itk-dev · martinydeAI · Jun 12, 2026 · Jun 12, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - PHPUnit test harness with 100% coverage gate enforced in CI via
   `rregeer/phpunit-coverage-check`
   ([#31](https://github.com/itk-dev/ai-lib/issues/31)).
+- ADR 004 (Draft) — user registration, approval, and account-state
+  model: a `status` enum (`pending | approved | blocked`) on `User`,
+  an env-var allow-list of e-mail domains for self-signup, and a
+  `UserCheckerInterface` gating login
+  ([#60](https://github.com/itk-dev/ai-lib/issues/60)).
 
 ### Changed
 

diff --git a/docs/adr/004-user-approval-and-account-state.md b/docs/adr/004-user-approval-and-account-state.md
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+# 004: User registration, approval, and account-state model
+
+| Field              | Value                                              |
+| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
+| **Created By**     | Martin Yde Granath                                 |
+| **Date**           | 2026-06-12                                         |
+| **Decision Maker** | ITK Dev team                                       |
+| **Stakeholders**   | ITK Dev developers, future maintainers of ai-lib   |
+| **Status**         | Draft                                              |
+
+## Context
+
+ai-lib serves Danish public-sector organisations. The intended
+onboarding flow is:
+
+1. A representative from an approved organisation self-registers at
+   `/register` using their work e-mail.
+2. The system only accepts the registration if the e-mail domain is on
+   a project-managed allow-list (kommune domains, ministries, etc.).
+3. Even after a successful registration, the new account does **not**
+   get application access until an existing trusted user (a domain
+   manager) approves it from an admin queue.
+4. An approved account can later be **blocked** without being deleted
+   (audit trail, possible un-block).
+
+Before we build any of that we need to settle one design question that
+ripples through the rest of the work: **how is the "can this person
+sign in" state modelled on the `User` entity?**
+
+The two candidate approaches the team weighed informally were:
+
+- **A — Identity-state field(s) on `User`.** A `status` enum
+  (`pending | approved | blocked`) or a pair of booleans (`approved`,
+  `active`) that's explicit and independent of authorisation.
+- **B — Role-based gating.** Treat "no roles" as "no access" — a
+  pending or blocked user simply has no entries in the `roles` column.
+
+This ADR is scoped to that choice and the surrounding registration /
+approval architecture. Tracked in
+[#60](https://github.com/itk-dev/ai-lib/issues/60).
+
+### Drivers
+
+- **Functional:**
+  - Self-signup gated by an allow-list of e-mail domains.
+  - Distinct "pending" (never approved) and "blocked" (approved, then
+    revoked) states for the admin UX.
+  - A single, declarative place for "should this credential succeed?"
+    so the login flow stays auditable.
+- **Non-functional:**
+  - Stay within Symfony Security idioms — don't fight the framework's
+    User abstraction or its `UserCheckerInterface` extension point.
+  - Keep authorisation (`roles`, voters) orthogonal from identity
+    state so changes to one don't accidentally weaken the other.
+
+### Options Considered
+
+1. **Status enum on `User` (`pending | approved | blocked`).**
+   - Pros: single source of truth for the identity lifecycle;
+     distinguishes "never approved" from "approved then revoked";
+     trivial to query (`status = 'pending'` powers the approval
+     queue); ergonomic with Symfony's `UserCheckerInterface`.
+   - Cons: extending the lifecycle later means adding enum cases
+     (Doctrine + migration), not just toggling a flag.
+2. **Two booleans (`approved` + `active`).**
+   - Pros: smaller migrations to introduce.
+   - Cons: two flags that mostly want to move in lockstep, with one
+     impossible / undefined state (`approved=false, active=true`) that
+     code must remember not to produce; #45's existing `active` field
+     would need to grow a partner.
+3. **Role-based gating (`roles` empty → no access).**
+   - Pros: no schema change beyond what #12 already implies.
+   - Cons: Symfony's generated `User::getRoles()` returns
+     `array_unique([...$this->roles, 'ROLE_USER'])`, so "empty roles"
+     does **not** actually mean "no access" without removing that
+     guarantee and fighting framework idioms; can't distinguish
+     "pending" from "blocked"; conflates *what* a signed-in user can
+     do with *whether* they may sign in at all.
+
+## Decision
+
+Adopt **option 1 — a `status` enum** on the `User` entity:
+
+```php
+enum UserStatus: string
+{
+    case Pending  = 'pending';
+    case Approved = 'approved';
+    case Blocked  = 'blocked';
+}
+```
+
+`User::getStatus(): UserStatus` becomes the single source of truth
+for the identity lifecycle. Authorisation (`roles`, voters,
+`domainManager`) remains orthogonal — those answer "what may a
+signed-in user do", not "may this person sign in".
+
+### Registration
+
+- Anonymous endpoint `/register` accepts `email`, `password`, and
+  `name`.
+- The submitted e-mail's domain must match an entry on an allow-list.
+  The list is sourced from a comma-separated env var
+  (`REGISTRATION_ALLOWED_EMAIL_DOMAINS=aarhus.dk,kk.dk,…`) for the
+  first cut, with a clear migration path to a dedicated `Domain`
+  entity if the list later needs CRUD admin tooling.
+- A successful registration creates a `User` with
+  `status = UserStatus::Pending`. The user is shown a "waiting for
+  approval" page and cannot sign in.
+
+### Login gating
+
+- A `Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserCheckerInterface`
+  implementation (`App\Security\AccountStatusChecker`) rejects login
+  for any user whose `status` is not `Approved`, with localised
+  messages for `Pending` vs. `Blocked`.
+- Wired in `security.yaml` via `user_checker:` on the `main` firewall.
+
+### Approval queue
+
+- A route (e.g. `/admin/users/pending`) lists users with
+  `status = Pending`. Restricted to users with `ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER`
+  (or `ROLE_ADMIN` via role hierarchy) via the voter described in
+  "Domain manager — a role, not a flag" below.
+- The approver can **approve** (`status = Approved`) or **reject**
+  (`status = Blocked` — preserves the row for audit; a separate
+  "delete" action can come later if needed).
+- An already-approved user can later be blocked (`Approved` →
+  `Blocked`) from the same admin surface; un-blocking is just the
+  same action in reverse.
+
+### Domain manager — a role, not a flag
+
+Following the same reasoning as the `status` decision above —
+capability and identity stay orthogonal — "domain manager" is
+modelled as the **role** `ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER` on the existing
+`User.roles` column rather than a dedicated boolean field.
+
+- Promotion / demotion is just adding or removing the role from the
+  array.
+- A user's **scope** (which domain they manage) is derived from the
+  part of their own e-mail address after the `@`. No separate
+  column.
+- Authorisation flows through a small voter that combines:
+  1. `is_granted('ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER')` on the acting user, and
+  2. `emailDomain(currentUser) === emailDomain(targetUser)`.
+- Site admin gets `ROLE_ADMIN`. Symfony's `role_hierarchy` is
+  configured so `ROLE_ADMIN` implies `ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER`, and the
+  voter short-circuits the domain-match check for admins so they can
+  manage users across all domains from the same screen.
+- The user-management view is a single controller. The list query
+  is scoped: `ROLE_ADMIN` sees everyone; `ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER` sees
+  only users whose email domain matches their own.
+
+If we later need a user to manage a domain *other than* their own
+email's, or an organisation that owns multiple e-mail domains, we
+introduce a `Domain` entity and a relation. Defer until needed —
+removing that complexity later would be the painful direction.
+
+### Implication for #45
+
+Both `active` and `domainManager` from
+[#45](https://github.com/itk-dev/ai-lib/issues/45) are **superseded**:
+
+- `active` → replaced by the `status` enum.
+- `domainManager` → replaced by the `ROLE_DOMAIN_MANAGER` role on the
+  existing `User.roles` column.
+
+When #45's implementation lands, the entity ships with **only `name`**
+on top of the auth fields from
+[#2](https://github.com/itk-dev/ai-lib/issues/2). #45 should be
+updated to reflect this so the migration doesn't end up needing
+immediate amendment.
+
+## Consequences
+
+### Positive
+
+- Identity state and authorisation stay orthogonal; reasoning about
+  either in isolation is easier.
+- The approval queue is a one-line query (`WHERE status = 'pending'`);
+  audit and compliance questions ("show me all blocked accounts")
+  fall out of the same model.
+- `UserCheckerInterface` is Symfony's documented hook for exactly this
+  — no custom event listeners or controller checks scattered around.
+- The enum's three named cases read better in code, templates, and
+  the admin UI than two booleans would.
+
+### Negative / Trade-offs
+
+- Doctrine string-backed enums need a small `Type` mapping (or use
+  Symfony's built-in support); a tiny amount of extra setup compared
+  to a bare boolean column.
+- Adding a fourth state later (e.g. `awaiting_email_verification`,
+  `expired`) means a migration to extend the enum domain. We accept
+  this — it's exactly the kind of change an ADR should make
+  deliberate.
+- The env-var allow-list is the right starting point but will need to
+  graduate to a `Domain` entity if domains grow or need per-domain
+  metadata (e.g. a different approver per organisation). Tracked as a
+  follow-up only if it actually happens.
diff --git a/docs/adr/README.md b/docs/adr/README.md
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ See [adr.github.io](https://adr.github.io/) for background on the format.
 
 ## Index
 
-| Number                                       | Title                                  | Status   | Date       |
-| -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------- | ---------- |
-| [001](001-tech-stack-docker-symfony.md)      | Tech stack: Docker + Symfony           | Accepted | 2026-06-08 |
-| [002](002-project-license-mpl-2.md)          | Project license: MPL-2.0               | Accepted | 2026-06-08 |
+| Number                                        | Title                                           | Status   | Date       |
+| --------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | -------- | ---------- |
+| [001](001-tech-stack-docker-symfony.md)       | Tech stack: Docker + Symfony                    | Accepted | 2026-06-08 |
+| [002](002-project-license-mpl-2.md)           | Project license: MPL-2.0                        | Accepted | 2026-06-08 |
+| [004](004-user-approval-and-account-state.md) | User registration, approval, and account state  | Draft    | 2026-06-12 |