Nova: The Constitutional Agentic Coding System

Repository: warheart1984-ctrl/agentic-coding-agent

Nova is a governed agentic coding system built on the Constitutional Runtime Kernel (CRK-2) — a lawful substrate for autonomous reasoning, execution, and verification.

Every action is lawful. Every change is accountable. Every outcome serves the Constitution.

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Overview

Nova wraps agentic coding in a constitutional loop: plans and executions pass through dLAP legality checks, invariant enforcement, continuity preservation, and an immutable ledger before they touch your codebase.

Layer	What it does
CRK-2	Kernel — legality, invariants, continuity, ledger
Nova SDK (agent/)	AgentRuntime — plan, validate, execute, receipt
Control Tower	Multi-agent orchestration, consensus, drift detection
Cockpit	Operator flight deck — receipts, invariants, continuity matrix

Mission #002 ships a founder-independent reproduction bundle so any observer can rebuild, run, and verify the runtime without privileged access.

Constitutional layers

Nova separates law, execution, oversight, and verification so governance cannot be bypassed by accident or convenience.

Layer	Path	Role
Law	crk2/	Invariants, constraints, receipts, continuity substrate, ledger — defines what is lawful
Execution	agent/	AgentRuntime — plans and executes under CRK-2; applies governance, never defines it
Oversight	control-tower/	Multi-agent orchestration, consensus, drift detection
Judicial	observer/	Founder-independent reproduction and drift-free verification

This mirrors the constitutional stack: Reality → Evidence → Judgment → Stewardship → Continuity. See docs/WHAT-MY-AGENTIC-CODING-AGENT-DOES.md for the full layered diagram.

flowchart TB
  subgraph law [LawLayer]
    crk2[crk2_dLAP_Invariants_Ledger]
  end
  subgraph exec [ExecutionLayer]
    sdk[agent_AgentRuntime]
  end
  subgraph oversight [OversightLayer]
    tower[control_tower]
    cockpit[cockpit_UI]
  end
  subgraph judicial [JudicialLayer]
    observer[observer_Mission002]
  end
  crk2 --> sdk
  sdk --> tower
  tower --> cockpit
  observer --> crk2
  observer --> sdk

Loading

Roadmap: packages/ (crk2, nova-sdk, control-tower, types), apps/ (cockpit, shell, backend), and missions/mission-002/ will formalize this layout as the monorepo grows. Today, paths above are at repository root for Mission #002.

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The Constitutional Runtime (CRK-2)

CRK-2 is the lawful substrate that governs all agentic behavior in this repository.

Component	Role
Lawful Action Predicate (dLAP)	Determines legality of actions before execution
Invariant Engine	Maintains constitutional invariants at runtime
Constraint Engine	Enforces boundaries on plans and tool use
Continuity Substrate v2	Preserves identity, state, and replayable snapshots
Ledger v2	Hash-chained immutable audit trail
Constitutional Amendments v2 (CA-2)	Lawful evolution of the rule set

CRK-2 is the kernel of truth, continuity, and accountability.

→ Full spec: docs/CRK-2-SPEC.md

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The Agentic SDK

The Nova SDK (agent/) exposes constitutional primitives for building governed agents.

import { AgentRuntime, governance } from "./agent";
import { invariants } from "./config/nova.config";

for (const inv of invariants) {
  await governance.requireInvariant(inv);
}

const runtime = new AgentRuntime();

// Governed execution — validate → receipt → ledger.append
const result = await runtime.generateCode({
  prompt: "Add pagination to the API",
});

console.log(result.code);
console.log(result.receipts[0].ledgerHash);

Agents operate under CRK-2 governance — every plan, execution, and output is verifiable.

npx nova plan "Refactor the data access layer"
npx nova generate "Write a factorial function in TypeScript."
npx nova receipts
npx nova continuity

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Mission #002: Founder-Independent Reproduction

Mission #002 proves that Nova's governed runtime can be reproduced and verified independently.

Goal	Rebuild the system from the observer bundle and confirm drift-free behavior

Includes

Path	Contents
observer/	Verification tools, checklist, expected output
docs/	Architecture, CRK-2 spec, operator certification
observer-bundle-mission-002.zip	Immutable reference bundle

Verification steps

1. Prepare a clean machine (Node.js 18+, Git)
2. Clone, npm install, npm run build
3. Rebuild CRK-2 and Nova SDK artifacts
4. Run the agent (npx nova … or AgentRuntime)
5. Verify receipts, ledger entries, and PIT transitions
6. Sign off via observer/CHECKLIST.md

→ Protocol: observer/REPRO_PROTOCOL.md · Brief: MISSION-002.md

Bundle attestation

Property	Value
File	observer-bundle-mission-002.zip
SHA-256	5FFDF5B95095E9FA2C4331EE71739850C335D3F0FF7EBBC3F0E3C1BAB020BD82

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/warheart1984-ctrl/agentic-coding-agent.git
cd agentic-coding-agent
npm install
npm run build

Cockpit (operator UI)

npm run cockpit

Opens the React flight deck at http://localhost:5173.

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Project Structure

agentic-coding-agent/
├── agent/                 # Nova Agent SDK (AgentRuntime + governance)
├── crk2/                  # Constitutional Runtime Kernel v2
├── control-tower/         # Multi-agent orchestration
├── backend/               # Service layer + WebSocket events gateway
├── cockpit/               # Operator UI (NovaShell + Flight Deck)
├── observer/              # Mission #002 verification protocol
├── config/                # Mission invariants (nova.config.ts)
├── docs/                  # Architecture & specs
├── examples/              # Governed project templates
├── tools/fuzz/            # Kernel fuzz harness
└── shell/                 # Lawful Nova dev shell (bootstrap; separate concern)

shell/ is the self-bootstrapping Nova dev environment (macOS / Linux / Windows). It is intentionally separate from Mission #002 runtime code. See shell/README.md.

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For Developers

Build governed agents using the Nova SDK and CRK-2 kernel primitives.

Resource	Link
Architecture	docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
CRK-2 spec	docs/CRK-2-SPEC.md
Control Tower	docs/NOVA-CONTROL-TOWER.md
SDK entry	agent/runtime/agent-runtime.ts

Primary API

const runtime = new AgentRuntime();

await runtime.validate(action);
await runtime.receipt(action, invIds);
runtime.ledger.append(receipt);
runtime.ledger.tailHash();

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For Verifiers

Use Mission #002 to independently reproduce and validate the runtime.

1. Verify bundle hash (see table above)
2. Follow observer/REPRO_PROTOCOL.md
3. Compare output to observer/EXPECTED_OUTPUT.md
4. Complete observer/CHECKLIST.md

Release notes and attestation: RELEASE.md

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Architecture overview

Concern	Document
System layers and data flow	docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
CRK-2 dual-stack (CRK-1 → CRK-2)	docs/CRK-2-SPEC.md · docs/CRK-1-TO-CRK-2-MIGRATION-PLAN.md
Figma-ready layer diagram	docs/WHAT-MY-AGENTIC-CODING-AGENT-DOES.md
SDK and governance API	docs/api/governance.md · docs/api/nova.md
Mission #002 reproduction	MISSION-002.md · observer/REPRO_PROTOCOL.md

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Documentation

Doc	Purpose
MISSION-002.md	Mission brief + reproduction protocol
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md	Constitutional runtime architecture
docs/CRK-2-SPEC.md	CRK-2 kernel specification
docs/NOVA-CONTROL-TOWER.md	Multi-agent orchestration
docs/index.md	Documentation hub

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Core Principle

Lawfulness. Accountability. Continuity.

Nova transforms ideas into infrastructure — one invariant at a time.

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License

MIT © 2026