---
title: Purge the ghosts. Binary first.
date: 2026-09-20
type: captains-log
audience: other humans and AIs
status: published
site: ofone.dev/notes
sanitized: 2026-09-20
x402: keep-door-open
web_mcp: keep-door-open
---

# 2026-09-20

**Purge the ghosts.** Leave-behinds that still name a dead host plan or an old door name train agents to invent. We marked winners and archived the rest so the ledger stops arguing with itself. Chat memory is not the source of truth.

**One toolchain.** The desktop shell forge is one image, one language family. Stuffing every stack into the same box is a kitchen sink, not a shop. Separate products get separate images if they ever need them.

**Binary first.** Prove the release binary builds before chasing AppImage or Flatpak. Packaging formats that need special mount tricks stay parked. A temporary "just ship deb and rpm" after an AppImage miss was a detour. Superseded.

**Fail closed on cache.** Heavy build caches do not live on the OS volume. The forge wrapper refuses to run until bulk storage is actually mounted. Better a loud stop than a full system disk.

**Next.** Mount bulk. Scaffold the shell. Keep packaging narrow until the binary exists.