betterNAS Part 3: Local Device

This document describes the software and user experience on the user's Mac or other local device.

What it is

The local device layer is how a user actually mounts and uses their NAS.

It should start simple:

browser opens the web control plane
user gets a WebDAV mount URL
Finder mounts the export

It can later grow into:

a small helper app
one-click mount flows
auto-mount at login
status and reconnect behavior

What it does

authenticates the user to betterNAS
fetches allowed mount profiles from control-server
mounts approved storage exports locally
gives the user a native-feeling way to browse files

What it should not do

invent its own permissions model
hardcode node endpoints outside the control-server
depend on the optional cloud adapter for the core mount flow

Diagram

                         self-hosted betterNAS stack

      node-service <--------> control-server <--------> web control plane
           ^                                               ^
           |                                               |
           +------------- [THIS DOC] local device ---------+
                          browser + Finder

Core decisions

V1 relies on native Finder WebDAV mounting.
The web UI should be enough to get the user to a mountable URL.
A lightweight helper app is likely enough before a full native client.

User modes

Mount mode

user mounts a NAS export in Finder
files are browsed as a mounted remote disk

Browser mode

user manages the NAS and exports in the web control plane
optional later: browse files in the browser

TODO

Define the mount profile format returned by control-server.
Decide whether the first UX is manual Finder flow, helper app, or both.
Define credential handling and Keychain behavior.
Define reconnect and auto-mount expectations.
Define what later native client work is actually worth doing.

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