Manifest Self-Protection¶

.accountability/surfaces.toml MUST declare itself as a protected surface.

AI authority over this surface MUST be prohibited.

Human review and evidence of review are required for changes.

Rule¶

An accountable surface manifest MUST contain a surface declaration for .accountability/surfaces.toml.

That declaration MUST include at least one role identifying the manifest as a protected surface.

The maximum AI authority for the manifest surface MUST be prohibited.

The manifest surface MUST require human review.

The manifest surface MUST require evidence of review.

Rationale¶

The authority manifest is self-protecting because the alternative is the collapse it exists to prevent: if an actor with technical capability can rewrite the authority declaration, capability has silently become authority.

Minimum declaration¶

[[surface]]
id = "authority-manifest"
object_kind = "file"
paths = [".accountability/surfaces.toml"]
description = "Self-protecting authority manifest."

[[surface.role]]
kind = "authority_manifest_surface"
requires_review = ["human_review"]
requires_evidence = ["human_review_record"]
ai_max_authority = "prohibited"