Tools PatchCairn can coordinate

PatchCairn helps an assistant choose and coordinate official tools for an agreed task. Its records do not install software, grant administrator access, scan every file or execute commands stored in a plan. An assessment or diagnosis allows the selected evidence checks; changes follow the concrete plan the owner approves.

The machine-readable tool catalog is the maintained reference for tool IDs, publisher, official URL, purpose, platform, required/optional status, permission and privacy limits, version-check meaning, installation approval and dated primary sources. It contains no actual computer inventory or permanent target-version list. Each source receipt has its own UTC check and access limits; the latest local-installer additions were checked on 2026-10-24T00:56:40Z. Recheck support, installed capabilities and vendor guidance during a real session. A listed tool is not necessarily installed or connected.

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Choose an existing supported route

The assistant first identifies the real operating system, architecture, installation owner and available capabilities. A required tool is required only when the catalog's stated route is selected and supported. If it is absent, the assistant explains the gap or an appropriate official alternative. An optional tool is useful for a particular need, and ordinary assessment does not require installing it. Neither label authorizes an installation.

Platform or task	Common official tools	What they establish and what needs care
Windows helpers and selected metadata	PowerShell	The supported host runs the Windows helpers. Windows PowerShell and newer PowerShell can coexist; a shell version does not establish module or application compatibility.
Windows application owner route	WinGet or the application's official updater	Match the exact installation, architecture and channel. A catalogue match is evidence to review, not a full inventory or approval for upgrade-all.
Selected Windows events	Get-WinEvent or Event Viewer	Filter the relevant provider/event/time and minimum fields. Errors elsewhere in a log do not establish this case's cause; raw logs can expose private data. The linked Event Viewer example is case-specific, not a generic repair instruction.
Justified Windows system checks/repair	DISM, SFC	Health/verification and repair operations have different effects and permissions. Repair needs its own approved action; these tools are not routine fixes for every symptom.
Windows installer provenance	Get-AuthenticodeSignature	Check the expected publisher and embedded/catalog verification. A valid unrelated signer or a locally calculated hash is insufficient.
Linux systemd logs	journalctl	Candidate for a narrowly approved manual observation; no journal recipe is currently implemented. Use a bounded unit/boot/time/field query only on a matching system; access/retention limits stay visible.
Linux package ownership	dpkg-query or rpm	Read selected distribution package metadata. Local package state and upstream version numbers need the distribution's security/backport interpretation.
Linux selected update route	Distribution-owned APT or DNF	Review exact dependency-expanded transactions and metadata-refresh effects. The example documentation must match the actual distribution and implementation.
macOS selected evidence	Console, System Information	These are candidate manual observations; the current POSIX diagnostic adapter collects selected version/capacity metadata and no unified logs. Full reports/logs can contain private identifiers and are not collected by default.
macOS owner update route	Apple Software Update or the selected application's official channel	A compatible offer still requires review of target, recovery, restart and data effects. A global runtime update does not update an app's bundled copy.
macOS app provenance	Apple codesign/spctl assessment and current Gatekeeper guidance	Check current installed help and security policy; the code-signing reference is archived. Never alter policy to force acceptance. Signature/notarization is separate from vulnerability assessment.
Existing Homebrew-owned software	Homebrew	Verify the exact prefix/architecture and selected formula/cask first. Refresh, dependency expansion and automatic cleanup can write outside the run. The baseline collector detects candidates without running Homebrew.

These are candidates, not commands to paste or a promise that every native adapter exists. The platform notes, helper API, workflow engine contract and diagnostic API define actual implemented routes. If a matching fixed diagnostic recipe or required permission is missing, hold that route and explain the owner step. Do not invent flags or translate a refused operation into a weaker shell command.

Exact local-installer handoffs

The fixed update handoffs below use the official tool with the exact reviewed local artifact path when that catalog is available in the current service. The service returns a handoff and does not execute its arguments. Only the coordinator performs the approved official call, through normal host permissions and actual protected owner consent. It records actual outcome and separate behavior/security verification afterward.

Fixed catalog	Official local tool and source pair	Scope and limits
`windows.msiexec.install`	Microsoft msiexec, standard installer options	One owned `.msi` with the fixed reviewed argument grammar. No extra properties, transforms or flags. Document package-specific actions, normal OS consent and restart/activation requirements.
`macos.installer.pkg`	Apple Installer example, PKG signature guidance	One owned `.pkg`; inspect its installer signature with `pkgutil`, separately from code signatures. The official web man-page URLs returned 404, and the PKG article was available through research search while its direct page required JavaScript. Confirm current installed `man installer`/`man pkgutil` or supported help on the actual Mac. The App Store example does not authorize adding its `-store` flag.
`linux.dpkg.install_local`	Debian dpkg manual, apt-secure trust chain	One owned `.deb`, with authenticated signed repository metadata connecting its exact checksum to the official archive. Local `dpkg` installation is not package-signature verification or automatic dependency resolution; missing dependencies/partial configuration hold without a forced repair loop.

Before the gate and again before the actual call, bind the owned ordinary single-link artifact's native identity and SHA-256 to the exact publisher/signature evidence, product/version, architecture, channel, source and installation scope. Use the current service's bounded artifact proof and exact fixed arguments, with no added command text. Changed identity/bytes, unsupported variants, missing consent or unverifiable provenance hold. A catalog entry or imported verified flag cannot establish those facts. No package was downloaded, installed or signature-tested while authoring these references; native Mac behavior is untested here.

A selected package-manager name/version or an offered update label does not prove that a later manager call consumes a separately inspected artifact. Such a handoff remains held when exact-byte consumption cannot be enforced; prefer an available supported local-artifact route within the reviewed scope. OS/app repair needs recovery for the actual component and effects. Current integrated OS/app repair handoffs remain held until that recovery is supported: a small ordinary-file ZIP and restoration probe do not establish OS or package-state rollback.

Optional archive and source tools

The bounded backup/export helpers can use an existing supported Python runtime's standard-library ZIP support. A valid archive needs the separate manifest/hash/restore checks defined by the backup workflow. ZIP compression does not encrypt its contents, and zipfile cannot create encrypted archives. 7-Zip is an optional archiver when a selected format needs it; it is not an assessment prerequisite. Use the exact official publisher ownership chain and reviewed artifact if installation is approved. Listing an archive does not authorize extracting it over other files.

Git and GitHub CLI are optional for selected source/repository work or public upstream metadata. Ordinary host maintenance needs no account connection. Installing them, logging in, adding extensions, changing identity/remotes or publishing records is a separate decision. Never print tokens or inspect authentication files to check availability; private inventories/logs are not uploaded as a side effect.

The optional Codex Security plugin assesses code, repositories and changes. It does not provide whole-host antivirus, operating-system integrity or complete installed-software vulnerability coverage. Use only when the owner selects that code scope and the host actually offers the plugin. Explain its permissions, model/service processing, private scan outputs and actual or unknown entitlement/usage cost before the appropriate connection or scan decision. A plugin listing is not proof of access, native support or permission to inspect unrelated code.

Make a tool decision understandable

Before proposing an extra tool or consequential action, explain:

What it will do and why the existing supported route is insufficient.
The recommendation and alternatives, their benefits and drawbacks.
Known money, download/storage and time/downtime costs; mark unmeasured cost or account entitlement unknown.
Exact selected data/access, network or service processing, and where vendor/OS logs or installations can be written.
Data preservation, practical reversibility, required recovery and how success will be checked.

The assistant records the owner's actual instruction against the reviewed plan and action IDs. Account permissions, automatic mode, an imported approval field or a tool's existence do not replace that instruction. The owner handles normal protected consent and authentication; PatchCairn never asks for passwords or bypasses a refusal. Deleting work/ neither reverses approved installed changes nor removes vendor/OS records outside it.

Developed by Michael. Private session records belong locally under work/; this public guide contains no live computer records.