@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/runtime': minor
+---
+
+fix(runtime)!: the runtime dispatcher's ADR-0069 gate answers `503` when an active gate cannot read the session, as REST does
+
+Clause-②: no (narrowing) — an active gate's outage now refuses what it served; core's existing exports only, no published schema or export moves.
+
+<!-- adr-0087: not-required (no-migration-prescription) A runtime authentication narrowing at one seam, not a metadata change. No spec key, export, option, config field, response field or stored shape is removed, renamed or re-shaped, and every request whose session read answers receives the same answer as before, so there is no tombstone and nothing for `objectstack migrate meta` to rewrite. What narrows is one window: while an ADR-0069 gate feature is active and the dispatcher's gate cannot read the session, the request is now refused with `503 SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE` instead of being served. The other categories are closed on facts: `@objectstack/runtime` publishes (not unpublished); no ADR-0087 id covers this seam and this diff adds none (not registered / already-registered); and no published interface or type changes, the method being private (not runtime-interface-only / type-surface-only / runtime-export-retired). -->
+
+**BREAKING** (an accept-set narrowing), shipped as `minor` under the launch-window convention for breaking changes.
+
+ADR-0069 holds a signed-in user out of every protected resource while their password has expired or while enforced MFA is not yet enrolled. While a gate feature is active, the runtime dispatcher (`HttpDispatcher`) reads the session again at its own gate to ask that question. When that read failed, because the auth service could not answer, the dispatcher took the failure for "no session" and served the request, so a session the policy holds passed the gate on every dispatcher-served route for as long as the outage lasted. REST, and the dispatcher plugin's declared-endpoint fallback, answer the same window `503`.
+
+- **Refused now:** with a gate feature active, a request whose gate read fails (the session read rejects, or the auth service cannot hand back its session API) is answered `503` with the code `SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE`, in the dispatcher's existing error envelope. It is the authorization-store outage (`AuthzStoreUnavailableError`, `@objectstack/core`, read object `auth_gate`) that REST raises for the same window, and the route's own handler does not run.
+- **Unchanged:** with no gate feature active the gate makes no read at all, and a deployment whose gate probe itself fails is treated as having no active gate, as on REST. Whenever the read answers, the answers are as before: a held session gets the gate's `403` with its own `code`, and a session the policy does not hold, an API-key caller and an anonymous caller are served as before.
+
+What changes for you. Only deployments with password expiry or enforced MFA turned on are affected, and only while their auth service cannot answer a session read: requests on routes the runtime dispatcher serves now answer a retriable `503` instead of being served. Retry once the auth service answers. Nothing needs configuring.
@@ -0,0 +1,277 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#23245 — #13906 decision 2 option B, at the dispatcher's own seam]
+ *
+ * "An *active* auth gate whose session re-read fails answers **503**." REST's
+ * `computeExecCtx` has answered that window since #13906, and the declared-
+ * endpoint fallback since #23190 (`endpoint-policy.auth-gate.pin.test.ts`).
+ * `HttpDispatcher.enforceAuthGate` was the one gated seam that still failed
+ * open: its read carried `.catch(() => undefined)` and the whole decision sat
+ * under `catch { return null }`, so while the auth service could not answer, a
+ * session the ADR-0069 policy holds passed the gate on every dispatcher-served
+ * route.
+ *
+ * ## The three cases, driven through `dispatch()`
+ *
+ *  1. OUTAGE — the gate is active and the session read fails: `dispatch()`
+ *     rejects with the branded `AuthzStoreUnavailableError('auth_gate', …)`
+ *     (`SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE`, 503) and the route's member never runs.
+ *  2. GATE OFF — the SAME failing backend with no gate feature active: the
+ *     gate makes no read of its own and the request is served as before.
+ *  3. ACTIVE, CLEAR — the read succeeds and carries no posture: served.
+ *
+ * Case 2 runs on the outage's own backend on purpose: the only difference
+ * between it and case 1 is `isAuthGateActive()`, so it proves the refusal is
+ * the ACTIVE gate's and nothing else's.
+ *
+ * A positive control rides beside them — an expired password on a route the
+ * allow-list does not name answers the gate's 403 — so the fixture provably
+ * gates and a green "served" cannot mean "the gate never ran".
+ *
+ * ## The rendering
+ *
+ * `enforceAuthGate` sits above `dispatch()`'s `try`, so the outage leaves
+ * `dispatch()` and the transport's envelope answers it, as it answers the
+ * identity step's and the membership gate's outages. The second block mounts
+ * the real dispatcher plugin on a recording server and reads the wire body.
+ *
+ * Negative control (one-shot, recorded in the PR, not kept as a test):
+ * restoring `catch { return null }` reds both OUTAGE cases and leaves every
+ * control green.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+
+import { isAuthzStoreUnavailableError } from '@objectstack/core';
+import { ApiErrorSchema, BaseResponseSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/api';
+
+import { HttpDispatcher } from './http-dispatcher.js';
+import type { HttpProtocolContext } from './http-dispatcher.js';
+import { createDispatcherPlugin } from './dispatcher-plugin.js';
+
+const ORIGIN = 'http://tenant.example';
+/** Not allow-listed, and the domain hands the request to a recording member. */
+const ROUTE = '/webhooks/redeliver';
+const JSON_HEADERS = { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };
+
+/** An ADR-0069 posture (`normalizeAuthGate`'s shape): an expired password. */
+const PASSWORD_EXPIRED = { code: 'PASSWORD_EXPIRED', message: 'You must change your password before continuing.' };
+
+type Backend = 'healthy' | 'outage';
+
+/**
+ * An `auth` service. `gateActive` answers the probe; `backend` decides whether
+ * a session read answers or rejects; `user` is the session's user. Every read
+ * is counted, so "the gate made no read" is a number rather than a hope.
+ */
+function authService(opts: { gateActive: boolean; backend: Backend; user?: Record<string, unknown> }) {
+    const getSession = vi.fn(async () => {
+        if (opts.backend === 'outage') throw new Error('session backend unavailable');
+        return opts.user ? { user: opts.user, session: { userId: opts.user.id, activeOrganizationId: 'org_tenant' } } : null;
+    });
+    const isAuthGateActive = vi.fn(() => opts.gateActive);
+    return { service: { isAuthGateActive, getApi: async () => ({ getSession }) }, getSession, isAuthGateActive };
+}
+
+/** A member shaped like `IWebhookService.handleRedeliver`, recording each run. */
+function recordingMember() {
+    const handleRedeliver = vi.fn(async () => new Response(
+        JSON.stringify({ success: true, data: { status: 'pending' } }),
+        { status: 200, headers: JSON_HEADERS },
+    ));
+    return { handleRedeliver };
+}
+
+/** A kernel with no `http.server` — only the services named. */
+function kernelWith(services: Record<string, unknown>): any {
+    return {
+        getState: () => 'running',
+        getService: (n: string) => services[n] ?? null,
+        getServiceAsync: async (n: string) => services[n] ?? null,
+        context: { getService: (n: string) => services[n] ?? null },
+    };
+}
+
+function objectqlStub() {
+    return {
+        find: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue([]),
+        getObjects: vi.fn().mockReturnValue({}),
+        registry: {
+            getObject: vi.fn().mockReturnValue(null),
+            getRegisteredTypes: vi.fn().mockReturnValue([]),
+        },
+    };
+}
+
+function harness(opts: { gateActive: boolean; backend: Backend; user?: Record<string, unknown> }) {
+    const auth = authService(opts);
+    const member = recordingMember();
+    const services = { objectql: objectqlStub(), auth: auth.service, webhooks: { handleRedeliver: member.handleRedeliver } };
+    const dispatcher = new HttpDispatcher(kernelWith(services), undefined, { enforceProjectMembership: false });
+    const logger = { error: vi.fn(), warn: vi.fn(), info: vi.fn(), debug: vi.fn() };
+    (dispatcher as any).domainDeps.logger = logger;
+    return { dispatcher, auth, member };
+}
+
+const request = () => new Request(`${ORIGIN}/api/v1${ROUTE}`, {
+    method: 'POST',
+    headers: { ...JSON_HEADERS, cookie: 'session=held' },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ deliveryId: 'del_1' }),
+});
+const ctx = (r: Request): HttpProtocolContext => ({ request: r });
+
+/** Settle to the rejection, or to `undefined` when the call RESOLVED. */
+const rejectionOf = (p: Promise<unknown>) => p.then(() => undefined, (e) => e);
+
+const HELD_USER = { id: 'u_held', authGate: PASSWORD_EXPIRED };
+const CLEAR_USER = { id: 'u_clear' };
+
+describe('[#23245] HttpDispatcher.enforceAuthGate — an active gate that cannot read the session answers 503', () => {
+    it('⭐ POSITIVE CONTROL — this fixture gates: an expired password is refused 403 with the gate code, and the member never runs', async () => {
+        const { dispatcher, member } = harness({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy', user: HELD_USER });
+        const result: any = await dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        expect(result.response?.status).toBe(403);
+        expect(result.response?.body?.error?.code).toBe('PASSWORD_EXPIRED');
+        expect(member.handleRedeliver).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('CASE 1 — OUTAGE: an active gate whose session read fails rejects with the branded 503, and the member never runs', async () => {
+        // What origin/main answered on this fixture: the read's rejection
+        // became "no session", the gate admitted, and `dispatch()` RESOLVED —
+        // the request went on to the route exactly as the gate-off control
+        // (CASE 2, same backend) still does.
+        const { dispatcher, member } = harness({ gateActive: true, backend: 'outage' });
+        const err: any = await rejectionOf(dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request())));
+        expect(err, '`dispatch()` RESOLVED — the active gate failed open on the outage').toBeDefined();
+        expect(isAuthzStoreUnavailableError(err)).toBe(true);
+        expect(err.code).toBe('SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE');
+        expect(err.status).toBe(503);
+        expect(err.object).toBe('auth_gate');
+        expect(member.handleRedeliver).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('CASE 2 — GATE OFF: the SAME failing backend with no gate active makes no gate read and is served as before', async () => {
+        const off = harness({ gateActive: false, backend: 'outage' });
+        const result: any = await off.dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        expect(result.response, JSON.stringify(result.response?.body)).toBeUndefined();
+        expect((result.result as Response).status).toBe(200);
+        expect(off.member.handleRedeliver).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+        expect(off.auth.isAuthGateActive).toHaveBeenCalled();
+
+        // "No read" measured, not assumed: an ACTIVE gate on the same request
+        // reads exactly once more than the inactive one does (the identity
+        // step's own reads are the shared baseline).
+        const on = harness({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy', user: CLEAR_USER });
+        const offHealthy = harness({ gateActive: false, backend: 'healthy', user: CLEAR_USER });
+        await on.dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        await offHealthy.dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        expect(on.auth.getSession.mock.calls.length).toBe(offHealthy.auth.getSession.mock.calls.length + 1);
+        expect(off.auth.getSession.mock.calls.length).toBe(offHealthy.auth.getSession.mock.calls.length);
+    });
+
+    it('CASE 3 — ACTIVE, CLEAR: a successful read carrying no posture still admits', async () => {
+        const { dispatcher, member } = harness({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy', user: CLEAR_USER });
+        const result: any = await dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        expect(result.response, JSON.stringify(result.response?.body)).toBeUndefined();
+        expect((result.result as Response).status).toBe(200);
+        expect(member.handleRedeliver).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+
+    it('CASE 3 — ACTIVE, NO SESSION: a read that resolves with no session (an anonymous caller) is not an outage', async () => {
+        const { dispatcher, member } = harness({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy' });
+        const result: any = await dispatcher.dispatch('POST', ROUTE, {}, {}, ctx(request()));
+        expect(result.response, JSON.stringify(result.response?.body)).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(member.handleRedeliver).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+});
+
+describe('[#23245] the outage reaches the transport envelope as 503 SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE', () => {
+    /** A fake `IHttpServer` recording the handlers the plugin mounts. */
+    function makeFakeServer() {
+        const handlers: Record<string, (req: any, res: any) => any> = {};
+        const rec = (verb: string) => (path: string, handler: any) => { handlers[`${verb} ${path}`] = handler; };
+        return {
+            handlers,
+            server: { get: rec('GET'), post: rec('POST'), put: rec('PUT'), delete: rec('DELETE'), patch: rec('PATCH') },
+        };
+    }
+
+    async function mountOn(opts: { gateActive: boolean; backend: Backend; user?: Record<string, unknown> }) {
+        const { server, handlers } = makeFakeServer();
+        const auth = authService(opts);
+        const services: Record<string, unknown> = { objectql: objectqlStub(), auth: auth.service };
+        const kernel = kernelWith({ ...services, 'http.server': server });
+        const plugin = createDispatcherPlugin({ prefix: '/api/v1', securityHeaders: false });
+        await plugin.start?.({
+            getKernel: () => kernel,
+            getService: (n: string) => (n === 'http.server' ? server : undefined),
+            environmentId: undefined,
+            logger: { info() {}, warn() {}, error() {}, debug() {} },
+            hook: () => {}, on: () => {},
+        } as any);
+        return handlers;
+    }
+
+    async function drive(handler: (req: any, res: any) => any, req: any) {
+        expect(handler, 'route must be mounted').toBeTypeOf('function');
+        const res: any = {
+            statusCode: undefined, body: undefined,
+            status(c: number) { res.statusCode = c; return res; },
+            header() { return res; },
+            json(b: any) { res.body = b; return res; },
+            end() { return res; },
+        };
+        await handler(req, res);
+        return { status: res.statusCode as number, body: res.body };
+    }
+
+    // A mounted route whose own answer is distinguishable from every gate
+    // answer — `501 NOT_IMPLEMENTED` with no i18n service — measured on this
+    // fixture, one row per gate state:
+    //
+    //   gate     | session read        | before (origin/main)   | after
+    //   ---------|---------------------|------------------------|------------------------
+    //   active   | FAILS               | 401 UNAUTHENTICATED    | 503 SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
+    //   inactive | FAILS (same backend)| 401 UNAUTHENTICATED    | 401 — unchanged
+    //   active   | resolves, no posture| 501 NOT_IMPLEMENTED    | 501 — unchanged (admitted)
+    //   active   | resolves, held      | 403 PASSWORD_EXPIRED   | 403 — unchanged
+    //
+    // The 401 on the first row is the defect on the wire: the gate admitted,
+    // and the request ran on as the anonymous caller the identity step's own
+    // failed read left behind, byte-identical to the gate-off row.
+    const MOUNTED = 'GET /api/v1/i18n/locales';
+    const wireRequest = { headers: { cookie: 'session=held' }, query: {} };
+
+    it('OUTAGE on the wire: an active gate whose read fails answers 503 with a declared `SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE` envelope', async () => {
+        const handlers = await mountOn({ gateActive: true, backend: 'outage' });
+        const { status, body } = await drive(handlers[MOUNTED], wireRequest);
+        expect(status).toBe(503);
+        expect(BaseResponseSchema.safeParse(body).success).toBe(true);
+        expect(body?.success).toBe(false);
+        const parsed = ApiErrorSchema.safeParse(body?.error);
+        expect(parsed.error?.issues ?? []).toEqual([]);
+        expect(body?.error?.code).toBe('SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE');
+    });
+
+    it('CONTROL on the wire: the same failing backend with no gate active keeps its anonymous answer', async () => {
+        const handlers = await mountOn({ gateActive: false, backend: 'outage' });
+        const { status, body } = await drive(handlers[MOUNTED], wireRequest);
+        expect(status, JSON.stringify(body)).toBe(401);
+        expect(body?.error?.code).toBe('UNAUTHENTICATED');
+    });
+
+    it('CONTROL on the wire: an active gate whose read resolves with no posture admits — the route answers for itself', async () => {
+        const handlers = await mountOn({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy', user: CLEAR_USER });
+        const { status, body } = await drive(handlers[MOUNTED], wireRequest);
+        expect(status, JSON.stringify(body)).toBe(501);
+        expect(body?.error?.code).toBe('NOT_IMPLEMENTED');
+    });
+
+    it('POSITIVE CONTROL on the wire: a held session is refused with the gate code', async () => {
+        const handlers = await mountOn({ gateActive: true, backend: 'healthy', user: HELD_USER });
+        const { status, body } = await drive(handlers[MOUNTED], wireRequest);
+        expect(status, JSON.stringify(body)).toBe(403);
+        expect(body?.error?.code).toBe('PASSWORD_EXPIRED');
+    });
+});