Principles

Principles

• Files on disk are the source of truth for the runtime. Quadlet units are generated by the panel; they can be read, diffed and applied without it. The panel is a convenience layer, not the only point of control.
• Isolation by default. Every workspace is a separate system user running rootless Podman. Compromising one project does not give access to the others or to the host.
• Nothing is published on its own. A service port is visible only inside the workspace network until an explicit checkbox is set.
• Determinism first, AI second. Config validation, port, reference and network checks are done in code. AI generates and explains but is never the final authority.
• Plan / apply. Any change proposed by an agent or an external client exists first as a plan that a human confirms. In prod — always.
• Secrets do not live in files. Values exist only in podman secret and the panel's encrypted database; units, env files and logs see names only.
• Stateless and stateful are different things. The data model distinguishes them from day one: blue-green for the former, honest restart plus backups for the latter.
• Reuse first, rewrite after 1.0. Until a stable release the core is assembled from existing open-source components and borrowed designs (see Prior Art). Rewriting foundations only makes sense once there is a working version and the legacy that hurts is known by name.