config loading from flags/environment
local identity state file
enrollment request client
heartbeat client
capability/facts payload
status-only service reporting payload
mesh control-channel skeleton
route-health message skeleton
relay skeleton that refuses production payload forwarding
disabled-by-default synthetic mesh runtime for fabric.probe / fabric.probe_ack
direct and single-relay synthetic route tests
synthetic fabric.route_health / fabric.route_health_ack
local route success/failure observations
fallback route selection for test topology
route cache invalidation on version changes
synthetic relay envelope validation
per-channel bounded queues for synthetic traffic
QoS dequeue order: fabric_control, then route_control, then telemetry
telemetry-only stale message drop under backpressure
reliable fabric/control queue rejection when full
bounded non-production synthetic.echo test-service path
direct, single-relay, and forced-fallback test-service proofs
live HTTP peer transport for synthetic mesh envelopes
disabled-by-default synthetic mesh HTTP endpoint in rap-node-agent
mesh-live-smoke harness proving direct and single-relay synthetic traffic over real local HTTP endpoints
scoped synthetic mesh config file loading for peer endpoints and routes
Control Plane synthetic mesh config read fallback when no local scoped config file is set
synthetic route-health observations reported to the Control Plane when test flags allow synthetic links
explicit production mesh forwarding gate config; production forwarding still has no runtime implementation and remains unavailable
route-bound production mesh envelope contract and fail-closed validation on /mesh/v1/forward
metadata-only production envelope observation hook for valid envelopes, still without forwarding payloads
bounded metadata-only production envelope observation sink for accepted observations
disabled-by-default node-agent wiring for the bounded observation sink
local metrics for the bounded observation sink without exposing observation records
local node-agent logging for bounded observation sink metrics
change-driven suppression for unchanged bounded observation sink metrics logs
explicit local log distinction between production forwarding gate state and production forwarding runtime state
node-scoped rendezvous lease refresh through Control Plane synthetic config
stale relay withdrawal/reselection telemetry
relay replacement contract reporting for stale rendezvous relays
route/path decision contract reporting for control-plane route generations
route generation apply/withdraw tracking for control-plane path decisions
synthetic route-health route config refresh from Control Plane path decisions
route-health expected/observed effective path drift reporting
maximum capacity guard for the local production observation sink
panic-safe fail-closed production envelope observation wrapper
explicit 4096 byte payload boundary for validated production fabric-control envelopes
explicit future-skew boundary for validated production envelope created_at
scoped synthetic peer endpoint candidate config with reachability, NAT/connectivity hints, priority, policy tags, and metadata
deterministic local peer endpoint candidate scoring model for synthetic config candidates
optional local health observation overlay for endpoint candidate scoring
gate-controlled production fabric.control direct next-hop delivery
route-path-bound production fabric.control multi-hop forwarding
local metadata-only production fabric.control forwarding event logs
route-config-bound production fabric.control forwarding validation
scoped peer directory and bounded recovery seed config parsing/validation
node-local peer cache with bounded warm peer health probes
advertised mesh endpoint reporting through heartbeat metadata
multiple advertised endpoint candidates, including private/corporate LAN
peer connection state machine for warm-peer health
bounded peer recovery planner over peer cache and connection states
peer connection intent planner with transport readiness classification
peer connection manager for real control-plane health over reusable HTTP keep-alive transport
route-health effective-path runtime through replacement relay control paths

Not implemented yet:

mesh packet routing
production mesh service traffic
VPN runtime
production workload supervision
certificate issuance/rotation
updater runtime
privileged host route/firewall control

Build

cd agents\rap-node-agent
go test ./...
go build -o bin\rap-node-agent.exe .\cmd\rap-node-agent
go build -o bin\mesh-live-smoke.exe .\cmd\mesh-live-smoke

First Enrollment

Create a join token from the platform control plane, then run:

.\bin\rap-node-agent.exe `
  -backend-url http://192.168.200.61:8080/api/v1 `
  -cluster-id <cluster_id> `
  -join-token <raw_join_token> `
  -node-name test-node-1 `
  -state-dir C:\ProgramData\RapNodeAgent

The agent submits a pending join request and exits. It does not self-activate. A platform admin must approve the join request.

Enrollment Approval

When the agent enrolls, it stores the returned pending_join_request_id and polls the Control Plane bootstrap endpoint until the platform owner approves the request or the enrollment timeout expires. After approval, the agent verifies the signed bootstrap contract and writes the approved node_id, cluster_id, identity_status=active, cluster_authority_public_key, and cluster_authority_fingerprint into identity.json.

Future C3 hardening can add signed node certificates and automatic secure certificate material exchange.

Then run the agent again:

.\bin\rap-node-agent.exe `
  -backend-url http://192.168.200.61:8080/api/v1 `
  -state-dir C:\ProgramData\RapNodeAgent

It sends periodic heartbeats to:

/api/v1/clusters/{clusterID}/nodes/{nodeID}/heartbeats

Environment Variables

RAP_BACKEND_URL
RAP_CLUSTER_ID
RAP_CLUSTER_AUTHORITY_PUBLIC_KEY
RAP_CLUSTER_AUTHORITY_FINGERPRINT
RAP_JOIN_TOKEN
RAP_NODE_NAME
RAP_NODE_STATE_DIR
RAP_WORKLOAD_SUPERVISION_ENABLED
RAP_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_SECONDS
RAP_ENROLLMENT_POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS
RAP_ENROLLMENT_POLL_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_RUNTIME_ENABLED
RAP_MESH_LISTEN_ADDR
RAP_MESH_ADVERTISE_ENDPOINT
RAP_MESH_ADVERTISE_ENDPOINTS_JSON
RAP_MESH_ADVERTISE_TRANSPORT
RAP_MESH_CONNECTIVITY_MODE
RAP_MESH_NAT_TYPE
RAP_MESH_REGION
RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_CONFIG
RAP_MESH_PEER_ENDPOINTS_JSON
RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_ROUTES_JSON
RAP_MESH_PRODUCTION_FORWARDING_ENABLED
RAP_MESH_PRODUCTION_OBSERVATION_SINK_CAPACITY

RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_RUNTIME_ENABLED defaults to false. It gates only the C17A/C17B/C17C/C17D/C17E synthetic probe, route-health, relay scheduling, bounded synthetic.echo test-service runtime, and live synthetic HTTP endpoint. It must not be used for RDP, VPN, file, video, or other production service traffic.

RAP_WORKLOAD_SUPERVISION_ENABLED defaults to false. While service runtime supervision is still a stub, the agent does not poll desired workloads or report workload status unless this flag is explicitly enabled.

RAP_MESH_LISTEN_ADDR starts the C17E/C17F/C17G synthetic HTTP endpoint only when RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_RUNTIME_ENABLED=true. RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_CONFIG points to a scoped synthetic mesh config snapshot and is preferred over debug JSON. RAP_MESH_PEER_ENDPOINTS_JSON is a JSON object mapping peer node IDs to endpoint URLs. RAP_MESH_SYNTHETIC_ROUTES_JSON is a JSON array of synthetic route objects. If no local scoped config file is set, the agent asks the Control Plane for:

/clusters/{clusterID}/nodes/{nodeID}/mesh/synthetic-config

The JSON variables are debug fallback only.

Control Plane synthetic config with authority_required=true must include a signed authority_payload / authority_signature envelope and a cluster_authority descriptor. The agent verifies the signature, validates the config hash, and rejects mismatched pinned authority values when RAP_CLUSTER_AUTHORITY_PUBLIC_KEY, RAP_CLUSTER_AUTHORITY_FINGERPRINT, or the same fields in identity.json are set.

RAP_MESH_PRODUCTION_FORWARDING_ENABLED defaults to false. It is a future production-forwarding gate only. Turning it on does not enable production mesh payload forwarding; /mesh/v1/forward still returns an unavailable runtime response after validating the route-bound production envelope contract, until a later approved production mesh stage implements route-bound, policy-bound forwarding.

The production envelope contract requires route, hop, TTL, expiry, payload length, and SHA-256 payload hash fields. C17J accepts only the fabric_control channel class and fabric.control message type for validation. RDP, VPN, render, file, video, and service workload channels are rejected.

C17K adds a local metadata-only observation hook after successful production envelope validation. Observations include route/message/hop/channel metadata and payload length/hash, not the payload body. Observation failure fails closed, and the endpoint still does not forward payloads.

C17L adds a bounded in-memory observation sink for accepted metadata-only observations. The sink drops the oldest observation when full and still stores no payload bodies.

RAP_MESH_PRODUCTION_OBSERVATION_SINK_CAPACITY defaults to 0. When set above zero, C17M wires the bounded metadata-only sink into the node-agent mesh server. This remains local-only, exposes no read API, stores no payload bodies, and does not enable production forwarding. C17R rejects values above 10000.

C17N adds local sink metrics: configured capacity, current depth, accepted total, and dropped-oldest total. Metrics do not expose observation records, route IDs, message IDs, hashes, payload metadata, or payload bodies.

C17O logs those aggregate metrics locally from the node-agent loop when the sink is explicitly enabled. This does not add a read API or Control Plane reporting.

C17P logs aggregate sink metrics only when they change, so steady heartbeat loops do not repeat identical local metrics lines.

C17Q logs production_forwarding_gate_enabled separately from production_forwarding_runtime_enabled. The runtime field remains false; turning on the gate still does not enable production forwarding.

C17S makes production envelope observation panic-safe. Observer errors and observer panics both fail closed as observation failure; forwarding remains unavailable.

C17T limits validated production fabric.control envelope payloads to 4096 bytes. Oversized envelopes are rejected before observation.

C17U rejects production fabric.control envelopes whose created_at is more than one minute in the future.

C17V adds scoped peer endpoint candidates to synthetic mesh config. Candidate entries describe possible per-node endpoints with transport, address, reachability, NAT type, connectivity mode, priority, policy tags, verification time, and metadata. They are model/config hints only; no production route scoring, NAT traversal, shortcut routing, or forwarding runtime is implemented.

C17W adds deterministic local scoring for scoped endpoint candidates. Scoring uses transport, reachability, connectivity mode, NAT type, priority, preferred region, policy tags, channel class, and verification age. It returns ranked candidates and reason labels only; it does not select production routes, open connections, perform NAT traversal, or forward payloads.

C17X extends candidate scoring with optional local health observations keyed by endpoint_id. Observations can contribute latency, success/failure history, recent failure reason, reliability score, and freshness/staleness signals. The score remains advisory only and is not wired into production forwarding.

C17Z adds the first narrow production forwarding runtime. When RAP_MESH_PRODUCTION_FORWARDING_ENABLED=true, /mesh/v1/forward can deliver route-bound fabric.control envelopes at the local destination or forward them to a direct next hop from explicit peer endpoint config. Service channels, RDP/VPN/file/video payloads, arbitrary relay forwarding, and multi-hop production route execution remain unavailable.

C17Z1 adds route-path-bound multi-hop forwarding for production fabric.control only. Envelopes may carry route_path and visited_node_ids; each relay validates its path position, forwards only to the next route-path node, updates TTL/hop/visited metadata, and rejects loops. Service payloads remain unavailable.

C17Z2 emits local mesh_production_forward_event logs for production fabric.control forwarding outcomes: accepted, forwarded, delivered, and rejected. Logs include route/message/hop/channel/status/reason/TTL/hop count/ route path length/visited count/payload length metadata only. Payload bodies are not logged, no observation read API is added, and service payloads remain unavailable.

C17Z3 binds production fabric.control forwarding to loaded scoped or Control Plane route config when routes are available locally. Configured envelopes must match route_id, cluster, source, destination, route path, next hop, allowed channel, expiry, max TTL, and max hop count before forwarding. If no route config is present, existing C17Z1 behavior is preserved. Service payloads remain unavailable.

C17Z4 adds scoped peer directory and recovery seed config. peer_directory describes only peers needed by the node-scoped mesh config. recovery_seeds is an explicit, bounded bootstrap/recovery list and is not a full cluster node list. The node-agent parses and validates these fields, but does not yet implement a persistent connection manager, NAT traversal, or relay/rendezvous runtime.

C17Z5 turns scoped peer directory and recovery seed config into node-local runtime PeerCache state. The cache builds a bounded warm peer set from route-adjacent peers, recovery seeds, peer endpoints, and endpoint candidates. When synthetic mesh testing is enabled, the node-agent probes warm peers with /mesh/v1/health and reports metadata-only mesh-link observations. This is not a persistent connection manager and does not forward service payloads.

C17Z6 adds advertised mesh endpoint reporting. When RAP_MESH_ADVERTISE_ENDPOINT is set, node-agent includes a mesh_endpoint_report in heartbeat metadata with transport, connectivity mode, NAT hint, region, observed time, and endpoint candidate metadata. Control Plane can project the latest reported endpoint into node-scoped synthetic mesh config for route-path peers. This does not perform automatic public IP discovery, STUN/TURN/ICE NAT classification, or service payload forwarding.

C17Z7 adds RAP_MESH_ADVERTISE_ENDPOINTS_JSON for multiple advertised endpoints per node. Candidates can describe public, private, corporate/LAN, outbound, or relay-style addresses. Endpoint scoring rewards private-lan, corp-lan, and same-site policy tags, and peer cache can use the best candidate address for warm-peer health probes. This supports corporate-network cluster segments without enabling service payload forwarding.

C17Z8 adds a node-local peer connection state machine on top of warm-peer health probes. Warm peers move through disconnected, connecting, ready, degraded, and backoff; repeated probe failures enter bounded backoff, and successful probes recover to ready. Mesh-link observations include metadata-only connection state. This is not a persistent socket/session manager and does not forward service payloads.

C17Z9 adds a node-local peer recovery planner. The node targets a bounded stable ready-peer set, defaulting to three connectable peers when available, instead of probing every known cluster node. When ready peers fall below target, the planner selects bounded recovery probes from warm peers, recovery seeds, and other connectable scoped peers, skipping active backoff entries. Heartbeats include metadata-only mesh_peer_recovery_report state. This is not persistent connection transport, NAT traversal, relay/rendezvous runtime, or service payload forwarding.

C17Z10 adds a node-local peer connection intent planner over the C17Z9 recovery plan. It classifies bounded peer work as maintain, probe, or recover, and classifies transport readiness as direct, private_lan, corporate_lan, outbound_only, or relay_required. Heartbeats include metadata-only mesh_peer_connection_intent_report counts. This is not persistent connection transport, STUN/TURN/ICE, NAT traversal, relay runtime, or service payload forwarding.

C17Z11 adds the first real node-local peer connection manager for mesh control-plane health. It uses a reusable HTTP keep-alive client to probe direct/private/corporate peer endpoints selected by C17Z10 intents, updates the shared peer connection tracker, and records waiting_rendezvous for outbound-only or relay-required peers. Heartbeats include metadata-only mesh_peer_connection_manager_report state. This is not STUN/TURN/ICE, relay/rendezvous runtime, route lease generation, VPN runtime, or service payload forwarding.

C17Z12 adds a node-scoped rendezvous/relay control-plane lease contract for peers that would otherwise remain waiting_rendezvous. The agent consumes rendezvous_leases, resolves matching intents into relay_control, probes the relay node /mesh/v1/health, and records relay_ready for the peer control path. This remains control-plane health only and does not enable RDP/VPN/file/ video/service payload forwarding, arbitrary relay packet forwarding, STUN/TURN/ICE, or host networking changes.

C17Z13 adds heartbeat telemetry for rendezvous lease admission and renewal posture. The agent emits mesh_rendezvous_lease_report with local role, relay/peer admission counts, TTL, renewal-after time, renewal-needed status, relay_ready, and explicit no-payload boundary flags. This remains metadata-only control-plane telemetry and does not enable service payload forwarding.

C17Z14 adds a control-plane refresh contract for rendezvous leases. When a lease is renewal-needed, expired, invalid, or tied to a stale relay state, the agent reloads node-scoped synthetic config from Control Plane, updates the running peer cache/route/lease state, and reports refresh counters plus stale relay withdrawal/reselection fields. This remains control-plane health only and does not enable service payload forwarding.

C17Z15 adds the node side of backend relay replacement policy. The agent advertises the relay replacement contract capability and emits c17z15.mesh_rendezvous_lease_report.v1; stale relay state is matched to the exact rendezvous lease/relay when that metadata is present, so an alternate replacement lease for the same peer is not treated as stale by association. This remains control-plane health only and does not enable service payload forwarding.

C17Z16 adds route/path decision reporting. The agent consumes route_path_decisions from Control Plane synthetic config, keeps the latest control-plane generation in local state, and emits c17z18.mesh_route_path_decision_report.v1 with effective hops, previous/next hop, selected replacement relay, generation, and no-payload boundary flags. This remains metadata-only route planning and does not enable service payload forwarding.

C17Z17 adds node-side route generation tracking for Control Plane route_path_decisions. The agent emits c17z18.mesh_route_generation_report.v1 with active, applied, unchanged, and withdrawn decision counts, total counters, generation change state, active decision details, and withdrawn decision details. When the first observed config already contains a stale relay replacement, the tracker emits a withdrawn_by_replacement record for the old relay path. This remains metadata-only route planning and does not enable service payload forwarding.

C17Z18 applies Control Plane route_path_decisions to synthetic route-health route config only. The agent keeps base routes separate from route-health routes, periodically refreshes scoped config, emits c17z18.mesh_route_health_config_report.v1, and reports route-health observations with expected/observed hops and drift status. This probes replacement relay effective paths for control-plane health only and does not enable service payload forwarding.

Scoped synthetic config shape:

{
  "schema_version": "c17z18.synthetic.v1",
  "cluster_id": "cluster-1",
  "local_node_id": "node-a",
  "config_version": "config-v1",
  "peer_directory_version": "peers-v1",
  "policy_version": "policy-v1",
  "peer_endpoints": {
    "node-b": "http://127.0.0.1:19002"
  },
  "peer_endpoint_candidates": {
    "node-b": [
      {
        "endpoint_id": "node-b-public",
        "node_id": "node-b",
        "transport": "direct_tcp_tls",
        "address": "203.0.113.20:443",
        "reachability": "public",
        "nat_type": "restricted",
        "connectivity_mode": "direct",
        "priority": 10
      }
    ]
  },
  "routes": [],
  "route_path_decisions": {
    "schema_version": "c17z18.route_path_decisions.v1",
    "decisions": []
  }
}

C17E Live Synthetic Smoke

Run:

cd agents\rap-node-agent
go run .\cmd\mesh-live-smoke

Expected:

scoped synthetic config loads
direct node-a -> node-b synthetic probe succeeds
relay node-a -> node-r -> node-b synthetic probe succeeds
bounded synthetic.echo test-service succeeds
production_forwarding=false

Safety Rules

The agent never assigns roles to itself.
The agent reports capabilities only.
Platform policy assigns roles.
No RDP/VPN/production service traffic is carried by the C17A-C17Z18 staged mesh runtime.
Production forwarding remains disabled by default and limited to fabric.control when explicitly enabled.
No privileged operations are performed by the current agent.