Open-issue triage and roadmap (post-2.9.0)

Snapshot as of 2026-10-02: 2.9.0 is released (#274). It ships #262, #263, #267, #268, #269, #270 (closes #228) and #271 (closes #264).

How to use this

• Each item gives a one-line reason, its status, its size, its dependencies, and whether an outside contributor can do it alone. "Alone" means implementing it and opening a PR without Harper-internal access. A maintainer still has to merge and release it.
• Sizes: S is under a day, M is a few days, L is a week or more including review.
• Security changes here go through a design note and a cross-model plan review before any code. The "Design (cleared …)" sections in #212, #213 and #231 are the approved plans, so read them before writing code.
• Each item appears in one section only. Blocked items are listed under Blocked, with their tier noted.
• When an item moves, update its line here. Close this issue when Tier 1 and Blocked are both empty.

Tier 1: security/correctness, do first

• #275: Azure ?appid= form of the shared-alias keys URL isn't recognized.
  • Why: this is a 2.9.0 regression for unpinned configs, which now get a misleading "set issuer" warning and a doomed discovery attempt. A pinned config binds to Microsoft's shared key pool with issuerValidated: true, which src/lib/DESIGN.md says must never happen.
  • Status: the fix with tests is in draft PR #276. It needs the pre-push cross-model review, then review, merge and a 2.9.1 patch.
  • Size: S. Deps: none. Outside contributor: yes.
• #231 §3: bind adopted accounts to a stable (iss, sub) in a plugin-owned oauth_identities table, not to a verified email (OIDC Core §5.7).
  • Why: if an IdP reassigns an email, the new holder silently inherits the existing account's role.
  • Status: designed and cleared, ready to implement. Ship the default policy, which requires pre-registration, first.
  • Size: L. Deps: none for the default policy. The opt-in allowFirstBindWithoutPreRegistration needs an atomic insert-if-absent write, which HarperFast/harper#2990 does not provide (its ifVersion is fenced to request.session.update). Defer that opt-in, or find another primitive for it.
  • Outside contributor: yes.
• #273: a roleless trusted session can inherit a role when a matching hdb_user is created later.
  • Why: sessions never expire by default, so someone who controls an email can hold a session until an admin happens to create that username.
  • Status: needs a design note. First check whether #231 §3's binding gate covers it, or whether core's session-to-role resolution bypasses it.
  • Size: M. Deps: after #231 §3; possibly a Harper core change (file a linked harper issue if so). Outside contributor: the design and plugin side, yes; a core change, no.
• #277: session docs are wrong about expiry.
  • Why: line 141 of docs/token-refresh-and-sessions.md says Harper sessions "default 24 hours" and that an expired session "is deleted from hdb_session". In fact there is no default expiry, and the plugin clears session fields rather than deleting the row. That leads operators to underestimate #231 §1 and #273.
  • Status: filed; needs the docs fix. Size: S. Deps: none. Outside contributor: yes.

Tier 2: UX/devexp

• #272: Azure multi-tenant, where only an allowlist of tenants can adopt accounts while anyone can still sign in.
  • Why: today operators must choose between open sign-in and account adoption.
  • Status: needs a design note and plan review. The tenant must be proven by the signing key's issuer in Microsoft's JWKS, which jwks-rsa doesn't expose. A bounded fetch like src/lib/mcp/jwksFetcher.ts is the likely route.
  • Size: L. Deps: rebase on #275. Outside contributor: yes.
  • Two small sub-items can ship on their own (S each, outside contributor yes):
    • warn when azureAuthorizeIssuerHost returns null for an Azure-looking host;
    • optionally, redirect a pinned v1 alias to the tenant's own keys instead of throwing.
• PR #234: optionally serve the OAuth endpoints as HTTP middleware, so a catch-all handler such as Next.js with files: '*' doesn't hide /oauth/*.
  • Why: in those apps login is unreachable.
  • Status: stalled on requested changes since 2026-09-26. Registering with urlPath routes every /oauth/* request only through the new sub-chain. With the option off, every /oauth/* request returns 404 (8 integration failures); with it on, POST endpoints return 404.
  • Fix from the review: register without urlPath, check the mount prefix in the handler, and call next(request) otherwise. Add an integration fixture covering a GET login and one POST.
  • Size: S–M. Deps: none. Outside contributor: yes, as the author's update or a takeover.
  • No issue tracks the underlying problem; file one so it survives the PR.

Tier 3: maintenance/perf

• #258: remove the transition-era typ: JWT acceptance from typAccepted() in src/lib/mcp/tokenIssuer.ts and update docs/mcp-oauth-conformance.md.
  • Why: RFC 9068 §4 is strict about typ, and the transition branch has no expiry in code.
  • Status: time-gated. 2.9.0 is the first release that mints at+jwt. Removal is safe only when no node older than 2.9.0 can still be minting tokens.
  • Target a later minor (at least 2.11) or the next major. Its CHANGELOG entry must warn that a rolling upgrade straight from below 2.9 gives up to one mcp.accessTokenTtl (default 3600 s) of 401s.
  • Size: S. Deps: time only. Outside contributor: yes.

Blocked (with the exact blocker)

• #212 (Tier 1): a concurrent token refresh can resurrect a logged-out session.
  • Blocker: HarperFast/harper#2990 (open, closes HarperFast/harper#2983) must merge and ship in a Harper release. It adds request.session.update(data, { ifVersion }) and request.session.version. The plugin then raises its harper peer minimum, because an older core silently ignores the second argument.
  • Unblocked now: design the plugin-side cross-node defense. ifVersion is atomic on the local node only, and hdb_session replicates last-write-wins.
  • Size: L in total (the plugin change is M once core ships). Outside contributor: the plugin side, yes; the core merge and release, no.
• #213 (Tier 1): a request that invalidates an OAuth session still runs once as the old user.
  • Blocker: HarperFast/harper#2984, request.invalidateSessionAuthentication(). It is open and has no PR.
  • Plugin side afterwards: call it at the five continuation points, add a reachable capability check, and raise the peer minimum. The persistence-failure parts already shipped in #268.
  • Size: core M, plugin S–M. Outside contributor: can write the core PR in the public harper repo; merging needs core maintainers.
• #231 §1 (Tier 1): durably neutralize sessions from before the adoption gate, including on the operations API.
  • Blocker: a Harper core product and operations decision between two candidates:
    • Candidate A: a new hdb_session_v2 table and a cookie rename, for a rolling path.
    • Candidate B: a quiesced, cluster-wide purge of system.hdb_session.
  • Unblocked prep: test whether an old Harper node's operations API can write the new system table generically. The result decides whether Candidate A is viable.
  • Interim mitigation: clear system.hdb_session.
  • Size: L (core). Outside contributor: the prep, yes; the decision, no.
• #244 (Tier 2), remaining part: make interactive CIMD private_key_jwt on by default.
  • Blocker (external): ChatGPT still signs its client assertions with the token-endpoint URL as aud, which RFC 7523bis forbids. The publication of RFC 7523bis is the most likely trigger for a change.
  • Re-run the live capture before each release. On deployments that opted in, watch the logged aud form.
  • Size: S once unblocked. Outside contributor: yes, with their own ChatGPT account and a reachable test authorization server.
• #156 (Tier 3): MCP SEP-2350 scope step-up, plus the 403 insufficient_scope challenge deferred from #202.
  • Blocker: per-tool scopes, which have no tracking issue or design (#86 is closed). Today's token scoping is role-level.
  • Size: L. Outside contributor: not until a scope model is decided.

Likely fixed / close candidates (with evidence)

• #244: the reported failure, ChatGPT refused with invalid_client, was fixed by #245 and hardened by #253, both shipped in 2.8.0 (see its CHANGELOG). The body's own status block says "Fixed". It stays open only for the default-flip gate.
  • Close it and open a narrow "default-on interactive private_key_jwt" issue that carries the gate checklist, or retitle this one.
• #231: most sections have shipped.
  • §2 shipped in #232 (2.7.0).
  • §4 and §5a–d shipped in #263 (2.9.0). #271 then relaxed §4's startup hard-fail to background OIDC discovery.
  • §6 is done: #230 was closed via #239.
  • Split §1 and §3 into their own issues, copying the design sections verbatim, then close this umbrella.
• #156: item 2 shipped in #192. The final-spec re-verify is done: #202 is closed and the conformance matrix is in docs/mcp-oauth-conformance.md.
  • What remains depends on unscheduled work. Retitle it as a per-tool-scopes umbrella, or close it as not planned until that is scheduled.
• No duplicates found.
  • #273 was split out of #231 §3 on purpose.
  • #212 (persisted-row race) and #213 (in-request identity) complement each other.
  • #275 (?appid=) is distinct from the bare v1-alias case recorded as fixed in #272.

Suggested order of work

1. Finish #276 (#275): pre-push review, merge, and release 2.9.1.
2. Fix the session-expiry docs (#277).
3. Split #231 into separate §1 and §3 issues and close the umbrella. Close or retitle #244 and #156.
4. Implement #231 §3 with the default pre-registration policy and without the first-bind opt-in.
5. Write the #273 design note, checking it against the #231 §3 gate.
6. Design #212's cross-node defense now. Ship the plugin change once HarperFast/harper#2990 is in a Harper release.
7. Get HarperFast/harper#2984 implemented (a core PR is welcome), then do #213's plugin side.
8. Unstick PR #234, through the author's update or a takeover, and file an issue for the catch-all problem.
9. Ship the two small #272 sub-items, then write #272's design note.
10. #231 §1, once Harper core picks Candidate A or B. Run the old-node table-write test beforehand to inform that choice.
11. #258, once the time gate passes.
12. #244's default flip, once ChatGPT signs with the issuer as aud.
13. #156, once per-tool scopes are scheduled.