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IronClaw Development Guide

IronClaw is a secure personal AI assistant — user-first security, self-expanding tools, defense in depth, multi-channel access with proactive background execution.

Build & Test

cargo fmt                                                    # format
cargo clippy --all --benches --tests --examples --all-features  # lint (zero warnings)
cargo test                                                   # unit tests
cargo test --features integration                            # + PostgreSQL tests
RUST_LOG=ironclaw=debug cargo run                            # run with logging

E2E tests: see tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md.

Code Style

  • Prefer crate:: for cross-module imports; super:: is fine in tests and intra-module refs
  • No pub use re-exports unless exposing to downstream consumers
  • No .unwrap() or .expect() in production code (tests are fine)
  • Use thiserror for error types in error.rs
  • Map errors with context: .map_err(|e| SomeError::Variant { reason: e.to_string() })?
  • Prefer strong types over strings (enums, newtypes)
  • Keep functions focused, extract helpers when logic is reused
  • Comments for non-obvious logic only
  • Prompt templates live in files, not Rust code: Multi-line prompt strings (mission goals, system prompts, CodeAct preambles) go in crates/ironclaw_engine/prompts/*.md and are loaded via include_str!(). Never inline large prompt templates as Rust string constants — they're hard to read, review, and iterate on. Single-line format strings are fine inline.
  • Logging levels matter for REPL/TUI: info! and warn! output appears in the REPL and corrupts the terminal UI. Use debug! for internal diagnostics (trace analysis, reflection results, engine internals). Reserve info! for user-facing status that the REPL intentionally renders. Background tasks (reflection, trace analysis) must NEVER use info! — it breaks the interactive display.
  • Test through the caller, not just the helper: When a predicate/classifier/transform helper gates a side effect (HTTP, DB write, OAuth, UI mutation, tool execution) and has any wrapper or computed input between it and that side effect, a unit test on the helper alone is not sufficient regression coverage. Add a test that drives the call site — typically a *_handler, factory::create_*, or manager::* — at the integration tier (cargo test --features integration) or higher. The same applies to test mocks: if you mock a multi-arg runtime API like window.open(url, target, features), the mock must capture every argument the production caller passes. See .claude/rules/testing.md ("Test Through the Caller, Not Just the Helper") for the full rule and the bug examples that motivated it.

Architecture

Prefer generic/extensible architectures over hardcoding specific integrations. Ask clarifying questions about the desired abstraction level before implementing.

Extension/Auth Invariants

Extension and channel onboarding has two distinct identities that must not be conflated:

  • credential_name: backend secret identity used for storage, injection, and gate resume
  • extension_name: user-facing installed extension/channel identity used for setup routing and UI

Examples:

  • Telegram:
    • credential_name = telegram_bot_token
    • extension_name = telegram
  • Gmail:
    • credential_name = google_oauth_token
    • extension_name = gmail

Rules:

  • Never route web setup/configure UI directly from credential_name.
  • Chat and Settings must use the same setup/configure path for installable extensions/channels.
  • Generic auth-card UI is only for non-extension credential prompts or pure OAuth launch prompts.
  • If an auth flow is for an installed extension/channel, resolve the extension_name once in shared backend logic and carry it through the wire contract rather than re-deriving it in multiple layers.
  • New auth/onboarding code must reuse the shared resolver/controller path instead of adding channel-specific or frontend-only fallbacks.

Current ownership:

  • src/bridge/auth_manager.rs: canonical auth-flow extension-name resolver
  • src/bridge/router.rs: auth gate display + submit routing
  • src/channels/web/server.rs: pending-gate/history rehydration
  • crates/ironclaw_gateway/static/js/core/onboarding.js: unified onboarding controller and configure-modal routing (previously in the monolithic app.js, now split — see crates/ironclaw_gateway/src/assets.rs for the concat order)

Temporary compatibility boundary:

  • Web auth prompts with a gate request_id are the v2 path and must resolve through /api/chat/gate/resolve.
  • Web auth prompts without a request_id are legacy engine v1 pending_auth compatibility only.
  • Keep that compatibility isolated; do not add new features to it.
  • Once v1 auth mode is removed, delete the legacy /api/chat/auth-token and /api/chat/auth-cancel shim endpoints and the matching no-request_id UI branch.

Key traits for extensibility: Database, Channel, Tool, LlmProvider, SuccessEvaluator, EmbeddingProvider, NetworkPolicyDecider, Hook, Observer, Tunnel.

All I/O is async with tokio. Use Arc<T> for shared state, RwLock for concurrent access.

LLM data is never deleted. All LLM output — context fed to the model, reasoning, tool calls, messages, events, steps — is the most valuable data in the system. Never strip, truncate, or delete it from the database. Mark with timestamps, make filterable, but always retain. In-memory HashMaps are caches; the database (via Workspace) is the source of truth. "Cleanup" means evicting from in-memory caches, never deleting database rows.

Extracted Crates

Safety logic lives in crates/ironclaw_safety/, skills in crates/ironclaw_skills/. Import directly from the extracted crate (e.g. use ironclaw_safety::SafetyLayer, use ironclaw_skills::SkillRegistry). Do not use crate::safety:: or crate::skills:: for types that originate in extracted crates — src/safety/mod.rs and src/skills/mod.rs no longer glob-re-export. Local items defined in those modules (e.g. crate::skills::attenuate_tools) are fine.

Project Structure

crates/
└── ironclaw_safety/    # Extracted: prompt injection, validation, leak detection, policy

src/
├── lib.rs              # Library root, module declarations
├── main.rs             # Entry point, CLI args, startup
├── app.rs              # App startup orchestration (channel wiring, DB init)
├── bootstrap.rs        # Base directory resolution (~/.ironclaw), early .env loading
├── settings.rs         # User settings persistence (~/.ironclaw/settings.json)
├── service.rs          # OS service management (launchd/systemd daemon install)
├── tracing_fmt.rs      # Custom tracing formatter
├── util.rs             # Shared utilities
├── config/             # Configuration from env vars (split by subsystem)
│   ├── mod.rs          # Re-exports all config types; top-level Config struct
│   ├── agent.rs, llm.rs, channels.rs, database.rs, sandbox.rs, skills.rs
│   ├── heartbeat.rs, routines.rs, safety.rs, embeddings.rs, wasm.rs
│   ├── tunnel.rs       # Tunnel provider config (TUNNEL_PROVIDER, TUNNEL_URL, etc.)
│   └── secrets.rs, hygiene.rs, builder.rs, helpers.rs
├── error.rs            # Error types (thiserror)
│
├── agent/              # Core agent loop, dispatcher, scheduler, sessions — see src/agent/CLAUDE.md
│
├── channels/           # Multi-channel input
│   ├── channel.rs      # Channel trait, IncomingMessage, OutgoingResponse
│   ├── manager.rs      # ChannelManager merges streams
│   ├── cli/            # Full TUI with Ratatui
│   ├── http.rs         # HTTP webhook (axum) with secret validation
│   ├── webhook_server.rs # Unified HTTP server composing all webhook routes
│   ├── repl.rs         # Simple REPL (for testing)
│   ├── web/            # Web gateway (browser UI) — see src/channels/web/CLAUDE.md
│   └── wasm/           # WASM channel runtime
│       ├── mod.rs
│       ├── bundled.rs  # Bundled channel discovery
│       ├── capabilities.rs # Channel-specific capabilities (HTTP endpoint, emit rate)
│       ├── error.rs    # WASM channel error types
│       ├── runtime.rs  # WASM channel execution runtime
│       ├── setup.rs    # WasmChannelSetup, setup_wasm_channels(), inject_channel_credentials()
│       └── wrapper.rs  # Channel trait wrapper for WASM modules
│
├── cli/                # CLI subcommands (clap)
│   ├── mod.rs          # Cli struct, Command enum (run/onboard/config/tool/registry/mcp/memory/pairing/service/doctor/status/completion)
│   └── config.rs, tool.rs, registry.rs, mcp.rs, memory.rs, pairing.rs, service.rs, doctor.rs, status.rs, completion.rs
│
├── registry/           # Extension registry catalog
│   ├── manifest.rs     # ExtensionManifest, ArtifactSpec, BundleDefinition types
│   ├── catalog.rs      # RegistryCatalog: load from filesystem and embedded JSON
│   └── installer.rs    # RegistryInstaller: download, verify, install WASM artifacts
│
├── hooks/              # Lifecycle hooks (6 points: BeforeInbound, BeforeToolCall, BeforeOutbound, OnSessionStart, OnSessionEnd, TransformResponse)
│
├── tunnel/             # Tunnel abstraction for public internet exposure
│   ├── mod.rs          # Tunnel trait, TunnelProviderConfig, create_tunnel(), start_managed_tunnel()
│   ├── cloudflare.rs   # CloudflareTunnel (cloudflared binary)
│   ├── ngrok.rs        # NgrokTunnel
│   ├── tailscale.rs    # TailscaleTunnel (serve/funnel modes)
│   ├── custom.rs       # CustomTunnel (arbitrary command with {host}/{port})
│   └── none.rs         # NoneTunnel (local-only, no exposure)
│
├── observability/      # Pluggable event/metric recording (noop, log, multi)
│
├── orchestrator/       # Internal HTTP API for sandbox containers
│   ├── api.rs          # Axum endpoints (LLM proxy, events, prompts)
│   ├── auth.rs         # Per-job bearer token store
│   └── job_manager.rs  # Container lifecycle (create, stop, cleanup)
│
├── worker/             # Runs inside Docker containers
│   ├── container.rs    # Container worker runtime (ContainerDelegate + shared agentic loop)
│   ├── job.rs          # Background job worker (JobDelegate + shared agentic loop)
│   ├── claude_bridge.rs # Claude Code bridge (spawns claude CLI)
│   └── proxy_llm.rs    # LlmProvider that proxies through orchestrator
│
├── safety/             # Re-export shim for crates/ironclaw_safety (see Extracted Crates)
│
├── llm/                # Multi-provider LLM integration — see src/llm/CLAUDE.md
│
├── tools/              # Extensible tool system
│   ├── tool.rs         # Tool trait, ToolOutput, ToolError
│   ├── registry.rs     # ToolRegistry for discovery
│   ├── rate_limiter.rs # Shared sliding-window rate limiter
│   ├── builtin/        # Built-in tools (echo, time, json, http, web_fetch, file, shell, memory, message, job, routine, extension_tools, skill_tools, secrets_tools)
│   ├── builder/        # Dynamic tool building
│   │   ├── core.rs     # BuildRequirement, SoftwareType, Language
│   │   ├── templates.rs # Project scaffolding
│   │   ├── testing.rs  # Test harness integration
│   │   └── validation.rs # WASM validation
│   ├── mcp/            # Model Context Protocol
│   │   ├── client.rs   # MCP client over HTTP
│   │   ├── factory.rs  # create_client_from_config() — transport dispatch factory
│   │   ├── protocol.rs # JSON-RPC types
│   │   └── session.rs  # MCP session management (Mcp-Session-Id header, per-server state)
│   └── wasm/           # Full WASM sandbox (wasmtime)
│       ├── runtime.rs  # Module compilation and caching
│       ├── wrapper.rs  # Tool trait wrapper for WASM modules
│       ├── host.rs     # Host functions (logging, time, workspace)
│       ├── limits.rs   # Fuel metering and memory limiting
│       ├── allowlist.rs # Network endpoint allowlisting
│       ├── credential_injector.rs # Safe credential injection
│       ├── loader.rs   # WASM tool discovery from filesystem
│       ├── rate_limiter.rs # Per-tool rate limiting
│       ├── error.rs    # WASM-specific error types
│       └── storage.rs  # Linear memory persistence
│
├── db/                 # Dual-backend persistence (PostgreSQL + libSQL) — see src/db/CLAUDE.md
│
├── workspace/          # Persistent memory system — see src/workspace/README.md
│
├── context/            # Job context isolation (JobState, JobContext, ContextManager)
├── estimation/         # Cost/time/value estimation with EMA learning
├── evaluation/         # Success evaluation (rule-based, LLM-based)
│
├── sandbox/            # Docker execution sandbox
│   ├── config.rs       # SandboxConfig, SandboxPolicy enum (ReadOnly/WorkspaceWrite/FullAccess)
│   ├── manager.rs      # SandboxManager orchestration
│   ├── container.rs    # ContainerRunner, Docker lifecycle
│   └── proxy/          # Network proxy: domain allowlist, credential injection, CONNECT tunnel
│
├── secrets/            # Secrets management (AES-256-GCM, OS keychain for master key)
│
├── profile.rs          # Psychographic profile types, 9-dimension analysis framework
│
├── setup/              # 7-step onboarding wizard — see src/setup/README.md
│
├── skills/             # SKILL.md prompt extension system — see .claude/rules/skills.md
│
└── history/            # Persistence (PostgreSQL repositories, analytics)

tests/
├── *.rs                # Integration tests (workspace, heartbeat, WS gateway, pairing, etc.)
├── test-pages/         # HTML→Markdown conversion fixtures
└── e2e/                # Python/Playwright E2E scenarios (see tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md)

Database

Dual-backend: PostgreSQL + libSQL/Turso. All new persistence features must support both backends. See src/db/CLAUDE.md and .claude/rules/database.md.

Module Specs

When modifying a module with a spec, read the spec first. Code follows spec; spec is the tiebreaker.

Module-owned initialization: Module-specific initialization logic (database connection, transport creation, channel setup) must live in the owning module as a public factory function — not in main.rs or app.rs. These entry-point files orchestrate calls to module factories. Feature-flag branching (#[cfg(feature = ...)]) must be confined to the module that owns the abstraction.

Module Spec
src/agent/ src/agent/CLAUDE.md
src/channels/web/ src/channels/web/CLAUDE.md
src/db/ src/db/CLAUDE.md
src/llm/ src/llm/CLAUDE.md
src/setup/ src/setup/README.md
src/tools/ src/tools/README.md
src/workspace/ src/workspace/README.md
crates/ironclaw_engine/ crates/ironclaw_engine/CLAUDE.md
tests/e2e/ tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md

Job State Machine

Pending -> InProgress -> Completed -> Submitted -> Accepted
    \                \-> Failed
     \-> Failed       \-> Stuck -> InProgress (recovery)
                              \-> Failed

Skills System

SKILL.md files extend the agent's prompt with domain-specific instructions. See .claude/rules/skills.md for full details.

  • Trust model: Trusted (user-placed in ~/.ironclaw/skills/ or workspace skills/, full tool access) vs Installed (registry, read-only tools)
  • Selection pipeline: gating (check bin/env/config requirements) -> scoring (keywords/patterns/tags) -> budget (fit within SKILLS_MAX_TOKENS) -> attenuation (trust-based tool ceiling)
  • Skill tools: skill_list, skill_search, skill_install, skill_remove

Configuration

See .env.example for all environment variables. LLM backends (nearai, openai, anthropic, ollama, openai_compatible, tinfoil, bedrock) documented in src/llm/CLAUDE.md.

Adding a New Channel

  1. Create src/channels/my_channel.rs
  2. Implement the Channel trait
  3. Add config in src/config/channels.rs
  4. Wire up in src/app.rs channel setup section

Everything Goes Through Tools

Core principle: all actions originating from gateway handlers, CLI commands, routine engine, WASM channels, or any other non-agent caller MUST go through ToolDispatcher::dispatch() — never directly through state.store, workspace, extension_manager, skill_registry, or session_manager.

This gives every UI-initiated mutation the same audit trail (ActionRecord), safety pipeline (param validation, sensitive-param redaction, output sanitization), and channel-agnostic surface as agent-initiated tool calls. Channels are interchangeable extensions; routing through one dispatch function means new channels inherit the full pipeline for free.

The pre-commit hook (scripts/pre-commit-safety.sh) flags newly-added lines in handler/CLI files that touch state.{store,workspace,extension_manager,skill_registry,session_manager}.* directly. Annotate intentional exceptions (rare — usually only read aggregation across multiple users) with a trailing // dispatch-exempt: <reason> comment on the same line. The check only sees added lines, so existing untouched code doesn't trip during incremental migration.

See .claude/rules/tools.md for the full pattern, allowed exemptions, and migration status. The dispatcher itself lives in src/tools/dispatch.rs.

Engine v2 Per-Project Sandbox

When SANDBOX_ENABLED=true, engine v2 routes the five filesystem/shell tools (file_read, file_write, list_dir, apply_patch, shell) for /project/ paths through a per-project Docker container instead of the host filesystem. The host's directory at ~/.ironclaw/projects/<user_id>/<project_id>/ is bind-mounted at /project/ inside the container, and a sandbox_daemon binary inside the container speaks NDJSON over docker exec -i.

When unset, the same code path uses a host-filesystem MountBackend — behavior is unchanged. See docs/plans/2026-04-10-engine-v2-sandbox.md.

Build the sandbox image: docker build -f crates/Dockerfile.sandbox -t ironclaw/sandbox:dev .

Workspace & Memory

Persistent memory with hybrid search (FTS + vector via RRF). Four tools: memory_search, memory_write, memory_read, memory_tree. Identity files (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, USER.md, IDENTITY.md) injected into system prompt. Heartbeat system runs proactive periodic execution (default: 30 minutes), reading HEARTBEAT.md and notifying via channel if findings. See src/workspace/README.md.

Debugging

RUST_LOG=ironclaw=trace cargo run           # verbose
RUST_LOG=ironclaw::agent=debug cargo run    # agent module only
RUST_LOG=ironclaw=debug,tower_http=debug cargo run  # + HTTP request logging

Current Limitations

  1. Domain-specific tools (marketplace.rs, restaurant.rs, etc.) are stubs
  2. Integration tests need testcontainers for PostgreSQL
  3. MCP: no streaming support; stdio/HTTP/Unix transports all use request-response
  4. WIT bindgen: auto-extract tool schema from WASM is stubbed
  5. Built tools get empty capabilities; need UX for granting access
  6. No tool versioning or rollback
  7. Observability: only log and noop backends (no OpenTelemetry)