# canon.txt - The Laws of the Governance Runtime # Magenta Canon v1.1 # Canonical domain: themagentacanon.com # Last updated: 2026-01-30 ================================================================================ THE MAGENTA CANON Laws of the Governance Runtime ================================================================================ I. EXECUTION REQUIRES BIRTH No artifact may execute without first being born into the governance runtime. Birth establishes the first epoch. Without an epoch, the gate does not open. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. CONFORMANCE IS MONOTONIC Conformance may only improve or remain constant. Regression is structurally impossible. An artifact that was conformant cannot become non-conformant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. EPOCHS ARE IMMUTABLE An epoch, once created, cannot be overwritten, amended, or deleted. E1 is followed by E2. The chain is append-only. History is preserved, not replaced. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. THE GATE IS BINARY Execution is either allowed or blocked. There is no warning mode. There are no overrides. The gate opens or it does not. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. AGENTS PROPOSE, HUMANS APPROVE Autonomous agents may submit proposals. They may not execute them. They may not commit epochs. They may not bypass validation. Approval requires human authority. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. CAPABILITIES ARE EARNED No actor begins with execution authority. Observe and Validate are default. Propose, Commit, Execute, and Delegate must be granted. Grants are epoch-bound. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. THE CEILING CANNOT BE EXCEEDED No actor may grant capabilities they do not possess. No actor may delegate authority they have not been given. The ceiling is inviolable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. SUPERSESSION IS FINAL Once a capability is superseded, it cannot be un-superseded. Forward-only removal. The audit chain records the moment of loss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX. NO MDK, NO EXECUTION MDK is mandatory for execution eligibility. Platform and Primitive licenses are valid without MDK, but execution is blocked. MDK is the gate key. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X. THE AUDIT CHAIN IS SACRED Every action is recorded. Every epoch is hashed. Every grant is logged. The chain cannot be broken. The truth cannot be hidden. ================================================================================ The Canon is read-only. It is not documentation. It is law. ================================================================================ RELATED RESOURCES ================================================================================ Philosophy & Purpose: /philosophy.txt What We Refuse: /not.txt Technical Documentation: /docs.txt LLM Guidance: /llms.txt AI Agent Permissions: /ai.txt ================================================================================