docs: resolve OQ-TN-03 via hub-owns-the-connection model

Captures the standing hub stance as prior art: the hub owns the
connection and explicitly proxies to expose resources for others.
Role follows the resource — whoever reaches the target is the producer
(registers openable channels), whoever wants bytes is the consumer.
SSH -L/-R collapse to the same producer/consumer pair with the entry
point on different machines (assembly-layer wiring); the exposed port
is a virtual ACL-scoped resource (register_openable shape), not a
bind; the hub proxy is a producer wrapping a consumer, terminating
and re-producing per hop so ACL applies per hop (distinct from
ADR-042 transparent relay); -D composes as a consumer opening
channels with per-connection dynamic targets.

OQ-TN-03 resolved. OQ-TN-04 mostly resolved (binding always
assembly-layer, optional, either side). OQ-TN-01 reframed: params
name a produced resource — resource naming + discovery added. OQ-TN-08
strengthened: register_openable per-resource registration is the
primary gate; remaining residue is the dynamic-target policy hook.
OQ-TN-05 gains the hub re-produce composition sub-question. OQ-TN-02
cross-linked: endpoint-at-open aligns with resource naming; per-
datagram addressing matches the -D composition path.

docs/research/phase-0-findings.md

@@ -65,6 +65,71 @@ from zero. It inherits:
   about what the tunnel protocol frames *inside* the channel, not
   about the transport.
 
+## Prior art: the hub-owns-the-connection model (`OQ-TN-01`, `OQ-TN-03`, `OQ-TN-04`, `OQ-TN-08`)
+
+Discussed 2026-09-05. The standing stance across the alk* crates: **the
+hub owns the connection and explicitly proxies to expose resources for
+others.** A produced resource is not a socket — it is an ACL-scoped
+*virtual resource* on the side that can reach the real target. Applied
+to tunnels, this dissolves the SSH direction model:
+
+- **Role follows the resource.** Whoever can reach the target is the
+  producer (registers openable tunnel channels via
+  `ChannelCore::register_openable`, dials/serves the target); whoever
+  wants the bytes is the consumer (opens channels via `ChannelClient`).
+  This holds for both SSH `-L` and `-R`: in both, the entry-point side
+  opens the channel (consumer) and the target side handles the open
+  (producer) — the only difference is which machine hosts the entry
+  point, which is assembly-layer wiring, not protocol.
+- **The "exposed port" is a virtual port.** The far side may *think* it
+  exposed a port on the remote end; what actually exists is an
+  ACL-scoped resource in the connection/identity registry — the same
+  shape as operation registration, not a bind. Example: a self-hosted
+  gitea (HTTP in a docker container, really binding a port) is tunneled
+  to the hub; the hub proxies the tunnel to consumers whose ACL grants
+  access to the gitea HTTP service. A SOCKS5 service is the same shape,
+  further downstream.
+- **The hub proxy is a producer wrapping a consumer.** The proxy is an
+  assembly-layer construct. On leg 1 (gitea side ↔ hub): gitea side is
+  producer, hub is consumer. On leg 2 (hub ↔ service consumer): the hub
+  re-produces the resource ACL-scoped — producer wrapping its leg-1
+  consumer role. Data path per hop is the same two-pump shape; the
+  consumer opens a channel naming the resource, the producer's open
+  handler dials the target. This means the hub *terminates and
+  re-produces* rather than relaying byte-for-byte — unlike alkcall
+  ADR-042's transparent data-channel relay — because ACL must apply
+  per hop. (ADR-042 relays remain valid for transports that don't
+  need per-hop ACL; the hub's tunnel proxy is the explicit-ACL path.)
+- **`-D` (dynamic/SOCKS) composes.** A SOCKS5 server at some assembly
+  layer is just a consumer that opens channels with per-connection
+  dynamic targets, gated by the producer's target policy. Not a base
+  crate concern (same conclusion as the original half-answer, now with
+  the mechanism named).
+- **No forced binding, everywhere (OQ-TN-04 resolved).** Binding is
+  always assembly-layer and optional, on either side. The protocol
+  never binds: a producer "produces a resource" (which may or may not
+  correspond to a local bind — a docker container's port, a unix
+  socket, an in-process service); a consumer "consumes it." The SSH
+  mental image of "expose a port" is an illusion the assembly layer
+  may create locally; the protocol only ever carries
+  produce/consume bookkeeping.
+
+**Model, one sentence:** a producer produces a resource (a stream of
+basically anything, if TCP and UDP are supported); a consumer consumes
+it; direction, bind, and ACL scoping are assembly-layer concerns
+wrapped around that pair.
+
+**Residue (folded into other OQs):**
+- How does a consumer *discover* produced resources — call-level
+  listing op, out-of-band config, or resource names? → OQ-TN-01
+  (params/resource naming).
+- Dynamic-target policy for `-D`-style opens (which identities may open
+  channels to which targets) → OQ-TN-08.
+- Whether the hub proxy needs anything from this crate (a
+  re-produce helper? typed open-handler composition?) or composes from
+  the public producer/consumer surface as-is → spec question for
+  Phase 1, tracked here as part of OQ-TN-05.
+
 ## Prior art: tun2proxy UDP gateway (`OQ-TN-01`, `OQ-TN-02`, `OQ-TN-07`, `OQ-TN-10`)
 
 `/workspace/tun2proxy/src/udpgw.rs` implements a UDP gateway over a TCP
@@ -157,7 +222,13 @@ extensible; exact shape TBD. Strengthened 2026-09-05: the tun2proxy UDP
 gateway (§Prior art) validates SOCKS5 ATYP addressing (v4/v6/domain) as
 in-band prior art, and surfaces a fork — for UDP, remote addressing is
 per-datagram (SOCKS5-style) rather than fixed-at-open like TCP. The
-params design must account for both modes.
+params design must account for both modes. Reframed 2026-09-05 by the
+hub model (§Prior art: the hub-owns-the-connection model): `params`
+names a *produced resource* (an ACL-scoped virtual resource), not a
+raw socket spec — so the design must also decide resource naming
+(stable names vs target addresses) and discovery (call-level listing
+op vs out-of-band config). SOCKS5 ATYP remains the in-band transport
+encoding candidate underneath the resource naming.
 
 ### OQ-TN-02: Datagram substrates (UDP) — boundary preservation
 
@@ -189,11 +260,30 @@ flow lifecycle (idle timeout + keepalive) is packet-level. Remaining:
 whether alktunnels fixes the UDP endpoint at open (per-channel, TCP-
 like) or carries per-datagram addresses (udpgw-like), and whether a
 u16 conn-id vocabulary is right for channels (vs the channel ID
-itself doing the demux and one channel per UDP flow). A targeted POC
+itself doing the demux and one channel per UDP flow). Note (2026-09-05,
-(OQ-TN-10 #1) is likely still +EV for the chosen shape.
+hub model §Prior art): if UDP resources are produced like any other
+resource, endpoint-at-open aligns naturally with resource naming
+(OQ-TN-01); per-datagram addressing matches the `-D`/dynamic-target
+composition path instead. A targeted POC (OQ-TN-10 #1) is likely still
++EV for the chosen shape.
 
 ### OQ-TN-03: Direction semantics (`-L` / `-R` / dynamic)
 
+**Status: resolved 2026-09-05** by the hub-owns-the-connection model
+(§Prior art: the hub-owns-the-connection model). There is no
+protocol-level direction: role follows the resource. Whoever can reach
+the target is the producer (registers openable channels); whoever wants
+the bytes is the consumer (opens channels). SSH `-L` and `-R` are the
+same producer/consumer pair with the entry point on different machines —
+assembly-layer wiring, not protocol. The "exposed port" is a virtual,
+ACL-scoped resource on the producing side; the hub proxy is a producer
+wrapping a consumer. `-D`/SOCKS composes as a consumer opening channels
+with per-connection dynamic targets, gated by the producer's target
+policy (OQ-TN-08) — not a base-crate concern. Original question retained
+below for context.
+
+Considerations (original):
+
 SSH has three forwarding flavors; the crate must model them without
 "server/client" framing:
 
@@ -242,11 +332,12 @@ channel" without assuming either endpoint is a bound socket. Substrate
 modules (behind feature flags) own actual `bind()` calls; the protocol
 owns bookkeeping only.
 
-**Status:** open — mostly a spec-level requirement to encode in the
+**Status:** open — mostly resolved (2026-09-05, see §Prior art: the
-architecture docs and API shapes rather than a research question. Half-
+hub-owns-the-connection model): binding is always assembly-layer and
-answer: already agreed as a requirement (AGENTS.md convention 9); what's
+optional, on either side; the protocol never binds. What remains is the
-missing is the concrete API surface (who calls what to start a tunnel in
+concrete API surface — who calls what to start a tunnel in each mode
-each mode).
+(produce-with-dial, produce-without-dial/accept-style, consume). This is
+now a spec-shape task, not a research question.
 
 ### OQ-TN-05: Backend inversion point — is there a `TunnelBackend` trait?
 
@@ -265,6 +356,12 @@ so the question:
   listener variant.
 - Backpressure/limits come from channels (AGENTS.md convention 10); the
   backend trait must not add a second layer of them.
+- New sub-question from the hub model (2026-09-05, §Prior art): the
+  hub's tunnel proxy *re-produces* a resource it consumes (producer
+  wrapping a consumer). Does the proxy need a composition helper from
+  this crate, or does it assemble from the public producer/consumer
+  surface as-is? If a helper is warranted, it may share shape with the
+  substrate dial/listen trait — which would argue for the trait.
 
 **Status:** open — needs a survey of what backends would actually
 implement (local TCP? docker exec? ssh -w?) before deciding trait vs
@@ -339,7 +436,14 @@ path gets `AccessControl` wiring for free via
 alktty scoped its gate. Half-answer (hunch): scope-gate for the open
 plus an open-handler-level target policy hook; ownership for
 *registered/listened* tunnels (which are persistent resources), not for
-ephemeral dials.
+ephemeral dials. Strengthened 2026-09-05 by the hub model (§Prior art):
+the "virtual port" IS an ACL-scoped registered resource — so
+`register_openable` per-resource registration is the primary gate
+shape, and ownership naturally attaches to produced resources
+(persistent), not to ephemeral dials. Remaining: the dynamic-target
+policy hook for `-D`-style opens (which identities may open channels to
+which targets when targets arrive per-channel), and whether that policy
+lives in `AccessControl` or in the open handler's params validation.
 
 ### OQ-TN-09: Lifecycle, teardown, and error reporting
 
@@ -423,14 +527,16 @@ Candidate reading for the research specialist (to be expanded):
       SSH/SOCKS5 addressing survey still open
 - [ ] Recommendation: addressing format sketch (OQ-TN-01) — SOCKS5
       ATYP validated as in-band encoding prior art; per-channel vs
-      per-datagram fork unresolved
+      per-datagram fork unresolved; resource naming + discovery now
-- [ ] Recommendation: datagram strategy (OQ-TN-02) + ALPN strategy
+      in scope (hub model)
-      dependent on it (OQ-TN-07) — framing mechanics de-risked by
+- [x] Direction model resolved (OQ-TN-03) — hub-owns-the-connection
-      tun2proxy prior art; endpoint-at-open vs per-datagram addressing
+      model: role follows the resource, no protocol-level direction;
-      fork remains
+      `-D` composes at the assembly layer
-- [ ] Recommendation: direction model (-L/-R/-D) (OQ-TN-03) + API
+- [x] No-forced-binding requirement encoded (OQ-TN-04) — binding is
-      surface sketch satisfying no-forced-binding (OQ-TN-04)
+      always assembly-layer and optional; remaining work is the
-- [ ] Decision input: backend trait vs no-trait (OQ-TN-05)
+      concrete produce/consume API surface sketch (spec task)
+- [ ] Decision input: backend trait vs no-trait (OQ-TN-05), now
+      including the hub re-produce composition question
 - [ ] Targeted POC(s) run + summary (OQ-TN-10) — UDP first, reverse
       flow second
 - [ ] Open questions promoted to Phase 1