Offline and restricted-network operation

StepsResult checkFailures and diagnostics

Goal

Run installs, asks, and replays on a host with no (or allow-listed) network access, using a bundle prepared in advance on a connected machine.

Scope

Component law CLI, tool 0.1.1. Scenario: a closed host where package registries and release servers are unreachable; all artifacts arrive by removable media or a one-way drop. Names, paths, and sizes below are synthetic created-examples.

Applies to

Branch	Coverage in this article
MCP + law serve	the offline bundle procedure feeds both servers; serve worlds travel as world directories (or bundles restored to directories), MCP slices as pinned profiles

Prerequisites

• A connected staging machine with the same pinned law version as the target (check with law version --json on both).
• The full dependency closure of the project (law.toml + law.lock) resolved on the staging machine.
• Write-once transfer media (created-example: /mnt/drop/).

Steps

1. On the staging machine, resolve and freeze the world: law install --project <dir> (connected), then law test over the law.lock world to confirm the closure is green.
2. Build the portable bundle (real command): law pack --project <dir> --out /mnt/drop/world-2026-10-03.arxo (real flags: --contents full|source, --deps closure|pins, --codec zstd|deflate, --zstd-level 1..19, --timings, --no-tests, --json). Prefer --deps closure so the bundle is self-sufficient; the container carries packages with their operations’ inputs, identical files stored once.
3. Sign the bundle if your policy requires it (real): law sign /mnt/drop/world-2026-10-03.arxo --key <keyfile> --role publisher.
4. Transfer the .arxo file (and, for first provisioning, the law release archive + .sha256) to the closed host.
5. On the closed host, verify before use (real): law inspect world-2026-10-03.arxo --verify --trust <key> --files. Then either law unpack world-2026-10-03.arxo --out <dir> or execute straight from the container (law ask <file.arxo> …, law test <file.arxo> … — real, no unpacking needed).
6. For project-form installs on the closed host, use the one offline flag that exists (real): law install --offline. Confirm no other package command is in your runbook (see Limits below).
7. Serve locally as usual (real): law serve --world <dir> --journal <dir> --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8480 (real defaults: host 127.0.0.1, port 8480).

Expected result

• law inspect --verify exits 0 with integrity and signature lines matching the release record.
• law test <file.arxo> and law ask <file.arxo> … exit 0 with no network access on the host.
• GET /healthz and GET /readyz (real endpoints; readyz returns 200 after all workers warm up) answer on the local port.

Result check

• Disconnect the staging check: run the full ask/replay set with the network interface down (or in a network namespace without a route) and confirm exit 0 and unchanged resultHash values.
• Egress verification (operator-policy-example): capture traffic during the run (tcpdump/firewall counters — created-example tooling, not tool behavior) and confirm zero non-loopback connections; any egress is a finding, not background noise.

Failures and diagnostics

• law add / law update attempted offline: these subcommands have no --offline flag (implementation limit, stated in law --help): they must read registry descriptors to build the closure. Prepare the closure on the connected machine instead.
• law install --offline failing on a missing descriptor: the bundle or project cache is incomplete; re-run connected law install on staging and re-pack with --deps closure.
• no signature from a --trust or trustedKeys key: the trust set is non-empty but no signature matches it. Check both sides against the independent operator trust record before touching either: unsigned bundle, different publisher, wrong trust set, or wrong release are all possible — a missing key file in transit is only one of them. Never bend the trusted keys to fit the artifact you received; resolve which side is wrong first (see Install and trust artifacts).
• Stale calendars/resources: the release artifact embeds resources (real law pack content); a bundle built last quarter answers with last quarter’s resources. Re-pack when the normative inputs change.

Support boundaries

• Supported (tool behavior): --offline on install only; container execution without unpacking; hash/signature verification of bundles.
• Implementation limit: dependency resolution (add, update) always needs registry descriptors; there is no offline closure solver.
• Reference setting: media paths, ports, and capture tooling here are created-examples. “Isolated” in this article means only “no non-loopback traffic observed during the check” — it says nothing about side channels, media hygiene, or host hardening.

Next step

Record the bundle filename, its hashes, and the trusted key ids in the change log; for version moves, continue with Upgrades and compatibility.