# Phase 7 — Telegram Authentication and Bot Foundation Report

## Result

Phase 7 is complete. The Express runtime now has a verified Telegram identity boundary, database-backed opaque user sessions, transactional user/referral bootstrap, secret-authenticated webhook ingestion, update deduplication, core private-chat commands, and executable webhook management commands.

| Verification measure                  |                               Result |
| ------------------------------------- | -----------------------------------: |
| Automated tests                       |                           101 passed |
| Required project files                |                         178 verified |
| Environment keys                      |                       82/82 verified |
| Production dependency vulnerabilities | 0 reported by offline lockfile audit |

## Delivered controls

| Area              | Implemented contract                                                                                               |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Mini App proof    | Raw `initData` HMAC-SHA-256 validation, constant-time comparison, freshness and future-time rejection              |
| Telegram identity | Safe schema, bot-user rejection, decimal-string IDs in application/JSON data                                       |
| Session           | 256-bit random cookie token, hash-only database storage, idle and absolute expiry, rolling touch, revoke-on-logout |
| User sync         | Parameterized SQL, transaction, stable public ID, verified profile refresh                                         |
| Referral          | Signed start parameter or webhook command only, new-user first touch, no self-referral                             |
| Webhook           | Secret header, bounded JSON validation, `update_id` reservation, duplicate acknowledgement, failed retry           |
| Bot               | `/start`, `/help`, `/app`, `/support`, escaped HTML, private-chat boundary, HTTPS Mini App button                  |
| Operations        | Safe webhook set/remove commands; pending updates retained unless explicitly dropped                               |

## Request order

Optional cookie authentication runs before CSRF so issued CSRF tokens can bind to a verified session. The exchange and webhook paths remain CSRF-exempt because they use Telegram HMAC and Telegram's webhook secret respectively. Maintenance, account-ban, audit, central errors, and no-store responses continue to apply.

## Verification scope

Tests cover correct/tampered/expired/future/duplicate init data, unsafe Telegram IDs, opaque session storage, secure cookie attributes, rolling expiry, transactional referral attribution, internal-ID preservation, Telegram API error redaction, command boundaries, escaped bot HTML, HTTPS keyboards, webhook secret rejection, duplicate handling, and full HTTP route composition.

All live effects were intentionally excluded: no production `.env` was created, no Telegram webhook was registered, and no MySQL/Redis deployment was contacted.

## Deferred ownership

- Admin password, TOTP, sessions, RBAC, and Super Admin creation: Phase 8.
- User profile/dashboard APIs: Phase 9.
- Wallet and ledger posting: Phase 10.
- Task reward verification: Phase 11.
- Referral activation and reward posting: Phase 12.
- Queue-backed notifications, retries, and broadcasts: Phase 16.

**Phase 7 status: COMPLETE AND VERIFIED.**