feat(appgate): apps with their own login can skip the node login
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Some apps carry a complete account system and are broken by an upstream
challenge: git clients speak basic-auth (not browser cookies), and a
BTCPay checkout link handed to a customer must open for that customer.
Both were behind the gate's login page — the "non-browser clients need an
access token" gap disclosed in five consecutive releases.

- New manifest port policy `auth: open`: the daemon still fronts the port
  exactly like `gated` (loopback pin, external binds, frame-header fixes,
  app-down retry page, Tor upstream) but serves it without the login
  challenge. Requires auth_rationale, same burden of proof as `none`.
  Gitea 3001 and BTCPay 23000 declare it.
- Runtime operator override per app (security.set-app-gate → app-configs/
  <id>.json "gateEnabled"), surfaced as Settings → app → Access control.
  Wins over the manifest in both directions and applies on the next
  request — no restart, and it works today on catalog-covered apps whose
  signed manifest still says `gated`.
- The gate resolves policy per-request from the live port map, so a
  toggle takes effect without waiting for the 60s rebind sweep. "Off"
  never releases the port: gated apps are loopback-pinned, so releasing
  would strand them, not open them.
- security.app-gate-status now reports gate_enabled + any override.
- New guard test pins the `auth: open` set (both entries reviewed); the
  `auth: none` count moves 25 → 26, absorbing pre-existing drift from the
  phoenixd onboarding (loopback JSON API with its own generated password).
- Docs: the manifest spec's ports row documented only host/container/
  protocol — bind, auth, auth_rationale and session_passthrough were
  undocumented. Added a full "Ports & the app gate" section plus a
  developer-guide entry telling app authors to enforce their own auth
  regardless, since the operator can flip the gate either way.

Verified live on archi-dev-box from an external address: gated → 401 gate
page; override off → Gitea 200 own page, BTCPay 302 to its own login,
git-over-HTTP info/refs 200; override on → 401 again; clear → default.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
archipelago
2026-08-16 11:40:07 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Fable 5
parent 9b789a64ad
commit 58cdea5e79
15 changed files with 537 additions and 7 deletions
+15
View File
@@ -152,6 +152,21 @@ know the mechanics:
policy, only its framing policy. You do not need a bespoke reverse proxy,
header patches, or app config to be embeddable.
### Apps with their own login: `auth: open`
If your app carries a complete account system of its own — and especially if
non-browser clients must reach it (git over HTTP, mobile apps, payment
webhooks) — declare its gated port `auth: open` with an `auth_rationale`
instead of `auth: gated`. The daemon still fronts the port exactly like a
gated one (loopback pin, external binds, frame-header fixes, retry page,
Tor onion), but serves it without the dashboard-login challenge, so your
app's own authentication is the one users and API clients meet. Gitea and
BTCPay Server ship this way. The node operator can override your default in
either direction at runtime (Settings → app → Access control), so never
treat the gate as your app's authorization layer — enforce your own auth on
every sensitive route regardless. See “Ports & the app gate” in
[`app-manifest-spec.md`](app-manifest-spec.md).
Set `metadata.launch.open_in_new_tab: true` only when embedding is broken by
things headers can't fix — the app frame-busts in JavaScript, requires being
the top-level origin (OAuth redirect flows, WebAuthn), or sets