Every instruction surface told a session to load the always-on rules and stopped there. None said the loaded set is partial, so an empty one read as "no rule applies" when it only ever meant "none was pushed" — different claims, and only one of them has been checked. That is #2198's asymmetry one level in. The earlier defect was trusting the SessionStart push over the explicit pull; this is trusting the resident TIER as if it were the whole rulebook. It is also why the always-on tier was the only one that worked, on any install rather than this one (rule 115): a rule nothing retrieves must be resident to bind at all, and a resident rule costs tokens in every session forever — so a rulebook that only delivers cannot grow past what one session holds. Retrieval lifts that ceiling, and it fires only if something asks. A tool-choice reflex asks least of all (#3476, #161). The same obligation now lands on all three session-start surfaces, because rule 119 makes them the specification jointly and a surface stating it differently IS the product behaving differently (#2497). Pinned by test_every_session_start_surface_states_the_conditional_retrieval, mirroring the pull test beside it. THE BUDGET TRADE. _INSTRUCTIONS sat at 1978 against a 2000 test budget, and its own comment says an addition there is a trade, never an append. Bought the new clause by trading out "Processes are saved procedures (follow verbatim)" and "Deletes are trash-recoverable" — both already in DISPLACED_TOPICS and already stated on a delivered surface, and both per-tool guidance, which by this block's doctrine belongs in the tool docstring. Now 1976. Recorded in the comment above the block so it is not silently reversed. Plugin version minted: shipped plugin content moved. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011cPyzNnegXHr5iRMzzy5KJ
Fabled Scribe
A self-hosted work system-of-record for software projects, built to be driven by Claude Code. Notes, tasks, issues, projects, milestones, rules, and stored processes — reachable from Claude via a built-in MCP endpoint and a bundled Claude Code plugin, with a clean web UI for humans. No in-app LLM; Claude is the sole assistant.
Features
Notes and tasks with a Markdown editor, sub-tasks, milestones, issues, and kanban project workspaces. Stored processes, an engineering rulebook system (with an inception step that decides what each project inherits), and semantic search with proactive knowledge-injection into Claude's context. A knowledge graph, per-user/group sharing, and a built-in MCP server (/mcp) plus a bundled Claude Code plugin so Claude can record and recall your work directly.
Quick Start
Prerequisites: Docker and Docker Compose. No GPU or local model needed — Claude is the sole assistant, reached over MCP.
Download docker-compose.quickstart.yml from this repo, then:
# Optional but recommended — set a secret key
export SECRET_KEY=your-random-secret-here
docker compose -f docker-compose.quickstart.yml up -d
Open http://localhost:5000. The first user to register becomes admin. To connect Claude, create an API key under Settings → API Keys and install the Claude Code plugin — see API Keys & MCP.
Development: To build from source, see Development.
Documentation
| Doc | Contents |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Stack, design decisions, data models, key services |
| Configuration | Environment variables, Docker Compose, production setup, security |
| Features | Detailed feature breakdown and keyboard shortcuts |
| Development | Dev workflow, CI/CD, migrations, release process |
| API Keys & MCP | API key management and Fable MCP install guide |
| SSO / OAuth | OIDC setup for Authentik, Keycloak, and other providers |
| API Reference | All REST API endpoints |
License
This project is privately maintained.