KERNEL is a local-first Codex plugin for coordinating registered ecosystem work while preserving each project's identity, ownership, authority, and data boundary.
- dependency-aware task selection
- bounded parallel local execution
- explicit executable allowlists with
shell=False - timeouts and cancellation
- stale lease recovery
- content-addressed caching of successful commands
- append-only structured execution events
- provider ordering: local, configured free, Freebuff, then approved paid providers
- evidence-based task states; staging is not verification
- explicit project registration with identity, owner, authority, and data-root boundaries
The board is created wherever --board points (default: .kernel). It stores projects and tasks in board.json, leases and cache entries under the board directory, and execution evidence in events.jsonl.
python scripts/kernel.py --board .kernel status
python scripts/kernel.py --board .kernel scan --root <project>
python scripts/kernel.py --board .kernel register subangel --name SUBANGEL --root <project> --owner maxiwhite --authority local
python scripts/kernel.py --board .kernel next
python scripts/kernel.py --board .kernel run-ready --workers 2
python -m pytest tests
The Python coordinator API is in scripts/coordinator.py. execute() accepts an argv list and an explicit allowed_executables list. It never evaluates shell text. execute_batch() runs independent commands concurrently up to the configured worker limit.
Registration is explicit and durable. Reusing a project ID with a different name, root, owner, or authority is rejected as an identity collision. Registration does not execute work or grant publication authority.
KERNEL prefers local execution. Remote providers, paid work, commits, pushes, publishing, deletion, credentials, and canonical architecture changes remain approval-gated. KERNEL does not claim completion from a process, queue, configuration, or staging state; fresh execution evidence is required.
The project targets Python 3.10–3.12 and runs the same test suite in GitHub Actions. Generated board data and test scratch directories are ignored by Git. See docs/superpowers/specs/2026-09-01-kernel-coordinator-design.md for the coordinator design and the per-directory README files for data contracts.