Answer stability round 1: 0 🔴, 4 🟡 (0 misread); the driver decides what parses so a multi-host DSN still works, and the nine-key test shrinks to four

src/auth/bootstrap.test.ts

@@ -181,16 +181,6 @@ test("provisioning still runs with nothing to provision, so orphans are reported
   assert.deepEqual(calls[0]?.pluginIds, []);
 });
 
-// The postgres driver rethrows a malformed DSN with the whole string on the error (`input`), so
-// the URL is checked here, before the driver sees it.
-test("a malformed PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL is refused by name, never echoing the password", async () => {
-  const env = { PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL: "postgres://admin:pa/ss@db:5432/plugins" };
-  await assert.rejects(
-    provisionPluginStorage(env, [storagePlugin("things")], SILENT, async () => ({ orphans: [], provisioned: [] })),
-    (err: Error) => err.message.includes("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL") && !err.message.includes("pa/ss"),
-  );
-});
-
 test("a plugin declaring storage without a provisioning DSN fails loud, naming the plugin", async () => {
   const { calls, provision } = recordingProvisioner();
   await assert.rejects(

src/auth/bootstrap.ts

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 // Then prints a first-run banner; fails loud on any unexpected upstream error.
 import { existsSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
-import { assertUrl, resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit, resolvePluginDbSecret } from "../config.ts";
+import { resolvePluginDbConnectionLimit, resolvePluginDbSecret } from "../config.ts";
 import { discoverPlugins } from "../plugin-host/discovery.ts";
 import { declaredPermissions, isValidPermissionName, type Plugin } from "../plugin-host/plugin.ts";
 import { provisionStorage } from "../plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts";
@@ -179,7 +179,6 @@ export async function provisionPluginStorage(env: Env, plugins: Plugin[], log: L
   // Provisioned here, connected to from web: a different server means the role is created in one
   // place and looked for in another, surfacing inside a plugin as "password authentication failed".
   // Warned, not refused — web reaching a pooler that cannot run CREATE DATABASE is a legitimate split.
-  assertUrl("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL", adminUrl);
   const mismatch = serverMismatch(adminUrl, env["PLUGIN_DB_URL"]);
   if (mismatch) log.warn("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL and PLUGIN_DB_URL name different servers", { servers: mismatch });
   const result = await provision({
@@ -200,7 +199,7 @@ export async function provisionPluginStorage(env: Env, plugins: Plugin[], log: L
 export function serverMismatch(adminUrl: string, webUrl: string | undefined): string | null {
   if (!webUrl) return null;
   const [admin, web] = [safeHostPort(adminUrl), safeHostPort(webUrl)];
-  if (admin === null || web === null || admin === web) return null; // a malformed URL fails in assertUrl
+  if (admin === null || web === null || admin === web) return null; // a malformed URL fails in config.ts
   return `${admin} vs ${web}`;
 }
 

src/config.test.ts

@@ -39,16 +39,10 @@ test("PLUGIN_DB_URL carrying credentials is refused, not silently overwritten",
   assert.equal(loadConfig({}).pluginDbUrl, undefined); // unset ⇒ storage off
 });
 
-// A DSN whose password breaks URL parsing (a bare "/") must not reach the boot error or the log.
-// The credential-bearing keys get their own value; the rest share the two readers, so one loop covers them.
 test("a malformed URL value is refused by naming the variable, never echoing the value", () => {
+  // PLUGIN_DB_URL and OTLP_ENDPOINT can carry credentials; APP_URL and KRATOS_PUBLIC_URL stand for the other keys, one per reader.
   const bad: Record<string, string> = {
     APP_URL: "https://acme:pa/ss@[host",
-    HYDRA_ADMIN_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[hydra:4445",
-    JWKS_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[jwks",
-    KETO_READ_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[keto:4466",
-    KETO_WRITE_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[keto:4467",
-    KRATOS_ADMIN_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[kratos:4434",
     KRATOS_PUBLIC_URL: "http://u:pa/ss@[kratos:4433",
     OTLP_ENDPOINT: "http://otel:pa/ss@[collector:4318",
     PLUGIN_DB_URL: "postgres://admin:pa/ss@db:5432/plugins",

src/config.ts

@@ -99,9 +99,8 @@ function readEnum<T extends string>(env: Env, key: string, allowed: readonly T[]
 }
 
 // Never echoes the value: a DSN whose password breaks URL parsing (a bare "/") would put the
-// password in the boot error and the log. bootstrap uses it too, before the postgres driver, which
-// rethrows a malformed DSN with the whole string attached.
-export function assertUrl(key: string, value: string): void {
+// password in the boot error and the log.
+function assertUrl(key: string, value: string): void {
   try {
     new URL(value);
   } catch {

src/plugin-host/storage-provisioning.ts

@@ -16,10 +16,20 @@ export interface ProvisionResult {
   provisioned: string[];
 }
 
+// The driver's error for a DSN it can't parse carries the whole string (`input`) — password included —
+// so it is swallowed here. The driver, not `new URL`, decides what parses: it takes a multi-host DSN.
+function connect(adminUrl: string): ReturnType<typeof postgres> {
+  try {
+    return postgres(adminUrl, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1 });
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL must be a Postgres URL (its value is not shown; percent-encode special characters in a password)");
+  }
+}
+
 export async function provisionStorage(options: ProvisionOptions): Promise<ProvisionResult> {
   // Notices are left to surface: a REVOKE the account cannot perform only *warns*, and silencing
   // that would mean reporting a locked-down database that is still open to PUBLIC.
-  const sql = postgres(options.adminUrl, { connect_timeout: 10, max: 1 });
+  const sql = connect(options.adminUrl);
   try {
     const provisioned: string[] = [];
     for (const pluginId of options.pluginIds) {

src/plugin-host/storage.test.ts

@@ -108,6 +108,13 @@ test("a connection limit that is not a positive integer is refused, not interpol
   }
 });
 
+test("a malformed admin DSN is refused by name, without echoing its password", async () => {
+  await assert.rejects(
+    provisionStorage({ adminUrl: "postgres://admin:pa/ss@db:5432/plugins", connectionLimit: 10, pluginIds: [], secret: SECRET }),
+    (err: Error) => err.message.includes("PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL") && !err.message.includes("pa/ss"),
+  );
+});
+
 // --- Integration: the statements above, against a real Postgres -----------------------
 // Opt-in via PLUGIN_DB_ADMIN_URL (a superuser DSN); the unit gate runs no Postgres. What the unit
 // tests cannot prove lives here: the owner may create tables, and a peer role is locked out.