User guide

connectforge is a library. Your application, the host, supplies where data is stored, how credentials are encrypted, who is allowed to do what, and where audit events go. connectforge supplies the model, the lifecycle, the provider contract, the broker and the operations.

your application
  ├── implements   Cryptographer, Authorizer, Auditor, Leaser, SecretSource
  ├── registers    providers (a manifest and a verification each)
  └── calls        service (create, test, list, ...) and broker (HTTP clients)

connectforge
  ├── service   operations, authorized and audited
  ├── broker    the only path from a stored credential to a request
  └── stores    in memory, or SQLite and PostgreSQL through Ent

Who reads what

You are	Read
Building an application that lets people connect services	Connections and their lifecycle, then Using a connection
Adding a service	Writing a provider
Wiring connectforge into a platform	Integrating with a host and Storage
Reviewing the design	Security and the design documents

Vocabulary

Term	Meaning
Owner	The tenant a record belongs to, an opaque string such as an organization ID. Every store method is scoped by it
Provider	An adapter for one external service: a manifest, validation and request authentication
Connection	An owner's relationship with one account at a provider. It holds no secret
Credential	One sealed version of a connection's authorization material
Principal	Who or what acts: a user, a service or an agent
Use	Why a connection is being used: a consumer and a purpose
Grant	What a principal may do with a connection
Binding	A consumer that depends on a connection