We build practical systems that make living and building easier. We prioritize utility over attention. If a tool doesn't remove friction or reduce decision fatigue, we don't build it.
Software should be boring.
Most widely-used tools today solve symptoms while adding complexity. We focus on causes. We design systems that are readable, maintainable, and built to outlive the teams that created them.
- Clarity over cleverness. We prefer code that is easy to read over code that is fast to write.
- Dependencies are liability. We add them only when necessary.
- Scarcity is a feature. Constraints breed better solutions than abundance.
These are the tools we use to run our own organization
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AgentSecrets: Zero-knowledge secrets infrastructure for AI systems. Agents operate credentials without ever seeing the values.
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keychain-auth: OS keychain security hardening. Closes the gap the OS leaves open — any process running as you can read your keychain. keychain-auth enforces verified process identity before any credential is accessed.
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SEC: Signed Execution Contracts for AI agents. Before an agent reads untrusted content, it commits to a signed contract declaring what it is allowed to do. If the agent is hijacked by a prompt injection, the contract doesn't change — and the credentials stay locked.
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pr-reviewer: Autonomous Python PR reviewer. Production-grade agentic system and the live showcase for the AgentSecrets security stack — progressing from unsecured baseline through credential protection (AgentSecrets), cryptographic intent enforcement (SEC), and behavioral abuse containment (CAD).
The work happens on GitHub. We document how these systems are designed and built at engineering.theseventeen.co, written for engineers who want to understand the reasoning, not just the result. Everything else is at theseventeen.co.