---
id: FLEX-WP-0010
type: workplan
title: "Authorize tenant-engine lifecycle actions"
domain: infotech
repo: flex-auth
status: finished
owner: codex
topic_slug: netkingdom
planning_priority: P1
planning_order: 100
depends_on_workplans:
  - FLEX-WP-0008
related_workplans:
  - TEN-WP-0005
  - USER-WP-0021
created: "2026-08-10"
updated: "2026-08-10"
state_hub_workstream_id: "fdabae84-dc9e-5ccd-81df-8ae7e66b90b8"
---

# FLEX-WP-0010 - Authorize tenant-engine lifecycle actions

Extend the existing `tenant-engine` policy package (FLEX-WP-0008-T02) with the
three tenant lifecycle actions `TEN-WP-0005` introduced. Until they exist here,
every lifecycle mutation resolves to `deny` with `unknown_action` — correct
fail-closed behaviour, not a defect, but it means tenant-engine's new update
and retirement endpoints cannot perform a single write in production.

**Requested by:** `tenant-engine` (TEN-WP-0005, T01–T04 complete and merged).
**Blocks:** `TEN-WP-0005-T05` (production rollout), and through it
`USER-WP-0021` (user-engine platform operator UI/API).

## Requirements from tenant-engine

Three new actions, all on the existing `tenant` resource type, all against
`system: "tenant-engine"`:

| Action | Resource type | HTTP surface |
|---|---|---|
| `tenant.update` | `tenant` | `PATCH /tenants/{tenant_id}` |
| `tenant.retire` | `tenant` | `POST /tenants/{tenant_id}/retire` |
| `tenant.reactivate` | `tenant` | `POST /tenants/{tenant_id}/reactivate` |

These strings are already live in
`tenant-engine/src/tenant_engine/authz.py`'s `_RESOURCE_TYPES` mapping —
they are the exact values `FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer` sends. Match them
verbatim; do not let the two repos invent different strings for the same
action (the coordination rule FLEX-WP-0008-T01 already established).

The `CheckRequest` shape is unchanged from FLEX-WP-0008: same
`FlexAuthCheckClient`, same `subject_type: "service"`, `resource_id` =
`tenant_id`. No new request fields, no schema change.

**Why three actions rather than one `tenant.write`:** tenant-engine
deliberately separated them so policy *can* permit an operator to rename a
tenant without thereby permitting them to retire it. Consumer contract:
`tenant-engine/docs/tenant-lifecycle-api.md`.

**Honest caveat on what this buys today:** under FLEX-WP-0008-T02's current
model there is exactly one known operator (the `tenant-engine` service
identity) and no `assurance` claim, so all three actions will resolve
identically once added. The separation is a seam for later, not
differentiated authorization now. Adding the actions is what unblocks
production; differentiating them is T02 below, and may well close as "not
yet, and here is why".

## T01 - Extend the policy package with the lifecycle actions

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0010-T01
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "8deb9564-658e-5eff-8ef7-94838bee05cc"
```

Add `tenant.update`, `tenant.retire`, and `tenant.reactivate` to
`examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md`'s `valid_actions` set and to the
frontmatter `actions:` list. Extend the `caring.capabilities` list if the
existing vocabulary (`Create`/`Grant`/`Revoke`/`Bind`/`Audit`) does not
already cover an update/retire/reactivate shape — a judgement call for this
repo, not pre-specified here.

Update `examples/tenant-engine/subject_manifest.yaml`'s subject metadata
description, which currently enumerates the original four actions.

Update `docs/tenant-engine-action-vocabulary.md` with the three actions, their
resource type, and the HTTP surface each gates. Keep the existing note that
this policy governs *who may call tenant-engine's admin API*, not a tenant's
own `PLTF`/`IAM`/`VEN`/`CUS` capability roles — the lifecycle actions do not
change that boundary and should not be read as doing so.

Rebuild `examples/tenant-engine/registry_snapshot.json`.

Done when `valid_actions` carries all seven actions and the vocabulary doc
and subject manifest no longer describe only four.

Done 2026-08-10: all seven actions are in `valid_actions`, the frontmatter
`actions:` list, and the protected-system manifest. CARING capabilities were
extended with `EditAny` (update), `Archive` (retire), and `Restore`
(reactivate) — the existing `Create`/`Grant`/`Revoke`/`Bind` set had no
update or lifecycle shape, and `Archive`/`Restore` name the reversible pair
exactly as tenant-engine implements it. `registry_snapshot.json` was rebuilt
from the two manifests, the subject metadata now enumerates all seven, and
`docs/tenant-engine-action-vocabulary.md` carries the three HTTP surfaces
plus an explicit note that `tenant.retire` asks whether *this caller* may
retire a tenant, not what a *retired tenant* may do.

## T02 - Decide whether retirement warrants stricter authorization

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0010-T02
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "82d13a89-a344-5797-b10f-390d17b11b73"
```

`tenant.retire` is the highest-consequence action in the set: it suspends a
tenant's ability to receive new capability grants and plan changes across the
whole platform. Decide whether it should require anything `tenant.update` does
not — a distinct subject, group, or (once available) assurance level.

Record the decision with its reasoning, in the style of FLEX-WP-0008-T02's
closure note. "No, not until `KEY-WP-0005` gives callers a real
`assurance`-bearing identity to check" is a perfectly good outcome — the point
is that the decision is explicit and recorded rather than defaulted into by
treating all seven actions as interchangeable.

Note that retirement is **reversible** by design (`tenant.reactivate`), and
that tenant-engine hard-deletes nothing — so the blast radius of a wrongly
allowed retirement is recoverable, which is legitimate input to this decision.

Done when the decision and its reasoning are recorded in
`policy_package.md`, and implemented if the answer is "yes, stricter".

Done 2026-08-10: **no — `tenant.retire` is authorized by the same rule as the
other six.** Recorded with full reasoning under "Decision: `tenant.retire`
does not require stricter authorization yet" in
`examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md`. The load-bearing reason is that
there is nothing stricter to check: one service subject, no second operator,
no `assurance` field in the `CheckRequest`. A condition the sole caller
always satisfies would read to a later reviewer as though retirement were
separately controlled when it is not — a false assurance in a package whose
job is inspectability. Retirement being reversible and non-destructive makes
that acceptable. Revisit when `KEY-WP-0005` supplies an assurance-bearing
identity, or when a second `tenant-engine` operator subject is registered.

## T03 - Fixtures and verification

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0010-T03
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "2fbceaf5-514b-5ded-adb1-f4e63ce96160"
```

Add `allow`/`deny` fixture pairs to
`examples/tenant-engine/policy_fixtures.yaml` for each of the three actions,
mirroring the existing eight pairs' shape. Cover at minimum: authorized
service subject → `allow`; unknown subject → `deny unknown_subject`; and a
misspelled lifecycle action → `deny unknown_action` (the case that guards
against the two repos drifting apart on action strings).

Verify the way FLEX-WP-0008-T02 did, against the real binary rather than in
isolation: `go build ./cmd/flex-auth`, then `test-policy` (all Rego tests and
fixtures), `load-registry`, and `check` against standalone request files.

Then close the loop end-to-end, which is what `TEN-WP-0005-T05` actually needs
evidence of: run a live `flex-auth serve` with this registry and point a real
`tenant-engine` at it (`TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_URL`), then exercise
`PATCH /tenants/{id}`, `POST .../retire`, and `POST .../reactivate` through
the unmodified `FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer`. tenant-engine's lifecycle endpoints
require `Idempotency-Key` and `If-Match` headers — read the record first and
echo its `ETag` back; `tenant-engine/docs/tenant-lifecycle-api.md` has the
call shapes.

Done when all three lifecycle mutations return a real `allow` from the real
Rego engine over real HTTP, `go test ./...` is green across the repo, and
`gofmt`/`go vet` are clean.

Done 2026-08-10: eight fixture pairs added (allow for each of the three
actions, `unknown_subject` deny for each, and two action-drift denies —
`tenant.retired` and `tenant_update`, both `unknown_action`). Five embedded
Rego tests added. `test-policy` reports 11/11 tests and 16/16 fixtures
passing; `load-registry` loads clean; `check` returns the expected decisions
for the two new standalone request files.

End-to-end against a live `flex-auth serve` (127.0.0.1:9098) with a real
`tenant-engine` on `TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_URL`, driven through the
unmodified `FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer` with `Idempotency-Key` and an `If-Match`
echoed from a prior `GET`:

| Call | tenant-engine | flex-auth decision |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `POST /tenants` | 201 | `decision:174dc9ecb03ed9e5` allow |
| `PATCH /tenants/t-e2e-1` | 200 `active` | `decision:6176c39c2f4d7b15` allow |
| `POST .../retire` | 200 `retired` | `decision:8a801b8ee8455080` allow |
| `POST .../reactivate` | 200 `active` | `decision:c64cf3713cecd970` allow |
| `POST .../retire` as `actor: ops` | 403 `write_denied` | `decision:59d3e99c6416be89` deny `unknown_subject` |

`go test ./...` green across all packages; `gofmt -l` empty; `go vet ./...`
clean. Evidence table mirrored into `examples/tenant-engine/README.md`.

## T04 - Closure and handoff

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0010-T04
status: done
priority: low
state_hub_task_id: "eb2579cb-b54f-5834-abcc-81954ac34889"
```

Confirm T01–T03. Run `statehub fix-consistency`. Notify `tenant-engine` that
`TEN-WP-0005-T05` is unblocked, naming the policy revision — T05's own
done-criteria require the handoff to name the authorization policy revision
alongside the immutable image and API version.

Done 2026-08-10: T01–T03 confirmed. Policy revision for the handoff is
package `tenant-engine.write-api.mutate` **version `v1`**, status `ready`,
profile `caring-0.4.0-rc2`, now carrying all seven actions — the version
string is unchanged because the package is additive and `v1` remains the
activated revision; the identifying fact for TEN-WP-0005-T05 is that `v1` as
of this commit contains `tenant.update`, `tenant.retire`, and
`tenant.reactivate`.

**Production is not yet serving this policy — stated plainly because
TEN-WP-0005-T05 depends on it.** The policy package is baked into the
flex-auth container image, not mounted from a ConfigMap: the deployed
`flex-auth-tenant-engine` Deployment in namespace `flex-auth` runs image
`@sha256:c25fc34a6cd7e64d955f8723ec70e176a583d5ae71d76280c4e2d89fba0fe0aa`
with `--policy /opt/flex-auth/examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md`
from that image. Probed live on 2026-08-10 via port-forward:
`tenant.retire` still returns **deny `unknown_action`**, while
`tenant.create` returns allow — i.e. the running instance is the
pre-FLEX-WP-0010 four-action policy.

So `TEN-WP-0005-T05` is unblocked **in source** but not **in the cluster**
until a new image is built from commit `8e127e5` and rolled out. That
rollout is a production deploy that this workplan does not scope (contrast
FLEX-WP-0007 and FLEX-WP-0009-T03, which carried explicit deployment
tasks) and it is deliberately left for an owner decision rather than done
implicitly under a policy-authoring workplan. It is the single remaining
step between this commit and a live lifecycle mutation.