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New-user onboarding: Mac-app-first with assisted engine install (Hermes-style) #51

Description

@jordanrburger

Type: feature — large. New-user onboarding.

Build a first-run onboarding flow modeled on Nous Research's Hermes agent: the user installs the Mac app first, and if they don't have the Scout engine (scout-plugin + a ~/Scout vault) on their machine, the app helps them install it directly — detect the missing engine, walk through install (Claude Code + the plugin + /scout-setup), and verify.

Today the app assumes a working ~/Scout + scoutctl and degrades into empty/error states with no guidance (the 2026-06-22 audit found: no proactive "scoutctl not found" / "vault not found" banner; ~/Scout path hardcoded with no override).

Scope to design:

  • Detect engine presence (vault at ~/Scout, scoutctl resolvable, plugin installed + version).
  • Guided in-app install/repair flow (or deep-link to /scout-setup).
  • Make the vault root path configurable as part of this.
  • Route tabs' empty/missing states into onboarding instead of silent blanks.

Captured from session notes 2026-06-22. (No existing onboarding issue as of filing.)

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