ollie/AGENTS.md

# AGENTS.md

Project-level context for AI agents working in this repository.

## Project Overview

Ollie is an AI agent runtime inspired by Plan 9: agent state and behaviors are exposed as files in a 9P namespace. Orchestration, scheduling, and UIs are external — shell scripts, editors, web apps. The core is minimal; capabilities come from composing scripts.

## Repository Layout

Monorepo with Git submodules. Each submodule has its own Go module (except `el` which is Elisp and `kde` which is C++/Qt).

```
ollie/                          ← you are here
├── core/         (Go)          Core library: agent loop, backends, tools, config
├── 9p/           (Go)          9P filesystem server (olliesrv)
├── dbus/         (Go)          D-Bus session manager daemon (ollied)
├── acme/         (Go)          Plan 9 acme editor frontend
├── httpgw/       (Go)          HTTP-to-9P gateway
├── webui/        (TypeScript)  Preact SPA browser frontend
├── kde/          (C++/Qt6)     KDE integration: plasmoid, standalone GUI, Kate plugin, KRunner, tray
├── el/           (Elisp)       Emacs frontend (ellie.el)
├── agents/                     Agent config JSONs (loaded at runtime)
├── prompts/                    System prompt templates (markdown) ← NOT used; see note below
├── tools/                      Tool scripts (file_read, lsp_*, memory_*, etc.)
├── sandbox/                    Landlock sandbox config YAML
├── scripts/                    User-facing CLI scripts:
│   ├── s/                      Session management (sh, bfg, ls, kill, ...)
│   ├── u/                      Utilities (complete, optimize, cascade)
│   └── x/                      Internal/plumbing (elevate, prime, bd, task)
├── doc/                        Architecture docs, usage guide
├── contrib/                    Community scripts
└── experiments/                Trial notes
```

### Canonical source for prompts/tools/skills

Three locations have prompt and tool files. The **source of truth** depends on which component you're editing:

| Location | Purpose | Deployed by |
|----------|---------|-------------|
| `9p/prompts/`, `9p/tools/` | Canonical source for the 9P server | `just install-data` |
| `9p/skills/`, `kde/skills/` | Shared `agent-skills` submodule (same repo in both) | `just install-data` |
| `kde/prompts/`, `kde/tools/` | KDE-specific copies (may diverge for KDE-only tools like `gui_*`) | `just install-kde` |
| Root `prompts/`, `tools/` | Top-level copies installed by `just install-data` | `just install-data` |

The `just install-data` target copies `agents/`, `prompts/`, `tools/`, `sandbox/` (and `skills/` from submodules) into `~/.config/ollie/`. **Do not edit `~/.config/ollie/` directly** — changes are overwritten on next install.

When adding a new prompt/tool that should be available to all frontends, add it to both `9p/prompts/` (or `9p/tools/`) and the root `prompts/` (or `tools/`) directory.

## Build System

```bash
# From monorepo root (pick one):
just              # 9P path (recommended): core, 9p, acme, kde, httpgw, webui, emacs
just dbus         # D-Bus path (KDE-only): core, ollied, kde, httpgw, webui

# Individual build targets:
just core         # core library
just ninep        # 9P server
just acme         # acme frontend
just kde          # KDE integration (cmake with ~/.local prefix)
just httpgw       # HTTP gateway
just webui        # web UI (needs npm)
just dbus-bin     # D-Bus daemon (ollied)

# Install targets (run automatically by the top-level paths):
just install-data     # agents, prompts, tools, skills → ~/.config/ollie/
just install-scripts  # CLI scripts → ~/.config/ollie/scripts/
just install-contrib  # contrib scripts → ~/bin/
just install-kde      # KDE plugins, desktop file, env → ~/.local/
just install-el       # ellie.el → ~/.config/emacs/ellie/
just install-dbus-bin # ollied + autostart → ~/.local/bin/, ~/.config/autostart/

# Test:
just test         # run all tests (core + 9p)
just test-core    # core tests only
just test-9p      # 9p tests only

# Lifecycle:
just uninstall    # remove all installed files
just clean        # remove build artifacts
```

Requires [just](https://github.com/casey/just): `cargo install just`

## Testing

```bash
# Go tests (from any Go submodule):
go test ./...

# Core has the most tests:
cd core && go test ./...

# 9P server tests:
cd 9p && go test ./...

# KDE has integration test scripts:
cd kde && ./test-e2e.sh
```

## Language & Conventions

- **Go** (core, 9p, dbus, acme, httpgw): Go 1.25+, standard library preferred, minimal dependencies. Modules are `ollie` (core), `olliesrv` (9p), `ollie-dbus`, `ollie-acme`, `ollie-httpgw`.
- **C++20/Qt6/KF6** (kde): CMake build, dual Qt5/Qt6 support where noted.
- **TypeScript** (webui): Vite + Preact.
- **Elisp** (el): single file `ellie.el`.
- **Tool scripts**: Python 3 or Bash. Must be executable. Header comments declare metadata (`# ollie:parallel read`, `# ollie:tier cold`, `# description:`, `# args:`).

### Code style
- Go: `gofmt`, short variable names, error returns (no panics), table-driven tests.
- Tool scripts: emit structured output (`STATUS=ok`, `STATUS=error`). Image/LSP tools return JSON content blocks.
- Prompts: markdown, concise, example-driven. Follow the pattern in existing `tools-*.md` files.

## Architecture (key concepts)

1. **Two integration surfaces**: 9P filesystem (sessions at `s/{name}/`) and D-Bus (`org.ollie.SessionManager`). Tools, skills, memory on physical filesystem via env vars.
2. **Agent loop** (`core/pkg/agent/`): Streaming LLM call → parse tool calls → dispatch → loop until no more tool calls or max steps.
3. **Tool dispatch** (`core/pkg/tools/`): `execute_code` is built-in. All others are external scripts resolved from `OLLIE_TOOLS_PATH`.
4. **Sandbox** (`core/internal/sandbox/`): Landlock-based. Config in `sandbox/*.yaml` defines filesystem access per profile.
5. **Backends** (`core/pkg/backend/`): Ollama, OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, Copilot, Kiro. Selectable per-session.
6. **Prompts assembled at runtime**: Agent JSON `prompt` array runs shell commands (via `x/prime`) that cat markdown files together. No static prompt file is used directly.
7. **D-Bus** (kde/dbus only): `ollied` exposes `org.ollie.SessionManager` for KDE frontends. It's a separate daemon from `olliesrv`.

## Key Files

| What | Where |
|------|-------|
| Agent loop | `core/pkg/agent/loop.go` |
| Tool dispatcher | `core/pkg/tools/execute/` |
| Remote execution client | `core/pkg/remote/remote.go` |
| Remote execution server | `remote/main.go` |
| Sandbox enforcement | `core/internal/sandbox/` |
| 9P filesystem | `9p/fs/` |
| Session management | `9p/session/` |
| System prompt template | `prompts/SYSTEM_PROMPT.md` |
| Agent configs | `agents/*.json` |
| D-Bus daemon | `dbus/main.go` |
| KDE D-Bus client | `kde/plasmoid/plugin/olliedbusclient.cpp` |
| Standalone GUI | `kde/gui/` |
| Kate plugin | `kde/kate/` |

## Environment

Config lives in `~/.config/ollie/env`. Key variables:
- `OLLIE_BACKEND` — default backend (ollama, openai, anthropic, copilot, kiro)
- `OLLIE_MODEL` — default model
- `OLLIE_TOOLS_PATH` — where tool scripts live (default: `~/.config/ollie/tools`)
- `OLLIE_MEMORY_PATH` — persistent memory directory
- `OLLIE_ENABLED_BACKENDS` — backends available for routing


## Adding a new tool

1. Create an executable script in `tools/` (and `9p/tools/`, `kde/tools/` if needed)
2. Add header comments: `# description:`, `# args:`, optionally `# ollie:parallel read` or `# ollie:tier cold`
3. Create a matching `prompts/tools-*.md` documentation file (and in `9p/prompts/`, `kde/prompts/`)
4. Run `just install-data` to install

## Adding a new prompt

1. Write the markdown file in `9p/prompts/` and root `prompts/`
2. If it should be loaded by default, add a `$OLLIE_CFG_PATH/scripts/x/prime <name>` entry to `agents/default.json`
3. Run `just install-data` to install

## Submodule workflow

```bash
# Update all submodules:
git submodule update --remote --merge

# Work in a submodule (e.g., core):
cd core
# ... make changes, commit ...
git push
cd ..
git add core
git commit -m "update core submodule"
```

Each submodule has its own remote at `ssh://lkn@lneely.de:44220/lkn/ollie-{name}.git`.

### Nested submodules

Both `9p/` and `kde/` contain a nested `skills/` submodule pointing to the same repo (`agent-skills.git`). There is no root-level `skills/` directory.

```
9p/skills/   → ssh://lkn@lneely.de:44220/lkn/agent-skills.git
kde/skills/  → ssh://lkn@lneely.de:44220/lkn/agent-skills.git  (same repo)
```

When cloning, use `--recurse-submodules` or run `git submodule update --init --recursive` to get these.