Address two follow-ups from the security review of feat/zddc-inherit-directive:
1. file.go's Inherit docstring previously claimed "the internal decider
treats it as inherit:true and emits a warning at evaluation time" —
the decider does the first part but the warning was never wired up.
Strike the over-promise; point operators at the cascade tracer
(`/.profile/effective-policy`) which surfaces both `cascade_mode`
and `chain.visible_start` so a fenced configuration that's being
ignored under strict mode is visible.
2. AllowedAtLevel hardcodes ModeDelegated. Safe today (1-level
synthetic chain, no ancestors) but a footgun if anyone migrates
the shim to a real PolicyChain later. Add a `// Deprecated:`
marker pointing at GrantedVerbsAtLevel for fence-aware paths.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
A .zddc may now declare `acl.inherit: false` to fence off ancestor
grants and roles from the descendant subtree — the "complete reset
plus add back" pattern operators want for vendor folders and other
narrowly-scoped subtrees. The cascade walker honors the deepest fence
in [0, toIdx] when evaluating any level at-or-below it, both for
GrantedVerbsAtLevel/EffectiveVerbsRange and for role lookup
(RoleMembers / lookupRoleMembers).
Federal/strict cascade mode IGNORES the fence — required by
NIST AC-6 ("ancestor deny is absolute; no leaf-level override"). So
inherit:false has no effect under strict mode and ancestor grants
remain visible. Operators running the federal Rego preset get the
same behaviour from external policy enforcement.
API surface: ACLRules.Inherit (*bool, nil = unset = inherit-true);
ACLRules.InheritsAncestors() bool; PolicyChain.VisibleStart(toIdx,
mode) int. The mode parameter is now threaded through
GrantedVerbsAtLevel, MatchesPrincipal, MatchingPrincipals,
RoleMembers, and lookupRoleMembers so role resolution is fence-aware.
Tests:
- file_test.go: parser round-trip for absent / true / false inherit
- inherit_test.go: VisibleStart (no fence, fence clamps, nested fences,
strict-mode override), EffectiveVerbs (fence hides ancestor grants,
strict-mode keeps them), RoleMembers (ancestor roles hidden by fence,
local redefinition still works)
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replaces the binary acl.allow/deny model with five permission verbs
(r/w/c/d/a) and first-class roles, and adds an authenticated file API
(PUT/DELETE/POST move/mkdir) so the HTML tools can edit-in-place over
HTTP. Closes the AC-3(7) and AC-6 federal-readiness gaps.
File API (zddc/internal/handler/fileapi.go)
- PUT <new> → action c
- PUT <existing> → action w
- PUT <.zddc> → action a (CanEditZddc strict-ancestor rule)
- DELETE → action d
- POST mkdir → action c (auto-writes creator-owned .zddc when the
parent is Incoming/Working/Staging)
- POST move → action w on src + c on dst, atomic via os.Rename
- Optional If-Match for optimistic concurrency, --max-write-bytes cap,
audit log emits a structured file_write event per operation.
Permission model (zddc/internal/zddc/{acl,file,roles,cascade_mode}.go)
- acl.permissions: { principal → verb-set } map; principals are email
patterns or role names. Empty verb set is an explicit deny.
- roles: { name → members } definitions, available at the level they
declare and all descendants. Closer-to-leaf shadows ancestor.
- Legacy acl.allow/deny still work; they fold into permissions at
parse time (allow → "rwcd", deny → "").
- Cascade walks leaf→root; first level with any matching entry wins;
the union of matching verb sets at that level decides.
- --cascade-mode=strict adds a root→leaf ancestor-deny pre-pass so an
ancestor explicit-deny is absolute (NIST AC-6). Default delegated
preserves the existing commercial behavior.
Special folders (zddc/internal/zddc/special.go)
- Incoming / Working / Staging: mkdir auto-writes a .zddc into the new
subdir granting created_by + that email rwcda directly. Same form
operators write by hand; creator can edit it later to add others.
- Issued / Received: server-enforced WORM split. Cascade grants
inherited from above the WORM folder are masked to r only; grants
placed at-or-below the WORM folder retain r,c. Operators grant
write-once (cr) to the doc controller via an explicit .zddc at the
Issued/Received folder. Admins exempt — only escape hatch.
Browser polyfill (shared/zddc-source.js)
- HttpDirectoryHandle + HttpFileHandle implement the FS Access API
surface (values, getFileHandle, createWritable, removeEntry,
queryPermission/requestPermission) over zddc-server's listing JSON
and file API. Existing tools written against showDirectoryPicker
work unchanged.
- detectServerRoot() returns { handle, status }: tools auto-load on
HTTP, surface a clear "no permission to list" message on 403, and
fall back to the welcome screen on 0.
- classifier renames take the atomic POST move path on HTTP-backed
handles; mdedit and transmittal route reads/writes through the
polyfill so prior FS-API code paths cover both modes.
Tests
- zddc/internal/zddc/{cascade_mode,roles,special,acl}_test.go cover
delegated vs strict, role membership / shadowing / legacy fallback,
WORM split semantics, verb-set parser round-trip.
- zddc/internal/handler/fileapi_test.go now also covers role-based
vendor scenarios, WORM blocking vendor & doc controller writes,
explicit Issued .zddc unlocking the cr drop-box, admin bypass,
auto-ownership on mkdir, and strict-mode lockouts.
Docs
- ARCHITECTURE.md + zddc/README.md document the verb model, role
syntax, special-folder behaviors, cascade-mode flag, and full file
API surface. Federal-readiness gap analysis strikes AC-3(7) and
AC-6.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Generalize the admin model from "single root super-admin" to a
delegated chain: a `<dir>/.zddc/admins` list grants admin authority
for that subtree, with a strict-ancestor rule preventing
self-elevation (you cannot edit the .zddc that grants your own
authority — only files strictly below it).
Add a guided server-rendered editor at /.admin/zddc/edit?path=<dir>
so subtree admins can manage their fiefdoms without filesystem
access. JSON API at /.admin/zddc covers GET (file + effective chain
+ can_edit), POST (atomic write + cache invalidation), DELETE,
plus a /tree endpoint listing every .zddc visible to the caller.
Optional theming via <root>/.admin.css.
Validation: glob syntax check, root-self-demotion rejection,
reserved-prefix path guard, YAML round-trip sanity. Writes are
atomic (temp file + fsync + rename) and invalidate the policy
cache.
Also includes the prior in-flight `Title` field on ProjectInfo
so per-project .zddc titles surface on the landing-page picker.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
ZDDC — Zero Day Document Control. A file-naming convention plus five
single-file HTML tools (archive, transmittal, classifier, mdedit,
landing) and an optional Go HTTP server (zddc-server) with ACL and a
virtual archive index. Self-contained, offline-capable, dependency-free.
See README.md for an overview, AGENTS.md and ARCHITECTURE.md for the
build/release/architecture detail, bootstrap/README.md for the
two-level deployment install pattern, and zddc/README.md for the
HTTP server.
