John Dvorak
342c29f38b
Three related findings from the nervous-item audit: 1. TTL contract pinned (ttl-contract.test.js + README): TTL is a VALUE-FRESHNESS gate, not an access-expiry mechanism. Direct grants are timeless; expired values deny comparators and drop from collected values. The direct fast path collected values WITHOUT the TTL gate (comparators skipped expired relations, the direct path did not) — now gated identically. 2. ChainRule cache served pinned-clock callers (ChainRule.js): a chain result captured at one time (with then-fresh values) was served to callers asking about another time. The chain cache now bypasses reads AND writes when options.now is pinned, matching the rule-result cache contract. 3. Decision caches bundled stale values (AuthorizationChecker.js): the direct-check cache stored collectedValues alongside the timeless decision; an unpinned caller past wall-clock expiry got the stale value. Value-carrying results are now never cached (the decision is timeless, the values are not). The rule-result cache is unchanged — it serves snapshots under explicit write-invalidation (its own contract, asserted by cache-invalidation tests). Rigor 250/250, full suite 852/790/0.
110 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
# @arbiter/core
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> Possibilistic authorization engine: graph indices, relation/reachability queries, rule evaluation over a DSL, and lossless condensed snapshots.
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## Why
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Authorization policies live on a graph: users hold relations to objects, groups, and roles, and rules derive decisions from those relations. `@arbiter/core` answers one question — *may user U perform relation R on object O?* — with a **possibility** ranking, not a boolean. Callers supply evidence with strengths; the engine fuses it through rule operators (`union`, `intersection`, `exclusion`, `defeasible`, chain, multi-hop, relational comparator) and returns the strongest derivable possibility, the reliability of the decision, and the validity provenance of the ranking.
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The engine does not police caller-supplied evidence: you supply validated relation strengths and proofs; the engine derives and fuses. It is a library, not a service — no storage, no transport, no policy source of truth.
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## Install
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```bash
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npm install @arbiter/core
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```
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The package is ESM-only and requires Node 22 or newer.
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## Quick Start
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```js
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import { Arbiter } from '@arbiter/core';
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const arbiter = new Arbiter();
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// Nodes: an id and a type.
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arbiter.addNode('user:1', 'user');
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arbiter.addNode('doc:9', 'doc');
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// Relations: a config says how decisions for that relation are derived.
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arbiter.setRelationConfig('owner', { type: 'direct' });
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arbiter.addRelation('user:1', 'owner', 'doc:9', { possibility: 0.9 });
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// The core question.
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const result = arbiter.check('user:1', 'owner', 'doc:9');
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// { possibility: 0.9, reliability: 1,
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// validity: { label: 'heuristic', operator: 'identity', regime: 'arbitrary' },
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// reason: 'direct_match' }
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```
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## Concepts
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### Possibility, not probability
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Every check returns a `possibility` in `[0, 1]` — a maxitive ranking supplied by the caller through relation strengths. `1` means derivable, `0` means not derivable. Fusions take the maximum under `union`, and enforce thresholds and conflicts under `intersection`, `exclusion`, and `defeasible` operators.
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### Result shape
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Every check result carries the same four fields:
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| Field | Type | Meaning |
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|-------|------|---------|
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| `possibility` | `number` in `[0,1]` | Derived possibility of the decision |
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| `reliability` | `number` in `[0,1]` | Reliability of the decision; always `0` for denials |
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| `validity` | `object` | Validity provenance: `label`, `operator`, `regime` (minimal form) |
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| `reason` | `string` | Outcome class: `direct_match`, `no_relation`, `threshold_not_met`, `missing_node`, `no_config`, `cycle`, ... |
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Denied decisions never leak a source's reliability. `includeMeta: true` adds `meta` with the full provenance (allow/deny blocks, rule traces, thresholds) and the full validity block (`sources`, `conflictMass`, `validifiedPossibility`, `nonMaxitive`).
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### The caller owns evidence and time
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- **Evidence**: relation strengths and validity labels come from the caller. The engine derives and fuses but never judges.
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- **Time**: TTL-gated evidence uses the caller's clock. Pass `{ now }` (or `partialGraph.now`) to pin the temporal context; a rerun with the same context reproduces the decision.
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**TTL is a value-freshness gate, not an access-expiry mechanism.** `valueManager.setTTL(relation, ms)` controls how long a relation's *value* stays fresh for value-consuming paths (relational comparators, chain/multi-hop value collection): once `age > TTL` the value is treated as absent, which denies the comparator and drops the value from collected values. Possibility-based grants — a direct relation's allow/deny, union disjunction, chain traversal — are **timeless**: an edge grants regardless of its age. If you need access to expire, express it in the policy (e.g. a comparator over a time-carrying value), not via `setTTL`.
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**Clocks and caches.** The decision caches (direct-check, rule-result, chain) are keyed on the meta-less decision form only: `includeMeta` callers and pinned-clock callers always get a fresh evaluation, and value-carrying results are never cached (values are TTL-gated evidence). Unpinned callers share wall-clock cache entries — the correct default for timeless decisions. Pin `{ now }` whenever the answer depends on when you ask; every cache bypasses itself for pinned-clock callers, so a rerun with the same `{ now }` reproduces the decision exactly.
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### Overlays and partial graphs
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`check` accepts a `PartialGraphContext` overlay. Overlay relations take precedence over the base graph, letting you answer "what changes if this evidence appears?" without mutating the graph.
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## API
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The public surface is the `Arbiter` class:
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- **Graph**: `addNode`, `addRelation`, `removeRelation`, `setRelationConfig`, `getNodeData`, `resolveNodeId`, `resolveKey`
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- **Check**: `check(userKey, relation, objectKey, options)`, `explain` (enriches `meta`), `binary` mode (fast path, marks results `binary: true`)
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- **Reachability**: `isReachable`, `getReachableNodes`, `getReachingNodes`, `shortestPathLength`, `estimateGraphDistance` (`isReachable` returns `null` when no PLTC index is available — a signal to defer to rule evaluation)
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- **Snapshots**: `enableCondensedSnapshot`, `toSnapshotBinary`, `Arbiter.fromSnapshotBinary` (lossless: carries relation metadata, TTLs, and validity; malformed buffers fail fast with clean errors)
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- **Value context**: `valueManager` (TTL-gated evidence), `getSituationTree`, `monteCarloWalk`
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Check `options`:
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| Option | Type | Default | Meaning |
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|--------|------|---------|---------|
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| `includeMeta` | `boolean` | `false` | Attach full provenance in `meta` |
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| `explain` | `boolean` | `false` | Enrich `meta` with the evaluation trace |
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| `binary` | `boolean` | `false` | Binary fast path; results marked `binary: true` |
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| `now` | `number` | engine clock | Pinned temporal context for TTL gates |
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| `partialGraphContext` | `PartialGraphContext` | none | Overlay taking precedence over the base graph |
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## Development
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```bash
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npm install # install dependencies
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npm test # full suite
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npm run test:rigor # js-rigor campaigns (property-based + fuzzing)
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npm run benchmark # compare against the committed perf baseline
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npm run benchmark:save # record a new perf baseline
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```
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CI runs the full suite, the rigor campaigns, and the benchmark on every push; `v*` tags additionally publish the package to the `@arbiter` registry.
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## Design Notes
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- **Possibility is a maxitive ranking.** Fusions preserve the weakest validity label under arbitrary dependence; conjunctive operators surface conflict mass instead of silently averaging it.
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- **One evaluation path.** The rule engine has a single, uncompiled evaluator — parity between normal, binary, partial-graph, and snapshot-restored checks is structural, and the rigor campaigns enforce it.
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- **Snapshots are a trust boundary.** Restoring untrusted bytes must produce a clean, bounded error — never a hang, a crash, or silently corrupted data. The deserializer cross-validates every count field before use.
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