Extract the deferred AlknetClient as a new crate alknet-client — the
client-side analogue of AlknetEndpoint. Three dial methods (QUIC +
TCP+TLS via TlsClientConfig, iroh via key) produce a Connection for
CallClient::spawn_dispatch / ChannelClient::from_connection to consume.
The deferral collapsed because ADR-086 gave the native endpoint type
three dial shapes within one endpoint type, ADR-087 broke the circular
hedge, and ADR-083 gave the server-side shape to mirror by symmetry.
Names the three concept layers that were tangled throughout the initial
development (deployment role / establishment side / ALPN-level category)
so the fix is legible. Names alknet/register as a dialable entry-point
ALPN (native registration, parallel to HTTP registration in OQ-58); its
wire protocol is deferred to OQ-66 (blocked on OQ-58's token model).
Cross-references updated across 11 existing docs (README, overview,
open-questions, OQ-55, tls, hub, core, channels README/overview/
channel-client, call client-and-adapters) to reflect OQ-55 resolved and
the new alknet-client crate. Architecture review passed (2 critical, 7
warnings — all addressed).
Address the root cause of rework-causing hedging: the architect was
put in a logical bind where it couldn't express justified uncertainty
('the pieces exist but the shape isn't clear yet'). The only options
were 'decide now' (premature) or 'deferred(scope)' (false — the
information isn't missing, it's un-synthesized). The agent picked
deferred(scope) with a circular blocking condition (OQ-64 blocked on
OQ-55, OQ-55 needs OQ-64) because there was no honest way to say 'I
can see the pieces but I can't see the shape.'
Changes to the architect role spec:
- Add deferred(unclear) state: the pieces exist but the composition
isn't clear; resolution requires investigation (work through
examples, POC), not waiting. Has an investigation target and an
impacts field.
- Add 'Impacts' field to the OQ format: what does this block
downstream? Be specific ('blocks the first hub deployment because
the hub dials workers' not 'blocks the hub crate'). The triage
signal that makes deferral urgency visible — the field that would
have made the AlknetClient circular hedge visible.
- Add circular-reasoning guard to self-review: 'check that your
blocking condition isn't a prerequisite of the thing you're
deferring.'
- Trim anti-patterns #9-#11 (hedging synonyms catalog, ~40 lines):
detection belongs in the reviewer, not the architect's self-review.
The architect is too close to its own reasoning to see its own
circular hedges.
- Trim door-types section (30→10 lines): keep the one-paragraph
summary, cut the elaboration.
Changes to the architecture-reviewer role spec:
- Add Decision Quality (F) category: false-deferral check
distinguishing three cases — (1) hedging on a resolved decision, (2)
false deferral / circular hedge (the blocking condition is a
prerequisite of the thing being deferred), (3) legitimate deferral.
- Add Impacts Field Coverage (G) category: check that unresolved OQs
have specific impacts fields.
- Note: the Decision Quality category is often the highest-value
check on poorly-defined projects — the architect cannot self-review
it (circular reasoning is invisible from inside the circle).
Retrofit existing OQs:
- Add Impacts field to all 16 unresolved OQs (10 deferred, 6 open).
- Update OQ-63 (TlsError shape) to reflect ADR-087's client-side
addition — the error type now covers both server and client
variants.
- Move OQ-65 (WebSocket carrying channels) to alknet-http theme
(done in prior commit; this commit adds its impacts field).
- Verified: no circular reasoning found in existing deferrals. The
AlknetClient hedge (OQ-64) was the circular one; it's already
resolved by ADR-087.
OQ-64 and OQ-55 were linked in a circular dependency: the client-side
TLS config was deferred behind the dial seam (OQ-55), but the dial
needs the TLS config. No second transport can dial until it has a TLS
config; the TLS config was deferred until a second transport dials.
Schrödinger's code — required and not required until observed.
ADR-087 breaks the circle by separating two concerns that were
conflated as 'the same seam':
1. TlsClientConfig — rustls::ClientConfig + ADR-034 verifier selection
+ ADR-084 crypto provider. Transport-agnostic. All decisions made.
Buildable today. A PREREQUISITE for any dial, not a consequence of it.
2. The dial (AlknetClient::dial()) — transport-specific connection
establishment. Extracting a transport-polymorphic dial from one
shape (QUIC) would bake QUIC in. Legitimate deferral (OQ-55,
unchanged).
The hub makes this non-optional: a hub dials out to workers it
supervises and to other hubs (hub-as-client). The first hub deployment
(web + native) dials workers over QUIC with the worker's fingerprint
pinned. There is no 'later' for the TLS config — it is on the critical
path for the first hub and for alknet-worker.
Changes:
- ADR-087: TlsClientConfig in alknet-tls, not blocked on OQ-55
- OQ-64: resolved (yes, alknet-tls provides TlsClientConfig)
- OQ-55: amended — only the dial seam is deferred; TLS client config
is explicitly NOT part of the deferral
- TLS README: 'Server-only (for now)' section replaced with
TlsClientConfig section; crate is no longer server-only
- Hub README: dial/supervision section references TlsClientConfig for
outbound connections
The channels protocol is transport-agnostic by design (ADR-071 substrate
modes; ADR-065 unwound the server-side QUIC-welding via
Connection::from_stream/from_bidi). ADR-080 had welded the client-side
one-way-door API to QUIC and masked it as a deferral ('QUIC-only
initially', 'can be generalized later') — anti-patterns #8/#9/#11
(door-type-as-deferral + resolved-with-escape-hatch). 'Can be
generalized later' meant 'can be rewritten later' — the expensive
reversal the one-way-door classification exists to prevent.
Fix: split the constructor surface.
- from_connection(connection: Connection) — transport-agnostic primary,
one-way door. Mirrors server-side ChannelsAdapter::handle(Connection)
and the existing CallClient::spawn_dispatch pattern.
- connect_quic(addr, credentials) — QUIC convenience, two-way door,
additive. Future connect_tcp_tls / connect_webtransport join it
without touching the one-way-door surface.
OQ-55 reframed: the deferred thing is the shared dial+TLS seam
(AlknetClient), not a QUIC-welded client API. The client take-over APIs
(CallClient::spawn_dispatch, ChannelClient::from_connection) are
transport-agnostic and decided; only the shared dial across transports
is blocked on a second transport's dial existing.
Files:
- decisions/080-channelclient.md: amendment section, Decision code
block, Transport-agnostic by construction (replaces QUIC-only
initially), Consequences, Door type, subscribe_resources added to
Decision block (was referenced by Door type but missing)
- crates/channels/channel-client.md: from_connection primary API,
Transport-agnostic by construction section, OQ-55 relationship
- crates/channels/overview.md, crates/channels/README.md,
crates/core/README.md, README.md, open-questions.md,
questions/055-...md: cross-reference summaries aligned
Three core-crate changes surfaced by the alknet-channels POC:
- ADR-070: extract BidiStreamSource trait so Connection holds
Box<dyn BidiStreamSource> instead of a closed ConnectionKind enum;
downstream crates (channels, future transports) implement the trait
to add connection shapes without editing core. Public Connection API
preserved verbatim. REQ-CORE-02 (close() params clippy warning under
--no-default-features) folded in — the signature stays on the trait,
non-QUIC impls ignore the args.
- OQ-55: AlknetClient / client establishment extraction deferred(scope).
Blocked on a second *transport's* real client (not a second QUIC
client) — extracting a QUIC-shaped connector now would bake QUIC in
as the establishment shape, the same welding ADR-065 unwound on the
server side. Each crate builds its own client standalone for now.
- core-types.md / auth.md / overview.md / README indexes updated to
reflect ADR-070 and OQ-55. Architecture review: zero critical issues.
- tasks/core/bidistreamsource-trait.md: the implementation task (Parts
1-3: BidiStreamSource refactor, close() fix, AuthContext::anonymous).