Silent seat protocol vs workshop files

Where Orchemax injects the seat contract at SessionStart, what lives in .orch/ORCH_RUNTIME.md, and why public */skills/orch-* folders stay out of your workshop by default.

Goal#

Tell apart the silent seat protocol Orchemax injects when a CLI starts from the workshop files you own and edit. Default private mode keeps sealed orch-* skill folders out of browsable (and commit-prone) */skills/ trees.

What is injected (not a workshop skill folder)#

On Claude-family SessionStart, the notify hook adds a short additionalContext blob: the compact seat contract (Chair vs worker). Depth stays on disk in .orch/ORCH_RUNTIME.md, which dispatch / seat ensure refresh when a seat opens.

Cursor cannot rely on SessionStart the same way, so Orchemax writes an alwaysApply rule at .cursor/rules/orch-protocol.mdc at launch. That rule carries the same compact protocol — still not a durable .cursor/skills/orch-* tree.

Continuity (take context / last session) points at .orch/LAST_SESSION.md and the same runtime contract — not at public skill names.

What you own in the workshop#

  • Project doctrine: CLAUDE.md, DEV_PRACTICES.md, GATES.md, your own .cursor/rules/*.mdc, agent digests you choose to keep.
  • Disk memory: .workflow/LEDGER*.md, BOARD.md, RESUME.md, .orch/LAST_SESSION.md.
  • Config: orch.yaml and gateway / agent settings you set.

Orchemax regenerates seat runtime under .orch/ and the compact protocol injection. Treat sealed product protocol as harness surface, not something to fork under skills/orch-*.

Escape hatch (one release)#

If you still need durable skill folders on disk for dogfood:

ORCH_LEGACY_SKILLS=1

With that env set, seed/install may write */skills/orch-* again. Leave it unset (the default) so launch sweeps leftover sealed orch-* dirs from known vendor trees and keeps protocol private.