- social.ts friend-add: user_action, with 409 peer_pending_local_admin
when gate fires
- /peer/ensure: user_action, surfaces peeringStatus: 'admin_required'
- sendCallRelay (typing warm-up + call relay): system intent
- federationWorker resolvePendingPeers: system intent (defensive — gate
is unreachable from here since pending rows already exist)
- CallRelayFailureReason: peer_admin_required added (mapped to
peer_transient_failure on the user-facing event surface, since system
intent should never legitimately surface admin_required)
- Test files: thread intent arg through racePeering and ensurePeered
calls (positional shift from racePeering signature change)
- outboundGate.test.ts: tighten noUncheckedIndexedAccess access via
non-null assertions after toHaveLength()
- docs/systems/social.md: peer_pending_local_admin error code documented
Closes the auto-reconnect trust-bypass: any code path calling
ensurePeered(remote) on an instance with autoAcceptPeering=0 could
previously bypass the admin gate by initiating a fresh handshake to the
remote, which the remote then accepted against its existing
awaiting_approval row.
The trigger surfaced was stores/instanceStore.ts:1010 — the silent
.catch(() => {}) auto-reconnect that fires for any user with the
remote in their replicatedInstances (commonly: any admin). Anyone with
that profile reloading their session activated peering on both sides
without any admin approval action.
Surgical fix: ensurePeered now returns rejected when an unresolved
inbound peer_approval_requests row exists for the target origin. The
legitimate admin-approve flow (routes/federation.ts:1089) does not call
ensurePeered; it deletes the approval-request and does its own direct
fetch to /peer/accept, so this check does not block legitimate approvals.
The receiver-side trust assumption at routes/federation.ts:619-645
(awaiting_approval branch in /peer/accept) still has the same flaw
— an adversarial peer that knows the timing could re-handshake at the
right moment to flip the receiver to active. That deeper trust-model
rework is plan-grade work tracked at internal notes
2026-04-26-peer-handshake-trust-model.md.
Jannis Braun