fix: skip expiry notifications for app embed and SDK tokens (#11169)

* fix: skip expiry notifications for app embed and SDK tokens

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* refactor: share app token label prefixes between mint sites and the check

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: skip expiry alerts for impersonation and test-connection tokens

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

AGENTS.md

@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ Open-source platform for internal tools, workflows, API integrations, background
   `cargo run`; a normal build cannot start one at all.
 - **Enterprise**: `docs/enterprise.md` — EE file conventions and PR workflow
 - **Auth surface**: `docs/auth-surface.md` — credential precedence, session/cache invalidation
-  scope, how OAuth login matches `login_type`, and that every superadmin route refuses `$WM_TOKEN`.
-  Read before designing anything that creates users, tokens or sessions.
+  scope, which token labels email their owner at expiry, how OAuth login matches `login_type`, and
+  that every superadmin route refuses `$WM_TOKEN`. Read before designing anything that creates
+  users, tokens or sessions.
 - **Product telemetry**: `docs/feature-telemetry.md` — when to instrument a new feature with
   `feature_usage`, and the four-step recipe. An unregistered `(feature, kind)` pair is dropped
   silently, so frontend-only instrumentation records nothing.

backend/.sqlx/query-d631a26e5531589ff37e677f91a4f1d9f850e3e46c17130dd580426cda7a9f65.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "db_name": "PostgreSQL",
-  "query": "UPDATE token SET label = $1\n           WHERE email = $2 AND token_prefix = $3\n             AND (label IS NULL OR (\n                 label <> 'session'\n                 AND label <> 'guest_session'\n                 AND lower(label) NOT LIKE 'ephemeral%'\n                 AND label <> 'debugger-token'\n                 AND label NOT LIKE 'mcp-oauth-%'\n             ))\n           RETURNING token_prefix",
+  "query": "UPDATE token SET label = $1\n           WHERE email = $2 AND token_prefix = $3\n             AND (label IS NULL OR (\n                 label <> 'session'\n                 AND label <> 'guest_session'\n                 AND lower(label) NOT LIKE 'ephemeral%'\n                 AND label <> 'debugger-token'\n                 AND label NOT LIKE 'mcp-oauth-%'\n                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'embed_app:')\n                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'sdk_app:')\n                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'impersonation:')\n             ))\n           RETURNING token_prefix",
   "describe": {
     "columns": [
       {
@@ -20,5 +20,5 @@
       false
     ]
   },
-  "hash": "31ed2fb85c0c726e3cf6392be2a73c62bae004b2842a4828c6807232570f83a1"
+  "hash": "d631a26e5531589ff37e677f91a4f1d9f850e3e46c17130dd580426cda7a9f65"
 }

backend/windmill-api-auth/src/lib.rs

@@ -1141,6 +1141,9 @@ impl NewToken {
 /// [`ensure_scopes_within_caller`] first (internal narrowing mints intentionally
 /// skip it, since their scopes derive from the action being authorized, not the
 /// caller's token).
+///
+/// A token the system mints for itself with an `expiration` needs a label reserved in
+/// `windmill_common::auth::is_user_token`, or its expiry alerts its owner (docs/auth-surface.md).
 pub async fn create_token_internal(
     tx: &mut sqlx::PgConnection,
     db: &DB,

backend/windmill-api-integration-tests/tests/token_label_idor.rs

@@ -179,9 +179,11 @@ async fn test_trigger_token_labels_still_creatable(db: Pool<Postgres>) -> anyhow
         "http-test-user-2-cd34",
         "email-test-user-2-ef56",
         "my-ci-token",
-        // Minted client-side by the editor (every TypeScript editor load) and the debugger.
+        // Minted client-side by the editor (every TypeScript editor load), the debugger and
+        // the object-storage "Test from a worker" button.
         "Ephemeral lsp token",
         "debugger-token",
+        "ephemeral-test-connection: s3_bucket",
     ] {
         let resp = create_token_with_label(port, "SECRET_TOKEN_2", label).await;
         assert_eq!(

backend/windmill-api-users/src/users.rs

@@ -3882,8 +3882,8 @@ async fn update_token_label(
     Path(token_prefix): Path<String>,
     Json(req): Json<UpdateTokenLabelRequest>,
 ) -> Result<String> {
-    // The new label must not collide with a system-token namespace (`session`,
-    // `ephemeral*`, `debugger-token`, `mcp-oauth-*`): those labels are
+    // The new label must not collide with a system-token namespace (see
+    // `windmill_common::auth::is_user_token`): those labels are
     // load-bearing, and a user-set collision would orphan the token — hidden
     // from the UI (`isUserToken`) and rejected by the editability guard below —
     // while it still authenticates. (`is_user_token(None)` is true, so clearing
@@ -3922,6 +3922,9 @@ async fn update_token_label(
                  AND lower(label) NOT LIKE 'ephemeral%'
                  AND label <> 'debugger-token'
                  AND label NOT LIKE 'mcp-oauth-%'
+                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'embed_app:')
+                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'sdk_app:')
+                 AND NOT starts_with(label, 'impersonation:')
              ))
            RETURNING token_prefix",
         req.label.as_deref(),

backend/windmill-api/src/apps.rs

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ use windmill_audit::audit_oss::{audit_log, AuditAuthorable};
 use windmill_audit::ActionKind;
 use windmill_common::{
     apps::{AppScriptId, ListAppQuery, APP_WORKSPACED_ROUTE},
-    auth::TOKEN_PREFIX_LEN,
+    auth::{APP_EMBED_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX, RAW_APP_SDK_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX, TOKEN_PREFIX_LEN},
     cache::{self, future::FutureCachedExt},
     db::{DbWithOptAuthed, UserDB},
     error::{to_anyhow, Error, JsonResult, Result},
@@ -1522,7 +1522,10 @@ async fn mint_raw_app_sdk_token(
                 scopes.push(windmill_api_auth::scopes::GUEST_SENTINEL.to_string());
                 (label, exp)
             }
-            None => (format!("sdk_app:{app_path}"), requested_exp),
+            None => (
+                format!("{RAW_APP_SDK_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX}{app_path}"),
+                requested_exp,
+            ),
         };
     let token_config = NewToken::new(
         Some(label),
@@ -1804,7 +1807,10 @@ pub async fn mint_app_embed_token(
                     scopes.push(windmill_api_auth::scopes::GUEST_SENTINEL.to_string());
                     (label, exp)
                 }
-                None => (format!("embed_app:{app_path}"), requested_exp),
+                None => (
+                    format!("{APP_EMBED_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX}{app_path}"),
+                    requested_exp,
+                ),
             };
         let token_config = NewToken::new(
             Some(label),

backend/windmill-common/src/auth.rs

@@ -19,10 +19,11 @@ use crate::{
 };
 
 /// Whether `label` denotes a user-created token rather than a system token
-/// (`session`, `guest_session`, `ephemeral*`, `debugger-token`, `mcp-oauth-*`). System-token
-/// labels are load-bearing — session cleanup, super_admin propagation, expiry
-/// notifications and username overrides all key off them — so they must not be
-/// user-editable. `None` (no label) is treated as a user token.
+/// (`session`, `guest_session`, `ephemeral*`, `debugger-token`, `mcp-oauth-*`,
+/// `embed_app:*`, `sdk_app:*`, `impersonation:*`). System-token labels are load-bearing —
+/// session cleanup, super_admin propagation, expiry notifications and username overrides
+/// all key off them — so they must not be user-editable. `None` (no label) is treated as
+/// a user token.
 ///
 /// This is the canonical copy. When updating it, also update its mirrors:
 /// - the `update_token_label` editability guard (SQL `WHERE`) in
@@ -40,15 +41,30 @@ pub fn is_user_token(label: Option<&str>) -> bool {
                 && !l.to_lowercase().starts_with("ephemeral")
                 && l != "debugger-token"
                 && !l.starts_with("mcp-oauth-")
+                // Short-lived tokens the server mints per app open or per service-account
+                // impersonation (EE `users_ee.rs`) and nobody manages, so an expiry warning
+                // for one is noise.
+                && !l.starts_with(APP_EMBED_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX)
+                && !l.starts_with(RAW_APP_SDK_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX)
+                && !l.starts_with("impersonation:")
         }
     }
 }
 
+/// Label prefix, followed by the app path, of the token an app viewer's sandboxed iframe
+/// runs with. Reserved in [`is_user_token`], whose SQL and frontend mirrors spell it out.
+pub const APP_EMBED_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX: &str = "embed_app:";
+
+/// Label prefix, followed by the app path, of the token a raw app's bundle uses for the
+/// frontend SDK. Reserved in [`is_user_token`], whose SQL and frontend mirrors spell it out.
+pub const RAW_APP_SDK_TOKEN_LABEL_PREFIX: &str = "sdk_app:";
+
 /// Whether `label` belongs to a namespace only the server mints, and which therefore must be
 /// rejected by `create_token`. Narrower than [`is_user_token`], which also drives label
-/// editability and expiry notifications and can afford to reserve more: `Ephemeral lsp token`
-/// and `debugger-token` are minted by the editor and the debugger through that same handler,
-/// so reserving them would break those features.
+/// editability and expiry notifications and can afford to reserve more: `Ephemeral lsp token`,
+/// `debugger-token` and `ephemeral-test-connection: *` are minted by the editor, the debugger
+/// and object-storage connection tests through that same handler, so reserving them would
+/// break those features.
 ///
 /// `username_override_from_label` trusts a label to name the entity acting only if it is in
 /// here, so anything added must be unmintable by a member.
@@ -961,6 +977,9 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_user_token(Some("Ephemeral lsp token")));
         assert!(!is_user_token(Some("debugger-token")));
         assert!(!is_user_token(Some("mcp-oauth-client")));
+        assert!(!is_user_token(Some("embed_app:f/team/dashboard")));
+        assert!(!is_user_token(Some("sdk_app:u/admin/raw app")));
+        assert!(!is_user_token(Some("impersonation:admin@windmill.dev")));
     }
 
     #[test]

docs/auth-surface.md

@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ Symbols, not line numbers, are cited: they drift less.
   by `create_session_token` (`windmill-api-users/src/users.rs`). `GET /api/users/refresh_token`
   mints one for any non-job token but returns plain text, no redirect.
 - **`tokens/impersonate`** (superadmin) returns a multi-use token and sets no cookie.
+- **A token's label decides whether its expiry raises alerts.** When `delete_expired_items`
+  removes an expired `token` row, the monitor emails the owner and raises a critical alert (if
+  enabled); rows registered by `register_token_expiry_notification` also get an "expiring soon"
+  warning first. Neither happens when `is_user_token` (`windmill-common/src/auth.rs`) reserves
+  the label, so a token the system mints for itself, whether from the backend or from the frontend
+  through `tokens/create`, needs a reserved label. An `ephemeral-` prefix needs no other change
+  (keep it clear of `is_server_minted_label` if minted through `tokens/create`); a new prefix
+  also goes into the SQL and Svelte mirrors that function's doc lists.
 - **Every superadmin route refuses a job token**: `require_super_admin`
   (`windmill-api-auth/src/lib.rs`) errors on `authed.job_id.is_some()`. A script that needs
   `users/create`, `tokens/impersonate`, `set_login_type`, … must use a dedicated superadmin user

frontend/src/lib/components/TestConnection.svelte

@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ export async function main(bucket: any, api_token: string) {
 	async function mintApiToken(): Promise<string> {
 		return await UserService.createToken({
 			requestBody: {
-				label: `test connection: ${resourceType}`,
+				label: `ephemeral-test-connection: ${resourceType}`,
 				expiration: new Date(Date.now() + API_TOKEN_TTL_MS).toISOString(),
 				scopes: ['settings:write']
 			}

frontend/src/lib/components/settings/TokensTable.svelte

@@ -59,7 +59,10 @@
 			label !== 'guest_session' &&
 			!label.toLowerCase().startsWith('ephemeral') &&
 			label !== 'debugger-token' &&
-			!label.startsWith('mcp-oauth-')
+			!label.startsWith('mcp-oauth-') &&
+			!label.startsWith('embed_app:') &&
+			!label.startsWith('sdk_app:') &&
+			!label.startsWith('impersonation:')
 		)
 	}