Reframe TIC from an ownerless global loop into a per-user system agent.
The events it reads live in each user's own encrypted mcp_events, the
connectors that produced them run in that user's container, and the
notifications go to that user's hub — so the previous design (built
against the ownerless Conversation bundle, writing into system.db and
notifying a hub with no subscribers) was inert by construction.
Core changes
- TicManager owns no timer and no user list. It now exposes
run_for(user_id, pool, sessions, hub): one tick for one user, over
deps unpacked from that user's UserContext. Removed from the
Conversation bundle; Skald::tic_manager() is gone.
- New spawn_system_agents in wiring.rs: one instance-wide loop, spawned
post-construction with a Weak<Skald> (like spawn_user_lifecycle).
Each pass walks the directory and runs TIC for one user at a time —
sequential, because a pass is N container round-trips and N LLM calls
nobody is waiting on. A ConfigKeyUpdated on the interval key cuts the
current wait short; enabled is re-read per pass.
- A user whose database is still locked is skipped (normal, not an
error): the pool is the unlock token, so a user who hasn't logged in
since restart has no readable events and nowhere to record a skip.
- The configured tic.security_group is re-checked per user through
run_context::reconcile_group_for_user — a restricted member never
gets a tool set their role wouldn't grant; unconfigured starts from
role_default_run_context, never None (None = catch-all = wider).
- New system_agent_runs owner table (no user_id column — the file is
the owner): start/finish split so a crash leaves a visible 'running'
row, swept to 'failed' by the next start; safe because the scheduler
is sequential and single-instance. An idle tick writes nothing.
- counting_notify wraps the notify tool so the run log can report
notifications emitted without the tool knowing it's counted.
- The session's event channel is drained by a spawned task instead of
a dropped receiver — the translator awaits its sends and would wedge
at capacity.
EventLog::{Persist,Discard} on McpManager::new
- mcp_events is an owner table and its only reader (TIC) is per-user,
so an event is something that happened to someone. The per-user
runtime gets Persist; the ownerless global runtime gets Discard (its
pool is system.db, rows would be unattributable and unread).
API + UI
- GET /api/system-agents/runs: the caller's own run history, scoped
through require_context with no admin override (same promise as the
rest of the private pool).
- web/components/system-agents.js replaces tic-sessions.js. The old
#tic debug page inferred runs from leftover ephemeral sessions; the
new #system-agents page (sidebar group 'extensions', visible to
everyone — the data is the caller's own) reads the real run log.
- i18n: tic.* keys replaced with system_agents.* in en/it/fr.
Docs
- New docs/system-agents.md (user-facing: what TIC does, why it runs
per person, why a run can be missing). Updated docs/settings.md and
docs/index.md.
- agents/tic/AGENT.md reframed per-user: events are that person's,
memory is user-memory/ (private) — never shared-memory/.
- CLAUDE.md records the system-agents design and the EventLog seam.
Fills a gap the blueprint names: the admin had to hand-author every
`mcp_catalog` entry. A remote feed of vetted connectors now proposes them
and the admin installs — the feed is *consultative*, so §14's risk axis is
untouched and the trust anchor stays on the box.
Marketplace client (`src/frontend/api/marketplace.rs`):
- Fetches the feed server-side (it sends no CORS headers) and caches it;
icons are proxied for the same reason.
- Verifies every declared SHA-256 before writing, fail-closed and
all-or-nothing. Feed-supplied paths are refused if they escape
`./scripts/<id>/`. Importing an `mcp_local` entry still demands the
admin-only `mcp.register_local_script`.
- Translates the feed's vocabulary into Skald's: `user`→`per_user`,
`mcp_local`→`local_script`. Scope is read, never inferred from transport
(a remote connector can be per-user — that is what `mcp.register_remote`
is for), and an unreadable `type` fails closed to the answer needing more
authority. The feed's `llm_short_description` maps to `description`, the
column `render_mcp_list` puts in front of the LLM for `activate_tools()`.
- Feed URL is config (`marketplace.url`), not a constant: an on-premise
product must not hard-require reaching one vendor's host.
Two silent failures found while wiring it:
- `transport_of` maps anything unknown to Stdio, so the feed's
`streamable-http` would have tried to spawn a command. Normalised on import.
- Some servers want their key as a query param, not a bearer header, and say
so with a `{key}` placeholder. Substituted at connect time in
`global_row_spec`/`user_row_spec` — never at rest, so the key stays in its
own column and the stored URL stays a template.
Pages, split by the question each answers:
- Connectors — what runs (`UserMcpView` = global ∪ per-user) and what I can
add. Same page for everyone; the admin just has more verbs. One Available
list with the verb per row: `per_user`→Activate, `global`→Enable globally.
Enabling a global is the admin's counterpart to activating a per-user one,
so the catalog picker dropdown is gone — the entry comes from the row.
- Connector Catalog (admin) — what this box offers. One `Add connector`
with two sources: marketplace first (vetted, hashed), manual second
(unvetted by nature) — the order mirrors the trust model.
- Marketplace (admin) — reached from the catalog, not the sidebar: it is a
destination of an action, not a place.
`available()` no longer returns `McpGlobalServerRow`: that row carries
`api_key` and this view now reaches every logged-in user. A slim `GlobalView`
crosses instead, and an admin sees every global (with `can_use` marking their
own) so one enabled for someone else stays manageable.
Also fixes `connectors-page` having no CSS rule at all — every sibling page
has one, so it never got `flex: 1` and left an empty column beside it.
Re-architects MCP from one owner table + agent-written registration into an
admin-curated catalog with two runtimes unioned per session, surfaced in the UI
as "Connectors" (mcp/schema stays neutral, §0.1).
Two runtimes behind one seam (§7):
- Global runtime: shared, stateless connectors (web-search, Tavily…) on the
HOST, connected at boot from mcp_global_servers, access-filtered per user via
mcp_global_access.
- Per-user runtime: a user's activated connectors run INSIDE their container,
started at first login from mcp_user_servers and living until restart (§9);
docker exec -i children die via kill_on_drop when the UserContext drops.
- McpProvider trait (mcp/provider.rs): the session round-loop never learns which
runtime owns a server. McpManager implements it directly (inert ownerless
bundle); UserMcpView implements global ∪ user with an accessible_global
snapshot. Both share McpManager::connect_all; McpServerSpec +
global_row_spec/user_row_spec turn a DB row into a connectable spec.
- mcp-client: McpServerConfig.launch_in runs a stdio command inside a container
via docker exec -i (set at runtime, never parsed from config).
Authorization is a capability on the role, not `if role==admin` (§0.1/§14):
role_capabilities table + db/role_capabilities.rs — register_remote and
register_local_from_catalog are self-service (seeded on every new role), while
register_local_script and manage_catalog are admin-only. admin holds every
capability by construction. This removes the agent-facing register_mcp/delete_mcp
tools and the mcp kinds of list_items/toggle_item, closing the §14 RCE vector.
Schema:
- Registry: mcp_catalog (vetted templates — schema only, no live creds),
mcp_global_servers + mcp_global_access, role_capabilities.
- Owner: mcp_user_servers (per-user activations; api_key encrypted at rest,
catalog_name a bare TEXT snapshot, never an owner→registry FK).
- Drops the old owner table mcp_servers.
API + UI: src/frontend/api/mcp.rs (admin catalog/global/access + user
available/activate/activated, all capability-gated via require_cap);
web/components/connectors.js (<connectors-page>) renders the user view always
and the admin view for role_id === 'admin'.
Deferred: interactive per-user auth (OAuth callback / QR / SSH elicitation, §15)
— only none/api_key wired; no boot seed of catalog presets; per-(user, session)
MCP grant model still open.
- New skald-setup crate: interactive first-run wizard that creates the
admin user, prompts for encryption choice and password
- Auth system: session-based login/logout with cookie, guard middleware
- Roles API: CRUD for data-driven roles, seeded on first boot
- Users management API: create, list, edit, delete users
- Setup state API: check if first admin has been created
- Frontend: login-page, setup-page, users-page, roles-page, profile-page
components with corresponding CSS
- Topbar: avatar dropdown with profile link and logout
- Sidebar: nav entries for Users and Roles (admin only)
- Page shell CSS: layout support for the new pages
- build.sh: builds both skald and skald-setup binaries
- run.sh: runs skald-setup before the server loop
- CLAUDE.md: updated workspace layout and build/run docs
dguiducci