Summary
Move from build-only host artifacts to an optional, receipt-backed lifecycle:
preview, install, update, repair, uninstall, rollback, recovery, and Doctor
verification. Preserve unrelated host configuration and apply component sets
atomically.
Problem
Generating valid plugin directories is insufficient for complex integrations.
Hosts may own shared JSON/TOML registries, require their own CLI installer,
prompt for trust, stage a plugin before activation, or use native extension
directories. Updating one component must not remove another or overwrite
third-party settings.
TraceDecay currently implements these guarantees itself. Agent Bundle should
make them a reusable framework capability after the host component compiler
can describe exact ownership.
Lifecycle
inspect observed state
-> preview immutable mutation plan
-> require exact confirmation digest
-> backup owned/shared documents
-> apply component transaction
-> host-specific activation
-> verify native registration and artifact bytes
-> publish receipt
Supported operations:
- install;
- update;
- repair;
- uninstall;
- rollback to the prior confirmed component set;
- recover an interrupted journal.
Safety requirements
- safe, canonical install roots with symlink/path-escape refusal;
- content digests and ownership markers per artifact;
- exact preview/apply revision pairing;
- component-scoped backups and receipts;
- atomic or journaled multi-file writes;
- structured merges that preserve unrelated host keys;
- host CLI registration where the host owns its registry;
- competing-extension detection;
- explicit manual-activation state where automation is unavailable;
- no credentials in manifests, receipts, or logs.
Doctor
Doctor reports each component as installed, missing, repairable, deferred,
conflicted, unavailable, or corrupt. It verifies:
- artifact content and provenance;
- native host registration;
- activation/trust state where observable;
- protocol/runtime compatibility;
- receipt and backup integrity;
- stale or interrupted journal recovery.
Non-goals
- Claiming installation merely because files were generated.
- Replacing a shared host configuration wholesale.
- Remotely distributed third-party bundles without a separate trust model.
- Automatically trusting hooks or extensions on the user's behalf.
Acceptance criteria
- Dry run opens no writer and reports exact planned paths and shared-config
mutations.
- Install and update preserve unrelated host configuration.
- An interrupted multi-component install recovers or rolls back safely.
- Repair restores owned artifacts without adopting foreign paths.
- Uninstall removes only receipt-owned artifacts and registrations.
- Doctor distinguishes activation deferred from installed-and-active.
- At least two materially different host registration mechanisms pass real
lifecycle tests.
Design references
Stack position
Full meta-framework stack
Summary
Move from build-only host artifacts to an optional, receipt-backed lifecycle:
preview, install, update, repair, uninstall, rollback, recovery, and Doctor
verification. Preserve unrelated host configuration and apply component sets
atomically.
Problem
Generating valid plugin directories is insufficient for complex integrations.
Hosts may own shared JSON/TOML registries, require their own CLI installer,
prompt for trust, stage a plugin before activation, or use native extension
directories. Updating one component must not remove another or overwrite
third-party settings.
TraceDecay currently implements these guarantees itself. Agent Bundle should
make them a reusable framework capability after the host component compiler
can describe exact ownership.
Lifecycle
Supported operations:
Safety requirements
Doctor
Doctor reports each component as installed, missing, repairable, deferred,
conflicted, unavailable, or corrupt. It verifies:
Non-goals
Acceptance criteria
mutations.
lifecycle tests.
Design references
Stack position
not application data.
Full meta-framework stack