dotHuman
Protocol Handbook v0.3

The Two Layers

Depth

Natural language. The protocol is the communication layer between how a human thinks and how AI tools operate — split into two stacked layers.

You, the pilot, give one ask — 'do x, y, z'. Without .human the agent reads it as a command: it runs the task once within the Constitution bounds, opening no goal and keeping no trail, so the result is opaque and hard to repeat and next session you start over. With .human the agent reads it as a goal: it opens a goal to pursue — spec, plan, refine, execute — guided by your Comprehension and checking Evergreen, so the result is durable: auditable, resumable, and portable across tools, and next session you resume where you left off.
Figure 1. The same ask — “do x, y, z” — read two ways. Without .human it's a command: run once, no goal, no trail → opaque, start over next session. With .human it's a goal: opened and pursued (spec → plan → refine → execute, guided by Comprehension, checking Evergreen) → durable, and you resume where you left off. (Advanced depth adds the shared Constitution and the full result + weeks-later detail.)
You, the pilot, give one ask — 'do x, y, z'. Both paths share the same in-git Constitution (CLAUDE.md, .claude/, AGENTS.md, which may be set above you) — the same bounds either way; the only variable is the .human/ layer. Without .human the agent reads the ask as a command: it runs it once within the bounds, opening no goal and keeping no trail, so the result is opaque and hard to repeat — no written trail, locked to one tool so a swap starts over, reruns mean re-explaining. With .human the agent reads it as a goal: it opens a goal folder to spec, plan, refine and execute, guided by Comprehension and checking Evergreen, recorded in the .human/ pillars (Goals, Comprehension, Evergreen, Reports, log), so the result is durable — auditable, reproducible, resumable, shareable, portable across tools, and compounding run over run. Weeks later: without .human you start over; with .human you resume because the goal is already specced and logged.
Figure 1. One ask — “do x, y, z” — two interpretations, over the same in-git Constitution (which may be set above you; the same bounds either way). Without .human the agent reads it as a command: runs once, no goal, no trail → opaque, hard to repeat. With .human it reads it as a goal: opens a goal folder (spec → plan → refine → execute), guided by Comprehension and checking Evergreen, recorded in the .human/ pillars → durable: auditable, reproducible, resumable, shareable, portable, compounding. Weeks later: start over, or resume because the goal's already specced and logged.
  • Constitution — the in-git layer: your project's existing reviewed rules (constitution.md, CLAUDE.md, .claude/, AGENTS.md), which live at the repo root, outside .human/. Slow, version-controlled; changes deliberately. These are the bounds the agent must stay within.
  • .human/ layer — the off-git layer the protocol adds beside the constitution — a sibling folder, not nested inside it. Lives with the project, moves at session speed, needs no review to change. Holds the pillars — Goals, Comprehension, Evergreen, Reports, and captainslog.md — plus pseudoskills as they emerge. This is the working trail: the off-git complement to the in-git constitution.

Where it sits

The protocol's design rests on keeping the fast layer out of the slow one. The Constitution is the reviewed foundation; the .human/ layer is where session-speed work happens above it.

Example

in-git    Constitution    constitution.md, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md   (slow, reviewed)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
off-git   .human/ layer   Goals, Comprehension, Evergreen,        (session-fast,
                          Reports, captainslog.md, pseudoskills    unreviewed)

off-git / in-git — these are layer semantics, not strictly location. In-git = the tracked, reviewed, slow constitution layer. Off-git = the session-fast, unreviewed .human/ layer — kept out of the reviewed layer whether or not you commit it. Committing is a choice; see .human/ & git.

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