Make the shipped Ward product AOS-opaque

coilyco-ops commented

2026-07-31 07:06:30 +00:00

Member

Outcome

Remove AOS and AOSguard from Ward's shipped product contract, runtime vocabulary, and runtime dependencies.

AOS may support Ward's repository maintenance and artifact-production pipeline. That implementation detail must not leak into what Ward tells users, what its runtime understands, or what the Ward process requires.

Boundary

The following maintenance-layer uses are explicitly allowed:

CI and release workflows may run in AOS-produced job images.
Ward release construction may derive or copy its published image through the existing AOS-backed release path.
Pre-commit hooks and validator configuration may consume AOS repository tooling.
Contributor-only maintenance instructions may name those dependencies where required to build, validate, release, or inspect Ward itself.

The following product-layer uses are prohibited:

README and product documentation that present AOS or AOSguard as an adjacent Ward layer.
CLI help, errors, setup, doctor output, generated prompts, bootstrap text, or shipped skills that name or route users to AOS or AOSguard.
Runtime code that shells out to AOSguard, reads AOS configuration, expects an AOS checkout, consumes AOS runtime policy, or branches on AOS-specific paths, names, environment, or topology.
Product tests and fixtures that encode AOS or AOSguard as part of Ward's architecture.
Claims that Ward launch behavior or product policy is authored by AOS.

Ward may continue to depend on cli-guard. cli-guard is Ward's generic engine dependency and is outside this removal.

Scope

Delete docs/aosguard-boundary.md.
Remove the AOS and AOSguard sections and links from README, architecture, compatibility, terminology, feature, operator, container, agent, setup, and troubleshooting documentation.
Remove AOSguard ownership routing from Ward's subsystem detection and seed generation.
Remove AOSguard command examples from container bootstrap prompts and shipped skills.
Replace Ward-owned operations currently documented through AOSguard with Ward's native broker or tracker primitives.
Where an operation is genuinely external to Ward, describe the generic external boundary without naming a specific operator product.
Remove AOS and AOSguard wording from setup, doctor, help, and error messages.
Remove AOS-specific runtime configuration isolation and compatibility contracts when they exist only to model the deleted relationship.
Genericize product test repositories, fixture names, substrate examples, comments, and issue references that currently use agentic-os as the example.
Correct stale claims about baked AOS-authored launch policy. Product defaults must be Ward-owned or supplied through Ward's supported user configuration.
Preserve maintenance-layer references only in an explicit narrow allowlist such as CI, release, pre-commit, validator configuration, and the corresponding contributor-maintenance instructions.
Coordinate overlapping demo and toy reference deletion with #1621.

Acceptance

ward and warded never invoke AOSguard or read AOS-owned runtime configuration.
Ward can be installed and used without an AOS checkout, AOSguard binary, AOS configuration file, or AOS runtime service.
CLI output, generated prompts, runtime errors, product docs, shipped skills, and feature inventory contain no AOS or AOSguard references.
Repository-wide case-insensitive searches for aos, aosguard, and agentic-os return matches only from the explicitly allowed maintenance-layer paths.
Existing CI, release, pre-commit, and validator integrations remain intact.
Ward's production image and release pipeline are not required to become hermetic from AOS as part of this issue.
cli-guard integration remains intact.
Product tests and repository validation pass.

Non-goals

Removing or duplicating the AOS-backed CI, release, pre-commit, or validator infrastructure.
Changing AOS or AOSguard themselves.
Removing cli-guard.
Reopening the ownership of generic guarded-command behavior.
Making Ward's artifact-production pipeline independent of every external repository.

## Outcome Remove AOS and AOSguard from Ward's shipped product contract, runtime vocabulary, and runtime dependencies. AOS may support Ward's repository maintenance and artifact-production pipeline. That implementation detail must not leak into what Ward tells users, what its runtime understands, or what the Ward process requires. ## Boundary The following maintenance-layer uses are explicitly allowed: * CI and release workflows may run in AOS-produced job images. * Ward release construction may derive or copy its published image through the existing AOS-backed release path. * Pre-commit hooks and validator configuration may consume AOS repository tooling. * Contributor-only maintenance instructions may name those dependencies where required to build, validate, release, or inspect Ward itself. The following product-layer uses are prohibited: * README and product documentation that present AOS or AOSguard as an adjacent Ward layer. * CLI help, errors, setup, doctor output, generated prompts, bootstrap text, or shipped skills that name or route users to AOS or AOSguard. * Runtime code that shells out to AOSguard, reads AOS configuration, expects an AOS checkout, consumes AOS runtime policy, or branches on AOS-specific paths, names, environment, or topology. * Product tests and fixtures that encode AOS or AOSguard as part of Ward's architecture. * Claims that Ward launch behavior or product policy is authored by AOS. Ward may continue to depend on cli-guard. cli-guard is Ward's generic engine dependency and is outside this removal. ## Scope * Delete `docs/aosguard-boundary.md`. * Remove the AOS and AOSguard sections and links from README, architecture, compatibility, terminology, feature, operator, container, agent, setup, and troubleshooting documentation. * Remove AOSguard ownership routing from Ward's subsystem detection and seed generation. * Remove AOSguard command examples from container bootstrap prompts and shipped skills. * Replace Ward-owned operations currently documented through AOSguard with Ward's native broker or tracker primitives. * Where an operation is genuinely external to Ward, describe the generic external boundary without naming a specific operator product. * Remove AOS and AOSguard wording from setup, doctor, help, and error messages. * Remove AOS-specific runtime configuration isolation and compatibility contracts when they exist only to model the deleted relationship. * Genericize product test repositories, fixture names, substrate examples, comments, and issue references that currently use `agentic-os` as the example. * Correct stale claims about baked AOS-authored launch policy. Product defaults must be Ward-owned or supplied through Ward's supported user configuration. * Preserve maintenance-layer references only in an explicit narrow allowlist such as CI, release, pre-commit, validator configuration, and the corresponding contributor-maintenance instructions. * Coordinate overlapping demo and toy reference deletion with #1621. ## Acceptance * `ward` and `warded` never invoke AOSguard or read AOS-owned runtime configuration. * Ward can be installed and used without an AOS checkout, AOSguard binary, AOS configuration file, or AOS runtime service. * CLI output, generated prompts, runtime errors, product docs, shipped skills, and feature inventory contain no AOS or AOSguard references. * Repository-wide case-insensitive searches for `aos`, `aosguard`, and `agentic-os` return matches only from the explicitly allowed maintenance-layer paths. * Existing CI, release, pre-commit, and validator integrations remain intact. * Ward's production image and release pipeline are not required to become hermetic from AOS as part of this issue. * cli-guard integration remains intact. * Product tests and repository validation pass. ## Non-goals * Removing or duplicating the AOS-backed CI, release, pre-commit, or validator infrastructure. * Changing AOS or AOSguard themselves. * Removing cli-guard. * Reopening the ownership of generic guarded-command behavior. * Making Ward's artifact-production pipeline independent of every external repository.

Rows
Columns

Make the shipped Ward product AOS-opaque #1622

Outcome

Boundary

Scope

Acceptance

Non-goals