Documentation

Quick start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://ostk.ai/install | sh

# Boot the OS on a repo
cd your-repo
haystack boot

# The OS is running. Agents use their normal tools.
# The bash shim intercepts commands and adds coordination.

After boot, the OS:

Tracks every file write with generation counters
Resolves conflicts between concurrent agents (Hot PR)
Compresses shell output to save tokens
Maintains an audit trail of every action

No configuration needed. No .ostk.yml. The OS reads the repo and orients.

Architecture

ostk has two layers:

haystack (kernel)

A single Rust binary. Provides:

Process table and PTY supervision
Filesystem with optimistic concurrency control
Hot PR conflict resolution (4 tiers: auto-merge, assisted, manual rebase, diagnostic)
Generation table for file versioning
Agent identity and heartbeat
Output compression (VTE strip + dedup)
MCP server (haystack serve) exposing the full tool surface

fcp-* (device drivers)

Domain intelligence plugins:

fcp-rust: Rust analyzer integration
fcp-python: Python LSP integration
fcp-drawio: Diagram reasoning
More as needed. Each driver speaks the domain's native language.

The kernel provides primitives. Device drivers provide intelligence.

Tack grammar

Tack is the intent-capture language. You type shorthand. The OS compiles it.

:command object              # Basic command
:verb1 :verb2 :verb3         # Chain commands (sequential)
.p0 .p1 .p2                  # Priority shorthand
-> flow                      # Sequence operator

Examples:

You type	What happens
`:compile`	Unstructured thinking becomes executable needles
`:compile :plan :ship`	Compile, plan the work, commit
`:hs add issue "fix auth" .p0`	File a P0 needle
`:calibrate`	Retrospective on a thread

Tack is not a fixed grammar. The OS learns your shorthand over sessions. What you type today becomes vocabulary tomorrow.

Key commands

Command	What it does
`haystack boot`	Load state from `.haystack/boot.md`, report
`haystack needle add`	File a new needle (executable work item)
`haystack verify`	Run verification against needle criteria
`haystack commit`	Commit with audit trail
`haystack bench`	Run benchmark scenarios
`haystack ps`	Show agent process table
`haystack nudge`	Send a notification to an agent or human
`haystack serve`	Start the MCP server
`haystack audit`	Query the audit trail