illodev/workfile

@illodev/workfile is a repository-native protocol for coordinating **Work, Docs,
History and durable project Memory** between humans and software agents.
Markdown files in the repository are canonical. The CLI, HTTP API and local UI use the
same core services, collection registry, index and validation rules. No exclusive state
is kept in the browser or in a database.
> Work, Docs, History and Memory share the common
> ProjectRecord index. The core, CLI, HTTP server and MCP runtime are authored in
> TypeScript and distributed as compiled ESM with public declarations. The local UI is
> precompiled and included in the package, and semantic search runs on-device through
> the optional @illodev/workfile-search-local workspace package.
**Try the live demo** — it replays this
repository's own workspace: the real cards, releases, incidents and learnings of
Workfile's development. Mutations work per browser session and reset on reload.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c9cd3035-6729-4cda-9172-984829ab5dbc
Used by
In production
Workfile — dogfooding: every release is planned and recorded in this repo's own .project/
Boundaries
Workfile records work. It does not configure agents.
The two get confused because both live next to the same repository. Ecosystem
configurators — gentle-ai is a
good example — install a persona, curated skills, model routing, MCP servers and
review gates into the agents you already use, across many agents at once. Their
question is *how your agent works*. Workfile's question is *what was done, who holds
it and on what evidence*, and its answer is Markdown files that outlive the agent,
the session and this package.
They compose. A well-configured agent still needs somewhere durable to write down
what it did.
What is here, and is not a configurator's job:
- **The repository is canonical.** A card is a file in the pull request: reviewed in
the diff, reported by workfile doctor when malformed. No exclusive state in a
browser, a database or ~/.config. Remove the package and the records stay
readable.
- **Claims are enforced, not agreed.** Ownership is checked at the mutation, so a
card another actor holds refuses your transition with CARD_CLAIM_OWNER_MISMATCH
instead of quietly accepting it — a guarantee no sentence in a prompt can make.
- **review is not done.** done requires evidence from somewhere the code
actually ran. A merge is not evidence.
- **Humans read the same records.** The UI, the rendered changelog and the releases
are derived from exactly what the agent writes; there is no machine view and human
view to keep in sync.
What is deliberately absent: Workfile does not install or update agents, ship a
persona, route models or curate a skill catalogue. It syncs its own protocol into
the instruction files an agent already reads (workfile agents sync) and exposes
every operation over MCP — vendor neutral, but a server, not an ecosystem.
Requirements
- Node.js 22 or newer.
- npm, pnpm, yarn or Bun may invoke the package.
Install
Every workfile … command in this README requires the package to be installed —
pnpm dlx / npx one-offs run a command and discard the binary afterwards:
wf is an alias, not a rename: both names reach the same entry point, and the
help and error hints answer in whichever one you typed. Keep the long form in
anything generated or shared. wf only resolves once the package is installed,
and an unrelated wf exists on the registry — so npx wf would fetch someone
else's tool where npx workfile fails outright.
pnpm dlx @illodev/workfile init is fine for one-shot initialization, but keep the
package as a devDependency afterwards: that is what makes the project* scripts that
init adds to package.json resolve. That prefix is an npm script namespace — pnpm
project opens the UI, pnpm project:doctor runs the checks — and has nothing to do
with the old binary name.
TypeScript API
The published surface exposes JavaScript and declarations through conditional package
exports. TypeScript consumers receive typed configuration, workspace, record, search and
integration contracts from the root package and every documented subpath:
The CLI and UI do not require TypeScript in consuming projects. React, Primer, Vite and the
UI type packages are build-only dependencies; the installed package serves bundled browser
assets from dist/ui.
Workspace
A project is discovered through project.config.mjs and normally stores protocol-owned