Arch Linux system work

Identify the target before choosing commands: read /etc/os-release, distinguish the host from a container/chroot, and inspect the named service or configuration. Arch ancestry does not establish CachyOS repositories, Omarchy tooling, a particular desktop, bootloader, initramfs generator, or snapshot setup.

Resolve the owner

Read the configuration repository's instructions when one owns the live paths. Inspect symlinks and package ownership before editing. Use the smallest relevant package queries, such as pacman -Qo /path/to/file, pacman -Qi PACKAGE, and pacman -Ql PACKAGE. An unowned file can still be generated or managed elsewhere. Use managed-config-drift when ownership is unclear.

For a systemd service, inspect its unit, drop-ins, effective settings, and bounded journal window. Distinguish system and user units, enabled-at-boot state and current activity. Put persistent overrides in the owning source or supported drop-in path instead of editing vendor units under /usr/lib. Check the installed manual and unit's reload behavior before applying a change.

Select packages without changing distribution policy

Check configured repository priority, installed versions, and provider conflicts. Prefer an existing packaged tool when it meets the task. An AUR entry is a build recipe requiring review, not an official binary package. Use arch-package-maintenance for PKGBUILD, patch, checksum, clean-build, and .SRCINFO work.

For repository development tools, prefer its mise or portable environment over system-wide installs when it provides the required binaries. Follow portable development environments for reproducibility. Kernel drivers and system services still need their native package/configuration owner.

Use query operations for inspection. For authorized installation, inspect the transaction before accepting unexpected replacements or removals. Do not refresh databases with pacman -Sy and selectively install against a partially upgraded system. Stale mirror 404s require checking database/mirror consistency, not ignoring signatures or forcing file overwrites. If a full upgrade is needed, use arch-update-recovery within the user's authority. Do not silently turn a tool install into a system upgrade.

Read current Arch maintenance guidance for upgrade decisions and the pacman manual for operation semantics. Prefer checkupdates from pacman-contrib when available for update discovery without changing the live sync database.

Apply and verify the requested change

Preserve the user's desktop and configuration manager. For CachyOS repositories, drivers, kernels, or tuning, use cachyos. Use omarchy only for an identified Omarchy installation or its explicitly targeted configuration. Ordinary Hyprland or terminal configuration does not establish Omarchy ownership.

Continue scoped edits and installation already authorized. Diagnosis alone stays read-only. Describe an impactful restart, boot change, or replacement before doing it, and ask only for missing authority or an unresolved consequential choice. Use native privilege elevation; never request a password in the conversation.

Validate configuration before activation, then verify the actual service, command, or desktop behavior. A successful package install or daemon-reload alone does not prove the requested behavior. Report changed source, applied state, focused checks, and any reboot or graphical verification still pending. Broad unexplained failures belong to workstation-health-triage.