Permission Simplification Execution Journal

Status: Active

Branch: codex/permission-simplification-0130

Starting source: e2c52d50ba331798a3da4871fdad3bbcdd399633

Starting Cua Driver version: 0.12.6

Completion bar

• Implement the reconciled standard, bounded, and unrestricted contracts.
• Preserve explicit authorization for an existing authenticated Chromium profile.
• Remove Cua-owned consent modal and banner behavior.
• Preserve the vector semantic cursor and add a sanitized public-session badge.
• Update Rust, CLI, MCP, Python, TypeScript, installers, examples, and public documentation.
• Validate the exact review SHA locally and through representative macOS, Windows, Linux X11, Linux Wayland, and Linux headless environments.
• Record cursor and interaction videos on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
• Merge verified dependencies and the completed implementation.
• Do not create or publish a component release.

Checkpoints

Source synchronization

• Merged dependency PR #2603 after all required checks passed.
• Created the implementation branch from the resulting current origin/main.
• Verified the worktree is clean and contains the exact upstream commit.
• Preserved unrelated local planning files in their original worktree.

Descriptor and provenance foundations

• Added an explicit allow, deny, manifest, or grant behavior matrix to every reviewed enforcement adapter.
• Made routine standard observation, input, file transfer, recording, browser input, and agent-adjustable configuration independent of the legacy consent broker.
• Kept unbounded page mutation and operating-system permission prompting denied outside their trusted boundaries.
• Replaced PID-only process ownership records with process fingerprints.
• Added launch-time running-process snapshots and post-launch attestation so only a newly observed process can enter the runtime ownership registry.
• Added dispatch-time fingerprint re-proof and stale-provenance removal before driver-owned process termination.
• Denied foreign-process termination in standard mode without opening a consent surface.
• Verification:
  • cargo test -p cua-driver-core --lib: 413 passed.
  • cargo check -p cua-driver-core --all-targets: passed.

Practical bounded mode and terminal revocation

• Added manifest version 2 while keeping version 1 loadable.
• Added application identity grants, practical directory roots, browser profile kinds, and driver-owned versus foreign termination rules.
• Made path-root matching component-aware and canonical-path based.
• Enriched live window and process attestations with application identity before manifest matching.
• Allowed an existing-profile browser binding directly from a matching bounded manifest, without a consent provider or indicator.
• Added a direct no-provider bounded dispatch test.
• Added stable dispatch refusals for ended sessions, revoked authorization contexts, and a terminal runtime revoke-all latch.
• Made revoke-all reject later calls even when they introduce a new public session label.
• Verification:
  • cargo check -p cua-driver-core --all-targets: passed.
  • cargo check -p cua-driver --all-targets: passed.
  • Focused bounded no-provider and terminal-revocation tests: passed.

Host integrations, UI removal, and session identity

• Added repeatable --grant existing-profile launch configuration to mcp and serve, including proxy forwarding and restart refusal when an incompatible daemon is already live.
• Added the public DriverAuthorizationHost callback and content-free DriverActivityObserver to the Rust, Python, and TypeScript SDK surfaces.
• Added activity events for authorized actions, authorization refusals, ordinary failures, grant lifecycle, and session lifecycle.
• Removed the native Cua authorization modal, banner, helper modes, platform consent renderers, and the complete overlay-ui crate.
• Preserved browser-owned Chromium connection prompts and operating-system permission flows.
• Added a renderer-owned public-session badge below the semantic cursor using bundled Inter artwork, sanitization, stable session color, and live backing scale.
• Added the badge to macOS, Windows, Linux X11 and layer-shell rendering, plus GNOME Wayland helper API v6.
• Regenerated Python and TypeScript UniFFI bindings.
• Verification:
  • Core, SDK, and cursor unit suites: 482 passed.
  • cargo test -p cua-driver unit suite: 136 passed.
  • TypeScript package suite: 6 passed.
  • Python package suite: 28 passed, 3 skipped because no bundled executable was staged for those optional checks.
  • cargo fmt --all -- --check: passed before the final naming cleanup and will be rerun on the review SHA.

Public contract and migration guidance

• Replaced prompt-heavy standard-mode guidance with the promptless practical default.
• Added the mode matrix, bounded manifest v2 guide, launch-grant workflow, SDK host callback examples, activity-observer contract, revocation behavior, same-user boundary, session badge, and headless behavior.
• Updated the generated CLI and MCP references, package READMEs, embedded and browser skills, cursor authoring docs, update guide, and shared post-install hints.
• Removed the obsolete native consent UI screenshot from the public docs.

Local review gate

• Verified the generated CLI and MCP reference is current.
• Verified the generated Python and TypeScript UniFFI bindings are current.
• Built the complete public documentation site and checked internal links and public-document hygiene.
• Rebuilt and staged the exact local SDK library before running package tests, so the package tests exercised the current ABI rather than a prior binary.
• Verification:
  • cargo test -p cua-driver: passed, including 136 binary unit tests and all non-ignored integration tests.
  • TypeScript typecheck and package suite: 6 passed.
  • Python package suite: 28 passed and 3 optional executable checks skipped.
  • Documentation production build: passed with 93 static pages.
  • Documentation link check: 0 errors.
  • Documentation hygiene check: passed.
  • cargo fmt --all -- --check: passed.
  • Focused Clippy checks cover the changed core and cursor crates. A strict all-platform, all-target workspace invocation also reports unrelated existing warnings in host-platform stubs; platform CI remains the authoritative cross-target lint and build check.

Evidence index

Evidence links and exact-head workflow runs will be added as each environment completes.