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Design Secure Interface Doors for terminal browser editor and agent workspace UX #3

@mdheller

Description

@mdheller

Context

SourceOS Agent Machine needs user-facing secure interface doors for local terminal, browser, and code editor workflows without collapsing the host into the agent runtime.

This repo is the SourceOS shell product/runtime home, while sourceos-spec owns contracts and sourceos-devtools owns the local broker engine. The shell layer should define the UX posture and runtime surface, not the low-level Podman implementation.

Scope

Add a design note for SourceOS shell secure interface doors:

  • Terminal Door: operator attach, transcript, redaction, and distinction between operator attach and agent execution.
  • Browser Door: isolated browser session, browser automation evidence, and host profile denial by default.
  • Editor Door: VS Code / editor launch surface, repo-scoped editing, task/test handoff, and evidence cues.
  • Agent Tool Door: OpenCLAW/OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex, Claude Code, local shell, GitHub/CI bots as governed tool surfaces.

Requirements

  • Align with SecureHostInterfaceProfile and HostInterfaceGrant once those schemas land in sourceos-spec.
  • Treat SourceOS shell as the user-visible control surface, not as the authority for agent grants.
  • Keep Agent Registry as authority for non-human participants.
  • Keep AgentPlane as governed execution/evidence lane.
  • Preserve the repo's current PDF-first implementation boundary; this can be a design + future slice until broader shell UX is unlocked.

Acceptance criteria

  • Docs explain the four-door model and route each door to its implementation owner.
  • Security posture is explicit: deny-by-default, no raw host secrets, no raw host browser profile sharing.
  • Evidence requirements are visible in UX language.
  • No Podman engine implementation added here.

Non-goals

  • Do not implement the broker here.
  • Do not implement VS Code/browser extensions here.
  • Do not move sourceos-spec contracts into this repo.
  • Do not expand beyond docs/design while PDF-first runtime scope remains the active implementation lane.

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