mesh-catalog/modules/claude-code

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.
• ~/.claude under the home of the account agents run as (the operator's, unless the machine names an agent account of its own), that account'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.

And, for where the agent runs as an account of its own (hq ADR 0266):

• the account agents run as, a user named by the machine fact agent-account — the operator's account where the machine names none, which declares nothing new of it. Where it names one, the mesh makes the account (its home, its own group, no password, no group of the mesh's) and asks the node-engine to judge root: never on every look: that it is not root, is in no group that grants root, has no sudo rule and can read no secret the mesh placed for another account. A way found is this module's condition, and the controller's self-check says it urgently.
• /usr/local/bin/claude-agent, root's, 0755: starts the agent as that account — claude itself when run as it, otherwise sudo -iu <account> claude through the operator's own sudo, carrying the guard's override only when it is set in the operator's shell.

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 keys set in this module's managed_settings setting — at the controller's terminal alone (hq issue 340) — under the mesh's own keys: the repositories' attribution convention, the claude.ai connectors kept beside the managed servers, the key-helper while the node holds an API-key licence, and the two that name the nox-mesh marketplace and enable its plugin
CLAUDE.md	how a session on this mesh works, this node's name and role, the conventions, the "instead of" table — then the instruction sections registered for every node and for this one
marketplace/	the nox-mesh plugin (hq ADR 0216): the skills, subagents, commands and output styles registered for every node and for this one, offered in a session as nox-mesh:<name> — and the guard on the agent's shell (guard/), the mesh's own hook and the plugin's only one (hq issue 340). Replaced whole, staged beside and swapped in

Under the operator's home: ~/.claude/.credentials.json, only when the licence manager hands this node a subscription token; and what is registered at the home scope for this node — a skill, subagent, command, output style, or instructions as a rule file — each path recorded in the module's state (home-placed.json). It writes, changes and removes only those — never a path the person made, even one with the same content, and never through a directory that is a symbolic link. A placed file changed by hand is left alone, and one the person deleted stays deleted until the item is unregistered (hq ADR 0182). The status tool reads the rest of the home's items to report them; nothing else is read or written.

Over NATS

Everything between this module and the rest of the mesh is NATS, in three kinds: an event says that something happened and carries no secret, because a stream keeps it; a request carries a token, because nothing keeps it (hq design 32 §10); and state is the current value of something every node must see, a node that joins later included — kept, so it carries no secret either (hq ADR 0201).

what	how
what this node holds	the module's holdings state, one key for this node — the account, the kind, fingerprints and expiries, never a token — written at start and whenever the credentials file changes (hq ADR 0206)
a person ran /login here	the credentials file gains a refresh token this module never writes; its next report shows it, and the licence manager asks claude_code_grant for it, giving its key — the one time a refresh token leaves the node, for the manager to adopt by refreshing it
what this node should hold	the licence manager's bindings state, this node's key; on a newer generation this module asks anthropic-licence-manager.current for its token, sealed to the key it sends, and writes it access-token-only — so the agent here never refreshes. A node that was off reads its key when it is back
an MCP server registered through this module before registering was refused (hq issue 340)	a key in the module's servers state — all.<server> for every node, <node>.<server> for one; every node watches it and renders what applies to it, a node's own entry over the one for every node. A node that joins later, or was off, reads the whole current set at start; unregistering is a delete. Nothing adds a key any more: a new tool server is the operator's, in the mcp_servers setting at the controller's terminal
the agent's configuration (hq ADR 0216)	a key in the module's config state per registration — mesh.<kind>.<name> for every node, node.<node>.<kind>.<name> for one, home.<node>.<kind>.<name> for one account's own directory — the item and its files in one value, at most 256 KiB. Every node watches it and renders what applies to it, a node item over a mesh item of the same kind and name. A hook, settings, or an item that would run something by itself is never taken, whenever it was put there (hq issue 340)

The mesh's tools first (hq ADR 0245)

The agent kept reaching for ssh <machine> journalctl while the service manager's journal verb existed. So:

• The "instead of" table. Every seat verb and module tool may say which shell commands it replaces (replaces, in the seat's definition or the module's manifest). The module asks the controller — tools, modules, nodes, node — at start, every ten minutes and on claude_code_render, keeps the answer in its state (mesh-tools.json), and renders it into CLAUDE.md as one row per seat or module: <node>/<seat>. and each verb with the commands it replaces. Generated, never written by hand: a verb that gains replaces is in the next render. Ordered by what the guard here refused most, then the machines' seats, the modules, the mesh's seats; at most sixteen rows, the rest one mesh_search away.
• The guard. A PreToolUse hook on every tool, judging Bash, Edit, Write, MultiEdit and NotebookEdit and letting the rest through (but see the account rule below): this module's own binary (claude-code guard), copied root's into the plugin with what it judges with (guard.json: the machines by name, domain and address, and the replaced commands), run by its path under /etc/claude-code so the session cannot change it. It refuses ssh, scp, sftp, rsync, mosh and autossh to a mesh machine (any *.internal name, a machine's name or a name under its domains, one of its addresses, as ssh -G reads the destination; a jump through one too), writing /etc/hosts or /etc/resolv.conf, and HOSTALIASES — naming the verb that does the job on that machine when one says it replaces the command, and otherwise that a missing tool is created in the module that owns it, never worked around. Stated, not silent: an ssh login as git is the forge's account, which runs nothing but git, and passes; a git remote is never an ssh command line anyway.
• The operator's override: MESH_GUARD_OVERRIDE=<why>, exported in the operator's own shell before the session starts. It is read from the session's environment as the kernel kept it at exec (/proc/<pid>/environ of the agent's process), so nothing a session does — a command's export, a settings env key — can set it, and a command naming it is refused outright. Every override and every refusal is a line in the module's guard.log; an override that cannot be recorded is not honoured. claude_code_guard shows the rules, the data and the record.

It is a guard against the habit, not a sandbox: a command written to hide what it runs can hide it, and the record is how a habit that found a way round is seen.

Tools

claude_code_status, claude_code_render, claude_code_guard, claude_code_pull, claude_code_grant (for the licence manager), claude_code_mcp_list, claude_code_mcp_unregister (this node by default; nodes: "all" or a list for more).

What a session runs or obeys is the operator's, at the controller's terminal (hq issue 340). A hook, a permission rule, any other managed setting, and a tool server run in, or decide what runs in, every session on the nodes they reach, as whoever starts it — the operator, whose account holds root. The tool runner acts for any caller of the mesh MCP server and is not told who called, so this module cannot tell the operator from an agent confined on another node. So these tools refuse, and say why and how it is done instead:

• claude_code_hook_register, claude_code_settings_set, claude_code_permission_add, claude_code_permission_remove: the operator sets hooks, permission rules and every other managed setting in this module's managed_settings setting, mesh-cli settings set claude-code '{"managed_settings": {…}}' [--node <node>], typed at the controller's terminal (mesh-cli, or nox, on the control-node; hq ADR 0272). The controller refuses managed_settings, mcp_servers and role through any verb: a mergeable file asks for every key its own content names;
• claude_code_mcp_register: the operator sets tool servers in the mcp_servers setting the same way;
• a skill, subagent or command that would run something by itself: a shell line the agent runs when it loads one (!`…`, or a block opened with ```!), or hooks, mcpServers, permissionMode or allowed-tools in its front matter. Front matter is read as YAML (after a byte-order mark, flow style and merged keys included); front matter that does not close, does not parse or is not a mapping is refused rather than guessed at. A skill or command referring to a file with @ that is not one of its own files is refused too: the agent reads it into the prompt. A script beside a skill is taken: it runs only when the agent runs it, through the session's own rules.

What was registered before stays: a tool server is still rendered, and may be unregistered; a hook or settings the state still holds are never rendered, and claude_code_hook_unregister and claude_code_settings_clear remove them. claude_code_registrations lists everything registered, with who registered it, when, and whether it is rendered, beside what the operator set for this node at the terminal. Its by is the node whose tool runner served the call, never the caller, whom the runner is not told.

Text for every node or some is set at the controller's terminal too, for now (hq issue 340, the operator's decision of 2026-10-09; a surface of the operator's own may update it later). Instruction sections, output styles, skills, commands and subagents at the mesh or node scope are refused through the tools, and the import tool is refused. They are keys of this module's settings, each text a list of its lines, because a setting holds no line break: instructions, output_styles, commands and agents map a name to its text; skills maps a name to its files, each a list of lines. For example mesh-cli settings set claude-code '{"instructions": {"conventions": ["Commit in the imperative.", "", "Test before pushing."]}}'. They land where a registration did, laid over what was registered before; what the operator writes there is not judged, but an item that is not well formed is left out and said in the render's answer. What was registered before is still rendered and may be unregistered.

The home scope is registered through the tools only where the home belongs to an agent account of its own (hq ADR 0266, issue 340), and only for the node whose module serves the call. Where the agent runs as the operator, the home is the operator's own ~/.claude, whose rules and skills load in every session the operator starts, and the tool runner cannot tell the operator from an agent: refused there, and for any other node, whose home cannot be judged from here (call that node's own tool). A home item on the bus is never placed in the operator's own home, and what the module placed there before is taken back unless the person changed it. claude_code_home_remove and claude_code_home_restore are refused the same way wherever the home is the operator's own: removing a rule changes what a session obeys as surely as placing one. Where it is taken:

• for each kind — skill, agent, command, output_style, instructions — claude_code_<kind>_list, _register, _unregister. A skill is its files (files, or content for a lone SKILL.md);
• claude_code_hook_list and _unregister, claude_code_settings_get (the managed settings as written, the operator's setting, and what was registered before and is not rendered) and _clear;
• claude_code_config_list, _show (one registration in full), _status (what applies here, the plugin as written, and the home's own items — which the mesh placed, which share a name with a mesh item, which call a tool server not loaded here) and _import (an item of this node's home, registered at a scope; the original stays);
• claude_code_home_show (kind, name): one item of this node's home in full — a skill, subagent, command, output style, rule file (instructions), or the account's own memory ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (memory) — and whether the mesh placed it;
• claude_code_home_remove (kind, name, why): removes one item the person made, on their word — removing it is the person's act, and this tool is that act made explicit. why is required; what the mesh placed is refused (its _unregister owns it), and so is a symbolic link. A copy is kept first in the module's state, removed-from-home/<date>/<time>-<kind>-<name>/, with a removal.json note, and the removal and its reason are appended to removed-from-home/removed.log; the answer names the copy;
• claude_code_home_removed: every kept removal, newest first, with its keptAt and whether it was put back;
• claude_code_home_restore (kept): puts a removal's copy back at its path — refused when something is there now, or when the copy is not, file by file, what its removal.json digests say was removed. Logged to removed.log and the journal; the copy stays, marked with a restored.json.

A new session takes a change; a running one at /reload-plugins.

Settings

Per node or for the whole mesh, at the controller's terminal alone: mesh-cli settings set claude-code '<json>' [--node <node>] on the control-node (in zsh, nox; hq ADR 0272). The controller refuses all three keys through any verb, mesh-controller.settings included, because each reaches every session on the node and a verb's caller may be an agent (hq issue 340). Reading them through the verb still answers.

• role — what this node is, in a few words; shown to every session.
• mcp_servers — the tool servers, set by the operator for the mesh or a node, beside the ones registered through the tools before that was refused; keyed by name, in the vendor's .mcp.json entry shape ({"type":"http","url":…} or {"type":"stdio","command":…,"args":[…]}). The name mesh is the module's own and cannot be set. Put a person's own servers here, or they stop loading.
• managed_settings — keys of the agent's managed settings, in the vendor's settings.json shape: permissions (allow, ask, deny), autoMode (environment, allow, soft_deny), env, hooks and so on. Managed settings outrank every other scope, so a rule here holds in every session on the node. The mesh's own keys (attribution, allowAllClaudeAiMcps, apiKeyHelper) are laid last and cannot be set. A setting layer is replaced whole: setting managed_settings without role or mcp_servers clears those in that layer.

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.json under mcpServers — it is ignored now anyway

Where the agent runs as an account of its own (hq ADR 0266)

A machine may name an agent account beside the operator's, at the controller's terminal (mesh-controller node agent-account <node> <account>); the control node does. Agents there run as that account, which cannot become root without a person, and the operator keeps their own account and its sudo. The runtime hands this module MESH_AGENT_ACCOUNT and MESH_AGENT_HOME — the operator's where none is named, and read as the operator's from a controller that sets neither — and everything it writes for the agent goes to that account's home:

• the licence token (~/.claude/.credentials.json) and the account it is logged in as (~/.claude.json);
• an API-key licence, in ~/.claude/mesh/, since the account cannot enter the module's state. Its key-helper is no script there: the managed settings apply to every account's claude, the operator's and root's too, so a script the agent owns would run as them. The managed settings carry the command whole instead, and it reads the key only when run as the agent's account;
• the items registered at the home scope, recorded per home (home-placed-<account>.json).

The runtime's account cannot enter that home (0700, the agent's), so a path under it is touched by a helper running as the agent's account: this module's binary as the plugin carries it (/etc/claude-code/marketplace/plugins/nox-mesh/guard/guard home-fs, root's), started once through sudo -n -u <account> and kept, one JSON request and answer per line. The escalation goes down only: the runtime's account may become the agent's, never the other way.

When a machine moves its agent to such an account, the licence follows at once — a binding counts as applied only while the agent's account holds it — and what this module placed under the operator's home goes: the access-token-only credentials file (one holding a refresh token is a login the person made, and stays, said), the home-scope items unless changed by hand, the key kept in the state.

The guard there refuses every tool call of a session that does not run as the agent's account — shell, file edits, reads and the mesh's tools alike — and no override lifts it: the operator's account may become root, and an agent started in it by habit must do nothing. Its record goes to the machine's journal (journalctl -t mesh-claude-code-guard), which the session's account may add to and not change; claude_code_guard reads it there, keeping only the lines the journal says the guard's own binary wrote. That is not proof: the account can run the guard's binary itself and add lines in the guard's words. What it cannot do is remove one.

An API key is taken only from the agent's own home. claude_code_add_api_key reads a file and removes it, and the runtime runs as the operator: a path anywhere would hand whoever calls it the runtime's credential or the operator's keys. So the file must lie under the home of the account the agent runs as, reached through no symbolic link, is read as that account, must be at most 4 KiB and hold an Anthropic API key (sk-ant-…) — otherwise nothing is handed over and nothing removed, and the refusal never repeats what the file holds. The licence manager refuses a key of another shape too.

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. The same sudo starts the helper as the agent's account, where there is one.

Code

Go, one binary (cmd/claude-code) the node's runtime launches. Tested with go test ./...; the managed instruction file is held to the TypeScript renderer it replaced (testdata/rendered-by-typescript.json), and the sealed box is the licence manager's own format.