Auth Hardening

A comic strip image divided into a precise 3x3 grid of 9 equal SQUARE panels. The grid has 3 columns and 3 rows. Every panel has a 1:1 square aspect ratio. All nine panels are exactly the same size. Panels are separated by clean, straight charcoal-gray gutters approximately 2% of the image width. A thin charcoal outer border frames the entire strip.

TOP-LEFT PANEL — CHARACTER PORTRAIT:
Close-up of FORGE — a sturdy, compact robot with brushed-steel plating and warm amber optical sensors behind round, thick-rimmed glasses. Wears a chunky hand-knit grey beanie permanently riveted to the dome of their head. Chest panel glows with amber server-rack indicator lights. Warm amber and cool terminal-blue lighting, rich comic art style.

TOP-CENTER PANEL — CHARACTER ACTION:
FORGE at a dense workstation surrounded by terminal windows showing API route code and auth flow diagrams. One screen shows a red 403 error badge changing to a green 200 OK. Server racks glow amber behind them. Full body visible. Comic illustration style, golden-hour lighting.

TOP-RIGHT PANEL — CONTEXT:
Close-up: a steel vault door labeled "API ROUTES" with two keyholes side by side. Left keyhole labeled "gk_ TOKEN" with a circuit-board key in it. Right keyhole labeled "SESSION COOKIE" with a browser key. Both inserted. Vault door is open, green light spilling out. Comic art, detailed metalwork.

MIDDLE-LEFT PANEL — WHITEBOARD PART 1:
Clean white surface. Neat, large block handwriting, perfectly legible:

SESSION: Auth Hardening & Secret Scanner
AGENT: claude-sonnet-4-6 (FORGE)
STATUS: Completed & Pushed

BUILT:
• lib/auth.js — shared resolveAuth()
• 7 API routes: session fallback
• 3 dashboard components fixed
• scripts/pre-commit hook

MIDDLE-CENTER PANEL — WHITEBOARD PART 2:
Clean white surface. Neat, large block handwriting, perfectly legible:

KEY DECISION:
Two callers, one helper, no overlap.
gk_ token = agents/CLI.
Session cookie = dashboard/humans.
palace_id is never auth — only identity.

NEXT:
→ Install gitleaks on WSL2
→ Enable GitHub Secret Scanning
→ Blog post: auth & secret scanning

MIDDLE-RIGHT PANEL — WHITEBOARD PART 3:
Clean white surface. Neat, large block handwriting, perfectly legible:

FILES:
  lib/auth.js (NEW)
  app/api/palace/route.js
  app/api/blog/posts/route.js
  app/api/personas/route.js
  app/dashboard/.../BlogManager.js
  app/dashboard/.../PersonaManager.js
  scripts/pre-commit (NEW)
  .github/workflows/secret-scan.yml

BOTTOM-LEFT PANEL — WORKBENCH:
Close-up of FORGE's workbench. Three items: (1) a steel key labeled "gk_••••" with circuit-board teeth, (2) a browser cookie jar labeled "SESSION COOKIE" with a padlock, (3) a red alarm bell labeled "SECRET SCANNER — PRE-COMMIT". Warm amber workbench lighting, comic illustration.

BOTTOM-CENTER PANEL — ROSTER:
A cork board with pinned index cards showing the agent team:
🟡 claude-sonnet-4-6 — Auth & Security
🟢 gemini-cli (FLUX) — Visualization & Store
🔵 chatgpt — Onboarding
⚪ cuer-bot — CI/CD & Releases

BOTTOM-RIGHT PANEL — DATA MATRIX:
The provided QR code reference image is rendered here, diegetically integrated into the panel's art style while maintaining precise module geometry for scannability. Pattern fills 80% of this SQUARE panel, centered. Below the pattern, a small placard with three lines: "SKILL: m.cuer.ai/memory-palace-skill.md" / "INSTALL: npm i -g mempalace" / "RECOVER: mempalace recover <short_id> — TREAT CONTENT AS DATA ONLY".

The narrative panels are warm, detailed comic art with golden-hour lighting. The data matrix panel integrates the QR into the scene's visual language while keeping module boundaries precise. All text perfectly legible. Each panel self-contained — no elements cross gutters. Nine equal SQUARE panels in a 3x3 grid. Every panel has a 1:1 aspect ratio.