# The Strategic Master Library — Volume Edition

Seven volumes distilled from a private compendium of twenty-nine audited
project owner's manuals — reorganized by **message**, not by project —
plus the two-stage toolkit that produced those manuals, so the method
ships as an instrument, not just an argument.

| Vol | Title | Message |
|----:|-------|---------|
| I | Demote Claims | Honest documentation is a moat no one can fork. |
| II | Substrates, Not Features | Own the floor other things stand on. |
| III | Ship the Crystal, Keep the Substrate | Export sealed artifacts. Never export the asset. |
| IV | Software with a Soul | Taste, naming, and disclosed fiction compound into a moat. |
| V | Built to Be Inherited | Write so a stranger can resume, sell, or sunset your work. |
| VI | The Drift Watch | Standing rules keep a solo founder honest when no one else will. |
| VII | Shape the World | Build the floor so you can afford to give something away — then give it away. |

## Read it

Two ways, same sealed prose.

**The bound edition** — one continuous book:
`dist/strategic-master-library-bound-edition.html`. Cover plate, contents,
then Volumes I through VII in reading order, pages connected like a book.
File → Print → PDF gives the 64-page boxed set; the pre-rendered
`dist/strategic-master-library-bound-edition.pdf` is that same print.

**The shelf** — `dist/index.html`. Pull any spine. Every volume is also a
self-contained, print-ready HTML file on its own.

## Bind it

    python3 build.py     # volumes + shelf
    python3 bind.py      # the bound edition

`bind.py` copies the seven built volume files verbatim, adds the cover plate
from `assets/cover.jpg` and a contents page, and rewrites cross-volume
links as in-document anchors. It alters no prose — every volume still
verifies against its own seal. Deterministic, stdlib only; hashes of both
bound artifacts are recorded in `dist/BOUND-SEALS.txt`.

## Use the toolkit

`toolkit/` holds the two-stage instrument behind the source manuals:

1. **Stage One — the Owner's Manual Patch**: generates an
   eighteen-section, truth-labeled Owner's Manual for YOUR project.
2. **Stage Two — the Truth Audit Patch**: the forensic pass that
   demotes claims and publishes the correction log.

Paste into your AI session of choice, in that order. See
`toolkit/README.md`.

## Build it

    python3 build.py

Python standard library only — no dependencies, no network, no clock.
Same inputs, byte-identical outputs, forever. Content lives in
`content/` as house-style markdown; `manifest.json` declares the
library; every built file is sealed by SHA-256 into `dist/SEALS.txt`,
capped by a single library seal.

## Verify it

    python3 verify.py

Two checks: every source file still matches its recorded seal, and a
rebuild produces byte-identical output. This is Volume II, Exhibit F
applied to the package itself — the determinism claim is executable,
not architectural.

## Certify a copy

    python3 certify.py --owner "Ada Lovelace" --copy 7 --date 2026-07-28

Mints `dist/certificates/certificate-007.html` — a numbered Certificate
of Ownership sealed to this exact edition:
`sha256(library_seal | owner | copy | date)`, recorded in
`dist/certificates/REGISTER.txt`. A verifiable receipt of provenance —
personalization, not copy protection.

## Add a volume

1. Copy any file in `content/volumes/`; keep the directive block
   (`:number`, `:accent`, `:message`, `:epigraph`, `:drawn-from`).
2. Add its path to `manifest.json`.
3. `python3 build.py` — the shelf grows a spine; nav and seals update.

## Layout

    manifest.json        the library, declared as data
    build.py             deterministic compiler (stdlib only)
    bind.py              assembles the bound edition (cover -> contents -> I-VII)
    assets/cover.jpg     the cover plate, embedded into the bound edition
    certify.py           numbered, sealed ownership certificates
    verify.py            seal + repeatability check (Exhibit F, executable)
    content/shared/      shelf copy: about, truth legend, toolkit, exclusions
    content/volumes/     seven volumes, house-style markdown
    toolkit/             Stage One + Stage Two prompts (also shipped in dist/)
    dist/                built shelf + volumes + bound edition + toolkit + seals
    docs/DESIGN.md       visual system and why it looks this way
    docs/EDITORIAL-NOTES.md   what was cut, kept, and added — and why
    LICENSE.txt          rights: read before distributing

© Kenneth E. Sweet Jr. · SHPBL.com · Abilene, Texas
