MC 101649 Tools Directory Governance

Verdict: PARTIAL / BLOCKED
Date: 2026-05-21
Task: [P3-3] Tools dir governance: archive 3,700+ stale files >60d; tools-manifest.json

Summary

A tools directory governance manifest was created and safe generated/cache artifacts were archived. The requested bulk archive of 3,700+ stale files was not completed because the dominant stale set is ~/system/tools/comms-agent/node_modules, and com.john.comms-agent is currently loaded/running from ~/system/tools/comms-agent/dist/index.js. Archiving those dependencies by age alone would risk breaking daemon restart.

Completed

Created ~/system/tools/tools-manifest.json with:
- stale file inventory,
- active/protected policy,
- archive destination,
- blocked archive candidates,
- recommendation not to archive active daemon dependencies by mtime alone.
Archived safe generated/cache artifacts to ~/system/_archive/tools-governance-2026-05/ with manifest:
- .DS_Store
- .vercel/
- .next/
- __pycache__/
- one malformed zero-byte tool-output filename, archived under a redacted/sanitized name.
Preserved active tools and daemon dependencies.

Blocker

~/system/tools/comms-agent/node_modules contains about 4,052 stale files (~130 MB), but com.john.comms-agent is loaded/running and daemon config points to ~/system/tools/comms-agent/dist/index.js. Do not move its dependencies until one of these is approved:

retire/decommission com.john.comms-agent,
stop daemon and validate dependency relocation + restart path,
rebuild comms-agent so dependencies are reproducible elsewhere and LaunchAgent is updated.

Validation

tools-manifest.json JSON-valid.
Safe archive manifest JSON-valid.
mc.js stats smoke ran.
discover.js routing smoke ran.
cost-tracker.js summary today smoke ran.
bookstack-sync.js status ran; it reports pre-existing missing sync-map paths, but did not block this task's artifact validation.
launchctl list confirms com.john.comms-agent still loaded after safe archive.

Evidence

/tmp/101649-tools-inventory.txt
/tmp/101649-post-archive-inventory.txt
/tmp/101649-comms-agent-refs.txt
/tmp/101649-smoke-validation.txt
/tmp/101649-evidence/
~/system/_archive/tools-governance-2026-05/manifest-101649-safe-archive.json