POC Mode

Trial-window posture, sovereignty defaults, and expiry behavior.

What is POC mode?

Proof-of-concept (POC) mode is a tenant status (PocConfig) that places a tenant in a trial window with a different security posture:

New systems default to execution_mode=agent (sovereignty-first for trials)
Write endpoints are blocked (HTTP 423) after expiry
Read endpoints, plus /poc-mode/* and /auth/*, stay open so the customer can still see their data

Lifecycle

enable — sales triggers this through the POC command-line tool or the platform-admin interface. A PocConfig is created with active=true, an expires_at, and the window configuration.
sweep — a periodic check compares expires_at with the current time; on expiry the middleware switches into block mode.
disable — an admin or salesperson converts the trial into a paying customer (or records explicit churn). The PocConfig becomes inactive and all blocks are lifted.

PocExpiryMiddleware — what is blocked

For an expired POC, every non-read endpoint returns HTTP 423 (Locked) with a hint toward the "upgrade" flow. The customer can still log in, view dashboards, and download their export — only modifications are blocked.

ℹ Good to know

There is a 60-second in-process cache on the PocConfig lookup. It is invalidated by the enable / disable / sweep service calls — a manual database change outside those calls requires a backend restart.

Sales-side tooling

The sales command-line tool (scripts/rv-poc) wraps tenant provisioning and POC enablement into a single command. Use cases: creating a POC ticket, loading demo fixtures, extending the expiry window, and checking status.

Further reading: