The Bitter Pill Release — stop over-instructing the model and let it think.
The biggest philosophical shift in LifeOS since it started: a year of added structure (modes, tiers, phase ceremonies, self-scores) swept back out. A capable model, given a clear "done" and good tools, thinks better without a rulebook.
What's new
- Bitter Pill Engineering — every instruction faced one test: would a smarter model make this rule unnecessary? If yes, it was cut. Kept the kernel: evidence-based verification, the ISA contract, safety gates, exact tool recipes.
- ~⅔ less always-on context — the every-turn doctrine went from ~88KB to ~28KB. Rationale and history moved to on-demand files. Faster, sharper on every turn.
- Modes and tiers are gone — no MINIMAL/NATIVE/ALGORITHM mode, no E1–E5 tier. One adaptive format, one loop; spend is discovered from the work, not a label.
- The Algorithm (v8.3.0) — the ISA is both hill and instrument: "done" stated as falsifiable claims, each naming the probe that refutes it. No claim closes without evidence.
- AlgorithmNudge — one deterministic sub-20ms nudge layer (skill routing + ISA freshness + spend), replacing several scattered hooks.
- Hook layer consolidated — ~16 hooks folded into per-event dispatchers. Fewer processes, same enforcement.
- Community fixes — work-events replay race, DA-name de-hardcoding, config-driven Pulse identity, voice-summary toggle, absolute-path binary resolution. Thanks to the contributors.
Install
Give it to your AI. Tell it: "Read https://ourlifeos.ai/install and install LifeOS for me." It does the whole setup — detects your harness, wires hooks with your permission, scaffolds your files. Needs Claude Code + bun.