ops-warden/workplans/WARDEN-WP-0029-policy-front-door-and-founder-surface.md

id	type	title	domain	repo	status	owner	topic_slug	planning_priority	planning_order	created	state_hub_workstream_id
WARDEN-WP-0029	workplan	Policy front door: posture-aware access planning + founder interaction surface	infotech	ops-warden	active	codex	custodian	high	29	2026-07-18	6e396e7e-99c5-43aa-98a0-27f157de12a3

WARDEN-WP-0029 — Policy front door + founder interaction surface

Origin

Founder directive 2026-07-18 (binky-control cutover prep): agents proposed raw credential mechanics to the founder ("attach the deploy key in the forgejo UI", "save the PAT to /tmp/...") although a catalogued lane (forgejo-admin-api-token, WARDEN-WP-0025) already covered the need — the installed CLI's catalog was stale, and nothing forced the ask-warden-first step. Directive: ops-warden is the service to ask what can and needs to be done per NetKingdom policy; the founder is bothered only when policy makes it absolutely necessary, and then preferably via a purpose-built interaction surface, not CLI/file handoffs. The organization is in build phase and ops-warden must know that posture. INTENT.md principles 7 and 8 (added with this workplan) capture the direction.

Goal

1. warden plan "<need>" — a policy decision front door: given a need, answer autonomous / founder-act-required / unroutable, with the exact commands or the exact founder act, posture-stated.
2. Declared organization posture (build) that answers and scorecards reference.
3. A founder interaction surface: local web page for the rare founder acts (approve, OIDC-login prompt, paste-once secret capture straight into OpenBao) — no values through CLI history or files.
4. Catalog freshness + agent guidance so ask-warden-first is the enforced default.

Tasks

T01 — warden plan decision front door

id: WARDEN-WP-0029-T01
status: todo
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "32e4a755-fb74-4979-920f-32d44888df9d"

New command: warden plan "<need>" [--actor agt-...] [--domain ...]. Resolves the routing catalog + posture + policy gates and returns a typed verdict: autonomous (with the exec-capable command sequence), founder_required (with the minimal founder act, e.g. "OIDC login role X" or "Red-lane approval Y"), or unroutable (with a CCR proposal stub). JSON output for agents. Every plan call audited (metadata only).

T02 — Declared organization posture (build phase)

id: WARDEN-WP-0029-T02
status: todo
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "73ae528c-384d-43dd-a62a-455a32ec1ea5"

Add organization_posture: build to the posture/registry configuration (alongside env posture dev/test/prod and workload maturity M0–M3), with the build-phase policy relaxations spelled out (workstation OIDC acceptable, per-repo deploy keys, advisory flex-auth) and the graduation triggers (first customer data, first non-founder operator, prod tier). warden plan and scorecard must state the posture in their output.

T03 — Founder interaction surface (local web approval page)

id: WARDEN-WP-0029-T03
status: todo
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "2ea768b7-d756-4c45-ac65-1670e069fafb"

warden desk (working name): serves a localhost, short-lived page when a plan needs a founder act — renders the exact action in plain language (approve/deny, launch OIDC login, or paste-once secret capture that writes straight to the OpenBao path and never echoes). No values in terminal scrollback, shell history, or files. Metadata-only audit per interaction. Build-phase scope: localhost only, no auth beyond OS session; hardening graduates with posture.

T04 — Retire file-drop patterns from playbooks

id: WARDEN-WP-0029-T04
status: todo
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "61d25118-14ec-4846-8d53-3e09d437cac3"

Sweep wiki/playbooks (starting with forgejo-admin-api-token.md /tmp/forgejo-tegwick-api-token steady-state remnants) and replace file drops with warden access --exec / --fetch lanes or T03 paste-once capture. Update the two live consumers: railiance-platform forgejo_package_prune docs and binky-control cutover runbook.

T05 — Catalog freshness + agent guidance

id: WARDEN-WP-0029-T05
status: todo
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "2121d102-806a-424a-8b62-bd25d7a9324e"

The stale-CLI failure mode: warden resolved an old catalog and hid an existing lane. Add a catalog version/freshness check (warn when installed catalog is older than repo/registry head; warden route list shows catalog date) and update AGENTS/CLAUDE guidance in ops-warden + consuming repos: agents must run warden plan before ever drafting a founder credential step.

Acceptance

• warden plan "forgejo deploy key for binky-control" returns autonomous with the admin-lane command sequence; warden plan for a new tenant secret returns founder_required with exactly one founder act.
• Posture build visible in plan output and scorecard.
• One real founder act completed through the web surface with zero secret values in CLI/files.
• No playbook instructs a founder file drop.

See also

• INTENT.md §7 (founder escalated, never tasked) and §8 (build-phase posture)
• WARDEN-WP-0025 (forgejo admin token lane), WARDEN-WP-0026/0027 (disclosure hygiene, governance lockdown)
• binky-control DEC-2026-003 (first consumer: cutover without founder mechanics)