Self-Dev

Self-Dev is minnal's answer to plugins. Instead of a sandboxed extension API, the agent edits the actual source code, rebuilds the binary, and hot-swaps itself — while your other sessions keep running.

Enter Self-Dev mode

/self-dev

This switches the active session into Self-Dev: the working directory becomes the minnal source tree, the build/test loop is wired up, and reload is coordinated through the running server.

Lifecycle

• Agent edits Rust source under crates/ or src/.
• Agent runs cargo check for fast feedback, then a release build.
• Build output is staged at ~/.minnal/builds/current/minnal; the launcher is updated and clients reattach to the new binary.
• Other active sessions resume against the new binary without losing state.

Recommended models

Use a frontier model. The minnal codebase is non-trivial and weak models introduce subtle regressions. GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, or whatever frontier model you trust today.

Remote builds

If your laptop cannot keep up with cargo, use scripts/remote_build.sh to ship the build to another machine. Self-Dev will pick up the remote artifact when it lands.