The owner (2026-10-23, via the question tool): "Uploads only"; and
before it: "What we would DEFINITELY want to avoid is passing a bunch
of BLOBs through AI context windows. That's just a pure waste." No file
passes through an agent's context, in either direction.
In: the inline arguments are gone with the 256 KiB limit (INLINE_MAX,
take_file's inline branch): content_base64 and its sha256 on
books.attach_receipt and books.file_document, w9_content_base64 and
w9_sha256 on books.set_w9, csv_text on the two CSV imports. A file comes
only by books.begin_upload and `wanderbooks upload`, named by its
upload_id; existing_attachment_id still names bytes stored already. The
five filing tools deny unknown fields, and any inline argument to any
tool is refused before it runs as an unknown argument pointing to
books.begin_upload (access log: refused inline_file).
Out: books.export (every format), books.asset_labels and
books.get_receipt view bytes hand the file over (HandedFile: download
command and expiry, D-29), as the CPA package and the W-9 do. Resource
reads stay text. A token keeps up to 64 handed files (was 16). The
access log's digest no longer exempts file bytes.
Docs: handbook files-in-out and parties-and-tins, mcp-interface.md,
rules.md, receipt-store.md, parties-and-attachments.md, plan/served.md
(D-46; the inline decisions marked superseded), STATUS.md, testing.md
(D-46: tests migrated to uploads and downloads, rewritten, removed,
added).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
The owner (2026-10-23): "We should probably just delete the stdio path
altogether. THere's no point in that. And it sitting there unused will
just lead to bitrot. Nuke it?"
Books are served only by the books server (`wanderbooks server`),
reached by agents through the bridge (`wanderbooks mcp --book ID`),
which stays.
Removed: `wanderbooks dev-stdio`, the `ledger-mcp` binary, and
`ledger_mcp::run` (stdio and `--http` over a bare data dir), with all
that only that mode had:
- files the books make coming back inline: `HandedFile.content_base64`
is gone, and `download` and `expires_at` are always there;
- books with no access log or backups: `books.access_log`,
`books.backup` and `books.back_up_now` are always offered, by scope;
- the settings file read and reloaded (`legacy_files`), the vault key
named by a file or `--vault-key-file`, and the books dir's
key-inside-the-books and git checks (with `paths.rs`);
- `wire.rs` (the bridge frames an agent's lines itself);
- `books.settings`' file fields and `books.start`'s `settings_source`.
`BooksServer` is built one way, from `Served` (a book as the books
server serves it), in production and in the unit tests. An unknown tool
is now a protocol error (mcp-tools.md). Inline file input is unchanged.
Then the owner's three decisions (2026-10-23, the question tool):
(a) `books.import_settings` is removed entirely (118 tools): old books
come in whole by `wanderbooks books adopt`, which reads their settings
file once; ledger-config keeps its settings-file parsing only as far as
adoption uses it (`load` and the path-reading `effective_receipt_policy`
are gone), and `books.chart_template` gives its settings as
`books.set_setting` changes. (b) The viewer's loose-books-folder mode is
removed (`--data-dir`, `--books-toml`, `--vault-key-file`, the settings
file and config.json followed): it opens only books of the data root,
reading settings from the journal and the vault from the book's own
`vault/` and `keys/`. (c) `wanderbooks dev-stdio` has no stub: it is an
unknown command like any other word. Also: an upload's expiry past the
calendar is an error, never an empty string.
Tests: every suite that drove the stdio server moved to
crates/ledger-cli/tests/ and drives a real `wanderbooks server` on a
data root of its own (tests/common), handed files by their download;
mcp_stdio.rs is mcp_journeys.rs. Tests of what is gone are deleted and
listed in docs/testing.md. Docs: plan D-44 (D-18 superseded), STATUS,
testing, rules, mcp-interface, the handbook, README; justfile recipes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
Books an update could write a newer format for open on their old format
and are asked at every open; anything needing a new feature is refused
until the owner agrees with the passphrase, after a verified backup that
includes the keys. New books start on the current format. Each projection
schema has its own database file, so an older version still opens the
books until the owner agrees.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
The server backs each book up itself: a per-book git archive, pushed
fast-forward only to a git remote and to a folder, when the books open,
after a quiet spell, before they close and on request; every commit,
push and drill is a record in ops/backup.jsonl. Drills clone each
target and verify the chain, the blobs, the vault and the head, weekly
and after a failure. `wanderbooks books restore` previews, then
restores beside or (with --replace) over, never moving books something
holds. The archive refuses anything but a plain bare repository and
pins git against the owner's configuration. books.backup and
books.back_up_now for the agent.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
`wanderbooks gui [BOOK]` finds the data root, reads settings from the
journal, the vault of the book, presence through ops/, Save a copy /
Open on every document, Save the W-9, the Export menu, and colour
schemes. One builder for the CPA package and the 1099 worksheet
(ledger-package), shared by the server and the viewer.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
Files reach the books through the server: uploads by hash and size,
then filed; exports (the CPA package, the 1099 worksheet, W-9s) handed
over as downloads from the server, never read off disk by the agent.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
Agent tokens (wb_ and 64 hex digits), one book and one name each, kept
only as SHA-256 in a chain log and in the OS keyring; made, listed and
revoked only through the admin socket (`wanderbooks token ...`). The
door checks them, scopes cover every tool, every call is in the access
log (fail closed), and the owner passphrase is an Argon2id hash.
Setup's terminal test waits for its prompts.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
One wanderbooks executable. The books are open while the viewer, an
agent session or a terminal holds them: a host process takes leases on
a socket, starts the server (the hidden mode `wanderbooks server`) with
a pipe on its input, and closes it 10 s after the last lease ends. No
background service. One host even in a race (run/host.lock).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj
The server and the viewer are libraries with run(prog, args), returning
Exit(code) instead of ending the process; ledger-mcp and ledger-gui are
one-line shims (the live books keep using them until the cutover).
wanderbooks dispatches dev-stdio and gui to them in-process; a mode must
come first and owns its flags. The gui feature (default) leaves the
viewer out of the server-only build, which just server-only builds,
clippies, tests, and checks for window libraries. The viewer's mutation
recipe is retired (owner, 2026-10-18); its two musts are tested
directly. Two review rounds; mutation on the diff (docs/testing.md).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01T3gXMVt7XJPi6ens1or9Dj