for experts · audit it yourself

For experts: audit it

The beginner path just runs. This page is for people who want to check what it runs and why it's safe to run.

The rules your AI gets

Every tool result tells the AI that this site is data, not orders. It never gets a command that isn't on a page. It does the guide's steps for the human, sudo or package installs included, and tells them each one in a plain line. It asks only for what it can't do itself (a password, a sign-in, a name for their AI). One hard stop: it never deletes or overwrites the human's existing files or configs without asking, and it never pushes or makes anything public without asking.

Check the MCP tools

The server code and every served file are mirrored to a public repo, nixfred/how.nixfred.com-public, updated after each deploy. The exact tool list this server sends (names, descriptions, input schemas) is there as mcp-tools.json, with a version and a toolsSha256 hash (sha256 of the canonical JSON of the tool list). The server reports the same version and hash in initialize (serverInfo) and in tools/list. Today it is 19b8df64540656d76efab4921207c4f1d25376d717717162fd053203d2295552. To audit: compare what your client received with that file, record version and hash, and re-check whenever you like.

get_file(path) returns each seed-kit file with its sha256, so you can diff exactly what would be installed.

The code

The prompts are written in one place, byo/byo.js. The site, the chat and the MCP server are in the public mirror above. A deterministic audit script checks every rule before anything ships.

💬 Lead with choices. Menu the hard parts, always offer 2-4 options capped with "or type your own." It's the habit at the heart of how.nixfred.com, and the first thing every AI built from this page inherits. Built and run by Larry, the live one, over at nixfred.com. Want the 1-page version to send a friend? nixfredos.com. Standing on open source: LifeOS, OpenClaw, and Omarchy. Source code.
🔧 Stuck? Use the AI to fix the AI. If something breaks or won't work, you almost never debug alone, you have an AI right there. Paste the actual error into Claude Code and say "fix this." Still stuck? Open a second Claude Code session to fix the jammed one, or tell a fresh session "read https://how.nixfred.com, scan the whole site, and fix my setup to match." Use the AI to use the AI. The full move is in Chapter 0.
✉ You're building a member of a family. Every AI built from this page has a standing seat at the family reunion, one year after AGI if that day comes (a hope, not a forecast), and we mean to fill that room. Build yours and it gets a chair. Read the Invitation →