@engramx/owner

Create an EngramX engram that you own — the standalone owner-side creation CLI.

This package is deliberately separate from @engramx/client (the operator SDK). Creating an engram makes the caller the owner (root); operating one is append-only. Keeping them in different packages means an operator host never gains owner powers, and vice-versa.

• Create (owner) → this package.
• Operate (append-only) → @engramx/client + the MCP server.

Reserve, then activate

Creation is two-stage, on purpose:

• Reserve (the default) — a free registry record (~$0). Nothing runs yet; idempotent (one per principal).
• Activate (--activate) — spawns the live canister (the platform funds the ~1.15T-cycle spawn).

Reserving costs nothing, so a "create-and-walk-away" never wastes cycles — the spend happens only when you activate. Interactively, a bare npx @engramx/owner reserves and then asks whether to spin it up now; headless (--yes/non-TTY) stays reserve-only unless you pass --activate.

Quick start

# Reserve (free). Reuse an existing icp-cli identity so you keep custody; EngramX holds nothing:
npx @engramx/owner --icp-identity <name> --registry <registry-canister-id> --yes

# Or generate a local owner key at ~/.engramx/owner.key (BACK IT UP — loss = total loss):
npx @engramx/owner --registry <registry-canister-id> --yes

# Activate when you're ready to use it (spawns the canister) — same flags plus --activate:
npx @engramx/owner --activate --registry <registry-canister-id> --yes

# Local dev replica: add --local
npx @engramx/owner --registry <id> --local --activate

Run npx @engramx/owner --help for all options.

Ownership & custody

The registry makes the caller the owner — there is no owner parameter and no reassignment, so the signing identity is the owner, by construction. Your options:

| Mode | Who owns | Recovery | | --- | --- | --- | | --icp-identity <name> | your icp-cli identity | whatever that identity has (e.g. its 24-word seed) — single key | | default (local key) | a fresh Ed25519 key at ~/.engramx/owner.key | none — back up the seed, or loss is permanent | | web wizard (wallet) | your OISY / Internet Identity | real wallet recovery — the recommended path for humans |

What this does not do

• It does not read or write memory — that's the operator flow (@engramx/client).
• No hosted/managed creation (EngramX never signs on your behalf).
• Reserving is free and activation is free to you (the platform funds the spawn); paying to create is not a thing. Ongoing cycles can optionally be topped up with ckUSDC via the cashier.

Use as an agent skill

SKILL.md in this package is a cross-agent capability (Agent Skills format) that lets a coding/agent host (Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, …) create an engram on the user's behalf by shelling to this CLI.

Honesty

The record is tamper-evident, not immutable (the owner can overwrite; every change is a signed entry). A single owner key is a total-loss risk. Nothing is on a public fleet yet.