Piik/docs/standards/rooms-access.md

Rooms And Access

This file owns the current room, admission, invitation, interaction, and persistence contract. ADR-0002 explains the storage decision; implementation detail belongs in code and tests.

Room Authority

• A room has one Host and at most 20 authenticated Viewers.
• Room codes are random free four-digit values from 1000..9999. A code locates a room within its site authority; it is not globally unique, a secret or a permanent identity. App public-link rooms belong to that App's local authority.
• Every room has a 256-bit Host token. The server stores only its digest; the owning Browser keeps the raw token locally.
• Each Host tab retains its current room in session storage. The origin keeps one persistent resume hint and a separate preferred code; a new tab may resume that room only when no other tab claims it. Secure Browser origins use Web Locks, including protection against copied tab storage. Without Web Locks, fresh tabs create independent rooms and same-tab reload can retain authority, but duplicated-tab exclusion is not guaranteed. Closing the tab releases its claim; losing Host authority clears that tab without erasing another tab's resume hint.
• Room identity and credentials do not expire with inactivity. The exact Host token resumes the room until explicit replacement or deletion. Grant rotation or revocation ends an invitation without changing the room code. No presence event renews or shortens room authority.
• The Host may replace its room code. Replacement atomically creates a different room and invalidates the old ownership, invitations, password, sessions, routes, and media resources. It ends an active share and stops its capture tracks; it does not migrate or automatically restart capture.
• A locally remembered preferred code is only a request. The server remains the authority and allocates another code when that code is unavailable. The store remains bounded by 9,000 codes; it rejects new rooms when full.

Admission Paths

Three independent authorities exist:

1. Site access. SITE_ACCESS_PASSWORD is optional in every environment, including production. Unset or empty makes site access immediate without a cookie; room ownership and Viewer admission still apply. When configured, successful password entry creates a stateless, HttpOnly, SameSite=Strict cookie with a 24-hour rolling idle lifetime. An already authorized page renews it through the site-access check while it remains active. It authorizes room creation, Host role, and code-only Viewer attempts; it is not a room credential, and Viewer-grant admission cannot create or renew it. Cookie transport attributes follow the configured destination: public HTTPS retains the Secure host-prefixed cookie, while a separately configured HTTP LAN origin can use its HTTP cookie. Login, renewal, room creation and WebSocket admission use that same selection. Cookie signatures use a random process key independent of the password; restarting the Server/App requires site-password entry again. This does not revoke persisted room ownership or Viewer invitations. The application rejects framing through its own HTTP headers, including without a proxy. A signaling authentication failure alone does not establish site-access loss: its existing error also covers an incomplete or timed-out room handshake. The Host checks the site-access authority before entering the password gate; an allowed or unavailable check retains ordinary connection recovery. Explicit room credential rejection remains terminal.
2. Host ownership. The exact Host token authorizes that room's Host and access-management operations. It cannot authorize another room.
3. Viewer invitation. Every room creates a 128-bit, 22-character base64url Viewer grant. It authorizes only the Viewer role for that exact room incarnation and bypasses site access and code-entry policy.

The invitation grant is carried in the URL fragment, removed from the address bar on first read, and retained only in room-scoped sessionStorage. Refreshing the same tab preserves it. It is not intentionally persisted across independent tabs or Browser sessions; tab duplication and opener initialization remain Browser behavior. The grant has no independent TTL and ends with the room or when the Host rotates or revokes it.

The Host can omit the grant from the displayed/copied link. This page-local choice defaults to including it and does not change admission policy, revoke existing invitations or clear a recipient's valid authorization. The ordinary room address retains the server-provided site and room path; it follows site access and code-entry rules. An invite-only room has no ordinary-address entry.

Code-only admission is independent of invitations:

• open admits a site-authorized Viewer by room code;
• private without a password is invitation-only;
• private with a password additionally admits a site-authorized matching code-and-password attempt.

An unknown or deleted code returns ROOM_NOT_FOUND. A current room that refuses a code-only attempt returns the generic ROOM_ACCESS_DENIED result without exposing its exact policy. Invalid grants and Host ownership failures remain separate.

Rotating or revoking the Viewer grant is a strong authorization change. The new generation is committed before old Viewers, signaling grace, routes, and sender edges are closed. An affected SFU Viewer's exact embedded subscription is closed before its egress reservation is released. Room-authenticated signaling cannot recreate a revoked subscription; no separate media token survives revocation. Changing code-entry policy or password affects later code-only attempts and does not silently revoke invitations.

Room Interactions

Text and reactions reuse the authenticated room signaling connection. The server derives sender identity from that session and accepts targeted reactions only for participants still connected to the same room. Interaction subscriptions inherit existing membership, replacement and revocation checks; they grant no additional authority and do not modify media routes.

Delivery is transient and bounded. The server keeps no message history; each page keeps only a bounded set of received messages and effects, without writing them to storage or diagnostics. Re-admission to the same room may retain that page's conversation, but refresh, leaving or authority loss clears it. There is no history replay or offline outbox. HTTPS/WSS protects transport; chat is not end-to-end encrypted, and the site operator can access live message contents.

Presentation and lifecycle owns the distinction between a room session and its current media publication. Interaction research records delivery bounds, compatibility and design rationale.

Persistence Modes

• Stable mode (Hosted default): one exact-schema SQLite owner persists room authority across application restart. ROOM_DATABASE_PATH selects an absolute file path; absent or empty uses rooms.sqlite in the working directory.
• Lightweight mode: explicit ROOM_DATABASE_PATH=:memory: keeps room authority in process memory and all rooms disappear on restart.
• App Local mode: the packaged App composes the same memory RoomStore and ends every room when its local authority exits. Saved Site/password and last-confirmed mode preferences follow App configuration; rooms and media state remain process-only. A blank password leaves that site open.

Persistence evidence, limits and the earlier cross-restart evaluation live in cross-restart recovery research.

The App opens its own localhost Host page with the configured password, when present, in a fragment. The page removes the fragment and uses the existing SiteAccess endpoint; this does not create a fourth admission authority. LAN and one-link Internet Viewers use the same room-scoped invitation grant; its fragment never enters the public tunnel request, and the Host's Local RoomStore remains the only authority. Selecting a Site moves room authority wholly to that Site rather than synchronizing two stores.

Stable mode does not persist participants, signaling sessions, sharing state, routes, codec decisions, quality evidence, or SFU state. After restart, clients reauthenticate and rebuild media. No restored room is considered online until fresh sessions connect. Status owns the selected deployment mode and ADR-0002 owns storage validation.

The Host Browser may persist its creation preferences, including policy and an optional room password. Raw Viewer grants never enter localStorage, cookies, queries, server logs, or SQLite. Credentials, passwords, and invitation URLs are never committed to the repository.