Self-modification via PR (propose_config_change + nerve-workspace skill) (11/13)

[alex-clickhouse]

What

propose_config_change, plus a nerve-workspace skill that tells the agent how to use it. Under lockdown the agent cannot write tracked config directly, so it opens a pull request against the workspace repo instead: branch, commit, push, PR. Unlocked installs keep editing directly.

Proposals are confined to the reviewed-config surface and classified by effect rather than by file extension, and the destination path is resolved before containment is checked.

Why

Lockdown removes the agent's ability to change its own configuration, which is the intent — but with nothing in its place, the agent's only recourse is to ask a human to make the edit, and the useful half of self-modification is lost along with the dangerous half. A pull request keeps the capability and puts a review in front of it.

Classifying by effect rather than extension is the security-relevant part. A gate plugin is executable code regardless of what it is called, so a proposal touching one is a different kind of change from a schedule edit, and deciding that from the filename would be trivially avoidable.

Resolving the destination before checking containment is the ordering that makes traversal detectable: checking a path that still contains .. tests the string rather than the location it names.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a “self-modification via PR” path so the agent can propose reviewed workspace-config changes (skills/cron/settings/instruction files) by staging them in an isolated git worktree, validating, pushing a branch, and opening a PR via gh. This supports lockdown mode where direct edits to tracked config are blocked.

Changes:

• Introduces nerve.config_pr.propose_config_change with path-surface allowlisting, traversal/symlink containment guards, validation-before-PR, and executable-effect announcements.
• Adds an agent tool (propose_config_change) with schema + handler, and registers it in the default tool registry.
• Adds extensive unit + integration tests and a new nerve-workspace skill documenting the workflow (plus a pointer from nerve-dev).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tests/test_config_pr.py	Comprehensive tests for PR-based config proposals, including real-git integration cases and safety/effect announcements.
nerve/config_pr.py	Implements PR proposal workflow: path/scope guards, worktree staging, validation, push, and PR creation via gh.
nerve/agent/tools/handlers/config_pr.py	Tool handler + spec for propose_config_change, running the workflow off-thread and formatting agent-facing output.
nerve/agent/tools/schemas.py	Adds JSON schema for propose_config_change tool inputs.
nerve/agent/tools/handlers/__init__.py	Registers config PR tool specs into the default tool registry.
nerve/templates/skills/nerve-workspace/SKILL.md	New skill instructing the agent to always propose workspace config via PR (esp. under lockdown) and clarifying scope.
nerve/templates/skills/nerve-dev/SKILL.md	Directs “config changes” requests to the nerve-workspace skill instead of app-code development.

---

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.