yoi/.yoi/tickets/closed/20260529-180257-profile-registry-config-file/item.md

id	slug	title	status	kind	priority	labels	created_at	updated_at	assignee
20260529-180257-profile-registry-config-file	profile-registry-config-file	Move profile registry out of manifest files	closed	bug	P1	manifest profiles config	2026-05-29T18:02:57Z	2026-05-29T18:11:10Z	null

Background

The initial Nix manifest profiles implementation made profile discovery/default/alias metadata available from [profiles] sections inside manifest.toml. That is a design error.

A manifest is the Pod runtime configuration contract: model, scope, tools, memory, web, permissions, prompts, and other settings that are already selected for a Pod. Profile registry/default/alias metadata is application/project UX configuration used before a Pod manifest exists. Putting registry metadata inside manifest.toml makes the manifest both the runtime config and the profile selector config, contradicting the profile design.

This was caught immediately after merge, before compatibility needs exist. Do not keep backward compatibility for [profiles] in manifest files.

Requirements

• Move profile registry/default/alias configuration out of manifest files.
  • User registry file: <config_dir>/profiles.toml.
  • Project registry file: closest .insomnia/profiles.toml found by walking up from the cwd.
  • Builtin profile discovery can remain under bundled resources.
• Remove manifest-file profile registry parsing.
  • manifest.toml must not be the source for profile registry/default/alias data.
  • INSOMNIA_USER_MANIFEST must not affect profile registry discovery.
  • PodManifestConfig / PodManifest must remain runtime config only.
• Use a top-level profiles.toml schema rather than nesting under [profiles].
  • Example:

    default = "coder"
    
    [profile]
    coder = "profiles/coder.nix"
    
    [alias]
    work = "coder"
    

  • The existing table form for entries may remain useful:

    [profile.coder]
    path = "profiles/coder.nix"
    description = "Project coder"
    

• Keep existing profile selection semantics.
  • default, unqualified names, source-qualified names, aliases, ambiguity handling, and default markers should continue to work.
  • Unqualified alias/default targets remain source-local by default.
  • TUI fresh-spawn profile row and manifest-cascade opt-out should continue to work.
• Update docs and tests.
  • Documentation must describe profiles.toml, not [profiles] in manifest.toml.
  • Tests should create .insomnia/profiles.toml / user profiles.toml, not .insomnia/manifest.toml, for registry behavior.
  • Add coverage proving [profiles] in manifest.toml is ignored for discovery.

Acceptance criteria

• User profile registry is discovered from <config_dir>/profiles.toml.
• Project profile registry is discovered from closest .insomnia/profiles.toml.
• [profiles] in user/project manifest.toml is not read for profile registry/default/alias discovery.
• INSOMNIA_USER_MANIFEST does not change profile registry discovery.
• Existing CLI/TUI selector behavior still works with profiles.toml.
• Docs no longer instruct users to put profile registry metadata in manifest.toml.
• Focused manifest/tui/pod/client profile tests pass.
• cargo fmt --check
• Relevant checks pass.