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new file mode 100644
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+# 0005 — Release pipeline, version single-sourcing, and the module path
+
+```
+number:   0005
+status:   proposed
+date:     2026-10-29
+issues:   #1881 (this design) · split from triage 2774 · implementation is queue task 3114
+code:     7d1b081c
+```
+
+> mcpx has no release at all: no tags, no GitHub releases, no release
+> workflow, and a version string hard-coded in four places. The install
+> page's channels are promises nothing can keep until a release exists.
+> This note decides the shape — channel order, the tag and version scheme
+> for a package that lives in a monorepo, the static-build policy, and the
+> module-path question — so the implementation slices have one answer to
+> build to. The module-path recommendation (§4) is the one item Drew may
+> want to overrule; everything else follows from the code as it is.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Current state (verified at 7d1b081c)
+
+- No tags and no releases on developing-today/code for mcpx; the only
+  mcpx workflow builds and tests (`mcpx.yml`) plus vendorHash repair.
+- Version `0.1.0` is hard-coded four times: `package.nix` (`version =`),
+  `package.nix` (`-X main.version=0.1.0`), the fallback
+  `var version = "0.1.0"` in `cmd/mcpx/main.go`, and
+  `ARG VERSION=0.1.0` in `Containerfile`.
+- `go.mod` declares `module github.com/dezren39/mcpx` and
+  `package.nix`'s `meta.homepage` points at the same repository, which
+  returns 404. mcpx actually lives at `pkgs/mcpx` in
+  developing-today/code. 328 Go files import by the current path.
+- A static build works: the SQLite driver is pure Go, `CGO_ENABLED=0`
+  cross-compiles, and a fully static Linux binary was verified in #182's
+  container work. The shipped artifacts are not static by choice:
+  `package.nix` takes the nixpkgs cgo default and the Containerfile sets
+  `CGO_ENABLED=1` deliberately.
+- Unix only (`meta.platforms = lib.platforms.unix`; untagged
+  `Setpgid`/`Setsid` use). Release targets are therefore the flake's
+  three systems: x86_64-linux, aarch64-linux, aarch64-darwin.
+- The nix package is more than the binary: it generates the man page and
+  completions and wraps the binary with git/deno/bun/node on PATH. A bare
+  release binary has no JavaScript runtime; `mcpx run`/`exec` fail until
+  the user installs one (`mcpx doctor` says so). Every non-nix channel
+  must state this in its install text.
+
+## 2. Channel order
+
+Build in dependency order; each channel consumes the one before it.
+
+1. **GitHub release binaries + checksums.** The foundation: three static
+   binaries (`mcpx-<version>-<system>.tar.gz`) and a SHA256SUMS file on a
+   GitHub release. Everything else downloads these.
+2. **`curl | sh` installer.** Per-user by default (installs to
+   `~/.local/bin`, states the JavaScript-runtime requirement at the
+   end); a system-wide variant (`sudo`) documented, not default. The
+   script verifies the checksum before installing — an installer that
+   skips verification teaches users to pipe unverified binaries.
+3. **Container image.** The existing Containerfile, published to GHCR by
+   the same release workflow, version taken from the release (§3), not
+   from a fifth copy of the string.
+4. **Nix.** Already works (`nix profile install …#mcpx`); the release
+   does not change it beyond the version source (§3).
+
+Later, and not in the first slice: pwsh (needs Windows binaries, which
+need the untagged-syscall work), rpm/pkg (repackage the tarballs once
+they exist), the agent-prompt and just-the-plugin channels (they ride on
+1–2). **Flatpak is not built**: a sandboxed mcpx cannot spawn the
+arbitrary servers, runtimes and binaries that are its entire function;
+the sandbox would have to be opened until the packaging is a lie. This
+records #1881's recommendation against it as a decision.
+
+## 3. Tags and the version's single source
+
+- **Tag scheme: `mcpx/vX.Y.Z`** on developing-today/code. A path-prefixed
+  tag is the monorepo-honest scheme: it cannot collide with another
+  package's releases in the same repository, and the release workflow
+  triggers on exactly this prefix. (If §4's recommendation is adopted,
+  Go's own subdirectory-module versioning wants `pkgs/mcpx/vX.Y.Z` tags
+  for the module; the release workflow can cut both tags on the same
+  commit — one for humans, one for the Go toolchain — rather than
+  letting the Go scheme dictate the public one.)
+- **Single source: a `pkgs/mcpx/VERSION` file.** `package.nix` reads it
+  for both its `version` and its `-X main.version=` ldflag; the
+  Containerfile takes `VERSION` as a build argument whose workflow
+  callers pass the file's contents (the in-file `ARG` default becomes
+  the file's value at release time, and a comment in the Containerfile
+  says the file is the source); the release workflow refuses to publish
+  when the tag and `VERSION` disagree.
+- **`cmd/mcpx/main.go`'s fallback becomes a sentinel** (`0.0.0-dev`), so
+  a binary built without ldflags announces that fact instead of
+  impersonating a release. The fallback is the one place a literal
+  remains, and it is deliberately not a release number.
+
+## 4. The module path — options and recommendation
+
+`github.com/dezren39/mcpx` names a repository that does not exist, so
+`go install …@latest` cannot work and `meta.homepage` 404s. Three ways
+out:
+
+- **A — Create the repository the path names** (dezren39/mcpx or
+  developing-today/mcpx) and move mcpx into it. Cleanest end state:
+  normal tags, normal `go install`, its own Pages and releases. Cost:
+  mcpx leaves the monorepo it shares tooling, CI and history with; the
+  move itself is a project, and this repository's other packages that
+  reference mcpx paths must follow. This is Drew's call, not a worker's.
+- **B — Rename the module to where the code lives:**
+  `github.com/developing-today/code/pkgs/mcpx`. `go install
+  github.com/developing-today/code/pkgs/mcpx/cmd/mcpx@pkgs/mcpx/vX.Y.Z`
+  then works from the monorepo, tags follow Go's subdirectory scheme,
+  and `meta.homepage` points at the real tree. Cost: a mechanical rename
+  across 328 Go files plus `package.nix` references — large diff, no
+  design content, scriptable in one pass. If A is ever chosen later, the
+  same mechanical rename runs again in the other direction; B does not
+  close A's door.
+- **C — Keep the path, publish a release-only mirror.** Releases are cut
+  to a mirror repository that carries the path's name. `go install`
+  stays broken (the proxy resolves the module path, not the mirror's
+  releases), the homepage stays a lie, and two repositories must be kept
+  in sync forever. Recorded for completeness; not recommended.
+
+**Recommendation: B, now.** It makes every other part of this note true
+with one mechanical change and no new repository. A remains available
+whenever Drew wants mcpx to stand alone; nothing in B makes A harder.
+
+## 5. Static-build policy for releases
+
+Release binaries are `CGO_ENABLED=0` static builds (the #182-verified
+configuration). The caveat is recorded where the install page will read
+it: on Linux, pure-Go `os/user` parses `/etc/passwd` instead of asking
+NSS, so LDAP/SSSD users are not found, and the pure-Go resolver does not
+honour `nsswitch.conf`. On macOS the flag changes nothing observable.
+The nix package keeps its own (cgo) build: it targets managed systems
+where NSS is the point, and it already exists.
+
+## 6. Implementation slices (queue task 3114, in order)
+
+1. This design note.
+2. Version single-sourcing (§3): VERSION file, package.nix, Containerfile
+   build-arg, the `0.0.0-dev` fallback sentinel.
+3. Rename slice (§4-B), if Drew has not overruled it: module path,
+   imports, package.nix references, meta.homepage.
+4. Release workflow: tag-triggered (`mcpx/v*`) plus `workflow_dispatch`
+   snapshot mode that builds the three artifacts and checksums without
+   publishing; the snapshot run is the slice's proof.
+5. Installer script + a CI exercise (install a snapshot artifact into a
+   temp prefix; `mcpx --version` reports the release version).
+6. Container publication wiring in the same workflow; update the #1878
+   install-page status column to what actually shipped.
diff --git a/pkgs/mcpx/docs/decisions/README.md b/pkgs/mcpx/docs/decisions/README.md
index 77a29cf1f..751040767 100644
--- a/pkgs/mcpx/docs/decisions/README.md
+++ b/pkgs/mcpx/docs/decisions/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ owner.
 | [0002](0002-autonomy-dial.md)                     | One autonomy dial, and a ceiling the daemon sets                                   | accepted | 2026-09-30 | #111 #112 #113 #114 #110 · #181 rows 3, 5           |
 | [0003](0003-declared-vs-enforced-capabilities.md) | What mcpx declares, and what it enforces                                           | accepted | 2026-09-30 | #82 #177 · #181 row 10                              |
 | [0004](0004-scope-resolved-roots.md)              | Scope-resolved roots: spawn cwd, `${mcpx.root}` substitution, initialize workspace | accepted | 2026-10-26 | dezren39/nix#817 #818 #819 · touches #308 #309 #864 |
+| [0005](0005-release-pipeline.md)                   | Release pipeline, version single-sourcing, and the module path | proposed | 2026-10-29 | #1881 |
 
 ## Status