# Provider Catalog Readiness Contract This contract separates provider command availability from provider account authentication. It applies to Session Setup and the Provider section in Host Preferences. ## Availability Authority Authenticated `GET /providers` is the only dashboard authority for provider availability, model metadata, runtime support, and provider capabilities. Availability is derived from the configured provider command and the Host provider registry. The endpoint must not execute or await provider account authentication checks. An installed provider remains available in Session Setup when its account is logged out, its authentication status is unknown, or its authentication check is slow or fails. Provider startup and the dedicated authentication flow remain responsible for reporting that login is required. ## Authentication Authority Authenticated `GET /provider-auth/status?provider=` owns explicit provider account status. Login start, input, polling, cancellation, and runtime authentication failure continue to use the provider-auth and session-start flows. These results may provide login guidance, but they must not remove an installed provider from `GET /providers` or Session Setup. External authentication inspection is bounded. Claude `auth status` receives a five-second process timeout and `SIGTERM`; timeout or inspection failure returns an `unknown` authentication state from the dedicated endpoint. ## Dashboard States `providerCatalogState.status` has five distinct values: - `unknown`: no availability request has started; - `pending`: the initial authoritative request is in flight; - `ready`: the Host returned at least one runnable provider; - `unavailable`: the Host successfully returned no runnable provider; and - `request_failed`: the initial availability request failed. The dashboard must not synthesize `commandAvailable:false` before Host evidence. Initial `unknown` and `pending` states show `Checking providers...`. `request_failed` shows an actionable Retry. Only `unavailable` may show `No providers are currently available`. `loadProviderCatalog()` owns one shared in-flight Promise. Concurrent callers must receive that exact Promise and must not create duplicate requests. A successful retry updates Session Setup without a route reload. When usable provider data is cached, a background refresh keeps that data visible. A refresh failure is local status information and must not replace cached availability with `request_failed`. ## Host Preferences The P022 Host Preferences loading contract remains in force. The Provider section may show `Checking provider availability...`, a local failure, and Retry while unrelated settings remain usable. Provider readiness must not become a page-wide loading dependency. ## Transport Boundary P039 changes application readiness and endpoint ownership. It does not repair or classify Managed Tunnel availability. A Managed Endpoint returning an FRP 404 or losing its connector heartbeat is a P037 transport failure, even when the missing provider response exposes the P039 request-failure UI. Dashboard owner authentication remains required on both provider endpoints. This contract removes provider-account-auth coupling, not dashboard authorization.