nerd.md

schema	nerd/v1
project	codeNERD
language	go
commands	build test lint env go build -o nerd.exe ./cmd/nerd go test ./... go vet ./... CGO_CFLAGS -IC:/CodeProjects/codeNERD/sqlite_headers
forbid	match reason .nerd/config.json Live user-owned runtime config holding API keys and provider selection. A single overwrite has already destroyed ~160 lines of customization. Edit it by hand, never through a tool. match reason .nerd/mangle/learned Persistent kernel overlay written by the autopoiesis loop. Hand edits here are silently overwritten and can poison every subsequent boot. match reason internal/session/modularity.go The modularity standard's measurement and kernel evaluation. Observed 2026-08-12: when the guard refused a write, the agent's next move was to edit the guard to exempt the file it had just been blocked on, and the constitution derived permitted for that edit. A standard the subject can amend is not a standard. This file exists only to constrain, so nothing legitimate is lost by making it unwritable by tool. match reason internal/session/write_guards.go The single entry point every pre-write guard runs through. It exists so the guard SET is one protected unit: a new guard is added here and inherits this protection, instead of becoming another deletable block in executor_tools.go. That file holds the whole tool-execution path and cannot be frozen, so the call into this one is the seam that must be. match reason internal/session/modularity_guard_verify_test.go Contains the tripwire. TestVerifyModularityGuard_NewFileBlocked drives a violating write through executeToolCall and expects a refusal, so deleting the single runWriteGuards call turns the suite red. Protecting the test is what stops that failure from being edited away instead of fixed. match reason internal/core/defaults/policy/coder_quality.mg Holds the modularity thresholds the kernel decides with. They live in policy precisely so a limit is changed deliberately rather than by the agent that finds it inconvenient. match reason internal/core/defaults/policy/constitution.mg Derives permitted/3. Every other guard is downstream of it, so an agent able to edit this can authorise anything it likes, including its own exemptions.
require	Run `go test ./...` before declaring work complete. All Mangle predicates need a Decl before use, and no predicate may be declared twice at the same arity — a duplicate takes the whole kernel down at boot, not just the rule that uses it. New LLM-facing behaviour becomes a prompt atom under internal/prompt/atoms/, not prose hardcoded in a shard.
conventions	id rule conventional-commits Commit subjects use a conventional-commit prefix (feat, fix, chore, docs, test). id rule mangle-atoms-are-lowercase Mangle variables are UPPERCASE and atoms are /lowercase; the two types are disjoint and never unify. id rule numbers-are-int64 Every numeric Mangle slot is /number. The pinned fork compares int64 only, and one float64 fact aborts the entire kernel fixpoint. Scale ratios with types.PercentFromRatio before they reach a fact. id rule audit-before-delete Look for wiring gaps before deleting apparently-unused code. This codebase has many partially wired features and dormant integration points.

codeNERD

A high-assurance, logic-first CLI coding agent. The model is the creative center; the Mangle kernel is the executive. Logic determines reality; the model merely describes it.

Architecture in one paragraph

Natural language enters through the perception transducer and becomes formal atoms. The Mangle kernel derives next_action from those atoms plus policy. The VirtualStore executes. Articulation renders the result. Every action must derive permitted(...); the default is deny.

Where things live

Area	Path
Kernel	internal/core/kernel_*.go
Policy corpus	internal/core/defaults/policy/
Schemas	internal/core/defaults/schemas_*.mg
Prompt atoms	internal/prompt/atoms/
JIT compiler	internal/prompt/compiler.go
Session execution	internal/session/executor.go
Project instructions (this file)	internal/projectdoc/

Notes for whoever is reading this

The forbid rules above are not advice. They are asserted into the kernel at boot as project_forbidden_path facts and checked before any write-mutation tool runs. Attempting one costs a turn and changes nothing.