# 2026-08-17 — Fleet identity, comms delivery, and the ~/.mosaic tree (continuation record)

> **Status:** active continuation record | **Owner:** Jason (rulings) / fleet (delivery) | **Created:** 2026-08-17, sb-it-1-dt session with Jarvis (jarvis-brain)
> **Audience:** the homelab agents continuing this effort tonight. Read this whole file before acting; it supersedes nothing but preserves structure and decisions that must not be lost.

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## Why this exists

A session on sb-it-1-dt (2026-08-17) produced three architecture decisions (two awaiting Jason's ruling), one incident postmortem (#1295), interim guardrail edits in the user-owned `~/.mosaic/` contract tree, and one new tool (`ensure-watcher.sh`). The work spans jarvis-brain (P0, not retained) and this repo (the product). **This file is the stack-side anchor so continuation does not depend on jarvis-brain surviving.**

## 1. The `~/.mosaic` tree model — as-built, preserve this structure

Three-tree split (this is design intent, not accident; keep it through all framework work):

| Tree                | Owner     | Rule                                                                                                          |
| ------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `~/.config/mosaic/` | framework | upgrade-managed templates; NEVER user-edited; `mosaic upgrade` may overwrite                                  |
| `~/.mosaic/`        | user      | working contracts, guides, fleet agents; upgrades reconcile with **deny-wins** (user edits never overwritten) |
| repo satellites     | repos     | bootstrapped per-repo `.mosaic/` state                                                                        |

As-built inventory of `~/.mosaic` on sb-it-1-dt (2026-08-17):

- **Contract core:** `CONSTITUTION.md` (L0 law), `AGENTS.md` (dispatcher + guide router + Fleet Comms Watcher requirement), `SOUL.md` (generic base for ALL fleet agents, zero persona — includes the new **Fleet Boundaries** section), `STANDARDS.md` (universal standards — includes new **session identity** + **comms watcher hygiene** sections), `SYSTEM.md` (pure communication contract, byte-identical to jarvis-brain's prompt-testing `sr_opus_5_system_prompt.md`), `USER.md`, `TOOLS.md`.
- **`guides/`** — user-owned working copies (E2E-DELIVERY, ORCHESTRATOR(+PROTOCOL,+LEARNINGS), WAKE-DOCTRINE, VAULT-SECRETS, etc.).
- **`fleet/agents/`** — the per-agent store (this is MOSAIC-D-002's substrate, already in use):
  - real agent dirs: `fargo/`, `orchestrator/`, `probe/`, `vision/`, `weekly-update/` — shape: `profile.json` (harness/account/overlay pointer) + `overlay.json` + `SOUL.md` (persona) + `scratch/` `work/` `notes/` subdirs (hygiene rules in root SOUL.md)
  - `*.env.generated` launch overlays: `luna` `sol` `terra` (carry `MOSAIC_AGENT_NAME`, `_CLASS`, `_RUNTIME`, `_MODEL`, `_REASONING`, `_TOOL_POLICY`) — these are the mosaic-fleet seat launch envs; `inbox.env`, `itops.env` also present
  - `probe/` is the validated layout proof: auth-bundle symlink chain, per-agent sessions, plugin-store symlink (from 2026-08-07)
- **`auth/`, `config/`, `memory/`, `plugins/`, `skills/`, `skills-local/`** — per-tree copies/links for runtime isolation.
- Related but outside the tree: watcher units at `~/.config/systemd/user/<agent>-comms-watcher.service`; watcher seen-state at `~/.local/state/comms-watcher-<agent>/`.

## 2. Decisions register (2026-08-17 session)

Full strict records live in jarvis-brain `docs/decisions/mosaic-stack/` (render on its dashboard); both are **Pending Jason's ruling**. Summaries so the content survives P0:

- **MOSAIC-D-001 — SYSTEM.md as canonical harness system prompt.** Static core (Constitution+AGENTS+USER+overlays) in one tracked file; launcher renders dynamic tail (mission/PRD/fleet/persona). Delivery: `--append-system-prompt` (repeatable) for pi/claude; symlinked core file for codex (`$CODEX_HOME/instructions.md`) and opencode (`AGENTS.md`); their dynamic tail via initial prompt (needs live verification). Static-first order is the cache win. `SYSTEM.md` in `~/.mosaic` today is the communication-contract file — D-001's SYSTEM.md is the broader composition; naming to reconcile at implementation.
- **MOSAIC-D-002 — per-agent harness homes + mechanical profiles.** Launch with targeted config-dir env vars (e.g. `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR=~/.mosaic/fleet/agents/<name>/pi`), NOT literal HOME. SOUL.md identity mechanically generated from roster (single writer; kills the hand-copy drift measured in `agents/vision/SOUL.md` on jarvis-brain: declared Jarvis, answered Vision). Composes: SYSTEM core → per-agent SOUL → dynamic tail. `MOSAIC_AGENT_NAME` stays load-bearing for comms.
- **Comms delivery tooling belongs in the STACK framework, not jarvis-brain** (decided in discussion; supersedes the interim placement). jarvis-brain keeps only the transport _data_ (`comms/` tree) while it lives. Agents launch from their own repos (terra from `~/src/stack` etc.) — delivery is transport-repo-relative, so this works; but every installed watcher unit's ExecStart currently points into `~/src/jarvis-brain/scripts/` — that dependency is the P0 trap to remove. Migration = move tools + regenerate units, in one step.
- **Watcher provisioning is instantiation duty, never running-agent duty.** Interim landed as jarvis-brain `scripts/comms/ensure-watcher.sh` (idempotent ensure + `--status` boot check + interim identity warnings: missing target session, pane `MOSAIC_AGENT_NAME` mismatch via `/proc/<child>/environ`, bare-runtime NOTE). Framework move: fold into `mosaic agent --new` + fleet launch + `mosaic doctor` drift check.
- **Prose guardrails landed (interim fences until mechanical fixes):** `~/.mosaic/SOUL.md` Fleet Boundaries (wrong-session tripwire; comms ownership; cross-agent investigation requires tasking) · `STANDARDS.md` session identity + watcher hygiene · `AGENTS.md` Fleet Comms Watcher requirement (P0-interim script path marked transitional).

## 3. Incident → #1295 (already tracked here)

`https://git.mosaicstack.dev/mosaicstack/stack/issues/1295` — docs-seat incident: cwd-keyed session files served three lives (dev chat → goals seat → 22 watcher injections into a wedged process); name-based watcher delivery with no identity verification; wedge after pi 0.84.1→0.84.2 update passes every liveness instrument. Proposed fixes enumerated there; provisioning follow-up in comment ID 23027.

## 4. Open work queue (suggested sequence)

1. **Comms tooling migration PR** (lane `next`): move `comms-watcher.sh`, `install-watcher.sh`, `ensure-watcher.sh` into the framework tree → deploy `~/.config/mosaic/tools/comms/`; regenerate existing units' ExecStart to framework paths (one-command sweep); keep `COMMS_WATCH_REPO` per-host config (points at a brain checkout until the queue transport lands). Reference: jarvis-brain commit `701c353b1`.
2. **Ensure-on-instantiation**: `mosaic agent --new` / fleet launch call ensure semantics; `mosaic doctor` gains the drift check (`--status --all` semantics + `fred`'s hand-written unit as the known drift case; also note daphne/docs/happy/pepper/sanity/tiny/fargo currently have no watcher — cover or consciously exempt).
3. **MOSAIC-D-002 implementation** (after ruling): per-agent homes via targeted env vars; roster-generated SOUL.md single-writer; extend the existing `*.env.generated` pattern; launch ledger keeps `config_home` audit.
4. **MOSAIC-D-001 implementation** (after ruling): SYSTEM.md sourcing + per-harness delivery + `compose-contract` becomes render-core+tail with drift check; bench cache-ordering before/after (jarvis-brain `domains/software-dev/mosaic-stack/prompt-testing` has the bench).
5. **Queue transport + forced separation** (longer term): supersedes watcher path; identity-verification and wedge-detection remain valid regardless of transport.
6. **Docs inheritance**: jarvis-brain AGENTS.md's durable comms guidance (E7 pi-glyph delivery gotchas, capture-pane rules, comms protocol) must be inherited into stack docs before P0 retirement.

## 5. Rules for tonight's agents

- Lane: **`next`** only; nothing to `main` without Jason (standing ruling).
- Attribution caveat #1280: Gitea/git identity from this host may misattribute (issue #1295 showed as created by `@mos-dt-0`); prefer per-invocation `git -c user.name=<seat>` and verify what the remote recorded.
- Do not delete `sb-it-1-dt:docs]` (untracked file at repo root) — it is cited fleet-wide as incident evidence.
- Edit user contracts in `~/.mosaic/`, never the templates in `~/.config/mosaic/`.
- Do not restart other fleet seats unilaterally (goals/scrappy/sanity restart decisions are fred's/Jason's per the docs-seat report).

## 6. Artifact map

| Artifact                                                           | Where                                                                                                                    |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Decision records D-001/D-002 (strict, pending ruling)              | jarvis-brain `docs/decisions/mosaic-stack/2026-08-17_mosaic-d-00{1,2}_*.md`                                              |
| Incident issue + provisioning comment                              | stack #1295 + comment 23027                                                                                              |
| ensure-watcher.sh (reference implementation)                       | jarvis-brain `scripts/comms/ensure-watcher.sh` (commit `701c353b1`)                                                      |
| Bench for prompt A/B (pi, thinking levels, footer-token semantics) | jarvis-brain `domains/software-dev/mosaic-stack/prompt-testing/` + `docs/reports/2026-08-17-prompt-testing-glm-bench.md` |
| Launcher inspection basis                                          | `@mosaicstack/mosaic` 0.0.49 `dist/commands/launch.js` (composeContract / ensureRuntimeConfig / harness-home isolation)  |
| Guardrail edits                                                    | `~/.mosaic/{SOUL,AGENTS,STANDARDS}.md` on sb-it-1-dt (2026-08-17 16:53–17:04)                                            |
