# Cowork probe

Plan Step 1 (M1). An empirical record of what this operator's Cowork
installation actually does, measured before any code depends on it.

Operator decision 7 — Python as a CLI plus a host-side stdio MCP server — is
void if host-side servers never appear in a Cowork session. That is not
knowable from Claude Code, so it is measured here first, and the milestone that
depends on it carries a written degradation branch either way.

**Status: unanswered.** All four questions require the operator sitting in a
Cowork session on this Mac. The executor session built the probe vehicle and
this checklist; it did not and could not answer them. The verify command for
this step is written so an unanswered checklist *fails*:

```bash
test "$(grep -cE '^- (Sesjonsmodus|Host-MCP|python3|CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT): +(lokal VM|sky|ja|nei)\b' docs/cowork-probe.md)" = 4
```

A bullet still reading `ubesvart` does not match, the count drops below four,
and the command exits non-zero. That is the intended behaviour until the
operator has run the probe.

## Results

Overwrite `ubesvart` with one of the allowed answers, and put the date of the
measurement in the Measured column. A `nei` is a result, not a failure — it
selects the degradation branch below.

- Sesjonsmodus: ubesvart
- Host-MCP: ubesvart
- python3: ubesvart
- CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT: ubesvart

| Bullet | What the operator does in Cowork | Allowed answer | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| `- Sesjonsmodus:` | Open a Cowork session and read whether it is a local VM or cloud | `lokal VM` or `sky` | |
| `- Host-MCP:` | Upload `jobbsok-probe.plugin` via Customize -> Plugins; does `probe-tools` appear as a connector, and does `probe_ping` return? | `ja` or `nei` | |
| `- python3:` | Run the `probe-versjon` skill; does it succeed in invoking `python3`, and which version does it report? | `ja` or `nei`, followed by the reported version | |
| `- CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:` | Run `probe-versjon`; does it print a resolved absolute path, or the literal variable name? | `ja` or `nei` | |

### What is already known, and what is not

Measured 2026-09-04 from Claude Code, before the probe was built:

- Cowork is installed and available on this Intel Mac.
- The **session mode is not readable from disk.** `cowork_settings.json` carries
  only `extraKnownMarketplaces`; the desktop config carries `coworkNetworkMode`
  and a trusted-folder list, and neither states where a session runs. So
  `- Sesjonsmodus:` cannot be answered by reading files — it has to be read off
  a live session.
- The other three each require a plugin installed in a live Cowork session.
  Nothing about them is decidable from Claude Code.

## The probe vehicle

`jobbsok-probe` — a throwaway test plugin, deliberately **not** the `jobbsok`
plugin itself. `jobbsok`'s own `.mcp.json` (Step 12) and packaging script
(Step 13) land eleven steps later, and this probe must not wait for them.

It holds exactly four files, under `tests/fixtures/cowork-probe/`:

| File | What it is for |
|---|---|
| `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` | Manifest. Name `jobbsok-probe`, version `0.0.1`. The version is what `probe-versjon` echoes, so a mismatch reveals a cached build. |
| `skills/probe-versjon/SKILL.md` | A skill that reports the manifest version, the resolved `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}`, and whether it can invoke `python3`. Answers three of the four questions. |
| `.mcp.json` | Declares one stdio server, `probe-tools`. Its appearance in the session is the whole `- Host-MCP:` question. |
| `probe_tools.py` | Standard-library JSON-RPC server exposing one tool, `probe_ping`, returning the interpreter actually running it. No third-party imports: a server that failed on a missing dependency would answer a different question than the one asked. |

Verified from Claude Code 2026-09-04: the server completes an `initialize`
handshake, lists `probe_ping`, returns an interpreter version on
`tools/call`, and rejects an unknown tool name. What is unverified is whether
Cowork ever starts it.

### Building the archive

Run from the repository root. The file list is explicit, and that is the point:

```bash
cd tests/fixtures/cowork-probe && \
  zip -X /tmp/jobbsok-probe.plugin \
    .claude-plugin/plugin.json \
    .mcp.json \
    probe_tools.py \
    skills/probe-versjon/SKILL.md
```

Never `zip -r` over the repository root. A recursive archive of the repo would
ship `.git`, `STATE.md`, `.claude/` and the virtualenv into an uploaded plugin.
The include list above names the four files and can carry nothing else.

Then upload `/tmp/jobbsok-probe.plugin` through Customize -> Plugins, run the
`probe-versjon` skill, and check whether `probe-tools` appears as a connector.

## Degradation branch

Written now, so the answer does not get decided under pressure later.

**If `- Host-MCP:` is `nei`** — host-side stdio servers do not appear in this
Cowork installation:

1. Operator decision 7's Cowork half is unavailable. Nothing changes for Claude
   Code, where the scripts are invoked directly.
2. Every script-backed skill degrades to reading files that the Claude Code CLI
   produced. The skills stay useful; they stop being able to compute.
3. `Verifiser i Cowork` for the affected milestones means "the skills load and
   read files produced from Claude Code" — not "the connector answers".
4. The degradation is recorded in `STATE.md`.

This is risk H12's mitigation, and it is why the probe is the first step of the
build rather than a later check.

**If `- python3:` is `nei`** — a skill cannot invoke `python3` in a Cowork
session: the same degradation applies, and more broadly, since it removes the
CLI half too. Escalate to the operator before building further on decision 7.

**If `- CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:` is `nei`** — the variable does not resolve: every
intra-plugin path in the plan is affected, not just this milestone's. Escalate;
do not paper over it with hardcoded paths.

**If `- Sesjonsmodus:` is `sky`** — sessions run in the cloud, and host-side
servers cannot reach this machine at all. `- Host-MCP:` should then read `nei`,
and its branch applies. If the two disagree, the disagreement is the finding.