2026-10-23 — The product thinker's ruling of 2026-10-23, restated, narrowing ruling RN2 (dcn-2610020000000016) for the terminal drive (itd-2610222215485265): a drive runs the person's own unmodified claude CLI on their subscription by default, walled off from their own setup, and on an API key only when their configuration asks for it. The wall on the subscription route is a dedicated CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR the person logs into once, CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_CLAUDE_MDS=1, CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTO_MEMORY=1, --strict-mcp-config with an empty --mcp-config, --settings with disableAllHooks true, and --no-session-persistence, with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY unset; abcd never reads, stores or forwards the login token. The API-key route keeps --bare. Grounds: a check of the vendor's current docs on 2026-10-23 found that an end user may sign in to the unmodified CLI with their own subscription, that only other apps may not use or handle that login, and that --bare, the one documented full seal, reads no OAuth login and so needs an API key. The docs are silent on settings.json under --bare, claude.ai connectors under --strict-mcp-config and plugin hooks under disableAllHooks, so the walls are proved in a live run before anything else is built, and a drive refuses to start when any wall fails. Whether the build runner takes the same default is a follow-up for the product thinker.

Frontmatter

.abcd/work/decisions/dcn-2610230716408975-the-product-thinker-s-ruling-of.md
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mentions7

• adr-2610222222326104abcd drives agents with no host session only on the person's own invocation, on the person's own account behind a wall, and hands back what it cannot finish
• dcn-26100200000000162026-10-02 — Ruling RN2 of the technical facilitator, FINAL (2026-10-02, asked in plain words by abcd-a2 [75597f]; same local-tier file as the H3-0 entry above; recorded by lane rd2), verbatim: "YES, SEALED, PAID KEY ONLY — runner keeps --bare with an API key; only machine-layer (personal) routes may hand a role to a runner; repo routes skipped with a warning; subscription-only owners run the role in their own session." It supersedes the provisional answer, "TREAT IT LIKE A PAID SERVICE", given with the note "are you sure it cannot run via a subscription? Investigate first.", which stood only until a research pass returned: no flag set short of the bare flag seals project instructions, plugins, skills and agents (code.claude.com/docs/en/cli-reference, read 2026-10-02), and the vendor's terms do not permit third-party developers to route requests through Free, Pro or Max plan credentials on behalf of their users (code.claude.com/docs/en/legal-and-compliance, read 2026-10-02). Not built at this entry's base; lane runnerSeal of autonomous run A builds it with OC1 and OC2.
• dcn-26102308130640582026-10-23 — The product thinker's walk and sign-off of itd-2610222215485265 on 2026-10-23 (09:00 to 09:15 BST, in abcd-ae's session), restated. The six person-visible stories are kept, both parts of the technical list are accepted, and the press release's two parts, the mechanism (how we will know it worked), the scope conditions (where it holds) and the reason for doing it now with what comes with it are signed off with no wording change. That last part accepts, with the plan, the record that lets abcd start agents itself on this opt-in path: adr-2610222222326104 is accepted, and AGENTS.md's host-delegated boundary names it as the one written exception, not built until the intent ships. The record's text was aligned to what the product thinker was shown: the scope now says the fence and the login check apply to the helpers abcd starts, with a drive the person starts and watches possibly counting as attended; the live test asks its own yes because it spends the person's usage, not API money; and the ADR, which still said the drive runs only on an API key and that a subscription-only person cannot drive, now carries the earlier rulings that the runner defaults to the person's subscription behind a wall, with an API key optional per configuration (dcn-2610230716408975, dcn-2610230710469123). The intent is planned on this sign-off.
• dcn-26110113323081282026-11-01 — The product thinker's ruling of 2026-11-01, answering the follow-up dcn-2610230716408975 left open: the drain judge and the build runner take the terminal drive's default, the person's own claude CLI on their subscription behind the same walls, and stay configurable per person among the routes available (an API key, a pinned local model, or a host session). The runner's present --bare route needs an API key and stays the explicit opt-in. Reverse by a ruling that sets a different default for either role.
• dcn-26110121054014372026-11-01 — The terminal drain (itd-2610222215485265) keeps the 2026-10-23 route: a drive runs the person's own claude on their subscription by default, behind the wall dcn-2610230716408975 describes, and on an API key only when their configuration asks for it. The per-repository route choice of dcn-2611012102280663 covers the agents abcd hands out from a build or drain, not the terminal drive's own route, so spc-2610230813348813 stands as planned.
• iss-2610230716454430The build runner (runner.claude) still follows ruling RN2's key-only rule (dcn-2610020000000016): it runs claude with --bare on an API key, and a person with only a subscription runs the role in their own session. On 2026-10-23 the product thinker ruled that a terminal drive runs on the person's subscription by default behind a wall, with an API key optional per configuration (dcn-2610230716408975). The two routes now differ, and the product thinker has not said whether the build runner takes the same default.
• itd-2610222215485265abcd drain --drive works through the ledger from a plain terminal