refactor(no-ambient-authority): rename from ocap-discipline

Name the skill for what triggers it. Cite Wikipedia on capability-based
security and ambient authority, and point newcomers to awesome-ocap.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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dckcandClaude Opus 5.5 committed 2026-10-08 18:35:03 -05:00
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@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ paper.)
## see also
- [ocap-discipline](../ocap-discipline/SKILL.md): who gets to do I/O at
- [no-ambient-authority](../no-ambient-authority/SKILL.md): who gets to do I/O at
all (authority passed in, not ambient); this skill is about *when*.
- [silent-failures-are-evil](../silent-failures-are-evil/SKILL.md): an
awaited I/O failure still needs a trace.
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@@ -46,5 +46,5 @@ amounts", not "fix for goof #3".
If the goof can't reasonably be captured in an automated test (e.g. it
lives in config, a one-off script, or untestable I/O with no seam), say
so explicitly, explain why, and suggest the seam that would make it
testable (see [ocap-discipline](../ocap-discipline/SKILL.md) for
testable (see [no-ambient-authority](../no-ambient-authority/SKILL.md) for
injecting I/O). Don't silently skip the debt.
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
---
name: ocap-discipline
description: Use when writing or reviewing code whose functions touch I/O, clocks, random number generators, process.env, fetch, or filesystem; when someone says "ambient authority", "wash your mouth out", or "that function shouldn't reach for that"; when debating dependency injection or default-arg seams; when asked what OCap discipline is. Source: the Agoric wiki's OCap Discipline page.
name: no-ambient-authority
description: >-
Use when writing or reviewing code whose functions touch I/O, clocks, random number generators, process.env, fetch, or filesystem; when someone says "ambient authority", "wash your mouth out", or "that function shouldn't reach for that"; when debating dependency injection or default-arg seams; when asked what OCap discipline is. Source: the Agoric wiki's OCap Discipline page.
---
# OCap Discipline
@@ -10,14 +11,22 @@ condensed to working rules.
## the background, in three lines
Object-capability security = memory safety + encapsulation ("no
Object-capability security
([capability-based security](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security))
= memory safety + encapsulation ("no
reference to an object except: create it, be given it at creation, or
receive it in a message") combined with **primitive effects only via
references** — all world-touching primitives are embodied by objects,
and *anything globally accessible is immutable data*. No `open(filename)`
in the global namespace: converting a string to file access is like
casting an integer to a pointer. JavaScript doesn't enforce this; the
discipline is a convention (layerable via SES).
casting an integer to a pointer; that's
[ambient authority](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_authority).
JavaScript doesn't enforce this; the discipline is a convention
(layerable via SES).
New to object capabilities? Start with
[awesome-ocap](https://github.com/dckc/awesome-ocap), a curated list of
capability-based languages, systems, papers, and talks.
## the working rules (from the wiki)
@@ -66,6 +75,8 @@ export const mintKey = (entropy: Entropy): string => b32(entropy(16));
- [OCap Discipline — Agoric wiki](https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/wiki/OCap-Discipline)
(Miller, *Robust Composition* PhD thesis, 2006, is the deep source)
- [ambient authority — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_authority)
- [Ambient authority — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_authority)
- [Capability-based security — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security)
- [awesome-ocap: Awesome Object Capabilities and Capability-based Security](https://github.com/dckc/awesome-ocap)
- in this workspace: `capsite/docs/webkeys.md` (URL-borne bearers),
Agoric's eslit-based enforcement notes for contracts
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@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ must leave a trace.
- **Say only what you know.** When an API can't tell you the outcome,
report what it did tell you ("offered", not "saved").
- **Make it testable.** Pass the logger in (see
[ocap-discipline](../ocap-discipline/SKILL.md)) so a test can assert
[no-ambient-authority](../no-ambient-authority/SKILL.md)) so a test can assert
that the failure path logged; a discovered silent failure is a goof
that owes a test ([lazy-tdd](../lazy-tdd/SKILL.md)).