ClusterClient→gRPC migration Phase 4 (docs/plans/2026-07-22-clusterclient-to-grpc-plan.md).
Phases 2/3 proved both directions on gRPC; this removes the Akka transport underneath.
Deleted:
- AkkaCentralTransport, AkkaSiteTransport (+ their dedicated tests)
- ISiteClientFactory + DefaultSiteClientFactory; CentralCommunicationActor legacy
ctor + SelectTransport (Host now builds GrpcSiteTransport and injects it)
- ClusterClient creation + both ClusterClientReceptionist.RegisterService calls in
AkkaHostedService; the RegisterCentralClient message + receive block
- CommunicationOptions.CentralContactPoints; the CentralTransport/SiteTransport
coexistence flags; the CentralTransportMode/SiteTransportKind enums
gRPC is now the only site↔central transport (site→central CentralControlService via
GrpcCentralTransport; central→site SiteCommandService via GrpcSiteTransport), both
built unconditionally by the Host. NoOpCentralTransport is the fail-loud null-default
so TestKit command-dispatch suites still construct the site actor without a wired
transport; production always injects GrpcCentralTransport.
Config: CentralGrpcEndpoints is now unconditional — CommunicationOptionsValidator
rejects blank entries (role-agnostic), and StartupValidator requires a Site node to
list >=1 endpoint (fail-fast, mirrors GrpcPsk). Rig configs moved
CentralContactPoints -> CentralGrpcEndpoints (docker x6, docker-env2 x2, Host default,
deploy/wonder-app-vd03). Kept Akka.Cluster.Tools (ClusterSingleton still used).
Tests: build 0/0; Communication.Tests 640, Host.Tests 421 green. Removed the
ClusterClient.Send per-site-routing tests (covered by the transport suites), swapped
the ISiteClientFactory-based ctors to a substitute ISiteCommandTransport, converted
the audit-push integration relay to an in-process bridge transport.
Docs: Component-Communication/Host/StoreAndForward, components/Communication,
topology-guide, grpc_streams (SUPERSEDED note), the frame-size known-issue (retired
amendment), and CLAUDE.md transport decisions.
Not included: the dead IntegrationCallRequest path (#32) is a separate user-owned
behavioral decision — SiteEnvelope routing is transport-agnostic so it still compiles.
Phase 0 of the ClusterClient→gRPC migration
(docs/plans/2026-07-22-clusterclient-to-grpc-plan.md). Standalone hardening: it
closes a gap that exists today and is a precondition for moving command/control
onto gRPC in later phases.
T0.1 — delete the ManagementActor ClusterClientReceptionist registration.
It was built for an out-of-cluster CLI that was never written: the shipped CLI
speaks HTTP Basic to /management, which asks the actor in-process through
ManagementActorHolder. Nothing in the repo ever sent to /user/management. The
actor still runs there; only the cross-boundary advertisement is gone. Six
documents claimed the CLI used ClusterClient — including the CLI's own README
"Architecture Notes" — and are corrected here rather than left to rot.
T0.2 — record, do not port, the dead integration-routing path.
IntegrationCallRequest is unwired at BOTH ends: RouteIntegrationCallAsync has
zero callers anywhere, and RegisterLocalHandler(Integration, …) appears only in
a test, so production always answers "Integration handler not available". It is
excluded from the gRPC contract (28 of 29 commands migrate) rather than
enshrined on an additive-only wire format, and deleting it during a
transport migration would mix a behavioural change into a change whose whole
value is that behaviour is identical. See
docs/known-issues/2026-07-22-integration-call-routing-is-dead-code.md.
T0.3 — preshared-key authentication on SiteStreamService.
The service shipped with no auth at all: plaintext h2c, no interceptor, so
anything that could reach a site node's :8083 could open a live data stream or
read audit rows back via PullAuditEvents/PullSiteCalls. ControlPlaneAuthInterceptor
now gates /sitestream.SiteStreamService/ — modeled on LocalDbSyncAuthInterceptor
(constant-time compare, fail-closed, PermissionDenied) but gating a SET of
service prefixes so phases 1A/1B add services rather than interceptors. LocalDb
sync keeps its own separate key: it authenticates the pair partner, not central,
and collapsing the two would make a site's central-facing key also admit writes
into its database.
Keys are per site (SB-GRPC-PSK-<siteId>), never fleet-wide, so a compromised
site yields only its own. Central attaches them through ControlPlaneCredentials,
which binds CallCredentials to the channel — covering unary and streaming
uniformly, and letting the key resolve asynchronously, which a client
interceptor could not do without blocking. All three central→site channel
creation sites go through it (SiteStreamGrpcClient and both audit pull invokers);
the pull invokers' channel caches are re-keyed by (site, endpoint) because
credentials are per-site and bound to the channel.
Two decisions beyond the plan:
* StartupValidator now requires GrpcPsk on Site nodes. The plan specified only
the runtime gate, but fail-closed with no boot check produces a node that
joins, answers heartbeats and reports healthy while refusing every stream,
audit pull and telemetry ingest — silent and total. Same reasoning as the
existing inbound API-key pepper rule.
* Added Communication:SitePsks as a central-side key map. The plan assumed
central would read the store, seeded via a dev KEK; the docker rig
deliberately boots with no master key, so store-only resolution would leave
it unable to dial its own sites. The store stays primary — it is the only
source that can serve a site added at runtime — with the map covering
key-less hosts and one-off pins. Neither source falling back to
"unauthenticated" is the invariant.
T0.4 — dev keys on both rigs and tests.
34 tests. The seven that matter most exercise a real in-process gRPC stack over
TestServer: the unit tests on either side of the wire would both stay green if
the halves disagreed, and gRPC refuses call credentials on a plaintext channel
by default — the UnsafeUseInsecureChannelCallCredentials opt-in is only provable
by making a real call. They confirm correct key passes on unary AND streaming,
wrong key and no-credentials both get PermissionDenied, and an unresolvable key
fails the call with nothing reaching the service.
OPERATIONAL: a site node upgraded to this build without a key will not boot.
That includes the gitignored deploy/wonder-app-vd03/ overlay.
Remediation from the full per-module code review at 4307c381 (findings recorded
separately in code-reviews/).
Highs fixed:
- DeploymentManager-025/SiteRuntime-031: stop broadcasting notification lists + SMTP
configs (incl. credentials) to sites; site purges already-persisted rows on apply
(enforces the central-only delivery design; clears plaintext SMTP creds at rest).
- DataConnectionLayer-023: guard the native-alarm subscribe path against the
mid-flight-unsubscribe adapter-feed leak (mirrors the DCL-021 tag-path fix).
- SiteEventLogging-024: normalize From/To query bounds to UTC (the -016 fix the
audit trail claimed but never committed).
- KpiHistory-001: add an in-flight guard to the recorder sample tick.
- ScriptAnalysis-001: harden the trust analyzer's TPA-absent fallback (resolve
forbidden anchors in the minimal reference set; warn on degraded mode) — anchors
added to validation references only, never the compile gate.
(InboundAPI-026 left to the feat/ipsen-movein effort per owner decision.)
Medium/Low: DM-026 deterministic deploy-status tiebreaker; SR-027/028/029/030
native-alarm leak/phantom-active/delete-during-redeploy fixes; AL-013/014/016;
TE-024 (folder-mutation audit rows now persisted)/025; SF-025 gauge-provider
clear-on-stop; ESG-025/026; SEC-023/024/025; SCA-007/008/009; plus doc/test
accuracy COM-023/024, HOST-025/026, HM-024/025, NS-027/028.
Full-solution build 0 warnings; ~3560 tests across 18 touched suites green.
REQ-HOST-4a lists "required cluster singletons running (if applicable)" as a
readiness criterion, but /health/ready only checked database + akka-cluster.
Add a third Ready-tagged check, RequiredSingletonsHealthCheck, registered in the
Central-role AddHealthChecks() chain (so it is naturally role-scoped — site nodes
never run it).
Probe: for each required central singleton, Ask its local ClusterSingletonProxy
an Identify with a short bounded per-singleton timeout (~2s, probes run
concurrently via Task.WhenAll). A non-null ActorIdentity.Subject within the
timeout means the singleton is running and reachable through the proxy; a null
subject or a timeout means unreachable → Unhealthy, naming the unreachable
singleton(s). The check never throws (catch-all → Unhealthy) and resolves
ActorSystem lazily from DI per probe (Unhealthy if Akka not yet up).
Required-always set = the five singleton proxies created unconditionally in
AkkaHostedService.RegisterCentralActors: notification-outbox, audit-log-ingest,
site-call-audit, audit-log-purge, site-audit-reconciliation. There are no
feature/config-gated central singletons today; any future gated singleton is the
"if applicable" case and must NOT be added to the required set.
Leadership-agnostic: the proxy reaches the singleton from either central node, so
a ready standby still reports ready (readiness must not require cluster
leadership — that is the Active tier's job). During a brief singleton handover the
probe may time out and the node flaps to not-ready, which is correct (a node
mid-handover is legitimately not fully ready); no retries, to keep the probe fast.
Tests (TDD): RequiredSingletonsHealthCheckTests exercises the probe against a
TestKit ActorSystem — all proxies present+reachable → Healthy; one missing →
Unhealthy naming it; ActorSystem absent → Unhealthy, no throw. HealthCheckTests
regression-guards the Ready tag + absence of the Active tag on the new check.
Switch site host to WebApplicationBuilder with Kestrel HTTP/2 gRPC server,
add GrpcPort/keepalive config, wire SiteStreamManager as ISiteStreamSubscriber,
expose gRPC ports in docker-compose, add site seed script, update all 10
requirement docs + CLAUDE.md + README.md for the new dual-transport architecture.
Organize documentation by moving requirements (HighLevelReqs, Component-*,
lmxproxy_protocol) to docs/requirements/ and test infrastructure docs to
docs/test_infra/. Updates all cross-references in README, CLAUDE.md,
infra/README, component docs, and 23 plan files.
Joseph Doherty