#Backend Stack for Frontend Work

This is the recommended local stack for real frontend work.

#Goal

Run one consistent backend topology instead of ad hoc per-service startup commands.

#Required services

• Headwaters
• Fabric
• Ledger
• Conduit
• Weir
• Breakwater
• Postgres
• Redis
• NATS

#Trust model

• Human auth comes from Headwaters.
• Machine auth comes from Breakwater.
• Internal service-to-service calls should use native mTLS where implemented.
• Fabric and Ledger already terminate internal mTLS natively.
• Cascadia now receives its first node certificate during activation and renews through the same trust path.

#Recommended local order

1. Start Postgres, Redis, and NATS.
2. Start Breakwater authority with the local PKI root and trust bundle.
3. Start Headwaters.
4. Start Fabric.
5. Start Ledger.
6. Start Conduit.
7. Start Weir.

#Frontend guidance

• Headwaters frontend work can target the current auth/session/org flows.
• Conduit frontend work can target the current tenant/staff/service APIs.
• Weir frontend work should target the real stack only, not dev fallbacks.

#Minimum integration smoke expectations

• Headwaters login/session fetch
• Fabric tenant policy fetch
• Ledger billing lookup
• Conduit tenant API request
• Weir session and aggregated org/billing view
• Cascadia signed-action round trip

#Current caveats

• The stack is still private early access software, not a GA deployment recipe.
• Some roadmap items remain around Weir durability, NATS guarantees, and final trust cleanup.