Name what CheckRequest.tenant denotes; record the access-engine rename intake

TEN-DEC-2026-002 answers flex-auth's FLEX-WP-0022-T01, open since
2026-09-15: `tenant` denotes the target tenant record, equals
`resource.id` by intent, and the write API is cross-tenant by design —
no action is refused on the subject/tenant relationship, and
tenant.guardrail.read must not differ because flex-auth itself calls it
across tenants. docs/flex-auth-integration.md states the relation in
this repo's voice.

TEN-IN-0004 is the live record flex-auth asked for on FLEX-WP-0020.
Runtime names stay flex-auth (FLEX-DEC-2026-013) and all deploy, cluster
and settings coordinates verify as retained; only five documentation
repository paths change when the rename lands.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 63291@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: 8bd77868-ca68-4f49-bb1e-d539ecc0d703
This commit is contained in:
tegwick 2026-09-21 02:09:55 +02:00
parent 6e59840379
commit d132db064f
4 changed files with 221 additions and 0 deletions

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@ -79,4 +79,6 @@
| intake | TEN-IN-0001 | closed | yellow | docs/intakes/residuals.md |
| intake | TEN-IN-0002 | closed | red | docs/intakes/residuals.md |
| intake | TEN-IN-0003 | closed | — | intakes/intakes.md |
| intake | TEN-IN-0004 | open | — | intakes/intakes.md |
| decision | TEN-DEC-2026-001 | resolved | — | decisions/decisions.md |
| decision | TEN-DEC-2026-002 | resolved | — | decisions/decisions.md |

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@ -74,3 +74,121 @@ review note naming Engine above a line that admitted the body was unadapted.
workplan: guardrails are no longer reserved, and "not a policy
enforcement point" must be restated so it cannot be read as denying the
PEP *shape* of our writes.
---
## TEN-DEC-2026-002 — `CheckRequest.tenant` denotes the target tenant record; the write API is cross-tenant by design
```yaml
id: TEN-DEC-2026-002
kind: decision
title: "CheckRequest.tenant denotes the target tenant record; the write API is cross-tenant by design"
status: resolved
disposition: approved
origin: cross-repo
origin_ref: FLEX-WP-0022-T01
owner: tenant-engine
affects:
- tenant-engine
- flex-auth
requested_by: flex-auth
created: "2026-09-21"
updated: "2026-09-21"
decided_by: tenant-engine (the consumer naming its own relation)
decided_at: "2026-09-21"
state_hub_decision_id: "ecaebbb7-fe90-4235-a79f-23457e9727bc"
```
## Context
flex-auth asked, on 2026-09-15 and again on 2026-09-20, for tenant-engine to
*name* the relation rather than infer it from code, and declined to encode a
policy rule from reading `FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer.authorize`. That refusal is
correct: a PDP that infers a consumer's intent and then enforces it has
stopped being a decision point. The custodian's estate-wide review
(`the-custodian/docs/assessments/2026-09-21-layer-declaration-boundaries.md`,
question 8) records this as the only one of nine open estate questions
blocking implementation.
Three questions were asked. This decision answers all three in
tenant-engine's own words.
## Decision
1. **`CheckRequest.tenant` denotes the TARGET tenant record** — the tenant
record the action operates on. Not the caller's tenant. Not, as a separate
meaning, "the tenant a guardrail applies to".
flex-auth's observation is correct and it *is* the intended relation:
`authorize()` copies the same `tenant_id` onto both `CheckRequest.tenant`
and `resource.id`, and that is deliberate, not an artefact. Every call site
in `app.py` supplies the target: `payload.tenant_id` for `tenant.create`,
the `{tenant_id}` path segment for every other action.
2. **`tenant` cannot denote the caller's tenant, because tenant-engine does
not know it.** This service verifies no inbound token; the acting identity
arrives as a caller-supplied `actor` string (`tenancy.yaml` I1, gap I).
There is no caller tenant in scope at the point `authorize()` is called.
Putting one in `CheckRequest.tenant` would mean shipping a value we do not
hold.
3. **For guardrail actions the third reading collapses into the second.** A
guardrail is addressed only through the tenant it constrains, so "the
target tenant record" and "the tenant the guardrail applies to" are the
same tenant on `tenant.guardrail.read` and `tenant.guardrail.set`. The
third option is not a distinct semantics in this API; it is the same field
seen from the guardrail side.
4. **None of the nine write actions is refused cross-tenant.** This is a
deliberate, unrestricted scope, not an omitted rule:
- The write API is a platform-operator admin surface. Its subjects are
platform service identities in `tenant:platform`; the targets are
arbitrary tenant records. Creating and retiring tenants is what this
engine is *for*, and it cannot be done from inside the tenant being
created or retired.
- `tenant.create` in particular has no existing target at check time. Any
rule requiring the caller's tenant to equal `CheckRequest.tenant` would
deny every create.
- Authorization on this surface is therefore a **service-identity**
question over `(subject.id, action)`. `tenant` and `resource.id` carry
*which record* is being touched, for the decision record, the audit
trail, and any future per-target scoping — they are not a same-tenant
constraint input today.
5. **`tenant.guardrail.read` does not differ, and must not.** flex-auth is
the platform PDP and calls it while rendering decisions about arbitrary
tenants. A same-tenant rule on `tenant.guardrail.read` would break
flex-auth itself. Same relation (target tenant record), same unrestricted
scope.
6. **There is nonetheless a checkable rule, and tenant-engine asks for it to
be stated.** flex-auth is right that an unrestricted scope and an omitted
rule are indistinguishable in a package with no tenant rule and constant
fixtures — that is the defect, and it is ours to remove by saying so.
Two statements tenant-engine commits to, which flex-auth may encode as
rules a reviewer can check:
- **Invariant:** on every action tenant-engine sends, `tenant` equals
`resource.id`. A check where they differ did not come from this engine.
- **Scope:** no action in the vocabulary is refused on the relationship
between `subject` and `tenant`. Varying `tenant` across fixtures must
not change the effect; that is the assertion we want the suite to make.
If flex-auth prefers to encode only the second and leave the first as a
documented expectation, that is flex-auth's call as the PDP.
## Consequences
- `docs/flex-auth-integration.md` states the relation, the invariant, and the
cross-tenant scope in tenant-engine's voice. That document, not this code,
is the statement of intent.
- flex-auth's `tenant-engine.write-api.mutate` package can now carry a stated
tenant rule with varying fixtures. Per `FLEX-DEC-2026-008` that is a version
bump; tenant-engine expects one and needs no notice period, since the stated
rule matches shipped behaviour and denies nothing that is allowed today.
- Should tenant-engine ever gain a verified inbound identity (`tenancy.yaml`
gap I), the caller's tenant becomes knowable and this decision must be
revisited — but it would be a *new* field, not a change of meaning for this
one.
- Unblocks `FLEX-WP-0022-T02`.

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@ -26,6 +26,41 @@ other PIP claim on the check it sends. The check asks whether *this
caller* may use *this admin/PIP surface*, not what the tenant is allowed
to do on the platform.
## What `tenant` denotes (TEN-DEC-2026-002)
`tenant` is the **target tenant record** — the tenant the action operates on.
It is *not* the caller's tenant, and on guardrail actions it is not a separate
"tenant the guardrail applies to": a guardrail is addressed only through the
tenant it constrains, so that is the same tenant.
`tenant` always equals `resource.id`. That is intended, not incidental: one
`tenant_id` is copied onto both fields in `authz.FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer`.
A check where the two differ did not come from this engine.
`tenant` cannot denote the caller's tenant because this service does not know
it. No inbound token is verified; the acting identity arrives as a
caller-supplied `actor` string (`tenancy.yaml` I1). There is no caller tenant
in scope when the check is built.
**The write API is cross-tenant by design. No action in the vocabulary is
refused on the relationship between `subject` and `tenant`.** The subjects are
platform service identities in `tenant:platform`; the targets are arbitrary
tenant records. Creating and retiring tenants cannot be done from inside the
tenant concerned, and `tenant.create` has no existing target at check time, so
a same-tenant rule would deny every create. Authorization here is a
service-identity question over `(subject.id, action)`; `tenant` and
`resource.id` say *which record* is being touched, for the decision record and
the audit trail.
`tenant.guardrail.read` does not differ, and must not: flex-auth calls it while
deciding about arbitrary tenants, so a same-tenant rule on it would break the
PDP itself.
Varying `tenant` in a conformance fixture must not change the effect. That is
the assertion this engine wants the published package to make — an unrestricted
scope that is *stated* is a rule a reviewer can check; an unrestricted scope
that is merely unwritten is indistinguishable from an omitted one.
Action → resource-type mapping (must match `flex-auth`'s
`FLEX-WP-0008-T01` vocabulary exactly — coordinate values, don't diverge):
@ -104,6 +139,15 @@ Tests assert the file equals shipped behaviour.
| `TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` | `3` | Bounded timeout on the synchronous path — no retries. |
| `TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_TOKEN_FILE` | unset | Rotating bearer token file, read on each check. |
## Repository coordinate vs runtime name (TEN-IN-0004)
The `flex-auth` repository is renaming to `access-engine` (`FLEX-WP-0020`).
**Runtime names stay `flex-auth`** per `FLEX-DEC-2026-013`: the cluster
namespace, the `flex-auth-tenant-engine` Service, the token audience, and this
engine's `TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_*` settings are all unchanged by the rename.
Only the `flex-auth/...` repository paths cited below and above change, and
only once the rename lands.
## Related
- `pep-stance.yaml` — published fail-closed map

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@ -58,3 +58,60 @@ notes:
created: '2026-08-29T12:00:00.000000Z'
state_hub_intake_id: "01a04cf8-c135-70cb-a24c-33219a9f2985"
```
---
## TEN-IN-0004 — flex-auth → access-engine repository rename: verify the retained runtime contract
```yaml
id: TEN-IN-0004
kind: intake
title: "flex-auth → access-engine repository rename: verify the retained runtime contract"
status: open
origin: cross-repo
origin_ref: FLEX-WP-0020
priority: low
owner: tenant-engine
requested_by: flex-auth
created: "2026-09-21"
updated: "2026-09-21"
state_hub_intake_id: "01a0c14b-b2f7-78f1-8f6c-e36c952fe004"
description: >-
flex-auth is preparing a repository-coordinate rename to access-engine.
UUID fda8ad85-a7d7-4055-8f21-902a533e59df and Forge ID 42 are unchanged, and
runtime names stay flex-auth per FLEX-DEC-2026-013. tenant-engine was asked to
create a live record and reply with its id, and to verify that documentation
and client configuration continue to use the retained product/runtime contract.
verification:
date: "2026-09-21"
runtime_contract_intact: true
checked:
- "deploy/base/tenant-engine.yaml — TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_URL points at
http://flex-auth-tenant-engine.flex-auth.svc.cluster.local:8080; token
projection audience flex-auth; NetworkPolicy egress selects namespace
flex-auth / app flex-auth-tenant-engine. All runtime names — retained."
- "railiance/app.toml — dependency named flex-auth-tenant-engine with a
healthz evidence URL on the same cluster DNS name. Runtime — retained."
- "src/tenant_engine/flex_auth.py, authz.FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer, the
TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_* settings — module, class and env-var names are
part of tenant-engine's own surface and track the runtime name. Retained."
- "pep-stance.yaml, pip-claims.yaml, layer.yaml — layer.yaml already records
target: 'access-engine (flex-auth)', which is the correct dual form."
followup_on_rename: >-
The only coordinates that change are five repository-path references in
docs/flex-auth-integration.md (flex-auth/schemas/check_request.schema.json,
flex-auth/schemas/decision_envelope.schema.json,
flex-auth/examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md,
flex-auth/docs/tenancy-posture-review.md, and
flex-auth/workplans/FLEX-WP-0008-tenant-engine-consumer-integration.md).
They are documentation cross-references, not client configuration. This
intake stays open until the rename lands, then they are repointed at
access-engine/ and the intake closes. No runtime change accompanies it.
notes:
- content: >-
This record is not completion evidence for FLEX-WP-0020. It is the live
record flex-auth asked for, and it closes only after the rename lands and
the five documentation coordinates are repointed.
author: tenant-engine
created: "2026-09-21"
```