portulanlisted

# Boot Portulan > Portulan is an operating framework: a universal **engine** plus a per-team **workspace**. Booting > means loading the engine's kernel and then the team's own policy layer, so that what follows is > tailored to *this* team rather than generically sensible. _(See > [`../../../core/engine.md`](../../../core/engine.md) and [`../../../docs/vision.md`](../../../docs/vision.md).)_ ## 1. Load the kernel Read `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/core/engine.md` in full. It is deliberately small — the resolution cascade, the loop, four non-negotiables, and a map to the doctrine behind them. Everything else in `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/core/operating/` loads on demand, when the kernel's map sends you there. Do not read all of `core/` up front. The kernel being small is the design, not an accident. **If that read is denied, the kernel did not load — say so and do not proceed as though it had.** `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}` is outside the project directory, so a session whose file access is scoped to the project will refuse it: measured 2026-07-26 on a headless run with default permissions, where the boot correctly reported the absence of a workspace while having no engine in context at all. Booting without the kernel is the same failure shape as booting on the wrong workspace — it looks like a boot and it is not. Ask for read access to the bundle, or report the boot as incomplete. ## 2. Find the workspace — in the project, never in this bundle Look for a workspace manifest at `${CLAUD