# Cross-Project Pattern Extraction

**Scope:** 18 projects surveyed across two machines:
- **Local (`ultix-streaming`):** 12 infra/stack projects — `dotfiles`, `EngineeringWorkstation`, `EngStack`, `football`, `hermes-rceo-streaming`, `KNEL-AIMiddleware`, `KNELIAC`, `netbird`, `PFVCluster`, `TSYSDevStack-SupportStack-Cloudron`, `WorkstationStack`, `TSYSDevStack-SupportStack-LocalWorkstation`.
- **Remote (`ultix-offstage`):** 6 personal/business projects — `CharlesNWybleResume`, `rceo-automation-espanso-private`, `RCEO-PersonalAssistant`, `ReachableCEO-Profile-FullTimeEmployment`, `RevGen-TimeForMoney`, `ThreeYearPlan`.

This document records the patterns that recur, the inconsistencies between them,
and the decisions the repo makes to drive inconsistency to zero.

---

## 1. AGENTS.md — recurring structure

A canonical section set emerges from the 12 files that have one (8 local + 4 remote):

| Section | Prevalence |
|---|---|
| Git commit & push policy | 12/12 |
| Project overview / context | 11/12 |
| Key commands / build cheat sheet | 10/12 |
| Repository layout (ASCII tree) | 9/12 |
| Status / journal maintenance | 9/12 |
| Conventions & naming | 8/12 |
| DO / DON'T | 7/12 |
| Validation / testing | 7/12 |
| Key files reference | 6/12 |
| Quick start / onboarding | 5/12 |

**Decision:** the template's `AGENTS.md` ships all ten sections in a fixed order,
so every project has the same skeleton. Filler is bracketed for replacement.

---

## 2. Shared cross-project preferences (the house style)

These recur strongly and are baked into the template:

1. **Auto-commit + push is mandatory and non-negotiable.** Stated with ALL-CAPS force in nearly every file. The template states the override-once and lets the hooks enforce it.
2. **Atomic commits — one logical change per commit.** Universal.
3. **Conventional-commit format** (`feat:`/`fix:`/`docs:`/…). Universal, but the **💘 Crush attribution footer is inconsistent**: mandated only by `football` and `KNELIAC`; absent on the remote entirely. **Decision:** the template mandates the footer once, in the AGENTS.md commit block.
4. **Docker-only host hygiene.** The single most consistent convention across *both* machines (`KNEL-AIMiddleware`, `EngStack`, `LocalWorkstation`, `RCEO-PersonalAssistant`, `ThreeYearPlan`, `CharlesNWybleResume`). **Decision:** the template's `check-rules.sh` enforces host hygiene via the Docker-only rule (no `:latest` tags, container naming) and `scripts/docker-run.sh` provides the canonical container wrapper. The Crush-specific `enforce-bash.sh` hook was removed for harness portability; the policy lives in AGENTS.md prose.
5. **Sub-agents encouraged.** Explicit in `football`, `ThreeYearPlan`, `RCEO-PersonalAssistant`. **Decision:** standard section in the template.
6. **No secrets in git (infra genre).** Inverted on the remote private repos (`RCEO-PersonalAssistant` deliberately commits credentials). **Decision:** the template keeps the infra stance (`.env` gitignored) as the default; private repos may opt out.

**Inconsistencies the template resolves:**
- `shellcheck` is mandated by `PFVCluster` and `football` but unmentioned elsewhere → the template mandates it for all shell, via Docker.
- "Keep the host clean" is phrased four different ways → one canonical phrasing.
- Auto-commit override language varies in strength → stated once, authoritatively.

---

## 3. Git hooks — the biggest gap, now standardized

**Finding:** custom git hooks are essentially unused. Only **3 of 18** projects have any:

| Project | Hook | Mechanism | Installer |
|---|---|---|---|
| `football` | `pre-commit` (4-check SDLC gate: shellcheck, unit tests, coverage, doc-sync) | `core.hooksPath githooks/` | `scripts/setup-githooks.sh` |
| `KNEL-AIMiddleware` | `pre-push` (block on dirty tree) | `core.hooksPath .githooks/` | **none** (manual `git config`) |
| `RCEO-PersonalAssistant` | `pre-commit` (fast audit) + `pre-push` (full Docker tests) | **copy** into `.git/hooks/` | `scripts/setup-hooks.sh` |

Three different install mechanisms; one project has no installer at all.

**Decision:** the template uses the **copy** approach (most portable: works on any clone, no config mutation, idempotent) with a single `scripts/setup-hooks.sh`, and combines both policy philosophies:
- `pre-commit` = fast audit with a **hot-path bypass** for `STATUS.md` / `JOURNAL.md` / `WORKING.md` (so frequent status commits stay frictionless) — proven in RCEO.
- `pre-push` = full audit (incl. `scripts/test.sh`) — proven in RCEO — plus the dirty-tree gate — proven in KNEL-AIMiddleware.

---

## 4. Crush hooks — an entirely untapped capability (except one project)

**Finding:** Crush `hooks` are used by **exactly one project** — `RCEO-PersonalAssistant`. Every other `crush.json` (and most projects have none) defines only `lsp`/`mcp`/`options`, never `hooks`. All process enforcement elsewhere is prose in AGENTS.md — manually enforced, violable.

RCEO's crush.json wires five `PreToolUse` hooks that form a behavioral guardrail layer complementing the git hooks:

| Hook | Matcher | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| `block-todos.sh` | `^todos$` | bans the todos tool; WORKING.md is the only tracker |
| `enforce-bash.sh` | `^bash$` | blocks banned commands + host language toolchains |
| `enforce-rules.sh` | `^(edit\|write\|multiedit)$` | blocks banned file types; TDD reminder on source edits |
| `audit-before-git.sh` | `^bash$` | runs the fast audit before any `git commit`/`git push` |
| `exit-protocol.sh` | `.*` | blocks stopping while WORKING.md has unchecked tasks |

**Decision:** the Crush hooks were studied as the proof-of-concept and their *policies* (ban todos, Docker-only, banned file types, audit before git, exit protocol) were ported into AGENTS.md prose and `check-rules.sh` mechanical checks. The harness-specific `crush.json` + `hooks/` layer was **deliberately removed** for portability — the user is shifting away from Crush to OpenWebUI/Hermes, so all enforcement is git hooks + prose only.

---

## 5. The rules engine — `check-rules.sh`

RCO's `check-rules.sh` is the best reusable artifact found. Its core abstractions:

- A `check()` accumulator classifying each rule as **pass / warn / fail**, with `FAIL > 0 ⇒ exit 1` and `WARN` non-fatal.
- A `--fast` mode (used by pre-commit) that silences per-check output and skips slow checks.
- Self-checking categories: shellcheck, Docker image pinning (no `:latest`), required-files manifest, doc freshness (STATUS.md/JOURNAL.md touched today), git state, hooks-installed, WORKING.md completion, unresolved `CNW:` markers.

**Decision:** the template's `check-rules.sh` generalizes this — language-specific checks (Go test coverage, gofmt) are dropped or made opt-in via `PROJECT_*` env; universal checks (shellcheck, image pinning, required files, doc freshness, hygiene, WORKING.md, CNW markers, merge-conflict markers) are kept. The `check()` accumulator and `--fast`/`--quiet` flags move into `scripts/lib/common.sh` so any script can reuse them.

---

## 6. Scripts — driving the shebang/boilerplate chaos to zero

**Findings:**
- **Three incompatible shebang variants** across projects: `#!/usr/bin/env bash` (best), `#!/bin/bash`, `#!/usr/bin/bash` (non-portable).
- **Four different `set`-flag policies**: `set -euo pipefail` (best), `set -e` only, `set -uo pipefail`, none. KNEL-AIMiddleware uses `set -e` only — piped failures silently swallowed; `BuildAll.sh`'s `docker compose … | tail` can report green on failure.
- **The ANSI color block is copy-pasted into ~10 scripts.**
- **`log_*` helpers are redefined per project** (and per-script in KNEL-AIMiddleware, where they aren't even functions).
- **Repo-root resolution** is re-rolled in nearly every script.
- **No shared cross-project library exists.** Only `EngStack` factors helpers (`scripts/lib.sh` build-time + `lib/common.sh` runtime).

**Decision:** `scripts/lib/common.sh` provides the deduplicated primitives once: ANSI colors, `log_info/ok/warn/error/step`, `have()`, `die()`, `repo_root()`, `as_root()`, `docker_run()`, and the `init_counters`/`check`/`print_summary_and_exit` audit helpers. All template scripts use `#!/usr/bin/env bash` + `set -euo pipefail`.

---

## 7. Task runners — five conventions, standardized to one

**Findings:** no `Makefile`/`Taskfile`/`justfile` exists anywhere. Five incompatible conventions for the same semantic verbs:

| Project | Convention |
|---|---|
| football | `./run.sh <subcommand>` |
| KNEL-AIMiddleware | `scripts/<Verb>.sh` |
| EngStack | `scripts/<verb>-<noun>.sh` |
| PFVCluster | `tests/<name>.sh` |
| hermes-agent | npm workspace scripts |

The recurring semantic targets — **build, test, lint, validate, status, clean, setup** — map cleanly onto one target set that doesn't exist.

**Decision:** a single `Makefile` provides `setup`, `validate`, `fast`, `lint`, `test`, `status`, `clean`, `help`. It is pure dispatch to `scripts/`; projects override `test`/`clean` for their stack. CI, hooks, and humans now share one set of verbs.

---

## 8. CI — present in exactly one project

Only `hermes-agent` has CI (22 GitHub Actions workflows — an exemplar: change-detection orchestrator, reusable-workflow lanes, SHA-pinned actions, supply-chain/OSV scans, live PR-comment bot). The other 17 have none.

**Decision:** the template doesn't ship CI (it's stack-dependent), but `scripts/check-rules.sh` + `scripts/garden.sh` give any future workflow a uniform entry point. The hermes-agent `ci.yml` orchestrator is the documented growth path.

---

## 9. Crush configuration layers — documented but unused

Crush defines a priority chain (`$HOME/.config/crush/crush.json` → `crush.json` → `.crush.json`). In practice:
- The **global** config (`dotfiles`) is trivial (attribution style only) — no shared LSP/MCP baseline.
- Only **2 projects** have a project-local `crush.json` (KNEL-AIMiddleware: 4 LSP + 36 MCP via wrappers; RCEO-PersonalAssistant: hooks only).
- The highest-priority `.crush.json` layer is **unused anywhere**.
- **No project sets `model` or `provider`** in config.

**Decision:** no Crush config is shipped. The hooks layer was removed for harness portability. LSP/MCP remain project-local concerns.

---

## 10. Crush memory — a singleton, now a template

Only `PFVCluster` has operational memory (`.crush/memory/operational.md`). Its format — Identity → Tracking Systems (with READY/PARTIAL/BLOCKED status) → Tooling → Access chokepoints → Key commands → Mandatory rules → Credential TODOs — is strong and reusable.

**Decision:** the template ships `.crush/memory/operational.md` as a fill-in skeleton (optional, for projects using Crush).

---

## 11. KNEL-AIMiddleware wrapper ecosystem — a standardization opportunity (not in the template)

`KNEL-AIMiddleware` hand-maintains **38 near-identical** wrapper scripts (`mcp-*-wrapper.sh`, `lsp-*-wrapper.sh`) for its MCP/LSP fleet. ~90% of each file is duplicated boilerplate (container-cleanup stanza, `docker run -i --rm --name`, env passthrough). Drift is already visible (default style, double-passed creds, one structurally-different LSP wrapper). There is **no generator**; they were hand-cloned by an agent over many sessions.

**Recommendation (out of scope for the template):** replace the 38 files with one parameterized launcher driven by a declarative `servers.yaml` manifest, plus a `gen-wrappers.sh`. The template's `docker-run.sh` + `lib/common.sh` show the direction; the same idea applies at fleet scale.

---

## 12. Workflow documents — WORKING.md / STATUS.md / JOURNAL.md

The remote personal genre contributes a discipline absent from infra: a **task/state/document triad** enforced by hooks:

- **WORKING.md** — the only task tracker (todos tool banned); commits blocked while `- [ ]` remain; cleared before responding.
- **STATUS.md** — agent-maintained dashboard humans read; staleness is a warning.
- **JOURNAL.md** — append-only ADR/pattern log; no today-entry is a warning.
- **`CNW:` markers** — flag unresolved questions for the human; empty markers are a warning.

**Decision:** all four are in the template, and check-rules.sh enforces their freshness/completion.

---

## Standardization scorecard

| Inconsistency | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Shebangs | 3 variants | `#!/usr/bin/env bash` |
| `set` flags | 4 policies | `set -euo pipefail` |
| Color/log boilerplate | copy-pasted ~10× | `lib/common.sh` |
| Task runner | 5 conventions | one `Makefile` |
| Git hook install | 3 mechanisms, 1 missing | one `setup-hooks.sh` (copy) |
| Git hook coverage | 3/18 projects | every project, two hooks |
| Crush hooks | 1/18 projects | not used (harness-agnostic; git hooks only) |
| Rules engine | 1 project (Go-specific) | generalized, project-agnostic |
| Crush memory | 1 project | skeleton in template (optional, Crush-only) |
| AGENTS.md structure | bespoke per project | canonical 10-section skeleton |
| 💘 commit footer | 2/18 projects | mandated in template (harness-agnostic) |

---

## 13. Global baseline prompt integration

After the initial extraction, the owner shared a draft "global baseline prompt"
(an Apple Note of operating observations gathered over weeks of working with
agents). It encodes principles that cut across every project and that the
template now reflects. The cleaned canonical version lives in
[`BASELINE-PROMPT.md`](BASELINE-PROMPT.md); the project-level specialization is
in `AGENTS.md`. New artifacts and checks added:

### New policy encoded

| Principle (baseline §) | How the template enforces it |
|---|---|
| **Stop over-thinking; ask early** (§1, §9) | `questions-v1.md` skeleton + AGENTS.md "Questions" section; required-files check fails if absent |
| **Token efficiency / farm to tooling** (§2) | `scripts/check-rules.sh` runs shellcheck in Docker; AGENTS.md "Working Style" forbids parsing huge code in context |
| **Redmine = SoR for work; Discourse = SoR for docs** (§3) | AGENTS.md "Systems of Record" section; `scripts/garden.sh` flags oversized non-Discourse `.md` |
| **Git .md = stubs to Discourse** (§3) | `scripts/garden.sh` reports oversized `.md` lacking a Discourse URL |
| **`tea` CLI for PRs; off-workstation → PR** (§4) | AGENTS.md "Git Workflow" policy |
| **Shift-left CI/CD, lockstep local + hosted** (§5) | AGENTS.md "CI/CD" section; `scripts/check-rules.sh --fast` runs at pre-commit |
| **Docker/k8s for everything; container naming** (§6) | new container-naming rule in `check-rules.sh` (every compose service needs `container_name`); `docker-compose.yml.example` + `scripts/up.sh` / `scripts/down.sh` |
| **STATUS.md = scratchpad, not SoR; has Inbox** (§8) | STATUS.md reframed; Inbox section for mid-task interruptions ("don't pivot") |
| **Questions file** (§9) | `questions-v1.md` artifact + required-files check |
| **Belt-and-suspenders enforcement** (§10) | already present (git hooks + Crush hooks) — now documented as policy |
| **Gardening loop** (§11) | `scripts/garden.sh` |
| **Sub-agents as subcontractors** (§12) | AGENTS.md "Working Style" |
| **TDD + linters** (§13) | AGENTS.md "TDD & Linting"; `enforce-rules.sh` TDD reminder (opt-in via `PROJECT_SOURCE_SUFFIXES`) |

### New template artifacts

- `BASELINE-PROMPT.md` — the cleaned canonical global prompt (lives in the meta root; projects inherit).
- `questions-v1.md` — git-tracked question log skeleton.
- `docker-compose.yml.example` — lifecycle template with project-prefix naming.
- `scripts/up.sh`, `scripts/down.sh` — compose lifecycle wrappers.
- `scripts/garden.sh` — doc-sprawl / Discourse-migration report.

### New `check-rules.sh` checks

- **Container naming** (§6): every service in a `docker-compose*.y*ml` must declare `container_name:`; failure otherwise.
- **Questions file required**: `questions-v1.md` must exist (required-files manifest).

### New Makefile targets

`scripts/garden.sh`, `scripts/up.sh`, `scripts/down.sh` — standard scripts across every project.

### What stayed project-level (not globalized)

- `sectestbed-` / `preprod-` VM testing semantics — IAC-workstream-specific; left as AGENTS.md prose, not a mechanical check.
- Redmine Gantt / dependency modeling — workflow-specific.
- Specific DNS/cloudron/SITER production details — out of scope.
