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Developing Cockpit under Auto mode

Root cause of the protected-plugin-path failures#

An empty --plugin-dir resolves to the working directory. When a development launch passes the snapshot through a variable (--plugin-dir "$SNAP") and the variable is unset in a fresh terminal, Claude Code loads the repository being edited as the plugin directory and protects it from Auto-mode edits: the Edit and Write calls that change the repository are refused as writes to a plugin path.

It is an environment fault, not a Cockpit defect. The cure is never to loosen the host: do not switch to Accept Edits, do not disable the classifier and do not add blanket permissions. The cure is to load an out-of-tree snapshot, and to make launching without one impossible.

The launcher#

scripts/dev-launch.sh                     # snapshot of the committed tree (git archive HEAD)
scripts/dev-launch.sh --source WORKTREE   # snapshot including uncommitted changes
scripts/dev-launch.sh --check             # every preflight, then stop
scripts/dev-launch.sh -- -p "…"           # arguments after -- go to claude

It creates a private (mode 0700) snapshot under ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/cobalt-inline-* and refuses to launch unless:

the snapshot path is nonempty, is a directory and has files;
it is not the repository, is not inside it and does not contain it, and the working directory is not inside it;
.claude-plugin/plugin.json exists in the snapshot and names cobalt-cockpit with a version.

It then starts claude --permission-mode auto --plugin-dir <snapshot> --settings <overlay>. The overlay switches the installed marketplace copy off for this launch only (so exactly one Cockpit is active) and configures the inline copy as SONNET_LED. No settings file is written, the permission mode is never anything but auto, no allow rule is added, and the installed production plugin is never touched. The snapshot is removed on exit unless --keep is given. CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR is honoured; when unset and ~/.claude-main exists, that is used.

A launch from the snapshot sees the code as of the snapshot: after committing, take a new one to review a candidate.

Auto-mode release acceptance#

Run for every release candidate, from a snapshot taken at the candidate commit (--source HEAD, clean tree):

Preflight: the process list shows one --plugin-dir with a nonempty /tmp snapshot distinct from the repository, one Cockpit in the session's init event, profile SONNET_LED, and genuine Auto mode (not Accept Edits, no classifier override, no blanket allow).
Real-host compatibility: in that session, an Edit and a Write to the repository succeed through the normal authorized flow, a Bash test run is recorded as a gate, and a protected path outside the working tree is still refused.
Record which decisions were native Auto fast-path (read-only and in-project edits allowed by the mode itself, no classifier) and which were classifier-backed. They are different evidence: the first says nothing about the classifier, and a classifier outage (unavailable, rate-limited) is a host condition, not a verdict on the candidate. Backend availability is not guaranteed and is never claimed.
The verification set, run fresh and never carried over from an earlier build: claude plugin test ., tsc -p . --noEmit, claude plugin validate --strict on ., .claude-plugin/plugin.json and agents, python3 scripts/audit-public.py, scripts/scan-secrets.sh, git diff --check.
The release consultation (below).

Release consultation#

One release-ground consultation per candidate commit, on a clean tree, from a snapshot of that commit. Three things stay apart:

Returned: the architect finished and its answer was seen.
Verified: the main session judged the advice (swarm verify) and, for a release, confirmed the architect's own DECISION: line.
GO: only a returned, verified answer whose single DECISION: line reads exactly DECISION: GO approves. A NO-GO, a missing, repeated, hedged or decorated line, or a main-session claim that is more favourable than the architect's approves nothing. A recorded recommendation is final and a later turn of the same architect is kept beside it, never over it.

Owner approval to publish is a separate decision and nothing here implies it.

Roadmap: v0.5.2 (not part of v0.5.1)#

Model-usage telemetry under ~/.local/state/cobalt-cockpit/telemetry/.
/cockpit stats with 7-day, 30-day and all-time aggregates.
Real observed Haiku, Sonnet and Opus shares, and NobodyWho and JEV shares.
A live animated COBALT NEURAL FLOW terminal HUD.
The Auto-mode release acceptance above as a permanent gate.