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Feature plan: Step 1 · Step 2 · Step 3 · Step 4

Debug mode: enabled (debug log) Effort study: railspike-effort / v3/app_sessions (ledger); standing enrollment, protocol P2 Extended estimates: enabled

Cycle estimate: 0.90

Status: Approved Step 2 (2026-11-03T02:26Z, maintainer: "Approved step 2.").

Problem

Sign-in state lives in PHP session files, ini defaults and a cookie the browser may refuse, so members and operators are silently signed out, or never signed in, in ways that look different each time.

User stories

  • As an operator, I want to stay signed in until I sign out so that Deploy and other operator tools work after an idle evening.

  • As a member on an iPhone, I want sign-in to work over http after visiting over https so that the site behaves the same on either address.

  • As a returning member with a saved key, I want the switch to new sessions to sign me back in silently so that I never notice it.

  • As a member who signs out, I want that session to end on the server at once so that a copied cookie stops working.

  • As a contributor, I want tests to sign in through the real cookie so that a passing test means sign-in actually works.

Core requirements

  • One answer to "who is signed in" for every request carrying the session cookie, with no route list. Keyless readers get no cookie, so static pages stay static.

  • A session lasts its stated lifetime (400 days, as today) unless signed out. Sign-out ends it on the server immediately. Signing in again as the same identity keeps the existing session. A request in flight during sign-in or sign-out never signs the browser back in or out by accident.

  • Sign-in behaves the same over http and https without forcing https: each scheme has its own cookie, and an http cookie never authorizes an https request. The testing Approve cookie gets the same treatment.

  • No PHP session functions remain. An existing PHPSESSID is expired on first contact; browsers with a saved key sign back in through the existing background sign-in and resume page; cold POST/API requests get today's signed-out response.

  • The existing sign-in API responses stay byte-compatible for browsers and agents. Server-side workarounds listed in Step 1 (rotation forwarding, start allowlist/resume, $_SESSION-prefilled tests) are removed.

Delivery scope

  • Work type: application change, with tests and documentation.

  • Documentation: this cycle's plans and debug log, the study ledger, docs/reference/authentication_modes.md, status notes on session_reauthentication_reference.md and session_rotation_race_decision.md, and a new concept entry.

  • Dependency delta: zero (PHP's built-in SQLite and random functions).

  • Out of scope (separate work): Deploy page Sign in button, lobby-gate diagnostic log removal, client-side challenge-queue simplification, operator-delegation reintegration, "sign out other browsers" UI.

Completion boundary

  • Normal entry: sign in from Account, Lobby, Access history or the resume page, over http or https.

  • Outcome: the signed-in identity is recognized on every route, including Deploy POSTs, for the session lifetime; sign-out ends it.

  • Recovery: after the cutover or a cleared cookie, a browser with a saved key signs back in silently on its next page load; operators use the existing Access history sign-in.

  • Release: focused and full suites run with failures compared to baseline; real cookie round trips pass over http and https; the iPhone check below is done or explicitly recorded as pending.

Known user and environment

  • iPhone Safari over http, holding an https-era Secure PHPSESSID. Entry: open the site over http and sign in. Next action without help: none needed; if a sign-in fails, Account's sign-in retries. Verify: sign in, reload, and see the signed-in account over http, then over https. Evidence: a real iPhone Safari check by the maintainer; a Chromium replay of the shadowing condition is supporting evidence only.

  • Operator idle past 24 minutes. Entry: Tools › Deploy after a long idle. Verify: Deploy POST succeeds without signing in again. Evidence: a test with a session idle well past PHP's old default.

Risks

  • Test conversion volume (12 files, 49 sites in LocalAppSmokeTest). Impact: slice overruns. Validate first by converting one file with a shared signed-in-request helper. Mitigation: mechanical helper; split if the pilot shows otherwise.

  • SQLite write contention. Impact: slow or failed requests if every request writes "last seen". Validate with a concurrent-request check early. Mitigation: avoid a write per request.

  • Session store leaking into exports or backups. Impact: tokens leave the server. Validate by checking archive/backup inputs before building. Mitigation: store only token hashes, outside exported paths.

  • Unmerged branches adding session reads (operator delegation, revoked-key sessions). Impact: merge conflicts later. Mitigation: one resolver to call; note both branches in the closeout.

Shared component inventory

  • Sign-in APIs (/api/auth_challenge, /api/authenticate_identity, /api/auth_status, /api/clear_identity): reuse; same responses, new storage.

  • Browser sign-in private_site_auth.js, resume page, Access history sign-in partial, auth_navigation.js, member_approval.js, Messages access: reuse unchanged.

  • Viewer lookups in Application, RouteServices, DeployController, UserAccessController, IdentityHintController: switch to the shared resolver.

  • Static/high-traffic and docs cookie checks: reuse unchanged; they keep working because keyless readers get no cookie.

  • Testing Approve cookie, identity_hint cookie: reuse; Approve cookie gains per-scheme naming.

  • New: session store and resolver. Nothing existing holds app-owned session state.

User flow

  1. A member with a saved key opens any page over http or https.

  2. The browser signs in through the existing flow; the server issues a session cookie for that scheme.

  3. Every later request with that cookie is recognized, on any route.

  4. Sign-out ends the session on the server and clears the cookie.

  5. A browser still holding an old PHPSESSID loses it on its first request and signs back in silently.

Success criteria

  • No PHP session function or $_SESSION use remains in src/; no session route list remains.

  • Tests drive real cookie round trips; none pre-fill session state.

  • Signed-in state survives a simulated idle longer than PHP's old 24-minute default and lasts to the stated lifetime.

  • Sign-in works over http after an https visit (Chromium replay of the shadowing case; iPhone check recorded).

  • Sign-out makes a copied cookie unusable on the next request.

  • Signing in repeatedly as the same identity does not grow the session store per visit.

Concepts touched

  • Viewer session (sign-in): created as a new entry in docs/concepts/.

  • Static publication: used unchanged.

Enhancement requests

  • Step 1 workaround inventory (2026-11-03): recorded in Step 1; server-side items in scope here, client items deferred.

Approval and study checkpoint

  • Step 2 handoff 2026-11-03T02:08:04Z: whole-cycle 0.90 reaffirmed for scope v1/Option A. Requirements match the Step 1 recommendation; the explicit iPhone acceptance condition was already implied.

  • Baseline e6493e2ff4869f8bf98e5f43b3f6388814742c26; R1 (all three hashes re-verified); P2. Claude (claude-opus-5-5), single exposed rater. No implementation, measured labor or accepted outcome. Awaiting Approved Step 2; records uncommitted.

— Claude · 2026-11-03 UTC · Model: claude-opus-5-5