docs(architecture): ADR-011 - optional Seller Management module
Documents the decision behind the typed contracts added in the previous commit: Seller Management is an optional platform capability module (Platform -> Marketplace -> Seller, 0..N per marketplace), not a second tenancy tier. Backend resolves seller scope the same way it already resolves tenant (ADR-001); frontend never resolves it itself. Gated by one typed flag (modules.sellerManagement.enabled), same capability-guard discipline as ADR-009, defaulting to disabled/absent so existing marketplaces are byte-identical. Explicitly scopes out UI, backend, and business logic as future work requiring its own ADR/implementation pass once the module is actually built out. Added companion diagrams (Seller-Management-Diagrams.md): hierarchy, bootstrap module-gate flow, and the type-contract class diagram. Registered ADR-011 in the foundation README's ADR index.
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# ADR-011: Optional Seller Management Module
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Status: Accepted
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Date: 2026-07-26
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## Context
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The platform today has a two-level hierarchy: Platform → Marketplace (tenant),
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per ADR-001. Some marketplaces will eventually need a third, optional level:
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individual Sellers operating storefronts within one marketplace (a
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marketplace-of-marketplaces / multi-vendor model). Not every marketplace
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needs this — most tenants today have none.
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Seller Management must not become a second tenancy model. ADR-001 already
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established that tenant identity is backend-resolved from request Host and
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the frontend never passes or resolves tenant identity itself. Introducing
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sellers must not weaken that discipline or introduce a second, parallel
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resolution mechanism the frontend has to reason about.
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## Decision
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Seller Management is an **optional platform capability module**, not a new
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tenancy tier equal to Marketplace:
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```
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Platform
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└── Marketplace (tenant) — always present, resolved by backend (ADR-001)
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└── Seller (optional) — 0..N per marketplace, resolved by backend
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```
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- **Marketplace remains the sole primary tenant.** A seller is a child scope
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of exactly one marketplace, never a sibling of Marketplace and never
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resolved independently of it.
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- **The frontend never resolves seller identity itself** — same rule as
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tenant resolution (ADR-001). The backend decides whether the current
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request scope is marketplace-level or seller-level and reflects that
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decision in the bootstrap response.
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- **The frontend consumes bootstrap only.** No new endpoint, header, or
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client-side resolution logic is introduced by this ADR. If a seller scope
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applies, `BootstrapConfig.seller` (see `SellerConfig`) is present; if not,
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it's absent. There is no other channel.
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- **Gated by a module flag, not scattered conditionals.** The capability is
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controlled by one typed flag — `BootstrapConfig.modules.sellerManagement.
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enabled` (see `PlatformModulesConfig`) — checked in one place if/when
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seller-aware behavior is built, never as ad hoc `if (tenant.id === 'x')`
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or similar marketplace-specific conditionals anywhere in feature code.
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This follows the same capability-guard discipline ADR-009 already
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established for feature flags.
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## Backward Compatibility (non-negotiable)
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- `modules` and `seller` are both optional fields on `BootstrapConfig`.
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Existing marketplaces whose bootstrap response never includes them are
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unaffected — untyped-absent is not a special case to handle, it's the
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default.
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- `DEFAULT_PLATFORM_MODULES_CONFIG` defaults `sellerManagement.enabled` to
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`false`. A marketplace that has never heard of this feature, and a
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marketplace where the backend explicitly disables it, behave identically:
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no new routes, no new menu entries, no new API calls, no visual change.
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- No existing `BootstrapConfig` field, route, guard, or component changes as
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a result of this ADR. This ADR adds types; it changes nothing that already
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runs.
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## Scope of this ADR
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This ADR and its accompanying typed contracts (`PlatformModulesConfig`,
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`SellerManagementModuleConfig`, `SellerConfig`) are **architecture only**:
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- No UI is introduced — no seller-facing pages, no admin seller-management
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screens, no navigation entries.
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- No backend is implemented — no endpoints, no seller data model, no
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resolution logic.
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- No business logic is introduced — no seller CRUD, no seller-scoped
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permissions, no seller onboarding flow.
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Those are all future work, gated behind `modules.sellerManagement.enabled`,
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and each will need its own ADR/implementation pass once the module is
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actually being built out (routing strategy under a seller scope, admin UI,
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backend data model and resolution, permission model for seller-level roles).
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This ADR exists so that future work has a typed foundation to build on
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without retrofitting the platform/marketplace hierarchy after the fact.
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## Consequences
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Positive:
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- Marketplaces that don't need multi-vendor support pay zero cost — no new
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code path executes, no new field is even present in their bootstrap
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response.
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- Future Seller Management work has a settled hierarchy and typed contract
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to build against instead of ad hoc per-feature decisions about where
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"seller" fits.
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- Consistent with the platform's existing capability-guard discipline
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(ADR-009) — one flag, checked in one place, not scattered conditionals.
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Negative:
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- Adds two optional fields to `BootstrapConfig` that most of the codebase
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will never populate — acceptable, matches the existing pattern of several
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other optional bootstrap fields (`header?`, `catalog?`, `layout?`, etc.).
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- Defers real design decisions (seller-scoped routing, seller admin
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permissions, seller data ownership) to whenever the module is actually
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implemented — intentional; this ADR does not pre-invent that design.
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## Compliance Requirements
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- No component, facade, or service may branch on marketplace identity or
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seller identity directly. All seller-aware behavior, once built, must
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check `modules.sellerManagement.enabled` (or a capability-guard built on
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top of it) as the single gate.
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- No frontend code may attempt to resolve which seller is active by itself
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(URL parsing, local storage, guessed convention, etc.) — that information
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only ever comes from `BootstrapConfig.seller`, backend-resolved, exactly
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like tenant resolution today.
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- Any future work that adds seller-facing routes, UI, or backend calls must
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keep all of it inert and unreachable while `modules.sellerManagement.
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enabled` is `false`, with no exception.
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