From 2c7f4b90f5b190be5acacbf13aebbd9fe55e93f0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dan Macon Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:54:29 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] lead README with purpose --- README.md | 17 +++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 78b35db..f8e2a84 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ +# materialize + +A phased read-manifest becomes an isolated, audited workspace with a +fail-closed provenance record of every file inside. The +[red-team protocol](PROTOCOL.md) shows how to use that boundary for cold +attackers. + > **ma•te•ri•al•ize** > > verb | məˈtirēəˌlīz | @@ -8,22 +15,16 @@ > (of a ghost, spirit, or similar entity) appear in bodily form: he plays a teenager whose make-believe friend materializes. >- [with object] cause to appear in bodily or physical form: a medium, she was reputed to materialize substances. ---- - -> A phased read-manifest in, a real **isolated, audited environment** out — with a -> fail-closed provenance record of exactly what's inside. Declarative coldness by -> construction. - The general capability: turn a *declaration* of "what may be present" into a concrete, standing workspace that contains exactly that and provably nothing else. Its **first job** was red-team coldness — sealing an attacker away from a system's design discussion so its blind spots are its own. The **second proven shape is constructive**: a cold *builder* seat -([`construct`](https://github.com/stack-research/construct)'s EFC calibration machinery, +([`construct`](https://github.com/alignment-farm/construct)'s EFC calibration machinery, 2026-07-12/13) implementing against a sealed spec inside a workspace that simply does not contain the design discussion, the evidence, or the facts it must not touch. Same spine, opposite role — the tool is not *about* red-teaming. -Sibling pattern is [`substrate`](https://github.com/stack-research/substrate): a small tool, used in anger immediately, that +Sibling pattern is [`substrate`](https://github.com/alignment-farm/substrate): a small tool, used in anger immediately, that becomes infrastructure. The lab's way: prove a capability in one concrete job, then lift it out as its own thing.