📜 Design Rules

The following rules define non-negotiable principles
for Envelope Control architectures.

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🧱 Rule 1: Do Not Optimize Under Uncertainty

If envelope validity is unknown or ambiguous,
restrict behavior immediately.

Uncertainty is treated as a safety signal, not as noise.

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🧩 Rule 2: Degradation is a Mode, Not a Failure

Reduced capability is expected and acceptable.

Envelope Control assumes:

• graceful degradation,
• predefined reduced modes,
• continued safe operation at lower authority.

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🚫 Rule 3: Refusal is a Control Action

Rejecting commands is a valid and necessary control behavior.

Silence, saturation, or undefined behavior is not acceptable.

The system must refuse explicitly and deterministically.

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🔍 Rule 4: Separate Judgment from Execution

Judgment layers may:

• analyze,
• propose,
• advise.

They must never execute control loops.

Execution layers must remain:

• deterministic,
• bounded,
• certifiable.

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🛑 Rule 5: Stop Early

If safety cannot be reasoned about,
the system must stop before damage occurs.

Delayed failure is worse than early refusal.

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💡 Good control systems do not merely perform well.

They fail gracefully, predictably, and on their own terms.