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Decision 0022

Netinstall and offline ISOs; the installer is Tacid in genesis mode

Architecture decision record 0022: Netinstall and offline ISOs; the installer is Tacid in genesis mode

Status
Accepted
Date
2026-09-03

Context

“We have an ISO that you can use to install, then the system is self-improving.” The ISO must be small enough to download and complete enough to work with no network; those two do not coexist in one file (review).

The three plans

  • Grok: a TUI installer with five questions; the core ISO under 800 MB without weights; models as a second artifact; USB model packs.
  • Fable: mkIso; a TUI installer; nixos-anywhere; “Tacid on top of your existing NixOS”.
  • Codex: build the installer late; a ten-step branded flow; GPU detection; AI setup; first boot that feels finished.

Decision

Two artifacts: netinstall (≤ ~1 GB: kernel, daemons, TUI, no graphical closure, no weights) and offline (several GB: the graphical closure plus the tiny model so the first boot is not mute); USB model packs for airgapped sites. The installer is not separate code: the stem, the keeper and tacidd run in genesis mode on the live system, driven by the TUI over the console or a serial line; disk operations are typed stem operations on a previewed disko plan; the output is the first genome and generation. Flow: keyboard, network (optional), disk, encryption (TPM2 + PIN, recovery key), owner key and user, hardware profile with the NVIDIA choice, autonomy level, mind (local profile sized to hardware; optional cloud key into the keeper), review, install. Secure Boot enrollment is a post-install command. First boot: the agent introduces itself, verifies hardware against facts, offers models. Also nixos-anywhere and inputs.tacidos.nixosModules.default on an existing NixOS. The ISO lands in Phase 3, after the spine and the senses and before the graphical shell, because a self-updating TUI machine is a complete product.

Consequences

  • No special-case installer code to secure; genesis is a transaction.
  • tacid version prints full provenance from the first boot.

Alternatives rejected

  • One ISO: either too large to download or mute offline.
  • Building the installer first (against Codex’s advice, which stands): the spine comes first.