# Railiance rhythm via llm-connect (not a host coding agent)

> Status: design note 2026-07-21 (BINKY-WP-0006).  
> Supersedes the residual “install Claude on railiance01” idea from the
> BINKY-WP-0004 cutover notes.

## Principle

**Railiance executes infrastructure + hosted LLM inference. It does not host
Claude Code, Codex, or another interactive coding harness.**

| Layer | On Railiance | Not on Railiance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Secrets | OpenBao AppRole / in-cluster Secret | Paste into chat |
| Deterministic I/O | email-connect scan, git commit/push with deploy key | — |
| LLM | **llm-connect → OpenRouter** (open-weights / cheap models) | Claude CLI agentic session |
| Policy | Allow-listed apply steps (Blue/Green) | Model free-form shell |

This matches agent-harness INTENT (session policy shell) and llm-connect
INTENT (provider abstraction): the **server profile** uses llm-connect HTTP;
laptop coding agents remain optional for interactive work only.

## Mail path (canonical)

```text
timer / CronJob
  → agent-harness mail-scan          # deterministic, AppRole IMAP
  → agent-harness mail-triage        # NEW: llm-connect JSON + apply
  → hub progress + local commit
```

### Phase 1 — scan (exists, proven)

- Module: `agent_harness/mailscan.py`
- Creds: `tenants/binky/company-email/imap` via AppRole
- Output: `mailmeta/reports/email-channel-evidence-report-*.csv`
- Hub: `binky_mail_intake` with counts only

### Phase 2 — triage (to build)

1. **Prompt** (metadata only): newest CSV rows + current mail-log tail +
   queue templates.
2. **llm-connect** `POST` (same contract as activity-core `llm_client.py`):
   - URL: `http://llm-connect.activity-core.svc.cluster.local:8080`
   - Provider: OpenRouter (already configured on railiance)
   - Model: cost-efficient; **prefer open-weights** (pick at T03; examples to
     evaluate: Llama/Qwen/Mistral class on OpenRouter — measure quality on
     fixture CSV before locking).
3. **Response**: strict JSON, e.g.

```json
{
  "log_entries": [
    {"date": "2026-07-21", "from": "…", "subject": "…", "action": "ignore|queue|suspicious"}
  ],
  "queue_items": [],
  "notes": "one-line summary"
}
```

4. **Apply** (deterministic Python): append mail-log; add queue YAML only if
   schema-valid; **suspicious** → log only; `git commit`; hub event.
5. **Never** pass message bodies to the model if the scanner can omit them;
   never execute model-suggested shell.

## Daily / weekly (same shape)

| Slot | Deterministic inputs | LLM output | Apply |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Daily brief | queues, open risks, yesterday brief | structured sections | write `briefs/YYYY-MM-DD-daily-brief.md` + commit |
| Weekly review | briefs week, SuccessMilestones | structured prep | write weekly prep file + commit |

No tool-using coding agent required if apply is code-owned.

## What already runs on railiance01

| Component | Status (2026-07-21) |
| --- | --- |
| `llm-connect` Deployment in `activity-core` | Running; OpenRouter; ConfigMap model `google/gemini-2.5-flash` (may change) |
| OpenRouter API key Secret | Present (operator custody) |
| `agent-harness mail-scan` on host | Proven |
| Host systemd timers | Interim cadence; must call llm path, not `require_claude` |
| Claude CLI on host | **Must not** become a dependency |

## Anti-patterns

- Installing Claude Code / npm agent stacks on railiance for rhythm.
- Defaulting `runner.run_task` to `AgenticClaudeCodeAdapter` for server Jobs.
- Sending full email bodies or secrets to OpenRouter.
- Dual “coding agent policy” vs “server policy” that drifts (same JSON schema
  and apply code for all environments).

## Implementation homes

| Work | Repo |
| --- | --- |
| HTTP adapter + mail-triage command + tests | **agent-harness** |
| Model/profile ConfigMap, smoke | **llm-connect** / activity-core overlay |
| Timers, binky task prompts, dogfood | **binky-control** (this doc + BINKY-WP-0006) |

## See also

- `integrations/executor-cutover-runbook.md` — cutover status  
- `workplans/BINKY-WP-0006-…` — tasks  
- llm-connect `docs/activity-core-llm-endpoint.md`  
- agent-harness `mailscan.py` two-phase header comment