[DOCTRINE] Hermes Maxi Manifesto

Canonical infrastructure philosophy for the Timmy Foundation.
Establishes Hermes as the standard agent framework.

docs/HERMES_MAXI_MANIFESTO.md

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+# Hermes Maxi Manifesto
+
+_Adopted 2026-04-12. This document is the canonical statement of the Timmy Foundation's infrastructure philosophy._
+
+## The Decision
+
+We are Hermes maxis. One harness. One truth. No intermediary gateway layers.
+
+Hermes handles everything:
+- **Cognitive core** — reasoning, planning, tool use
+- **Channels** — Telegram, Discord, Nostr, Matrix (direct, not via gateway)
+- **Dispatch** — task routing, agent coordination, swarm management
+- **Memory** — MemPalace, sovereign SQLite+FTS5 store, trajectory export
+- **Cron** — heartbeat, morning reports, nightly retros
+- **Health** — process monitoring, fleet status, self-healing
+
+## What This Replaces
+
+OpenClaw was evaluated as a gateway layer (March–April 2026). The assessment:
+
+| Capability | OpenClaw | Hermes Native |
+|-----------|----------|---------------|
+| Multi-channel comms | Built-in | Direct integration per channel |
+| Persistent memory | SQLite (basic) | MemPalace + FTS5 + trajectory export |
+| Cron/scheduling | Native cron | Huey task queue + launchd |
+| Multi-agent sessions | Session routing | Wizard fleet + dispatch router |
+| Procedural memory | None | Sovereign Memory Store |
+| Model sovereignty | Requires external provider | Ollama local-first |
+| Identity | Configurable persona | SOUL.md + Bitcoin inscription |
+
+The governance concern (founder joined OpenAI, Feb 2026) sealed the decision, but the technical case was already clear: OpenClaw adds a layer without adding capability that Hermes doesn't already have or can't build natively.
+
+## The Principle
+
+Every external dependency is temporary falsework. If it can be built locally, it must be built locally. The target is a $0 cloud bill with full operational capability.
+
+This applies to:
+- **Agent harness** — Hermes, not OpenClaw/Claude Code/Cursor
+- **Inference** — Ollama + local models, not cloud APIs
+- **Data** — SQLite + FTS5, not managed databases
+- **Hosting** — Hermes VPS + Mac M3 Max, not cloud platforms
+- **Identity** — Bitcoin inscription + SOUL.md, not OAuth providers
+
+## Exceptions
+
+Cloud services are permitted as temporary scaffolding when:
+1. The local alternative doesn't exist yet
+2. There's a concrete plan (with a Gitea issue) to bring it local
+3. The dependency is isolated and can be swapped without architectural changes
+
+Every cloud dependency must have a `[FALSEWORK]` label in the issue tracker.
+
+## Enforcement
+
+- `BANNED_PROVIDERS.md` lists permanently banned providers (Anthropic)
+- Pre-commit hooks scan for banned provider references
+- The Swarm Governor enforces PR discipline
+- The Conflict Detector catches sibling collisions
+- All of these are stdlib-only Python with zero external dependencies
+
+## History
+
+- 2026-03-28: OpenClaw evaluation spike filed (timmy-home #19)
+- 2026-03-28: OpenClaw Bootstrap epic created (timmy-config #51–#63)
+- 2026-03-28: Governance concern flagged (founder → OpenAI)
+- 2026-04-09: Anthropic banned (timmy-config PR #440)
+- 2026-04-12: OpenClaw purged — Hermes maxi directive adopted
+  - timmy-config PR #487 (7 files, merged)
+  - timmy-home PR #595 (3 files, merged)
+  - the-nexus PRs #1278, #1279 (merged)
+  - 2 issues closed, 27 historical issues preserved
+
+---
+
+_"The clean pattern is to separate identity, routing, live task state, durable memory, reusable procedure, and artifact truth. Hermes does all six."_