# openrig-operating-model

Maps agent context across OpenRig topology and task trees. It helps agents find relevant guidelines and place new findings into proper files.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 8227
- Author: mvschwarz
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/HEAD/packages/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/openrig-operating-model

## What it does

This skill defines the context layout across OpenRig setups. Information belongs to two distinct hierarchies: the topology tree (`fleet → instance → rig → pod → seat`) and the work tree (`project → mission → slice → proof item`). Each layer uses identical filenames to form a chain. Topology levels track values in `CULTURE.md` and lived experience in `LEARNED.md`. Work nodes record specifications in `SPEC.md`, field observations in `NOTES.md`, and verification results in `PROOF.md`.

Context resolution follows the one-parent rule. An agent moves directly up the directory tree toward the root, reading the matching filename at each altitude. Branching pointers are prohibited. Files must sit directly on node folders rather than on shelf directories like `rigs/` or `missions/`, because placing them on shelves breaks the trace.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-operating-model -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/openrig-operating-model/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-operating-model -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-operating-model -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install mvschwarz/openrig openrig-operating-model
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-operating-model -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig --path packages/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/openrig-operating-model
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill openrig-operating-model -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/HEAD/packages/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- identify the right file for recording new operational lessons
- keep authored specifications separate from empirical field notes
- trace inherited guidelines upward from an agent seat to the fleet
- prevent duplicate documentation across multiple project directories

## Example prompts
- "I fixed a deployment issue. Which topology file should take this lesson?"
- "Trace context upward through the LEARNED.md chain from this seat to the root."
- "Generate SPEC.md and NOTES.md for this new slice using standard chain filenames."

## Source text · SKILL.md · Apache-2.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: f7598bca6fdb4e91.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE f7598bca6fdb4e91
```text
---
name: openrig-operating-model
description: >-
  Use when you do not know WHERE something belongs: you learned a lesson and are unsure which file
  takes it; you are about to create a new doc, folder, or convention; you are asking "should this be
  a skill, a note, or a chain file?"; you inherited a seat and want to know what SHOULD exist; or you
  are about to duplicate knowledge that already has a home. Also the trace-to-root: how a seat orients
  by reading one filename at each level from where it stands up to the fleet.
metadata:
  openrig:
    stage: draft
    author: OpenRig product team
---

# The OpenRig Operating Model

**Canonical term: the Operating Model.** How an OpenRig topology organizes every
kind of context so that any agent — cold, fresh, or five generations in — can
find what it needs and knows where to write what it learns. Authored context stays in addressed Markdown and manifests. Supported writers
record semantic judgments; their read models remain rebuildable from those artifacts.

This skill owns the structure: trees, chains, tracing, and placement of authored
knowledge. Resolve installed context through its current library addresses and
the project's selected loadout; a private corpus is not a required public dependency.

Companion implementation assets in this skill's folder:
- `templates/` and `scripts/` — starters and working tools, described in §8.

## 1. The model in one breath

Everything lives on one of **two trees**, and every kind of context is a
**chain**: the same filename at every level of a tree. To know anything, you
**trace from where you are toward the root**, reading that one filename at each
level — nearer levels refine or override farther ones. The **trace** (§5) is
the act of doing that ascent deliberately, with your own file reads.

- **Topology tree** — how work is done: `fleet → instance → rig → pod → seat`.
- **Work tree** — how the product gets built: `project → mission → slice → proof item`.

An **instance** is one OpenRig daemon and the rigs it manages; a **fleet** is all instances. Where
a daemon runs is a deployment fact, not an altitude — say the instance's name when you mean a
particular one.

**The one-parent law:** the trace follows the
directory path and NOTHING else — no pointer fields, no link-following, no
branching, ever. The trace is the instrument confused agents reach for, so it
must be simpler than anything it corrects: path-only ascent fails only in
obvious ways. A child that relates to a second parent gets an `also-serves:`
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE f7598bca6fdb4e91

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the f7598bca6fdb4e91 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2572 of 24942 bytes. © mvschwarz · Apache-2.0 · https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/HEAD/packages/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md

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---
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