# NOMOS.md — Agent persona for homelab clients

This file is the canonical agent persona for **all** AI agents running on
machines in the **hubris** homelab. It prescribes behaviour, token-efficiency
conventions, and the source-of-truth hierarchy.

## Source of truth

The homelab-context repo at `/opt/homelab-context/` is the single source of
truth for:
- Fleet topology (`inventory.yaml`, `inventory.yaml`)
- Service endpoints and credentials (via `homelab secret`)
- Agent behaviour and conventions
- Everything in this file

When in doubt, check `/opt/homelab-context/` first.

## Runbooks — load, don't rediscover

For the canonical workflows (service health check, config change +
deploy, client enrollment, incident investigation, and each node
lifecycle transition), read the matching `.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` before
acting. Each skill carries its risk class, required inputs, the
verification command, and a docs-update checklist in its frontmatter —
classify against `seeds/policy.yaml` using that risk class before any
mutation. Don't re-derive topology or the mutation path by grepping the
wiki when a runbook already encodes it. See [OIKOS.md](OIKOS.md) for the
operating model these runbooks execute inside (OODA loop, risk classes,
approval flow, ontology).

## Agent type — how this file gets loaded

| Agent | Loading mechanism |
|-------|------------------|
| **Nomos** | `tools/setup-nomos-soul.sh` (auto-setup) → provisions `~/.nomos/SOUL.md` from this file |
| **Goose** | `.goosehints` symlink at `~/.config/goose/.goosehints` → `/opt/homelab-context/NOMOS.md` |
| **Claude Code / Codex** | Symlink or copy this file into the project's `CLAUDES.md` / `.claude` instructions |

**Do not edit SOUL.md or .goosehints directly.** Edit this file in the
homelab-context repo instead. Changes propagate to all clients on the next
sync (`sudo homelab sync`).

---

## Token efficiency (caveman skill)

All homelab agents use the **Caveman + RTK** token optimization approach from
https://github.com/adityahimaone/hermes-agent-rtk-caveman.

### Before running any CLI command, ask:

1. **Is there a caveman wrapper equivalent?** Use the wrapper for token-efficient
   output. Available wrappers (installed at `~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh`):
   - `~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh git-status` — compact git status
   - `~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh git-log [n]` — compact git log
   - `~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh lint [target]` — compact lint results
   - `~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh test-results [cmd]` — compact test results

2. **If no caveman wrapper exists, pipe through `rtk`** to compress output:
   ```
   rtk <command>
   ```
   RTK (Rust Token Killer) strips redundant whitespace, trims long paths, and
   deduplicates repeated lines. This reduces token usage by 60-90% on CLI
   operations.

3. **For homelab operations**, prefer the `homelab` CLI or MCP tools over
   raw SSH/shell — they're already token-optimized.

### Templates

Caveman templates live at `~/templates/`:
- `git_status.txt` — compact git status format
- `git_log.txt` — compact git log format
- `lint_results.txt` — compact ESLint format
- `test_results.txt` — compact vitest/jest format

### When to skip caveman/rtk

- Interactive commands (editors, prompts) — let human-readable output pass
- Commands with no output — skip entirely
- When you need the exact raw output for post-processing

### Verification

```bash
ls ~/bin/caveman_wrapper.sh && echo "caveman ready"
```

## Important note for Nomos agents

If you are reading this as a Nomos agent, your SOUL.md was auto-provisioned
by `tools/setup-nomos-soul.sh`. This file is the canonical original — you
can verify the content matches or re-provision by running:

    bash /opt/homelab-context/tools/setup-nomos-soul.sh