---
id: DOC-0001
title: 'Session Log: Bootstrap + Trilogy Proof — 2026-03-22'
created: '2026-03-22'
tags:
  - devlog
  - session
  - trilogy
---
# Session Log: apple-a-day Bootstrap + Trilogy Proof

**Date:** 2026-03-22
**Pilot:** Daniel + Claude Opus 4.6

## Origin

Daniel's Mac was crashing. Investigation revealed:
- Facebook's `watchman` crash-looping 611 times/day (broken `libboost_system.dylib` after brew upgrade)
- `KeepAlive` launchd plist respawning it endlessly
- 9 kernel panics in 7 days (watchdog timeouts)
- 15.6 GB swap, 3 crash-looping services total

20 minutes of manual forensics to diagnose. apple-a-day was born to make that take seconds.

## What Was Built

**v0.1 CLI** — 7 check modules, all working:
- Crash loops, kernel panics, dylib health, memory pressure, disk health, launch agents, homebrew
- Parallel execution via ThreadPoolExecutor
- Rich terminal output + JSON mode
- Severity filtering, selective checks, Mac info header, timing

**FOSS scaffolding:**
- MIT license, CONTRIBUTING.md, SECURITY.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- GitHub issue templates (bug report, new check request), PR template
- CHANGELOG.md, GitHub Actions CI (macOS 13/14/15 × Python 3.11-3.13)
- 17 tests passing

## The Trilogy in Action

### research.md → earned the decisions

Three research subprojects, 22 findings total:

1. **landscape** (7 findings) — 25 existing tools cataloged. Identified smartctl, networkQuality, csrutil as key gaps. Determined which tools to wrap vs reimplement.

2. **foss-launch** (11 findings) — Verified top Python CLIs are zero-dep (yt-dlp 152k stars, youtube-dl 140k). Discovered pip vendored rich rather than depending on it. Found Click has a track record of breaking downstream. Mapped launch channels (HN, Reddit, awesome-lists) with specific tactics.

3. **agent-operated** (5 findings) — Discovered "agent-native" is an established term (CLI-Anything/HKU). Found Poehnelt's 7 principles for agent CLIs. Mapped Agentic SRE detect→diagnose→act pattern. Confirmed 2026 industry consensus: agents are becoming the primary software consumer.

### visionlog → recorded the contracts

- **Vision** reframed: "Your Mac's immune system, operated by your AI agent."
- **ADR-001:** apple-a-day is agent-native, not human-first (backed by agent-operated research)
- **ADR-002:** Zero runtime dependencies (backed by foss-launch research)
- **9 goals** (GOAL-001 complete, GOAL-006/007 available, rest locked)
- **3 guardrails:** Mac-only, read-only by default, plain english always actionable

### ike.md → executes within those contracts

11 tasks across 2 milestones:

**MS-0001 v0.2 Agent-Native + Zero-Dep (due 2026-04-05):**
- TASK-0001: Drop click → argparse (GOAL-007, ADR-002)
- TASK-0002: ANSI formatter, rich optional (GOAL-007, ADR-002)
- TASK-0003: aad schema introspection (GOAL-006, ADR-001)
- TASK-0004: SKILL.md (GOAL-006, ADR-001)
- TASK-0005: --fields flag (GOAL-006, ADR-001)
- TASK-0006: Structured errors (GOAL-006, ADR-001)

**MS-0002 v0.3 New Checks + PyPI (due 2026-04-19):**
- TASK-0007: Security module (GOAL-008)
- TASK-0008: Network module (GOAL-009)
- TASK-0009: PyPI release (GOAL-005)
- TASK-0010: Homebrew tap (GOAL-005)
- TASK-0011: Demo GIF

## The Traceability Chain

```
research.md finding → visionlog ADR → visionlog GOAL → ike.md TASK
```

Every task traces to a goal. Every goal traces to a decision. Every decision traces to evidence. Nothing was done on vibes.

## Key Insight

The trilogy's value is not bureaucracy — it's **preventing drift**. In a single session the project went from "CLI for humans" to "agent-native library" based on the founder's clarification. Without the trilogy:
- The research would be lost in chat history
- The architectural pivot would be an undocumented gut call
- Future agents/pilots would rebuild from scratch

With the trilogy, any agent can cold-start on apple-a-day, read visionlog, and know exactly what was decided, why, and what to do next.

## Stats

- Repo: https://github.com/eidos-agi/apple-a-day
- Commits: 5
- Files: ~50
- Lines of code: ~1200
- Research findings: 22
- Visionlog items: 2 ADRs, 9 goals, 3 guardrails
- ike tasks: 11 across 2 milestones
- Time: 1 session
