MDE Agent Runtime Contract

Load this skill before any setup, installation, migration, automation, or research task in this repository.

Canonical Rule Set

• This repo defines the MacBook host setup contract for agent-run tooling work.
• Global runtimes, global CLIs, and SDK CLIs are mise-owned.
• Repo libraries are native-manifest-owned.
• macOS or system exceptions must be listed in configs/mde-install-exceptions.json.
• Reuse backend-native caches by default; cold installs and cache clears are exception-only behaviors.

Required Inputs

Read these before making changes:

• configs/mde-tool-ownership.json
• configs/mde-modernization-matrix.json
• configs/mde-install-exceptions.json
• configs/mde-skill-registry.json
• .agents/skills/mde-package-cache-policy/SKILL.md
• .agents/AGENTS.md
• AGENTS.md

Required Entry Points

• mise run mde:agent:preflight
• mise run mde:agent:verify
• mise run mde:migrate:global-tools -- --dry-run|--apply|--verify|--report
• mise run mde:research:autoimprove -- --incremental|--full|--report

Hard Prohibitions

Unless an explicit exception is present and break-glass override is enabled, do not use:

• brew install
• npm -g
• bun add -g
• uv tool install
• pip install --user
• pipx install
• cargo install
• go install
• curl-based installer flows

Decision Rule

If the problem is a missing import, missing package, or missing library, fix the manifest. If the problem is a missing global executable, fix mise ownership. Never solve either class of problem with an unmanaged global install.