feat(demo): hidden /auth/demo login + require_human guard

Whitelisted emails enter the shared demo user via /auth/demo (lazily
created, no OAuth token/scope), rate-limited per IP and answering
uniformly so it can't be hammered as an enumeration oracle. Add a
require_human dependency that blocks the demo account from quota-spending
sync endpoints and the OAuth upgrade flow, and surface is_demo on /api/me.

backend/app/auth.py

@@ -11,11 +11,21 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 from app import email as email_mod
 from app.config import settings
 from app.db import get_db
-from app.models import Invite, OAuthToken, User
+from app.models import DemoWhitelist, Invite, OAuthToken, User
+from app.ratelimit import RateLimiter
 from app.security import encrypt
 
 _EMAIL_RE = re.compile(r"^[^@\s]+@[^@\s]+\.[^@\s]+$")
 
+# The single shared demo account's stable identity. The row is created lazily on first
+# demo login (see get_or_create_demo_user); these are just its sentinel keys.
+DEMO_GOOGLE_SUB = "__demo__"
+DEMO_EMAIL = "demo@siftlode.local"
+
+# Throttle the hidden demo-login endpoint per client IP: enough for a real paste-and-wait,
+# stingy enough that the field can't be hammered as an enumeration oracle or for DoS.
+_demo_limiter = RateLimiter(max_events=5, window_seconds=60)
+
 # How many recently-used accounts to keep switchable in one browser session.
 MAX_SESSION_ACCOUNTS = 6
 
@@ -77,6 +87,45 @@ def is_allowed(db: Session, email: str) -> bool:
     return email in settings.allowed_email_set or email in settings.admin_email_set
 
 
+def is_demo_allowed(db: Session, email: str) -> bool:
+    """Whether this email may enter the shared demo account (no Google sign-in)."""
+    if not email:
+        return False
+    return (
+        db.execute(
+            select(DemoWhitelist).where(DemoWhitelist.email == email.lower())
+        ).scalar_one_or_none()
+        is not None
+    )
+
+
+def get_or_create_demo_user(db: Session) -> User:
+    """The one shared demo user, created on first use. No OAuth token / YouTube scope, so
+    has_read_scope/has_write_scope are False and every YouTube-touching path is closed to it."""
+    user = db.query(User).filter(User.is_demo.is_(True)).one_or_none()
+    if user is None:
+        user = User(
+            google_sub=DEMO_GOOGLE_SUB,
+            email=DEMO_EMAIL,
+            display_name="Demo",
+            role="user",
+            is_demo=True,
+            preferences={"language": "en"},
+        )
+        db.add(user)
+        db.commit()
+    return user
+
+
+def _client_ip(request: Request) -> str:
+    """Best-effort client IP for rate limiting. Behind our reverse proxy (Caddy/NPM) the
+    real client is the first X-Forwarded-For hop; fall back to the socket peer otherwise."""
+    xff = request.headers.get("x-forwarded-for")
+    if xff:
+        return xff.split(",")[0].strip()
+    return request.client.host if request.client else "unknown"
+
+
 def upsert_pending_invite(db: Session, email: str) -> Invite | None:
     """Idempotently record an access request. Returns the Invite if a *new* pending row
     was created (so the caller can notify admins), else None for already-known emails."""
@@ -224,6 +273,24 @@ async def request_access(
     return {"status": "pending"}
 
 
+@router.post("/demo")
+def demo_login(payload: dict, request: Request, db: Session = Depends(get_db)) -> dict:
+    """Hidden demo entry: a whitelisted email logs straight into the shared demo account,
+    no Google OAuth. The login page fires this quietly (debounced) as the user types/pastes,
+    so there is no visible 'demo login' button. Rate-limited per IP; when blocked it answers
+    exactly like a non-match (authenticated=false) so the field can't be hammered as an
+    enumeration oracle. On a match it sets the session and the client reloads into the app."""
+    if not _demo_limiter.allow(_client_ip(request)):
+        return {"authenticated": False}
+    email = (payload.get("email") or "").strip().lower()
+    if _EMAIL_RE.match(email) and is_demo_allowed(db, email):
+        demo = get_or_create_demo_user(db)
+        request.session["user_id"] = demo.id
+        log.info("Demo login (key=%s, demo_id=%s)", email, demo.id)
+        return {"authenticated": True}
+    return {"authenticated": False}
+
+
 def current_user(request: Request, db: Session = Depends(get_db)) -> User:
     user_id = request.session.get("user_id")
     if not user_id:
@@ -241,9 +308,19 @@ def current_user(request: Request, db: Session = Depends(get_db)) -> User:
     return user
 
 
+def require_human(user: User = Depends(current_user)) -> User:
+    """Reject the shared demo account from actions that need a real Google/YouTube identity
+    or spend the shared quota. Most YouTube paths are already closed to it implicitly (it has
+    no token, so has_read_scope/has_write_scope are False); this makes the boundary explicit
+    where there's no scope check to lean on."""
+    if user.is_demo:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=403, detail="Not available in the demo account.")
+    return user
+
+
 @router.get("/upgrade")
 async def upgrade(
-    request: Request, access: str = "read", user: User = Depends(current_user)
+    request: Request, access: str = "read", user: User = Depends(require_human)
 ):
     """Incremental consent for the onboarding wizard. `access=read` grants YouTube
     read-only (enough to build the feed); `access=write` additionally grants management

backend/app/routes/me.py

@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ def get_me(
         "display_name": user.display_name,
         "avatar_url": user.avatar_url,
         "role": user.role,
+        "is_demo": user.is_demo,
         "can_read": has_read_scope(user),
         "can_write": has_write_scope(user),
         "pending_invites": pending_invites,

backend/app/routes/sync.py

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from sqlalchemy import and_, case, func, select, update
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
 from app import quota, state
-from app.auth import current_user, has_read_scope
+from app.auth import current_user, has_read_scope, require_human
 from app.db import get_db
 from app.models import Channel, Subscription, User, Video
 from app.sync.runner import (
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def _user_channels(db: Session, user: User) -> list[Channel]:
 
 @router.post("/subscriptions")
 def sync_subscriptions(
-    user: User = Depends(current_user), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
+    user: User = Depends(require_human), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
 ) -> dict:
     if not has_read_scope(user):
         # No YouTube read grant yet — the onboarding wizard hasn't been completed.
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def sync_subscriptions(
 
 @router.post("/rss")
 def sync_rss(
-    user: User = Depends(current_user), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
+    user: User = Depends(require_human), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
 ) -> dict:
     new = run_rss_poll(db, _user_channels(db, user))
     return {"new_videos": new}
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ def sync_rss(
 
 @router.post("/backfill")
 def sync_backfill(
-    user: User = Depends(current_user),
+    user: User = Depends(require_human),
     db: Session = Depends(get_db),
     max_channels: int = 25,
 ) -> dict:
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def sync_backfill(
 
 @router.post("/enrich")
 def sync_enrich(
-    user: User = Depends(current_user), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
+    user: User = Depends(require_human), db: Session = Depends(get_db)
 ) -> dict:
     before = quota.units_used_today(db)
     with quota.attribute(user.id, "enrich"):
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ def my_status(
 
 @router.post("/deep-all")
 def deep_all(
-    user: User = Depends(current_user),
+    user: User = Depends(require_human),
     db: Session = Depends(get_db),
     on: bool = True,
 ) -> dict: