key-cape/workplans/KEY-WP-0028-browser-client-field-validation.md
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Reject service-identity fields a browser client silently ignores
serviceSubject and roles are read only on the client_credentials path. On a
browser client they are accepted and then ignored, since subject and roles come
from the directory user -- so a registration that looks effective fails later as
a downstream rejection rather than as a registration defect. tokenLifetime was
already rejected this way, so the rule existed and was incomplete.

Nothing in dev-config, the example fixture or the live deployment sets either
field on a browser client, checked against all three rather than assumed, so this
breaks no existing configuration.

tenant is deliberately excluded, and a test pins that: a browser client may
declare one, and humanTenant resolves it against the directory, refusing issuance
when they disagree (KEY-WP-0013-T05). An earlier version of this change rejected
tenant too and would have made that feature unusable. It started from T05's
blocker paragraph, which was accurate when written and already fixed by the time
this task began -- blocker prose ages faster than the code it describes.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01NV9oijZukGyGbRQGGKnK4P

Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 713576@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: 384c511d-9bce-4cb8-a676-2aef6c0c8df6
2026-09-09 14:42:26 +02:00

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Markdown

---
id: KEY-WP-0028
type: workplan
title: "Reject service-identity fields that a browser client silently ignores"
domain: infotech
repo: key-cape
status: finished
owner: claude
topic_slug: browser-client-field-validation
created: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-09"
---
`serviceSubject` and `roles` are read only on the `client_credentials` path. On a
browser client they are accepted at startup and then ignored: the subject and
roles come from the directory user. A registration that looks effective and is
not fails later, somewhere else, as a downstream rejection rather than as a
registration defect.
`tokenLifetime` was already rejected this way for non-service clients, so the
rule exists — it was just incomplete.
## Reject the ignored fields
```task
id: KEY-WP-0028-T01
status: done
priority: medium
```
Config validation now rejects `serviceSubject` and `roles` on any client that
does not use `client_credentials`, naming where the value actually comes from.
Nothing in `config/dev-config.yaml`, the example fixture or the live deployment
sets either field on a browser client, so this breaks no existing configuration —
checked against all three rather than assumed.
**`tenant` is deliberately excluded from the rule**, and a test pins that. A
browser client may declare a tenant; `humanTenant` resolves it against the
directory and refuses issuance when the two disagree (KEY-WP-0013-T05). An
earlier version of this change rejected `tenant` too, which would have made that
feature unusable.
## Correction
```task
id: KEY-WP-0028-T02
status: done
priority: medium
```
This work started from KEY-WP-0013-T05's blocker paragraph, which described a
human token as unable to carry `tenant:platform`. That was true when written and
had already been fixed in a concurrent session by the time this task began; the
paragraph was read as current state rather than as a dated record.
Two consequences, both corrected within the session:
- the `tenant` rejection was removed before it was committed, and a test now
asserts a browser client carrying `tenant: tenant:platform` validates cleanly;
- a hub decision (`0145ab57`) recording the tenant question as open and
unimplemented was withdrawn with a rationale pointing at the implementation.
Nothing was built on it.
The lesson worth keeping: in a repository where several sessions work at once,
blocker prose ages faster than the code it describes. Re-read the source before
acting on a workplan's description of it.