oikos/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Oikos

Developer guide for the Oikos codebase. If you are a homelab client consuming Oikos, see CLIENTS.md. If you are an AI agent working on the repo, see .agents/dev/CONTRIBUTING.md.

Dev setup

• Go 1.26+ (see go.mod for pinned version)
• PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB — the compose stack includes timescale/timescaledb:2.17.2-pg16
• Docker for the full dev stack

# Start dependencies (Postgres + Redis)
docker compose --profile dev up -d

# Run all tests
make test

# Run integration tests (needs compose Postgres)
make test-db

# Build the binary
make build

Project structure

cmd/oikos/          Single-binary entry point
cmd/nomos/          Nomos MCP client gateway
internal/           All Go packages
  httpapi/          REST + MCP server (OpenAPI-generated)
  mcp/              MCP tool implementations
  db/               Connection pool, migrations, seeds, sqlc queries
  scheduler/        Observe loop, probes, signals
  actuator/         SSH execution
  learning/         Pattern recognition, anomaly detection
  notifier/         Matrix notifications, approval tokens
  policy/           Risk classifier
  secrets/          Infisical + SOPS backend
  domain/           Core types: entities, approvals, signals, patterns
  ontology/         Type hierarchy, relationship validation
  knowledge/        Knowledge YAML seed ingestion
api/openapi.yaml    API contract — the source of truth for endpoints
migrations/         Forward-only SQL migrations (TimescaleDB)
seeds/              Bootstrap YAML: ontology, inventory, policy, knowledge
compose/            Dockerfiles + Caddy config
scripts/            Deploy, watchdog, rollback
nomos/              Nomos config, persona, skills
.agents/            Agent instruction files + skills
plans/              Design documents
docs/adr/           Architecture decision records

Commands

Command	Purpose
make build	Build oikos binary
make test	Run all tests with race detection
make test-db	Run integration tests against compose Postgres
make lint	go vet + golangci-lint
make generate	Regenerate OpenAPI + sqlc code
make generate-check	CI drift guard — fail if generated code is stale
make migrate	Apply DB migrations
make seed	Ingest seeds into DB
make export	Export DB state to YAML seeds
make dev	Start compose dev stack
make clean	Remove binary + test cache

Conventions

APIs are OpenAPI-first

The REST API is defined in api/openapi.yaml. Server code is generated with oapi-codegen into internal/httpapi/gen/. To add an endpoint:

1. Add the path + schema to api/openapi.yaml
2. Run make generate
3. Implement the handler in internal/httpapi/impl.go
4. Add tests in internal/httpapi/api_test.go

Never hand-edit internal/httpapi/gen/api.gen.go.

Database access is sqlc-first

SQL queries live in internal/db/queries/*.sql. Go code is generated with sqlc into internal/db/sqlcgen/. Config in sqlc.yaml.

• Queries target pgx/v5 with UUID + timestamptz overrides
• Never hand-edit generated sqlc code

Migrations are forward-only

SQL migrations live in migrations/ as NNN_name.up.sql. There are no down migrations (see ADR 0008). Migrations are idempotent where possible (IF NOT EXISTS, DO $$ blocks).

To add a migration:

1. Create migrations/NNN_name.up.sql with the next sequence number
2. Write the DDL
3. Run make migrate to apply

Seeds are DB-generated

seeds/*.yaml are the bootstrap files used by oikos seed. After making changes via the API, run make export to regenerate the seed files. These files are version-controlled and serve as DR fallback.

Writing style

Follow .agents/shared/writing-style.md. Documentation is reference prose, not marketing. Banned vocabulary includes "robust", "seamless", "leverage", "utilize", "delve", "cutting-edge".

Risk classification

Every mutation is classified against seeds/policy.yaml before execution. Four risk classes: read_only, reversible_low, config_mutation, destructive. The classifier can only lower autonomy relative to policy, never raise it. When in doubt, escalate.

CI

Gitea Actions runs on push to main and pull requests (ci.yml):

1. go vet + golangci-lint + govulncheck
2. Generated code drift check (make generate-check)
3. Build (go build ./...)
4. Test with race detector + coverage
5. Docker build verification (no push)

Coverage gates: policy + learning packages ≥ 80%, others ≥ 60%.

PR workflow

1. Create a branch from main
2. Make changes, write tests
3. Run make lint test generate-check
4. Commit with a message following: problem → change → risk → verification
5. Push to Gitea; CI gates PRs on green

Secrets

Secrets are managed by Infisical (primary) with SOPS as DR fallback. Never hardcode secrets. Use environment variables from .env for local dev. The .env and .infisical-credentials files are gitignored.

Related

• OIKOS.md — operating model, OODA loop, ontology
• CLIENTS.md — for homelab clients consuming Oikos
• docs/adr/ — architecture decision records