase 5C gives a module's own lifecycle hooks and HTTP handlers typed access to their own
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PostgreSQL tables. `context.services.database` — a restricted, typed `ModuleDatabase` view over
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Drizzle's `select`/`selectDistinct`/`selectDistinctOn`/`insert`/`update`/`delete`/`execute`/
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`transaction`, never a raw `pg` client, pool, or connection string — is available to `start`,
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`stop`, and every authorized route handler, and reuses the one PostgreSQL pool `apps/api` already
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owns; registration remains declarative and database-free. Modules continue to own and import their
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own Drizzle schemas and generated migrations, applied explicitly and never automatically at
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startup. See [API](docs/development/api.md#module-database-access),
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[Module development](docs/module-development/README.md#database-access), and
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[ADR 0016](docs/architecture/decisions/0016-module-database-access.md).
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Phase 5D pass 1 of 5 hardens the public request perimeter against an independent security audit
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of the Phase 5C checkpoint, without adding a Surface, a product module, or any new capability.
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Better Auth's authentication rate limiter now resolves client identity from a server-owned
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client-address boundary (`core/src/identity/client-address.ts`, wired in at the Node/API transport
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boundary) — direct mode trusts only the real socket peer by default, and an explicit trusted-proxy
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mode is required before any forwarded header is ever consulted, closing a rotating-header
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rate-limit bypass. Public sign-up is now **disabled by default, and a production configuration that
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tries to enable it fails closed** (`PUBLIC_SIGNUP_UNSUPPORTED_IN_PRODUCTION`, reported by `pnpm
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doctor` as a blocking failure) — the durable abuse-control prerequisites do not exist yet, so only
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development/test composition may enable it. Every public body-consuming route — Better Auth,
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Core's grant-mutation endpoint, and every module route (via a new, required `maxBodyBytes` field on
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the executable route contract) — now has an explicit, platform-enforced byte ceiling with one
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sanitized `413` contract. The Node HTTP server now has finite header/request timeouts, whose real
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transport-level failures are observed and logged in sanitized form. See
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[API](docs/development/api.md), [Module development](docs/module-development/README.md#http-routes),
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and [ADR 0017](docs/architecture/decisions/0017-public-request-perimeter-hardening.md). **This pass
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does not add distributed rate limiting, durable public-signup abuse control, or any deployment/TLS
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guarantee, and it does not complete Phase 5D** — passes 2–5 (identity/database transport hardening,
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authorization integrity, module/runtime/migration correctness, and deployment/supply-chain closure
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plus a final independent re-audit) remain outstanding before Phase 6 (Surface work) may begin.
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Phase 5D pass 2 of 5 corrects identity session resolution and enforces a database transport policy.
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A request carrying no cookies, or only unrelated cookies, now performs **no** identity database
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work at all; only a request presenting the configured session cookie that Better Auth resolved to
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`null` is disambiguated, by a real read of the session relation and the exact columns the adapter
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depends on (under `where false`, so no row is ever read) rather than the previous `select 1`. A
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missing table, dropped column, revoked privilege, unreachable database, or query timeout therefore
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produces a sanitized `503`, never a silent anonymous downgrade. The identity base URL and every
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trusted origin must now be exactly one canonical origin, and production rejects the full
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loopback/unspecified address space rather than three literal spellings. **Production PostgreSQL
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connections now require TLS with certificate *and* hostname verification** — from the API, both
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migration commands, the bootstrap CLI, and `pnpm doctor` alike — with no encryption-only mode, no
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`rejectUnauthorized: false` escape hatch, no plaintext exception (not even for a loopback
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database), and an explicit refusal of a `DATABASE_URL` that tries to carry its own TLS parameters,
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which the pinned driver would otherwise let silently override the policy. See
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[Identity](docs/development/identity.md), [API](docs/development/api.md#database-transport-tls), and
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[ADR 0018](docs/architecture/decisions/0018-identity-session-resolution-and-database-transport.md).
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**This pass adds no secret store, no certificate rotation, no client-certificate authentication, and
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no distributed rate limiting; TLS protects the connection, not the exposure, so the network boundary
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remains the deployment's own responsibility. Phase 5D is still not complete** — passes 3–5
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(authorization integrity, module/runtime/migration correctness, and deployment/supply-chain closure
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plus a final independent re-audit) remain outstanding.
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Phase 5D pass 3 of 5 preserves authorization security history and makes explicit-grant management
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unambiguous and bounded. Authorization **audit history now survives user deletion**: the audit
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subject is a retained identifier snapshot with no cascading foreign key, so deleting a user still
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removes their live grants and platform-owner row but no longer destroys the record of what they had
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been granted and by whom. Platform-owner bootstrap's single use moved to a dedicated singleton with
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no user foreign key — previously deleting the bootstrapped owner's user row silently reopened the
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one operation that establishes a platform's first administrator; the operational consequence is that
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**deleting the last owner does not reactivate bootstrap**, and existing installations are backfilled
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as consumed by the new migration. Two equivalent grants can no longer both be effective: creation
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conflicts with a sanitized `409`, serialized under real PostgreSQL concurrency, and one revocation
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now clears every unrevoked equivalent with a per-row audit entry, so revoking a grant can no longer
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report success while a duplicate keeps authorizing the user. Grant ids must be canonical UUIDs and
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expirations one exact future-only format, both decided before any database call; the generic HTTP
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surface creates unscoped grants only; and listing is bounded keyset pagination with an opaque,
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unsigned position cursor. One forward Core migration (`0002_authorization_integrity`,
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`{"mode":"none"}`) must be applied before the new code starts. See
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[Authorization](docs/development/authorization.md) and
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[ADR 0019](docs/architecture/decisions/0019-durable-authorization-history-and-grant-management.md).
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**This pass adds no roles, teams, tenants, service accounts, scope resolver, user-deletion endpoint,
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or owner-recovery workflow; audit append-only behavior remains an application convention, not a
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database or cryptographic guarantee. Phase 5D is still not complete** — passes 4 (module/runtime/
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migration correctness) and 5 (deployment/supply chain plus a final independent re-audit) remain
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outstanding, and Phase 6 remains blocked.
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## Quick start
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Prerequisites: Node.js 24 LTS, pnpm 11.12, and Docker with Compose.
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```bash
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pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
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cp .env.example .env # keep its NODE_ENV=development: see below
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pnpm infrastructure:up
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pnpm modules:validate
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pnpm migrations:validate
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pnpm identity:schema:validate
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pnpm doctor
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pnpm migrations:plan
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pnpm test:migrations:integration
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pnpm verify
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```
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`pnpm doctor` builds the workspace first, then reports the supported Node.js runtime, installed
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modules and dependency order, schema and migration inventories, the effective PostgreSQL transport
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(TLS) policy, optional read-only PostgreSQL planning, and the current object-storage integration
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state. `.env.example` sets `NODE_ENV=development` deliberately: anything else, including an unset
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value, is validated as production, and production requires certificate-verified PostgreSQL TLS and
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rejects loopback/`http` identity origins — so the plaintext loopback database this repository's own
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development infrastructure provides is only usable with it set.
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Doctor never applies migrations, creates a history table, starts module servers, or performs
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storage operations. Schema discovery does import
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compiled schema-definition entrypoints; those entrypoints are contractually side-effect-free.
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With no installed modules and no `DATABASE_URL`, the current repository produces a report shaped
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like this:
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```text
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Ekklesia Doctor
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Platform
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✓ Runtime version supported
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Active Node.js satisfies the declared supported range.
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Modules
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✓ Module discovery complete
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0 modules installed
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✓ Dependency graph valid
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Dependency order is empty.
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✓ Permission registry composed
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1 permission registered
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Data definitions
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✓ Schemas validated
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0 modules · 0 tables
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✓ Migrations validated
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2 migrations · checksums valid
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core:0000_identity_core_tables · f8f2086ef06f
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core:0001_authorization_core_tables · 830e1fbc26d0
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PostgreSQL
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✓ Database TLS verified
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TLS required with certificate and hostname verification.
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○ Connection check skipped
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DATABASE_URL is not configured.
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○ Migration plan skipped
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A validated migration inventory and configured PostgreSQL connection are required.
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Identity
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○ Identity configuration skipped
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Core identity schema defines 4 tables (ekklesia_core_account, ekklesia_core_session, ekklesia_core_user, ekklesia_core_verification).
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Identity runtime configuration (signing key, base URL, trusted origins) is not set.
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Object storage
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○ Check unavailable
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Core storage integration has not been implemented yet.
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Result: READY WITH WARNINGS
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```
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Checks have stable pass, warning, failure, or skipped states. Warnings and skipped optional checks
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produce `READY WITH WARNINGS` and exit zero; any failure produces `NOT READY` and exit one. The
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dashboard is human-readable local guidance, not a replacement for automated CI evidence.
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`pnpm migrations:plan` uses `DATABASE_URL` from the uncommitted `.env` and is read-only.
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`pnpm migrations:apply` uses the same validated inventory but mutates PostgreSQL under Core's
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advisory lock and one transaction. Review the plan before applying. Destructive migrations are
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blocked by default and require an exact externally supplied approval; there is no force flag.
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The runner has both deterministic unit coverage through a narrow database port and a separate live
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PostgreSQL integration suite. The live command creates and destroys disposable Docker
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infrastructure; it remains separate from the Docker-free `pnpm verify` gate.
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`pnpm identity:schema:validate` regenerates Better Auth's canonical schema with the pinned local
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CLI into a temporary location and structurally compares it against the checked-in
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`core/src/identity/schema.ts`, then removes the temporary output. It requires no `DATABASE_URL`
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and is part of `pnpm verify`. See [Identity](docs/development/identity.md) for the full upgrade
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workflow.
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`pnpm api:start` builds the workspace, then starts the identity HTTP transport
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(`GET /api/v1/principal`, Better Auth mounted at `/api/auth/*`) against an already-migrated
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`DATABASE_URL` — it never applies migrations itself. See [API](docs/development/api.md) for
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required configuration, routes, and a full request/response transcript.
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Run `pnpm infrastructure:smoke` for an isolated end-to-end PostgreSQL and authenticated S3 check.
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The development services bind only to loopback:
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- PostgreSQL: `127.0.0.1:5432`
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- S3-compatible object storage: `127.0.0.1:8333`
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The values in `.env.example` are development-only and must never be reused in a deployed
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environment.
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## Architecture
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- [Platform architecture](docs/architecture/platform-architecture.md)
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- [Repository boundaries](docs/architecture/repository-boundaries.md)
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- [Repository workflow](docs/development/repository-workflow.md)
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- [Testing](docs/development/testing.md)
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- [Identity](docs/development/identity.md)
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- [API](docs/development/api.md)
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- [Authorization](docs/development/authorization.md)
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- [Module development](docs/module-development/README.md)
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- [Architecture decisions](docs/architecture/decisions/README.md)
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No open-source license has been selected yet. A license should be added only after the project
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owner makes that decision.
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