#468 Rust-only + DMG-only: remove Python/MLX and npm, rewrite install/dev tooling, candle 0.10.2

[Anonymous]

Originally created by: adityaharishch

Summary

Makes Meridian a Rust-only, DMG-only product: removes the entire Python/MLX stack and the redundant npm distribution channel, rewrites the install/dev tooling around it, and folds in the latest pre-main. No functional capability was lost — every working path was migrated to Rust before the corresponding Python/MLX code was deleted.

Net: 252 files, +3,198 / −23,035.

What changed

Python / MLX removal (the bulk)

• Deleted the entire services/ tree (MLX server, agents, eval harness, runtime packaging) and the Python coding-agent indexer/summariser — all already ported to the Rust daemon.
• Removed the on-device Local (MLX) LLM provider and its setup-wizard step; generation now runs only through the user's chosen CLI provider (Claude/Codex/Cursor/Copilot) or a custom endpoint.
• The session distiller's embedder runs in-process via candle (src/embedder/, BAAI/bge-small-en-v1.5) — the only on-device model left.
• Purged dead MLX/Python references from the Rust tree, health checks, docs (CONTRIBUTING, RUNBOOK, TESTING, READMEs, CLAUDE.md), and release machinery.

Distribution: DMG-only (npm removed)

• Removed the npm channel (@meridiona/meridian, @semantic-release/npm, install-from-bundle.sh, package-release.sh, npm publish/OIDC). The signed DMG self-installs its daemon + launchd on first launch — it never needed a second channel.
• Version-update check repointed from the npm registry to the GitHub releases API.
• Dropped the dead npm-bundle daemon binary path (~/.meridian/app/bin/meridian); the DMG stages to ~/.meridian/bin/meridian. (Credential-migration from the old bundle .env is intentionally kept for upgraders.)

Install / dev tooling, Rust-only

• install.sh / install-dev.sh: removed all MLX/Python/services steps; skill install via meridian coding-agent-install-skill; smoke via meridian doctor.
• bootstrap.sh: now downloads + installs the DMG (no brew/node/npm/Python).
• meridian-cli.sh: Rust-only; meridian dev now launches the full dev environment (cargo-watch daemon + tauri dev tray, = dev-start.sh), replacing the old launchd+next dev model. Removed the now-dead dev ui/dev daemon sub-targets.

Dependencies

• candle 0.8 → 0.10.2 (latest stable that builds on our pinned Rust 1.93.1; 0.11.0 needs nightly for stdarch_neon_f16). No embedder code changes required.

Test hygiene

• Fixed a pre-existing parallelism race in meridian-oauth tests (env-var mutation) with a crate-level serialisation guard.

Merged from pre-main

• Notifications-plugin CI clean fix, capture autorelease-pool drain around Vision OCR / AX walks, and What's New docs. .releaserc conflicts resolved to keep the npm-free release and adopt pre-main's notifications-plugin cargo clean step.

Verification

• cargo fmt --check, cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -D warnings (+ tray): clean
• cargo test --workspace: all 23 suites green
• ui production build: clean static export; bun test: 227 pass
• Full pre-push hook (fmt + clippy + tests + UI build + UI tests + security audit) passed on push
• Manually verified on a live install: daemon boots, distiller runs in Rust (candle), worklog pipeline generates, meridian dev runs the full hot-reload environment

Notes

• Targets pre-main per repo policy. Leaving the actual merge to a maintainer.
• macOS / Apple Silicon only (unchanged).

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Ticket changed by: adityaharishch

• status: open --> closed