Separate bin/ from state/: capture the active state as a single shareable profile

[WiggidyW]

Layout split

~/.objectiveai (overridable via OBJECTIVEAI_DIR) splits into two trees:

<OBJECTIVEAI_DIR>                          default: $HOME/.objectiveai
├── bin/                                   ── machine-wide, shared by every state ──
│   ├── objectiveai[.exe]                  (cli moves here from the root)
│   ├── objectiveai-api / -viewer / -mcp / -db [.exe]
│   ├── pg-bin/                            (postgres install; was db-bin/)
│   ├── plugins/<owner>/<name>/<version>/
│   └── tools/<owner>/<name>/<version>/
└── state/<OBJECTIVEAI_STATE>/             default state: "default"
    ├── config.json
    ├── db/  .pgpass  db.lock              (the postgres cluster, per state)
    ├── logs/
    └── instances/agents/

• bin = executables only: the five shipped binaries, the embedded-postgres install, installed plugins and tools.
• state = everything the runtime accumulates: config, the database (agents, agent instances, continuations, message queues, logs, tasks/schedules), function/profile caches — the works.

CONFIG_BASE_DIR is removed. Two env vars remain:

• OBJECTIVEAI_DIR — root override, default $HOME/.objectiveai
• OBJECTIVEAI_STATE — state name, default default, restricted to [A-Za-z0-9_-]+

Switching OBJECTIVEAI_STATE switches the entire world (database cluster included) while sharing one set of binaries — states are cheap, isolated, and coexist.

Why: states as profiles

The active state — database AND plugin/tool state, agents, agent instances, queues, schedules — is captured in one directory: a single self-contained profile. That unlocks:

• Snapshotting (future): freeze state/<name>/ (cluster + config + registry) as an artifact; restore or fork it later.
• Sharing (future): hand a prepared state to someone else — a state that comes pre-loaded with tools and plugin state and agents and agent instances and whatnot, ready to run.
• Per-project / per-experiment states without container gymnastics; the test suite itself runs one shared OBJECTIVEAI_DIR with a state per test.

Status

The layout split + env model is being implemented now (filesystem resolution, objectiveai-db pg-bin/cluster split, spawn env forwarding, installers, test harness). Snapshot/share tooling is follow-up work tracked by this issue.

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[WiggidyW]

Additional goal: state synchronization across computers — the same profile (database, plugin/tool state, agents, instances) kept in sync between machines, not just snapshotted and shared one-way.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code