Feature Request: Unified Hardware Permission System: Solving Device Access Inconsistency for Node Operators

[0xceku]

The Problem: Fragmentation in Device Access
Currently, setting up an OM1 node across different environments (different OS or hardware sets) leads to inconsistent permission handling for media devices. During my setup experience, I encountered issues where permissions for microphones and cameras were requested at different stages or not at all, leading to significant troubleshooting time (often exceeding several hours). There is no unified way to verify if the node has the necessary hardware access before the agent is deployed.

The Proposal: Hardware-Agnostic Permission Manager
I propose a "Hardware-Agnostic Permission Manager" module. This module should:

• Unified Pre-check: Perform a hardware sanity check during the node setup phase.
• Abstraction Layer: Provide a standard API to request and verify permissions (Camera, Mic, Sensors) regardless of the underlying OS (Linux/macOS/Windows).
• Visual Feedback: A simple CLI or Web-UI indicator showing the status of each required permission (e.g., 🟢 Mic: Granted | 🔴 Camera: Denied).
• Fallback Mechanisms: If a device is disconnected or permission is revoked, the manager should trigger a "Soft Recovery" instead of letting the agent crash.

[Saintkizitoh]

The Hardware-Agnostic Permission Manager is a good idea, but implementing truly clean cross-platform hardware permissions for camera/mic is painful because the permission models are fundamentally different:

• macOS — strict TCC (Transparency, Consent, Control); apps must ask via native APIs; denied = hard block
• Windows — usually auto-granted for desktop apps, but UWP-style apps or browser contexts can be restricted via Settings → Privacy
• Linux — almost no mandatory access control for /dev/video* and ALSA/PulseAudio/PipeWire devices (Flatpak/Snap are the exception); permission ≈ "device exists + user is in audio/video group"

You won't get a beautiful unified API that behaves the same everywhere without compromises. Still, you can build a reasonably ergonomic layer that reduces pain significantly.

Realistic Architecture (2026 perspective)

Split into two layers:

1. Probe / Pre-check layer (non-intrusive detection + advice)

2. Request / Recovery layer (actually tries to open stream + handles denial/graceful fallback)

3. Recommended Tech Stack Choices (pick one path)

Path	Language/runtime	Probe quality	Request quality	Visual/CLI easy?	Recommendation if…
Electron / NW.js / Tauri	JS / Rust	★★★☆☆	★★★★☆	Yes	You already have web UI or plan small one
Pure Node.js	Node.js	★★☆☆☆	★★★☆☆	Yes	CLI-only node, minimal deps
Python	Python 3.10+	★★★★☆	★★★★☆	Medium	You prefer python agent
Go	Go	★★★☆☆	★★★★☆	Yes	Static binary obsession

Most OM* / agent-like projects in 2025–2026 seem to end up on Electron (for setup UI) + node.js child_process or Tauri (lighter) or pure Python. I'll focus on Electron + browser getUserMedia path because it gives the best unified request story (even if probe is imperfect).

2. Core Ideas for the Permission Manager

hardware-permissions-manager/
├── index.js               # facade API
├── probe.js               # try to discover + light-check without asking
├── request.js             # actually ask (platform specific)
├── status.js              # 🟢/🟡/🔴 logic + icons
├── recovery.js            # soft fallback strategies
└── ui/
    ├── cli-reporter.js
    └── mini-webui.js      # optional tiny express / electron window

Exported API example (what the rest of your code should call):

import { HardwarePermissionManager } from './index.js';

const mgr = new HardwarePermissionManager({
  required: ['microphone', 'camera'],   // or ['microphone'] only, etc.
  timeoutMs: 8000,
});

async function setupPhase() {
  const report = await mgr.preCheck();           // non-prompting probe

  console.log(mgr.prettyStatus(report));
  // 🟢 Microphone  →  granted / available
  // 🟡 Camera      →  not-determined / probably ok
  // 🔴 Sensors     →  unavailable

  if (!report.allRequiredOk) {
    const granted = await mgr.requestMissing(report);
    if (!granted.allRequiredOk) {
      await mgr.softRecovery(granted);           // downgrade mode, notify user, etc
    }
  }

  // Now safe to start real MediaStream / agent
}

3. Platform-Specific Implementation Sketches

Probe (non-prompting discovery)

// probe.js
export async function probeDevices() {
  const result = { microphone: 'unknown', camera: 'unknown' };

  // Common — try enumerateDevices() — works in Electron renderer
  try {
    const devices = await navigator.mediaDevices.enumerateDevices();
    const hasMic  = devices.some(d => d.kind === 'audioinput' && d.deviceId !== 'communications');
    const hasCam  = devices.some(d => d.kind === 'videoinput');

    result.microphone = hasMic ? 'available' : 'missing';
    result.camera     = hasCam  ? 'available' : 'missing';
  } catch {}

  // Linux fallback — look for devices (if running in node/electron main)
  if (process.platform === 'linux') {
    const { exec } = require('node:child_process');
    try {
      const { stdout } = await execProm('v4l2-ctl --list-devices');
      if (/video\d/.test(stdout)) result.camera = result.camera === 'missing' ? 'available' : result.camera;
    } catch {}
    // arecord -l is noisy → better use arecord -L | grep -i input
  }

  // Try permissions API (Chrome/Electron >= ~2022)
  for (const name of ['camera', 'microphone']) {
    try {
      const perm = await navigator.permissions.query({ name });
      if (perm.state === 'denied')    result[name] = 'denied';
      else if (perm.state === 'granted') result[name] = 'granted';
      // 'prompt' → leave as is (we treat as 🟡)
    } catch {}
  }

  return result;
}

Request (actually ask)

// request.js
export async function requestMediaAccess(required) {
  const needMic = required.includes('microphone');
  const needCam = required.includes('camera');

  if (process.platform === 'darwin' && require('electron')) {
    // macOS — must use native API first
    const { systemPreferences } = require('electron');
    let micGranted  = await systemPreferences.getMediaAccessStatus('microphone')  === 'granted';
    let camGranted  = await systemPreferences.getMediaAccessStatus('camera')      === 'granted';

    if (needMic && !micGranted)  micGranted  = await systemPreferences.askForMediaAccess('microphone');
    if (needCam && !camGranted)  camGranted  = await systemPreferences.askForMediaAccess('camera');

    // Then still do getUserMedia to activate in renderer context if needed
  }

  // Unified browser-style request (works everywhere Electron / browser)
  try {
    const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({
      audio: needMic ? { echoCancellation: false } : false,
      video: needCam ? { width: 640, height: 480 } : false,
    });

    // Success → close immediately if just testing
    stream.getTracks().forEach(t => t.stop());

    return { microphone: needMic, camera: needCam };
  } catch (err) {
    if (err.name === 'NotAllowedError') {
      // denied
    }
    if (err.name === 'NotFoundError') {
      // no device
    }
    throw err;
  }
}

4. Soft Recovery Strategies (most important part)

• microphone only fails → fallback to text-to-speech / disable voice mode / warn user
• camera fails → disable vision features, fallback to screenshot if possible, or pure-audio agent
• both fail → enter "headless / degraded" mode + log telemetry "hardware-access-impossible"
• Show persistent status in tray / web UI / CLI (om1 status --watch)
• On revocation (macOS especially) → catch OverconstrainedError / NotAllowedError later → trigger re-request flow

5. Quick Wins to Ship First

6. During setup: run probe → print big colorful table

7. Before agent.start(): try lightweight getUserMedia({audio:true, video:false}) → catch & classify error

8. On macOS: always call askForMediaAccess early if Electron

9. On Linux: at least check ls /dev/video* and arecord -l (or pw-cli ls if PipeWire)

10. Add retry button in UI + "open system settings" deep-link (macOS: xcrun simctl openurl no — actually use open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.security?Privacy_Camera")

The perfect cross-platform permission manager does not exist yet — the closest you can get is probe aggressively + request lazily + recover gracefully.

Start with probe + macOS explicit ask + getUserMedia test. That already kills 80% of the multi-hour debug sessions you mentioned.