@qvac/core 0.0.0 → 0.1.0

package/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,694 @@
+<p align="center">
+  <img src="ducks.png" alt="" width="200">
+</p>
+
+<h1 align="center">@qvac/core</h1>
+
+<p align="center">
+  <b>Peer-to-peer AI across your devices</b>
+  <br>
+  Run on mobile, desktop or remotely via P2P magic
+</p>
+
+<p align="center">
+  delegated inference &middot; replicated agents, chats and skills &middot; approve or
+  stop from anywhere &middot; works offline &middot; no servers
+</p>
+
+<p align="center">
+  <a href="#integrating-a-harness">Harness</a> &middot;
+  <a href="#what-you-get-for-free">What you get</a> &middot;
+  <a href="#one-shot-tasks">Tasks</a> &middot;
+  <a href="#rendering-the-chunk-stream-any-ui">Chunk stream</a> &middot;
+  <a href="#harness-event-reference">Events</a> &middot;
+  <a href="#development">Development</a>
+</p>
+
+A P2P, multi-device AI workbench core. Three pieces, one duplex stream:
+
+- **`Core`** — the state authority. Owns the replicated mesh (agents, devices,
+  the chunk stream) and the device-local store, serves every capability over
+  hrpc. It contains **no AI whatsoever**.
+- **`Client`** — the client. A thin proxy whose methods are generated from the
+  schema; everything an app (or an assistant) does goes through it.
+- **`QvacAssistant`** — the execution host. Owns _your_ AI harness and drives
+  it purely through the Client's capability surface, exactly like any other
+  client. This is the only place inference happens.
+
+```
+┌───────────── host app process ─────────────┐      ┌── sidecar / same process ──┐
+│  UI ──► Client ◄── QvacAssistant ◄─ Harness│ ◄──► │ Core ◄──► mesh (other devices)
+└────────────────────────────────────────────┘      └────────────────────────────┘
+```
+
+## Integrating a harness
+
+A harness is one method. Implement `completion(context)` as an async iterable
+of plain events and you are done — no knowledge of chunks, meshes, or RPC:
+
+```js
+const harness = {
+  async *completion({ model, agent, messages, approve, signal }) {
+    // Call any model you like — llama.cpp, an HTTP API, a test fake…
+    const reply = await myModel.chat({ system: agent.bio, messages })
+    yield { type: 'content', text: reply }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Wire it up — prod shape, Core in its own Bare sidecar process:
+
+```js
+import { QvacAssistant, AssistantClient } from 'qvac-core'
+
+// Spawns the bundled Core sidecar for free — ready() boots it, close()
+// tears it down. Joining a mesh: pass meshSeed/meshKey from a decoded invite.
+const engine = new AssistantClient({
+  storagePath: '/path/to/state',
+  device: { name: 'my-device', capabilityProfile: 'mid', recommendedModelName: 'Qwen3.5-9B' }
+})
+await engine.ready()
+
+const assistant = new QvacAssistant(engine, harness)
+await assistant.ready()
+```
+
+No `Core` construction host-side at all — the sidecar entry boots it, your
+process keeps only the Client, the assistant, and the model runtime. Pass
+`entry` in the options to replace the bundled Core entry with your own.
+
+For tests or a single-process host, `sidecar: false` boots the same Core
+in-process from the same options — nothing else changes:
+
+```js
+const engine = new AssistantClient({ sidecar: false, storagePath, device })
+await engine.ready() // engine.core is the in-process Core (null in sidecar mode)
+```
+
+(Lower still, `Core`/`Client` construct directly over any duplex pair —
+that's all either mode does.)
+
+Either way that's the whole integration — the assistant can't tell the
+difference, because it only ever speaks capabilities. It is a
+`ready-resource`: `ready()`, `close()`, `suspend()`/`resume()` (mobile
+backgrounding — stops taking new work; in-flight runs finish).
+
+The real llama.cpp harness lives in `../assistant-harness` and implements this
+same contract — see `tui/index.mjs` for it running end to end.
+
+### The harness over a wire (desktop / mobile)
+
+In-process is for tests and simple hosts. Real apps put the harness where
+the model runtime belongs, behind the `qvac-harness` wire contract
+— the same `Harness` object served on a pipe, and a `RemoteHarness` handle
+the assistant takes unchanged. The rule: **colocate the harness with
+wherever the SDK runs in-process.**
+
+**Desktop (Electron)** — the harness gets its own OS process, so a llama.cpp
+crash or OOM kills the AI, never the mesh or the app. The whole local stack
+is three lines — `spawnHarness()` spawns the bundled llama.cpp harness
+sidecar and hands back the handle the assistant takes unchanged:
+
+```js
+import { QvacAssistant, AssistantClient } from 'qvac-core'
+import { spawnHarness } from 'qvac-harness'
+
+const engine = new AssistantClient({ storagePath, device })
+const harness = spawnHarness({ entry, skillsDir, sdkStorage, logger })
+const assistant = new QvacAssistant(engine, harness)
+await assistant.ready()
+
+harness.on('status', (s) => log.warn('harness', s)) // running / died, lives
+// shutdown: harness.close() kills the spawned process
+```
+
+Custom tool sets: pass your own `entry` to `spawnHarness` (the bundled entry
+is `qvac-harness/worker/harness-sidecar.mjs` — two lines of
+`serveHarness(Bare.IPC, new Harness({ tools }))` to copy).
+
+**Mobile (React Native + bare-kit)** — worklets share the app process, so a
+separate harness worklet buys no isolation and costs a hop; the harness
+lives in the Core worklet (or speaks to the SDK's own worklet over its
+pipe). Same contract, an in-worklet duplex instead of a spawn:
+
+```js
+// inside the Core worklet: Core + harness + assistant, one process
+import { QvacAssistant, duplexPair } from 'qvac-core'
+import { Harness, serveHarness, connectHarness } from 'qvac-harness'
+
+const [serverEnd, clientEnd] = duplexPair()
+serveHarness(serverEnd, new Harness({ tools }))
+new QvacAssistant(
+  client,
+  connectHarness(() => clientEnd)
+)
+```
+
+**Death is death** (day one, like v1): a harness death fails the in-flight
+run with a `HARNESS_DIED` reason and fails every later call fast — never a
+hang. The `'status'` events and `harness.lives` are in-memory observability;
+restart/recovery policy lands on that plumbing later. The wire contract also
+carries `agent.id`, so a harness scopes per-agent tool config/credentials
+locally (a work agent's gmail never leaks to a personal agent) — that config
+never crosses the wire or touches the mesh. See `../harness-rpc/README.md`
+for the contract itself.
+
+## What you get for free
+
+Because every part of a run is a replicated chunk, the assistant inherits the
+whole multi-device story without any harness code:
+
+- **Delegation** — agents live on the mesh with a `providerDeviceId`. Any
+  device asks (`engine.runAgent({ chatId, agentId })` appends a `run-request`
+  chunk); the device that _provides_ the agent executes; every chunk streams
+  back to everyone. A request made while the provider is offline runs when it
+  returns. Asking requires no harness at all.
+- **Approval** — `await approve(call)` inside your harness surfaces as an
+  approval-request chunk on every device; ANY of them may answer
+  (`engine.resolveApproval`), first decision wins, and your promise resolves.
+  A run that dies with an unanswered request auto-denies it — no peer ever
+  sees a forever-pending ask. Tools marked `autoApprove` skip the gate.
+- **Stop** — any device may stop any run: `engine.stopRun` writes the
+  terminal `canceled` run-status itself (no executor needed — it settles an
+  orphaned run too); an executing harness's `signal` fires when the status
+  replicates to it, and it writes nothing more.
+- **Model progress** — emit `'model'` events (`loading`/`downloading`/`ready`)
+  from your harness (plain EventEmitter) and every device watching the run
+  sees load/download progress, coalesced.
+- **Metrics** — yield one `{ type: 'metrics', ... }` event and it lands on the
+  completed run-status chunk, replicated.
+- **Crash safety** — the first run-status chunk is the replicated claim
+  marker: a restarted assistant never re-executes a run that already started.
+
+## One-shot tasks
+
+A chat is a conversation; a task is one question with one answer. `runTask`
+composes the append/run/watch flow into a single await — no streaming, no chunk
+bookkeeping — and resolves once the run settles:
+
+```js
+import { runTask } from 'qvac-core/task'
+
+const result = await runTask(engine, { agentId: agent.id, prompt: 'Say hi' })
+
+result.state // 'completed' | 'failed' | 'canceled'
+result.text // the answer: content after the last tool result, trimmed
+result.thinking // kept apart from the answer
+result.toolCalls // [{ name, arguments }]
+result.attachments // what the run produced
+result.sources // RAG hits the run cited
+result.reason // why, when state is not 'completed'
+result.chunks // the run's raw chunks, for anything the above flattened
+```
+
+A run that calls a tool interleaves content around `tool-call` / `tool-result`,
+so `text` is the content after the last tool result — the model narrating its
+way there is in `chunks`, not in the answer.
+
+It opens its own chat, titled from the prompt; pass `chatId` to continue an
+existing one instead. A failed or canceled run resolves like any other — the
+outcome is in `state`, so nothing hangs waiting for an answer that is not
+coming.
+
+`skill: 'presentations'` forces that skill into the turn. It rides the same
+`@mention` channel a user types, so the harness inlines the skill's
+instructions into the message rather than leaving the model to call the loader
+— and it overrides the agent's `enabledSkills`, which readiness alone gates.
+One skill per task: the mention is the first token of the message.
+
+## Rendering the chunk stream (any UI)
+
+The engine exposes a snapshot chat catalog:
+
+```js
+const { chats } = await engine.listChats()
+```
+
+It returns complete, active mesh chat rows ordered by `createdAt`, then `id` —
+pure metadata, so `chatsWatch` only re-emits on create, rename, delete, or flag
+changes. The existing replicated chat encoding uses zero as the default for an
+absent optional `deletedAt`, so `deletedAt: 0` is not a representable tombstone
+and is treated as active. Positive tombstone timestamps are excluded.
+`listChats()` itself is a snapshot query. Chat create, update, delete, and watch
+capabilities are available through the typed chat API.
+
+### Chat activity
+
+Derived per-chat run state rides its own lean stream so it never churns the
+metadata list:
+
+```js
+const { activities } = await engine.listChatActivity() // or engine.chatActivityWatch()
+```
+
+Each row is just `{ id, activityState }` — a small state machine over the chat's
+replicated runs:
+
+- `queued` — a run requested but not yet executing.
+- `running` — generic compute (thinking, responding, an ordinary tool call).
+- `generating-image` / `generating-audio` / `transcribing-audio` — the active run
+  refined by the media it is producing.
+- `awaiting-approval` — the active run paused on the user.
+
+Every value is a mutually-exclusive state, not a parallel flag. Runs serialize
+per chat, so at most one is executing. The list carries only active chats — a
+chat absent from it is idle, so a busy list stays proportional to what's running
+rather than to how many chats exist. Clients join these rows to `listChats` by
+`id` and render the label per state, so the wire carries no words.
+
+Pass `chatIds` to scope activity to a viewport: `chatActivityWatch({ chatIds })`
+returns captions for only those chats, so a client watches what is on screen and
+re-opens with a new window on scroll (chats it stops watching read as idle). An
+empty or absent `chatIds` returns the whole active set.
+
+The media states are the only phase detail on this stream, and they belong here
+because they are coarse and boundary-driven — image generation is one long phase,
+not a per-token flip. Core derives them from the run's `progress.phase`
+(`generating` plus an unsettled `generate_music` → audio, otherwise
+`generating` → image; `transcribing` → transcription) and its unsettled media
+tool-calls (`generate_music` → audio before sampling starts).
+Everything finer stays off the list: the moment-to-moment phase
+(thinking/responding, which non-media tool, the live percentage) is on the
+per-chat chunk stream the open chat subscribes to, and model download/load
+progress stays in `modelDownloadsWatch` (it reads as generic `running` here). So
+`chatActivityWatch` broadcasts only at these coarse boundaries, and `chatsWatch`
+stays silent through a run entirely.
+
+### Notifications
+
+`notificationsWatch()` merges device-local model completions with chat-derived
+`assistant-reply`, `run-failed`, `approval-required`, and `user-message` events.
+The newest 200 events are returned by default, with `truncated` when more remain.
+
+Chat rows carry `chatId`, `agentId`, `chunkId`, `seq`, and `createdAt`, with an
+optional 280-character preview and agent name. Human messages also carry
+`senderDeviceId`, optional `senderMemberId`, `senderName`, and `chatTitle`.
+Messages from this device or another device of the same member are suppressed;
+without membership the sender falls back to device identity. Deleted chats and
+automatic diagram repairs stay silent.
+
+`ackNotification({ chatId, seq })` advances the local cursor monotonically.
+Pending approvals stay visible until resolved, including when answered elsewhere.
+Model rows carry `kind: 'model-downloaded'`, `notificationId`, `modelName`, and
+`createdAt`; `ackNotification({ notificationId })` acknowledges that completion
+without touching a chat cursor. One latest completion per model survives restart,
+and an old acknowledgement cannot clear a newer download.
+
+The Core-lifetime stream follows mesh transitions through lifecycle events and
+keeps local model events available without a mesh. It ends on Core shutdown or
+subscriber cancellation. Clients own notification copy, foreground suppression,
+and operating-system delivery.
+
+The assistant persists a logical transfer identity and completion separately from
+download progress. Retries and suspension retain that identity. Completion waits
+for required companion assets; cached discovery and 100% progress do not notify.
+Core also emits `notification` wake events for terminal run-status,
+approval-request, and user-message chunks.
+
+A chat IS its chunk stream — one watch drives the whole view, and every
+device renders the same thing because they all see the same chunks:
+
+```js
+for await (const { chunks } of engine.chunksWatch({ chatId })) render(chunks)
+```
+
+Each frame is the full chat in seq order. To render it, group chunks into
+turns, then map each chunk type:
+
+**Grouping.** A `user-message` (and an `attachment`) is its own user turn —
+label it by `originDeviceId`, resolved to a name via `devicesWatch`. Every
+chunk carrying a `runId` belongs to one assistant turn, anchored where its
+`run-request` sits (that ordering matters: a message queued during a slow run
+must sort before the reply that follows it).
+
+**Per type:**
+
+| chunk type         | render as                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
+| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
+| `user-message`     | the user's text (`chunk.userMessage.text`), labelled by device                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `run-request`      | nothing — it anchors the turn and marks "a run is in flight" before the provider even starts (`chunk.runRequest.agentId` names the agent)                                                                                                                                                                                            |
+| `content`          | assistant text (`chunk.content.text`); consecutive content chunks concatenate into one bubble                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
+| `thinking`         | collapsed/dimmed reasoning segment (`chunk.thinking.text`)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
+| `tool-call`        | `→ name(arguments)` line from `chunk.toolCall`                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| `tool-result`      | `← name: result` line from `chunk.toolResult` (collapse long results)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
+| `attachment`       | file card from `chunk.attachment` (`fileName`, `mimeType`, `byteLength`); fetch bytes with `engine.downloadAttachment({ blobId })`                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
+| `approval-request` | **the chunk IS the approval state**, in the typed `chunk.approvalRequest` struct. `status === 'pending'` → show the ask (prefer `resource` — e.g. `host wttr.in` — over raw arguments) with allow / always-allow / deny; any other status → a resolved badge                                                                         |
+| `run-status`       | turn lifecycle, in the typed `chunk.runStatus` struct: `executing` with a `progress` sub-struct (`phase` `loading`/`downloading`, `model`, `percentage` — edited in place on the one executing chunk, labelled by the chunk's `originDeviceId`); `failed` → error with `reason`; `completed` → done, `metrics` (tokens, tok/s, ttft) |
+
+**Approval answers** go through `engine.resolveApproval({ id, approved,
+scope, expiresAt })` from ANY device — first decision wins, the flipped
+chunk replicates to everyone. `scope: 'always'` also mints a standing
+approval-rule from the request's tool + resource, so matching future calls
+don't prompt anywhere until the rule expires — one hour by default; pass
+`expiresAt` (ms since epoch) to grant longer or shorter
+(`engine.listApprovalRules({})` shows what's remembered).
+
+**Busy state** derives from the stream, not local flags: if the last
+assistant turn has no terminal `run-status` (`completed`/`failed`/
+`canceled`), a run is in flight somewhere — show the spinner on every device
+and offer `engine.stopRun({ chatId, runId })`.
+
+**Stopping** is a right of any device, not a request to the executor:
+`stopRun` appends the terminal `canceled` run-status itself, so it settles a
+run whether its provider is live, offline, or gone entirely (an orphaned
+run's spinner). A live executor yields when the status replicates to it and
+writes nothing more; if the run finished first, the stop is a no-op. The
+first terminal status in seq order is always the run's one outcome.
+
+**Orphaned agents.** Every agent from `listAgents`/`getAgent`/`agentsWatch`
+carries a derived `orphaned` flag: its provider device row is gone or
+revoked, so nobody can execute its runs until it's re-homed
+(`updateAgent({ id, providerDeviceId })`). Render it as "waiting for
+provider" — on the agent itself, and on a busy turn whose agent is orphaned
+(that spinner will never resolve by itself). Device removal deliberately
+does NOT delete the device's agents: their chats survive, and re-homing
+brings them back.
+
+`tui/app.mjs` (`turnsFromChunks`, `renderTurn`) is this table as
+working code — the same model drives the TUI end to end.
+
+## File status
+
+`Mesh.files`, implemented in `lib/core/files/index.ts`, owns file access, local
+processing state, and cleanup. Its internal modules expose one `index.ts` each:
+Store handles bytes and ranges, Records handles the existing attachment and
+knowledge surfaces, Processing owns worker lifetime, and RAG owns extraction,
+artifacts, vectors, and retrieval. Removing a Knowledge entry preserves its
+source while a live chat attachment still references it.
+
+Browser clients keep using the pure `@qvac/core/rag/*` package exports; these
+do not import the backend Files module.
+
+`fileStatusWatch({ chatId })` returns a full snapshot of the chat's files, including
+uploads still in progress. Each file has `fileId`, `state`, `readyForChat`, optional
+`uploadProgress`, and `processors`. Each registered processor has an independent
+queue, state and output identity. A processor outside a file's scope reports
+`not-applicable`. Replacing the embedding model stops only RAG; other processors
+continue for the lifetime of the mesh.
+
+Source and output blobs download independently into local storage. An unavailable
+file starts a background range download and yields its processing slot, so ready
+files can proceed. Byte arrival wakes that file immediately, without waiting for
+the retry timer or other downloads. These transfers have no 15-second cutoff;
+deletion, suspension and shutdown cancel them. Each processor still limits its
+CPU work to one job, and RAG production and repair share one embedding slot.
+
+`Mesh.files` owns local processing, recovery, and readiness. Retrieval prioritizes
+the current turn's attachments or named files, otherwise the chat's knowledge,
+and waits up to five seconds total for indexing. A timeout leaves processing
+running in the background for API searches. When a chat request attaches documents,
+names pending files, or asks for a document overview, the reply then watches those
+files until they are ready, failed or removed. It shows “Preparing documents…” and
+refreshes retrieval before answering automatically; Stop closes that subscription.
+Documents whose full text already fits the prompt need no index wait.
+See the [cache and processing decision](docs/decisions/2026-07-15-vector-index-session-cache.md).
+
+```ts
+const statuses = engine.fileStatusWatch({ chatId })
+statuses.on('data', ({ files }) => renderFileStates(files))
+
+const upload = engine.uploadKnowledge()
+upload.write({
+  chatId,
+  fileName: 'notes.txt',
+  mimeType: 'text/plain',
+  fileId,
+  totalBytes: bytes.length
+})
+upload.write({ data: bytes })
+upload.end()
+for await (const receipt of upload) {
+  if (receipt.knowledge) console.log(receipt.knowledge.id)
+}
+statuses.destroy()
+```
+
+The optional `fileId` must be unique and becomes the stored file ID. Omitting it
+keeps server-generated IDs. Cancelled or failed uploads can reuse that ID once
+the previous upload closes, provided no file was stored. Upload session details
+expire one minute after closing; stored files remain visible.
+Expiry stays private to the upload session. A supplied ID is reserved before
+persisted-record validation, so concurrent uploads cannot acquire the same ID.
+Both upload endpoints retain their existing progress
+frames and final receipt. `uploadProgress.completed` counts original source bytes,
+even when an image is normalized before storage. A missing or zero total means
+unknown; do not calculate a percentage without a positive total.
+
+Both endpoints share one upload path. A new Knowledge-panel document creates a
+chat attachment and a knowledge row with the same ID and blob. Its receipt follows
+both records, without waiting for indexing. The attachment belongs to the next
+user message, allowing that question to read the document immediately. Removing
+knowledge leaves the chat attachment downloadable until it is deleted too.
+Direct `mesh.files.knowledge({ deviceId })` callers supply the uploader's device
+identity; the Engine API supplies it without changing upload request frames.
+
+Legacy panel-only rows can also be staged by their explicit ID, within their
+original chat. Metadata reads need no blob bytes; unavailable bytes produce a
+read error. This compatibility path writes no backfill or migration.
+
+`fileRead({ chatId, fileId, metadataOnly? })` resolves either surface in the named
+chat. The stream starts with `metadata`, then yields original bytes and cumulative
+`bytesRead` / `byteLength`. A missing or deleted file returns an empty stream.
+Metadata-only reads never open blob storage; destroying the stream cancels an
+outstanding remote read. Assistant file staging uses this same endpoint.
+
+Processor outputs reuse the existing artifact operation. Inline outputs are capped
+at 512 KiB and carried inside the reference string, alongside a zero-length legacy
+blob range. Their processor version has no RAG model separator, so released RAG
+readers skip them. Inline data never enters blob storage or reclamation. The
+compatibility suite runs released apply and reclaim code, including late joins,
+reopen and downgrade, without changing mesh or local database schemas.
+
+New image uploads opt into the `preview` processor. It produces an upright JPEG
+from the first frame, at most 768 pixels on either side, targeting 80 KiB with
+the 512 KiB inline ceiling. The uploader gets the first 30 seconds to produce it;
+another capable peer can then recover missing work. Images uploaded before this
+feature remain `not-applicable` and use their existing rendering path.
+
+`filePreview({ chatId, fileId })` returns the preview's `outputId`, MIME type and
+bytes, or an empty result while it is unavailable. It never downloads the original.
+`fileRetry({ chatId, fileId, processorId })` clears local failure and retry state
+for that processor. Desktop and mobile consume the same runtime file-status actor;
+opening or saving an image requests its original separately. A failed preview has
+retry and open-original actions.
+
+Preview identity hashes the document ID, its immutable source core/range and the
+processor version. Unlike RAG's source-byte hash, that source address lets a peer
+recognize the matching preview without downloading the original. The version is
+stored in the existing `embedderVersion` string as `processor:preview:1`, with zero
+dimensions. Released devices ignore this output and continue reading originals;
+no roster gate or forced update is needed for this compatible representation.
+
+HTTP blob links probe the first requested block with a 15-second bound before
+returning success headers. Missing blocks produce a transient HTTP failure; the
+same URL can succeed after replication. HEAD and empty responses need no probe,
+and byte ranges fetch only the requested range. Suspend and close cancel pending
+probes. A deadline for stalls later in the response body remains follow-up work.
+
+Progress is local to the uploading or processing device. Remote processing exposes
+its existing replicated claim and result without invented counts. `claimedBy` is
+the writer key; `agentId` is included when the current agent host matches it.
+`published` means an output record exists, while `readyForChat` requires the local
+RAG index to be loaded. Neither field promises that another device is ready.
+
+Uploads fail after 30 seconds without an incoming frame. Cancelling releases their
+writer and removes uncommitted bytes. Committed files survive cancellation that
+arrives after publication. Suspend cancels outstanding source/output reads; resume
+and peer connection allow recovery. An unavailable output can be rebuilt into the
+local index when its source and embedding model are available, without changing
+the immutable shared artifact reference. This local cache is rebuilt after restart.
+
+`Files` owns the status consumed by both this watch and retrieval. `ragSearch`
+includes `pendingFiles`, also surfaced in the prompt and source notice. Existing
+knowledge and indexing APIs remain supported. `listIndexing` and `indexingWatch`
+also report repeated source misses and locally unavailable outputs using the
+existing response shape. These diagnostics never write shared status rows and
+clear when the file becomes usable locally. This feature adds no replicated file
+fields, operations, data migrations, or changes to existing RAG artifact IDs.
+
+The TUI uses this watch for its live progress strip. `/files` lists the current
+snapshot, including failures and whether each file is ready for chat on this
+device. Upload with `/attach <path>` or `/knowledge add <path>`; `/knowledge`
+retains its detailed indexing records for diagnostics.
+
+## Watch streams: subscribe, unsubscribe, errors
+
+Every `*Watch` capability (`chunksWatch`, `agentsWatch`, `devicesWatch`,
+`configWatch`, `meshStatusWatch`) returns the same kind of stream, with one
+contract:
+
+- **The first frame is the current snapshot, immediately.** Subscribing IS
+  the fetch — there is no fetch-then-subscribe race to paper over, ever.
+- **Later frames arrive only on real change** (identical snapshots are
+  deduped server-side), and each frame is the full current result, not a
+  delta.
+- **`destroy()` is the unsubscribe** (ending a `for await` does the same
+  thing). Nothing else to call, no registry to clean up — in any process,
+  over any transport.
+- **A dying stream can never crash the host.** Every stream comes pre-armed
+  with an error observer, so a consumer that only listens to `'data'` is
+  safe; `'close'` always fires, and a `for await` rejects with the reason.
+
+The stream is typed end to end (`WatchStream<T>` — async-iterable AND
+evented; `T` is the hyperschema frame type), so both idioms typecheck:
+
+**Loop** — `break`/`return` unsubscribes:
+
+```js
+for await (const { agents } of engine.agentsWatch({})) {
+  render(agents)
+  if (done) break // break IS the unsubscribe
+}
+```
+
+**Mount/unmount** — subscribe with `on('data')`, unsubscribe with
+`destroy()`; this is plain streamx, nothing layered on top:
+
+```js
+const stream = engine.chunksWatch({ chatId }) // opening the chat
+stream.on('data', ({ chunks }) => render(chunks))
+// ...closing the chat:
+stream.destroy() // the unsubscribe
+```
+
+**One value, not a stream** — take the first frame and leave; still no
+race, because frame one is the snapshot:
+
+```js
+async function once(stream) {
+  for await (const frame of stream) return frame // break-on-return unsubscribes
+}
+const { devices } = await once(engine.devicesWatch({}))
+```
+
+**Errors end the stream, they never hang it.** A server-side query failure
+destroys the stream with that error (`for await` rejects with it); transport
+death settles every open stream and pending call. So a long-lived consumer
+is a re-arm loop, not error plumbing:
+
+```js
+while (!closing) {
+  try {
+    for await (const { chunks } of engine.chunksWatch({ chatId })) render(chunks)
+    break // server ended the stream deliberately
+  } catch {
+    await delay(1000) // transport blip — resubscribe (frame one re-syncs you)
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Under the hood: ending the iterator destroys the wire stream, a DESTROY
+frame crosses the transport, and the Core releases the underlying store
+watcher — verified by test. The relays a host puts between the Client and
+the Core (Electron IPC, a worklet bridge) carry these as ordinary bytes and
+hold no subscription state, so there is nothing to unsubscribe at any layer
+in between. If several consumers want the same data, share ONE subscription
+and ref-count the unsubscribe in your app layer — the stream is cheap, but
+one per consumer is still one store watcher each on the Core.
+
+## Harness event reference
+
+`completion()` may yield:
+
+| event         | shape                                  | becomes                                                   |
+| ------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `content`     | `{ type, text }`                       | `content` chunks (coalesced)                              |
+| `thinking`    | `{ type, text }`                       | `thinking` chunks                                         |
+| `tool-call`   | `{ type, name, args }`                 | `tool-call` chunk (`toolCall.name`, `toolCall.arguments`) |
+| `tool-result` | `{ type, name, result }`               | `tool-result` chunk (`toolResult`)                        |
+| `metrics`     | `{ type, totalTokens, durationMs, … }` | stored on the completed run-status                        |
+| `error`       | `{ type, message }`                    | run-status `failed`                                       |
+| `aborted`     | `{ type }`                             | run-status `canceled`                                     |
+
+Context you receive: `model` (the agent's model name), `agent`
+(`{ name, bio }`), `messages` (`{ role, content }[]`), `approve(call)`,
+`signal`.
+
+## Connecting a skill (Notion, GitHub, …)
+
+A skill reaches an external service through a **credential key** its
+`SKILL.md` declares. The harness never sees the raw token: the credential
+store resolves the key at call time and injects it as a bearer, and the
+skill's `allow_list` binds that key to the URL prefixes it may be sent to.
+Credentials are **per agent** (stored at `skills.<agentId>.<key>`), so two
+agents never share one connection.
+
+Fill a key with a slash command in the running TUI (`duck` drives the
+command set):
+
+- `/connect google` · `/connect spotify` · `/connect asana` · `/connect notion` — browser OAuth;
+  the example stores the token and refreshes it on use.
+- `/cred <key> <value>` — set any credential key by hand, for a service with
+  no built-in OAuth flow.
+
+`/connect google` needs `GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID` + `GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET`
+in env, `/connect spotify` needs `SPOTIFY_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID`, `/connect asana` needs
+`ASANA_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID` + `ASANA_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET` (an MCP-type app registered
+at app.asana.com); `/connect notion` needs nothing — its MCP server self-provisions
+a public client via dynamic registration (RFC 7591) + PKCE.
+
+### Notion
+
+Notion runs over its official MCP server (`https://mcp.notion.com/mcp`) via
+the `mcp_call` tool, under the credential key `notion_mcp_access_token`:
+
+```
+/connect notion   # authorize in the browser, pick the pages to share
+/skill on notion  # if the agent's skill scope is 'selected'
+```
+
+Then ask the assistant anything Notion — it loads the `notion` skill and calls
+`mcp_call` itself; the session handshake and auth are handled for you. A `401`
+in a tool result means the token expired — run `/connect notion` again.
+
+```sh
+duck
+```
+
+Office documents (`docx`, `doc`, `odt`) decode through an engine the host supplies rather
+than a declared dependency: the package pulls all thirteen platform prebuilds at ~350MB
+each, so declaring it would cost every install 4.3GB. Fetch the one for this machine before
+exercising `/knowledge add report.docx`:
+
+```sh
+bun run engine:collabora
+```
+
+The TUI copies its mesh invite to the clipboard on ctrl+y. On a second machine
+(or a second terminal):
+
+```sh
+duck qvac://mesh/…
+```
+
+A running TUI moves mesh with `/join qvac://mesh/…` — it retires the mesh it is
+on, joins that one, and re-resolves the agent and chat from it.
+
+`--headless` brings the same stack up with no TUI: it prints the invite and then
+streams logs (including the sidecar child's own output, which the TUI drops) to
+stdout until ctrl+C. That is the shape to run as a background mesh peer, and the
+only way to read the engine's logs live — `QVAC_LOG_LEVEL` picks the level:
+
+```sh
+duck --headless
+```
+
+The joiner brings no models and no agents — it finds the mesh's seeded agent,
+asks, and the _creator's_ device runs the model while both sides watch the
+same replicated stream: load progress, thinking, tokens, tool approvals
+(either side can answer), and final stats.
+
+## Development
+
+```sh
+npm test               # node + bare suites
+npm run build:schema   # regenerate spec/ from schema/ (bare)
+bun run duck           # build the TUI sidecar bundle, then run it
+bun run duck:warm      # run the TUI against the last-built bundle
+```
+
+The TUI lives in [`tui/`](tui/README.md) and installs as the `duck` command.
+Schema changes go in `schema/*.ts` (builders) — `spec/` is generated. The
+mesh schema (`spec/mesh/*`) is the replicated protocol: every device in a
+mesh must run the same generated spec. See `MIGRATION.md` for the audited
+feature checklist vs core v1.