boma/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-06-06-logging-log-integrity.md

Logging & Log Integrity Implementation Plan

For agentic workers: REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:subagent-driven-development (recommended) or superpowers:executing-plans to implement this plan task-by-task. Steps use checkbox (- [ ]) syntax for tracking.

Goal: Record the logging architecture (all logs → on-cluster Loki; a security subset also write-only off-site to askari) by authoring ADR-018 and reconciling every doc that touches logging/observability.

Architecture: Documentation-only. The runtime pieces — Alloy in the base role, the loki/grafana service roles, OPNsense syslog forwarding — wait on the base + service-role machinery STATUS.md lists as not-yet-built. This plan settles the decision and the doc reconciliation.

Tech Stack: Markdown. Verification is the repo's pre-commit hooks + a final cross-reference sweep. No markdown linter, so "tests" are hook-pass + grep checks.

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Pre-flight (read once)

• rbw must be unlocked before every commit (pre-commit ansible-lint decrypts vault.yml). rbw unlocked; if non-zero, stop and ask the user to rbw unlock.
• Commit style: one commit per task, imperative subject ≤72 chars.
• Order: Task 1 (ADR-018) first — later tasks link to it.
• Spec: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-05-logging-log-integrity-design.md.
• Branch: controller creates chore/logging-log-integrity-docs off main before Task 1; do not implement on main.

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File map

File	Action	Responsibility
docs/decisions/018-logging.md	Create	Home of record for the logging architecture
docs/decisions/002-security.md	Modify	Make the "logs to central" + "active alerting" bullets concrete (→ ADR-018)
docs/security/accepted-risks.md	Modify	Add R4 — no cryptographic WORM for logs
docs/CAPABILITIES.md	Modify	Loki row → decided; add Alloy agent row; note security alerting
docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md	Modify	Log-storage allocation + SSD-wearout tracked metric
STATUS.md	Modify	Rows: logging pipeline (designed, not built)
docs/TODO.md	Modify	Mark 3.1 decided; reconcile 3.6's "on askari" phrasing
CLAUDE.md	Modify	ADR-018 in Further reading

Deferred (not in this plan): the Alloy task in base, the loki/grafana service roles, OPNsense Suricata syslog forwarding, the push-only vault.loki.* credential, and the live pipeline — all recorded in ADR-018/STATUS, built when the stack exists.

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Task 1: Author ADR-018 (the home of record)

Files:

• Create: docs/decisions/018-logging.md

• Step 1: Create the ADR

Create docs/decisions/018-logging.md with exactly this content (preserve em-dashes —, backticks, table pipes, ≠, ~):

# ADR-018 — Logging and log integrity

## Context

boma wants all logs in one queryable store for troubleshooting, spotting issues over
time, and detecting intrusions / malicious activity. ADR-002 commits in principle
("logs shipped to a central location"; "active alerting wires AIDE/`auditd`/`fail2ban`/
Suricata… ties to the Loki/Grafana effort"); CAPABILITIES lists Loki and `askari` (the
off-site watchdog). Undecided: the architecture and the **integrity** question — an
attacker who roots a host will try to clear logs to cover their tracks.

The framing insight: the biggest anti-tampering win is that logs **leave the host in
near-real-time** — once a line is in a store the attacker doesn't control, wiping the
local copy is futile. How far to harden the central store is set by the threat model.

## Decision

1. **Threat model — opportunistic + blast-radius** (ADR-002 / accepted-risk R1). Not
   forensic-grade.
2. **All logs → an on-cluster Loki** — the single monitoring DB for troubleshooting +
   trends. Near-real-time shipping already defeats per-host track-covering.
3. **A security-relevant subset ALSO ships off-site to `askari`, write-only** —
   tamper-resistant against full-cluster compromise, at bounded volume.
4. **Skip WORM/object-lock** — accepted-risk R4; append-only push + off-site is the
   proportionate control.
5. **Disk-wear is a managed parameter** — media choice + bounded verbosity + tuned
   retention + wearout monitoring.

## Architecture

- **Agent:** Grafana Alloy on every host, installed by the `base` role — reads journald
  + container logs + security sources (`auditd`, `authpriv`, `fail2ban`, AIDE).
- **Loki (cluster):** a `loki` service role on a docker_host; all logs; monolithic
  single-binary mode; NVMe; bounded retention.
- **Loki (`askari`):** the same role parameterised, in `offsite_hosts`; security subset
  only, write-only, long retention, tiny volume.
- **Grafana (cluster):** both Lokis as datasources (one pane queries both); dashboards
  + the alerting ADR-002 calls for.

## Data flow & the security subset

Alloy writes everything to the cluster Loki and a filtered copy (a relabel/match stage
tags security sources `security="true"`) to the `askari` Loki. Subset: `auditd`,
`authpriv` (SSH/`sudo`), `fail2ban`, AIDE, **Suricata** (OPNsense isn't a `base` host —
it syslog-forwards its alerts to the ingest point), and key container security events.

**Write-only / append-only:** the `askari` push endpoint (`/loki/api/v1/push`) is
mesh-only with a **push-only credential**; query/admin/delete APIs are not exposed to
hosts. The push API has no edit/delete verb, so a compromised host can append but not
read/edit/delete. The cluster Loki uses the same push-only credential. Alloy buffers
(WAL) + retries across a brief outage.

## Security, integrity & residual risks

Defeats opportunistic track-covering (logs already off-host) and host-pivot-to-store
(append-only, off-cluster). The security trail survives full-cluster compromise.
Conscious residuals: append-only ≠ cryptographic WORM (root-on-`askari` could edit
chunks — R4); a few-seconds un-shipped window; agent compromise can stop *future*
shipping but not alter shipped history; **a host going silent is itself an alert**; a
stolen push credential appends noise but can't delete; an `askari` outage buffers +
flushes on reconnect.

## Retention & disk-wear

Estimates are intent-based until measured (like `/capacity-review`). Cluster Loki:
bounded hot retention (~30–90 days). `askari` subset: long (~1 year+, ~5–25 GB/yr).
Disk-wear rules: (1) log storage on NVMe/SSD or HDD, **never SD/USB flash**; (2) bounded
verbosity at source (sane levels, selective access logging, a targeted `auditd`
ruleset); (3) tuned Loki retention/compaction; (4) SSD **wearout/TBW** is a monitored
metric (Proxmox wearout %, `node_exporter` smartmon) with an alert. Log storage is a
tracked allocation in `docs/hardware/reference.md` (ADR-012).

## Status

Designed. **Authorable now:** this ADR + the ADR-002/CAPABILITIES/ADR-012/
accepted-risks/STATUS/TODO reconciliations. **Deferred on the stack:** Alloy-in-`base`,
the `loki`/`grafana` service roles, OPNsense syslog config, the push-only credential,
and the live pipeline.

## Dependencies

`base` role + service-role machinery (unbuilt, STATUS.md); the running cluster +
`askari` (`offsite_hosts`, ADR-016); OPNsense automation for Suricata syslog (ADR-007);
the metrics stack (Prometheus / `node_exporter`) for SSD-wearout + log-silence alerting
(sibling effort, TODO 3.6).

## What was ruled out

| Option | Reason |
|---|---|
| Everything off-site on `askari` (no on-cluster Loki) | The firehose is disk-hungry on a small VPS; keep volume where storage is cheap and send only the bounded security subset off-site. |
| WORM / object-lock for all logs | Forensic-grade cost for an opportunistic threat model — YAGNI (R4). |
| On-cluster-only (no off-site copy) | Doesn't survive compromise of the cluster Loki host; the security trail must be off-cluster + append-only. |
| Volatile (RAM-only) journald to cut writes | Risks losing logs on crash before shipping; persistent-with-caps + real-time shipping is safer. |
| Promtail / legacy agents | Alloy is the current unified Grafana collector and the V4-aligned choice (one agent for logs, later metrics). |

See also: ADR-002 (security baseline — realised here), ADR-016 (mesh / `askari`),
ADR-007 (OPNsense / `askari`), ADR-012 (hardware/capacity), ADR-004 (service-role
standard), ADR-011 (health checks — distinct from this).

• Step 2: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/decisions/018-logging.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/decisions/018-logging.md
git commit -m "Add ADR-018 (logging and log integrity)"

---

Task 2: Make ADR-002's logging bullets concrete

Files:

• Modify: docs/decisions/002-security.md

Read the file first, then two exact edits.

• Step 1: The audit-trail bullet

Find:

- `auditd` installed and running with a baseline ruleset
- Logs shipped to a central location if a log aggregation service is available

Replace with:

- `auditd` installed and running with a baseline ruleset
- Logs shipped to a central location in near-real-time — all logs to an on-cluster
  Loki, plus a security-relevant subset write-only off-site to `askari` so the audit
  trail survives host (and full-cluster) compromise (ADR-018)

• Step 2: The active-alerting bullet

Find:

- **Active alerting** wires AIDE, `auditd`, `fail2ban`, and Suricata into the
  monitoring/alerting stack (planned; ties to the Loki/Grafana effort)

Replace with:

- **Active alerting** wires AIDE, `auditd`, `fail2ban`, and Suricata — plus
  log-source-silence (a host that stops shipping) — into Grafana alerting on the
  Loki/Grafana stack (ADR-018; planned)

• Step 3: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/decisions/002-security.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/decisions/002-security.md
git commit -m "ADR-002: make central-logging + alerting controls concrete (ADR-018)"

---

Task 3: Add accepted-risk R4 (no WORM for logs)

Files:

• Modify: docs/security/accepted-risks.md

Read the file first, then one exact edit (add R4 after R3).

• Step 1: Add the R4 row

Find this exact line (the R3 row):

| R3 | **Self-hosted mesh control plane is a public target on `askari`** — the NetBird coordinator (ADR-016) exposes a management API + dashboard (TCP 80/443) and Coturn (UDP 3478) on `askari`'s public IP; the management API controls the whole mesh | Self-hosting means **no third-party trust** and an off-site control plane that survives a homelab outage (boma's sovereignty ethos). Residual surface is on `askari` (already a public VPS) and is mitigated: TLS + embedded-IdP login, source-IP restriction where practical, `base` hardening, version-pinned NetBird (ADR-011) patched on boma's cadence | A coordinator compromise or unpatched NetBird CVE; the management plane is reachable without auth/IP-limits; the operational burden makes a hosted coordinator worth reconsidering |

Add immediately after it:

| R4 | **No cryptographic WORM for logs** — shipped logs are append-only via Loki's push API and copied off-site to `askari` (ADR-018), but the stored chunks are not object-locked/immutable; a root-on-`askari` attacker could edit history | Append-only push + off-site copy already defeats the realistic threat (a host attacker covering tracks survives even full-cluster compromise). True WORM (object-lock) is forensic-grade cost for boma's opportunistic threat model (R1) | Threat model shifts toward targeted/forensic; a regulatory/evidentiary need appears; `askari` itself is assessed as a likely target |

• Step 2: Bump the "Last reviewed" date

Find:

_Last reviewed: 2026-06-05. The prior gaps

Replace with:

_Last reviewed: 2026-06-06. The prior gaps

• Step 3: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/security/accepted-risks.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/security/accepted-risks.md
git commit -m "accepted-risks: add R4 (no cryptographic WORM for logs)"

---

Task 4: Update CAPABILITIES §3 (Observability)

Files:

• Modify: docs/CAPABILITIES.md

Read the file first, then three exact edits.

• Step 1: Loki row → decided, note the off-site sink

Find:

| Logs | Loki | P | planned | Log aggregation | TODO 3.6 |

Replace with:

| Logs | Loki (cluster all-logs + off-site security subset on `askari`) | P | core | Central log aggregation; a security subset ships write-only off-site (append-only) | **Decided (ADR-018)** |

• Step 2: Add the Alloy agent row (right after the Loki row just edited)

Find:

| Dashboards | Grafana | P | planned | Visualisation + alerting | TODO 3.6 |

Replace with:

| Log shipping agent | Grafana Alloy (in `base`) | P | core | Collects journald + container + security logs on every host; ships to Loki (ADR-018) | **Decided (ADR-018)** |
| Dashboards | Grafana | P | planned | Visualisation + alerting (incl. AIDE/`auditd`/`fail2ban`/Suricata + log-silence — ADR-018) | TODO 3.6 |

• Step 3: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/CAPABILITIES.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/CAPABILITIES.md
git commit -m "CAPABILITIES: Loki decided + Alloy agent + security alerting (ADR-018)"

---

Task 5: ADR-012 — log-storage allocation + wearout metric

Files:

• Modify: docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md

Read the file first, then one exact edit (add a Consequences bullet).

• Step 1: Add a Consequences bullet

Find this exact block:

## Consequences

- Right-sizing advice is intent-based until usage data exists; reports say so.
- `reference.md` table headers are a parser contract — changing them needs a
  matching `capacity-scan.py` change.

Replace with:

## Consequences

- Right-sizing advice is intent-based until usage data exists; reports say so.
- `reference.md` table headers are a parser contract — changing them needs a
  matching `capacity-scan.py` change.
- Log storage (ADR-018) is a tracked allocation: the cluster Loki host's retention
  budget and `askari`'s security-subset volume belong in `reference.md`, and SSD
  **wearout/TBW** is a monitored metric — logging is write-heavy, so wear is watched,
  not assumed.

• Step 2: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md
git commit -m "ADR-012: track log-storage allocation + SSD wearout (ADR-018)"

---

Task 6: Add logging rows to STATUS.md

Files:

• Modify: STATUS.md

Read the file first, then one exact edit (add two rows after the Level 4 row).

• Step 1: Add the rows

Find this exact line:

| Service-UI verification (Level 4) | ADR-017 / ADR-008 | **Design RESOLVED** (ADR-017 + spec + plan); resolves ADR-015 deferred #2. `/verify-service` skill + `VERIFY.md` template + standards are authorable and present. **Build pending:** running needs ubongo + `playwright` plugin + Authentik + a staging deploy. |

Replace with that SAME line followed by the two new rows:

| Service-UI verification (Level 4) | ADR-017 / ADR-008 | **Design RESOLVED** (ADR-017 + spec + plan); resolves ADR-015 deferred #2. `/verify-service` skill + `VERIFY.md` template + standards are authorable and present. **Build pending:** running needs ubongo + `playwright` plugin + Authentik + a staging deploy. |
| Logging pipeline (Loki + Alloy + off-site subset) | ADR-018 | **Design RESOLVED** (ADR-018 + spec). All logs → on-cluster Loki; security subset write-only off-site to askari. **Build pending:** Alloy in `base`, `loki`/`grafana` service roles, OPNsense syslog — none built. |
| Security alerting (AIDE/auditd/fail2ban/Suricata + log-silence) | ADR-002 / ADR-018 | Wired into Grafana on the Loki stack. Designed; depends on the logging pipeline + metrics stack (TODO 3.6). |

• Step 2: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files STATUS.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add STATUS.md
git commit -m "STATUS: record logging pipeline + security alerting (ADR-018)"

---

Task 7: Reconcile TODO 3.1 and 3.6

Files:

• Modify: docs/TODO.md

Read the file first, then two exact edits. (Preserve the ~~strikethrough~~ markers.)

• Step 1: Mark 3.1 decided

Find:

3. **Building services**
   1. Decide how to manage logs.

Replace with:

3. **Building services**
   1. ~~Decide how to manage logs.~~ DECIDED (ADR-018): all logs → on-cluster Loki via
      Grafana Alloy (in `base`); a security subset also ships write-only off-site to
      `askari` (append-only); Grafana queries both. WORM skipped (accepted-risk R4).

• Step 2: Reconcile 3.6's "on askari" phrasing

Find:

   6. Wire up Loki, Prometheus, Grafana dashboards, Grafana alerts, and Uptime
      Kuma alerts on askari.

Replace with:

   6. Wire up the monitoring stack. Logging topology DECIDED (ADR-018): cluster Loki
      (all logs) + off-site security subset on `askari` + Grafana on-cluster (not the
      whole stack on `askari`). Still to design/build: Prometheus + metric exporters,
      Uptime Kuma, and exactly which alerts live where.

• Step 3: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files docs/TODO.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add docs/TODO.md
git commit -m "TODO: mark log management decided (ADR-018); reconcile 3.6"

---

Task 8: Link ADR-018 from CLAUDE.md

Files:

• Modify: CLAUDE.md

Read the file first, then one exact edit.

• Step 1: Add the Further-reading row after Hardware & capacity

Find:

| Hardware & capacity    | `docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md` |

Replace with that SAME line followed by the new row:

| Hardware & capacity    | `docs/decisions/012-hardware-capacity.md` |
| Logging & log integrity | `docs/decisions/018-logging.md` |

• Step 2: Verify and commit

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --files CLAUDE.md Expected: Passed/Skipped.

git add CLAUDE.md
git commit -m "CLAUDE.md: link ADR-018 (logging)"

---

Task 9: Final consistency sweep

Files: none modified (verification only)

• Step 1: ADR-018 present + cross-linked (canonical docs only)

Run:

test -f docs/decisions/018-logging.md && echo "ADR-018 present"
grep -rl "ADR-018\|018-logging" docs/ CLAUDE.md STATUS.md | grep -vE "superpowers/(plans|specs)/"

Expected: the file exists and the referencing docs appear — ADR-002, accepted-risks, CAPABILITIES, ADR-012, STATUS, TODO, CLAUDE.md.

• Step 2: No stale "logging undecided / if available" language

Run:

grep -rniE "log aggregation service is available|Logs \| Loki \| P \| planned|Decide how to manage logs\.($|[^~])" docs/ CLAUDE.md STATUS.md | grep -vE "superpowers/(plans|specs)/"

Expected: no hits — the ADR-002 conditional, the "planned" Loki row, and the open "Decide how to manage logs" TODO are all now updated.

• Step 3: Full hook run

Run: rbw unlocked && pre-commit run --all-files Expected: all hooks Passed/Skipped. Fix anything that fails (likely trailing whitespace / end-of-file) and amend the owning commit.

• Step 4: Push (only if the user asks)

git push origin <branch-or-main-after-merge>

---

Self-review notes (author)

• Spec coverage: decision/architecture/data-flow/security/retention → Task 1 (ADR-018); the spec's "Documentation & implementation changes" table → Tasks 2–8 (ADR-002, accepted-risks R4, CAPABILITIES, ADR-012, STATUS, TODO, CLAUDE.md). The role/pipeline rows in that table are deferred (recorded in ADR-018/STATUS), not implemented here. ✓
• Deferred, intentional: Alloy-in-base, the loki/grafana service roles, OPNsense syslog forwarding, the vault.loki.* credential, the metrics-stack dependency — all need the unbuilt machinery; named in ADR-018/STATUS. ✓
• No placeholders: every create/edit shows exact text. ✓
• Name consistency: ADR-018 / 018-logging.md, "security subset", offsite_hosts, Grafana Alloy, push-only credential, R4 used identically across tasks. ✓