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>
This commit is contained in:
1 parent
65199cafa7
commit
fe9ad200c4
4 files changed
+20
-9
No files matched your search
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
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
|
||||
|
||||
[Agoric's OCap Discipline wiki page](https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/wiki/OCap-Discipline),
|
||||
condensed to working rules.
|
||||
|
||||
## the background, in three lines
|
||||
|
||||
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; 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)
|
||||
|
||||
1. **Exported functions depend only on their arguments.** I/O, clocks,
|
||||
RNGs, `process.env`, network — injected as parameters, never
|
||||
imported inside the function body.
|
||||
- transitional seam: a *default argument* the caller may override
|
||||
- modules must **not** export powerful objects (nothing closing
|
||||
over `fs` or `process.env`)
|
||||
- avoid static mutable state
|
||||
2. **Program scripts are the exception**: they start
|
||||
`#!/usr/bin/env node` (and +x), are free to import all the
|
||||
authority they need, then *delegate* it downward.
|
||||
3. **Test scripts** are named `test-*.js`; tests export nothing.
|
||||
|
||||
## how this shows up in review
|
||||
|
||||
- `crypto.getRandomValues()` called inside an exported function →
|
||||
ambient RNG authority: untestable, unreplayable, uncomposable.
|
||||
Fix: the function takes the random bytes (or an `Entropy` object)
|
||||
as a parameter; the *caller* at the edge is who holds the ambient
|
||||
right.
|
||||
- `new Date()` inside logic → ambient clock. Same treatment:
|
||||
parameter, default to a live-clock implementation.
|
||||
- `fetch` / `fs` / `env` referenced directly inside a helper's body →
|
||||
helpers become untestable without monkey-patching; inject a
|
||||
narrower interface (the caller passes the one URL's worth of fetch,
|
||||
not the whole world).
|
||||
- A module's default export closing over bindings/config → a
|
||||
powerful object export. Split: pure logic (argument-only) + a thin
|
||||
program-script-ish edge that wires authority in.
|
||||
|
||||
## canonical fixes
|
||||
|
||||
```ts
|
||||
// ambient: untestable
|
||||
export function mintKey(): string {
|
||||
return b32(crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16)));
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
// disciplined: entropy in, key out (caller holds the RNG authority)
|
||||
export const mintKey = (entropy: Entropy): string => b32(entropy(16));
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## references
|
||||
|
||||
- [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)
|
||||
- [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
|
||||
Reference in new issue
Block a user