# LLM Chat Ergonomics Roadmap

This roadmap picks up after the completed workspace GA plan and focuses on one
goal:

make the core agent-workspace use cases feel trivial from a chat-driven LLM
interface.

Current baseline is `3.9.0`:

- the stable workspace contract exists across CLI, SDK, and MCP
- one-shot `pyro run` still exists as the narrow entrypoint
- workspaces already support seeding, sync push, exec, export, diff, snapshots,
  reset, services, PTY shells, secrets, network policy, and published ports
- stopped-workspace disk tools now exist, but remain explicitly secondary

## What "Trivial In Chat" Means

The roadmap is done only when a chat-driven LLM can cover the main use cases
without awkward shell choreography or hidden host-side glue:

- cold-start repo validation
- repro plus fix loops
- parallel isolated workspaces for multiple issues or PRs
- unsafe or untrusted code inspection
- review and evaluation workflows

More concretely, the model should not need to:

- patch files through shell-escaped `printf` or heredoc tricks
- rely on opaque workspace IDs without a discovery surface
- consume raw terminal control sequences as normal shell output
- choose from an unnecessarily large tool surface when a smaller profile would
  work

The remaining UX friction for a technically strong new user is now narrower:

- the recommended chat-host onramp is now explicit, but human-mode file reads
  still need final transcript polish for copy-paste and chat logs
- the five use-case smokes now exist, but the advertised smoke pack is only as
  trustworthy as its weakest scenario and exact recipe fidelity
- generic MCP guidance is strong, but Codex and OpenCode still ask the user to
  translate the generic config into host-specific setup steps
- `workspace-core` is clearly the recommended profile, but `pyro mcp serve` and
  `create_server()` still default to `workspace-full` for `3.x` compatibility

## Locked Decisions

- keep the workspace product identity central; do not drift toward CI, queue,
  or runner abstractions
- keep disk tools secondary and do not make them the main chat-facing surface
- prefer narrow tool profiles and structured outputs over more raw shell calls
- capability milestones should update CLI, SDK, and MCP together
- CLI-only ergonomics are allowed when the SDK and MCP surfaces already have the
  structured behavior natively
- every milestone below must also update docs, help text, runnable examples,
  and at least one real smoke scenario

## Milestones

1. [`3.2.0` Model-Native Workspace File Ops](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.2.0-model-native-workspace-file-ops.md) - Done
2. [`3.3.0` Workspace Naming And Discovery](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.3.0-workspace-naming-and-discovery.md) - Done
3. [`3.4.0` Tool Profiles And Canonical Chat Flows](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.4.0-tool-profiles-and-canonical-chat-flows.md) - Done
4. [`3.5.0` Chat-Friendly Shell Output](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.5.0-chat-friendly-shell-output.md) - Done
5. [`3.6.0` Use-Case Recipes And Smoke Packs](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.6.0-use-case-recipes-and-smoke-packs.md) - Done
6. [`3.7.0` Handoff Shortcuts And File Input Sources](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.7.0-handoff-shortcuts-and-file-input-sources.md) - Done
7. [`3.8.0` Chat-Host Onramp And Recommended Defaults](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.8.0-chat-host-onramp-and-recommended-defaults.md) - Done
8. [`3.9.0` Content-Only Reads And Human Output Polish](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.9.0-content-only-reads-and-human-output-polish.md) - Done
9. [`3.10.0` Use-Case Smoke Trust And Recipe Fidelity](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.10.0-use-case-smoke-trust-and-recipe-fidelity.md)
10. [`3.11.0` Host-Specific MCP Onramps](llm-chat-ergonomics/3.11.0-host-specific-mcp-onramps.md)
11. [`4.0.0` Workspace-Core Default Profile](llm-chat-ergonomics/4.0.0-workspace-core-default-profile.md)

Completed so far:

- `3.2.0` added model-native `workspace file *` and `workspace patch apply` so chat-driven agents
  can inspect and edit `/workspace` without shell-escaped file mutation flows.
- `3.3.0` added workspace names, key/value labels, `workspace list`, `workspace update`, and
  `last_activity_at` tracking so humans and chat-driven agents can rediscover and resume the right
  workspace without external notes.
- `3.4.0` added stable MCP/server tool profiles with `vm-run`, `workspace-core`, and
  `workspace-full`, plus canonical profile-based OpenAI and MCP examples so chat hosts can start
  narrow and widen only when needed.
- `3.5.0` added chat-friendly shell reads with plain-text rendering and idle batching so PTY
  sessions are readable enough to feed directly back into a chat model.
- `3.6.0` added recipe docs and real guest-backed smoke packs for the five core workspace use
  cases so the stable product is now demonstrated as repeatable end-to-end stories instead of
  only isolated feature surfaces.
- `3.7.0` removed the remaining shell glue from canonical CLI workspace flows with `--id-only`,
  `--text-file`, and `--patch-file`, so the shortest handoff path no longer depends on `python -c`
  extraction or `$(cat ...)` expansion.
- `3.8.0` made `workspace-core` the obvious first MCP/chat-host profile from the first help and
  docs pass while keeping `workspace-full` as the 3.x compatibility default.
- `3.9.0` added content-only workspace file and disk reads plus cleaner default human-mode
  transcript separation for files that do not end with a trailing newline.

Planned next:

- `3.10.0` makes the use-case recipe set fully trustworthy by requiring
  `make smoke-use-cases` to pass cleanly, aligning recipe docs with what the
  smoke harness actually proves, and removing brittle assertions against
  human-mode output when structured results are already available.
- `3.11.0` adds exact host-specific onramps for Claude, Codex, and OpenCode so
  a new chat-host user can copy one known-good config or command instead of
  translating the generic MCP example by hand.
- `4.0.0` flips the default MCP profile from `workspace-full` to
  `workspace-core` so the no-flag server entrypoint finally matches the
  recommended docs path, while keeping explicit opt-in access to the full
  advanced surface.

## Expected Outcome

After this roadmap, the product should still look like an agent workspace, not
like a CI runner with more isolation.

The intended model-facing shape is:

- one-shot work starts with `vm_run`
- persistent work moves to a small workspace-first contract
- file edits are structured and model-native
- workspace discovery is human and model-friendly
- shells are readable in chat
- CLI handoff paths do not depend on ad hoc shell parsing
- the recommended chat-host profile is obvious from the first MCP example
- the documented smoke pack is trustworthy enough to use as a release gate
- major chat hosts have copy-pasteable MCP setup examples instead of only a
  generic config template
- human-mode content reads are copy-paste safe
- the default bare MCP server entrypoint matches the recommended narrow profile
- the five core use cases are documented and smoke-tested end to end