Nomarchy/CLAUDE.md

Nomarchy — agent entry point

Nomarchy is a NixOS-based distro: rock-stable, fully reproducible, themed from one JSON, configured through a menu that writes into the user's own flake checkout. Read the README for the architecture.

If you're here to work autonomously (the loop)

Follow agent/LOOP.md — it defines one iteration: orient (GOALS/BACKLOG/JOURNAL/MEMORY), take the top actionable BACKLOG item, verify up the V0–V3 ladder, commit+push on main, record. All loop state is git-tracked in agent/.

Rules that apply to every session, loop or not

• Honesty rule (docs/TESTING.md): for visual/interactive changes, evaluation is not rendering — state exactly what you verified and at which tier. Cheap check first, always: nix flake check --no-build.
• Conventions (agent/CONVENTIONS.md): in-flake state, menu placement, Waybar parity with the summer whole-swaps, toggle-vs-package discipline, commented template examples for opt-ins.
• Git: direct commits on main, pushed; v1 is the human-only release pointer — never touch it. Never run nix flake update unless the task is a lock bump. No formatter — match the aligned hand-formatting.
• Machine-specifics live in hosts/, the distro in modules/, data in themes/, code in pkgs/, maintainer tools in tools/.

Delegation

The higher your tier, the more you delegate. Push the work down, keep your own context for judgment. Brief every child: the context, the why, what done looks like. It starts blank and inherits nothing.

Model	Best for	Delegate?	Effort
Haiku	bulk mechanical	never	low
Sonnet	scoped research	when it helps	medium
Opus 4.8	multi-step reasoning	on clear benefit	xhigh
Fable 5	judgment, taste	by default	medium

Fable goes xhigh only for the hardest calls. Skip high.

Escalation

The parent doesn't have to be the top model. An Opus parent spawns a Fable child for the one hard call. The child answers and returns. Work above your tier? Return it, don't burn tokens on it.