Module 0.2 — The Ecosystem

The Ecosystem

Seven categories. One lineage map. The governance move that prefigures Course 2. Read the field through design intent, not star counts.

15
minutes
8
artifacts
A feature list tells you what a harness does. A lineage map tells you what it disagrees with. Read the field through lineage and the design tensions become visible — that's why NemoClaw exists, why Hermes ships a migration tool from OpenClaw, and why two independent well-funded teams forked the same parent for governance.
Key Claims
Load-Bearing Claim

If the agent can reach the enforcement layer, a compromised agent can disable it. NemoClaw and Scout put enforcement outside the agent's reach — the foundation of Course 2's entire threat model.

After This Module
01
Classify any harness into one of seven categories and predict its architecture, failure modes, and the right way to study it from that category alone.
02
Read the harness lineage map and infer what each builder thought the parent system got wrong.
03
Explain the OpenClaw vs Hermes split as a breadth-vs-depth design decision, not a quality contest.
04
State why NemoClaw and Microsoft Scout put governance beneath the agent, and why that architectural move is the foundation of Course 2's entire threat model.
05
Use the study-priority system (//) to decide where to invest your own study time across the field.
Artifacts