[Jacksondr5]

Rebased onto j5/main as docs only (2026-10-17). The collaborate stack (#598 to #602) is being closed unmerged and rebuilt to these definitions, so this no longer sits on it. One change from the reviewed text: register entry D33 no longer names FORK case 75, which only that stack added, and the j5 pair entry is D36, because main took D35 for Highlights (#628). The second half of #608 (a user docs page) waits for the build, because it describes what ships. The sharing UI decisions are in the artifact share-links-ui-design.md, from the design review on 2026-10-17.

Problem

Share links and shared conversations were designed while being built, and some key decisions thrashed. These are the product definitions they should have had. They are written from Jackson's rulings of 2026-10-16 and 2026-10-17, and the session record (docs/j5/worklog/2026-10-16-people-and-access-session.md) has each ruling in his words.

What changed

features/people-and-access.md (new). Who a person on a server is, what they reach, what they can do there, and how they got in.

• Principles: sharing is trust, not containment; inviting is easy and access changes in place; and, for the MVP only, UX before simplicity before security before edge cases, and "turn it off or open it up".
• Three layers: upstream's per-device permissions, J5's person, and J5's reach.
• Scopes and levels:
  • scopes are server, project, and a thread with the agents beneath it;
  • levels are Viewer, Collaborator, and Owner (server only, several allowed).
  • Coverage is live. View is the one enforced boundary.
• Home scopes: each surface is shown at the smallest scope it can be cut down to cheaply. Files and terminals are never part of View.
• One write level, Collaborator: everything except configuring or sharing the server.
• Permissions follow the level: a device holds exactly its level's permissions, listed by name. A change of level revokes the session and the device renews it.
• One kind of link: a link for many people is Viewer only. Links can be copied again.
• No authoritative identity.
• Devices:
  • the first owner;
  • links made from Connections belong to whoever made them;
  • j5 pair --person;
  • a device the server can't place, and the first owner, must give a name before use.
• Names: anyone renames themselves.
• Settings MVP: Owners get all of it; everyone else gets only the pages about their own device. Settings and People list only the servers you own.
• The setup wizard is offered to Owners only.
• Who sees whom.
• The first owner can't be removed or lowered.

features/shared-conversations.md (rewritten; criteria renumbered in order, with the former numbers in History).

• A thread is shared whenever more than one person can write to it, and stays shared.
• The author line carries the level. Anyone's slash command goes as typed.
• The note trusts everyone alike, and an Owner settles a conflict. Every agent is told the server's Owners (Consider: tell every agent who owns the server, in J5's standing instructions #595).
• Anyone who can write answers prompts, edits rosters, steers and stops.
• Thread state stays shared (Multiplayer: per-person read marker, snooze and pin #629 tracks making it per person).

features/inbox.md. Asks go to the people who can write to the asking agent's thread. An agent can ask "everyone here", and the first reply closes it for all. An item someone has started answering stays in place when it closes.

features/crews.md. A Crew's later requests reach everyone who can write to the Captain's thread, which ends the #534 stall.

features/shared-server.md. Cut back to the capability and its two constraints. AC4 to AC28 are mapped to their new homes, and AC3 is rewritten. The open door on addressing a duty ("the on-call") is closed.

For now and Later. Decisions that hold only for the MVP are marked "for now" in People and access and Shared conversations, and each definition ends with a Later list linking the issues that track set-aside work: #629, #630, #632 (authoritative identity, new), #609 and #542. process/docs.md now allows that list as the one place a definition's body links issues. #597 was closed as superseded.

upstream.md. D33 is cut back from about 6,700 words to a divergence entry (#608). D35 is new: j5 pair names the person a device is for.

Also: principles.md points to the scoped principles; glossary.md adds the new terms and retires "member", "guest" and "grant"; overview.md is reworded.

Filed from the session: #629 (per-person read marker, snooze and pin) and #630 (Settings page by page). The /logout permission gap was added to #276.

Upstream impact

Docs only. The definitions record divergences the build will need, each with Jackson's decision in the session record:

• D33 (rewritten): leaving non-Owner servers out of Settings, the People server picker, the setup wizard for Owners only, and renewing sessions;
• D35 (new): j5 pair --person.

FORK.md changes come with the build.

Checklist

• One concern: the definitions for people, access and working with agents together
• Tests cover the changed behavior — n/a, docs only
• UI changes: before/after screenshots — n/a, docs only; the UI design is in the artifacts named above
• Live testing — n/a, docs only
• Upstream-owned files recorded in FORK.md — n/a, no code; the divergences are in the register
• Upstream product: changes to what upstream's product does are recorded in D33 and D35, with Jackson's decisions in the session record
• Surfaces: web and desktop are covered; mobile is out of scope (Share links: sharing on mobile #609); entry points and reverse states (leave, remove, renew) are defined
• Docs: definitions rewritten; user docs wait for the build

Written by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code, working with Jackson through J5 Code.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated
j5-code	Ready	Preview	Oct 18, 2026 12:16am UTC