Clears the still-live findings from #172 (verified against main; #2/#4/#7 and the auth/search/Trakt tail were already deliberate-documented or fixed since 2026-07-07). - Null/empty Name → 500 (10 create/replace handlers). Block/Template/DecoTemplate/Deco Create+Replace/Update + UpdateFFmpegProfile did `request.Name.Length > 50` on a client-nullable string → unhandled NullReferenceException → HTTP 500 (no global exception filter). Now `string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(request.Name) || .Length > 50` → 422; also rejects empty/whitespace names, matching the group-create handlers' NotEmpty behavior. CreatePlaylist coalesces null→"" at the DTO so it was an empty-name persist, not a 500; guarded the same way. - ReplaceTemplateItems overlap validation iterated with an `item == otherItem` record value-equality skip, so two exact-duplicate items were value-equal and bypassed the intersection check (both persisted). Now index-based (i != j) so duplicates register as a self-intersection and are rejected 422. - Trimmed the unreachable 404 ProducesResponseType from POST /api/blocks/groups and POST /api/templates/groups (a create has no parent lookup that can 404); v1.json regenerated. - Regression tests: all 10 name-guard paths + the duplicate-items path (19 cases). - Docs: decisions.md entry + api-conventions.md §3b null-safe-validation bullet. fixes #172 Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
56 KiB
API conventions — "Add a REST endpoint" checklist
Purpose: a precise, file-path-and-exemplar checklist for adding or changing a /api/* endpoint on
the ErsatzTV fork, so an agent with no prior context in this repo can do it correctly on the first
pass. Update this doc in the same PR that changes any convention below.
This is a companion to docs/contributing.md (general CQRS/LanguageExt/testing conventions) and
docs/ci-cd.md (build/release pipeline) — read those first for anything not API-specific.
1. Controller shape
Controllers live in ErsatzTV/Controllers/Api/*.cs, one per domain (e.g. TemplateController.cs,
BlockController.cs, LogsController.cs). Every action needs this attribute set:
[ApiController]on the class.[HttpGet/Post/Put/Delete("/api/v1/...")]on the action, withName = "..."on at least the primary GET (used by the SPA's OpenAPI-generated client and by route-assertion tests). The route is versioned and absolute (/api/v1/..., leading slash, full path on the method attribute — no class-level[Route]). This is enforced:ApiRouteVersioningTests(sibling ofApiControllerSecurityTests) reflects over every[ApiController]action inControllers.Apiand fails if an effective route doesn't match^/api/v\d+/. The only controllers with a class-level[Route]are the two whose ~all actions share a parametrized prefix —ScannerController([Route("/api/v1/scan/{scanId:guid}")]) andScriptedScheduleController([Route("/api/v1/scripted/playout/build/{buildId:guid}")]) — and there the method segments are relative ([HttpPost("progress")]). A browser-nav endpoint deliberately outside/api(AuthController'sGET /auth/oidc/login) is out of scope for the versioning rule. Seedocs/decisions.md2026-07-13 (#286) for the versioning contract (additive-only after freeze; the legacy/api/*→/api/v1/*in-pipeline rewrite inApiVersionRewriteMiddleware).[Tags("Domain")]— groups the endpoint in Swagger UI / the SPA's generated client namespace.[EndpointSummary("...")]— one-line description; optionally[EndpointDescription("...")]for more detail.[EndpointGroupName("general")]— REQUIRED. Endpoints without it are excluded from the generated OpenAPI document entirely (verified: every action inTemplateController.csandLogsController.cshas it; there is no other endpoint group in use).[ProducesResponseType(typeof(X), StatusCodes.StatusYyy)]for every status code the action can actually return (200/201/204 success, plus 404/422 as applicable) — this drives the generated TypeScript response types on the SPA side.
Exemplars:
- Full CRUD controller:
ErsatzTV/Controllers/Api/TemplateController.cs— group CRUD + item CRUD + copy, all four verbs,ToCreatedResult/ToErrorResultusage. - Paged GET with clamped params:
ErsatzTV/Controllers/Api/LogsController.cs—pageNumclamped viaMath.Max(0, pageNum),pageSizeviaMath.Clamp(pageSize, 1, MaxPageSize)(MaxPageSize = 100). Any new paged endpoint should clamp the same way — don't trust client input for page math. - Sortable GET with allow-listed sort params: same file —
sortField/sortDirectionare normalized against a fixed allow-list (AllowedSortFields) rather than trusted or rejected with a 422: an unrecognizedsortFieldsilently falls back to the default field, an unrecognizedsortDirectionfalls back to the default direction. Copy this pattern (normalize, don't 422) for any new sortable endpoint — it matches the pageNum/pageSize clamp precedent above and keeps a bad query string from ever producing an error response for a read-only listing.
2. DTOs: where they live and their nullable context
- Response DTOs:
ErsatzTV.Core/Api/<Domain>/*ResponseModel.cs. They arerecords that mirror the shape of the Application-layer ViewModel for that domain — never expose a VM type directly from a controller. Convert framework types the SPA can't consume as-is (e.g.CultureInfo→ its name string).- As of #288, all response-model files under
ErsatzTV.Core/Api/carry#nullable enable(including the two enum wire-mirrorsSettings/XmltvBlockBehavior.cs/XmltvTimeZone.cs), so the pragma is now universal, not "most". The project sets<Nullable>disable</Nullable>(ErsatzTV.Core/ErsatzTV.Core.csproj), under which a non-nullstringmember emits a spuriousnullable: truein the schema — so add#nullable enableat the top of every new response-model file and mark a member?only when the mapper can actually emit null.FFmpegProfileResponseModel.csis no longer an exception. - Raw-VM wrapping (#288). The last controllers returning Application ViewModels directly were
wrapped, so no
/api/*action returns a*ViewModeltype anymore:CollectionController→MediaCollectionResponseModel(Id, Name, CollectionType, UseCustomPlaybackOrder— drops theMediaCardViewModelscaffolding and the header-onlyVersion),ScheduleController→ProgramScheduleResponseModel(VM minusVersion),SmartCollectionController→ the existingSmartCollectionResponseModel,ResolutionController.GetResolutionByName→ResolutionResponseModel, and the channel detail GETs/writes →ChannelDetailResponseModel(the full editable field set the SPA channel editor needs — distinct from the lean listChannelResponseModel; drops only the derivedwebEncodedName). When wrapping, expose exactly what the client reads: a leaner projection is right for a list, a faithful detail projection for an editor.
- As of #288, all response-model files under
- Request DTOs:
ErsatzTV/Controllers/Api/Requests/*Request.cs. No#nullable enablepragma — match the existing files (e.g.CreateFFmpegProfileRequest.cs,ReplaceScheduleItemsRequest.cs). A request record typically carries aToCommand()(orToCommand(int parentId),ToReplaceCommand(int index)) method that maps it to the Application-layer command type. ErsatzTV.Applicationhas no nullable context (no<Nullable>= C# defaultdisablefor that TFM in this repo — confirms CS8632 would otherwise fire) — do not add?nullable annotations to types living there; that's a Core/Api-layer-only convention. A static mapper that lives inErsatzTV.Applicationbut returns a Core/Api response DTO with nullable members is fine (e.g.ScheduleItemResponseMapper) — the nullability lives on the DTO record, not the mapper.- Shared
{id, name}embeds: useErsatzTV.Core/Api/NamedIdResponseModel.cs(record NamedIdResponseModel(int Id, string Name)) when a response DTO needs to embed a list of named references (e.g. a schedule item'swatermarks/graphicsElements) rather than minting a one-off(int, string)record per domain. - Flatten polymorphic VMs for the wire: when an Application ViewModel is an abstract/polymorphic
record (subtypes carrying extra fields), the OpenAPI schema only captures the base shape — promote
every subtype field to a nullable top-level member on a flat response DTO and pattern-match the
concrete VM in the mapper. Exemplar:
ScheduleItemResponseModel(issue #126, seedocs/decisions.md2026-07-10). Keep the flat DTO's mutation fields named 1:1 with the matching request DTO so GET→PUT is lossless (guard with a round-trip handler test). - Optional enum filter via query param: to filter a list endpoint by an enum, add a nullable
enum parameter to the query record (default
null) and bind it with[FromQuery] TEnum? nameon the action; filter server-side only when it has a value. Exemplar:?fillerKind=onGET /api/v1/filler-presets(GetAllFillerPresetsForApi(FillerKind? FillerKind = null)). An invalid enum value is rejected by model binding (400) — no handler-side guard needed.
3. Error mapping
Central helper: ErsatzTV/Extensions/ApiResults.cs. Use these extension methods instead of
hand-rolling IActionResult status codes:
| Method | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
ToErrorResult() |
BaseError |
404 if NotFoundError, 412 if PreconditionFailedError (optimistic-concurrency mismatch, §7a), 409 if LockedError (a handler's own lock-acquire lost the race, §3a), else 422 (ProblemDetails) |
ToCreatedResult(location, body) |
Either<BaseError, T> |
Left → ToErrorResult(); Right → 201 + Location header |
ToUpdatedResult() |
Either<BaseError, T> |
Left → ToErrorResult(); Right → 200 + body |
ToDeletedResult() |
Either<BaseError, Unit> |
Left → ToErrorResult(); Right → 204 |
ToGetResult() |
Option<T> |
Some → 200 + body; None → 404 |
ApiResults.NotFoundProblem(detail?) |
— | 404 ProblemDetails directly (e.g. when a controller has to pre-check existence itself, see TemplateController.DeleteGroup) |
ApiResults.ConflictProblem(title, detail) |
— | 409 ProblemDetails directly — for a mutation that races a background operation holding a lock (see §3a) |
3a. 409 when a mutation races a background lock
When an endpoint mutates an entity that a background operation may be actively rebuilding under an
IEntityLocker lock, guard the mutation and return 409 Conflict (ApiResults.ConflictProblem)
while the lock is held. This mirrors the Blazor UI, which disables the same actions while the lock
event is live.
This guard is advisory check-then-act, not mutual exclusion. It narrows the race but does not eliminate it: a build already queued can acquire the lock a moment after the check passes, and the mutation then interleaves with the build anyway. That residual window is accepted where the consequences are self-healing (a playout half-mutated during a build is corrected by the next rebuild). If an entity's consequences were NOT self-healing, this pattern would be insufficient — the mutation would need to actually acquire the lock for its duration instead.
Established by issue #215 (PlayoutController + ChannelController.ResetPlayout): inject
IEntityLocker, and at the top of every id-keyed mutation (PUT/POST/DELETE) check
IsPlayoutLocked(id) → ConflictProblem("Playout build in progress", ...); add
[ProducesResponseType(typeof(ProblemDetails), StatusCodes.Status409Conflict)] to each guarded
action. Precedent for the 409 shape: TraktController (its private ConflictProblem()). Two nuances:
- Fire-and-forget bulk operations don't 409 —
POST /api/v1/playouts/reset-allstays 202; its handler (ResetAllPlayoutsHandler) skips locked playouts, matching Blazor + the handler semantics. Only per-id mutations 409. As of #235 the handler returns aResetAllPlayoutsResult(QueuedPlayoutIds/SkippedLocked/SkippedUnsupported) and the controller returns the 202 with aResetAllPlayoutsResponseModelbody reporting what was queued vs. skipped (locked, or an unsupportedExternalJson/Nonekind) — a fire-and-forget bulk op still reports its outcome rather than silently swallowing skips. - Surface the lock state to clients so they can pre-disable the buttons: stamp an
IsLockedboolean onto the list DTO (PlayoutListItemResponseModel, set fromIsPlayoutLockedin the controller's list projection) rather than adding a push channel — and (as of #235) onto the single-playout GET DTO (PlayoutResponseModel.IsLocked, set the same way in every action that maps it) so a client polling one playout has the same flag. The SPA reads it and, on a 409, refreshes to pick up the flag. - Async-op success is 202, not 200 — an endpoint whose success path only queues a background
rebuild returns 202 Accepted, not 200 (#235:
POST /api/v1/channels/{id:int}/playout/resetresolves the channel's playout by the immutable channelId(GetPlayoutIdByChannelId), guards onIsPlayoutLocked→ 409, queues aBuildPlayout→AcceptedResult, and 404s when the channel has no playout). It is keyed on{id:int}, not{channelNumber}— the single-item Channel admin contract keys onId, never the user-mutableNumber(re-keyed in #197 Bundle C; seedocs/decisions.md2026-07-12). The broadcast-side lookup (GetPlayoutIdByChannelNumber, used byHlsSessionWorker) stays number-keyed — a separate contract. Reserve 200 for a synchronous durable result. - Handler-side atomic lock loss also maps to 409, via a typed error, not 422 (issue #316 review):
when the handler itself is the one that atomically acquires an
IEntityLockerlock (not just a controller pre-check) and loses the race, returnnew LockedError(...)(ErsatzTV.Core/Errors/LockedError.cs, sibling ofNotFoundError/PreconditionFailedError) from the handler —ToErrorResult()maps it to 409 automatically. Exemplar:PrepareTroubleshootingPlaybackHandler—TroubleshootControllerdoes a cheapIsTroubleshootingPlaybackLocked()pre-check (advisory, §3a's check-then-act caveat applies), but the handler's ownLockTroubleshootingPlayback()is the atomic acquire; if that loses the race it returnsLockedError, so the 409 survives even when the pre-check passed a moment too early. Don't let a handler-side lock loss fall through to the generic 422BaseError.New(...).
3b. Map a "queue a background job" outcome to status codes with an enum, not a bool
When an endpoint starts a background operation guarded by an IEntityLocker lock, return an
outcome enum from the handler and map it in the controller — don't collapse distinct outcomes
into a lying bool/200. Exemplar (issue #232): QueueLibraryScanByLibraryId →
QueueLibraryScanResult { Queued | NotFound | SyncDisabled | AlreadyScanning }, mapped by
LibrariesController.ScanLibrary to 202 (AcceptedResult, queued), 404
(ApiResults.NotFoundProblem), 422 (UnprocessableEntityObjectResult + ProblemDetails, a
domain precondition such as sync-disabled), and 409 (ApiResults.ConflictProblem, the lock is
already held = already scanning). Here the acquired lock is the running job, so
LockLibrary(id) == false means "already scanning" → 409 (a variant of §3a where the lock is the
operation itself, not a mutation racing it). Add [ProducesResponseType] for 202/404/409/422 and
typeof(ProblemDetails) on the error ones. Guard the lock→enqueue with the
EnqueueWithTraktLock compensating-unlock pattern (TraktController): if a WriteAsync throws
after a successful Lock*, Unlock* in a catch and rethrow — one lock ⇄ exactly one release.
A second exemplar (issue #235 slice B), where the lock lives on the controller rather than in a
handler: POST /api/v1/media-sources/{plex|jellyfin|emby}/{id}/scan-collections?deep= acquires the
per-source collections lock (entityLocker.LockPlexCollections() etc.) — the lock IS the running
collections scan, so a false = 409 — then WriteAsynces Synchronize{X}Collections(id, ForceScan: true, deep) to the scanner channel and returns 202. ScannerService releases that lock in a
finally when it processes the message; the controller compensating-unlocks in a catch if the
enqueue throws. POST /api/v1/libraries/{id}/scan?deep= similarly threads an optional [FromQuery] bool deep into QueueLibraryScanByLibraryId(id, DeepScan).
Status counterpart for a lock-backed async op. A queue-triggering endpoint whose "is it running?"
state lives in a lock/registry should expose a GET status surface the SPA can poll to reconcile its
optimistic pending flag, rather than relying on a client-side timeout. Two exemplars:
GET /api/v1/libraries/scan-status reads IScannerProxyService.GetActiveScans() (per-library, with
percent); GET /api/v1/media-sources/collections-scan-status (#271) reads
IEntityLocker.Are{X}CollectionsLocked() and returns one {family} entry per family-global
collections lock that's held (no id, no percent — the lock granularity dictates the DTO shape). Return
only the active entries (empty list = nothing running), mirroring the queue op's own lock.
NotFoundError : BaseError lives in ErsatzTV.Core/Errors/NotFoundError.cs — return it from a
handler's validation when a lookup fails, so the controller-side mapping falls out for free.
Handler-hardening checklist when you touch (or add) a handler behind a new/changed endpoint:
- Missing FK existence checks that would otherwise 500 → convert to a
NotFoundError(404) or a validationBaseError(422). - Dictionary-indexer lookups (
dict[key]) that can throwKeyNotFoundException→ guard or useTryGetValue. - Silent item filtering (e.g.
.Where(x => x.IsValid)dropping bad rows without telling the caller) → surface as 422 instead of silently returning a shorter list. - Unbounded
int/TimeSpaninputs from the request → clamp or validate, per the Logs pagination pattern above. - Dereferencing a request
string(e.g.request.Name.Length) is a latent 500 — request DTOs carry no#nullablecontext (§2), so astring Namebindsnullfromname: null/an omitted field and there is no implicit[Required]; a raw.Length/.Trim()throwsNullReferenceException→ an unhandled 500 (there is no global exception filter). Validate names null-safe: reuse theValidators.NotEmpty(x => x.Name).Bind(_ => x.NotLongerThan(50)(x => x.Name))combinator (ErsatzTV.Application/Validators/StringValidation.cs; both are null-safe viaOptional), the same pattern the group-create handlers already use — or at minimum guardstring.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name)before any member access. Fixed across 10 create/replace handlers in issue #172 (wasif (request.Name.Length > 50)). - Known, deliberate exception: deep FK ids nested inside item-list request bodies (e.g. a
schedule item's
CollectionId) are not existence-checked at that depth — this is established precedent from the schedules endpoints (see issue #172) and intentional to avoid N+1 validation queries; don't "fix" this without discussing it first.
3c. A durable-save PUT that also triggers a background sync as a side effect
Some PUT-replace endpoints (issue #202: PUT /api/v1/media-sources/{plex|jellyfin|emby}/{id}/libraries)
have a synchronous durable write as their primary purpose — the response must reflect that write —
but Blazor's editor also fired off a background sync per newly-enabled library after the save. This
is a different shape from §3b: §3b is for an endpoint whose entire job is starting a
background operation (so the outcome enum drives the status code); here the enqueue is a fire-and-
forget side effect of an otherwise-ordinary write, and the response must still be 200 with the
durably-saved data, not 202.
Pattern (see PlexMediaSourcesController.ReplaceLibraryPreferences / EnqueuePostSaveSync):
- Dispatch the write command; on
Left, return the error — nothing is enqueued. - Reload the saved rows through the same query the GET uses (per §7) — needed both for the response and because ids can change as a result of the save (e.g. a disable-then-re-add).
- Iterate the reloaded rows and, per row that needs a sync,
LockLibrary(id)— skip rows whose lock is already held (mirrors Blazor'sif (Locker.LockLibrary(id))loop; no 409 for the save itself, only a silent skip for that one row's sync). - Enqueue the background message(s) for that row; if a multi-message enqueue can throw partway
through, wrap it in
try/catchand release the lock in thecatch(compensating unlock) before rethrowing — the standardEnqueueWithTraktLockone-lock-⇄-one-release discipline (§3b), just invoked from inside a write endpoint instead of a dedicated "start background job" endpoint. - Return the reloaded data with
200 OK— never 202 — since the durable save already happened; the enqueue is best-effort and its failure (after a caught/compensated exception) surfaces as a 500 on this same request rather than silently dropping the sync.
This is server-side (not SPA-orchestrated) because the SPA has no access to the scanner channel,
and having the SPA fire a second request after the save would open a crash window between "saved"
and "synced". See docs/decisions.md 2026-07-11 (#202) for the fuller rationale and the specific
bug this pattern corrected (Blazor's Plex Unlock ordering released the library lock before a
dependent second message ran).
4. Artwork contract
API response DTOs return rooted, directly-usable artwork URLs — e.g. /artwork/posters/...,
/artwork/thumbnails/..., plus passthrough for http:///https:// absolute URLs and for
Jellyfin/Emby proxy variants. This was established by PR #181 in
ErsatzTV.Application/LibraryBrowse/Queries/GetLibraryBrowseItemsHandler.cs (private Artwork(...)
helper, ~line 1330) — copy that helper's logic (or call a shared version of it) for any new
API surface that returns artwork paths. Comment in that file: "Returns a rooted, directly-usable
artwork URL for the SPA's <img src>. Blazor pages rely on GetPosterUrl to prefix
artwork/posters/... but the SPA [needs it pre-rooted]."
Do not reuse the Application-layer Mappers used by Blazor (e.g. MediaCards/Television
mappers) for new API DTOs — those still return the old Blazor-convention relative paths. Map from
the domain/VM directly and root the path yourself, following the PR #181 pattern.
4a. Artwork content type is sniffed, never client-supplied (issue #283)
The uploaded-artwork surfaces (channel logo, watermark) must never trust a client-declared content
type — doing so was a stored-XSS chain (upload <script> as image/png, serve it back as
text/html). The contract:
- Upload:
POST /api/v1/artwork/uploadsderives the content type from the actual bytes viaErsatzTV.Core/Images/ImageContentTypes.DetectContentType(SkiaSharp header sniff — no full decode), rejecting non-images 422. That helper (Acceptedset +IsAccepted) is the single source of truth for which image types are allowed — reuse it, don't re-list content types. - Serve: the image routes derive the served
Content-Typefrom the stored file; there is no?contentType=query parameter. Never add one back — a client must not be able to choose theContent-Typeof an unauthenticated response. - Persisted
{path, contentType}DTOs (logo/watermark) run their content type throughArtworkContentTypeModel.Sanitized()before storage, blanking anything outside the allow-list. Seedocs/decisions.md2026-07-12 (#283) for the fuller rationale.
5. OpenAPI regeneration — commit both generated artifacts
After any controller/DTO change:
dotnet build ErsatzTV.sln(normal build first). Do not skip this.update-openapi.shrunsdotnet-getdocumentagainst the already-builtErsatzTV.dll; an incremental-t:GenerateOpenApiDocumentswill not notice a stale assembly and will silently serialize the old spec (e.g. dropping thesecurity/401blocks the auth transformers add). Build first so the assembly is current. (CI is immune — a fresh checkout has nobin/and always compiles.)./scripts/update-openapi.sh— runsdotnet build -t:GenerateOpenApiDocumentsfromErsatzTV/, regeneratingErsatzTV/wwwroot/openapi/v1.jsonanddocs/endpoint-index.md.cd web && npm run generate:api— runsscripts/generate-openapi-types.mjs, regeneratingweb/src/api/generated/v1.d.ts.
Commit all three — ErsatzTV/wwwroot/openapi/v1.json, web/src/api/generated/v1.d.ts, and
docs/endpoint-index.md. The .d.ts file is what the SPA actually imports (web/src/api/*.ts files do
import type { components } from './generated/v1'). CI enforces sync in two places:
npm run check:api(in thetestjob, always) = regenerate.d.tsfrom the committedv1.json+git diff --exit-code.- the
api-docsjob (ersatztv#303 H4/H5) — blocking, fires when a PR diff touchesErsatzTV/Controllers/Api/**orErsatzTV.Core/Api/**: it rebuildsv1.json/v1.d.ts/endpoint-index.mdfrom source and fails if any of the three is stale in the diff. This is the mechanized half of the "docs-update in the same PR" rule for the API contract.
Resolved wart (#287): DayOfWeek previously serialized as an integer in the OpenAPI schema while
the runtime JSON payload is the enum's name string ("Sunday".."Saturday"). It is now added to
Startup.UseStringEnumSchemas's hand-list, so the "v1" schema emits it as a string enum matching
the wire. The SPA's old manual WithDayNames<T> override in web/src/api/playouts.ts has been removed
— the generated daysOfWeek: DayOfWeek[] type is now correct. Do not re-introduce an override for
new DayOfWeek DTOs; if you add a new BCL/System enum that serializes as a name string, add its
typeof(...) to that same hand-list rather than patching the SPA.
5a. Runtime JSON casing vs the generated spec (the ffmpegProfileId wart)
Runtime /api/* JSON is serialized by Newtonsoft (AddNewtonsoftJson in Startup.cs), using
ErsatzTV/Serialization/CustomContractResolver.cs → CustomNamingStrategy (camelCase plus a
special case mapping any FFmpegProfileId member to "ffmpegProfileId", and honoring any
[JsonProperty("...")] attribute, e.g. ChannelResponseModel.FFmpegProfile →
[JsonProperty("ffmpegProfile")]). The OpenAPI document, however, is generated from
System.Text.Json metadata, whose camelCase can differ (it emitted fFmpegProfileId /
fFmpegProfile). That drift silently gave the SPA the wrong key to read (issue #198).
Fix (do not remove): ErsatzTV/Serialization/NewtonsoftSchemaNamingTransformer.cs is an OpenAPI
schema transformer registered on all three documents (options.AddSchemaTransformer(...) in
Startup.cs). For each object schema it resolves the CLR type's Newtonsoft JsonObjectContract
through the same CustomContractResolver the runtime uses and renames schema.Properties (and
schema.Required) keys to the exact names Newtonsoft would emit. This mirrors the wire format by
construction, so future naming-strategy special cases or [JsonProperty] renames can't drift.
Guard: ErsatzTV.Tests/Controllers/OpenApiSerializerContractTests.cs serializes fully-populated
DTOs (ChannelViewModel, FFmpegSettingsResponseModel, WatermarkViewModel,
MediaItemInfoResponseModel) through the runtime Newtonsoft settings and asserts the emitted top-level
keys equal the corresponding v1.json schema's property set. It fails if spec generation ever drifts
from the MVC serializer again. Note: only exact-match FFmpegProfileId gets the special case —
DefaultFFmpegProfileId stays defaultFFmpegProfileId under both serializers, and non-acronym or
single-leading-cap names (fFmpegPath, fFprobePath, zIndex, rFrameRate) already agree.
6. Tests
- Controller tests:
ErsatzTV.Tests/Controllers/<Domain>ControllerTests.cs. NUnit + Shouldly + NSubstitute (mockIMediator). Exemplar:ErsatzTV.Tests/Controllers/TemplateControllerTests.cs— asserts every route via aShouldHaveActionRoute(actionName, verb, path)helper (route-table regression net), then per-action tests asserting the DTO shape returned and the exactmediator.Received(1).Send(Arg.Is<Command>(...))call.PlayoutControllerTests.csis the same pattern for a larger, mixed-verb controller — use it as the template for a new controller with many actions. ApiControllerSecurityTests.cs(ErsatzTV.Tests/Controllers/): reflects over theErsatzTV.Controllers.Apinamespace to find every concrete,[ApiController]-marked controller class — no manual registry to maintain; a new controller is covered automatically. (It intentionally does not filter onControllerBase: several API controllers — including the lone exemptScannerController— do not derive from it, and aControllerBasefilter would silently drop them.) The test walks every mutating (POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE) action on each scanned controller and asserts it's covered by the globalApiKeyAuthorizationFilter(or has an explicit[SkipApiKeyAuthorizationAttribute]exemption; onlyScannerControlleris exempt today). A minimum-count guard asserts the scan found a sane number of controllers, so a namespace rename can't silently make the scan match nothing and give this test a false pass. It also asserts the sensitive-read tier (Troubleshoot/Logs/Settings/Maintenance) carries[RequiresApiKey]and thatScannerControllercarries[LocalhostOnly]— reflectively, so the tier can't silently drop a gate.ApiKeyAuthorizationFilterTests.csunit-tests the filter itself: writes are always fail-closed, reads are gated whenApi:RequireKeyForReads(default true) or[RequiresApiKey],OPTIONSpreflight and non-/apipaths are exempt.- Handler tests (business logic behind the controller) use the shared in-memory SQLite fixture:
ErsatzTV.Tests/Support/InMemoryTvContext.cs. Pattern:SqliteConnection("Data Source=:memory:;Foreign Keys=False")kept open for the fixture's lifetime,EnsureCreatedAsync()(not full migration replay), thenPRAGMA foreign_keys=OFFso partial object graphs can be seeded without satisfying every FK. Exemplar:ErsatzTV.Tests/Application/LibraryBrowse/GetLibraryBrowseItemsHandlerTests.cs(_db = await InMemoryTvContext.CreateAsync();in[SetUp],_db.CreateContext()per test body,_db.Factorywhere anIDbContextFactory<TvContext>is needed by the handler under test).
7. PUT-replace list endpoints
For "replace the whole list" endpoints (PUT semantics over a collection, e.g. schedule/template
items), index items from array order in the request body rather than trusting a client-supplied
index/order field. Exemplar: ReplaceScheduleItemsRequest.ToCommand(scheduleId) —
Items.Select((item, index) => item.ToReplaceCommand(index)).
Project the write-path response through the same include chain the GET uses — never off the
freshly-built graph. After SaveChanges, a command's entities carry only the foreign-key ids you set
(e.g. ProgramScheduleItemWatermark.WatermarkId); their reference navs are null, and any mapper that
dereferences one unguarded throws an NRE that surfaces as a 500. Reload with the read-side includes
before mapping. Exemplars: ReplaceProgramScheduleItemsHandler / AddProgramScheduleItemHandler reload
via ProgramScheduleItemQueryExtensions.IncludeScheduleItemDetails() (the one include chain shared with
GetProgramScheduleItemsHandler). Also beware LanguageExt Map is lazy — returning
items.Map(ProjectToViewModel) defers the projection, so a test that only checks .IsRight won't catch
the NRE; the controller's .ToList()/serialization does (regression: ScheduleItemWriteProjectionTests).
GET handlers that feed an ordered list must also .OrderBy(i => i.Index) — id order is not index order.
7a. PUT-replace concurrency (ETag / If-Match / 412)
The replace-all aggregate PUTs (blocks, templates, schedules items, playlists, collections, playouts,
etc.) carry an optimistic-concurrency contract so a stale second tab can't silently overwrite a
fresher edit (issue #253). The Block endpoints are the reference implementation; PR2 fanned the same
recipe onto Template, DecoTemplate, Playlist, and schedule-items (PUT /api/v1/templates/{id},
/api/v1/deco-templates/{id}, /api/v1/playlists/{id}, /api/v1/schedules/{id}/items); PR3 covers the
Diff/Scalar aggregates (Collection, Playout ×2, MultiCollection, RerunCollection) and PR4 is the Phase-2
428 flip.
Each replace PUT keeps its own existing 200 body shape (Template/DecoTemplate return a
…WithItemsResponseModel, Block likewise; Playlist and schedule-items return the item array) and adds the
ETag as a header only. As of #288 this holds for schedules and collections too: ScheduleController
and CollectionController now project through dedicated ProgramScheduleResponseModel /
MediaCollectionResponseModel DTOs, so Version is header-only on those bodies — the earlier
carve-out ("ProgramScheduleViewModel is returned directly, so version leaks into the GET body") no
longer applies. Verified against the SPA: neither editor reads body version; both source If-Match
from the ETag response header (client.ts requestWithMeta). Every replace PUT's sibling config writers bump Version too
(Playlist: the five Add*ToPlaylist handlers; schedule: AddProgramScheduleItem / DeleteProgramScheduleItem
/ UpdateProgramSchedule; Template/DecoTemplate have none).
Token. Each versioned root implements IVersionedAggregate (int Version, EF-mapped with
.IsConcurrencyToken() in its IEntityTypeConfiguration). A single dual-provider migration
(AddAggregateVersions) adds the column (nullable: false, defaultValue: 0). Do not overload the
existing DateUpdated — a plain int is portable across SQLite/MySQL and decoupled from UI cosmetics.
Transport. The aggregate's GET (the one the editor loads from — e.g. GET /api/v1/blocks/{id}/items)
emits a strong ETag: "3" of Version; the PUT sends it back as If-Match: "3". Mismatch → 412
Precondition Failed (distinct from the §3a 409 "build in progress" lock guard). A successful PUT
returns the new ETag (post-increment) so a same-tab second save doesn't 412 against its own write.
If-Match: * and (Phase 1) a missing header force-write. Per RFC 7232 §3.1 (issue #265): a
syntactically-valid entity-tag that does not strong-match → 412, not 400 — this includes a weak tag
(W/"3" never strong-matches), an empty tag (""), and a strong tag whose opaque text isn't the exact
canonical decimal we emit ("03", "3.0", an out-of-range value). Only a genuine grammar violation
(an unquoted value, SP inside the opaque-tag, an unterminated quote) → 400. If-Match is also a
list ("3", "5"): any strong member that matches proceeds; weak/non-canonical members drop out. The
parser therefore yields a set of candidate versions, and a Version-kind with an empty set is a
guaranteed 412 (a valid-but-unmatchable tag). Parse/emit with ErsatzTV.Extensions.ConcurrencyHeaders
(ParseIfMatch → IfMatchCondition.ExpectedVersions : Option<Seq<int>>; None = force-write,
Some(set) = strong-match against the set, SetETag). The items GET returns children, so the controller reads root.Version separately for the
header (here BlockViewModel carries Version, projected but not echoed in the response body —
header-only).
Handler recipe (the error-prone part). Introduce the concurrency check as a standalone Either
AFTER the validation pipeline, never via Apply — LanguageExtensions.Apply/ToEither Join() a
Seq<BaseError> down to a base BaseError, which would flatten PreconditionFailedError to a 422. The
reference shape (ReplaceBlockItemsHandler):
Either<BaseError, Block> validated = LanguageExtensions.ToEither(validation) // explicit: the native
.Bind(block => block.CheckVersion(request.ExpectedVersions)); // Validation.ToEither() shadows ours
return await validated.Match(
Right: block => Persist(dbContext, request, block, cancellationToken),
Left: error => Task.FromResult<Either<BaseError, Unit>>(error));
In Persist, bump unconditionally before saving — root.Version++ — because EF emits the root
UPDATE only when a scalar actually differs, so a same-value/no-op PUT-back would otherwise neither fire
the token nor rotate other clients' ETags. Then save through
dbContext.SaveChangesWithConcurrencyGuard(ct) (maps DbUpdateConcurrencyException → 412), which is the
backstop that closes the load→save TOCTOU the pre-check can't. CheckVersion (pure, on
IVersionedAggregate) and SaveChangesWithConcurrencyGuard live in ErsatzTV.Core /
ErsatzTV.Application respectively.
Add [ProducesResponseType(typeof(ProblemDetails), StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest)] and …412… to the
PUT action. Config-only boundary: every mutating handler of an aggregate's editor-visible config
state bumps Version (incl. bulk ExecuteUpdate/Delete writers, which add
.SetProperty(x => x.Version, x => x.Version + 1)); regenerated build output (playout items/history) is
outside the token — its handlers neither bump nor are guarded. Test the reference with: stale-If-Match →
412 (no mutation), matching/absent → success + bump, no-op save still bumps, and a two-context racing
save → 412 (prove it non-vacuous by dropping .IsConcurrencyToken() and watching the race test fail).
Phase 2 (a later PR) flips a missing If-Match from force-write to 428 Precondition Required once
every editor echoes and one release soaks.
Fan-out status. Block (#2) is the reference. PR2 wired the RR + Reconcile aggregates
(Template #3, DecoTemplate #4, Playlist #5, schedule-items #1). PR3 wired the Diff + Scalar aggregates:
Collection custom-order #6, Playout alternate-schedules #7 and templates #8 (both share Playout.Version;
their catch(Exception)→422 handlers were restructured so the guard's PreconditionFailedError Left
returns before the catch — §9/H1), MultiCollection #9, and RerunCollection #10. Two M2 gate notes for the
SaveChangesAsync() > 0 handlers: the RerunCollection/Collection-custom-order refresh now runs on any
successful save (the bump makes the gate always-true); MultiCollection keeps its "name-only change → no
playout rebuild" optimization by bumping on the first (name) save so the second (items) save's
> 0 still means "items changed". The one bulk writer in scope, UpdateDefaultDecoHandler, bumps via
.SetProperty(x => x.Version, x => x.Version + 1) (bulk ExecuteUpdate can't throw the concurrency
exception, so it needs no guard).
Non-If-Match root writers → force-write, no 500 (#269). Activating Version as an IsConcurrencyToken
makes EF append WHERE Version=@orig to every UPDATE and DELETE of the root — so a plain
SaveChangesAsync writer that is not part of the If-Match contract throws an unhandled
DbUpdateConcurrencyException→500 when a replace-all editor bumps the row in its load→save window. Every
such writer now saves through SaveChangesForcingVersion(ct) (Phase-1 force-write: rebase onto the stored
token — original = stored, current = stored + the pending delta, so a Version-bumper's rotation still
advances the ETag past the concurrent writer's value instead of silently adopting it — and retry; rethrow
only if the row was genuinely deleted out from under it). The exposure filter is "any
handler that leaves a versioned root Modified or Deleted on plain SaveChangesAsync", NOT just
Version-bumpers + deletes — ErasePlayoutHistoryHandler modifies Playout scalars without bumping and
is exposed too. Covered (18 writers): the 9 aggregate delete handlers (a delete has no ETag to rotate, so
it needs only the force-write, not a bump); the item add/remove bumpers
(AddProgramScheduleItem/DeleteProgramScheduleItem, Add{Items,Movie,Show,Season,Episode}ToPlaylist);
UpdateProgramScheduleHandler; ErasePlayoutHistoryHandler (root-scalar erase inside an explicit
transaction); and, from PR3, the Playout settings/ScheduleFile/on-demand-checkpoint writers and
UpdateCollectionHandler. (The If-Match replace handlers keep the 412 SaveChangesWithConcurrencyGuard;
UpdateDefaultDeco's bulk ExecuteUpdate can't throw, so it needs neither.)
Two deliberate boundaries. (1) The background build/time-shift Playout-scalar writers
(BuildPlayoutHandler via PlayoutBuilder, PlayoutTimeShifter) are token-guarded too but stay on plain
save on purpose: they never surface a request-path 500 (BuildPlayout catches → a build-failure BaseError;
PlayoutTimeShifter runs only via the background worker), and force-writing would persist output built from
stale config — the concurrent config bump already enqueues a rebuild, so failing and rebuilding with fresh
config is correct. (2) Item-add force-write can leave a duplicate/gap Index (accepted
Phase-1 effect): the index is computed from the handler's stale child list, so a concurrent replace-all that
grew the list makes the add land at a colliding index (no unique constraint). Non-corrupting, self-correcting
on next edit, strictly better than the pre-#269 500; a reload-and-recompute-on-conflict refinement is a #197
candidate.
Cross-editor ETag rotation — completed (#269). The remaining non-bumping config siblings now rotate the
aggregate ETag so a concurrent editor of the same root invalidates on its next save: the Collection
Add*ToCollection family (all 11 handlers) and RemoveItemsFromCollectionHandler bump Collection.Version,
and UpdateCollectionHandler (name/flag), UpdatePlayoutHandler (DailyRebuildTime), and the three
ScheduleFile writers — which already force-wrote — now also bump. All rotate via SaveChangesForcingVersion
(they take no If-Match, so a concurrent bump force-writes, never 412/500). Correction: the
Add*ToCollection family is not repository-mediated — each handler loads the Collection into its own
dbContext and writes directly (IMediaCollectionRepository is read-only), so the rotation bump is purely an
API-layer concern and the scanner's separate membership-write path is unaffected (a background scan does not
rotate the editor ETag). No-op idempotence (the trap): these handlers gate their reindex/BuildPlayout
fan-out on SaveChanges() > 0; an unconditional bump makes that gate always-true, so an idempotent re-add /
same-value re-submit would fire spurious rebuilds. Each therefore short-circuits a genuine no-op before the
bump — the Add handlers by an explicit membership check (also fixing the latent duplicate-CollectionItem
insert on a sequential re-add; two concurrent adds of the same item can still both pass the check and the
loser 500s on the composite-PK violation — a narrow, pre-existing race, tracked as #308), the scalar
writers by ChangeTracker.HasChanges() — so a no-op neither bumps nor rebuilds. This is an
invalidation-completeness refinement; the primary endpoints' own bump+guard already covered the two-tab
lost-update the contract targets.
7b. Post-commit side effects run on CancellationToken.None
Once a command handler's await dbContext.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken) (or repository upsert)
has committed, everything that runs afterwards to complete that mutation's side effect —
channel.WriteAsync(new BuildPlayout(...)) / other worker-channel enqueues, mediator.Publish(...),
ISearchIndex/reindex enqueues, a cache Refresh(...), and any post-commit lookup that gates one
of those enqueues — must be passed CancellationToken.None, not the request cancellationToken.
Rationale (audit #22, issues #251 → #254): the request token is cancelled when the HTTP client
disconnects. If it's threaded into a post-commit enqueue, a late disconnect turns an already-durable
commit into a thrown request and drops the side effect (e.g. the rebuild is never queued → the
persisted change silently never takes visible effect). The commit is the point of no return: past it,
the compensating side effect must not be half-abortable. Exemplar idiom:
ErsatzTV.Application/Scheduling/Commands/UpdateDecoHandler.cs (the affected-playout queries and the
WriteAsync(BuildPlayout..., CancellationToken.None) enqueue all use None).
Two boundaries:
- Response projection is NOT a side effect. The post-commit reload that builds the returned view
model (§7 above) legitimately keeps the request
cancellationToken— if the client disconnected, we don't need to compute a response nobody will read, and the durable work (commit +None-enqueue) has already happened. Only the side effect chain getsNone. - Background-job handlers keep their token.
BuildPlayoutHandlerand other handlers invoked by the worker (not by an HTTP request) receive the worker's shutdown token, not a client-disconnect token — their downstream enqueues correctly stay on that token so a shutdown stops enqueuing more work.
Pre-commit reads/validation and the SaveChangesAsync call itself keep the request token (cancelling
before the commit safely aborts with nothing persisted). A handler that passes no token to a
post-commit WriteAsync() is already behaviorally correct (default == CancellationToken.None);
making it explicit is optional cleanup, not required. Config handlers that commit via several sequential
IConfigElementRepository.Upsert calls are a distinct partial-commit-under-cancellation case not covered
by this rule (tracked separately).
7c. Stable child identity in replace lists (schedule items)
§7 indexes replace-list children by array order, which is the reconcile key for most replace PUTs.
That is correct only when a child row is pure config: reordering merely re-numbers otherwise-interchangeable
rows. Schedule items are the exception (issue #259): a schedule item anchors persisted runtime state —
PlayoutScheduleItemFillGroupIndex (fill-group / shuffle enumerator progression) FKs the item row with
OnDelete(Cascade). Reconciling those by position makes a moved item inherit the state of whatever item
previously occupied its new slot. So PUT /api/v1/schedules/{id}/items carries a stable child identity:
ScheduleItemRequest.Id(int?) round-trips each existing item's server id (as returned by the items GET). null / absent / 0 ⇒ a new item (the controller normalizes0→null so the handler contract is two-state). Never fabricate an id.- When any request item carries an id,
ReplaceProgramScheduleItemsHandlerreconciles by id: matched same-subtype rows are updated in place (keeping the id, so the fill-group index never cascades and follows the logical item across reorders/inserts); a matched row whose TPT subtype changed is delete+insert (state resets, a new id is returned — clients must re-sync from the PUT response); unreferenced existing rows are deleted; id-less request items are inserted.Indexis still array-position (ordering is a separate axis from identity). - A fully id-less payload falls back to the verbatim positional reconcile (legacy clients). This preserves
today's misattribution-on-reorder for such payloads — it is temporary and retires together with the §7a
Phase-2
If-Match→428 flip. - Guards run inside the handler, after the §7a
CheckVersion(so a client that is both version-stale and id-stale gets 412, the reload signal, not 422): a duplicate id in one payload → 422; an id not belonging to this schedule → 422 (under Phase-1 force-write a stale id is a live lost-update signal, not a new item — reject rather than silently duplicate). Both persist nothing.
Deliberate asymmetry: the other positional replace handlers (blocks #2, templates #3, deco-templates #4, playlists #5) do not carry a child id — their children are stateless config rows where positional churn is unobservable (#3/#4 don't even emit a child id on GET). Child ids are added only where a child row anchors server-side state; positional replace stays the default. A per-endpoint child-id contract can be retrofitted later without breaking anything (the field stays optional).
8. Known API warts (don't "fix" without discussion — they're deliberate synthesized rows)
GET /api/v1/blocks and GET /api/v1/templates (via GetAllBlocksHandler / GetAllTemplatesHandler in
ErsatzTV.Application/Scheduling/Queries/) synthesize a fake negative-id "(none)" group row
for items that have no group, so the SPA can render an "ungrouped" bucket
(Id = unusedGroup.Id * -1, Name = "(none)"). See issue #172. If you add a similar "ungrouped"
concept elsewhere, this is the established pattern to follow — but be aware it means Id is not a
reliable real-entity id for those synthetic rows.
9. Authentication — session-or-key posture (fail-closed)
The whole /api surface is gated by the global ApiAuthorizationFilter (renamed from
ApiKeyAuthorizationFilter in #295). A request that requires authentication is accepted on either
credential:
- a matching machine
X-Api-Keyheader (MCP / external clients — issue #197 Bundle A), or - an authenticated session principal (browser cookie
ctv-session, from local login or OIDC — #295).
Which endpoints require authentication is unchanged and still decided by the single shared predicate
ApiAuthorizationFilter.EndpointRequiresKey(httpMethod, endpointMetadata, requireKeyForReads) (also used by
OpenAPI generation, so the spec can't drift). When you add an endpoint:
- Do nothing for the common case. Writes (POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE) always require a credential
(fail-closed — there is no "open" mode). Reads (GET/HEAD) require one when
Api:RequireKeyForReadsis enabled, the default (true).OPTIONSpreflight is exempt. - The effective machine key comes from
IApiKeyProvider(ErsatzTV/Services/ApiKeyProvider.cs):Api:WriteKeyif configured, else a key persisted atFileSystemLayout.ApiKeyPath(/config/api.key,0600), else a freshly generated 256-bit key. It is never empty. - CSRF (session credential only). The machine key is CSRF-immune (a browser can't set a custom header
cross-origin without a credentialed CORS grant, which is never issued). A cookie session is not: a
session-authenticated mutation must additionally carry the
X-CSRFheader (ApiAuthorizationFilter.CsrfHeaderName) or it is rejected 403 — presence is the whole check (a custom header forces a CORS preflight a cross-site page can't satisfy; reinforced bySameSite=Lax+ CORS withoutAllowCredentials). Key-authed requests are exempt. When you add a SPA mutation, sendX-CSRF: 1(the SPA client does this centrally). - Sensitive-read GETs that disclose secrets/paths or trigger work must carry
[RequiresAuthentication](renamed from[RequiresApiKey]) so they stay gated even if an operator setsApi:RequireKeyForReads=false. A valid session satisfies this tier just as the key does. Current tier:Troubleshoot/Logs/Settings/Maintenance.ApiControllerSecurityTestsasserts this reflectively. - Internal loopback callbacks (the scanner's
/api/v1/scan/*) and the/api/v1/auth/*surface itself use[SkipApiAuthorization](renamed from[SkipApiKeyAuthorization]). The scanner adds[LocalhostOnly]; the auth surface must be reachable before a caller is authenticated, and its one sensitive action (POST /api/v1/auth/password) self-checks the principal.ApiControllerSecurityTestsasserts these two are the only auth-exempt controllers. - The
/api/v1/auth/*surface (AuthController,[ApiExplorerSettings(IgnoreApi = true)]→ excluded from the OpenAPI doc, whose audience is machine clients):GET config(what auth options exist +setupRequired),GET session,POST setup(first-run claim),POST login,POST logout,POST password,GET machine-key(returns the server machine key to an authenticated session — the SPA's machine-key-management screen). The browser-nav OIDC challenge isGET /auth/oidc/login(outside/api).login/setup/passwordcarry a per-IP rate limit ([EnableRateLimiting("auth")], 10 / 5 min). The local admin is a single credential inConfigElementrows (AuthLocalAdminUsername/AuthLocalAdminPasswordHash(PBKDF2) /AuthSecurityStamp) — no DB migration; a password change rotates the stamp, revoking sessions via the cookieOnValidatePrincipal. Recovery/bootstrap without the browser: setAuth:LocalAdmin:Password(+ optional…:Username, defaultadmin) and restart (LocalAdminSeedServicereseeds + rotates the stamp). While that env is set the browser setup-claim is disabled (409) — the env seed owns the credential, which also removes the startup setup-vs-seed race. Logout rotates the security stamp for a local session (ends it server-side, "log out everywhere"), gated on an authenticated session. - CORS is opt-in: no cross-origin access by default (the SPA is same-origin from
/app); setApi:CorsAllowedOrigins(semicolon-separated exact origins).AllowCredentialsis deliberately not set — cross-origin cookie auth is impossible by design (a CSRF defense); cross-origin machine clients useX-Api-Key. The policy permitsX-Api-Key/X-CSRF/If-Matchand exposesETag. - ForwardedHeaders trust is unchanged from #285 (trust
X-Forwarded-*from any peer by default, with a warning; restrict viaForwardedHeaders:KnownProxies/:KnownNetworks). A stricter "ignore unless a proxy is configured" default was considered for #295 but reverted — it would regress/iptvM3U/XMLTV/HLS absolute-URL generation (which readsRequest.Scheme/Host) for a proxied deployment that hasn't setKnownProxies. Strongly setKnownProxies/:KnownNetworkswhen exposing ErsatzTV behind a proxy — it also gives the #295 login rate limiter an unspoofable client IP and lets the session cookie be markedSecurebehind TLS. - Never add a side-effecting GET/HEAD under
/api. The filter's CSRF check only covers mutating verbs, so a side-effecting GET is a CSRF vector the moment a session cookie is a normal credential (aSameSite=Laxcookie rides a cross-site top-level GET navigation). The formerGET /api/v1/troubleshoot/playback.m3u8(started an FFmpeg workload) and the archive/sample GETs were POST-ified for #301 (PR2):POST /api/v1/troubleshoot/playback/start(returns{ url }pointing at the open/iptvmanifest),POST /api/v1/troubleshoot/playback/archive,POST /api/v1/troubleshoot/playback/sample/{mediaItemId}— so the standard session-mutation CSRF gate covers them with no new filter machinery (removing HEAD also fixed a latentDeleteOnClose-on-HEAD artifact-destruction bug). Any new endpoint that does something must be a mutating verb; a GET must be a pure read. - The SPA cutover shipped in PR2 (#295 + #301). The browser now authenticates with the session cookie only —
it no longer sends
X-Api-Key; the machine key is external/MCP-only, surfaced read-only by the machine-key screen (GET /api/v1/auth/machine-key). Seespa-conventions.md §5efor the SPA seams (boot gate, centralX-Csrfon mutations, fetch-blob downloads).
The OpenAPI "v1" document declares the machine posture by construction (#287). An ApiKey security
scheme (X-Api-Key, in: header) is declared in components.securitySchemes, and
ApiSecurityOperationTransformer injects a per-operation security requirement + a documented 401
for exactly the operations that require a credential — using the same shared predicate
ApiAuthorizationFilter.EndpointRequiresKey(...) the runtime filter enforces, so the spec can never drift from
enforcement. The document is generated against the effective default (Api:RequireKeyForReads=true), under
which every documented operation requires the credential; the browser-session path is an additional accepted
credential the spec (machine audience) needn't express. Two companion transformers run on the "v1" document
only:
OperationIdOpenApiTransformer synthesizes a stable operationId (from controller+action) for the ~90
operations that lacked a Name= — and disambiguates the HEAD/GET pairs that share a controller+action
structurally, independent of ApiExplorer visitation order (#197 Bundle C): when 2+ synthesized ops
share a base id it suffixes each by its verb (…Get/…Head), so discovery-order churn can't rename
a generated client method (a base id unique across the document stays unsuffixed; explicit Name= ids are
never touched). ValidationProblemOperationTransformer documents the
400 ValidationProblemDetails a model-binding/FluentValidation failure actually returns for any
body/param-binding operation. All four are registered in Startup.cs on "v1" only, mirroring
NewtonsoftSchemaNamingTransformer. Route versioning shipped in #286: the whole surface is mounted at
/api/v1 (see §1 and docs/decisions.md 2026-07-13) — the OpenAPI document's paths are all /api/v1/…, and a
legacy unversioned /api/* caller is rewritten in-pipeline by ApiVersionRewriteMiddleware.