Configuration and changes

Scout treats a configuration edit as a sequence with evidence, not a text file write.

Intent → Render → Validate → Review → Stage → Apply → Observe

Intent first

The default editor exposes supported typed settings. Advanced JSON5 is a secondary disclosure for details that need it. The rendered artifact is the effective candidate for the selected Branch’s singular Router, not merely the values typed into a form.

Validate before replacement

The configuration model uses layered parse, schema, invariant, semantic, policy, environment, executable, and deployment checks where the supported setting and target require them. An invalid candidate leaves the running Router unchanged and returns an actionable problem.

Stage and apply are different decisions

Stage delivers the validated candidate without activating it. Apply promotes the staged candidate, restarts the managed Router when required, and waits for health evidence. The UI discloses the restart consequence before the operator confirms.

The router-profile agent manages only its Branch Router’s configured Zenoh unit and files. It does not accept an arbitrary shell command or path from the Controller.

Deployment sets

Scout can freeze an explicit target list of Branches and the rendered revision for each Branch’s singular Router. The set does not grow if child Branches are created later. The review shows held-out Branch targets and the reason, the concurrency plan, and the delivery mode.

Stage mode prepares members without activation. Canary mode states its health-stop rule and requires at least two eligible Branch Routers. A descendant’s Router is not silently pulled under an ancestor Controller’s local authority.

Recovery boundary

The local Branch Router path uses last-good state and health-gate rollback behavior. A failed candidate leaves the last-good configuration as the named recovery boundary; Scout does not turn bounded local evidence into a broader claim about crash, power-loss, retention, or multi-Controller qualification.

For descendant configuration, an ancestor can stage toward a child; the child must apply locally. Staging does not imply a restart or activation at the descendant.