fix(chat): honor effective RAG policy in context building

THREAT_MODEL.md

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ External content that reaches the LLM is treated as untrusted via `src/prompt_se
 
 `src/tool_capabilities.py` carries a second layer: once untrusted content has entered a run, `ToolRunSecurityContext.decision_for()` blocks tools that execute code, mutate state, or cause external side effects until the user authorises the action separately.
 
-It is on unless `ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE` is set to a falsy value (`0`/`false`/`no`/`off`). The admin-only `tool_approval_mode` setting (Settings → Agent Tools, `off` = "Off (YOLO)") is the same knob exposed in the UI: with `off`, every run sets `approval_gate_bypassed` and this gate stops asking, exactly as if the env var were off. Request authority narrows which tool families a turn may use, but within an admitted family it does not bind the exact action: a request to read email admits `send_email` and `delete_email`, and agent processes inherit the host network. Until those are covered by their own boundaries, this gate is what stops an injected instruction from reaching them. Turning it off — by either knob — lets a successful injection reach `bash`, `host_shell`, `send_email` and `delete_email` without a separate confirmation.
+It is on unless `ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE` is set to a falsy value (`0`/`false`/`no`/`off`). Request authority narrows which tool families a turn may use, but within an admitted family it does not bind the exact action: a request to read email admits `send_email` and `delete_email`, and agent processes inherit the host network. Until those are covered by their own boundaries, this gate is what stops an injected instruction from reaching them. Turning it off lets a successful injection reach `bash`, `host_shell`, `send_email` and `delete_email` without a separate confirmation.
 
 Three exemptions apply even when the gate is on, all deliberate:
 

routes/auth_routes.py

@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ from src.constants import DEEP_RESEARCH_DIR, MEMORY_FILE, PASSWORD_MIN_LENGTH, S
 from src.auth_helpers import _auth_disabled
 from src.rate_limiter import RateLimiter
 from src.settings_scrub import scrub_settings
-from src import tool_capabilities
 from src.settings import (
     load_settings as _load_settings,
     save_settings as _save_settings,
@@ -754,11 +753,6 @@ def setup_auth_routes(auth_manager: AuthManager) -> APIRouter:
         user = _get_current_user(request)
         settings = without_retired_settings(_load_settings())
         if _auth_disabled() or (user and auth_manager.is_admin(user)):
-            # Deployment-level truth for the Tool approval row: a falsy
-            # ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE disables the approval gate for every
-            # run regardless of the stored tool_approval_mode, so surface it to
-            # admins instead of letting the row mislead them the other way.
-            settings["tool_approval_gate_env_disabled"] = not tool_capabilities.TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE_ENABLED
             return settings
         return scrub_settings(settings)
 
@@ -775,9 +769,6 @@ def setup_auth_routes(auth_manager: AuthManager) -> APIRouter:
             "agent_max_tool_calls": (0, 1000),  # 0 = unlimited
             "auto_compact_threshold_percent": (50, 95),
         }
-        _VALID_VALUES = {
-            "tool_approval_mode": {"ask", "off"},
-        }
         for key in DEFAULT_SETTINGS:
             if key in RETIRED_SETTING_KEYS:
                 continue
@@ -791,15 +782,6 @@ def setup_auth_routes(auth_manager: AuthManager) -> APIRouter:
                 except (TypeError, ValueError):
                     raise HTTPException(400, f"{key} must be an integer")
                 val = max(lo, min(val, hi))
-
-            if key in _VALID_VALUES:
-                allowed = _VALID_VALUES[key]
-                if not isinstance(val, str) or val not in allowed:
-                    raise HTTPException(
-                        400,
-                        f"{key} must be one of {sorted(allowed)}",
-                    )
-
             current[key] = val
         _save_settings(current)
         return without_retired_settings(current)

src/agent_loop.py

@@ -14,12 +14,12 @@ import csv
 import difflib
 import html
 import json
-import logging
 import os
 import re
 import shlex
 import shutil
 import time
+import logging
 import hashlib
 from src.web_recovery import WebRecoveryBudget
 from itertools import count
@@ -16994,20 +16994,6 @@ def _detect_runaway_call(call_freq, threshold=15):
     sig = next((s for s, n in call_freq.items() if n >= threshold), None)
     return sig.split(":", 1)[0] if sig else None
 
-def _tool_approval_gate_bypassed(
-    exact_approval: Optional[ExactToolApproval] = None,
-) -> bool:
-    """Return whether the post-external-context tool approval gate is bypassed.
-
-    ``tool_approval_mode=off`` (admin setting, Settings → Agent Tools) bypasses
-    the gate on every run, the same effect as ``ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE=0``.
-    A chat-session grant bypasses it only within the scope of its own task.
-    """
-    return (
-        get_setting("tool_approval_mode", "ask") == "off"
-        or bool(exact_approval and exact_approval.allow_remaining_actions)
-    )
-
 
 def _tool_result_signature(tool_result_records: list[dict]) -> str:
     """Return a bounded fingerprint of the observable result of a tool batch.
@@ -21451,7 +21437,9 @@ async def stream_agent_loop(
             )
             or messages_contain_external_untrusted_context(messages)
         ),
-        approval_gate_bypassed=_tool_approval_gate_bypassed(exact_approval),
+        approval_gate_bypassed=bool(
+            exact_approval and exact_approval.allow_remaining_actions
+        ),
         delegated_credential=bool(delegated_credential),
     )
     _has_tui_host_bridge = _tui_host_bridge_is_usable(client_runtime_context)

src/agent_runtime/effect_log.py

@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ EFFECTS_DIR = os.path.join(DATA_DIR, "effects")
 _RUN_ID = re.compile(r"[a-f0-9]{32}")
 _TYPES = {"claim": EffectClaim, "outcome": EffectOutcome, "observation": Observation}
 _VERSION = 1
-_O_BINARY = getattr(os, "O_BINARY", 0)  # Windows: raw os.open() is text-mode without it
 
 
 def _fsync_directory(directory: str | os.PathLike) -> None:
@@ -244,7 +243,7 @@ class EffectLog:
         """Hold the file exclusively with every durable record merged."""
         assert self.path is not None
         _ensure_directory(self.path.parent)
-        flags = os.O_RDWR | os.O_APPEND | os.O_CREAT | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0) | _O_BINARY
+        flags = os.O_RDWR | os.O_APPEND | os.O_CREAT | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0)
         descriptor = os.open(self.path, flags, 0o600)
         try:
             if fcntl is not None:
@@ -359,7 +358,7 @@ class EffectLog:
         with self._lock:
             try:
                 descriptor = os.open(self.path, os.O_RDONLY | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0)
-                                     | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0) | _O_BINARY)
+                                     | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0))
             except FileNotFoundError:
                 return
             except OSError:
@@ -395,7 +394,7 @@ class EffectLog:
         log = cls(run_id, directory=directory)
         assert log.path is not None
         try:
-            descriptor = os.open(log.path, os.O_RDONLY | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0) | _O_BINARY)
+            descriptor = os.open(log.path, os.O_RDONLY | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0))
         except FileNotFoundError:
             return log
         except OSError as error:
@@ -461,7 +460,7 @@ class EffectLog:
         temporary = target.with_suffix(".tmp")
         data = json.dumps({"run_id": self.run_id, "effect_id": effect_id}, sort_keys=True).encode()
         _ensure_directory(target.parent)
-        flags = os.O_WRONLY | os.O_CREAT | os.O_TRUNC | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0) | _O_BINARY
+        flags = os.O_WRONLY | os.O_CREAT | os.O_TRUNC | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | getattr(os, "O_CLOEXEC", 0)
         descriptor = os.open(temporary, flags, 0o600)
         try:
             view = memoryview(data)
@@ -479,7 +478,7 @@ class EffectLog:
             return None
         base = Path(directory) if directory is not None else effects_dir()
         try:
-            descriptor = os.open(base / f"launch-{generation}.json", os.O_RDONLY | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0) | _O_BINARY)
+            descriptor = os.open(base / f"launch-{generation}.json", os.O_RDONLY | getattr(os, "O_NOFOLLOW", 0))
             with os.fdopen(descriptor, "rb") as stream:
                 if os.fstat(stream.fileno()).st_nlink != 1:
                     return None

src/settings.py

@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ DEFAULT_SETTINGS = {
     # Tune via Settings or by editing data/settings.json.
     "research_run_timeout_seconds": 1800,
     "agent_max_tool_calls": 0,
-    "tool_approval_mode": "ask",
     "agent_max_rounds": 20,  # per-message agent step cap (clamped 1..200)
     # Soft input-token budget for the agent loop. The DEFAULT value (6000) is the
     # "auto" sentinel: it means "scale the budget to the model's context window"

static/index.html

@@ -2463,22 +2463,6 @@
                 <label class="settings-label">Max steps per message</label>
                 <input id="set-agentMaxRounds" type="text" inputmode="numeric" placeholder="20" class="settings-select" style="width:120px;">
               </div>
-              <div class="settings-row">
-                <label class="settings-label">Tool approval</label>
-                <select id="set-toolApprovalMode" class="settings-select">
-                  <option value="ask">Always ask</option>
-                  <option value="off">Off (YOLO)</option>
-                </select>
-              </div>
-
-              <div class="admin-toggle-sub" style="margin-top:4px;">
-                Auto-approve turns off the tool approval gate (same control as the
-                ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE env var). Bash, host_shell, send_email and
-                delete_email then run without a confirmation even after the agent has
-                seen untrusted external content (email, web pages, documents), so a
-                prompt-injected instruction can reach them directly.
-              </div>
-              <div id="set-toolApprovalEnvNote" class="admin-toggle-sub" style="margin-top:4px;display:none;color:var(--red);"></div>
               <div id="set-agentMsg" style="font-size:11px;color:color-mix(in srgb, var(--fg) 45%, transparent);"></div>
             </div>
           </div>

static/js/settings/agent.js

@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ export async function initAgentSettings() {
   var toolsInput = el('set-agentMaxTools');
   var roundsInput = el('set-agentMaxRounds');
   var supInput = el('set-agentSupervisorLadder');
-  var approvalModeInput = el('set-toolApprovalMode');
   var msg = el('set-agentMsg');
   if (!toolsInput) return;
 
@@ -20,21 +19,6 @@ export async function initAgentSettings() {
     if (settings.agent_max_tool_calls) toolsInput.value = settings.agent_max_tool_calls;
     if (roundsInput && settings.agent_max_rounds) roundsInput.value = settings.agent_max_rounds;
     if (supInput) supInput.checked = !!settings.agent_supervisor_ladder;
-    if (approvalModeInput) {
-      approvalModeInput.value =
-        settings.tool_approval_mode === 'off' ? 'off' : 'ask';
-    }
-    var approvalEnvNote = el('set-toolApprovalEnvNote');
-    if (approvalEnvNote) {
-      if (settings.tool_approval_gate_env_disabled) {
-        approvalEnvNote.textContent =
-          'Forced by deployment: ODYSSEUS_TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE is set to a falsy value on this server, so the approval gate is off for every run regardless of this setting.';
-        approvalEnvNote.style.display = 'block';
-      } else {
-        approvalEnvNote.textContent = '';
-        approvalEnvNote.style.display = 'none';
-      }
-    }
   } catch (e) {}
 
   // Clamp + coerce a raw input to an int in [lo, hi]; falls back to `dflt`
@@ -53,10 +37,6 @@ export async function initAgentSettings() {
     var payload = { agent_max_tool_calls: tools };
     if (rounds != null) payload.agent_max_rounds = rounds;
     if (supInput) payload.agent_supervisor_ladder = !!supInput.checked;
-    if (approvalModeInput) {
-      payload.tool_approval_mode =
-        approvalModeInput.value === 'off' ? 'off' : 'ask';
-    }
     try {
       await _postSettings(payload);
       msg.textContent = (tools > 0 ? 'Limit: ' + tools + ' tool calls' : 'Unlimited tool calls') +
@@ -69,7 +49,6 @@ export async function initAgentSettings() {
   toolsInput.addEventListener('change', save);
   if (roundsInput) roundsInput.addEventListener('change', save);
   if (supInput) supInput.addEventListener('change', save);
-  if (approvalModeInput) approvalModeInput.addEventListener('change', save);
   var cur = parseInt(toolsInput.value, 10) || 0;
   var curR = roundsInput ? (parseInt(roundsInput.value, 10) || 20) : null;
   msg.textContent = (cur > 0 ? 'Limit: ' + cur + ' tool calls' : 'Unlimited tool calls') +

tests/test_effect_journal_persistence.py

@@ -344,13 +344,3 @@ def test_hardlinked_effect_state_is_control_plane_without_scanning_the_store(tmp
     elsewhere.write_text("y")
     os.link(elsewhere, workspace / "pnpm-style.txt")
     assert resources._control_plane_path(str(workspace / "pnpm-style.txt")) is True
-
-
-def test_consecutive_claims_write_lf_only_records(tmp_path, target):
-    # Raw os.open() is text-mode on Windows unless O_BINARY is set; the \r\n it
-    # wrote made the next append read a stray empty line as a corrupt tail.
-    log = EffectLog(RUN, directory=tmp_path / "fx")
-    claim(log, target, "e1", "act-1")
-    claim(log, target, "e2", "act-2")
-    assert b"\r" not in log.path.read_bytes()
-    assert len(records(log.path)) == 2

tests/test_retired_settings_interfaces.py

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import asyncio
 import json
 from types import SimpleNamespace
-from fastapi import HTTPException
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -118,62 +117,3 @@ def test_manage_settings_tombstones_legacy_fallback_key(monkeypatch):
 
     assert save_calls == []
     assert store["default_model_fallbacks"] == LEGACY_VALUE
-
-@pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_tool_approval_mode_accepts_only_supported_values(monkeypatch):
-    store = dict(settings_mod.DEFAULT_SETTINGS)
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes, "migrate_from_settings", lambda: None)
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes, "_load_settings", lambda: dict(store))
-
-    def save_settings(updated):
-        store.clear()
-        store.update(updated)
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes, "_save_settings", save_settings)
-
-    router = auth_routes.setup_auth_routes(_AuthManager())
-    set_settings = _route(router, "/api/auth/settings", "POST")
-
-    response = await set_settings(
-        _Request({"tool_approval_mode": "off"}, admin=True)
-    )
-    assert response["tool_approval_mode"] == "off"
-    assert store["tool_approval_mode"] == "off"
-
-    response = await set_settings(
-        _Request({"tool_approval_mode": "ask"}, admin=True)
-    )
-    assert response["tool_approval_mode"] == "ask"
-    assert store["tool_approval_mode"] == "ask"
-
-    with pytest.raises(HTTPException) as exc_info:
-        await set_settings(
-            _Request({"tool_approval_mode": "banana"}, admin=True)
-        )
-
-    assert exc_info.value.status_code == 400
-
-@pytest.mark.asyncio
-async def test_settings_expose_gate_env_kill_switch_to_admins_only(monkeypatch):
-    store = dict(settings_mod.DEFAULT_SETTINGS)
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes, "migrate_from_settings", lambda: None)
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes, "_load_settings", lambda: dict(store))
-
-    router = auth_routes.setup_auth_routes(_AuthManager())
-    get_settings = _route(router, "/api/auth/settings", "GET")
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes.tool_capabilities, "TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE_ENABLED", True)
-    response = await get_settings(_Request(admin=True))
-    assert response["tool_approval_gate_env_disabled"] is False
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(auth_routes.tool_capabilities, "TOOL_APPROVAL_GATE_ENABLED", False)
-    response = await get_settings(_Request(admin=True))
-    assert response["tool_approval_gate_env_disabled"] is True
-    # The stored setting itself is untouched by the env kill-switch.
-    assert response["tool_approval_mode"] == "ask"
-
-    # Unauthenticated/scrubbed callers must not learn the deployment gate state.
-    response = await get_settings(_Request())
-    assert "tool_approval_gate_env_disabled" not in response

tests/test_tool_approval_task_scope.py

@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ def test_route_context_agent_frontend_and_cache_bust_wire_the_contract():
     assert "_without_latest_matching_user_message(" not in helpers
     assert "selected_tools=approval_selected_tools" in agent
     assert "continuation_query=_retrieval_query or _last_user" in agent
-    assert "approval_gate_bypassed=_tool_approval_gate_bypassed(" in agent
+    assert "approval_gate_bypassed=bool(" in agent
     assert "['approve', 'approve_task', 'deny']" in frontend
     assert "input.value = label" not in frontend
     assert "const msg = approvalForSend ? '' : el('message').value;" in frontend

tests/test_tool_approvals.py

@@ -500,37 +500,3 @@ async def test_dispatcher_revalidates_sealed_workspace(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
 
     assert result["blocked"] is True
     assert result["policy"] == "exact_tool_approval"
-
-def test_tool_approval_mode_defaults_to_ask(monkeypatch):
-    import src.agent_loop as agent_loop
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        agent_loop,
-        "get_setting",
-        lambda key, default=None: (
-            "ask" if key == "tool_approval_mode" else default
-        ),
-    )
-
-    assert agent_loop._tool_approval_gate_bypassed() is False
-
-def test_tool_approval_gate_respects_setting(monkeypatch):
-    import src.agent_loop as agent_loop
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        agent_loop,
-        "get_setting",
-        lambda key, default=None: (
-            "ask" if key == "tool_approval_mode" else default
-        ),
-    )
-    assert agent_loop._tool_approval_gate_bypassed() is False
-
-    monkeypatch.setattr(
-        agent_loop,
-        "get_setting",
-        lambda key, default=None: (
-            "off" if key == "tool_approval_mode" else default
-        ),
-    )
-    assert agent_loop._tool_approval_gate_bypassed() is True