Staging Environment Implementation Summary

Status: COMPLETE ✓

The Icarus Family Assistant now supports dual environments (staging vs prod) with environment-variable-driven database selection.

Files Created/Modified

New Files

1. config_env.py (130 lines)
   - Environment-aware configuration module
   - Defaults to staging for safety
   - Path isolation validation
   - Logs ENV on startup

2. staging_data.py (420 lines)
   - Miller family test data
   - Document seeding functions
   - Calendar event templates
   - Verification script

3. startup_verify.py (120 lines)
   - Pre-flight safety checks
   - Path overlap detection
   - Environment logging

4. icarus.service (36 lines)
   - Systemd service template
   - Production-ready configuration
   - Security hardening

5. family_staging.yaml (110 lines)
   - Miller family configuration
   - Test schools, activities, maintenance items
   - Located at ~/.family_assistant/family_staging.yaml

6. .env.staging (32 lines)
   - Staging environment template
   - All paths configured for staging

7. .env.prod (28 lines)
   - Production environment template
   - Hoffmann family paths

8. STAGING_ENV.md (180 lines)
   - Complete documentation
   - Quick start guide
   - Testing instructions

9. tests/test_env.sh (120 lines)
   - Bash test script
   - Verifies environment isolation
   - Runs sample queries

Modified Files

1. family_brain.py (lines 23-24)
   - Now imports CHROMA_DB_PATH from config_env
   - Uses environment-aware path

2. config.py (lines 83-115)
   - Added ENV variable detection
   - Staging-aware family config resolution
   - Added get_current_env() function

Directory Structure

~/.icarus/
├── staging/                    # NEW: Staging data directory
│   ├── staging.db              # SQLite database
│   ├── chroma_db/              # Vector store (4 documents)
│   ├── grocery_lists/
│   ├── recipes/
│   ├── ingress_spool/
│   └── vision_cache/
└── data/                       # EXISTING: Production data
    ├── prod.db
    ├── chroma_db/
    └── ...

~/.family_assistant/
├── family_staging.yaml         # NEW: Miller family config
├── family.yaml                 # EXISTING: Hoffmann family config
├── .env.staging               # NEW: Staging template
└── .env.prod                  # NEW: Production template

~/hoffdesk-agents/services/family_assistant/
├── config_env.py              # NEW: Environment config
├── staging_data.py            # NEW: Test data seeder
├── startup_verify.py          # NEW: Startup checks
├── icarus.service             # NEW: Systemd service
├── STAGING_ENV.md             # NEW: Documentation
├── family_brain.py            # MODIFIED: Use config_env
├── config.py                  # MODIFIED: ENV awareness
└── tests/
    └── test_env.sh            # NEW: Test script

Safety Features

1. Default to Staging: If ENV not set, defaults to staging
2. Path Isolation: Staging paths cannot overlap with prod paths
3. No Auto-Seed in Prod: Production never auto-seeded
4. Startup Verification: Logs ENV and paths on startup
5. Explicit Opt-In: SEED_STAGING=1 required to seed

Test Results

# Environment isolation
✓ Staging DB != Prod DB: True
✓ Staging Chroma != Prod Chroma: True
✓ Staging paths isolated: True

# Data seeding
✓ 4 documents ingested to staging ChromaDB
  - March Newsletter — Lincoln Elementary
  - Invoice #MDA-2026-0342 - Spring Ballet Session
  - Receipt #4582 - Buster Miller Wellness Exam
  - Soccer Schedule Update

# Query test
✓ Query "Is Friday a half-day?" returns results
  - Top result: March Newsletter (score: 0.612)
  - Found relevant documents

Usage

Quick Test

cd ~/hoffdesk-agents/services/family_assistant
ENV=staging python -m family_assistant.staging_data
ENV=staging python -c "
from family_assistant.family_brain import answer
result = answer('Is Friday a half-day?')
print(result['answer'])
"

Production Service

sudo cp icarus.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable icarus
sudo systemctl start icarus

Success Criteria Checklist

• [x] ENV=staging boots with Miller family test data
• [x] ENV=prod boots with empty DB (or existing prod data)
• [x] Database connections route to correct file
• [x] Test queries return Miller data in staging
• [x] Test queries return Hoffmann data (or nothing) in prod
• [x] Cannot accidentally write test data to prod

Next Steps for Brain Query Development

The staging environment is now ready for:
1. Brain Query Interface development
2. Testing new RAG pipelines
3. Experimenting with prompt engineering
4. CI/CD integration with automated tests

All work can be done against the Miller family test data without risk to production Hoffmann data.