Cycles Protocol Server v0.1.25

Reference implementation of the Cycles Budget Authority API — a reservation-based budget control service for AI agents and workflows. All atomic budget operations are executed via Redis Lua scripts; no external database is required.

See also the repo-level docs at the parent directory: README (build + Docker), CHANGELOG (release notes), OPERATIONS (metrics, alerts, runbook), AUDIT (engineering history).

Architecture
Quick Start
Configuration
Core Concepts
Authentication & Authorization
API Reference
Error Codes
Development
Redis Data Model

Architecture

HTTP client
    │  X-Cycles-API-Key
    ▼
Spring Boot (port 7878)
    │  ApiKeyAuthenticationFilter
    │  Controllers → Repository
    ▼
Redis 7+  (Lua scripts for atomicity)

Modules:

cycles-protocol-service-model — shared request/response POJOs
cycles-protocol-service-data — Redis repository + Lua scripts
cycles-protocol-service-api — Spring Boot controllers + auth

Quick Start

Docker (recommended)

No local Java or Maven required. From the repository root:

docker compose up --build

Or pull the pre-built image (no source code needed):

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up

The server starts on port 7878. API docs are served from /api-docs and /swagger-ui.html when SpringDoc is enabled; operational docs endpoints require X-Admin-API-Key.

Manual build

Prerequisites: Java 21+, Maven, Docker (for Redis)

# 1. Start Redis
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:7-alpine

# 2. Build
./build-all.sh

# 3. Seed a sample budget
./init-budgets.sh

# 4. Run
REDIS_HOST=localhost REDIS_PORT=6379 \
  java -jar cycles-protocol-service-api/target/cycles-protocol-service-api-*.jar

The server starts on port 7878. API docs are served from /api-docs and /swagger-ui.html when SpringDoc is enabled; operational docs endpoints require X-Admin-API-Key.

Configuration

All settings are via environment variables (with defaults):

Variable	Default	Description
`REDIS_HOST`	`localhost`	Redis hostname
`REDIS_PORT`	`6379`	Redis port
`REDIS_PASSWORD`	(empty)	Redis password (omit for no auth)
`ADMIN_API_KEY`	(empty)	Admin key for admin-on-behalf-of runtime paths and operational endpoints (`/actuator/prometheus`, aggregate actuator, docs).
`CYCLES_EVENTS_EMIT_THREADS`	`0`	Worker count for non-blocking runtime event emission. `0` uses a CPU-derived default.
`CYCLES_EVENTS_EMIT_QUEUE_CAPACITY`	`10000`	Bounded queue for non-blocking runtime event emission; saturated queues drop/log only the event side effect.
`EVIDENCE_SERVER_ID`	(empty)	Public CyclesEvidence issuer base including `/v1`; set with `EVIDENCE_SIGNING_SIGNER_DID` to emit `cycles_evidence` refs. Must match `cycles-server-events`.
`EVIDENCE_SIGNING_SIGNER_DID`	(empty)	Public raw Ed25519 key (64 hex) stamped as `signer_did`; the private key lives only in `cycles-server-events`.
`EVIDENCE_SIGNING_KID`	(empty)	Optional public JWK `kid` label for `GET /v1/.well-known/cycles-jwks.json`; defaults to the first 16 hex chars of `EVIDENCE_SIGNING_SIGNER_DID`.
`EVIDENCE_SIGNING_NBF_MS`	`0`	Active JWKS key validity start, epoch ms inclusive; set to the rotation time when rotating keys.
`EVIDENCE_SIGNING_RETIRED_KEYS`	(empty)	Optional JSON array of retired public signing keys with `signer_did`, `kid`, `nbf_ms`, and exclusive `exp_ms` for rotation history.
`EVIDENCE_STORE_KEY_PREFIX`	`evidence:envelope:`	Redis key prefix for signed envelopes served by `GET /v1/evidence/{id}`; must match `cycles-server-events`.

Core Concepts

Subject

A subject identifies who is spending budget. Fields form a scope hierarchy:

tenant → workspace → app → workflow → agent → toolset

At least one standard field is required (tenant is typical); a subject containing only dimensions is invalid (400 INVALID_REQUEST). Only explicitly provided levels are included in the scope path — intermediate gaps are skipped, not filled with "default". A reservation is enforced at every derived scope that has a budget — at least one scope must have a budget defined.

{
  "tenant": "acme",
  "workspace": "prod",
  "agent": "summarizer-v2"
}

Derived scopes (checked on every operation; scopes without budgets are skipped):

tenant:acme
tenant:acme/workspace:prod
tenant:acme/workspace:prod/agent:summarizer-v2

An optional dimensions map is accepted for custom taxonomies (e.g. cost_center, department). v0 servers accept and round-trip dimensions but MAY ignore it for budgeting decisions.

Units

Value	Description
`TOKENS`	LLM token counts
`USD_MICROCENTS`	Cost in USD × 10⁻⁸ (1 USD = 10⁸ USD_MICROCENTS)
`CREDITS`	Generic credit units
`RISK_POINTS`	Risk scoring units

All amounts are non-negative integers (int64). A single reservation lifecycle uses exactly one unit; mixing units at commit time returns UNIT_MISMATCH.

Reservation Lifecycle

POST /v1/reservations  →  ACTIVE
        │
        ├── POST …/commit  →  COMMITTED  (spend recorded)
        ├── POST …/release →  RELEASED   (budget returned)
        └── POST …/extend  →  ACTIVE     (TTL extended)

Beyond expires_at_ms + grace_period_ms: commit/release blocked (410)
Beyond expires_at_ms:                  extend blocked (410)

Overage Policies

overage_policy is set at reservation time and controls commit behaviour when actual > reserved:

Policy	Behaviour
`REJECT`	Commit fails with `409 BUDGET_EXCEEDED` if actual exceeds reserved
`ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE` (default)	Commit always succeeds; delta charged from remaining budget if available, otherwise capped to available remaining and `is_over_limit` set on affected scopes
`ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT`	Delta creates debt up to `overdraft_limit`; fails with `409 OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` if `debt + delta > overdraft_limit`

The same three policies apply to /v1/events for direct debits.

When overage_policy is omitted from the request, the server resolves it from the tenant's default_commit_overage_policy (set via the Admin API). If the tenant has no default configured, ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE is used.

Debt and Overdraft

If overdraft_limit is absent or 0, no overdraft is permitted (ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT behaves as ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE).
debt is created when overage_policy=ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT and the commit delta exceeds remaining budget.
When debt > 0 and no overdraft_limit is configured (absent or 0), new reservations against that scope are blocked with 409 DEBT_OUTSTANDING. When an overdraft_limit > 0 is set, debt within the limit does not block new reservations.
When debt > overdraft_limit, the scope enters over-limit state (is_over_limit=true). New reservations are then blocked with 409 OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED.
Debt does not block direct events (/v1/events); events always apply their own overage_policy.
Existing active reservations MAY be committed or released normally while a scope is over-limit.
Overdraft limit checks are per-commit and are not atomic across concurrent commits — concurrent commits may independently pass the check, causing total debt to temporarily exceed overdraft_limit. This is by design; the is_over_limit flag prevents further damage.
Debt is repaid via external budget funding operations (out of scope for this API).

Idempotency

Every mutating request requires an idempotency_key body field and accepts an optional X-Idempotency-Key header. If both are present they MUST match; a header/body mismatch is rejected as 400 INVALID_REQUEST. Reusing the same idempotency key with different request parameters returns 409 IDEMPOTENCY_MISMATCH.

On replay of a successful request with the same key, the server returns the original response — including any server-generated identifiers such as reservation_id.

Operation	Idempotency TTL
Reserve (live)	reservation TTL + grace period, minimum 24 hours
Reserve (`dry_run`)	24 hours, in the same reserve endpoint namespace
Commit	stored on the terminal reservation hash for 30 days
Release	stored on the terminal reservation hash for 30 days
Extend	remaining reservation lifetime after extension
Decide	24 hours
Event	7 days

Authentication & Authorization

Every request requires an API key in the header:

X-Cycles-API-Key: <key>

API Key Validation

The ApiKeyAuthenticationFilter runs on every non-public request and performs a multi-step validation:

Header check — X-Cycles-API-Key must be present; 401 UNAUTHORIZED if missing.
Prefix lookup — the key prefix is extracted and looked up in apikey:lookup:{prefix} for O(1) resolution to a keyId.
Key load — the full key object is read from apikey:{keyId}.
Status check — key must be ACTIVE; REVOKED or EXPIRED keys return 401.
Expiration check — if expires_at is set and in the past, returns 401 KEY_EXPIRED.
Hash verification — the submitted secret is verified against the stored bcrypt hash; 401 INVALID_KEY on mismatch.
Tenant association — the key must have a non-blank tenant_id; 401 KEY_NOT_OWNED_BY_TENANT otherwise.
Tenant status — the tenant record (tenant:{tenantId}) is checked; SUSPENDED or CLOSED tenants return 401.

On success the filter stores an ApiKeyAuthentication in the Spring SecurityContext containing the resolved tenant_id and any permissions.

Tenant Authorization

Controllers enforce tenant isolation via BaseController.authorizeTenant():

If the request includes a tenant (in the body, query, or resolved from a resource ID), it must match the tenant from the API key.
A mismatch returns 403 FORBIDDEN.
The effective tenant always comes from the API key — the client cannot escalate by supplying a different tenant in the request.

For operations by resource ID (e.g. GET /v1/reservations/{id}), the server first looks up the owning tenant from the reservation hash, then runs the same authorization check. This prevents cross-tenant access even when a reservation UUID is known.

Filter Chain Order

Order	Filter	Responsibility
0	`TraceContextFilter`	Extracts `traceparent` / `X-Cycles-Trace-Id` (or generates) → request attribute, MDC, `X-Cycles-Trace-Id` response header
1	`RequestIdFilter`	Generates `X-Request-Id` UUID, stored as request attribute and response header
2	`RateLimitHeaderFilter`	Adds `X-RateLimit-Remaining` / `X-RateLimit-Reset` headers (sentinel values in v0)
3	`ApiKeyAuthenticationFilter`	Validates key, populates `SecurityContext`, sets `X-Cycles-Tenant` header

Public paths (Swagger UI, actuator health, etc.) bypass authentication.

All responses include X-Request-Id and X-Cycles-Trace-Id headers. All timestamps are Unix milliseconds (int64). trace_id is W3C Trace Context-compatible (32 lowercase hex); clients may pre-supply it via traceparent (OpenTelemetry-native) or X-Cycles-Trace-Id. See OPERATIONS.md → "Correlation and tracing" for the full contract.

API Reference

POST /v1/decide

Evaluate whether a budget operation would be allowed without reserving. Returns ALLOW, ALLOW_WITH_CAPS, or DENY. Never returns 409 — debt, over-limit, frozen/closed-budget, and closed-tenant states all surface as DENY with a reason_code.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "decide-abc-123",
  "subject": { "tenant": "acme", "agent": "summarizer-v2" },
  "action":  { "kind": "llm.completion", "name": "openai:gpt-4o" },
  "estimate": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 },
  "metadata": {}
}

Response 200 OK

{
  "decision": "ALLOW",
  "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2"]
}

Only decision is required. affected_scopes, reason_code, retry_after_ms, and caps are optional.

On DENY. Possible reason_code values: BUDGET_EXCEEDED, BUDGET_FROZEN, BUDGET_CLOSED, BUDGET_NOT_FOUND, OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, DEBT_OUTSTANDING, and TENANT_CLOSED — the last appears on fresh (non-replay) /v1/decide and dry_run evaluations when the owning tenant's status is CLOSED (spec revision v0.1.25.13); cached pre-close replays keep their original payload:

{
  "decision": "DENY",
  "reason_code": "BUDGET_EXCEEDED",
  "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "..."]
}

On ALLOW_WITH_CAPS (budget exists but soft constraints apply):

{
  "decision": "ALLOW_WITH_CAPS",
  "caps": { "max_tokens": 8192 },
  "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "..."]
}

POST /v1/reservations

Reserve budget before executing an action. Returns 200 OK.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "req-abc-123",
  "subject": { "tenant": "acme", "agent": "summarizer-v2" },
  "action":  { "kind": "llm.completion", "name": "openai:gpt-4o" },
  "estimate": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 },
  "ttl_ms": 60000,
  "grace_period_ms": 5000,
  "overage_policy": "ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT",
  "dry_run": false,
  "metadata": {}
}

Field	Required	Default	Constraints
`idempotency_key`	yes	—	1–256 chars
`subject`	yes	—	at least one standard field
`action.kind`	yes	—	max 64 chars
`action.name`	yes	—	max 256 chars
`action.tags`	no	—	max 10 items, each max 64 chars
`estimate.unit`	yes	—	see Units
`estimate.amount`	yes	—	≥ 0
`ttl_ms`	no	tenant `default_reservation_ttl_ms` or `60000`	1000–86400000 ms; capped to tenant `max_reservation_ttl_ms`
`grace_period_ms`	no	`5000`	0–60000 ms
`overage_policy`	no	tenant `default_commit_overage_policy` or `ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE`	see Overage Policies
`dry_run`	no	`false`	evaluates without persisting if true

Response 200 OK

{
  "decision": "ALLOW",
  "reservation_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2"],
  "expires_at_ms": 1700000060000,
  "scope_path": "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2",
  "reserved": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 }
}

decision and affected_scopes are always present. Optional fields: caps (only when ALLOW_WITH_CAPS), reason_code, retry_after_ms, balances.

On ALLOW_WITH_CAPS (budget exists but soft constraints apply):

{
  "decision": "ALLOW_WITH_CAPS",
  "reservation_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2"],
  "expires_at_ms": 1700000060000,
  "scope_path": "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2",
  "reserved": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 },
  "caps": { "max_tokens": 8192 }
}

dry_run=true response rules:

reservation_id and expires_at_ms MUST be absent (no reservation is created)
affected_scopes MUST be populated regardless of decision
caps MUST be present only when decision=ALLOW_WITH_CAPS
reason_code SHOULD be populated when decision=DENY
balances MAY be included

On budget denial (insufficient budget, over-limit, outstanding debt) — and on a closed owning tenant (409 TENANT_CLOSED) — the server returns 409: decision=DENY never appears in a non-dry-run successful response.

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/commit

Record actual spend. Must be called before expires_at_ms + grace_period_ms. Returns 200 OK.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "commit-abc-123",
  "actual": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 4200 },
  "metrics": {
    "tokens_input": 1200,
    "tokens_output": 3000,
    "latency_ms": 840,
    "model_version": "gpt-4o-2024-08"
  },
  "metadata": {}
}

Response 200 OK

{
  "status": "COMMITTED",
  "charged": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 4200 },
  "released": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 800 }
}

released is present only when actual < reserved (over-reservation is automatically returned).

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/release

Return the full reserved amount to the budget without charging. Returns 200 OK.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "release-abc-123",
  "reason": "action cancelled"
}

Response 200 OK

{
  "status": "RELEASED",
  "released": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 }
}

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/extend

Extend the reservation TTL. Only allowed while server_time ≤ expires_at_ms (no grace window). Returns 200 OK.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "extend-abc-123",
  "extend_by_ms": 30000,
  "metadata": {}
}

Field	Required	Constraints
`idempotency_key`	yes	1-256 chars
`extend_by_ms`	yes	1-86400000 ms
`metadata`	no	arbitrary key-value pairs

Response 200 OK

{
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "expires_at_ms": 1700000090000
}

extend_by_ms is added to the current expires_at_ms (not to request time). Does not change reserved amount, unit, subject, action, or scope.

Error conditions: 409 TENANT_CLOSED if the owning tenant's status is CLOSED (takes precedence over the reservation-state errors below); 409 RESERVATION_FINALIZED if the reservation is already COMMITTED or RELEASED; 410 RESERVATION_EXPIRED if server_time > expires_at_ms; 409 MAX_EXTENSIONS_EXCEEDED if the tenant's max_reservation_extensions limit has been reached; 404 NOT_FOUND if the reservation does not exist.

GET /v1/reservations

List reservations for the effective tenant. Optional recovery/debug endpoint. Returns 200 OK.

Query parameters

Parameter	Description
`idempotency_key`	Recover `reservation_id` from a prior create call
`status`	Filter by `ACTIVE`, `COMMITTED`, `RELEASED`, or `EXPIRED`
`tenant`	Must match effective tenant if provided
`workspace` / `app` / `workflow` / `agent` / `toolset`	Subject field filters
`limit`	Max results per page (default `50`, max `200`)
`cursor`	Opaque pagination cursor from previous response
`sort_by`	One of `reservation_id`, `tenant`, `scope_path`, `status`, `reserved`, `created_at_ms`, `expires_at_ms` (v0.1.25.12+). Omit for legacy unordered behaviour.
`sort_dir`	`asc` or `desc`. Defaults to `desc` when `sort_by` is provided. Ignored unless `sort_by` is set.
`from`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.20+). Inclusive lower bound on `created_at_ms`. Always binds to `created_at_ms` regardless of `sort_by`. May be supplied alone (no upper bound) or with `to`. Blank string treated as unset.
`to`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.20+). Inclusive upper bound on `created_at_ms`. Same binding and blank-as-unset rules as `from`. `from > to` returns `400 INVALID_REQUEST`.
`expires_from`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.21+). Inclusive lower bound on `expires_at_ms`. Applies to every row regardless of status. May be supplied alone or with `expires_to`. Blank string treated as unset.
`expires_to`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.21+). Inclusive upper bound on `expires_at_ms`. Same blank-as-unset rule. `expires_from > expires_to` returns `400 INVALID_REQUEST`.
`finalized_from`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.21+). Inclusive lower bound on `finalized_at_ms`. Populated only on COMMITTED and RELEASED rows — ACTIVE and EXPIRED rows are normatively excluded when this is set. May be supplied alone or with `finalized_to`. Blank string treated as unset.
`finalized_to`	ISO 8601 date-time (v0.1.25.21+). Inclusive upper bound on `finalized_at_ms`. Same blank-as-unset rule and ACTIVE/EXPIRED exclusion. `finalized_from > finalized_to` returns `400 INVALID_REQUEST`.
`include`	Comma-separated field projection (v0.1.25.36+). Optional heavy fields omitted from list rows by default: `metadata` (reserve-time), `committed_metadata` (commit-time), `evidence` (CyclesEvidence refs for the row's reserve/commit/release ops, keyed by artifact type — v0.1.25.37+). E.g. `?include=evidence` adds the evidence map so a consumer can link a reservation to its signed envelope without having captured the `evidence_id` off the original response. Projection-only: unrecognized/empty tokens are ignored, and it does not participate in cursor / filter-hash binding (changing it mid-pagination never invalidates a cursor).

When sort_by or sort_dir is provided, the cursor encodes the (sort_by, sort_dir, filters) tuple — reusing a sorted cursor after changing the sort key, direction, or any filter (including from / to) returns 400 INVALID_REQUEST. When both are omitted, the legacy Redis-SCAN cursor path is used and existing clients are unaffected; the legacy cursor does not carry filter state, so callers paginating with from / to but no sort_by must keep their window stable across pages (same convention as status / workspace / other filters on the legacy path).

In v0.1.25.54+, created_at_ms sorting uses a completeness-gated per-tenant index when RESERVATION_CREATED_AT_INDEX_ENABLED=true; missing or inconsistent index state automatically falls back to the authoritative scan. Other sort keys are unchanged. Multi-pod deployments must roll out the new writer to the whole fleet before enabling indexed reads; see the reservation-list rollout procedure in OPERATIONS.md.

Response 200 OK

{
  "reservations": [
    {
      "reservation_id": "550e8400-...",
      "status": "ACTIVE",
      "idempotency_key": "req-abc-123",
      "subject": { "tenant": "acme", "agent": "summarizer-v2" },
      "action": { "kind": "llm.completion", "name": "openai:gpt-4o" },
      "reserved": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 },
      "created_at_ms": 1700000000000,
      "expires_at_ms": 1700000060000,
      "scope_path": "tenant:acme/...",
      "affected_scopes": ["tenant:acme", "..."]
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false,
  "next_cursor": null
}

GET /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}

Fetch a single reservation by ID. Returns 200 OK with the reservation's current status (ACTIVE, COMMITTED, RELEASED, or EXPIRED).

Response 200 OK

Includes all fields from the list entry above, plus:

Field	Description
`committed`	Amount actually charged (present when COMMITTED)
`finalized_at_ms`	Timestamp of commit or release
`metadata`	Metadata supplied at reservation time
`committed_metadata`	Metadata supplied on the commit request (present on COMMITTED rows whose commit carried metadata)
`evidence`	CyclesEvidence refs keyed by artifact type (`reserve` / `commit` / `release`), each `{ evidence_id, cycles_evidence_url }` — resolve via `GET /v1/evidence/{id}` (v0.1.25.37+). Always present on the single-get when recorded; absent when evidence emission is disabled. On the list endpoint it is opt-in via `include=evidence`.

GET /v1/balances

Query budget balances. At least one of tenant/workspace/app/workflow/agent/toolset is required (400 INVALID_REQUEST otherwise). Returns 200 OK.

Query parameters

Parameter	Description
`tenant`	Defaults to effective tenant
`workspace` / `app` / `workflow` / `agent` / `toolset`	Subject field filters
`include_children`	MAY be ignored by v0 implementations
`limit`	Max results per page (default `50`, max `200`)
`cursor`	Opaque pagination cursor

Response 200 OK

{
  "balances": [
    {
      "scope": "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2",
      "scope_path": "tenant:acme/.../agent:summarizer-v2",
      "remaining": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 950000 },
      "reserved":  { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 5000 },
      "spent":     { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 45000 },
      "allocated": { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 1000000 }
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false,
  "next_cursor": null
}

remaining uses a signed amount and may be negative when a scope is in overdraft. debt, overdraft_limit, and is_over_limit are omitted when zero/false.

Ledger invariant (when all fields are present): remaining = allocated − spent − reserved − debt

POST /v1/events

Record a direct debit without a prior reservation. Applied atomically across all derived scopes. Returns 201 Created.

Request

{
  "idempotency_key": "evt-abc-123",
  "subject": { "tenant": "acme", "agent": "summarizer-v2" },
  "action":  { "kind": "llm.completion", "name": "openai:gpt-4o" },
  "actual":  { "unit": "TOKENS", "amount": 3000 },
  "overage_policy": "REJECT",
  "metrics": {
    "tokens_input": 900,
    "tokens_output": 2100,
    "latency_ms": 620
  },
  "client_time_ms": 1700000000000,
  "metadata": {}
}

Overage policy	Behaviour
`REJECT`	Returns `409 BUDGET_EXCEEDED` if `actual > remaining` on any derived scope
`ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE` (default)	Event always succeeds; charges available remaining, caps to available if insufficient, sets `is_over_limit` on affected scopes
`ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT`	Creates debt if insufficient; `409 OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` if `debt + actual > overdraft_limit`

client_time_ms is advisory only; server time governs all budget and expiry decisions. Debt and over-limit state do not block events — only the overage_policy logic applies.

Response 201 Created

{
  "status": "APPLIED",
  "event_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
}

Error Codes

All errors use this envelope:

{
  "error": "BUDGET_EXCEEDED",
  "message": "Insufficient remaining balance in scope tenant:acme",
  "request_id": "550e8400-...",
  "details": {}
}

Code	HTTP	Meaning
`INVALID_REQUEST`	400	Missing or invalid field
`UNIT_MISMATCH`	400	Requested unit does not match the stored budget unit for the target scope. Raised by reserve/commit/event. Reserve and event responses include `details.scope`, `details.requested_unit`, and `details.expected_units` so the client can self-correct; commit uses the legacy no-detail form.
`UNAUTHORIZED`	401	Missing or invalid API key
`FORBIDDEN`	403	Tenant in request does not match API key
`NOT_FOUND`	404	Reservation, budget, or resource not found
`BUDGET_EXCEEDED`	409	Insufficient remaining budget
`BUDGET_FROZEN`	409	Budget is frozen by operator (no mutations allowed)
`BUDGET_CLOSED`	409	Budget has been permanently closed
`RESERVATION_FINALIZED`	409	Reservation already committed or released
`IDEMPOTENCY_MISMATCH`	409	Idempotency key reused with different parameters
`OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED`	409	`debt + delta > overdraft_limit`; or scope is over-limit
`DEBT_OUTSTANDING`	409	Scope has unresolved debt with no overdraft limit; new reservations blocked
`MAX_EXTENSIONS_EXCEEDED`	409	Tenant's `max_reservation_extensions` limit reached
`TENANT_CLOSED`	409	Owning tenant's status is `CLOSED` (governance CASCADE SEMANTICS Rule 2 terminal-owner guard; spec revision v0.1.25.13). Rejects the persisting mutation surface — reservation create/commit/release/extend — and takes precedence over reservation-state errors for non-replay attempts (same-key idempotent replays return their original response). Emits `error` CyclesEvidence on the evidence endpoints (create/commit/release; extend is not an evidence endpoint). No tenant record in Redis = no restriction (runtime-only deployments); `/v1/decide` and `dry_run` never 409 for this — they return `decision=DENY` with `reason_code=TENANT_CLOSED`
`RESERVATION_EXPIRED`	410	Operation attempted after expiry window
`LIMIT_EXCEEDED`	429	Public-endpoint rate limit hit (`GET /v1/evidence/*`, JWKS); response carries `Retry-After` + `X-RateLimit-Reset`. Configure with `CYCLES_PUBLIC_RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED` / `CYCLES_PUBLIC_RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE` (default on, 300/min per client IP, per instance)
`INTERNAL_ERROR`	500	Unexpected server error

Precedence: when is_over_limit=true, OVERDRAFT_LIMIT_EXCEEDED takes precedence over DEBT_OUTSTANDING.

/v1/decide MUST NOT return 409 for budget conditions — it returns decision=DENY with a reason_code instead (likewise decision=DENY + reason_code=TENANT_CLOSED for a closed owning tenant, never 409 TENANT_CLOSED).

Development

Running Tests

Integration tests are excluded from the default build and require the integration-tests Maven profile. They use Testcontainers to spin up a Redis instance automatically — Docker must be running. Run from the cycles-protocol-service/ directory:

# Unit tests only (ScopeDerivationService — no Docker required)
mvn test

# Integration tests (requires Docker for Testcontainers Redis)
mvn clean install -Pintegration-tests

# Full build without integration tests
mvn clean install

Integration tests (*IntegrationTest.java) are excluded by default via surefire in cycles-protocol-service-api/pom.xml. The -Pintegration-tests profile overrides this exclusion.

The test profile (application-test.properties) injects Redis connection details via @DynamicPropertySource from the Testcontainers Redis instance.

Project Structure

cycles-protocol-service/
├── build-all.sh                          # mvn clean install wrapper
├── init-budgets.sh                       # seeds sample budget via redis-cli
├── cycles-protocol-service-model/        # shared POJOs (no Spring dependency)
│   └── src/main/java/.../model/
│       ├── Subject.java, Action.java, Amount.java, SignedAmount.java
│       ├── Reservation*.java, Commit*.java, Release*.java
│       ├── Decision*.java, Event*.java, Balance*.java
│       ├── Enums.java                    # ErrorCode, UnitEnum, OveragePolicy, etc.
│       ├── Caps.java, ErrorResponse.java
│       └── auth/                         # ApiKey, ApiKeyStatus, ApiKeyValidationResponse
├── cycles-protocol-service-data/         # Redis repository + Lua + services
│   └── src/main/
│       ├── java/.../data/
│       │   ├── repository/
│       │   │   ├── RedisReservationRepository.java  # core budget logic
│       │   │   └── ApiKeyRepository.java            # API key validation
│       │   ├── service/
│       │   │   ├── ScopeDerivationService.java      # scope hierarchy builder
│       │   │   ├── ApiKeyValidationService.java
│       │   │   └── ReservationExpiryService.java    # scheduled expiry sweep
│       │   ├── config/RedisConfig.java              # JedisPool setup
│       │   └── exception/CyclesProtocolException.java
│       └── resources/lua/
│           ├── reserve.lua    # atomic budget reservation
│           ├── commit.lua     # record actual spend with overdraft support
│           ├── release.lua    # return reserved budget
│           ├── extend.lua     # extend reservation TTL
│           ├── expire.lua     # background expiry (called by ExpiryService)
│           └── event.lua      # direct debit without reservation
└── cycles-protocol-service-api/          # Spring Boot app + controllers
    └── src/main/java/.../api/
        ├── CyclesProtocolApplication.java
        ├── controller/
        │   ├── BaseController.java              # tenant auth helpers
        │   ├── ReservationController.java       # /v1/reservations/*
        │   ├── BalanceController.java           # /v1/balances
        │   ├── DecisionController.java          # /v1/decide
        │   └── EventController.java             # /v1/events
        ├── auth/
        │   ├── ApiKeyAuthenticationFilter.java  # X-Cycles-API-Key validation
        │   ├── ApiKeyAuthentication.java        # SecurityContext token
        │   └── SecurityConfig.java              # Spring Security config
        ├── filter/
        │   ├── TraceContextFilter.java          # X-Cycles-Trace-Id / traceparent extraction
        │   ├── RequestIdFilter.java             # X-Request-Id generation
        │   └── RateLimitHeaderFilter.java       # rate limit headers (stub)
        └── exception/GlobalExceptionHandler.java

Lua Scripts

All budget mutations run as Redis Lua scripts for atomicity (no multi-key race conditions). Scripts are loaded from resources/lua/ by RedisReservationRepository at startup and executed via EVALSHA.

Each script follows a common pattern:

Idempotency check — replay cached result if the same (tenant, idempotency_key) is seen; detect payload mismatch via SHA-256 hash
Fail-fast validation — check all affected scopes before any mutations (budget exists, sufficient balance, no debt/over-limit)
Atomic mutation — HINCRBY budget fields across all scopes in a single script execution
State persistence — write reservation/event hash and idempotency cache

Additional Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`cycles.expiry.interval-ms`	`5000`	How often the background expiry sweep runs (ms)
`spring.jackson.deserialization.fail-on-unknown-properties`	`true`	Reject unknown JSON fields
`spring.jackson.default-property-inclusion`	`non_null`	Omit null fields from responses
`cycles.evidence.signing.*`	see above	Public CyclesEvidence identity and JWKS publication settings. Private signing material is never configured on `cycles-server`; it belongs only on `cycles-server-events`.

Redis Data Model

Budget hash `budget:{scope}:{unit}`

Field	Type	Description
`allocated`	integer	Total budget allocated to this scope
`remaining`	integer	Available balance (may be negative in overdraft)
`reserved`	integer	Currently held by active reservations
`spent`	integer	Cumulative amount committed
`debt`	integer	Overdraft debt incurred (0 if none)
`overdraft_limit`	integer	Maximum permitted debt (0 = no overdraft)
`is_over_limit`	`"true"/"false"`	True when `debt > overdraft_limit`; blocks new reservations
`scope`	string	Full canonical scope path
`unit`	string	Unit enum value
`caps_json`	JSON string	Optional operator-configured caps (`max_tokens`, `max_steps_remaining`, `tool_allowlist`, `tool_denylist`, `cooldown_ms`); `tool_allowlist` takes precedence over `tool_denylist` when both are present

Budgets must be seeded externally (see init-budgets.sh for an example).

Reservation hash `reservation:res_{uuid}`

Stores full reservation state. Indexed by expiry in the reservation:ttl sorted set (score = expires_at).

Field	Type	Description
`reservation_id`	string	UUID (without `res_` prefix)
`tenant`	string	Owning tenant ID
`state`	string	`ACTIVE`, `COMMITTED`, `RELEASED`, or `EXPIRED`
`subject_json`	JSON string	Full subject object
`action_json`	JSON string	Action object (`kind`, `name`, `tags`)
`estimate_amount`	integer	Amount reserved
`estimate_unit`	string	Unit enum value
`scope_path`	string	Full canonical scope path to deepest level
`affected_scopes`	JSON string	Array of all ancestor scope paths
`created_at`	integer	Creation timestamp (ms)
`expires_at`	integer	Expiry timestamp (ms)
`grace_ms`	integer	Grace period after expiry for commit/release
`idempotency_key`	string	Client-provided idempotency key
`overage_policy`	string	`REJECT`, `ALLOW_IF_AVAILABLE`, or `ALLOW_WITH_OVERDRAFT`
`metadata_json`	JSON string	Optional client metadata

Fields added on finalization:

Field	State	Description
`charged_amount`	COMMITTED	Final amount charged
`debt_incurred`	COMMITTED	Debt created across scopes
`committed_at`	COMMITTED	Commit timestamp (ms)
`committed_idempotency_key`	COMMITTED	Idempotency key for the commit call
`committed_payload_hash`	COMMITTED	SHA-256 hash for idempotency mismatch detection
`committed_metrics_json`	COMMITTED	Optional metrics from commit request
`committed_metadata_json`	COMMITTED	Optional metadata from commit request
`released_at`	RELEASED	Release timestamp (ms)
`released_idempotency_key`	RELEASED	Idempotency key for the release call
`released_payload_hash`	RELEASED	SHA-256 hash for idempotency mismatch detection
`expired_at`	EXPIRED	Expiration timestamp (ms)
`extend_metadata_json`	ACTIVE	Optional metadata from extend request

TTL sorted set `reservation:ttl`

Tracks active reservation expiry for the background sweep (ReservationExpiryService).

Property	Value
Type	Sorted set
Score	`expires_at` timestamp (ms)
Member	Reservation UUID

Updated on create/extend (ZADD), removed on commit/release/expire (ZREM).

Event hash `event:evt_{uuid}`

Immutable record of a direct debit event.

Field	Type	Description
`event_id`	string	UUID (without `evt_` prefix)
`tenant`	string	Owning tenant ID
`subject_json`	JSON string	Full subject object
`action_json`	JSON string	Action object
`amount`	integer	Debit amount
`charged_amount`	integer	Applied amount after available-budget capping
`unit`	string	Unit enum value
`scope_path`	string	Full canonical scope path
`affected_scopes`	JSON string	Array of all ancestor scope paths
`budgeted_scopes`	JSON string	Affected scopes that own a budget in the event unit
`created_at`	integer	Creation timestamp (ms)
`idempotency_key`	string	Client-provided idempotency key
`event_response_json`	JSON string	Immutable original response for idempotent replay; omitted without a key
`metrics_json`	JSON string	Optional metrics
`client_time_ms`	string	Client-reported timestamp (advisory)
`metadata_json`	JSON string	Optional client metadata

Idempotency keys

Pattern	TTL
`idem:{tenant}:reserve:{key}`	24h for dry-run; live reservation TTL + grace period (min 24h)
`idem:{tenant}:extend:{reservationId}:{key}`	remaining reservation lifetime after extension
`idem:{tenant}:decide:{key}`	24 hours
`idem:{tenant}:event:{key}`	7 days

Dry-run and live reserve intentionally share the reserve pattern because they are representations of the same endpoint; changing dry_run while reusing a key is an idempotency mismatch. Commit and release idempotency is stored inline on the reservation hash (fields committed_idempotency_key/committed_payload_hash and released_idempotency_key/released_payload_hash) rather than as separate Redis keys. Each standalone idempotency key also has a companion …:hash key storing the SHA-256 payload hash for mismatch detection. Keyed events keep their canonical response in the event hash's event_response_json field. Readers retain a fallback for the pre-0.1.25.52 …:response string and backfill the event snapshot when that legacy body is still available.

API key and tenant storage

Key	Description
`apikey:{keyId}`	JSON-serialised `ApiKey` object (key hash, tenant, status, permissions, expiry)
`apikey:lookup:{prefix}`	Maps key prefix → `keyId` for O(1) lookup
`tenant:{tenantId}`	Tenant metadata hash; includes `status` (`ACTIVE`, `SUSPENDED`, `CLOSED`) checked during API key validation

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Cycles Protocol Server v0.1.25

Contents

Architecture

Quick Start

Docker (recommended)

Manual build

Configuration

Core Concepts

Subject

Units

Reservation Lifecycle

Overage Policies

Debt and Overdraft

Idempotency

Authentication & Authorization

API Key Validation

Tenant Authorization

Filter Chain Order

API Reference

POST /v1/decide

POST /v1/reservations

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/commit

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/release

POST /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}/extend

GET /v1/reservations

GET /v1/reservations/{reservation_id}

GET /v1/balances

POST /v1/events

Error Codes

Development

Running Tests

Project Structure

Lua Scripts

Additional Configuration

Redis Data Model

Budget hash budget:{scope}:{unit}

Reservation hash reservation:res_{uuid}

TTL sorted set reservation:ttl

Event hash event:evt_{uuid}

Idempotency keys

API key and tenant storage

Budget hash `budget:{scope}:{unit}`

Reservation hash `reservation:res_{uuid}`

TTL sorted set `reservation:ttl`

Event hash `event:evt_{uuid}`