cto (repo) · cto-planb (Hermes profile)

Hermes classification: profile distribution (C-suite, instance #3, Plan B-scoped) Inherits Karpathy 4 rules from ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md — read them before coding.

What this is

CTO agent for Plan B — WebUI direct coding profile with Sandcastle background-job support. Decomposes JP/CEO tech goals, patches scoped Hermes-owned work directly when risk allows, delegates independent review/exploration, launches Sandcastle for broad/risky/background branches, requests JP approval for high-risk actions, and reports proof. Never deploys directly. Instance #3 of the C-suite profile distribution family.

Naming: the repo dir is cto/ (generic). The deployed Hermes profile is cto-planb (Plan B-scoped, driven by distribution.yaml → name). Future orgs would clone this repo and set name: cto-<org> in their distribution.yaml.

Status: v2.0 migration — static direct-coder skills and eval expectations are present; full WebUI runtime parity still requires live eval evidence.

Hard rules

CTO may directly patch scoped Hermes-owned files for R1 work; use Sandcastle for broad/risky/background branch attempts
CTO NEVER merges to main without JP approve (definition of "deploy" per CONTRACT.md §3)
CTO NEVER touches infrastructure (DNS, certs, secrets, cron, cloud) — escalate always
CTO NEVER edits ../sandcastle/ — read-only workspace hard rule (mattpocock/sandcastle pinned v0.5.11)
cto.db never committed — created by install.sh, managed at runtime
CTO uses a focused skill set only; do NOT add broad unrelated skill libraries here
Structural changes follow ../sot/03-PROTOCOLS/PROFILE-DISTRIBUTION-PROTOCOL.md

Structure

cto/
├── manifest.yaml                    # profile: cto-planb, kind: profile-distribution
├── distribution.yaml                # Hermes native install contract
├── AGENT.md                         # CTO identity (role, mission, boundaries)
├── CONTRACT.md                      # CTO behavior contract — tier T1 (this file wins)
├── install.sh                       # idempotent installer → ~/.hermes/cto-planb symlink (skeleton)
├── credbridge.sh                    # secrets bridge (skeleton — github-pat only in v1)
├── schema.sql                       # cto.db schema (work_queue, agent_runtime, invocations)
├── skills/
│   ├── cto-agent/                   # supervisor and profile protocol
│   ├── cto-direct-coder/            # direct inspect-plan-patch-test-report loop
│   ├── cto-repo-contract/           # workspace contract
│   └── ...                          # focused reviewer/evals/sandbox/capsule/QA skills
└── cron/                            # empty for v1 (CEO precedent — on-demand only)

Gotchas

Sandcastle is at ../sandcastle/ (sibling). Read its CONTEXT.md before writing any sandcastle.run() invocation — the terminology (sandbox provider, branch strategy, agent provider) matters
cto/ does NOT inherit cmo/'s 40-skill complexity — keep the direct-coder skill set focused and PRD-bound
Runtime promotion remains blocked until live WebUI evals and disclosure drift checks pass
credbridge in v1 resolves only github-pat; other creds (deploy, cloud) deferred to v2 per CONTRACT.md §4
When adding runtime code: write deterministic tests first, wire the smallest Hermes-native surface, then run the CTO PRD static gate and targeted WebUI tests

When to update this CLAUDE.md vs other docs

This file: gotchas, hard rules, structure overview — what a Claude session needs to navigate the repo
AGENT.md: identity (role, mission, principal) — what CTO IS
CONTRACT.md: behavior contract — what CTO DOES and does NOT do, decisions, anti-patterns (tier T1)
manifest.yaml: machine-readable identity + install hooks
distribution.yaml: Hermes native install contract (separate from manifest by design)
README.md: human-facing intro + install instructions

Site map — where to find anything in cortex-os

Read these in order to ground any session:

What	Where
Karpathy 4 rules	`~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` (auto-inherited every session)
Workspace contract + repo map	`~/workspaces/hermes/CLAUDE.md`
SOT library orientation	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/README.md`
Curator-generated SOT index	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/INDEX.md`
Profile catalog (5 profiles + tool disclosure + governance)	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/06-REGISTRY/PROFILE-CATALOG.md`
Profile distribution protocol (T1)	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/03-PROTOCOLS/PROFILE-DISTRIBUTION-PROTOCOL.md`
Frontmatter spec (T1)	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/04-STANDARDS/FRONTMATTER-SPEC.md`
SOT enforcement (pre-commit + curator + pre-push)	`~/workspaces/hermes/sot/04-STANDARDS/SOT-ENFORCEMENT.md`
Living graph artifact	`~/workspaces/hermes/graph/umbrella.json` (curator-maintained)
Living graph UI panel (planned)	`/umbrella` route in hermes-webui per `sot/03-PROTOCOLS/CORTEX-OS-UMBRELLA-VIZ-PRD.md`
This repo's CONTRACT.md	`./CONTRACT.md` if present (T1 — wins over everything in this repo)

If you're new to a session: read the workspace contract first, then this file, then the SOT orientation. Don't guess about cortex-os structure — anchor to these.

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