Install Coordinator as installer framework

Install Coordinator is two cooperating layers:

  • Queue plane — daemon, job state machine, MSI lane (Global\_MSIExecute), path-claim scheduling, user/admin surfaces.

  • Layout contract (UIL) — declarative package identity, payload roles, shell/discoverability claims, transaction journal, repair/uninstall semantics.

Ibex (ibex-install-builder) authors projects; emit targets can produce UIL manifests and thin-stub coordinator jobs that hand work to the daemon.

Queue plane recap

install-coordinator daemon
install-coordinator submit examples/thin-stub-msi.job.json
install-coordinator gui

Jobs move collecting → ready → queued → executing → terminal states. MSI steps share one lane; disjoint path claims may run in parallel.

UIL layout plane

UIL answers where payload lands on classic OS layouts today, and what orientation claims (PATH, Start Menu, associations, services, drivers, environment) must be refreshed so OpenShell-style discovery stays accurate.

install-coordinator uil validate examples/uil-classic-demo.uil.json
install-coordinator uil plan examples/uil-classic-demo.uil.json --dry-run
install-coordinator uil emit-coordinator examples/uil-classic-demo.uil.json dist/demo.job.json

The MVP apply engine validates, plans classic paths, and prints a forward/rollback journal (dry-run). File copy and claim application will wrap the same journal records used by MSI/exec steps on the queue plane.

Authoring flow (Ibex → Coordinator)

  1. Ibex project selects plugin install-coordinator or uil.

  2. Build emits dist/<name>.uil.json and optional dist/<name>.coordinator.json.

  3. End user runs the stub (install-coordinator submit …) or an Ibex-produced launcher.

  4. Coordinator queues work; UIL plan/journal runs inside exec steps as apply matures.

See UIL reference for field-level detail and Connectome-fs mapping notes.