kernel
CLAUDE.md16 starsChanged 4 months agoMITView on GitHub
This file is a shim. The canonical project reference is KERNEL.md. Read that first. CLAUDE.md exists because Claude Code auto-loads it at session start; the canonical reference moved to KERNEL.md on 2026-04-29 when the project's two surfaces (kbot agent + kernel.chat magazine) became co-equal and the older K:BOT-as-product + web-as-companion framing stopped describing the work. Two surfaces, one publication: 1. kbot — open-source terminal AI agent (@kernel.chat/kbot on npm). Currently v4.5.0. ~100 specialty skills curated from 670 in v4.0 with…
In this repository29 other files it gives its agents.
- .agents/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- animation-vocabularySkill
- blender-to-unitySkill
- emil-design-engSkill
- gsap-coreSkill
- gsap-frameworksSkill
- gsap-performanceSkill
- gsap-pluginsSkill
- gsap-reactSkill
- gsap-scrolltriggerSkill
- gsap-timelineSkill
- gsap-utilsSkill
- higgsfield-generateSkill
- higgsfield-marketplace-cardsSkill
- higgsfield-product-photoshootSkill
- higgsfield-soul-idSkill
- higgsfield-websitesSkill
- kernel-chat-art-directionSkill
- kernel-chat-design-qaSkill
- kernel-chat-web-designSkill
- mcp-sourceSkill
- micro-interactionsSkill
- microinteractionsSkill
- motion-designSkill
- review-animationsSkill
- unity-mcp-orchestratorSkill
- motion-prompt-languageSkill
- kernel-chat-designSkill
The file
We split this CLAUDE.md into the rules it gives an agent
1 rule. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈0
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
1
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 46
Evidence-cited commits: Every release commit cites numbers and reasoning.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 26,980 CLAUDE.md files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
CLAUDE.md — kernel.chat group
This file is a shim. The canonical project reference is
KERNEL.md. Read that first.CLAUDE.md exists because Claude Code auto-loads it at session start; the canonical reference moved to KERNEL.md on 2026-04-29 when the project's two surfaces (kbot agent + kernel.chat magazine) became co-equal and the older
K:BOT-as-product + web-as-companionframing stopped describing the work.
What you need to know in 30 seconds
Two surfaces, one publication:
- kbot — open-source terminal AI agent (
@kernel.chat/kboton npm). Currently v4.5.0. ~100 specialty skills curated from 670 in v4.0 with a public audit trail. Local-first, BYOK, MIT. - kernel.chat — editorial magazine. Currently on ISSUE 426 — THE WEATHER OVER THE QUEUE. Sixty-seven issues in the catalog. POPEYE-grammar anchored, PAPERSKY + WIRED decoded as editorial neighbours.
Discipline (same on both surfaces): count what gets read; cut what doesn't; file the audit in public; keep the manuscripts in the drawer. The room is different, the job is the same.
Where to look for what
| If you need… | Read |
| Project shape, current state, directory map, ship flow | KERNEL.md |
| Magazine publishing workflow | src/content/issues/PUBLISHING.md |
| Magazine visual grammar | docs/design-language.md |
| Unified creative canvas handoff and agent-control contracts | docs/creative-canvas-handoff.md |
| kbot v5 futures substrate | packages/kbot/V5_FUTURES_PLAN.md |
| Why the 4.0 cut went the way it did | packages/kbot/RELEASE_NOTES_4_0.md |
| Per-session working memory | SCRATCHPAD.md |
Five rules that always apply
- Magazine vocabulary in user-visible copy. Issue / feature / spread / folio / monument / colophon / dateline / postmark — never dashboard / panel / card / widget / modal. Never name "POPEYE" on the site.
- Evidence-cited commits. Every release commit cites numbers and reasoning; audit trails (CSV, JSONL, RELEASE_NOTES) ship alongside code changes.
- BYOK is the contract. kbot never hardcodes a provider preference. Local-first when there's a free path (Ollama/LLaDA/MLX) for the task.
- No emojis in code or user-visible copy unless the user explicitly asks (single-glyph system asterisk ★ is the exception, ratified in ISSUE 370).
- Update SCRATCHPAD.md at session end. Future sessions inherit your context through it.
For everything else, see KERNEL.md.
Updated 2026-04-29 to point at KERNEL.md as the canonical reference. The previous CLAUDE.md (v3.60.0-era project map, ~673 lines) is preserved in git history at any commit prior to the supersession.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.