HoxCore

What is HoxCore?

HoxCore is a meta-manager — a low-level tool that centralizes the core metadata of organizational objects into a single, unified registry. Rather than managing execution or visualization directly, HoxCore acts as the foundational layer that independent software can build upon.

Organizational Object Types

HoxCore handles four categories of objects:

Design Philosophy

HoxCore is intentionally minimal and low-level. It owns the metadata — everything else is up to you. Independent tools can be built on top of HoxCore for visualization, reporting, dashboards, or richer management interfaces, all reading from the same single source of truth.

Installation

From PyPI

pip install hoxcore

For Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/SDEscobedo/hoxcore
cd hoxcore

# Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended)
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

Usage

HoxCore manages your projects using a simple file-based system. It operates on a Registry (a directory on your disk) that holds various Entities (Programs, Projects, Missions, or Actions) stored as individual files. This mental model allows you to maintain full control over your data while using simple CLI commands to organize your workflow.

Available Commands

Quick Start Guide

1. Initialize a Registry

Set up your first registry to start storing entities.

# Initialize a registry in the current directory
hxc init

# Initialize in a specific directory
hxc init ~/my-registry

# Initialize without git integration
hxc init --no-git

2. Create Entities

Add projects, programs, missions, or actions to your registry.

# Create a basic project
hxc create project "My First Project"

# Create a project with a description, tags, and due date
hxc create project "API Redesign" --description "Redesign the public API" --tags backend api --due-date 2025-06-01

# Create a program (container for projects)
hxc create program "Q2 Initiatives"

# Create a mission (execution-oriented, time-bound)
hxc create mission "Deploy v2.0"

# Create an action (ongoing, no end date)
hxc create action "Monitor system health"

3. List and Inspect

View your registry content and drill down into details.

# List all projects
hxc list project

# List all entities in the registry
hxc list all

# Filter by status or tag
hxc list project --status active
hxc list project --tag backend

# Show full details of a specific entity
hxc show <uid>

# Get a specific property
hxc get <uid> status

4. Edit and Delete

Update or remove entities as your tasks progress.

# Change status or add a tag
hxc edit <uid> --set-status completed
hxc edit <uid> --add-tag backend

# Set a new due date
hxc edit <uid> --set-due-date 2025-06-01

# Delete an entity (prompts for confirmation)
hxc delete <uid>

# Delete immediately without prompt
hxc delete <uid> --force

# Prevent automatic commit after deletion
hxc delete <uid> --no-commit

Getting Help

If you need more information about a specific command or general flags:

# General help
hxc --help

# Command-specific help
hxc create --help
hxc list --help

MCP Server (Model Context Protocol)

HoxCore includes a built-in MCP server that exposes registry functionality to LLMs through a standardized interface. This allows AI assistants (like Claude) to interact with your HoxCore registries directly.

Starting the Server

# Start with the default or configured registry
hxc mcp

# Start with a specific registry path
hxc mcp --registry /path/to/your/registry

# Specify transport (currently only stdio is supported)
hxc mcp --transport stdio

# Show server capabilities (tools, resources, prompts) without starting
hxc mcp --capabilities

# Start in read-only mode — write tools are not exposed to the LLM
hxc mcp --read-only

You can also start the server programmatically:

from hxc.mcp.server import create_server

# Normal mode (all tools)
server = create_server(registry_path="/path/to/registry")
server.run_stdio()

# Read-only mode (write tools omitted)
server = create_server(registry_path="/path/to/registry", read_only=True)
server.run_stdio()

Connecting to Claude (or other MCP-compatible clients)

Add HoxCore to your MCP client configuration. For Claude Desktop, update your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hoxcore": {
      "command": "hxc",
      "args": ["mcp", "--registry", "/path/to/your/registry"]
    }
  }
}

To restrict the assistant to read-only access, add "--read-only" to the args list:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hoxcore": {
      "command": "hxc",
      "args": ["mcp", "--registry", "/path/to/your/registry", "--read-only"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes tools that an LLM can call. By default all seven tools are available; start with --read-only to expose only the four read tools.

Available Resources

Resources are accessible via hxc:// URIs:

Extending the Server

You can register custom tools, resources, and prompts at runtime:

from hxc.mcp.server import create_server

server = create_server()

# Register a custom tool
def my_tool(registry_path=None, **kwargs):
    """My custom tool description."""
    return {"result": "..."}

server.register_tool("my_tool", my_tool)

# Register a custom prompt
server.register_prompt({
    "name": "my_prompt",
    "description": "A helpful prompt template",
    "arguments": [
        {"name": "context", "description": "Context for the prompt", "required": True}
    ]
})

server.run_stdio()

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING for details on our development workflow, including branch naming and test requirements.