# Nisse — Development Plan **Status: proposed for discussion.** How to get from the code as it is to the full architecture in `docs/Architecture.md`, in what order, and how each step is accepted. The architecture says *what and why*; this document says *how and when*, and is revised as work lands. It follows the format the architecture asks agents to use (D2): phases of milestones, each with a goal, scope and acceptance criteria, and each marked **pre-approved** or **needs discussion**. --- ## 1. Where we are A survey of the code on `main` (2026-09-30) against each architecture section. **Done** means it exists and matches the architecture; **partial** means something exists but needs changing; **none** means not started. Only `nisse-dev` has real code (about 10,000 lines in `nisse-dev/src/nisse_dev/`). `nisse-core` and `nisse-ops` are placeholder packages. | Section | Status | Notes | |---|---|---| | **P** Principles | — | Guidance; each milestone below applies them | | **L1** Work model | partial | One work item at a time with a minted ID; but the state store is a single row (`agent_state`, `CHECK (id = 1)`), not a work-items table with an active pointer. No duties, parking or switching (only `nisse-ops` needs duties) | | **L2** Agent loop | partial | `control.py`: a fixed state machine (arch → milestone gates → executing → PR open), with the no-stranding rule, `stop`, `abandon`, restart questions. To be replaced by the conversational loop | | **L3** Authority | partial | Revision binding and arrival stamping are done (`gates.py`, #74). Approvals are gates, not permissions; no pre-approved milestones, no trust dial | | **L4** Action classifier | none | | | **L5** Conversation | partial | Matrix transport, mention handling, case-insensitive commands. Only the planner can ask (`ask_human`); no question handling, no explanations or progress prose, a misleading reply in `IDLE` | | **L6** Context and memory | partial | Context fitting is done (`context.py`). The transcript isn't scoped per work item and has no attribution or orchestrator facts (#78). No scope or agent memory | | **L7** Canonical log | partial | `canonical.py`: user, assistant, tool call/result, plan, gate, delegation, compaction events. Missing: work item and actor on every event, `fact`, `classifier_verdict`, `knowledge_retrieved` | | **L8** Durability and recovery | mostly done | WAL store, intents, boot reconciliation, adopting a published PR (#75), comment cursors and redelivery (#68, #76), Quint model (`specs/`). Needs moving onto the new loop and the work-items schema | | **L9** Models, roles, helpers | partial | LiteLLM client and catalog, context budgets, delegation with passthrough and caps, `ask_expert`, tool-choice handling, eval capture. Roles are executor/planner/delegate/consultant with a frontier planner; no `driver`, no capability profiles, no driver-chosen escalation | | **L10** Knowledge store | none | | | **L11** Prompt injection | partial | Operator allowlists on every channel; no classifier, no structured intake beyond Gitea's JSON | | **L12** Secrets, identity, logging | partial | Structured state-change log (`oplog.py`); secrets from `.env` files; no Vaultwarden, no LLDAP identity | | **D2** Documents as workflow | none | Plans are posted to a Gitea issue; no project `ARCHITECTURE.md` or build plans in the repo | | **D3** Workspace | partial | Cloned once and reused as-is; no fetch, no fresh workspace, no preflight (#62, #27) | | **D4** Git and PRs | partial | Idempotent publishing (#75), committed work published (#63); `git add -A` sweeps in artifacts (#80); branches cut at publish from whatever `HEAD` is (#62) | | **D5** Review and merge | partial | Review loop on PR conversation comments; inline comments unseen (#69); watch stall (#70); operator merges; no trust dial (#65) | | **D7** Deployment | none | Bring-up runs on this box as root; no VM, VLAN or egress policy | | **O** `nisse-ops` | none | | | **X** Deployment model | none | | --- ## 2. The environment today **Supporting services** (X5) are installed and running: Matrix (Synapse), Gitea, LiteLLM, Vikunja, Outline, Vaultwarden, LLDAP with Authelia. Per-agent accounts and tokens are created as each agent needs them. So far `nisse-dev` has a Matrix test identity and room, a Gitea test account and sandbox repo, and dedicated LiteLLM keys. **Local inference:** an RTX 4090 host, `inference-4090.garrett-hall.com`, running llama-swap (one model resident at a time), capped at 320 W. The executor benchmark (PR #55) chose `qwen3.8-27b` for `nisse-dev`'s local work. **Models by role today** (`nisse-dev.example.yaml`): executor `qwen3.8-27b`, planner and delegate `claude-opus-5-5`, consultant `claude-haiku-4-5`. Phase 2 moves to the architecture's roles (L9): driver local, helpers frontier. **Bring-up runs** happen on this box, against test resources: the sandbox repo, the test Matrix room, a budget-capped LiteLLM key; configuration in `~/nisse-e2e/`. --- ## 3. How we work - **One PR per milestone,** usually. Every PR still starts with a short implementation plan per `CLAUDE.md`. For a **pre-approved** milestone that plan is a quick confirmation; a **needs discussion** milestone starts with a design discussion before any plan. - **Every change comes with tests,** per `CLAUDE.md`, and runs through `scripts/check.sh` (lint, format, unit and integration tests). - **The Quint model moves with the loop.** Any change to how the loop enters or leaves a waiting point updates `specs/`, and every counterexample is reproduced against the real code before it is fixed. - **A bring-up run on this box ends each phase** where it can be run live. What it finds is filed as issues and fixed before the next phase starts, or explicitly deferred. - **Bring-up runs on this development VM,** as root, like production. Guards: it touches only test resources, and keeps today's structural gates on in its bring-up configuration until the classifier and trust dial are proven (Phase 3). - **This plan is revised as we go:** a milestone's scope may move once work shows its real shape, recorded here in the same PR. --- ## 4. Phases ### Phase 0 — Housekeeping **M0.1 Retire the old spec.** *Pre-approved.* **Done.** - Update every section reference in code, tests, `specs/` and the `CLAUDE.md` and `README.md` files from the old spec's A–H to the new letters. - Delete `docs/Architecture-Build-Spec.md` (git keeps it), and the old-to-new section table this plan carried for the purpose. - Acceptance: `grep` finds no reference to the old spec or its section numbers. **M0.2 A bring-up script.** *Pre-approved.* **Done.** - `scripts/bringup.sh`: set aside the previous run's state, workspace and log; export the ref under test; start the agent as a systemd unit, so it outlives the shell that started it; collect the log and a readable transcript (`python -m nisse_dev.dump`) afterwards. - The agent runs as root on this development VM, as it will on its own VM in production (D7), so installing packages works as it will there. - Acceptance: a smoke run starts, answers `status`, stops cleanly, and `collect` produces the log and transcript. ### Phase 1 — Foundations the new loop needs These fix problems found in the live runs that **survive the loop change.** Issues that only exist because of `control.py`'s state machine (#61, #79, #81) are folded into Phase 2's design instead of being fixed twice. **M1.1 Work items in the state store.** *Needs discussion* (schema). **Done.** - A work-items table with an active pointer (L1); every canonical event carries its work item and its actor (L7). A migration for existing stores. - Acceptance: two work items back to back keep separate state and events; a restart keeps both; migration tests. **M1.2 Transcript views.** *Needs discussion* (rendering). **Done.** - Per-role rendering (L6): a role sees only its work item, attributed entries, and orchestrator `fact` events; never another role's raw turns as its own (#78). - Acceptance: the second live run's confusion can't happen (a planning call after a milestone contains the milestone fact and PR, and no executor turns). **M1.3 A fresh workspace at `use`, and harness-owned branches.** *Pre-approved.* - Fetch; clean checkout of the latest base; set aside anything left over and report it (D3). Milestone branches cut by the harness from the task's workspace; "changes to publish" counted from the milestone's start (D4). Covers #62 and the clone-on-use half of #27. - Acceptance: a leftover branch, uncommitted change and stale `origin` are each handled and reported; a second milestone's PR contains only its own commits. **M1.4 Publish only the work.** *Pre-approved.* - Standard excludes in the clone, and commit only what the work changed (D4, #80). - Acceptance: a milestone that ran pytest publishes no `.pyc`; excluded files are reported. **M1.5 Review intake.** *Pre-approved.* - Inline review comments and review bodies (#69); no stall when a watch is replaced from its own callback (#70); replies in the thread where the comment was made (D5). - Acceptance: tests for each; inline comments work in the phase's bring-up run. **Phase 1 acceptance:** a bring-up run on the current loop with two milestones and a review comment, including inline ones. ### Phase 2 — The conversational loop Built **alongside** `control.py`, reusing the state store, canonical log, context fitting, publisher, pollers and recovery; `nisse-dev` switches over when the new loop passes its tests and a bring-up run, and `control.py` is retired. **M2.1 Loop design and its model.** *Needs discussion.* - A short design note (in the PR, then folded into the architecture where it settles something): the loop's turns, waiting points, pending questions, permissions it checks, and recovery. A new Quint model for it before code, with the no-stranding, approval-binding and at-least-once properties carried over. **M2.2 The loop core.** *Needs discussion.* - The driver-driven turn loop (L2): conversation, tool calls, pending questions, `stop`, `abandon`, intents and boot recovery on the work-items schema. - **Questions never change state** (L5): the recognition rule is decided here (Q). - Acceptance: the new Quint model's scenarios reproduced as tests; no-stranding under injected faults, as `test_no_stranding.py` does today. **M2.3 Roles and capability profiles.** *Pre-approved.* - Roles become `driver`, `helper`, `expert`, `classifier` (L9); capability profiles in configuration, filled from the benchmark; the driver's prompt encourages asking for help; observable escalation triggers; delegation and `ask_expert` wired to the new loop. Supersedes #46 (separate architect and planner roles). **M2.4 Conversation.** *Pre-approved* (the behaviour is set by L5). - Explanations with plans and revisions, finished-work summaries, progress in prose (#42), handling messages that can't be acted on yet, asking mid-work (#77). **M2.5 Documents as the workflow.** *Needs discussion.* - Project `ARCHITECTURE.md` and build plans in the repo, discussed and landed by PR; milestones marked pre-approved or needs discussion and whether they change code; permissions derived from them (L3, D2). - Milestones and projects end properly: the plan declares its milestones; a no-change milestone that wasn't meant to change code is done; moving on checks the PR's state; finishing closes the issue (D4, D5). Supersedes #61, #79, #81. **M2.6 Switch over and retire `control.py`.** *Pre-approved, after acceptance.* - `nisse-dev` runs the new loop; `control.py`, its tests and the old Quint model are removed. **Phase 2 acceptance:** a bring-up run: a new small project from conversation to an agreed `ARCHITECTURE.md` and build plan, two milestones (one pre-approved), a review comment answered, a question asked by the agent mid-milestone, and a crash mid-review. ### Phase 3 — Authority **M3.1 Action classes and the fast path.** *Needs discussion.* - Every tool action classified by effect (P3); static fast-path rules per agent (D6); the scope each class-2 action is checked against. **M3.2 The action classifier.** *Needs discussion.* - L4, including the model choice (Q), fail-closed behaviour, logged verdicts, and operator overrides as an evaluation set. **M3.3 Permissions and the trust dial.** *Needs discussion.* - Approvals as scoped permissions, the operator-set trust dial, and agent merging behind branch protection the agent can't satisfy, verified by a test (L3, D4, D5, #65). **Phase 3 acceptance:** a bring-up run with the classifier active and gates first on, then deliberately loosened in the bring-up configuration. ### Phase 4 — The environment **M4.1 Toolchain preflight.** *Pre-approved.* Detect what the project needs, check it, and install what's missing before planning; toolchain facts in the transcript (D3). **M4.2 Recording installs.** *Pre-approved.* Every package or toolchain the agent installs is recorded as a fact and in the project's scope memory, so the environment can be rebuilt; recurring ones are noted for the VM image (D3, X4). **M4.3 Environment repair.** *Pre-approved.* The driver may clean caches and reinstall project dependencies within a task, and reports it (D3). ### Phase 5 — Memory and knowledge **M5.1 The Outline client.** *Pre-approved.* Per-agent Outline user and token, collections and documents by ID, revision reads, one writer per document (L10). **M5.2 Agent memory.** *Needs discussion.* When notes are written and read, the index, verbatim corrections (L6). **M5.3 Scope memory for repositories.** *Pre-approved.* Project documents read at work-item start and snapshotted; summaries at close (L6). ### Phase 6 — `nisse-dev` in production **M6.1 The VM, VLAN and egress policy.** *Needs discussion.* D7, X1, X2. **M6.2 Secrets and identity.** *Pre-approved.* Vaultwarden machine accounts, LLDAP principal, secrets out of `.env` files (L12). **M6.3 Images and delivery.** *Pre-approved.* Gitea Actions → OCI registry → Watchtower, restarts gated on an idle flag (X4). **M6.4 The browser tool.** *Pre-approved.* Playwright on the internal test network only (D7). ### Phase 7 — `nisse-core` and `nisse-ops` **M7.1 Extract `nisse-core`.** *Pre-approved.* A package split within the monorepo: what both agents use moves into `nisse-core`. **M7.2 MCP servers.** *Needs discussion.* Per (service, site, privilege) instances, tool profiles, configuration (X3, #37). **M7.3 Approved step sequences.** *Needs discussion.* The ops plan format, matcher, policy file, expiry (O2). **M7.4 Tickets and duties.** *Needs discussion.* Vikunja intake and approvals, scheduled checks and alert intake as duties (O5, #33). **M7.5 `nisse-ops` deployment.** *Needs discussion.* O6. ### Not yet scheduled From the architecture's open questions (Q) and older issues, to be placed when their trigger arrives: - more than one active work item per agent; - vision for 3D design and video work; - one local model for every agent, or agents taking turns on the inference host; - several forges and projects (#26); a Matrix room per project (#28); creating a project from scratch and who owns it (#29); one agent instance per project (#30); - infrastructure as code for agent VMs. --- ## 5. Open issues and where they land All 19 open issues, as of 2026-09-30: - **11 land in a milestone** and stay open until it is done. - **4 are superseded** by the new loop's design. They only exist because of `control.py`'s state machine, so fixing them there would be thrown away. They are closed, with a pointer to their milestone, when this plan is agreed. - **4 are not yet scheduled** and stay open until their trigger arrives. | Issue | Status | Lands in | |---|---|---| | #26 multiple forges | Not yet scheduled | | | #27 per-project state, clone on use | Milestone | M1.1 (state), M1.3 (clone) | | #28 room per project | Not yet scheduled | | | #29 create a project from scratch | Not yet scheduled | Ownership decision first | | #30 agent instance per project | Not yet scheduled | | | #33 Vikunja tickets | Milestone | M7.4 | | #37 MCP servers | Milestone | M7.2 | | #42 per-turn commentary | Milestone | M2.4 | | #46 architect and planner roles | **Superseded** | M2.3 (one driver, helpers) | | #61 simpler milestone gating | **Superseded** | M2.5 | | #62 branch at execution start | Milestone | M1.3 | | #65 agent merges approved PRs | Milestone | M3.3 | | #69 inline review comments | Milestone | M1.5 | | #70 watch stall | Milestone | M1.5 | | #77 conversational agent | Milestone | M2.2 (questions), M2.4 | | #78 transcript scoping and attribution | Milestone | M1.1, M1.2 | | #79 ending projects and milestones | **Superseded** | M2.5 | | #80 build artifacts in PRs | Milestone | M1.4 | | #81 no-change milestones | **Superseded** | M2.5 | ## 6. Implementation notes Mechanism detail moved out of `docs/Architecture.md` in PR #90, which keeps only decisions and their reasons. Keyed by the architecture section each note implements; a milestone touching that section uses the note, and changes it here if the implementation differs. - **L1 switching:** the grace period before switching away from an item waiting on the operator defaults to 10 minutes. When the driver chooses the next ready item and the choice fails or is invalid, fall back to the oldest. - **L3 revision stamping:** in Matrix, a reply is stamped with the revision whose message had been sent when it arrived; on a Gitea issue or a Vikunja ticket, with the latest proposal comment older than the reply. - **L5 transport:** the `Transport` interface is send, ask and receive. Intake backoff is exponential, capped at a few minutes. - **L6 fitting order:** first shorten old tool results to their first and last lines, then drop the oldest events with a note saying so; never the system prompt, the current plan or the most recent turns. View labels: `[orchestrator]`, `[operator, Matrix]`, `[operator, comment on PR #N]`, `[helper report]`, `[executor]` narration. - **L7 rendering:** content is stored as bytes or local paths and uploaded or inlined at render time, never as provider handles. Token budgeting and prompt-cache breakpoints are render-time concerns, never stored. Compaction summaries are first-class events so a model change never inherits opaquely compacted history. A reasoning "session" is a delegation, including one resumed after a crash. - **L8 state store:** SQLite in WAL mode, each change committed and fsynced before the loop continues. A delegation's cut is clean when its last event is a completed result, its branch is at the expected commit, its caps are unbreached and external truth matches the log. "Anything else" offers continue, re-plan or abandon. - **L9 local models:** request `tool_choice` only of models whose server declares it can enforce it; otherwise the loop enforces the contract (an explicit `finish`, prose treated as a violation). Briefings use the capability profile, never a model name or "weaker model". - **L10 vault:** atomic writes are write-then-rename. Obsidian's settings folder (and `.git`, if history is kept) are not synced. A failed write is retried, or recorded and reconciled later. - **L12:** secrets reach a command by environment or stdin. Headless agents get an Authelia single-factor exception scoped by source address, group and target. Logs are shipped to the host journal, not kept in containers. - **D3 preflight:** a project's needs are read from its files (`Cargo.toml`, `pyproject.toml`, `package.json`) or a declaration in the repository. - **D4 publishing:** standard excludes are configured in each clone, and only what the work produced is committed. A push hands the key over stdin to a short-lived `ssh-agent` on the build VM, for that one push. - **D7:** test services use ports 18000–18099, so opening access later is a firewall change. The inference host is behind LiteLLM, so it is not a second egress exception. - **X4:** the agent host's state dataset is ZFS, snapshotted on a schedule and on each approval. Tool VM templates use Terraform's `bpg/proxmox` provider with cloud-init. Containers restart unless stopped. - **X5:** the local inference host is llama-swap on an RTX 4090 machine.