Contractiles

Normative constraint set-points for the A2ML/K9 ecosystem: the six-verb contractile vocabulary (intend / must / trust / adjust / dust / bust) expressing what should be true, as the counterpart to the descriptive "descriptiles" reading of what is true.

Table of Contents

• What this is
• Quick start
• What you get
• Repository map
• Where to go next
• Licence

What this is

Contractiles is the standalone, normative half of the contractile/descriptile pattern used across the A2ML/K9 ecosystem: it defines the set-point — what should be true of a repository or component — via the six-verb vocabulary intend / must / trust / adjust / dust / bust (plus k9 as trust-tier infrastructure), serialised in a2ml under .machine_readable/contractiles/. Its counterpart, descriptiles, is the reading — what is actually true — and is not a separate repository.

This repository was scaffolded from the Rhodium Standard Repository (RSR) template, so it also ships with CI/CD, machine-readable project metadata, an AI-agent gatekeeper protocol, a formally-typed ABI/FFI seam (Idris2 + Zig), container and reproducible-build scaffolding, and governance infrastructure.

Quick start

# See the available tasks:
just                     # lists all phases (build, test, validate, audit, ...)

# Check the repo still satisfies the RSR shape:
just validate            # structure + metadata checks

What you get

• Machine-readable metadata (.machine_readable/6a2/) — STATE, META, ECOSYSTEM, PLAYBOOK, AGENTIC, NEUROSYM, CLADE, and anchors/ANCHOR, in a2ml, so tools and agents can read the project’s state and boundaries.

• AI gatekeeper protocol — 0-AI-MANIFEST.a2ml is the universal entry point that tells an AI agent how to work in this repo before it touches anything.

• Typed ABI/FFI seam — src/interface/Abi/ (Idris2 type + layout proofs) over src/interface/ffi/ (Zig implementation), with generated C headers.

• CI/CD — GitHub Actions for quality, security (CodeQL, Scorecard, secret scanning), multi-forge mirroring, and RSR anti-pattern enforcement.

• Supply-chain & reproducibility — container layering (stapeln), Nix/Guix shells, SBOM, and signing hooks.

• Governance — GOVERNANCE.adoc, MAINTAINERS.adoc, .github/ community health files, and a release AUDIT.adoc gate.

Repository map

Path	What lives there
0-AI-MANIFEST.a2ml	Universal entry point for AI agents (read first).
.machine_readable/	Project metadata, policies, contractiles, AI configs.
src/interface/	Typed ABI (Idris2) + FFI (Zig) + generated headers.
docs/	Onboarding, status, governance, practice, decisions.
build/, Justfile	Task orchestration (just phases delegate to build/just/*.just).
.github/	Workflows + community health files.
tests/, benches/	Test suites and benchmarks.

Where to go next

• EXPLAINME.adoc — the engineering deep-dive: how the pieces actually work.

• AFFIRMATION.adoc — the dated, signed honesty snapshot of the repo’s true state.

• AUDIT.adoc — the release audit gate.

Licence

Released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 unless a per-file SPDX-License-Identifier says otherwise.