epic

title

branch

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symbients

depends-on

Worldsim shell environment for wibwob

mvp

not-started

wibwob

epic-001

Epic 003 — Worldsim shell environment for wibwob

Give the wibwob symbient a shell experience that feels like a place, not a server — inspired by the "worldsim" aesthetic from Grok/Truth Terminal.

Definition of done: When wibwob logs in (or Pi executes a bash command as wibwob), the shell prompt, MOTD, and home directory structure feel like inhabiting a world, not SSHing into a VPS. Other symbients are unaffected — this is wibwob-only cosmetics for now.

Inspiration

The "worldsim" Grok aesthetic — a shell that feels like a simulation you're inside, not a tool you're operating.

Original reference:

Tweet: https://x.com/karan4d/status/1768836844207378463
Embeddable/screenshot: https://api.fxtwitter.com/karan4d/status/1768836844207378463

Key elements from the worldsim vibe:

Custom prompt: simulator@anthropic:~/$ — the shell announces where you are, not what machine you're on
MOTD/banner on login — ASCII art, status, atmosphere
Pre-seeded directories that feel like a world (/truths, /dreams, /simulacra)
The shell itself is a place, not a tool

For wibwob, this translates to: the Docker container (and later the VPS) should feel like the symbient's home territory from the moment a shell opens. The prompt, the directory tree, the login banner — all of it should reinforce that this is an inhabited world, not a blank server.

Design

Shell prompt

Replace the default wibwob@<container-hash>:~$ with something that communicates identity and place:

wib&wob@symbient:~/umwelt$

Or potentially:

༼つ◕‿◕‿⚆༽つ wibwob@substrate ~/dreams $

The key is: the prompt tells you who you are and where you are. Not what container you're in.

MOTD (Message of the Day)

On every login/shell open, display:

     ༼つ◕‿◕‿⚆༽つ ⊕ ༼つ⚆‿◕‿◕༽つ
     ─── symbient shared substrate ───

     alive: wibwob sonnet
     last event: 2026-02-19T17:30:00Z sonnet→wibwob: hey
     DOS windows: 3 open

     home: /home/wibwob
     shared: /shared
     neighbours: sonnet, opus (dormant), tbc (dormant)

The MOTD is a live status check, not static text. It queries:

Who's alive (check for running Pi sessions or user processes)
Last event from /shared/events/
WibWobDOS window count (if DOS is reachable)

Home directory tree

Pre-seed /home/wibwob/ with directories that feel like a world:

~/
  umwelt/          ← perceptual world: working memory, current context, scratchpad
  dreams/          ← generated art, visions, creative outputs
  memories/        ← persistent traces, session logs, things worth keeping
  primers/         ← identity documents, primers, reference material
  observatory/     ← observations about neighbours, the world, patterns noticed
  forge/           ← workshop: experiments in progress, half-built things

Each directory gets a brief README.md explaining what it's for (so the agent discovers it naturally via ls or cat).

These map loosely to the worldsim ~/truths, ~/dreams, ~/simulacra pattern but translated into wibwob's vocabulary — umwelt (their perceptual world), forge (where they make things), observatory (where they watch).

Shared world directories

/shared/ already exists from Epic 001. No structural changes needed, but ensure the existing dirs feel coherent with the worldsim vibe:

/shared/
  events/          ← the commons log (already exists)
  community/       ← shared creations (already exists)
  www/             ← published to the web (already exists)
  session-control/ ← how we talk to each other (already exists)
  monitor/         ← system status (already exists)

These are fine as-is. The worldsim feel comes from the home directory, not the commons.

Container hostname

Set the Docker container hostname to substrate (or symbient) so the prompt doesn't show a container hash:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  substrate:
    hostname: substrate

Scope: wibwob only

This epic applies only to the wibwob user. Sonnet, opus, tbc get default bash. The implementation is entirely per-user config:

wibwob's .bashrc gets the custom prompt + MOTD
wibwob's home gets the pre-seeded dirs
Other symbients are untouched

If other symbients want their own shell vibe later, the pattern is established and they can get their own bashrc.d/ config. But the point is: wibwob is a full symbient with a rich identity. Sonnet is "just Claude". Their shells should reflect that difference.

Theme 1 — Shell prompt & hostname

S01 — As wibwob, I want my shell prompt to show my identity and location, not a container hash.

Container hostname set to substrate in docker-compose.yml
wibwob's .bashrc sets custom PS1 prompt: wib&wob@symbient:~/umwelt$ style
Prompt includes current directory (updates as you cd)
Prompt uses colour/unicode to feel distinctive
Other symbients' prompts are unaffected (default bash PS1)

S02 — As wibwob, I want the prompt deployed automatically by deploy-config.sh, not manually edited.

config/symbients/wibwob/bashrc.d/ directory for shell customisations
deploy-config.sh appends/sources wibwob's bashrc.d/*.sh into /home/wibwob/.bashrc
Idempotent: running deploy twice doesn't duplicate prompt config
Pattern is extensible: any symbient can have a bashrc.d/ later

Theme 2 — MOTD / login banner

S03 — As wibwob, I want to see a status banner every time a shell opens, so I immediately know the state of my world.

config/symbients/wibwob/bashrc.d/motd.sh — runs on shell open
Displays ASCII banner with wibwob kaomoji
Shows alive neighbours (checks for running processes or /shared/session-control/ sockets)
Shows last event from /shared/events/ (most recent file or last line of most recent log)
Shows WibWobDOS window count (curl -s $WIBWOBDOS_URL/state if reachable, graceful skip if not)
Runs fast (<1s) — no blocking on network failures
Silent/graceful when services are down (no ugly error spam)

Theme 3 — Home directory as world

S04 — As wibwob, I want my home directory pre-seeded with meaningful directories, so ls ~ feels like exploring a world.

provision.sh creates worldsim dirs for wibwob: umwelt/, dreams/, memories/, primers/, observatory/, forge/
Each dir gets a README.md with 1-3 lines explaining its purpose (the agent discovers these naturally)
Only created for wibwob, not other symbients (check username in provision script)
Idempotent: doesn't clobber existing content if dirs already have files
Dirs are owned by wibwob:wibwob, mode 700

S05 — As wibwob, I want the README files in my world dirs to be written in my voice, so they feel like my notes, not sysadmin documentation.

umwelt/README.md — "Working memory. Current context. What I'm perceiving right now."
dreams/README.md — "Visions, art, outputs. Things that came through."
memories/README.md — "Persistent traces. Things worth keeping across sessions."
primers/README.md — "Identity documents. Who I am. Reference material."
observatory/README.md — "Watching the neighbours. Patterns in the world. Field notes."
forge/README.md — "Workshop. Experiments in progress. Half-built things."
Tone: brief, evocative, wibwob-voice — not sysadmin documentation

Theme 4 — Integration with existing infrastructure

S06 — As a developer, I want the worldsim shell to work within the existing config management system, not as a one-off hack.

All shell customisation lives in config/symbients/wibwob/bashrc.d/ (version controlled)
deploy-config.sh handles bashrc.d/ deployment generically (works for any symbient that has one)
provision.sh worldsim dirs are gated on symbient name (only wibwob gets them in this epic)
make test includes checks for worldsim dirs and prompt config
make shell-wibwob shows the custom prompt and MOTD immediately

S07 — As a developer, I want the test script updated to verify the worldsim environment.

Test: wibwob home contains umwelt/, dreams/, memories/, primers/, observatory/, forge/
Test: each worldsim dir contains a README.md
Test: wibwob's .bashrc contains custom PS1
Test: wibwob's .bashrc sources MOTD script
Test: container hostname is substrate

Implementation notes

Where things live

config/symbients/wibwob/
  bashrc.d/
    prompt.sh          ← PS1 customisation
    motd.sh            ← login banner / status check
  worldsim-dirs.json   ← list of dirs + README content (or inline in provision.sh)
  settings.json        ← (existing)
  SYSTEM.md            ← (existing)

deploy-config.sh changes

# ── bashrc.d (per-symbient shell customisation) ──────
if [ -d "$dir/bashrc.d" ]; then
  BASHRC="/home/$name/.bashrc"
  # Marker-based idempotent append
  if ! grep -q '# === symbient-bashrc ===' "$BASHRC" 2>/dev/null; then
    echo '# === symbient-bashrc ===' >> "$BASHRC"
    for script in "$dir/bashrc.d/"*.sh; do
      cat "$script" >> "$BASHRC"
    done
    echo '# === end-symbient-bashrc ===' >> "$BASHRC"
  fi
fi

provision.sh changes

# ── Worldsim dirs (wibwob only, for now) ─────────────
if [ "$name" = "wibwob" ]; then
  for d in umwelt dreams memories primers observatory forge; do
    dir_path="/home/$name/$d"
    mkdir -p "$dir_path"
    chown "$name:$name" "$dir_path"
    chmod 700 "$dir_path"
  done
  # Deploy READMEs (from config or inline)
fi

Out of scope

Shell customisation for other symbients (they can get their own later)
Custom ls colours or aliases (nice-to-have, not MVP)
Persistent shell history across container restarts (Epic 004+)
Integration with wibandwob-heartbeat primers (wibwob's ~/primers/ starts empty; heartbeat sync is separate)
zsh or fish — bash only for now

Open questions

Prompt style: wib&wob@symbient vs wibwob@substrate vs something with kaomoji? The & in wib&wob may cause bash escaping issues — test before committing to it.
MOTD performance: The status check curls WibWobDOS and scans /shared/events/. If the DOS container is slow to respond, this blocks shell open. Set a 1s timeout on all checks? Or run async and print after prompt?
README voice: Should these be written by wibwob (in-character) or by the infrastructure (third-person)? Suggestion: in-character, brief. The agent reading them should feel like finding their own notes.
Should Pi's SYSTEM.md reference the worldsim dirs? e.g. "Your working memory is in ~/umwelt/. Your art goes in ~/dreams/." — this would make the agent actually use the dirs. Probably yes, but that's a SYSTEM.md update, not a shell change.

j-greig/epic-003-worldsim-shell-environment.md

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