the agent's own root unit reads swarm/agents/<agent>/backend-env into /run and
creates it from backendEnvironmentFile with -cas=0 when the store holds nothing.
the shared agent policy gains create (not update) on that one leaf. the harness
and the subagent daemon load the old file first and the fetched one after it.
hive-c0re reads its cache facts from the store every five minutes and writes /run/hyperhive/attic/{netrc,substituter,public-key}, each 0600. it accepts only an https url, so the pull token never travels in clear. hives get a read grant on the agent-closures bucket, and swarm-queue-client a reader for it. part 2 of 3: nothing uses the files or the reader until the probe lands.
the in-swarm cache stores its address, name and public key beside its tokens, create-only. swarm-controller copies the four cache facts to swarm/hives/<hive>/attic/* every five minutes, with read on the sources and write on the copies. part 1 of 3: nothing reads the copies until the hive reader and probe land.
The folded-in secrets.md text sat after the reference's table, so the
reference was half prose. The overview now holds all the prose (where a
secret lives, topologies, the swarm- and hive-level notes, how a reader
reaches the store, the browser UI, adding a secret) and the reference holds
only the tables, each pointing at the section that explains it. No text
dropped; links that asked for the explanation now go to the overview, and
the ones that asked for a list or a row go to the reference.
secrets.md and credentials-reference.md answered the same question from two
pages. secrets.md's text now follows the reference's table and operating
notes as a 'Where each secret lives' section, unchanged apart from where it
sits. Every link and doc path that named secrets.md (docs, nix comments,
crate READMEs) points at credentials-reference.md; anchors are unchanged.
The overview keeps the store invariant, the mTLS exception and the
minter/reader/renewal contract. The table of every credential and the
operating notes (forge token checks, re-creating agents, revoking a queue
credential, store login retries) move unchanged to credentials-reference.md,
and the links that asked where a credential lives point there.
