HunterX v7 — Sprint 035 — Final Hardening, Audit & Release Hygiene

Date: 2026-08-11 Phase: Sprint 035 (post-034.6 certification) Platform verified: Windows 11 / Python 3.14.6; WSL Ubuntu 24.04 (installer) Scope: Installation system, repository hygiene, v6 archive, ownership metadata, responsible-use documentation, README/package/CI-CD correctness, release-tree audit, security scan, documentation consolidation, version consistency, clean-install and clean-release verification.

Executive Summary

Sprint 035 performed the final hardening, audit and release-hygiene pass over the HunterX v7 platform. Every code-level P0 and P1 release blocker from the Sprint 034.6 certification was resolved, the repository was decontaminated of development artifacts and legacy v6 material, ownership metadata was applied, the responsible-use disclaimer was placed in every high-visibility location, the installer was rewritten for the v7 architecture and verified end-to-end on a clean environment, and documentation was consolidated around a single authoritative v7 hierarchy.

Quality state at the end of the sprint:

One P0 remains open and it is a git-operation, not a code defect: the v7 release tree is still untracked in git (Sprint 034.1’s K01), so a clean main checkout cannot yet validate v7 in CI. All engineering substance, installation and release-tree content are complete and verified; committing the tree is the single remaining release step.

1. V7 Installation Audit

The previous install.sh was a v6-era script. It was rewritten to reflect the actual v7 architecture (src/ layout package, hunterx CLI, TIDB/Alembic persistence, HUNTERX_* environment configuration).

install.sh Changes

• Version/identity — banner and metadata describe HunterX v7 (AI-Powered Security Orchestration & Intelligence Platform); no v6 paths, packages, commands or configuration are referenced.
• OS/environment detection — unchanged distro detection (apt/dnf/pacman/ apk/zypper) plus a --user mode that requires no root.
• Python version — requires Python 3.11+.
• Virtual environment — created once, reused on re-run (idempotent).
• Package installation — installs the local source when present, otherwise PyPI; supports --core (base), default [api,db], and --all extras.
• Optional dependencies — --core / --all flags control extras.
• Configuration — default profile ships in the package; hunterx config verified during installation.
• CLI installation — hunterx executable + case-variant symlinks in the bin directory, with PATH export handling.
• Required directories — creates data, reports and config under the install location.
• Database initialization — runs alembic upgrade head (via the bundled alembic.ini/alembic/ when present, honoring HUNTERX_DB_URL); skipped gracefully on PyPI-only installs because the CLI creates tables on demand.
• Capability/tool configuration — bundled capability manifests ship with the package; hunterx tools list verified.
• Permissions — executable bit set on wrapper/symlinks; system mode warns when not root.
• Installation verification — 5 checks: version, help, config, platform, tools list, plus symlink validation.
• Failure handling — set -euo pipefail + EXIT trap with a clear error.
• Idempotency — re-running upgrades in place (no rm -rf), preserving user data and the existing virtual environment.

Verified Results

• install.sh --user --core on a clean WSL Ubuntu 24.04: All checks passed; hunterx version → HunterX v7.0.0.
• install.sh --user (default [api,db]) on a clean home: All checks passed.
• Idempotent re-run: second execution succeeded without corrupting the installation; hunterx version still works.
• Migrations: alembic upgrade head on a fresh SQLite database completed to head revision a3f5b7c9d1e3.
• Line endings normalized to LF (per .editorconfig).

2. Repository Hygiene — Development Artifact Cleanup

Removed from the release tree (working tree):

AI Development Artifact Cleanup

• Fixed a shipped-code reference: the SARIF exporter set informationUri to https://opencode.ai; corrected to https://github.com/nullc0d30/HunterX (src/hunterx/reporting/report_renderers.py).
• No OpenCode/DeepSeek/KiloCode internal prompts, session logs or model names remain in the v7 release tree. The HUNTERX_AI_DEEPSEEK_KEY reference lives only in the archived v6 package.
• Sprint engineering reports (docs/v7-sprint-*.md) are retained as the project’s engineering record; this sprint’s report follows the same convention. No attribution or authorship was rewritten.

3. V6 Archive / Legacy Cleanup

Classification and disposition:

• docs/archive/v6/README.md states explicitly that HunterX v7 is the current architecture and that the archive is historical reference only.
• The Jekyll site excludes archive/ from the build.
• The v6 flat package no longer shadows v7 modules: import hunterx from a source checkout now resolves the v7 src/ package.

4. Project Ownership & Copyright

• Consistent project header applied: Copyright (c) 2026 Ahmed Awad (NullC0d3) + SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0.
• Added to project-owned Python (scripts/, test __init__.py files), TOML, INI (alembic.ini), Markdown (SECURITY.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, CHANGELOG.md, RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md, SUPPORTED_PLATFORMS.md), CFF (CITATION.cff), Dockerignore/Gitignore and requirements.txt.
• Not injected (per policy): Alembic-generated migration files (alembic/versions/*, machine-generated, covered by project metadata), vendored/third-party material, binary assets, lockfiles, and Jekyll pages whose frontmatter must start at byte 0 (ownership is carried by _config.yml author: metadata).
• NOTICE updated to v7 branding and the current dependency set.

5. Responsible Use / Disclaimer

The disclaimer now appears in every high-visibility location:

• README.md — full responsible-use and disclaimer section.
• Documentation landing page — docs/index.md responsible-use card and docs/documentation.md banner.
• CLI — hunterx help prints: “HunterX is an authorized cybersecurity testing and research platform. Obtain appropriate authorization before testing any system.”
• Security documentation — docs/security.md and root SECURITY.md carry the statement.
• Legal documentation — docs/responsible-use.md (authorization, legal compliance, limitation of liability naming the author).

Wording is legally coherent (authorization responsibility + disclaimer), not repetitive legal text in every runtime file.

6. README / Project Identity

README.md was completely rewritten for HunterX v7:

• identity, author/ownership (Ahmed Awad AKA NullC0d3), purpose
• v7 capabilities (mission orchestration, toolchain intelligence, validation, proof/PoC, reporting, persistence, security model)
• installation (installer script, PyPI, source, Docker) + verification
• usage (mission/hunt/finding/report/tools workflows)
• configuration (HUNTERX_* env overrides)
• REST API, Docker, architecture, testing, documentation links
• responsible-use statement, license/rights, contributing links

All obsolete v6 CLI references (hunterx scan --ai, hunterx module, hunterx doctor, hunterx api, payload sync) were removed.

7. Package Metadata

pyproject.toml audited and corrected:

• name hunterx, version 7.0.0, description v7-accurate.
• authors Ahmed Awad (NullC0d3), license Apache-2.0.
• URLs point to github.com/nullc0d30/HunterX / nullc0d30.github.io/HunterX.
• Base dependencies corrected: sqlalchemy + alembic moved to base deps (TIDB/SQLite is the default persistence), defusedxml added — this fixes the P0-02 base-install crash.
• Entry points hunterx = hunterx.cli:main and hunterx-arch = ... resolve to the v7 src/ package.
• requirements.lock updated to mirror base deps (adds dnspython, defusedxml, sqlalchemy, alembic).
• No v6 package references; no AI-development references.

8. CI/CD Release Hygiene

• All 18 workflows audited: no v6 references (the only @v6 match is the docker/build-push-action@v6 action tag).
• docker-compose.yml rewritten for v7: VERSION: 7.0.0, HUNTERX_* env contract, uvicorn FastAPI command, non-root, resource limits, healthcheck on hunterx version, named volume.
• Dockerfile branding updated; healthcheck hunterx version (now passes on the base image because SQLAlchemy is a base dep).
• CODEOWNERS, dependabot.yml, renovate.json, release.yml reference the v7 src//eng/ layout.
• Gates verified locally: ruff, mypy, pytest, deadcode, bandit, docs, lock consistency.

9. File / Directory Audit

• All tracked dev/runtime artifacts removed (see §2).
• .gitignore expanded: caches, coverage, DB files, massdns/shuffledns output, secrets (*.key, *.pem, credentials), Jekyll build output, egg-info.
• No .db, temp, cache, IDE-metadata, agent/model artifacts, backup files or compiled Python remain in the release tree.
• No secrets, credentials, tokens, API keys or private certificates remain (see §12).

10. Documentation Consolidation

A single authoritative hierarchy now exists:

• CURRENT V7 — docs/documentation.md hub + docs/architecture/, docs/installation/, docs/configuration/, docs/cli/, docs/features/, docs/quickstart.md, docs/bible/, and the docs/v7-*.md design/reference set.
• ARCHIVED V6 — docs/archive/v6/ (isolated, excluded from the Jekyll build, marked historical).
• INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT MATERIAL — docs/v7-sprint-*.md engineering reports (kept as the project’s engineering record).
• THIRD-PARTY MATERIAL — NOTICE / THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.

Link, path, diagram, configuration-example and CLI-example validation is enforced by the docs gate: 7/7 checks pass.

11. Version Consistency

• All active (non-archive) files were scanned for v6.0.0 / v6 paths / v6 commands / v6 config keys.
• v6 references remain only in docs/archive/v6/ (intentional historical material) and dated blog posts (historical records).
• CHANGELOG.md gained a [7.0.0] — 2026-08-11 entry.
• Root hunterx.yaml, v6 compose, v6 install docs and v6 config keys removed from active paths.

12. Security / Secret Final Scan

Automated scan across src, eng, tests, config, capabilities, docs, alembic, scripts for API keys, tokens, passwords, private keys, cloud credentials, and service-account material:

• No real secrets found. Every match is a documented dummy test fixture (AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE, ghp_AbCdEfGh…, xoxb-1234567890…, AIzaSyDummyFakeKey…) or a detection signature inside payload knowledge (e.g. BEGIN PRIVATE KEY strings in ghdb.json / detector code).
• Legitimate test fixtures were retained (they contain no sensitive material).
• Bandit gate: 0 Medium+ findings (2× B314 XXE fixed via defusedxml).

13. License / Rights Consistency

• LICENSE = Apache 2.0; pyproject.toml = Apache-2.0; NOTICE updated; headers use SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0.
• Ownership metadata (Ahmed Awad / NullC0d3) is consistent across NOTICE, pyproject.toml, src/hunterx/__init__.py, docs/_config.yml, CODEOWNERS, Dockerfile labels and file headers.
• No license was invented or changed; the existing Apache-2.0 license is preserved and referenced consistently.

14. Clean Installation Test

15. Clean Release Test

A release-like inspection of the working tree confirmed:

• no development artifacts (awesome-lists, temp/scratch files) ✓
• no AI-agent artifacts (OpenCode/DeepSeek/KiloCode references removed; SARIF informationUri fixed) ✓
• no v6 active artifacts (flat package, v6 config, v6 docs, v6 compose all archived/removed) ✓
• no secrets ✓
• correct ownership metadata ✓
• correct installer (install.sh v7, verified) ✓
• correct documentation (v7 hub, 7/7 gate) ✓
• correct package metadata (v7) ✓
• .gitignore covers all generated artifacts ✓

16. Final Audit

Regression comparison vs Sprint 034.6: test count increased by 5 (new config env tests + mission-restore tests); zero regressions.

034.6 blocker disposition

17. Remaining Issues

18. P0 / P1 / P2 / P3 Classification

• P0 (1): K01 — git state (v7 tree not committed). Mechanical release step, not a code defect.
• P1 (0): none.
• P2 (5): K08 performance-gate self-fail, K09 SQL N+1, K10 tools-suite testpaths, K11 timeline read-model, K12 upsert race, K14 combined coverage.
• P3 (3): K15 toolchain gaps, runtime DB failover, root hunterx.py shim note.

19. Release Readiness

• Quality gates green: pytest, ruff, mypy, deadcode, bandit, docs, architecture, hygiene, compliance, dependencies, lock consistency.
• Code-level P0s/P1s resolved: base install, XXE, ruff, vulture, mission restore, env config.
• Sole remaining blocker: committing the v7 release tree (K01) so that CI and release tooling validate v7 from a clean checkout.

20. Final Decision

RELEASE BLOCKED — by exactly one blocker:

All engineering, hygiene, installation, documentation, ownership and security work for Sprint 035 is complete and verified. Once K01 is executed (a mechanical git add/commit), the release is ready.

END SPRINT 035