docs: architecture page on Claude participation boundary - #120
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Explains why Claude is a fully supported host and resident primary but not a synchronously routed managed agent (provider subscription-auth policy), the rejected PTY workaround, and sanctioned restoration paths. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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| Claude Code application and claude.ai. In February 2026 Anthropic clarified | ||
| that using subscription OAuth tokens from third-party tools violates its terms | ||
| of use, and effective April 4, 2026 subscriptions no longer cover usage | ||
| through third-party tools at all. Metered API keys are the provider's | ||
| designated path for programmatic and third-party use. |
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The page's central conclusion depends on these exact, time-sensitive policy dates and credential restrictions, but it identifies no Anthropic policy page, announcement, or archived version that readers can verify. If the wording or effective date changes, users deciding whether a deployment is compliant cannot trace the claimed boundary; add direct official sources for these claims and the enforcement claims below rather than only saying that the current terms are authoritative.
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| 2. **A provider terms change.** If Anthropic later offers a sanctioned | ||
| programmatic tier for subscriptions, enabling Claude routes becomes a | ||
| registry configuration change on machinery that already exists. |
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If Anthropic changes its terms, enabling Claude is not merely a registry configuration change in the current public contract: plugins/agent-collab/runtime-manifest.json defines no Anthropic provider edge, and the client accepts only the manifest-selected closed bundle. Restoring this route therefore also requires a newly implemented, reviewed, signed bundle and matching closed manifest metadata to be released; otherwise operators may incorrectly look for an existing configuration toggle.
AGENTS.md reference: AGENTS.md:L60-L62
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Outcome
Public companion of the workspace architecture page on Claude participation: adds
docs/architecture/claude-participation.mdanswering the frequent user question of why Claude is a fully supported host and resident primary but not a synchronously routed managed agent. Covers the provider subscription-authentication boundary (OAuth restricted to Claude Code/claude.ai; third-party usage excluded from subscriptions effective 2026-04-04; metered API keys the sanctioned programmatic path), the value retained by a Claude subscription in this workflow (the resident-primary seat), the assessed-and-rejected pseudo-terminal workaround (supervised-cockpit vs unattended-routing distinction plus the structural reliability failures), and the two sanctioned restoration paths. Indexed as handbook reading-order item 7 with a Q&A row, and cross-linked from the two existing "async-only" statements incapabilities-and-workflows.md.Repository docs only: no packaged plugin content, manifests, skills, or version change; no release. Follows the public handbook sanitization rules (no private repository identifiers, operator paths, or operational recipes; policy facts dated 2026-08-18 with Anthropic's current terms named authoritative). A separately governed private workspace companion exists.
author: claude
standing_directives: Step 0 intent check MATCH; public-docs sanitization contract followed; cross-repo pairing: private companion already merged first
tier: 1
cross_check: N/A (Tier 1 pure documentation refresh; no cross-check round required)
post_condition: repo-docs-only addition; no packaged content or behavior change; merge only on green CI
mcp_coverage_gap: not applicable (no MCP surface touched); gemini_mcp_path: retired / not applicable
operator_reserved: no
contributor_rights: OWNER-AUTHORED
plugin_affected: docs-only; no skill, manifest, or packaged content change; no version bump or release
readme_refresh_status: not a plugin release; repo README unaffected