cascadia-os 2026.5

Cascadia OS — local-first single-node operator platform

Cascadia OS

AI-powered workflow missions for small businesses — running on Mac, Linux, or Windows.

Architecturally compliant with EU AI Act Articles 8-15 for high-risk AI systems — by design, not by retrofit. → EU AI Act Compliance Reference

Version: 2026.5 · May 2026 · Changelog ·

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I was five years old the first time I took apart a telephone. Not for school. Because I needed to understand how the sound got through the wire.

Before I built AI operators, I built machines that could not be allowed to fail.

Decades later — after aerospace engineering, industrial automation, large-scale warehouse and government infrastructure work, and building always-on systems under real heat, cost, and security constraints — I kept running into the same problem: AI that looked impressive in demos and became unreliable the moment it touched real work.

I didn't want a chatbot. I wanted an operator I could trust. Something that remembers, asks before acting, resumes after failure, and stays bounded when the stakes are real.

That's what this is. → Full story

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What It Does

Zyrcon AI helps small businesses find customers, improve sales, organize work, and automate daily operations through AI-powered workflow missions — powered by Cascadia OS.

Three mission desks run automatically:

Revenue Desk — Scans email for leads, quotes, POs, invoices, and follow-ups. Classifies each one, scores urgency and value, and flags opportunities for your approval before taking action. Connects to the Zyrcon iPhone app so you can act from anywhere.

Growth Desk — Turns completed jobs, old leads, and seasonal opportunities into approved email, SMS, and social media campaigns. Generates drafts, routes for approval, and dispatches on your schedule.

Operations Desk — Reviews projects, tasks, assistant activity, planning gaps, and risks. Surfaces what needs attention without requiring you to ask.

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What runs automatically

Schedule	What happens
On first start	Demo workflow seeded — approval card ready within 60 seconds
MON–FRI 09:00	Growth Desk generates campaign drafts for your approval
Daily 02:00	SQLite backup with integrity verification
Continuously	Health Monitor checks all components, escalates on failure

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Architecture

Zyrcon iPhone App
     ↓ REST + WebSocket
PRISM (6300) — Dashboard and API gateway
     ↓
Mission Layer
  ├── Mission Manager (6207) — catalog, runs, and items API
  ├── Mission Runner — lifecycle management via STITCH
  └── Approval Center — BELL (6204)
     ↓
Operator Layer
  ├── CHIEF (orchestrator)
  ├── Revenue:    SCOUT · RECON · QUOTE · COLLECT
  ├── Campaigns:  SOCIAL · CAMPAIGN · BRIEF
  └── Assistant:  Aurelia
     ↓
Infrastructure
  ├── VAULT (5101)     — secure storage and cross-operator secrets
  ├── STITCH (6201)    — workflow sequencing
  ├── BEACON (6200)    — capability routing
  ├── VANGUARD (6202)  — inbound normalization
  └── HANDSHAKE (6203) — webhooks and SMTP

Full component table

Name	Port	What it does
FLINT	4011	Process supervisor — tiered startup, health polling, restart with backoff
CREW	5100	Operator registry with wildcard capability validation
VAULT	5101	Durable SQLite-backed memory, CREW-validated access
SENTINEL	5102	Risk classification, blocks denied actions in execution loop
CURTAIN	5103	AES-256-GCM field encryption, HMAC-SHA256 signing
BEACON	6200	Capability-checked routing, HTTP forwarding to operator ports
STITCH	6201	Workflow sequencing with built-in templates
VANGUARD	6202	Inbound channel normalization, outbound dispatch via HANDSHAKE
HANDSHAKE	6203	Webhook/HTTP/SMTP execution, external API registry
BELL	6204	Chat sessions, workflow execution, approval collection
ALMANAC	6205	Component catalog, glossary, runbooks
CONDUIT	6206	IoT device bridge and sensor event router
Mission Manager	6207	Mission catalog, runs, items, and approval lifecycle
VANTAGE	6208	Capability enforcement gateway — validates operator permissions before every connector call
Health Monitor	6209	24/7 health daemon — detects failures and triggers escalation chain
PRISM	6300	Live system visibility — runs, approvals, operators, mobile API

Message fabric

Component	Port	What it does
NATS JetStream	4222	Health events, failure signals, escalation routing between components

On component failure: FailureEvent → NATS → supervisor → retry / escalate / dead-letter queue.

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Local AI inference

Cascadia OS runs inference locally via llama.cpp. On Apple Silicon (M1–M4) this uses the Metal GPU. No cloud API key required. No per-token cost. No data leaves your hardware.

Model	Best for
3B (fast)	Quick classifications, short drafts
7B (balanced)	Most business workflows
14B (quality)	Complex proposals, analysis

The iPhone app supports the same models for fully offline on-device AI.

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Zyrcon iPhone App

The Zyrcon app connects to PRISM over your local network or VPN. From the app you can:

• See live item counts for all three mission desks
• Review and approve pending AI actions with one tap
• Approve email sends, quotes, and invoices before they go out
• Trigger missions from anywhere
• View lead and campaign items with full context

Approvals sync instantly to PRISM. Background refresh keeps item counts current.

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Quick Start

macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zyrconlabs/cascadia-os/main/install.sh | bash

Installs Homebrew (if needed), SwiftBar, Cascadia OS, and registers a login agent. Everything starts automatically at boot.

Requirements: Python 3.11+ and git → macOS quickstart guide

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Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zyrconlabs/cascadia-os/main/install.sh | bash

Installs dependencies, Cascadia OS, and sets up system tray integration (Argos for GNOME).

Requirements: Python 3.11+ and git Optional: Install Argos for GNOME menu bar integration → Linux quickstart guide

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Windows:

git clone https://github.com/zyrconlabs/cascadia-os.git
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File cascadia-os\windows\install.ps1

→ Windows installation guide

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Run the Demo

After installing, run the demo — ~90 seconds end-to-end:

bash demo.sh

The demo uses a sample business — Gulf Coast HVAC Services — as its context. All data is seeded locally. Nothing is sent externally.

What you'll see:

1. Lead arrives → workflow starts automatically
2. System classifies, enriches, drafts a response
3. Approval gate fires — email held until a human approves
4. System crashes mid-run (deliberate)
5. Restarts — resumes from exact same step, zero duplication
6. Approval given → email sent → CRM logged → complete

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Mission System

Three pre-built missions ship with Cascadia OS. Each one coordinates multiple operators to complete a business objective end-to-end.

Revenue Desk

Scans your inbox continuously. Each inbound email is classified by BELL, scored for urgency and value, and written to the mission_items table as an actionable item. The Zyrcon iPhone app surfaces these items in real time.

Triggers: Inbound email · manual run · daily schedule Creates: lead · quote_request · purchase_order · invoice · overdue_invoice · unsold_quote

Growth Desk

Generates and schedules marketing campaigns across email, SMS, and social channels. Each campaign draft routes through the approval gate before anything is published.

Triggers: Manual run · completed job · daily schedule Creates: Campaign drafts · social posts · email sequences

Operations Desk

Reviews business operations and surfaces what needs attention. Produces a daily brief from live operator data.

Triggers: Manual run · morning schedule Creates: Daily plans · project reviews · risk flags

Triggering a mission

# Via PRISM API
curl -X POST http://localhost:6300/api/missions/revenue_desk/run/daily_campaign

# Via Mission Manager directly
curl -X POST http://localhost:6207/api/missions/revenue_desk/run/daily_campaign

Approval flow

High-risk actions (email sends, quote dispatch, invoice sends) are held at an approval gate until a human approves — either via PRISM dashboard or the Zyrcon iPhone app.

→ Full mission system documentation

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Connectors

Connector	Port	What it connects
Google Accounts	9020	Gmail (send + inbound), Calendar, Drive, Contacts
Telegram	9000	Inbound messages, bot notifications
WhatsApp Business	9001	WhatsApp Business API
Slack	9003	Channel messages, notifications
Email / SMTP	built-in	SMTP + IMAP, Gmail API mode

342+ operators and connectors for Pro and Business tiers are available at zyrcon.store.

→ Connector documentation

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PRISM Dashboard

Open http://localhost:6300/ while Cascadia is running.

Surfaces: Live operator status · Run timeline · Approvals · Revenue items · Observability · Studio · Admin

GET  :6300/api/prism/overview          # Full system snapshot
GET  :6300/api/prism/runs              # Live run states
GET  :6300/api/prism/approvals         # Pending human decisions
POST :6300/api/prism/approve           # Approve or deny a gated action
GET  :6300/api/missions/{id}/items     # Revenue Desk items
PATCH :6300/api/missions/items/{id}    # Update item status

→ Full API reference

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Reliability guarantees

Tested in tests/test_crash_recovery.py. Not just claimed.

Scenario	Behavior
Kill operator mid-run	Resumes from last committed step, not step 0
Crash after side effect declared but not committed	Re-attempts on resume
Crash after side effect committed	Skips — never duplicates
Approval-required run restarted	Stays waiting_human, never auto-resumes
Multiple crashes in sequence	retry_count increments correctly each time

Outbox pattern

External actions (email sends, webhook calls) write to an outbox before executing. Each gets a SHA-256 idempotency key. A crash between writing and sending triggers exactly one retry on restart — never duplicated, never lost. Enable with OUTBOX_ENABLED=true in config.

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Tests

1242 tests passing, 0 failing.

cd cascadia-os
pytest

Test coverage includes: crash recovery, durability layer, operator registry, approval gates, SENTINEL security, VAULT persistence, FLINT process supervision, BELL messaging, PRISM dashboard API, mission system lifecycle, mission items pipeline, schema-driven connectors, and connector framework.

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Design rules

1. FLINT supervises. FLINT does not execute workflows.
2. No side effect executes twice. Idempotency is enforced at the DB layer.
3. Resume reads the journal. Resume does not guess.
4. Dangerous actions require policy clearance. Policy is separate from capability.
5. Blocking a run is explicit. Auto-resuming a blocked run is never allowed.
6. The module that owns execution does not own policy. The module that owns policy does not own storage.

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Screenshots

Asset	What it shows
assets/prism.png	Main PRISM dashboard with operators online
assets/settings.png	Hardware detection and AI mode selection
assets/health.png	Health & observability page
assets/approvals.png	Approval gate UI with risk badges
assets/chief.png	CHIEF with Almanac help pane
assets/recon_dashboard.png	RECON worker dashboard
assets/crash_recovery.png	Deliberate mid-run crash + correct resume
assets/gpu_inference.png	Local Apple Silicon inference

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Docs

• Quickstart — macOS
• Quickstart — Linux
• Windows Installation
• PRISM Manual
• Mission System
• API Reference
• Connectors
• Operators
• Tiers & Pricing
• EU AI Act Compliance
• Production Checklist
• Contributing
• Security Policy
• Story behind the project
• Full docs index

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Why 2026

AI Infrastructure Software: $126B → $230B (83% growth) On-premise AI: 46% of total market, 24% CAGR EU AI Act Articles 8-15 deadline: August 2, 2026 First responder wins 78% of leads in field services Industry average lead response: 47 hours Cascadia OS average lead response: 4 minutes

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Licence

Cascadia OS core is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for full terms.

Dependencies: llama.cpp (MIT) · Qwen3 (Apache 2.0)

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Built in Houston, Texas — Zyrcon Labs · 2026.5