Cog-Sync/BOOTSTRAP.md

Cog Bootstrap — New Machine Setup

This document is intended to be read by a Claude Code instance to set up Cog on a new machine. If you are Claude: follow the steps below exactly, in order. If you are a human: hand this file to Claude with the instruction "read BOOTSTRAP.md and set up Cog on this machine".

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What This Does

Sets up Cog — a persistent memory and skills system for Claude Code. After setup, Claude will have access to memory, domain routing, and skills in every session on this machine.

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Prerequisites (verify before proceeding)

Run these checks first. Stop and tell the user if any fail:

# Git must be installed
git --version

# Claude Code must be installed and ~/.claude must exist
ls ~/.claude

# Must be on the artanis account (username check)
whoami

Expected: git version output, ~/.claude directory listing, username = artanis.

If the username is not artanis, stop and tell the user — the absolute paths in CLAUDE.md will need updating.

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Step 1 — Clone the repo

Check if ~/.cog already exists:

ls ~/.cog 2>/dev/null && echo "EXISTS" || echo "NOT FOUND"

If NOT FOUND: clone it:

git clone https://gitea.bunny-wyvern.ts.net/artanis/Cog-Sync.git /home/artanis/.cog

If EXISTS: pull latest instead:

git -C /home/artanis/.cog pull --rebase --autostash

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Step 2 — Symlink CLAUDE.md globally

Check if ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md already exists:

ls -la ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null && echo "EXISTS" || echo "NOT FOUND"

If NOT FOUND: create the symlink:

ln -s /home/artanis/.cog/CLAUDE.md ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

If EXISTS and is already a symlink to the right place: skip.

If EXISTS and is a regular file: warn the user that an existing ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md is present. Ask if they want it replaced. If yes: rm ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md && ln -s /home/artanis/.cog/CLAUDE.md ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md.

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Step 3 — Symlink settings.json globally

~/.claude/settings.json should be a symlink to the Cog settings so hooks and permissions apply in every session.

Check what's there:

ls -la ~/.claude/settings.json 2>/dev/null && echo "EXISTS" || echo "NOT FOUND"

If NOT FOUND: create the symlink:

ln -s /home/artanis/.cog/.claude/settings.json ~/.claude/settings.json

If EXISTS and is already a symlink to the right place: skip.

If EXISTS and is a regular file: replace it:

rm ~/.claude/settings.json && ln -s /home/artanis/.cog/.claude/settings.json ~/.claude/settings.json

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Step 4 — Symlink skills globally

Create the commands directory and symlink all Cog skills into it:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands

For each .md file in /home/artanis/.cog/.claude/commands/, create a symlink in ~/.claude/commands/. If a file already exists at the target, skip it (don't overwrite — the user may have other skills there).

for f in /home/artanis/.cog/.claude/commands/*.md; do
  target=~/.claude/commands/$(basename "$f")
  if [ -e "$target" ]; then
    echo "SKIP (exists): $(basename $f)"
  else
    ln -s "$f" "$target" && echo "linked: $(basename $f)"
  fi
done

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Step 5 — Verify

Run a quick sanity check:

# CLAUDE.md symlink resolves correctly
readlink ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

# settings.json symlink resolves correctly
readlink ~/.claude/settings.json

# Skills are linked
ls ~/.claude/commands/ | grep -E "personal|freelance|reflect|evolve"

# Repo is on main and clean
git -C /home/artanis/.cog status
git -C /home/artanis/.cog remote -v

Expected:

• First readlink → /home/artanis/.cog/CLAUDE.md
• Second readlink → /home/artanis/.cog/.claude/settings.json
• Skills listed
• Repo clean, origin points to https://gitea.bunny-wyvern.ts.net/artanis/Cog-Sync.git

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Step 6 — Done

Tell the user:

Cog is set up. CLAUDE.md and settings.json are active globally. Skills available: /personal, /freelance, /reflect, /evolve, /history, /scenario, /housekeeping, /foresight, /explainer, /humanizer.

Memory auto-syncs in every session: pulls from Gitea on session start, pushes on session end.

To add domains or reconfigure, open Claude Code in ~/.cog and run /setup.

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Notes

• Don't edit files in ~/.cog manually — let Claude do it through the skills
• Git remote upstream points to the original Cog template repo on GitHub — useful if you want to pull framework updates later
• memory/ is gitignored? No — memory is the whole point of syncing. Everything commits.
• Conflicts on observations files are handled by merge=union in .gitattributes — appends from different machines auto-merge