Fail open on clan tag ownership checks when API is unavailable

The clan-tag ownership check previously failed closed: when the API
service was unreachable (e.g. during local development), the client
dropped the tag with a "couldn't verify" error and the server's
FailOpenPrivilegeChecker treated every unverifiable tag as reserved.
This made clan tags unusable whenever the API was down.

- Client: checkClanTagOwnership keeps the tag when the existence
  probe is inconclusive; the server still re-checks authoritatively.
- Server: FailOpenPrivilegeChecker passes tags through instead of
  dropping non-member tags; decideClanTag now takes a non-nullable
  reserved set since the null case is gone.
- Remove the now-unused username.tag_check_failed translation key.
- Update Privilege and ClanApiQueries tests for fail-open behavior.

Trade-off: if the reserved-tag list is unavailable in production,
real clan tags can be impersonated until the first successful
PrivilegeRefresher load; after that the last good checker is retained.

resources/lang/en.json

@@ -682,8 +682,7 @@
     "tag_too_short": "Clan tag must be 2-5 alphanumeric characters.",
     "tag_too_long": "Clan tag cannot exceed 5 characters.",
     "tag_invalid_chars": "Clan tag can only contain letters and numbers.",
-    "tag_not_member": "Join the {tag} clan before using its tag. Click this message to join it.",
+    "tag_not_member": "Join the {tag} clan before using its tag. Click this message to join it."
-    "tag_check_failed": "Couldn't verify clan tag. Try again or remove it."
   },
   "host_modal": {
     "title": "Create Private Lobby",

src/client/ClanApi.ts

@@ -162,9 +162,11 @@ export async function checkClanTagOwnership(
   }
 
   const exists = await fetchClanExists(tag);
-  if (exists === false) return { tag, error: null };
   if (exists === true) return { tag: null, error: "username.tag_not_member" };
-  return { tag: null, error: "username.tag_check_failed" };
+  // Tag doesn't exist (fictional) or the check was inconclusive (API
+  // unavailable, e.g. during development) — fail open and keep the tag;
+  // the server re-checks authoritatively.
+  return { tag, error: null };
 }
 
 export type ClanMemberSort =

src/server/Privilege.ts

@@ -157,24 +157,23 @@ export type ClanTagResolution = {
 };
 
 /**
- * The clan-tag ownership rule, shared by every PrivilegeChecker:
+ * The clan-tag ownership rule:
  *   - member of the clan             -> keep the tag
  *   - not a member, tag not reserved -> fictional tag, keep it
  *   - otherwise                      -> drop it (impersonation)
- * `reservedTags` is every registered tag (uppercase); null means the reserved
+ * `reservedTags` is every registered tag (uppercase).
- * list is unavailable (cosmetics infra still loading), in which case an
- * unverifiable tag counts as reserved and is dropped fail-closed.
  */
 function decideClanTag(
   censoredTag: string | null,
   ownedClanTags: string[],
-  reservedTags: Set<string> | null,
+  reservedTags: Set<string>,
 ): ClanTagResolution {
   if (censoredTag === null) return { tag: null, dropped: false };
   const tag = censoredTag.toUpperCase();
   const isMember = ownedClanTags.some((t) => t.toUpperCase() === tag);
-  const isReserved = reservedTags === null || reservedTags.has(tag);
+  if (isMember || !reservedTags.has(tag)) {
-  if (isMember || !isReserved) return { tag: censoredTag, dropped: false };
+    return { tag: censoredTag, dropped: false };
+  }
   return { tag: null, dropped: true };
 }
 
@@ -372,13 +371,13 @@ export class FailOpenPrivilegeChecker implements PrivilegeChecker {
     return censorWithMatcher(username, clanTag, defaultMatcher);
   }
 
-  // No reserved-tag list while cosmetics infra is unavailable (null), so a
+  // No reserved-tag list while cosmetics infra is unavailable (e.g. during
-  // non-member's tag is treated as reserved and dropped fail-closed to block
+  // development), so ownership can't be verified. Fail open and keep the tag
-  // impersonation. Members are still known from their own tag list.
+  // rather than blocking everyone whenever the API service is down.
   resolveClanTag(
     censoredTag: string | null,
     ownedClanTags: string[],
   ): ClanTagResolution {
-    return decideClanTag(censoredTag, ownedClanTags, null);
+    return { tag: censoredTag, dropped: false };
   }
 }

tests/Privilege.test.ts

@@ -575,13 +575,13 @@ describe("FailOpenPrivilegeChecker#resolveClanTag", () => {
     expect(result).toEqual({ tag: "ABC", dropped: false });
   });
 
-  it("drops a non-member's tag fail-closed (no reserved set while infra is down)", () => {
+  it("keeps a non-member's tag fail-open (no reserved set while infra is down)", () => {
     const result = checker.resolveClanTag("ABC", ["other"]);
-    expect(result).toEqual({ tag: null, dropped: true });
+    expect(result).toEqual({ tag: "ABC", dropped: false });
   });
 
-  it("drops an anonymous user's tag fail-closed", () => {
+  it("keeps an anonymous user's tag fail-open", () => {
     const result = checker.resolveClanTag("ABC", []);
-    expect(result.dropped).toBe(true);
+    expect(result).toEqual({ tag: "ABC", dropped: false });
   });
 });

tests/client/clan/ClanApiQueries.test.ts

@@ -152,15 +152,15 @@ describe("checkClanTagOwnership", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it("rejects on an inconclusive existence check", async () => {
+  it("fails open on an inconclusive existence check (API unavailable)", async () => {
     vi.mocked(getUserMe).mockResolvedValue(false);
     vi.stubGlobal(
       "fetch",
       vi.fn(() => Promise.resolve(status(503))),
     );
     await expect(checkClanTagOwnership("ABC")).resolves.toEqual({
-      tag: null,
+      tag: "ABC",
-      error: "username.tag_check_failed",
+      error: null,
     });
   });
 });