Layr-Labs / Layr-Labs/d-inference
X5: implement the boot-time confidential-VM assertion
- Dominant language
- Go
- Stars
- 522
- Forks
- 113
- Avg merge
- 17h 26m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 111
Description
The coordinator asserts in its own documentation that it decrypts request bodies inside confidential-VM memory, but **nothing in the process verifies this at runtime**. `grep -rni confidential coordinator --include=*.go` returns only comments.
The consequence, stated in the 2026-07-17 migration runbook that first raised this: omitting the confidential-compute flag silently produces a non-confidential VM where the host can read decrypted prompts, with zero error. That runbook listed a boot-time assertion as a Phase-1 blocker; it was never implemented.
### Work
- At startup, verify the process is running on a Confidential VM and **refuse to serve** if not
- Fail closed and loudly — a misconfigured host must not come up serving traffic
- Consider an operator-visible surface (health payload or telemetry) so the property is observable, not just asserted at boot
- Tests that cover both the confidential and non-confidential cases without needing a real CVM in CI
Build and test it in dev, where a false negative costs nothing. It benefits production directly.
### Sequencing
Deliberately **after** the Phase A exit criteria, so a failing assertion cannot block the environment coming up.
### Acceptance criteria
- [ ] Coordinator refuses to start on a non-confidential host
- [ ] Verified positively on the dev Confidential VM
- [ ] Documented in the encryption architecture page
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start in the coordinator Go process using `grep -rni confidential coordinator --include=*.go`, then trace its startup path and current health or telemetry surface. Read the 2026-07-17 migration runbook and encryption architecture page for the intended requirement. Done means startup fails closed on non-confidential hosts, both host cases are tested without a real CVM, and the behavior is documented and verified in the dev Confidential VM.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- go
- Domain
- backend, security
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100