novox/hq

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T

jschoubben 333356cff3 Order the records the way the system is learned

Jochen asked whether the order made sense. It did not -- it followed when
things happened to be decided, which after consolidation is fictional anyway
since record 5 alone folds decisions taken across a week.

Concretely wrong before: the domain statement sat at 8, after five engineering
rules; the constitution was scattered across 5, 12 and 17; the tiers landed at
15, 16, 21 and 22 with process records in between.

Now it walks: what the mesh is (1-3), its tiers from the bottom up (4-8), what
runs on them and how it gets there (9-10), how it is built (11-16), how it is
checked (17-18), how we work (19-23).

Two things made this safe rather than free. It is a permutation, not a
compaction, so the renames go through temporary names -- otherwise two files
want one slot and one is lost. And the reference rewrite is a single
simultaneous pass, because almost every number moved into a slot another number
was vacating; replacing one at a time would have cascaded and pointed things at
the wrong record while still resolving.

Verified: 284 [ADR NNNN](path) links across the repository, all with matching
text and target.

The ordering principle is now stated in 19 rather than left implicit -- the
repository already said "the numbering is the flow" about its folders, and
there was no reason for the records to be the exception.

2026-08-28 23:30:42 +02:00

6.7 KiB

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layer, status, code, updated, decisions

layer

status

code

updated

decisions

to-be

designed

hal

2026-08-23

02-DECISIONS/0001-mesh-brokers-nodes-host-agents-think.md

Work breakdown — the decomposition

How ADR 0001 gets built, in what order, and where a human must look.

Ordering is not preference. Each phase removes a constraint the next one needs gone.

Rules of engagement

These exist so the work can run largely unattended without accumulating the kind of damage this refactor is meant to remove.

Autonomous by default

An agent may, without asking:

read anything, measure anything, query any database read-only
create branches, write code and tests, open pull requests
run the test suite and typechecks
write and update hq/ documents

Always stop and ask

destroying or overwriting data — dropping a table, deleting a provision, rotating a live credential, removing a module from a node
merging anything — every merge is a human checkpoint, without exception
a decision the ADRs do not already answer — record the question in the relevant research effort rather than picking and moving on
any change to hq/00-META — it is stable by nature

Definition of done for every task

tests written and failing first, then passing
typecheck clean in every package the change touches
the local mesh (Phase 0) comes up, and the behaviour is demonstrated in it
hq/ updated if the task changed or answered anything documented
deployed, and delivery verified on every node — not "the pipeline was green"

Non-negotiables carried from the current system

Never edit mesh-managed files on disk. Use the owning tool.
Never write to production databases directly. Migrations for schema, application code for data.
Every schema change ships twice — consolidated schema and an incremental migration.
Expand, then contract. Add the new shape, migrate, verify, and only then remove the old one — never in a single step.
A green pipeline proves transport, not effect. Verify the effect.

Phase 0 — A mesh that runs locally (prerequisite)

Nothing else starts until this exists. Every fault this refactor addresses was found in production because there was nowhere else to find it.

#	task	done when
0.1	Container image for a node runtime	a node process starts in a container and registers
0.2	Compose topology: broker, registry DB, object store, n nodes	`up` yields a mesh that elects a provider node and settles
0.3	Seed a minimal mesh: nodes, one module, one provision	a module deploys end-to-end with no external service
0.4	Run the pipeline inside it	a push-equivalent produces a cascade and a deployed artifact
0.5	Fixtures for the failure modes already known	credential rotation reaching a running session; a provider deploy rotating a shared credential; a migration that ships nothing — each reproducible on demand

Checkpoint: a human confirms the local mesh reproduces at least one bug from 2026-08-22 before any decomposition begins.

Phase 1 — Make the model expressible

The decomposition is impossible while a feature is a singleton per module.

#	task	done when
1.1	Decision record — named features, per-node opt-in (next free number)	accepted
1.2	Manifest: declared `features:` with type + directory	a module declares two of one kind and both build
1.3	Selection: `always` / flavor-selected / `optional`	a node installs a subset; artifacts stay flavor-blind
1.4	`requires:` moves onto the feature	a schema feature's database is not provisioned where the feature is not installed
1.5	Assignment carries the opted-in feature set	opting a node in requires no rebuild

Checkpoint: one existing module converted to declared features, deployed, verified — before any others follow.

Phase 2 — Draw the boundary the domain already has

Cheapest first, and each one proves the extraction pattern before the expensive ones.

#	task	extracted from	risk
2.1	`hal/knowledge` — one store, review workflow ported	hippocampus + noxflow `knowledge_*`	low — additive
2.2	`hal/stream` — the record; notifications and messaging as views	axon, synapse, notifications, meetings, conversations	medium
2.3	`hal/agents` — identity, licence, runs, memory, thoughts	noxflow agents, `hal/thoughts`	high — touches credentials
2.4	`hal/work` — what remains of noxflow	noxflow tasks	medium
2.5	`hal/ai` — provider integration, flavored	`hal/claude*`	medium

Each extraction is expand-then-contract: new context alongside, dual-write, verify, cut over, remove. Never a move commit.

Checkpoint: after 2.1, a human confirms the extraction pattern before 2.2 begins. After 2.3, a human confirms credentials still reach every agent on every node.

Phase 3 — Reclaim the kernel

Only possible once domains have modules to own their code.

#	task	done when
3.1	Move work-domain code out of `hal/sdk`	`workflow-engine.ts`, `task-commands.ts` live in `hal/work`
3.2	Move provider code out	`claude-credentials.ts` lives in `hal/ai`
3.3	Move delivery code out	feature handlers, artifact manager, build executor live in `hal/delivery`
3.4	Decide the residue	ADR: what `hal/sdk` keeps (open question 4)

Measure: hal/sdk line count, tracked per task. Today: 34,636 across 155 files.

Phase 4 — Separate what the mesh runs from the mesh

#	task	done when
4.1	Decide the destination (open question 3)	ADR accepted
4.2	Cross-repository dependency resolution proven	a catalogue module builds against a published `@hal/*`
4.3	Move the 91 catalogue modules	this repository contains only mesh contexts

Checkpoint: move one application first and run it for a week before the rest follow.

Sequencing constraints

0 before everything. Unverifiable refactors are how this list got long.
1 before 2. Extracting into contexts without per-node features recreates the module count inside the new names.
2 before 3. A domain can only own its shared code once the domain has a module.
2.3 after 2.1 and 2.2. Agents touch credentials; do it once the pattern is proven on cheaper contexts.
4 last. It is the only phase that is pure movement, so it is the only one safe to defer indefinitely.

What "done" looks like

Eight contexts. hal/sdk holding only what is genuinely cross-cutting. A mesh that stands up on a laptop. A module count that grows only when the domain does.

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