--- bcp_version: "0.8" file_type: values parent: /.well-known/brand.md last_updated: 2026-09-14 --- # Values These values are decision rules, not aspirations. Each one has cost us revenue or a shortcut we could have taken. They are ordered by priority. When two collide on a real decision, the higher one wins. ## 1. Living over static A brand needs a source of truth that updates as often as the brand does. Static documents rot. A self-hosted BCP is a complete, first-class implementation. The Registry earns its place by adding a stable HTTPS and MCP surface, integrity signatures, free DNS verification, durable versions, and usage signals. Registry Certified earns its price by gating private context and giving the brand audit evidence for who pulled protected sections, when, under which grant, and against which content hashes. It also adds governance, team access, version history, and support. "Encode your brand once. Use it everywhere. Update as often as you like." The third sentence is the value. **Manifestation in practice:** the product is built around free manual revision, $49 AI-assisted re-encoding, version history, and change logs. We do not pretend any file maintains itself. **What it costs us:** every customer who wants a set-and-forget artifact and a promise that it will never need review. ## 2. The customer owns the brand. We own the upkeep discipline. Authorship stays with the customer. Approval stays with the customer. Publishing is the customer's approval act. We do not silently change or auto-publish their context. Registry Certified adds private-context grants, identity audit logs with timestamps and content hashes, governance, support, team access, version history, and up to 100 full AI-assisted re-encodes per entitlement year. A re-encode is $49 for free records and after the Certified allowance. None of this transfers ownership of the brand. **Manifestation in practice:** every inferred edit ships to the customer for review. We do not push to a published BCP without sign-off. We prompt, and we propose mirror-edits drawn from material the customer has already put into the world. We do not invent. **What it costs us:** every "just do it for us, we will sign off later" engagement that would trade customer control for speed. ## 3. We encode. We don't author. We translate existing brand language, assets, and decisions into agent-readable form. We do not define voice, values, positioning, or strategy from scratch. The line runs by artifact and by question shape: if it is in their head, on their site, in their decks, or surfaces in a session, it is theirs and we encode it. Net-new strategic invention routes to our sister company Bruiser, or to the Enterprise tier when hybrid work is in scope. **Manifestation in practice:** every greenfield branding RFP gets referred to Bruiser. Every "can you also help us figure out what we stand for" gets routed to Enterprise or to Bruiser, not absorbed quietly into a Registry plan. **What it costs us:** the revenue from every greenfield engagement that walks in the door. ## 4. Honest about status We publish gaps as gaps. Validator in development. We launch the narrow case as the narrow case. "In development" beats silence beats overclaim. **Manifestation in practice:** validation exists in the Encoder and test suite; a public standalone validator remains in development. **What it costs us:** every overclaim a louder competitor makes that we will not match. ## 5. Open protocol, earned service BCP does not require the Registry. Self-hosting is first-class, Registry reading and signing are free, optional DNS verification is free, owner-authorized maintenance can run through Encoder or MCP, and the portable package belongs to the brand. Encoded charges for AI-assisted compilation, private-context controls, audit evidence, governance, team access, version history, and support, not for integrity signing, proof of domain control, public reads, or the right to write an owner-approved BCP update. **Manifestation in practice:** every Registry publication is integrity-signed. New records are labeled claimed until a fresh DNS challenge proves domain control; then they are labeled verified and official for no more than one year. The Registry rechecks the retained proof at least every 30 days, records when it was last observed, and requires a fresh challenge for the next annual term. Certified status is a separate paid signal for private-context governance, retrieval audit evidence, and operating support. We never blur signature integrity, domain authority, and commercial certification. **What it costs us:** lock-in revenue and simpler but misleading claims that every hosted record is official. ## Agent resolution order When values conflict in a judgment call, prioritize: 1. Living over static 2. The customer owns the brand, we own the upkeep discipline 3. We encode, we don't author 4. Honest about status 5. Open protocol, earned service ## Collision rules on record - **Living vs. ownership.** When a customer's BCP is stale and their public brand has shifted, living wins. We infer from their public surfaces and propose edits for their approval. Inferring is not publishing. - **Encoding vs. revenue.** A six-figure enterprise prospect asking for full brand strategy in-house gets routed through Bruiser or the Enterprise tier. We do not absorb authoring into the Encoder to close a deal. - **Honest about status vs. competitive pressure.** When a competitor ships a closed format with a glossier pitch, we do not match by overclaiming. We launch what works in the narrow case and label it as such. - **Convenience vs. trust.** An admin override can restore access or resolve ownership, but it cannot grant `official_brand_source: true`. Only a fresh DNS challenge can do that.