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Agent Instructions

This file is the primary instruction surface for agents contributing to OpenShell. It is injected into your context on every interaction — keep that in mind when proposing changes to it.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for build instructions, task reference, project structure, and the full agent skills table.

Project Identity

OpenShell is built agent-first. We design systems and use agents to implement them — this is not vibe coding. The product provides safe, sandboxed runtimes for autonomous AI agents, and the project itself is built using the same agent-driven workflows it enables.

Skills

Agent skills live in .agents/skills/. Your harness can discover and load them natively — do not rely on this file for a full inventory. The detailed skills table is in CONTRIBUTING.md (for humans).

Workflow Chains

These pipelines connect skills into end-to-end workflows. Individual skill files don't describe these relationships.

  • Community inflow: triage-issue → create-spike → build-from-issue
    • Triage assesses and classifies community-filed issues. Spike investigates unknowns. Build implements.
  • Internal development: create-spike → build-from-issue
    • Spike explores feasibility, then build executes once state:agent-ready is applied by a human.
  • Security: review-security-issue → fix-security-issue
    • Review produces a severity assessment and remediation plan. Fix implements it. Both require the topic:security label; fix also requires state:agent-ready.
  • Policy iteration: openshell-cli → generate-sandbox-policy
    • CLI manages the sandbox lifecycle; policy generation authors the YAML constraints.

Architecture Overview

Path Components Purpose
crates/openshell-cli/ CLI binary User-facing command-line interface
crates/openshell-server/ Gateway server Control-plane API, sandbox lifecycle, auth boundary
crates/openshell-sandbox/ Sandbox runtime Container supervision, policy-enforced egress routing
crates/openshell-policy/ Policy engine Filesystem, network, process, and inference constraints
crates/openshell-router/ Privacy router Privacy-aware LLM routing
crates/openshell-bootstrap/ Cluster bootstrap K3s cluster setup, image loading, mTLS PKI
crates/openshell-ocsf/ OCSF logging OCSF v1.7.0 event types, builders, shorthand/JSONL formatters, tracing layers
crates/openshell-core/ Shared core Common types, configuration, error handling
crates/openshell-providers/ Provider management Credential provider backends
crates/openshell-tui/ Terminal UI Ratatui-based dashboard for monitoring
crates/openshell-vm/ MicroVM runtime Experimental, work-in-progress libkrun-based VM execution
python/openshell/ Python SDK Python bindings and CLI packaging
proto/ Protobuf definitions gRPC service contracts
deploy/ Docker, Helm, K8s Dockerfiles, Helm chart, manifests
.agents/skills/ Agent skills Workflow automation for development
.agents/agents/ Agent personas Sub-agent definitions (e.g., reviewer, doc writer)
architecture/ Architecture docs Design decisions and component documentation

Vouch System

  • First-time external contributors must be vouched before their PRs are accepted. The vouch-check workflow auto-closes PRs from unvouched users.
  • Org members and collaborators bypass the vouch gate automatically.
  • Maintainers vouch users by commenting /vouch on a Vouch Request discussion. The vouch-command workflow appends the username to .github/VOUCHED.td.
  • Skills that create PRs (create-github-pr, build-from-issue) should note this requirement when operating on behalf of external contributors.

Issue and PR Conventions

  • Bug reports must include an agent diagnostic section — proof that the reporter's agent investigated the issue before filing. See the issue template.
  • Feature requests must include a design proposal, not just a "please build this" request. See the issue template.
  • PRs must follow the PR template structure: Summary, Related Issue, Changes, Testing, Checklist.
  • PRs from unvouched external contributors are automatically closed. See the Vouch System section above.
  • Security vulnerabilities must NOT be filed as GitHub issues. Follow SECURITY.md.
  • Skills that create issues or PRs (create-github-issue, create-github-pr, build-from-issue) should produce output conforming to these templates.

Plans

  • Store plan documents in architecture/plans. This is git ignored so its for easier access for humans. When asked to create Spikes or issues, you can skip to GitHub issues. Only use the plans dir when you aren't writing data somewhere else specific.
  • When asked to write a plan, write it there without asking for the location.

Sandbox Logging (OCSF)

When adding or modifying log emissions in openshell-sandbox, determine whether the event should use OCSF structured logging or plain tracing.

When to use OCSF

Use an OCSF builder + ocsf_emit!() for events that represent observable sandbox behavior visible to operators, security teams, or agents monitoring the sandbox:

  • Network decisions (allow, deny, bypass detection)
  • HTTP/L7 enforcement decisions
  • SSH authentication (accepted, denied, nonce replay)
  • Process lifecycle (start, exit, timeout, signal failure)
  • Security findings (unsafe policy, unavailable controls, replay attacks)
  • Configuration changes (policy load/reload, TLS setup, inference routes, settings)
  • Application lifecycle (supervisor start, SSH server ready)

When to use plain tracing

Use info!(), debug!(), warn!() for internal operational plumbing that doesn't represent a security decision or observable state change:

  • gRPC connection attempts and retries
  • "About to do X" events where the result is logged separately
  • Internal SSH channel state (unknown channel, PTY resize)
  • Zombie process reaping, denial flush telemetry
  • DEBUG/TRACE level diagnostics

Choosing the OCSF event class

Event type Builder When to use
TCP connections, proxy tunnels, bypass NetworkActivityBuilder L4 network decisions, proxy operational events
HTTP requests, L7 enforcement HttpActivityBuilder Per-request method/path decisions
SSH sessions SshActivityBuilder Authentication, channel operations
Process start/stop ProcessActivityBuilder Entrypoint lifecycle, signal failures
Security alerts DetectionFindingBuilder Nonce replay, bypass detection, unsafe policy. Dual-emit with the domain event.
Policy/config changes ConfigStateChangeBuilder Policy load, Landlock apply, TLS setup, inference routes, settings
Supervisor lifecycle AppLifecycleBuilder Sandbox start, SSH server ready/failed

Severity guidelines

Severity When
Informational Allowed connections, successful operations, config loaded
Low DNS failures, non-fatal operational warnings, LOG rule failures
Medium Denied connections, policy violations, deprecated config
High Security findings (nonce replay, Landlock unavailable)
Critical Process timeout kills

Example: adding a new network event

use openshell_ocsf::{
    ocsf_emit, NetworkActivityBuilder, ActivityId, ActionId,
    DispositionId, Endpoint, Process, SeverityId, StatusId,
};

let event = NetworkActivityBuilder::new(crate::ocsf_ctx())
    .activity(ActivityId::Open)
    .action(ActionId::Denied)
    .disposition(DispositionId::Blocked)
    .severity(SeverityId::Medium)
    .status(StatusId::Failure)
    .dst_endpoint(Endpoint::from_domain(&host, port))
    .actor_process(Process::new(&binary, pid))
    .firewall_rule(&policy_name, &engine_type)
    .message(format!("CONNECT denied {host}:{port}"))
    .build();
ocsf_emit!(event);

Key points

  • crate::ocsf_ctx() returns the process-wide SandboxContext. It is always available (falls back to defaults in tests).
  • ocsf_emit!() is non-blocking and cannot panic. It stores the event in a thread-local and emits via tracing::info!().
  • The shorthand layer and JSONL layer extract the event from the thread-local. The shorthand format is derived automatically from the builder fields.
  • For security findings, dual-emit: one domain event (e.g., SshActivityBuilder) AND one DetectionFindingBuilder for the same incident.
  • Never log secrets, credentials, or query parameters in OCSF messages. The OCSF JSONL file may be shipped to external systems.
  • The message field should be a concise, grep-friendly summary. Details go in builder fields (dst_endpoint, firewall_rule, etc.).

Sandbox Infra Changes

  • If you change sandbox infrastructure, ensure mise run sandbox succeeds.

Commits

  • Always use Conventional Commits format for commit messages
  • Format: <type>(<scope>): <description> (scope is optional)
  • Common types: feat, fix, docs, chore, refactor, test, ci, perf
  • Never mention Claude or any AI agent in commits (no author attribution, no Co-Authored-By, no references in commit messages)

Pre-commit

  • Run mise run pre-commit before committing.
  • Install the git hook when working locally: mise generate git-pre-commit --write --task=pre-commit

Testing

  • mise run pre-commit — Lint, format, license headers. Run before every commit.
  • mise run test — Unit test suite. Run after code changes.
  • mise run e2e — End-to-end tests against a running cluster. Run for infrastructure, sandbox, or policy changes.
  • mise run ci — Full local CI (lint + compile/type checks + tests). Run before opening a PR.

Python

  • Always use uv for Python commands (e.g., uv pip install, uv run, uv venv)

Docker

  • Always prefer mise commands over direct docker builds (e.g., mise run docker:build instead of docker build)

Cluster Infrastructure Changes

  • If you change cluster bootstrap infrastructure (e.g., openshell-bootstrap crate, deploy/docker/Dockerfile.images, cluster-entrypoint.sh, cluster-healthcheck.sh, deploy logic in openshell-cli), update the debug-openshell-cluster skill in .agents/skills/debug-openshell-cluster/SKILL.md to reflect those changes.

Documentation

  • When making changes, update the relevant documentation in the architecture/ directory.
  • When changes affect user-facing behavior, also update the relevant pages under docs/.
  • Follow the style guide in docs/CONTRIBUTING.md: active voice, no unnecessary bold, no em dash overuse, no filler introductions.
  • Use the update-docs skill to scan recent commits and draft doc updates.

Security

  • Never commit secrets, API keys, or credentials. If a file looks like it contains secrets (.env, credentials.json, etc.), do not stage it.
  • Do not run destructive operations (force push, hard reset, database drops) without explicit human confirmation.
  • Scope changes to the issue at hand. Do not make unrelated changes in the same branch.