Set up workspace context

Execution roots (required)

When the host executes commands inside Bash, replace the bash executable shown below with "$BASH" to reuse that shell. This avoids selecting a different Bash from PATH, such as the Windows WSL launcher inside a Git Bash session. In a terminal outside Bash, select the installed Bash explicitly.

Use the exact roots supplied by the host attachment: KernelRoot is the trusted Context OS product containing scripts/contextos.sh; ContextRoot owns tracked identity and lifecycle state; and WorkingRoot is the ordinary application. For an external attachment, require all three exact absolute paths and run:

bash <KernelRoot>/scripts/contextos.sh --context-root <ContextRoot> --working-root <WorkingRoot> <command>

Do not search upward or infer a root from cwd or the skill installation. The kernel must validate the ignored local binding before strict lifecycle work. A missing, moved, stale, linked, nested, or mismatched binding stops the workflow; use the explicit project rebind proposal after a legitimate move. ContextRoot owns all lifecycle writes. WorkingRoot is read-only evidence. The colocated bash scripts/contextos.sh <command> compatibility form remains valid.

Throughout this procedure, resolve every context path beneath ContextRoot. In split mode, spell local paths as absolute <ContextRoot>/... paths and invoke every lifecycle command through the absolute KernelRoot wrapper with both exact role options. In colocated mode, run the relative compatibility commands from the colocated root, where ContextRoot and WorkingRoot are the same directory.

Build useful context without silently overwriting user data.

Guardrails

• Ask questions one at a time and inspect existing files before proposing changes.
• Preserve the user's wording; do not embellish credentials, goals, or biography.
• Require approval before replacing populated files, broad writes, commits, or pushes.
• Never request or store credentials or ingest a raw account export into tracked context.

Procedure

1. Confirm storage and audience

Explain that tracked identity, project, state, session, and imported context is visible to repository collaborators and configured agents. Deleting it later does not erase git history. Recommend local-only or private storage by default; a public remote requires deliberately sanitized content. Stop before collecting personal information unless the user explicitly confirms the audience.

2. Choose and inspect the starting point

Ask whether to start from answers, selected existing material, or both. For existing material, follow <KernelRoot>/docs/migration-guide.md and accept only a reviewed, narrow packet. Read the existing identity, project index, current state, weekly priorities, and routing files beneath ContextRoot. Classify each as missing, placeholder, or populated. Do not read similarly named files from WorkingRoot as shared context.

3. Gather reviewed context

One question at a time, gather identity, current focus, relevant background, three-month goals, working preferences, optional useful personal context, verifiable proof points, and approved public links. Then gather one recurring project: purpose, audience, current focus, non-goals, prior decisions, and repeated workflows. Finally gather weekly outcomes, non-goals, success criteria, and blockers. Draft the smallest coherent file map and routing additions.

Portable repeated workflows belong under <ContextRoot>/.agents/skills/; facts stay in their ContextRoot identity, project, or state source and are referenced rather than copied.

4. Propose and apply deterministically

Encode the reviewed file map as JSON under <ContextRoot>/.context-os/inputs/, with files mapping ContextRoot-relative paths to complete desired content. Add a path to replace_populated only after explicit approval to replace that populated file. Use {{TODAY}} where the deterministic local date belongs.

Run exactly one of these forms:

split:     bash <KernelRoot>/scripts/contextos.sh --context-root <ContextRoot> --working-root <WorkingRoot> propose setup --input <ContextRoot>/.context-os/inputs/<payload.json>
colocated: bash scripts/contextos.sh propose setup --input .context-os/inputs/<payload.json>

Present every returned diff and its proposal digest. The digest binds the exact content but does not authenticate a human approver; rely on the host permission boundary. After explicit approval of that exact proposal, run the matching form:

split:     bash <KernelRoot>/scripts/contextos.sh --context-root <ContextRoot> --working-root <WorkingRoot> apply <ContextRoot>/<proposal> --confirm <digest> --runtime <active-runtime>
colocated: bash scripts/contextos.sh apply <proposal> --confirm <digest> --runtime <active-runtime>

The kernel must refuse path escapes, writes outside context paths, unapproved populated replacements, changed targets, or concurrent applies.

Validate with the matching mode:

split:     bash <KernelRoot>/scripts/contextos.sh --context-root <ContextRoot> --working-root <WorkingRoot> doctor
colocated: bash scripts/validate-all.sh --workspace

Do not run a ContextRoot-relative product validator from WorkingRoot. Report the receipt and result, and offer a ContextRoot commit only after final diff review. Suggest $start next and $end to close.