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+# Quantumancy Plan 1/7: Foundation & Auth — Implementation Plan
+
+> **For agentic workers:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:subagent-driven-development (recommended) or superpowers:executing-plans to implement this plan task-by-task. Steps use checkbox (`- [ ]`) syntax for tracking.
+
+**Goal:** Stand up the deployable skeleton of Quantumancy — repo scaffold, Docker Compose, Postgres, and username/password auth with server-side session cookies — so every later plan (LLM pipeline, spirit modes, Codex) has a real, tested backend to build on.
+
+**Architecture:** Python + FastAPI backend (async SQLAlchemy 2.0 / asyncpg against Postgres), served from a single `app` Docker container alongside a `postgres` container, plus an isolated `postgres_test` container for tests. Tables are created via `Base.metadata.create_all` at startup (no Alembic yet — schema is not stable enough to justify migration tooling at this stage; revisit once the schema stabilizes past Plan 3).
+
+**Tech Stack:** FastAPI, SQLAlchemy 2.0 (async, asyncpg), argon2-cffi, httpx, pytest + pytest-asyncio, Docker Compose.
+
+## Global Constraints
+
+- Backend is Python + FastAPI (spec §2).
+- App serves plain HTTP on port 7777; TLS is handled entirely outside this repo by a Cloudflare Tunnel (spec §2).
+- Database is Postgres (spec §2, §5).
+- Auth is username/password with argon2 hashing, server-side session cookies (not JWT), and **open registration** — no invite gating (spec §5).
+- Per-account and per-IP rate limiting applies to all LLM-triggering endpoints (spec §5) — this plan builds the reusable limiter; wiring it onto LLM endpoints happens in Plan 2 once those endpoints exist.
+- Note on naming vs. spec: the spec's `sessions` table (mode used, timing) is implemented here as `contact_sessions` to avoid collision with the login-session concept (`auth_sessions`), which the spec also calls "sessions." Both concepts exist; only the domain table name changed for clarity.
+
+## Plan Series
+
+This is 1 of 7 plans implementing the Quantumancy website spec (`docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-20-quantumancy-website-design.md`):
+1. **Foundation & Auth** (this plan)
+2. LLM/TTS/Realtime pipeline (Ollama client+queue, Piper TTS+effects, WebSocket session channel, frontend scaffold)
+3. Wire Ghost mode + Ouija/Planchette UI
+4. EVP Listening mode
+5. Spirit Radio mode
+6. Codex & entity persistence
+7. Internationalization (EN/ES)
+
+---
+
+## Task 1: Repo Scaffold, Docker Compose, Health Check
+
+**Files:**
+- Create: `backend/requirements.txt`
+- Create: `backend/app/main.py`
+- Create: `backend/Dockerfile`
+- Create: `backend/pytest.ini`
+- Create: `docker-compose.yml`
+- Create: `.env.example`
+- Test: `backend/tests/test_health.py`
+
+**Interfaces:**
+- Produces: `app` FastAPI instance in `backend/app/main.py`, importable as `app.main:app`.
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Create the infra files**
+
+`backend/requirements.txt`:
+```
+fastapi==0.115.0
+uvicorn[standard]==0.32.0
+sqlalchemy[asyncio]==2.0.36
+asyncpg==0.30.0
+pydantic-settings==2.6.1
+argon2-cffi==23.1.0
+httpx==0.27.2
+numpy==2.1.3
+pytest==8.3.3
+pytest-asyncio==0.24.0
+```
+
+`backend/pytest.ini`:
+```ini
+[pytest]
+asyncio_mode = auto
+```
+
+`backend/Dockerfile`:
+```dockerfile
+FROM python:3.12-slim
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY requirements.txt .
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+COPY app ./app
+EXPOSE 7777
+CMD ["uvicorn", "app.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "7777"]
+```
+
+`docker-compose.yml`:
+```yaml
+services:
+  app:
+    build: ./backend
+    ports:
+      - "7777:7777"
+    env_file: .env
+    depends_on:
+      - postgres
+
+  postgres:
+    image: postgres:16
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: quantumancy
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: quantumancy
+      POSTGRES_DB: quantumancy
+    volumes:
+      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+  postgres_test:
+    image: postgres:16
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: quantumancy
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: quantumancy
+      POSTGRES_DB: quantumancy_test
+    tmpfs:
+      - /var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+volumes:
+  pgdata:
+```
+
+`.env.example`:
+```
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres:5432/quantumancy
+OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://10.30.20.107:11434
+SESSION_SECRET=change-me-to-a-random-64-char-string
+PORT=7777
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 2: Write the failing test**
+
+`backend/tests/test_health.py`:
+```python
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+from app.main import app
+
+
+def test_healthz_returns_ok():
+    client = TestClient(app)
+    response = client.get("/healthz")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.json() == {"status": "ok"}
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 3: Run test to verify it fails**
+
+Run: `cd backend && python -m pytest tests/test_health.py -v`
+Expected: FAIL with `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'app'` (or `ImportError`) since `app/main.py` doesn't exist yet.
+
+- [ ] **Step 4: Write minimal implementation**
+
+`backend/app/__init__.py`: (empty file)
+
+`backend/app/main.py`:
+```python
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+app = FastAPI(title="Quantumancy")
+
+
+@app.get("/healthz")
+async def healthz():
+    return {"status": "ok"}
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 5: Run test to verify it passes**
+
+Run: `cd backend && python -m pytest tests/test_health.py -v`
+Expected: PASS
+
+- [ ] **Step 6: Commit**
+
+```bash
+git add backend docker-compose.yml .env.example
+git commit -m "chore: scaffold backend, docker compose, health check"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Task 2: Config Settings & Async DB Engine
+
+**Files:**
+- Create: `backend/app/config.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/db.py`
+- Test: `backend/tests/test_config.py`
+
+**Interfaces:**
+- Consumes: nothing from Task 1 directly (parallel infra piece).
+- Produces: `settings` (Settings instance) in `app.config`; `Base` (DeclarativeBase), `engine`, `async_session_maker`, `get_db()` async generator in `app.db` — every later model/route task depends on these exact names.
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Write the failing test**
+
+`backend/tests/test_config.py`:
+```python
+from app.config import Settings
+
+
+def test_settings_load_from_env(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("DATABASE_URL", "postgresql+asyncpg://u:p@host/db")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OLLAMA_BASE_URL", "http://10.30.20.107:11434")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("SESSION_SECRET", "test-secret")
+    settings = Settings(_env_file=None)
+    assert settings.database_url == "postgresql+asyncpg://u:p@host/db"
+    assert settings.ollama_base_url == "http://10.30.20.107:11434"
+    assert settings.port == 7777
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**
+
+Run: `cd backend && python -m pytest tests/test_config.py -v`
+Expected: FAIL with `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'app.config'`
+
+- [ ] **Step 3: Write minimal implementation**
+
+`backend/app/config.py`:
+```python
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
+
+
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
+    model_config = SettingsConfigDict(env_file=".env", extra="ignore")
+
+    database_url: str
+    ollama_base_url: str
+    session_secret: str
+    port: int = 7777
+
+
+settings = Settings()
+```
+
+`backend/app/db.py`:
+```python
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession, async_sessionmaker, create_async_engine
+from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase
+
+from app.config import settings
+
+engine = create_async_engine(settings.database_url, echo=False)
+async_session_maker = async_sessionmaker(engine, expire_on_commit=False)
+
+
+class Base(DeclarativeBase):
+    pass
+
+
+async def get_db() -> AsyncSession:
+    async with async_session_maker() as session:
+        yield session
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**
+
+Run: `cd backend && python -m pytest tests/test_config.py -v`
+Expected: PASS
+
+- [ ] **Step 5: Commit**
+
+```bash
+git add backend/app/config.py backend/app/db.py backend/tests/test_config.py
+git commit -m "feat: add settings and async db engine"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Task 3: User Model & Registration Endpoint
+
+**Files:**
+- Create: `backend/app/models/__init__.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/models/user.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/security.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/schemas.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/routes/__init__.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/routes/auth.py`
+- Modify: `backend/app/main.py`
+- Create: `backend/tests/conftest.py`
+- Test: `backend/tests/test_auth.py`
+
+**Interfaces:**
+- Consumes: `Base`, `get_db` from `app.db` (Task 2).
+- Produces: `User` model (`id: uuid.UUID`, `username: str`, `password_hash: str`, `email: str | None`, `created_at: datetime`) in `app.models.user`; `hash_password(password: str) -> str` and `verify_password(password: str, password_hash: str) -> bool` in `app.security`; `RegisterRequest`, `UserOut` in `app.schemas`; `POST /auth/register` route. `conftest.py`'s `client` fixture and `_reset_db` fixture are reused by every later test file.
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Write the test fixtures and failing tests**
+
+`backend/tests/conftest.py`:
+```python
+import pytest_asyncio
+from httpx import ASGITransport, AsyncClient
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import async_sessionmaker
+
+from app.db import Base, engine, get_db
+from app.main import app
+
+TestSessionLocal = async_sessionmaker(engine, expire_on_commit=False)
+
+
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture(autouse=True)
+async def _reset_db():
+    async with engine.begin() as conn:
+        await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.drop_all)
+        await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.create_all)
+    yield
+
+
+async def _override_get_db():
+    async with TestSessionLocal() as session:
+        yield session
+
+
+app.dependency_overrides[get_db] = _override_get_db
+
+
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture
+async def client():
+    transport = ASGITransport(app=app)
+    async with AsyncClient(transport=transport, base_url="http://test") as ac:
+        yield ac
+```
+
+`backend/tests/test_auth.py`:
+```python
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_register_creates_user(client):
+    response = await client.post(
+        "/auth/register",
+        json={"username": "medium1", "password": "spookyspooky"},
+    )
+    assert response.status_code == 201
+    body = response.json()
+    assert body["username"] == "medium1"
+    assert "id" in body
+    assert "password" not in body
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_register_duplicate_username_rejected(client):
+    await client.post("/auth/register", json={"username": "medium1", "password": "spookyspooky"})
+    response = await client.post("/auth/register", json={"username": "medium1", "password": "anotherpass"})
+    assert response.status_code == 409
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_auth.py -v`
+Expected: FAIL — `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'app.models'` (or similar import error)
+
+Note: this `docker compose run` invocation against `postgres_test` (not `postgres`) is the standard way to run the test suite for the rest of this plan and all later plans — it points the app container at the isolated, tmpfs-backed test database so tests never touch real dev/prod data.
+
+- [ ] **Step 3: Write minimal implementation**
+
+`backend/app/models/user.py`:
+```python
+import uuid
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, String
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
+
+from app.db import Base
+
+
+class User(Base):
+    __tablename__ = "users"
+
+    id: Mapped[uuid.UUID] = mapped_column(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
+    username: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(32), unique=True, index=True)
+    password_hash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255))
+    email: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(255), nullable=True)
+    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
+        DateTime(timezone=True), default=lambda: datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    )
+```
+
+`backend/app/models/__init__.py`:
+```python
+from app.models.user import User
+
+__all__ = ["User"]
+```
+
+`backend/app/security.py`:
+```python
+from argon2 import PasswordHasher
+from argon2.exceptions import VerifyMismatchError
+
+_hasher = PasswordHasher()
+
+
+def hash_password(password: str) -> str:
+    return _hasher.hash(password)
+
+
+def verify_password(password: str, password_hash: str) -> bool:
+    try:
+        return _hasher.verify(password_hash, password)
+    except VerifyMismatchError:
+        return False
+```
+
+`backend/app/schemas.py`:
+```python
+import uuid
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+
+
+class RegisterRequest(BaseModel):
+    username: str = Field(min_length=3, max_length=32)
+    password: str = Field(min_length=8, max_length=128)
+    email: str | None = None
+
+
+class UserOut(BaseModel):
+    id: uuid.UUID
+    username: str
+
+    class Config:
+        from_attributes = True
+```
+
+`backend/app/routes/__init__.py`: (empty file)
+
+`backend/app/routes/auth.py`:
+```python
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, status
+from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from app.db import get_db
+from app.models.user import User
+from app.schemas import RegisterRequest, UserOut
+from app.security import hash_password
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/auth", tags=["auth"])
+
+
+@router.post("/register", response_model=UserOut, status_code=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+async def register(payload: RegisterRequest, db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)):
+    existing = await db.scalar(select(User).where(User.username == payload.username))
+    if existing is not None:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=status.HTTP_409_CONFLICT, detail="username taken")
+
+    user = User(
+        username=payload.username,
+        password_hash=hash_password(payload.password),
+        email=payload.email,
+    )
+    db.add(user)
+    await db.commit()
+    await db.refresh(user)
+    return user
+```
+
+`backend/app/main.py` (replace entirely):
+```python
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
+
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+import app.models  # noqa: F401 — registers models on Base.metadata before create_all
+from app.db import Base, engine
+from app.routes.auth import router as auth_router
+
+
+@asynccontextmanager
+async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
+    async with engine.begin() as conn:
+        await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.create_all)
+    yield
+
+
+app = FastAPI(title="Quantumancy", lifespan=lifespan)
+app.include_router(auth_router)
+
+
+@app.get("/healthz")
+async def healthz():
+    return {"status": "ok"}
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_auth.py tests/test_health.py -v`
+Expected: PASS (all tests, including the Task 1 health check, which still needs to pass since `main.py` was rewritten)
+
+- [ ] **Step 5: Commit**
+
+```bash
+git add backend/app/models backend/app/security.py backend/app/schemas.py backend/app/routes backend/app/main.py backend/tests/conftest.py backend/tests/test_auth.py
+git commit -m "feat: add user model and registration endpoint"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Task 4: Login, Session Cookie & get_current_user
+
+**Files:**
+- Create: `backend/app/models/auth_session.py`
+- Modify: `backend/app/models/__init__.py`
+- Create: `backend/app/deps.py`
+- Modify: `backend/app/schemas.py`
+- Modify: `backend/app/routes/auth.py`
+- Test: `backend/tests/test_auth.py`
+
+**Interfaces:**
+- Consumes: `User` (Task 3), `Base`/`get_db` (Task 2).
+- Produces: `AuthSession` model, `generate_session_token() -> tuple[str, str]` (raw token, sha256 hash), `hash_token(raw: str) -> str` in `app.models.auth_session`; `get_current_user(...) -> User` dependency and `SESSION_COOKIE_NAME` constant in `app.deps` — every later route needing an authenticated user depends on `get_current_user`.
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Write the failing tests**
+
+Append to `backend/tests/test_auth.py`:
+```python
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_login_sets_cookie_and_me_returns_user(client):
+    await client.post("/auth/register", json={"username": "medium2", "password": "spookyspooky"})
+    login_resp = await client.post("/auth/login", json={"username": "medium2", "password": "spookyspooky"})
+    assert login_resp.status_code == 200
+    assert "qm_session" in login_resp.cookies
+
+    me_resp = await client.get("/auth/me")
+    assert me_resp.status_code == 200
+    assert me_resp.json()["username"] == "medium2"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_login_wrong_password_rejected(client):
+    await client.post("/auth/register", json={"username": "medium3", "password": "spookyspooky"})
+    response = await client.post("/auth/login", json={"username": "medium3", "password": "wrongpass"})
+    assert response.status_code == 401
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_me_without_cookie_rejected(client):
+    response = await client.get("/auth/me")
+    assert response.status_code == 401
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_auth.py -v`
+Expected: FAIL — `404 Not Found` for `/auth/login` and `/auth/me` (routes don't exist yet)
+
+- [ ] **Step 3: Write minimal implementation**
+
+`backend/app/models/auth_session.py`:
+```python
+import hashlib
+import secrets
+import uuid
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, ForeignKey, String
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
+
+from app.db import Base
+
+SESSION_TTL = timedelta(days=14)
+
+
+class AuthSession(Base):
+    __tablename__ = "auth_sessions"
+
+    id: Mapped[uuid.UUID] = mapped_column(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
+    user_id: Mapped[uuid.UUID] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("users.id"))
+    token_hash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), unique=True, index=True)
+    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
+        DateTime(timezone=True), default=lambda: datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    )
+    expires_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True))
+
+
+def generate_session_token() -> tuple[str, str]:
+    raw = secrets.token_urlsafe(32)
+    return raw, hash_token(raw)
+
+
+def hash_token(raw: str) -> str:
+    return hashlib.sha256(raw.encode()).hexdigest()
+```
+
+`backend/app/models/__init__.py` (replace entirely):
+```python
+from app.models.auth_session import AuthSession
+from app.models.user import User
+
+__all__ = ["User", "AuthSession"]
+```
+
+`backend/app/deps.py`:
+```python
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+from fastapi import Cookie, Depends, HTTPException, status
+from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from app.db import get_db
+from app.models.auth_session import AuthSession, hash_token
+from app.models.user import User
+
+SESSION_COOKIE_NAME = "qm_session"
+
+
+async def get_current_user(
+    qm_session: str | None = Cookie(default=None),
+    db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db),
+) -> User:
+    if qm_session is None:
+        raise HTTPException(status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED, "not authenticated")
+
+    token_hash = hash_token(qm_session)
+    result = await db.execute(select(AuthSession).where(AuthSession.token_hash == token_hash))
+    session = result.scalar_one_or_none()
+    if session is None or session.expires_at < datetime.now(timezone.utc):
+        raise HTTPException(status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED, "session expired")
+
+    user = await db.get(User, session.user_id)
+    if user is None:
+        raise HTTPException(status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED, "user not found")
+    return user
+```
+
+Append to `backend/app/schemas.py`:
+```python
+class LoginRequest(BaseModel):
+    username: str
+    password: str
+```
+
+`backend/app/routes/auth.py` (replace entirely):
+```python
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Response, status
+from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from app.db import get_db
+from app.deps import SESSION_COOKIE_NAME, get_current_user
+from app.models.auth_session import AuthSession, SESSION_TTL, generate_session_token
+from app.models.user import User
+from app.schemas import LoginRequest, RegisterRequest, UserOut
+from app.security import hash_password, verify_password
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/auth", tags=["auth"])
+
+
+@router.post("/register", response_model=UserOut, status_code=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+async def register(payload: RegisterRequest, db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)):
+    existing = await db.scalar(select(User).where(User.username == payload.username))
+    if existing is not None:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=status.HTTP_409_CONFLICT, detail="username taken")
+
+    user = User(
+        username=payload.username,
+        password_hash=hash_password(payload.password),
+        email=payload.email,
+    )
+    db.add(user)
+    await db.commit()
+    await db.refresh(user)
+    return user
+
+
+@router.post("/login", response_model=UserOut)
+async def login(payload: LoginRequest, response: Response, db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)):
+    user = await db.scalar(select(User).where(User.username == payload.username))
+    if user is None or not verify_password(payload.password, user.password_hash):
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED, detail="invalid credentials")
+
+    raw_token, token_hash = generate_session_token()
+    session = AuthSession(
+        user_id=user.id,
+        token_hash=token_hash,
+        expires_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc) + SESSION_TTL,
+    )
+    db.add(session)
+    await db.commit()
+
+    response.set_cookie(
+        SESSION_COOKIE_NAME,
+        raw_token,
+        httponly=True,
+        samesite="lax",
+        max_age=int(SESSION_TTL.total_seconds()),
+    )
+    return user
+
+
+@router.post("/logout", status_code=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT)
+async def logout(response: Response):
+    response.delete_cookie(SESSION_COOKIE_NAME)
+
+
+@router.get("/me", response_model=UserOut)
+async def me(user: User = Depends(get_current_user)):
+    return user
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_auth.py -v`
+Expected: PASS
+
+- [ ] **Step 5: Commit**
+
+```bash
+git add backend/app/models/auth_session.py backend/app/models/__init__.py backend/app/deps.py backend/app/schemas.py backend/app/routes/auth.py backend/tests/test_auth.py
+git commit -m "feat: add login, session cookies, and get_current_user"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Task 5: Rate Limiter Utility
+
+**Files:**
+- Create: `backend/app/rate_limit.py`
+- Test: `backend/tests/test_rate_limit.py`
+
+**Interfaces:**
+- Consumes: nothing (pure, standalone utility).
+- Produces: `RateLimiter(max_requests: int, window_seconds: float)` with `.allow(key: str) -> bool` in `app.rate_limit` — Plan 2 wires this onto the LLM-triggering endpoints per the spec's rate-limiting requirement.
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Write the failing test**
+
+`backend/tests/test_rate_limit.py`:
+```python
+from app.rate_limit import RateLimiter
+
+
+def test_allows_up_to_limit_then_blocks():
+    limiter = RateLimiter(max_requests=3, window_seconds=60)
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is True
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is True
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is True
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is False
+
+
+def test_different_keys_tracked_independently():
+    limiter = RateLimiter(max_requests=1, window_seconds=60)
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is True
+    assert limiter.allow("user-2") is True
+    assert limiter.allow("user-1") is False
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 2: Run test to verify it fails**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_rate_limit.py -v`
+Expected: FAIL with `ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'app.rate_limit'`
+
+- [ ] **Step 3: Write minimal implementation**
+
+`backend/app/rate_limit.py`:
+```python
+import time
+from collections import defaultdict
+
+
+class RateLimiter:
+    """Fixed-window limiter keyed by an arbitrary string (user id or client IP)."""
+
+    def __init__(self, max_requests: int, window_seconds: float):
+        self.max_requests = max_requests
+        self.window_seconds = window_seconds
+        self._hits: dict[str, list[float]] = defaultdict(list)
+
+    def allow(self, key: str) -> bool:
+        now = time.monotonic()
+        window_start = now - self.window_seconds
+        hits = self._hits[key]
+        while hits and hits[0] < window_start:
+            hits.pop(0)
+        if len(hits) >= self.max_requests:
+            return False
+        hits.append(now)
+        return True
+```
+
+- [ ] **Step 4: Run test to verify it passes**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest tests/test_rate_limit.py -v`
+Expected: PASS
+
+- [ ] **Step 5: Run the full test suite**
+
+Run: `docker compose run --rm -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://quantumancy:quantumancy@postgres_test:5432/quantumancy_test app python -m pytest -v`
+Expected: PASS (all tests from Tasks 1-5)
+
+- [ ] **Step 6: Commit**
+
+```bash
+git add backend/app/rate_limit.py backend/tests/test_rate_limit.py
+git commit -m "feat: add rate limiter utility"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Self-Review
+
+**Spec coverage:** repo/Docker scaffold (§2, §9) → Task 1. Postgres (§2) → Task 1/2. FastAPI backend (§2) → all tasks. Username/password + argon2 + open registration (§5) → Task 3. Server-side session cookies (§5) → Task 4. Per-account/per-IP rate limiting (§5) → Task 5 (utility only; enforcement on LLM endpoints is explicitly deferred to Plan 2, since those endpoints don't exist until then). Everything else in the spec (the four modes, Codex, TTS/i18n, deployment finalization) is out of scope for Plan 1 by design — covered in Plans 2-7.
+
+**Placeholder scan:** none found — every step has complete, runnable code.
+
+**Type consistency:** `User.id: uuid.UUID` matches `UserOut.id: uuid.UUID`. `generate_session_token() -> tuple[str, str]` return order (raw, hash) matches its usage in `routes/auth.py`'s `login` (`raw_token, token_hash = generate_session_token()`). `hash_token(raw: str) -> str` used identically in both `auth_session.py` (internally) and `deps.py`. `get_current_user` return type `User` matches its use as `user: User = Depends(get_current_user)` in `routes/auth.py` and is the exact name/import path (`app.deps.get_current_user`) later plans will depend on.
+
+---
+
+Plan complete and saved to `docs/superpowers/plans/2026-07-20-quantumancy-01-foundation-auth.md`. Two execution options:
+
+**1. Subagent-Driven (recommended)** - I dispatch a fresh subagent per task, review between tasks, fast iteration
+
+**2. Inline Execution** - Execute tasks in this session using executing-plans, batch execution with checkpoints
+
+**Which approach?**