Dual-Audience Development Guide: Agent-First APIs & Mobile-First SSR UI

This guide outlines the architectural blueprint and best practices for building modern services within the Auth-Yes Zero-Trust Ecosystem.

1. The Core Philosophy: Dual-Audience Architecture

Every modern application should be built for two primary audiences:

🤖 AI Agents & Workloads (Primary Data Consumer):
- Headless execution via Model Context Protocol (MCP), REST APIs, or ConnectRPC.
- Machine-readable, high-density JSON/RPC responses with zero HTML/CSS clutter.
- Authentication via Delegated Bearer Tokens (ay_sess_...) or mTLS SPIFFE workload identities.
📱 Humans on Mobile Devices (Primary UI Consumer):
- Ultra-fast, zero-friction Server-Side Rendered (SSR) JSX touch cards.
- Passkey (WebAuthn) biometric authentication.
- Single Sign-On (SSO) entry via the Auth-Yes Application Launchpad.

2. Architectural Blueprint for Subsidiary Apps (e.g. `ed-droid`)

                               +---------------------------------------+
                               |         Traefik Edge Ingress          |
                               +---------------------------------------+
                                                   |
                             ForwardAuth Check     |  (Injects X-Forwarded-*)
                          +------------------------+------------------------+
                          |                                                 |
                          v                                                 v
              +-----------------------+                         +-----------------------+
              |   Auth-Yes Service    |                         |    Subsidiary App     |
              | (Validates Session /  |                         |   (e.g., ed-droid)    |
              |  Bearer Token)        |                         +-----------------------+
              +-----------------------+                                     |
                                                                            |
                                               +----------------------------+----------------------------+
                                               |                                                         |
                                               v                                                         v
                                    [ /api/* JSON Endpoints ]                                 [ SSR HTML Mobile Cards ]
                                    - Served for AI Agents & MCP                              - Served for Human Browsers
                                    - Filtered by Scopes / Roles                              - Clean, high-contrast UI

3. How to Build an "Agent-First" Subsidiary App

Step 1: Ingress Protection via ForwardAuth

In your Traefik/Compose configuration, protect your service domain with Auth-Yes ForwardAuth middleware:

labels:
  - "traefik.http.routers.ed-droid.middlewares=auth-yes-forwardauth@docker"

When requests arrive:

Traefik queries http://auth-api:8000/api/forward-auth.
Auth-Yes validates either the browser's session_id cookie or the incoming Authorization: Bearer ay_sess_... token.
If authorized, Traefik injects:
- X-Forwarded-User: <username>
- X-Forwarded-User-Id: <uuid>
- X-Forwarded-Scopes: <scope1,scope2>
- X-Forwarded-App-Id: <app_id>

Step 2: Implement Clean JSON API Routes

Provide standard JSON endpoints for all core operations:

import { Hono } from "jsr:@hono/hono";

const app = new Hono();

// AI Agents & APIs consume JSON directly:
app.get("/api/fleet", (c) => {
  const user = c.req.header("X-Forwarded-User");
  const fleetData = getFleetForUser(user);
  return c.json({ fleet: fleetData });
});

Step 3: Progressive Content Negotiation (Optional)

If a route serves both humans and AI agents without separate /api prefixes, inspect the Accept header or ?format=json query:

app.get("/ships/:id", (c) => {
  const ship = getShip(c.req.param("id"));
  
  // If requested by an agent or CLI:
  if (c.req.header("Accept")?.includes("application/json") || c.req.query("format") === "json") {
    return c.json(ship);
  }
  
  // If requested by a human browser:
  return c.html(ShipCardView({ ship }));
});

4. Connecting AI Agents via Model Context Protocol (MCP)

To expose your subsidiary applications to AI assistants (Antigravity, Jules, Claude Desktop):

Mint a Delegated Session in Auth-Yes:
- Go to https://auth.atyg.org/dashboard/sessions \rightarrow Click + Delegate Agent Session.
- Set Label: "Antigravity Assistant", Lifespan: 12 Hours, Scope: ed-droid.
- Copy the CLI export string.

Configure the MCP Server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ed-droid": {
      "command": "deno",
      "args": ["run", "-A", "https://git.atyg.org/tylerg/ed-droid/raw/branch/main/mcp/server.ts"],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_YES_TOKEN": "ay_sess_8de186f564d7..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Tool Call Execution: The MCP server attaches Authorization: Bearer $AUTH_YES_TOKEN to all internal fetch calls, gaining instant authorized access to fleet telemetry and data with full Merkle audit attribution!

5. Ephemeral Guest & Support Passes (Magic 1-Click Links)

In addition to Agent Bearer Tokens, Auth-Yes supports Ephemeral Magic Passes for friends and external support technicians:

The Flow:

Spawn Pass: Under Sessions, click + Spawn Guest / Support Pass:
- Label: "Friend Demo - Elite Dangerous Fleet"
- Lifespan: 2 Hours (auto-expires)
- Target App: ed-droid.atyg.org
Share 1-Click Link: https://auth.atyg.org/pass?token=ay_pass_9f8a7b6c...
Instant Redemption:
- When opened in any browser, Auth-Yes automatically sets the .atyg.org session cookie with restricted scopes.
- The browser is immediately redirected to https://ed-droid.atyg.org.
- Zero friction: No passkeys to register, no passwords, no email confirmation.
Security & Control:
- The guest only has access to the specified target app.
- The pass is visible on your Sessions dashboard in real time with an instant [Revoke] button.

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