So the controller's ownership check refuses a second module owning either. ~/.claude is the operator's at 0700 (it was 0755 on the workstations); of what is inside, the module owns only what it writes, and the host keeps a directory that is not empty when the module goes (hq ADR 0182).
claude-code
The operator's agent on a machine (novox/hq design 36): its package, its machine-wide managed configuration, and the consumer side of the Anthropic licence manager (design 39, ADR 0183).
What it owns
Two directories, declared, so the mesh refuses a second module owning either:
/etc/claude-code, the agent's machine-wide managed directory, root's,0755.~/.claudeunder the operator account's home, the operator's,0700. The module owns the directory — that it exists, who owns it, its mode — and of what is inside only what it writes. Everything else in it (memory, history, projects, local settings, a person's own rules and skills) is the person's and is never read or written (hq ADR 0182). Unassigned, the module leaves the directory: the host removes a directory only when it is empty.
What it writes
Under the agent's managed directory, /etc/claude-code, owned whole by this module and rewritten
whenever the node's tool runtime collects the module's tools:
| file | holds |
|---|---|
managed-mcp.json |
the tool servers every session loads: the mesh's console as mesh, and the servers set in this module's mcp_servers setting. Exclusive: a server not listed here does not load — not one added with claude mcp add, not a project's .mcp.json, not a plugin's |
managed-settings.json |
the repositories' attribution convention, the claude.ai connectors kept beside the managed servers, and the key-helper while the node holds an API-key licence |
CLAUDE.md |
how a session on this mesh works, this node's name and role, the conventions |
Under the operator's home, only ~/.claude/.credentials.json, and only when the licence manager hands
this node a subscription token. Nothing else under the home is read or written.
Settings
Per node or for the whole mesh, through mesh-controller.settings module=claude-code:
role— what this node is, in a few words; shown to every session.mcp_servers— extra tool servers, keyed by name, in the vendor's.mcp.jsonentry shape ({"type":"http","url":…}or{"type":"stdio","command":…,"args":[…]}). The namemeshis the module's own and cannot be set. Put a person's own servers here, or they stop loading.
On a machine that carried the predecessor
Remove these by hand, once; the mesh removes nothing it did not make (ADR 0182):
~/.claude/CLAUDE.md~/.claude/rules/00-hal-mesh.md,~/.claude/rules/conventions.md~/.claude/skills/cleanup/,~/.claude/skills/hal-switch-license/- the hand-made console entry in
~/.claude.jsonundermcpServers— it is ignored now anyway
Escalation
Writing /etc/claude-code needs root. The runtime runs as the operator account, and the module uses
that account's passwordless sudo; on a machine without it, claude_code_render says so and nothing
is written.