UME Presence

A human-facing local presence for AI-assisted work.

UME Presence is a visible, local presentation surface; its authority is none.

This is a source-built renderer capture with no Character Pack. It is not a signed binary capture or clean-machine acceptance proof.

Status: Source Preview

Binary release: Not yet published (HOLD).

Source quick start (macOS / Node.js 24)

The current public surface is source-first. On macOS, the following are required: Node.js 24 and Xcode Command Line Tools with the macOS SDK.

npm ci
npm run native:build
npm run native:test
npm run demo

npm run demo builds and starts the current source checkout. It does not create a signed, notarized, packaged, or clean-machine-accepted binary release.

Related MCP server: mcp-win-toast

Product boundary and limitations

• Core product: UME Presence with a built-in neutral Default Presence

• Optional Character Pack: installed separately as external local data

The binary release remains HOLD until exact artifacts pass package inspection, signing/notarization policy, and clean-machine acceptance.

UME Presence displays a local visual presence and offers bounded presentation controls to supported local clients. With no Character Pack, launch succeeds in the built-in Default Presence; this is the normal core product state, not a degraded or error state. A validated external Character Pack can add a character-specific identity and speech profile. UME Presence is not an AI model, autonomous worker, router, execution governor, knowledge source of truth, Mothership replacement, or ume-harness replacement. Its authority is none: it never receives decision or execution authority.

Future binary lifecycle

No ZIP or DMG is currently published. If a future binary release passes the separate release gates, the primary Freeze target is Apple silicon macOS 14.2 or newer. That future installed-app workflow may require:

• a released UME Presence ZIP or DMG with a published SHA-256;

• Node.js 24 or newer only when a source-based integration step requires it;

• optionally, an external Character Pack transferred separately; and

• AivisSpeech plus the pack's compatible local voice model only when character-specific speech is required. AivisSpeech is external and is not installed or removed by UME Presence.

After a binary is published, install the app as /Applications/UME Presence.app, then follow Installation and optional character onboarding. Core installation ends successfully when the built-in Default Presence appears. The optional pack workflow is copy, validate, select, and restart—never a source rebuild or manual JSON edit.

APP='/Applications/UME Presence.app'
BIN="$APP/Contents/MacOS/UME Presence"

open "$APP"
"$BIN" --character=status
"$BIN" --character=list

Start the speech engine only after selecting a valid Character Pack when character-specific speech is wanted; the core no-pack launch does not require it.

The app asks for macOS System Audio Recording permission when its process-audio listener is used. It does not capture the microphone, save audio, transcribe content, or send audio over the network.

Connect a supported client

While UME Presence is running, Codex and Claude Code can connect to the same loopback-only Persona MCP endpoint:

codex mcp add persona --url http://127.0.0.1:47831/mcp
claude mcp add --scope user --transport http persona http://127.0.0.1:47831/mcp

Automatic final-reply speech is supported only for Codex notify, Claude Code Stop, and Antigravity Stop. Configure the hook shipped inside the installed app; a source checkout is not part of the installed contract:

APP='/Applications/UME Presence.app'
HOOK="$APP/Contents/Resources/integrations/persona-auto-speech-hook.cjs"
test -f "$HOOK"

Client configuration remains an explicit, additive manual operation so the application never becomes a configuration authority. See Integration contracts for setup and exact disconnect steps. Speech is best-effort, zero-retry, and non-blocking: failure cannot fail or retry the client turn.

Your local data and lifecycle

Persona compatibility identifiers intentionally remain stable:

~/Library/Application Support/Persona/characters/<character-id>/
~/Library/Application Support/Persona/character-selection.json
~/.persona_mute

Mute automatic speech with touch "$HOME/.persona_mute"; unmute by removing that file. Hide the window from the tray without stopping the app, or choose Quit UME Presence to stop the app and its loopback MCP server.

Startup is explicit and reversible through the installed executable:

"$BIN" --login-startup=enable
"$BIN" --login-startup=status
"$BIN" --login-startup=disable

Before removing the app, disable startup and remove only the named MCP/hook entries. Character packs are preserved by default; AivisSpeech is always preserved. See Releasing for the source and artifact boundaries.

Character-pack contract

Character Packs are optional external local data. The built-in Default Presence is visual and presentation-only, carries no character identity, and is not a Character Pack or a substitute pack. No pack is required for window, presence, listener, or other bounded core presentation behavior. Character- specific presentation and speech require a valid selected pack and, for speech, its validated profile and registered provider.

A pack is external local data: one closed character.json, one bounded PNG or WebP avatar, and one validated data-only speech profile. The pack directory name and manifest id must match. IDs use lowercase ASCII letters, digits, and internal hyphens.

Unknown fields, symlinks, traversal, URLs, commands, executable paths, arbitrary arguments, prompts, credentials, and environment expansion fail closed. A pack chooses a provider already reviewed and registered in Persona core; it cannot load code or add a provider. Selection is written atomically only after full validation and becomes active on the next process start.

distributionAllowed is app safety metadata used to fail closed when a pack is not marked for distribution. It is not proof of ownership, license, consent, or redistribution rights, and it grants none of those rights. A pack still needs separately reviewed provenance, permission, and release terms.

Presentation controls

Persona MCP exposes only these bounded controls:

MCP get_status does not expose Character Pack availability. Inspect the selected pack independently with the installed CLI command "$BIN" --character=status, which returns activeCharacterId and available.

Speech accepts one operation at a time, queues nothing, retries zero times, and keeps synthesized WAV data in memory. Code, commands, logs, paths, hashes, long lists, secrets, internal reasoning, and routine progress are not spoken by the automatic hook.

Platform and build status

Linux requires pw-dump and pw-record on PATH. Windows requires Visual Studio Build Tools for native packaging. Automated tests and CI preserve the existing cross-platform contracts, but they do not by themselves claim a signed artifact, clean-machine acceptance, or a binary release.

Develop Persona core

npm ci
npm run lint
npm test
npm run assets:check
npm run build
npm run native:build
npm run native:test

Production builds copy no Vite public/ directory. Character packs, legacy VRM/VRMA media, and local character manifests must not enter the release tree or application package. Package inspection is a separate mandatory gate.

More detail:

• Installation

• Integrations

• Architecture and development

• Release process

• Security policy

The Persona application core is MIT-licensed with upstream provenance preserved in LICENSE and NOTICE. UME Presence is the UMEBOSHIISAN product/distribution identity. External character packs and character IP remain legally and technically separate.