pixel-chain-story

What earns coder respect — ordered

Engineers respect runnable truth, not vision decks.
Full doctrine + gate definitions: PATH.md.

Gate A — foundation (this repo)

• Real UTXO settlement + verify
• PoLS illuminate / acceptPixel (sequential tip)
• Persist + in-process multi-node proof
• One API (Source · Word · Light)
• SISO continuity model
• Spec + threat model drafts
• CI running all selftests (crypto landmines included)
• Access intents — SMS/USSD/helper/offline + BD/KS personas (One.Access)
• Kindling Presence Seals + Energy Truth + self-custody Personal Source
• Uptake ladder — signal bridges invite only; never hold keys
• Worldlight ingress — $USD / domain / treasury / app → light
• Lock feeder — USDC rail + bank-wire attestor + PixelUsdcLock.sol
• Merkle-window OTS + fail-closed weak verifier + address↔pubkey bind
• Diversity policy enforced when ≥7 providers registered
• Honest framing (SPEC §8 / PATH Gate A claims only)

Gate B — network that doesn’t flake

• Two-terminal / two-VPS pixel init|node|join demo — docs/demos/two-node.md
• Reconnect + hole-filling catch-up (get_pixels / /sync); bun run test:net
• Stall detection (warn + catch-up); skip/replace deferred to Gate C
• OTS leaf single-use at consensus (usedOtsLeaves; bun run test:ots-reuse)
• Lab leader lottery + electable bound in light proof (bun run test:election)
• 4-node lab mesh tip extension (bun run test:four-node; docs/DEVNET.md)

Gate C — consensus that survives fault

• SPEC fork-choice / tip rules under stall (docs/SPEC.md §4.1)
• Sequencer timeout + skip replacement — bun run test:fault
• Bounded reorg / tip-replace policy (depth 1)

Gate D — quantum security (critical)

• signPixel / verifyPixel scheme surface
• NIST ML-DSA-65 (PIX-ML-DSA-65) on tx + PoLS — bun run test:mldsa
• Hash-OTS window retained
• docs/QUANTUM.md
• Frozen public vectors in CI — bun run test:vectors
• Persist scheme + ML-DSA secret in nodekey/wallets
• Default new genesis to ML-DSA (DEFAULT_SCHEME=PIX-ML-DSA-65)

  Gate E — bridge that verifies

• Real ULAVerifier (no stub accept for value) — keccak-OTS twin
• Foundry tests + frozen ULA fixture (fixtures/ula-evm-v1.json)
• Second-chain twin (CosmWasm)
• Local relayer: anvil Locked → feed → shineIn
• Custody inversion: foreign receipt / Pixel vault (test:bridge-custody)
• Native ML-DSA ULA + twin projection + off-chain commit gate (test:ula-mldsa, ULAOffchainMldsaGate.sol)
• Full on-chain Dilithium verify (deferred — gas / research)
• Public testnet tx links in BRIDGE-STATUS.md

Gate F — light clients & gossip

• Headers-first sync + balance merkle proofs (test:light)
• Peer identity + scoring (eclipse basics)
• Published bench harness (docs/BENCH.md via test:bench)
• Per-pixel historical stateRoot commits (hardening)

Gate G — sovereignty on a live set

• Provider registry on-wire at admission
• ≥7 independent operators (pilot)
• Public / RPC live diversity report
• Cloud-majority join rejection demo

Gate H — Kindling / optical real channel

• getUserMedia + raster sample (optical-capture.ts)
• Seals with channel: "optical-capture" when captures provided
• bun run test:optical
• Two-phone field notes
• Remote-fail proof beyond partyId (device attestation)

Gate I — external scrutiny

• Threat model v1.1 frozen + scoped package (docs/AUDIT.md PREPARING)
• bun run test:audit-scope
• External firm engaged; criticals fixed; report link in AUDIT.md

Gate J — public regime

• Named public network + genesis notes
• Subnet checkpoints / multi-committee
• SISO chaos drill (origin dark, mirrors serve)
• No required CDN for ledger use

Never (kills respect)

• Claiming “AWS-proof” without Gate G evidence
• Claiming “production bridge” or “testnet live” without public links in BRIDGE-STATUS.md
• Burn theater, empty whitepapers, forced rewrites
• Hiding failing tests behind metaphors
• Asking for respect in marketing before the gate is green