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Migration

When the aibox context schema evolves between versions, existing projects may need to update their context files. The aibox doctor command helps identify gaps and produces migration artifacts.

warning
v0.16.0 — context/AIBOX.md is gone

Pre-v0.16 releases generated a context/AIBOX.md "universal baseline" file on every aibox apply. That file has been removed as part of the aibox⇄processkit split. The canonical agent entry document is now AGENTS.md at the project root, owned by processkit and rendered at aibox init time (write-if-missing — never overwritten).

Existing projects upgrading to v0.16.0 can safely delete context/AIBOX.md. Anything you wrote into it by hand should be moved into AGENTS.md, context/DECISIONS.md, or one of the work-instructions files, depending on its nature.

How Version Tracking Works​

Two pieces track the version:

  1. aibox.toml contains the target schema version:

    [context]
    schema_version = "1.0.0"

  2. .aibox-version in the project root records the version that was last applied. This file is created during aibox init and updated after successful migrations.

When aibox doctor detects a mismatch between these two values, it flags the project as needing migration.

Running Doctor​

aibox doctor

Doctor performs the following checks:

  • Validates aibox.toml syntax and field values
  • Detects the container runtime (podman or docker)
  • Checks for .aibox-home/ and .devcontainer/ directories
  • Compares .aibox-version against context.schema_version
  • Validates that expected context files exist for the chosen process flavor

Example output when migration is needed:

==> Running diagnostics...
 ✓ Config version: 0.1.0
 ✓ Image: python
 ✓ Process: product
 ✓ Container name: my-app
 ✓ Container runtime: podman
 ✓ .aibox-home/ directory exists at .aibox-home
 ✓ .devcontainer/ directory exists
 ! Schema version mismatch: .aibox-version says 0.9.0, config says 1.0.0
 ✓ Diagnostics complete

Migration Artifacts​

When a version mismatch is detected, doctor generates migration artifacts in context/migrations/:

context/
└── migrations/
    ├── pending/       # Migrations queued but not yet started
    ├── in-progress/   # Migration currently being applied
    └── applied/       # Completed migrations (archived for reference)

Each migration is identified by a MIG-ID and lives as a versioned document in the appropriate subdirectory. Migrations are managed through the normal resource grammar:

aibox get migration                       # show pending/in-progress migrations
aibox set migration <id> in-progress      # begin a pending migration
aibox apply migration <id>                # mark a migration as applied
aibox delete migration <id> --reason "…"  # reject and archive without applying

Applying a Migration​

Strict Schema And Storage Policy​

Migrations are the durable fix for schema, vocabulary, filename, ID, and directory-layout drift. A clean project should satisfy the current schemas and storage policy directly, not by carrying project-local compatibility allowlists.

Do not resolve doctor findings by adding legacy_known_* schema entries, doctor suppressions, mixed-layout exceptions, or local notes that accept legacy event names, IDs, filenames, or directory shapes as the steady state. If a schema genuinely needs a new value or layout, introduce that as an explicit schema migration and then migrate existing entities and references to the new standard.

Compatibility shims are acceptable only as short-lived migration aids. Before a migration is marked applied, the repository should contain canonical values, canonical filenames, canonical directory placement, and updated references.

  1. Run aibox doctor to identify gaps and queue migration artifacts
  2. Run aibox set migration <id> in-progress to begin the next pending migration
  3. Open the migration document from context/migrations/in-progress/
  4. Paste its contents into a Claude Code session (or let the agent find it via AGENTS.md)
  5. Review the changes the agent makes
  6. Run aibox apply migration <id> to mark the migration complete

Manually​

  1. Run aibox doctor to generate migration artifacts
  2. Run aibox set migration <id> in-progress to move the migration to context/migrations/in-progress/
  3. Follow the migration document's checklist
  4. Run aibox apply migration <id> to archive the migration to context/migrations/applied/
Review before applying

Migration artifacts describe structural changes. They do not migrate content. If a file is renamed, the artifact tells you to create the new file -- but you need to move the content yourself (or have an AI agent do it thoughtfully).

Best Practices​

Never auto-migrate content. Structural changes (new files, renames) can be automated. Content changes (rewriting sections, reformatting entries) should always be reviewed by a human or guided AI session.

Migrate forward, do not grandfather. Fix schema and storage drift by moving entities to the current vocabulary, filenames, IDs, and directory layout. Project-local allowlists and doctor suppressions are not acceptable terminal states.

Commit before migrating. Always commit your current state before applying migration changes. This gives you a clean rollback point.

Run doctor after migrating. After applying changes, run aibox doctor again to confirm everything is clean.

Keep .aibox-version in version control. This file should be committed so all team members know which schema version the project uses.

Schema Document Format​

Schema documents in the schemas/ directory define the expected structure for each version. They specify:

  • Which files each process flavor should contain
  • Required sections within each file
  • File naming conventions
  • Directory structure requirements

These schemas are used by doctor to validate the project and by migration tooling to compute diffs between versions.