fix: identity block — autoresearch copilot first, pulse design as deepest domain (#515)

[aarontrowbridge]

Closes #515.

Why: the session prompt opened "You are Amico — Amicode's pulse-design copilot" while the same prompt's error-corrected-loop section said "research studio, not a single-purpose copilot" and the overture had already been rewritten to "coding and research companion" (#503 — its tests assert the pulse phrasing is gone). The identity block was the straggler, and it mis-framed every session for users whose field isn't pulses — QEC, other physics, anything modelable.

User direction (2026-08-22): "amico should be autoresearch/autodev first and then adapt to users needs — for myself quantum pulse stuff, others might do qec, or any manner of other things."

The new identity: autoresearch copilot — the loop first (campaigns, hypotheses, spec gates, experiments, mechanical verdicts) plus the dev work that loop needs (issues, PRs, skills, fleet ops), adapting to the user's field from recorded state (profile, mounts, memory). Quantum control stays as the deepest domain (Piccolo pulses, Run Inspector), explicitly as the first domain pack, not the boundary. Voice section follows ("done research with this user", not "pulse design with this researcher").

Rebased onto #503/#512 — resolved the identity conflict in favor of the loop-first text (it subsumes their de-quantum intent). Their "research copilot" one-liner becomes "autoresearch copilot" per the user's explicit wording and the product's own vocabulary (README: "open autonomous research studio").

Also fix-forwards main's red typecheck (same failure class as #505): #503/#512 left an orphaned armOnboardingSession (its caller died with the splash transition), an unused writeWelcomeShown import, and a dead enterGroup const.

Version 0.2.5 → 0.2.6 (the vsix ships this AGENTS.md).

Verification: typecheck clean, extension suite 1238 passed / 5 skipped / 100 files.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Updated the assistant’s identity to support Amicode’s broader autoresearch workflow and multiple research domains.
  • Improved contextual guidance to reflect users’ broader research tools, recorded state, and common failure modes.

• Bug Fixes

  • Removed unused onboarding and animation logic without changing the visible onboarding experience.

• Chores

  • Updated the extension version to 0.2.6.

[coderabbitai]

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ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

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Run ID: fa0eaf4b-7e04-46f2-af0d-5dd9f0f9364f

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 82677f0 and eb30cbe.

📒 Files selected for processing (4)

• packages/extension/AGENTS.md
• packages/extension/package.json
• packages/extension/src/extension.ts
• packages/extension/src/onboarding_webview.ts

💤 Files with no reviewable changes (1)

• packages/extension/src/onboarding_webview.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The extension now presents Amico as Amicode’s autoresearch copilot, updates the package version to 0.2.6, and removes unused onboarding imports, session setup logic, and SVG lookup code.

Changes

Extension identity and cleanup

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Identity guidance and release metadata packages/extension/AGENTS.md, packages/extension/package.json	The guidance covers autoresearch, autodev, broader domain packs, and recorded user state. The package version changes from 0.2.5 to 0.2.6.
Onboarding code cleanup packages/extension/src/extension.ts, packages/extension/src/onboarding_webview.ts	Unused onboarding session setup imports and helper logic are removed. The unused animated SVG group lookup is also removed.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~5 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to eb30c

The PR reframes the product as an autoresearch copilot with quantum control as its deepest domain and removes dead onboarding code while updating the version. No actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review.

Suggested reviewers: rchari1, jack-champagne, jeonghun-jj-lee

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Out of Scope Changes check	⚠️ Warning	The version bump and onboarding-code removals are not required by linked issue #515 and are unrelated to the identity rewrite.	Move the version bump and onboarding cleanup to separate pull requests, or document their acceptance as part of issue #515.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly states the primary identity change: Amico is an autoresearch copilot, with pulse design as the deepest domain.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The identity changes match issue #515 by prioritizing autoresearch, development work, recorded state, broader domains, and removing pulse-researcher assumptions.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring check was indeterminate for this PR — some files could not be analyzed in time. Not blocking.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch 515-identity-research-first

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