alivecontext/alive

📦 Demo worlds

• Or describe a persona in one paragraph. The 5-stage subagent pipeline builds a custom world around it. Fails partway through? It resumes from the last clean stage instead of starting over.
• Now its one command. Spin up a demo world, let them poke around, tear it down. Your real world never gets touched.
• `list`, `activate`, `deactivate`, `delete`, `status`, `resume` — the full lifecycle is there. Activation is a 10-step transaction with one atomic pointer write at step 10.

📦 System upgrade rewrite

• What it handles now:
• v1→v3, v2→v3, and intra-v3 minor migrations (3.0→3.1, 3.1→3.2)
• Version detection from content fingerprints — three signals, lowest wins. No config files, no manifest versions. What's on disk is what you are
• `--dry-run` shows every planned operation before anything moves
• `--resume` picks up from a marker file if it fails halfway. Refuses if the tool version changed, the world diverged, or the marker is >24h stale
• `--rollback` extracts a pre-upgrade tarball into `.alive/.rollback-<ts>/` for inspection
• Five retired patterns that were silently surviving upgrades are now caught: `_brain/`, `_state/`, `_kernel/_chapters/`, `.v2backup` files. The pre-upgrade tarball preserves contents before removal.

📦 ALIVE CLI

• Small surface today. Foundation for v3.3.

📦 The rest

• GitHub star prompt — soft inline at sessions 5 and 10, three ceremonies at 20/40/60, quiet hum every 7th save (max 3 lifetime). `github_star_ask: false` in preferences to silence it. No telemetry. Uses your own `gh` CLI
• CI pinned — `claude-code-action` locked to `v1.0.112` after a moving `@v1` tag broke hosted runners
• Plugin manifest bumped to 3.2.0, marketplace.json in lockstep
• ---
• 66 commits. 79 files changed. 5,907 lines added, 1,194 removed.

📦 First time installer?

• Add the marketplace, then install:
• ```
• claude plugin marketplace add alivecontext/alive
• claude plugin install alive@alivecontext
• ```

📦 Updating from a previous version?

• Refresh the marketplace index, then update:
• ```
• claude plugin marketplace update alivecontext
• claude plugin update alive@alivecontext
• ```
• If the update doesn't take effect (known Claude Code issue — [#29512](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/29512)), uninstall and reinstall:
• ```
• claude plugin uninstall alive@alivecontext
• + 4 more

⚡ Performance

• `/alive:world` 10x faster — renders from a single index file instead of scanning 174+ squirrel entries and individual walnut files
• `/alive:load-context` loads 3 files instead of 13+ — key.md, now.json, insights.md. Everything else is already in the projection.
• Task operations are instant — `tasks.py` CLI instead of agent reading/writing markdown files. Zero context window burn.
• Concurrent sessions don't clobber each other — projections recompute from ALL sources every save. Last-writer-wins is dead.

✨ What's New

• Script-operated tasks — `tasks.py` CLI replaces `tasks.md`. Add, done, edit, list, summary — all via one Bash call.
• True projections — `now.json` computed post-save by `project.py` from all source files (log, manifests, tasks, squirrel entries, nested walnuts).
• Flat kernel — `_generated/` subfolder removed. 6 files flat in `_kernel/`: key.md, log.md, insights.md, tasks.json, now.json, completed.json.
• Flat bundles — `bundles/` container removed. Bundles sit next to `_kernel/` in walnut root. Identified by `context.manifest.yaml`.
• 03_Inbox — `03_Inputs/` renamed. I = Inbox. Universally understood.
• 3-file load sequence — key.md + now.json + insights.md frontmatter. Agent is oriented. Done.
• Graduation is a status flip — no folder moves. Bundle stays where it is.
• observations.md removed — stash routes to log at save. No separate file.
• + 2 more

💥 Breaking Changes

• `bundles/` folder removed — bundles are flat in walnut root
• `_kernel/_generated/` removed — flat `_kernel/`
• `tasks.md` → `tasks.json` (script-operated)
• `03_Inputs/` → `03_Inbox/`
• `observations.md` removed
• Org renamed: `stackwalnuts` → `alivecontext`
• Install command: `alive@alivecontext`
• All breaking changes are handled by the upgrade skill.

📦 Install

• ```bash
• claude plugin install alive@alivecontext
• ```

📦 Upgrading from v1 or v2

• ```bash
• claude plugin install alive@alivecontext
• /alive:system-upgrade
• ```
• The upgrade skill shows you what will change, backs everything up, and migrates your world. You'll see a message from the developer explaining what changed and why.

📋 Full changelog

• See [CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/alivecontext/alive/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)