feat(archsetup): install inotify-tools for cross-agent-comms

2 files changed, 30 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/archsetup b/archsetup
index 51648d1..88e69db 100755
--- a/archsetup
+++ b/archsetup
@@ -1804,6 +1804,7 @@ developer_workstation() {
     action="installing claude-code via native installer" && display "task" "$action"
     (sudo -u "$username" bash -c 'curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | sh' >> "$logfile" 2>&1) || \
         error_warn "$action" "$?"
+    pacman_install inotify-tools     # required by cross-agent-comms watcher (inotifywait)
 
     # HTML
     pacman_install tidy        # HTML formatter
diff --git a/assets/outbox/2026-04-27-inotify-tools-for-cross-agent-comms.txt b/assets/outbox/2026-04-27-inotify-tools-for-cross-agent-comms.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b7abd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/outbox/2026-04-27-inotify-tools-for-cross-agent-comms.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+2026-04-27 — install inotify-tools by default
+================================================
+
+Add inotify-tools to the package list for new Arch installs.
+
+Why:
+  cross-agent-comms (claude-templates v5 workflow) ships a
+  cross-agent-watch script that uses `inotifywait -m -e create,moved_to`
+  to fire desktop notifications when a new cross-agent message lands in
+  a project's inbox/from-agents/ directory. Without inotify-tools, the
+  watcher daemon can't run and cold-start detection falls back to the
+  layered-checks-only path (startup workflow + status-CLI).
+
+  Discovered when wiring up velox as a cross-agent peer: velox lacked
+  inotifywait, so cross-agent-watch couldn't be installed there. Same
+  package needed on every machine that participates in cross-agent
+  comms.
+
+Install command:
+  sudo pacman -S --noconfirm inotify-tools
+
+Files affected:
+  - cross-agent-watch (~/.local/bin/cross-agent-watch — symlink into
+    claude-templates/.ai/scripts/cross-agent-comms/cross-agent-watch)
+  - ~/.config/systemd/user/cross-agent-watch.path     (production install)
+  - ~/.config/systemd/user/cross-agent-watch.service  (production install)
+
+Done on velox 2026-04-27. Adding to archsetup ensures future machines
+get it on first boot rather than discovered later.