fix: show the settings card, and make an edit actually take effect

`mode` and `extraRoots` carried no `volatile()` marker, so the framework's
form projection dropped the whole entry from `settings.describe` and the plugin
had no card under Plugins at all. The marker is what creates the card.

It is also what turns each field into a reference rather than a value: the
resolved config hands `apply` a `{get(), [write]}` per volatile field, which is
how a settings write lands in a running plugin without re-applying it. So the
policy and the guard now read both fields at the point of use instead of
snapshotting them at mount, and `sectionOrder`/`contextOrder` stay unmarked
because a prompt section cannot be re-ordered without a remount.

A section is also registered once as a plain string, so the rule could not
follow a live `mode` without freezing at load. The mode-specific sentence moved
into the binding, which is a callback.

README.md

@@ -115,6 +115,23 @@ The host row's config is where this deployment's facts belong — the profile's
       - ../../shared       # relative to each session's own directory
 ```
 
+Both fields are also on the plugin's card under **Plugins** in the Web UI, which
+is the same layer reached a different way: a settings write rewrites this entry in
+the profile patch rather than storing anything new. An edit there is live — the
+guard reads `mode` and `extraRoots` on every call, so a change decides the next
+file call without a restart.
+
+The one exception is `off`. Choosing it while a session is running stops the guard
+immediately and empties the binding on the next request, because the binding is a
+callback. The rule is not: it was registered at load as a plain string, and
+nothing unregisters it, so the prompt would go on stating a rule that nothing
+enforces. An `off` *deployment* is therefore settled at load — set it in the
+patch. `ask` and `deny` swap freely in both directions.
+
+`sectionOrder` and `contextOrder` are deliberately absent from the card. They
+place the rule and the binding among the other prompt sections, which is decided
+once at load, and no section is re-ordered without a remount.
+
 `extraRoots` is for code a module legitimately always depends on. Anything you
 grant by hand is per-conversation and is never persisted — "this session may
 also see `src/shared`" is a statement about one conversation, and writing it down
@@ -171,7 +188,7 @@ Honest boundaries, because each one is a decision rather than an oversight:
 
 Verified:
 
-- 42 tests (`npm test`) over the scope algebra, the policy state, and the guard —
+- 45 tests (`npm test`) over the scope algebra, the policy state, and the guard —
   including that containment is decided on canonical targets (a symlink inside
   the facet pointing outside it is refused), that a prefix is not a parent
   (`/a/room` does not contain `/a/roommate`), that a malformed tool call never
@@ -251,7 +268,7 @@ lib/scope.js                 the pure half — argument extraction, text, reason
 lib/guard.js                 preset row: rule, binding, tool, pre-execute guard
 presets/facet.patch.yml      the `facet` agent preset
 presets/standard-compaction.patch.yml   optional: the same budget for `standard`
-test/                        42 tests
+test/                        45 tests
 ```
 
 ## Also in this repository

index.js

@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@
  * published once here and consumed there, which is also why the preset can be
  * swapped without touching any of this.
  *
- * There is deliberately no `settings` namespace. A facet grant is a statement
+ * There is deliberately no `settings` *namespace* of our own: a facet grant is a
- * about one conversation, so the only thing worth persisting is the deployment's
+ * statement about one conversation, so the only thing worth persisting is the
- * standing grants, and those belong in the profile patch — the layer where this
+ * deployment's standing grants, and those belong in the profile patch — the
- * machine's facts already live.
+ * layer where this machine's facts already live. What the framework projects
+ * onto this row is the {@link Config} schema below, which is the same patch
+ * layer reached through the Web UI rather than a second place to store things.
  */
 
 import Schema from '@deepseek-ai/schemastery'
@@ -28,21 +30,42 @@ import { createFacetPolicy } from './lib/policy.js'
 
 export const name = 'dsh-facet'
 
-/** Every configuration field this plugin exposes. */
+/**
+ * Every configuration field this plugin exposes.
+ *
+ * `mode` and `extraRoots` are marked `volatile()`, and that marker is doing two
+ * jobs rather than one. It is what puts them on the settings page at all — the
+ * framework's form projection keeps only fields under a volatile ancestor, and
+ * drops an entry with no such field from `settings.describe` entirely, so
+ * without it this row has no card. It is also what makes an edit *live*: a
+ * volatile field is handed to {@link apply} as a reference rather than a value,
+ * and the framework commits an edit into that reference without re-applying the
+ * plugin.
+ *
+ * The second job is why every reader of these two fields goes through
+ * `configValue()` in `./lib/policy.js` and reads at the point of use. A plugin
+ * that takes the reference for a string gets a settings card that appears to
+ * work and changes nothing.
+ *
+ * `sectionOrder` and `contextOrder` are deliberately NOT volatile. They place
+ * the rule and the binding among the other prompt sections, which is settled
+ * once at load; making them volatile would put two knobs nobody should touch on
+ * the card, and a section cannot be re-ordered without a remount anyway.
+ */
 export const Config = Schema.object({
   /**
    * How a call outside the facet is handled. `ask` questions the user, `deny`
    * refuses outright, `off` disables enforcement while leaving the preset in
    * place — useful for telling a scoping problem from an unrelated one.
    */
-  mode: Schema.union(['ask', 'deny', 'off']).default('ask'),
+  mode: Schema.union(['ask', 'deny', 'off']).default('ask').volatile(),
 
   /**
    * Paths always in scope, for code a module legitimately depends on — shared
    * types, a common test harness. Relative paths resolve against each session's
    * own directory, so the same list is meaningful in every workspace.
    */
-  extraRoots: Schema.array(String).default([]),
+  extraRoots: Schema.array(String).default([]).volatile(),
 
   /** Placement of the invariant rule in the system prompt. */
   sectionOrder: Schema.number().default(100),

lib/guard.js

@@ -64,10 +64,19 @@ export const Config = Schema.object({
  */
 export function apply(ctx, config) {
   const policy = ctx.facetPolicy
-  /** @type {'ask'|'deny'|'off'} */
-  const mode = policy.mode
 
-  if (mode === 'off') return
+  // Read at the point of use, never captured. `mode` is a volatile field, so a
+  // settings edit updates the policy's reference in place and deliberately does
+  // not re-apply this plugin; a `const mode` here would answer with the value
+  // the session was loaded with, for the life of the session.
+  const modeNow = () => policy.mode
+
+  // `off` is the one part that stays a mount-time decision. Deciding it here
+  // means an `off` deployment contributes no rule, no binding and no tool —
+  // which is the point of the mode. The cost is that turning it *on* later needs
+  // a reload, because a volatile-only edit never re-runs this function. `ask`
+  // and `deny` swap freely in both directions.
+  if (modeNow() === 'off') return
 
   const sectionOrder = policy.sectionOrder ?? 100
   const contextOrder = policy.contextOrder ?? 105
@@ -129,6 +138,9 @@ export function apply(ctx, config) {
   const classify = async (exec) => {
     if (exec.signal?.aborted) return undefined
 
+    const mode = modeNow()
+    if (mode === 'off') return undefined
+
     // Widening is the one act that always needs the user, whatever the mode:
     // it is explicit, deliberate, and the only thing standing between a scoped
     // agent and an unscoped one.
@@ -155,11 +167,13 @@ export function apply(ctx, config) {
   }
 
   // The rule. `interpolate: false` because every value in it is already
-  // literal; there is nothing here for the harness to substitute.
+  // literal; there is nothing here for the harness to substitute. It carries no
+  // `mode`, because a section is registered once and cannot follow a live edit —
+  // see `facetRuleText`.
   ctx.systemPrompt.section({
     name: 'facet-scope',
     order: Number(sectionOrder),
-    text: facetRuleText({ mode }),
+    text: facetRuleText(),
     interpolate: false,
   })
 
@@ -173,11 +187,11 @@ export function apply(ctx, config) {
     text: (context) => {
       const scope = policy.scopeFor(context?.agent)
       if (scope === undefined) return ''
-      return facetContextText({ cwd: scope.cwd, root: scope.root, extras: scope.extras, mode })
+      return facetContextText({ cwd: scope.cwd, root: scope.root, extras: scope.extras, mode: modeNow() })
     },
   })
 
-  if (config.tool) ctx.tools.register(facetTool(ctx, policy, mode))
+  if (config.tool) ctx.tools.register(facetTool(ctx, policy))
 
   // `next()` first, so an earlier policy plugin keeps its say: this listener
   // only ever adds a question or a refusal to a call that was otherwise allowed.
@@ -206,9 +220,8 @@ function requestedPaths(args) {
  *
  * @param {import('@deepseek-ai/cordis').Context} ctx - the guard's context.
  * @param {object} policy - the `facetPolicy` service.
- * @param {'ask'|'deny'|'off'} mode - the deployment's enforcement mode.
  */
-function facetTool(ctx, policy, mode) {
+function facetTool(ctx, policy) {
   return defineTool({
     name: FACET_TOOL,
     description:
@@ -276,7 +289,9 @@ function facetTool(ctx, policy, mode) {
         ok: true,
         root: scope.root,
         facet: scope.root,
-        mode,
+        // Read here rather than captured at mount, so `status` reports the mode
+        // in force now instead of the one this session started under.
+        mode: String(policy.mode),
         standing: policy.standing,
         granted,
         scope: scope.extras,

lib/policy.js

@@ -18,6 +18,38 @@
 
 import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'node:path'
 
+/**
+ * The symbol cosmokit uses to mark a volatile config reference.
+ *
+ * Looked up by symbol rather than by importing cosmokit, because the ESM and CJS
+ * copies of that library are distinct module instances and `Symbol.for` is the
+ * only identity they share.
+ */
+const VOLATILE_WRITE = Symbol.for('cosmokit.volatile.write')
+
+/**
+ * Read one configuration field.
+ *
+ * A `volatile()` field is a *reference* in the running config, not a plain
+ * value: the framework resolves the schema through `Schema.resolve`, which wraps
+ * each volatile field in `createVolatile(...)` — `{get(), [write]}`. A
+ * non-volatile field, or a config object a test handed straight to
+ * {@link createFacetPolicy}, is the value itself. Both are accepted, so one code
+ * path serves a real profile and a direct call.
+ *
+ * Every read has to happen at the point of use rather than once at construction.
+ * A settings write commits into these references in place and deliberately does
+ * *not* re-apply the plugin, so anything captured at construction would never
+ * see the change — which is how a plugin ends up with a settings card that does
+ * nothing.
+ *
+ * @param {unknown} value - a field of the resolved config.
+ * @returns {unknown} the current value.
+ */
+export function configValue(value) {
+  return typeof value === 'object' && value !== null && VOLATILE_WRITE in value ? value.get() : value
+}
+
 /**
  * @typedef {object} FacetScope
  * @property {string} cwd - the session working directory, absolute.
@@ -28,6 +60,13 @@ import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'node:path'
 /**
  * Build the policy for one deployment.
  *
+ * `config` is the *resolved* composition config, so its volatile fields are
+ * references rather than values; every read below goes through
+ * {@link configValue} and happens per use. Holding the config and reading it lazily
+ * is what makes the settings card honest: `mode` and `extraRoots` are edited live
+ * in the Web UI, and a policy that snapshotted them here would keep answering
+ * with the values it was loaded with.
+ *
  * @param {object} config
  * @param {'ask'|'deny'|'off'} config.mode - how an out-of-scope call is handled.
  * @param {readonly string[]} [config.extraRoots] - standing grants, resolved against each session's cwd.
@@ -36,7 +75,20 @@ import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'node:path'
 export function createFacetPolicy(config) {
   /** @type {Map<string, string[]>} session id → granted paths, in the order granted. */
   const grants = new Map()
-  const standing = Array.isArray(config.extraRoots) ? config.extraRoots.filter(isPath) : []
+
+  /**
+   * The deployment's standing grants, read fresh on every call.
+   *
+   * Not filtered once at construction: `extraRoots` is volatile, so an edit in
+   * the settings UI replaces the reference's contents without remounting this
+   * plugin, and the next scope resolution is expected to see it.
+   *
+   * @returns {string[]} configured paths, blanks dropped.
+   */
+  function standingRoots() {
+    const configured = configValue(config.extraRoots)
+    return Array.isArray(configured) ? configured.filter(isPath) : []
+  }
 
   /**
    * The scope of one agent, or `undefined` when it has none.
@@ -66,7 +118,7 @@ export function createFacetPolicy(config) {
   function extrasFor(agent, cwd) {
     const sessionId = typeof agent?.session?.id === 'string' ? agent.session.id : undefined
     const own = sessionId === undefined ? [] : grants.get(sessionId) ?? []
-    const all = [...standing, ...own].map((path) => (isAbsolute(path) ? resolve(path) : resolve(cwd, path)))
+    const all = [...standingRoots(), ...own].map((path) => (isAbsolute(path) ? resolve(path) : resolve(cwd, path)))
     return [...new Set(all)]
   }
 
@@ -124,11 +176,17 @@ export function createFacetPolicy(config) {
   }
 
   return {
-    mode: config.mode,
+    /** The enforcement mode. A getter, so a settings edit is answered on the next call. */
+    get mode() {
+      return configValue(config.mode)
+    },
     /** Prompt placements, carried here so the preset row needs no configuration of its own. */
-    sectionOrder: config.sectionOrder ?? 100,
+    sectionOrder: configValue(config.sectionOrder) ?? 100,
-    contextOrder: config.contextOrder ?? 105,
+    contextOrder: configValue(config.contextOrder) ?? 105,
-    standing: [...standing],
+    /** The standing grants. A getter for the same reason as {@link mode}. */
+    get standing() {
+      return standingRoots()
+    },
     scopeFor,
     grant,
     revoke,

lib/scope.js

@@ -118,25 +118,24 @@ export function isWideningCall(toolName, args) {
  * treatment the sandbox policy and approval policy already get, for the same
  * reason.
  *
- * @param {object} input
+ * It takes no configuration, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight.
- * @param {'ask'|'deny'|'off'} input.mode - how an out-of-scope call is handled.
+ * A system-prompt section is a plain string registered once; there is no
- * @returns {string} prompt section text, or `''` to contribute nothing.
+ * callback to re-render it, and a settings write to a `volatile()` field
+ * updates the config reference *without* re-applying the plugin. So anything
+ * this function interpolated would freeze at whatever the value was at load —
+ * the prompt would go on describing the old `mode` while the guard enforced the
+ * new one. Everything that depends on `mode` therefore lives in the binding,
+ * which is a callback and therefore live.
+ *
+ * @returns {string} prompt section text.
  */
-export function facetRuleText(input) {
+export function facetRuleText() {
-  const { mode } = input
-  if (mode === 'off') return ''
-
-  const reach =
-    mode === 'deny'
-      ? 'A call outside it is refused. `facet action=add` asks the user to grant a path, and is the only way to widen the scope.'
-      : 'A call outside it is not refused: it is put to the user as a question, so say in one line what you need and why. If they agree, record it with `facet action=add` so the rest of the session does not have to ask again.'
-
   return [
     '# Facet scope',
     '',
-    'This session is scoped to one facet of the project — one module rather than the whole system. Your runtime context states which.',
+    'This session is scoped to one facet of the project — one module rather than the whole system. Your runtime context states which, and says how a call outside it is treated.',
     '',
-    `Work inside the facet. ${reach}`,
+    'Work inside the facet.',
     '',
     'Never widen the scope on your own initiative: a grant is the user\u2019s decision, and an unrequested one is a bug, not initiative. Do not add paths you merely expect to need — ask when you actually need them.',
     '',
@@ -164,9 +163,12 @@ export function displayPath(cwd, path) {
 /**
  * The mutable half of the facet, for the runtime-context snapshot.
  *
- * Kept to three short lines because it is re-sent as part of the conversation
+ * Kept short because it is re-sent as part of the conversation whenever it
- * whenever it changes, and a scope statement that costs more than the scope is
+ * changes, and a scope statement that costs more than the scope is worth is a
- * worth is a scope that does not pay for itself.
+ * scope that does not pay for itself. It carries one sentence more than the bare
+ * binding used to, because `mode` now belongs here: this is the only half that
+ * is re-rendered per request, so it is the only half that can follow a settings
+ * change. See {@link facetRuleText}.
  *
  * @param {object} input
  * @param {string} input.cwd - the session working directory.
@@ -179,13 +181,21 @@ export function facetContextText(input) {
   const { cwd, root, extras = [], mode } = input
   if (mode === 'off' || typeof root !== 'string' || root === '') return ''
 
+  // Stated in terms of what the model should *do*, because the same sentence is
+  // what the user reads in an approval prompt. A denial that does not say how to
+  // proceed is a denial the agent works around with `bash`.
+  const reach =
+    mode === 'deny'
+      ? 'refused — `facet action=add` asks the user to grant a path, and is the only way to widen the scope'
+      : 'put to the user as a question — say in one line what you need and why, then record it with `facet action=add` so the rest of the session does not have to ask again'
+
   // The root is stated absolutely even though it is the session's own directory
   // and a relative form would be shorter. `facet: .` is true and useless: the
   // model needs a path it can reason about, and the user reading an approval
   // prompt needs to see which folder they are being asked about.
   const lines = [`facet: ${root}`]
   if (extras.length > 0) lines.push(`granted outside it: ${extras.map((path) => displayPath(cwd, path)).join(', ')}`)
-  lines.push(`outside the facet: ${mode === 'deny' ? 'refused' : 'ask the user'}`)
+  lines.push(`outside the facet: ${reach}`)
   return lines.join('\n')
 }
 

test/guard.test.js

@@ -18,6 +18,15 @@ import { after, before, test } from 'node:test'
 
 import { apply as guard } from '../lib/guard.js'
 import { createFacetPolicy } from '../lib/policy.js'
+import { Config } from '../index.js'
+
+/**
+ * The symbol cosmokit marks a volatile config reference with. A settings write
+ * reaches a running plugin as `target[write](value)` — that is literally what
+ * `updateVolatile` does — so a test can commit an edit the way the framework
+ * does, without a settings service.
+ */
+const VOLATILE_WRITE = Symbol.for('cosmokit.volatile.write')
 
 /** A filesystem provider with `dsh-fs-local`'s two relevant behaviours. */
 const fsLikeLocal = {
@@ -50,8 +59,8 @@ const fsLikeLocal = {
 }
 
 /** Capture what `apply` registered, so the test can drive it. */
-function harness({ mode = 'ask', extraRoots = [], tool = true } = {}) {
+function harness({ mode = 'ask', extraRoots = [], tool = true, config } = {}) {
-  const policy = createFacetPolicy({ mode, extraRoots })
+  const policy = createFacetPolicy(config ?? { mode, extraRoots })
   const captured = { section: undefined, context: undefined, tool: undefined, preExecute: undefined }
   const ctx = {
     facetPolicy: policy,
@@ -217,6 +226,25 @@ test('off mode registers nothing', () => {
   assert.equal(captured.tool, undefined)
 })
 
+test('a live mode edit decides the next call, without the guard being remounted', async () => {
+  // The loader hands the guard the schema-resolved config, so `mode` arrives as
+  // a volatile reference rather than a string. This drives that exact shape.
+  const config = Config({ mode: 'ask' })
+  const { captured } = harness({ config })
+  const outside = { name: 'read', args: { file_path: '../../shared/types.ts' }, agent: agent() }
+
+  assert.equal((await dispatch(captured, outside)).kind, 'ask')
+
+  // What a settings write does: commit into the reference in place, and
+  // deliberately do not re-apply the plugin. One mount, three answers.
+  config.mode[VOLATILE_WRITE]('deny')
+  assert.equal((await dispatch(captured, outside)).kind, 'deny')
+
+  // `off` silences the guard entirely, which is the whole meaning of the mode.
+  config.mode[VOLATILE_WRITE]('off')
+  assert.equal((await dispatch(captured, outside)).kind, 'allow')
+})
+
 test('the guard adds to a decision, never overrides one', async () => {
   const { captured } = harness()
   const denied = await dispatch(captured, {

test/index.test.js

@@ -10,6 +10,18 @@ import assert from 'node:assert/strict'
 import { test } from 'node:test'
 
 import { apply, Config } from '../index.js'
+import { configValue } from '../lib/policy.js'
+
+/**
+ * The symbol cosmokit marks a volatile config reference with, and the writer it
+ * carries. A settings write reaches a running plugin through exactly this
+ * function — `updateVolatile(target, source)` is `target[write](source.get())` —
+ * so a test can commit an edit the same way the framework does.
+ */
+const VOLATILE_WRITE = Symbol.for('cosmokit.volatile.write')
+
+/** Whether a field arrived as a live reference rather than a plain value. */
+const isReference = (value) => typeof value === 'object' && value !== null && VOLATILE_WRITE in value
 
 /** The smallest context this row touches. */
 function harness() {
@@ -28,12 +40,59 @@ function harness() {
 
 test('the schema fills every default, so a bare row is a working row', () => {
   const config = Config({})
-  assert.equal(config.mode, 'ask')
+  assert.equal(configValue(config.mode), 'ask')
-  assert.deepEqual(config.extraRoots, [])
+  assert.deepEqual(configValue(config.extraRoots), [])
   assert.equal(config.sectionOrder, 100)
   assert.equal(config.contextOrder, 105)
 })
 
+test('the editable fields are volatile, which is the only reason they have a settings card', () => {
+  const config = Config({})
+  // The framework's form projection keeps only fields under a volatile ancestor
+  // and drops an entry with no such field from `settings.describe` entirely, so
+  // dropping either of these markers silently removes the card from the UI.
+  assert.equal(isReference(config.mode), true)
+  assert.equal(isReference(config.extraRoots), true)
+
+  // Placement is settled once at load: not settings anyone edits live, and not
+  // on the card.
+  assert.equal(isReference(config.sectionOrder), false)
+  assert.equal(isReference(config.contextOrder), false)
+})
+
+test('a settings edit is answered on the next call, without the plugin being re-applied', () => {
+  const provided = []
+  let applies = 0
+  const config = Config({ mode: 'ask', extraRoots: ['/w/src/shared'] })
+  apply(
+    {
+      provide: (name, value) => {
+        applies += 1
+        provided.push({ name, value })
+      },
+      on: () => {},
+    },
+    config,
+  )
+  const policy = provided[0].value
+  assert.equal(policy.mode, 'ask')
+  assert.deepEqual(policy.standing, ['/w/src/shared'])
+
+  // What the framework does on a settings write: it commits into the running
+  // references and deliberately does NOT re-apply the plugin. Everything the
+  // policy reports has to follow from the reference alone.
+  config.mode[VOLATILE_WRITE]('deny')
+  config.extraRoots[VOLATILE_WRITE](['/w/src/shared', '/w/src/types'])
+
+  assert.equal(applies, 1)
+  assert.equal(policy.mode, 'deny')
+  assert.deepEqual(policy.standing, ['/w/src/shared', '/w/src/types'])
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    policy.scopeFor({ session: { id: 's1', header: { cwd: '/w/src/room' } } }).extras,
+    ['/w/src/shared', '/w/src/types'],
+  )
+})
+
 test('a bad mode fails loudly at load rather than at the first file call', () => {
   assert.throws(() => Config({ mode: 'maybe' }))
 })

test/scope.test.js

@@ -51,33 +51,47 @@ test('isWideningCall is true only for the one act that needs the user', () => {
 })
 
 test('facetRuleText states the rule and never the binding', () => {
-  const ask = facetRuleText({ mode: 'ask' })
+  const rule = facetRuleText()
-  assert.match(ask, /put to the user as a question/)
-  // The two modes must not read alike: ask must not claim the call is refused.
-  assert.doesNotMatch(ask, /A call outside it is refused/)
 
-  const deny = facetRuleText({ mode: 'deny' })
+  // Mode-neutral by construction. A prompt section is registered once as a plain
-  assert.match(deny, /A call outside it is refused/)
+  // string, and a `volatile()` edit updates the config reference without
+  // re-applying the plugin — so a `mode` interpolated here would freeze at load
+  // while the guard went on enforcing the new one. The mode-specific sentence
+  // lives in the binding, which is a callback.
+  assert.match(rule, /Work inside the facet\./)
+  assert.doesNotMatch(rule, /refused|put to the user as a question/)
+  assert.match(rule, /Never widen the scope on your own initiative/)
 
   // The rule must not name a path: a changing system prompt invalidates the
   // prompt cache for the whole conversation.
-  assert.doesNotMatch(ask, /\/|src\//)
+  assert.doesNotMatch(rule, /\/|src\//)
 
-  assert.equal(facetRuleText({ mode: 'off' }), '')
   assert.equal(facetContextText({ cwd: '/a', root: '/a/b', extras: [], mode: 'off' }), '')
 })
 
 test('facetContextText carries the binding that does change', () => {
+  const ask = facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: '/w/src/room', extras: [], mode: 'ask' })
   assert.equal(
-    facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: '/w/src/room', extras: [], mode: 'ask' }),
+    ask,
-    'facet: /w/src/room\noutside the facet: ask the user',
+    'facet: /w/src/room\n' +
+      'outside the facet: put to the user as a question — say in one line what you need and why, then record it with `facet action=add` so the rest of the session does not have to ask again',
   )
+
+  const deny = facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: '/w/src/room', extras: ['/w/src/shared'], mode: 'deny' })
   assert.equal(
-    facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: '/w/src/room', extras: ['/w/src/shared'], mode: 'deny' }),
+    deny,
-    'facet: /w/src/room\ngranted outside it: src/shared\noutside the facet: refused',
+    'facet: /w/src/room\n' +
+      'granted outside it: src/shared\n' +
+      'outside the facet: refused — `facet action=add` asks the user to grant a path, and is the only way to widen the scope',
   )
+
+  // The binding is the only half that can follow a live edit, so the two modes
+  // have to read differently here — they no longer differ in the rule.
+  assert.notEqual(ask, deny)
+
   // Unscoped sessions contribute nothing rather than an empty heading.
   assert.equal(facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: undefined, extras: [], mode: 'ask' }), '')
+  assert.equal(facetContextText({ cwd: '/w', root: '/w/src/room', extras: [], mode: 'off' }), '')
 })
 
 test('displayPath prefers the shortest unambiguous form', () => {