user-user

name	user-user
description	Operate the `user` system-user manager and per-user sub-service frontend — create/delete/add system users, run sub-services (git, srv, mails, api, shell) per user, install dotfiles/shell config. Trigger when the user wants to add a system user, run a script as another user, or set up shell/dotfiles.

user-user skill

1. Design principles

• Educational. Reading bin/user end-to-end teaches the canned-account pattern (each system user has a home convention + group + ssh setup).
• Functional. Each verb is a sequence of system primitives (adduser, dseditgroup, mkdir, sudo).
• Decentralized. Per-user sub-services; no central agent.
• Simple. user calls only account at runtime (for account init <user>@localhost).

2. The model

user has two modes:

System-level (existing builtins):

user list
user create <name>           # /var/lib/<name>, group `users`
user delete <name>
user add <name> <group>
<name> exec                  # script from stdin

Sub-service routing (FEAT-148, in progress):

user <sub-service> <verb>     # runs as current user
<user> <sub-service> <verb>   # runs as <user> via sudo

Sub-services planned:

Sub-service	Source	Status
git	libexec/user/git	done (FEAT-167)
srv	libexec/user/srv	done (FEAT-167)
mails	bin/mailfilter	filed (FEAT-149)
api	bin/api + provider/task	filed (FEAT-150)
shell	dotfiles + startup.d	filed (FEAT-184)

3. Workflow recipes

1. List system users.

   user list
   

2. Create the canned srv user.

   user create srv     # /srv home, subuid/subgid set up
   

3. Run a script as another user.

   user alice exec <<'EOF'
   echo "hi from $(whoami) at $(date)"
   EOF
   

4. Set up the git-hosting user (canned).

   user create git
   user git setup    # FEAT-167's libexec/user/git
   

5. Install your shell config (FEAT-184 pending).

   user shell setup
   

6. Top-level user-environment bootstrap (FEAT-185 pending).

   user setup
   

4. Guardrails

1. user create srv does subuid/subgid magic for container compatibility — only run on a host that actually wants podman/docker rootless support.
2. user delete <name> removes /var/lib/. No undo; back up first.
3. user <name> exec runs a script via sudo -u — the script inherits root's PATH and env, not yours. Quote and qualify.
4. Sub-service routing depends on libexec/user/<sub> existing. mails/api/shell are filed but not yet implemented (FEAT-149/150/ 184).
5. user create <name> calls account init <name>@localhost under the hood. That generates GPG/SSH keys for the new user; verify there's keyspace before mass-creating.

5. Where to read more

• man user
• man account — the identity foundation user is built on
• This package's CLAUDE.md