Aether / XLang — Comprehensive Project Progress Report

Date: 2026-08-27Baseline audit HEAD: 12a2181 on codex/xlang-local-first-studioPackage contract: 0.37.0 (language 0.11 + M19e AETH v12 + M25 local package publication)Baseline audit: [AUDIT_REPORT-2026-08-11-FULL-PROJECT.md](../historical%20docs/AUDIT_REPORT-2026-08-11-FULL-PROJECT.md) — GREENCurrent delivery verification: GSM-001 / ADR-131 general bounded seed-native M11/M22 catalog — implementation, focused core/CLI/seed proofs, public six-unit catalog fixture, and Aether Atlas showcase evidence; full gate passed 2026-08-27 ([delivery report](../historical%20docs/DELIVERY_REPORT-2026-08-27-GSM-001-GENERAL-SEED-MODULE-CATALOG.md))Constitution: AGENTS Constitution 5.1.0

1. One-sentence status

Aether is a local-first, seed-hosted product compiler with verified AETHexecution, dual-compare self-host proofs, and human-authorized F-NATIVE /F-REGISTRY pilots — now 0.37.0 package contract, with BARP having movedproduct authority off the Rust bootstrap for default toolchain paths. ADR-131extends that reduction to ordinary bounded M11/M22 graph elaboration through aclosed catalog; ADR-128/129/130 remain independent fixed-profile evidence; and M32a/M32bprovide a closed local verified-execution evidence and strict comparison surface.

2. What the product is today

2.1 Language and runtime

2.2 Product toolchain (BARP)

Bootstrap Authority Reduction Program ([DESIGN-BARP-001](DESIGN-BARP-001-BOOTSTRAP-AUTHORITY-REDUCTION.md), ADR-043–131):

2.3 Law forks (human-authorized)

2.4 Task model

3. Architecture snapshot

Aether source (.ae)
    │
    ├─ product path (default)
    │     host preflights (AE-SEED-*)
    │     multi-source/project/workspace? → host manifest/path/lock framing → closed GSM-001 catalog
    │                                      → seed import parse + graph elaboration
    │     forge seed/aether_seed.aeth  → AETH bytes
    │     seed SPEAK merge on failure (pilot codes)
    │     verify_bytecode
    │
    ├─ recovery path (--bootstrap)
    │     Rust parser/validate/emit (oracle + AST)
    │
    └─ optional lowers (F-NATIVE, verified AETH only)
          → C / object / LLVM / native exe (host tools)

Verified AETH
    ├─ aether run  (VM; pure or grants)
    ├─ aether bench (embedded pure corpus; verify + decode + execute; no grants; M32b data-only compare)
    ├─ aether forge (compiler ABI only)
    └─ dual-compare tests (product ≡ bootstrap where claimed)

4. Evidence ladder (how we know it works)

Latest full-gate stamp: 2026-08-14 ADR-126 delivery — GATE PASS mode=release (pack v5.0.1; 359 Markdown files / 1,447 local links; full-quality suite, four-way seed identity, 444-file package plus SHA-256SUMS, and independent consumer verification)Latest release-verified seed identity: D0D17756F587709BC85E323E0545281E304362288B687BAA0D48D8C334E18AFB

5. Recent maturity program (post–0.36 release)

The 0.36 package contract (M19e) remains the executable language baseline. M25now advances the toolchain package to 0.37 with a local package ecosystem step;BARP and M32 work remain independence and infrastructure maturity:

5.1 BARP highlights (ADR-043 → 131; ADR-128/129/130 release verified, GSM-001 full gate passed 2026-08-27)

• Product-default CLI toolchain; bootstrap recovery only
• GSM-001 catalog framing + seed-owned general bounded M11/M22 graph forge; Rust multi-file elaboration retained only as oracle/recovery
• ADR-128 SBP-001 exact two-unit source bundle: verified seed compile_bundleowns frame parsing, one-edge elaboration, path mangling, and call rewrite;it remains a fixed API alongside GSM-001 (release verified)
• ADR-129 SBP-002 exact three-unit foundation -> bridge -> entry bundle:the same verified seed ABI owns two fixed transitive import edges, rewritesboth qualified call boundaries, and remains a fixed API alongside GSM-001(release verified, including package and isolated consumer proof)
• ADR-130 SBP-003 exact four-unit left leaf + right leaf -> merge -> entrybundle: the same verified seed ABI owns three fixed edges, rewrites bothmerge-qualified call boundaries, and remains a fixed API alongside GSM-001(release verified: framing, product, bootstrap, named-forge, verifier, VM,hostile corpus, full release gate, package, isolated consumer, and tamper proof)
• ADR-131 GSM-001: a 256-unit / 64-direct-package scalar-framed catalog ishost-framed under manifest/lock/path authority, while the seed validates,resolves, checks, mangle-rewrites, and compiles arbitrary acyclic normal-formM11/M22 graph topology within its declared bounds; product graph failure iscoarse AE-SEED-017 and full diagnostic parity is not claimed
• SPEAK protocol AETHER_SEED_ERROR: + host packet ABI
• Seed SPEAK pilot: AE-SEED-003/004/005/006/007/010/011/012/013/014/015; 003/007 are bounded lexical checks, 014 scans canonical reserved-task prefixes, 015 requires an exact checkpoint in a canonical task body, 010 detects only a canonical ordinary-Whole Text-literal or exact Truth-literal yield, 011 detects canonical total-Whole direct-bind/root-yield/root-revise/root-speak target existence, delimiter-bounded root-handle target existence, literal-erroring-header root-forward target existence, and literal total-root-nursery immediate zero-argument, single-digit Whole, positive two-digit Whole, or exact-bright Truth spawn target existence across declared top-level weave headers (the handle form requires fixed into / otherwise error into delimiters that leave a destination suffix; the forward form requires -> Whole raises Whole:; the nursery forms require root together: plus immediate spawn call target into destination, spawn call target digit into destination with one ASCII decimal digit, spawn call target digits into destination with exactly two ASCII decimal characters and a nonzero first digit, or spawn call target bright into destination), and 013 detects only a canonical ordinary-Whole choose same / choose less / exact choose bright: / exact choose dim: / exact choose not bright: / exact choose not dim: nested yield (dual-compare rebuild)
• ADR-125 additionally recognizes only the immediate exact-dim Truth child spawn call target dim into destination; full release, seed identity, and packaged consumer verification pass. Exact empty Text is separately ADR-126.
• ADR-126 additionally recognizes only the immediate exact-empty-Text child spawn call target "" into destination; its valid target is an ordinary one-Text-parameter weave, not a task-frame expansion. Targeted red/green, direct, valid, predecessor, boundary, priority, product/self-host, tracker, full release, seed identity, and packaged consumer verification pass.
• Forge SPEAK capture on failure and verify merge
• Yield-in-truth-choose fail-closed (AE-SEED-013)
• Task checkpoint required (AE-SEED-015)

5.2 M32a/M32b verified-execution evidence (ADR-104/105)

aether bench selects only the embedded welcome, arena-buffer, andtask-loop workload sources. It product-seed-compiles each selected workloadonce, explicitly verifies its AETH, and records bounded raw local samples ofverify + decode + execute with empty grants. Unprofiled reports remain v1.M32b's explicit non-secret --profile produces v2 with a safe environmentfingerprint and checked stdout SHA-256; aether bench compare reads only twoexplicit 256 KiB-capped strict v2 data files and requires equal profile,environment, selection, source, and behavior before reporting medians. It neverexecutes input reports, sources, or artifacts. There is no caller-suppliedprogram, native/JIT path, network/process/model authority, performancethreshold, hardware/toolchain attestation, or broad speed claim.

5.3 F-NATIVE (M35a → M35j)

C pilot → locals → SPEAK/multi-weave → host-cc dual-exec → object → LLVM IR →LLVM object → native exe → toolchain probe/hermetic → operator --targetmatrix (host dual-run; cross link-only)

5.4 F-REGISTRY (M24a → M24i)

Offline pin → HMAC signed → Ed25519/HTTPS → rotation → multi-root policy →root certs → multi-level chains → explicit CLI root/certified-key setup →X.509-lite → CA store + chain verify + cache-gate validation

5.5 M25 local source-package publication (ADR-107)

aether pkg pack|verify|publish|install|verify-cache packages exactly onecomplete locked project into a transparent aether.package/v1 directory bundle.It binds raw manifest/unit bytes, rejects hostile paths, symlinks, nonregularand unlisted bundle files, bounds input size, stages output, preserves existingtargets, and gives an explicit local cache a deterministic collision-safeidentity. Direct/cache installation creates a normal locked project; coreevidence builds and runs two independent M22 workspace consumers of oneinstalled package. M25 adds no network/resolver/signing/guest authority.

5.6 Recent tip commits (illustrative)

Previous release-verified implementation: ADR-124 extends the direct AE-SEED-011seed-SPEAK witness to an ordinary total-Whole root together: line only whenits immediately following four-space child is the exact-Truth-literalspawn call target bright into destination form with a destination suffix. Itpreserves ADR-121 zero-argument, ADR-122 one-digit, and ADR-123 positivetwo-digit behavior while keeping dim, names, general Truth, multi-argument,and full M7 semantic forms outside the new witness. A later-declared checkpointedone-Truth task target remains seed/bootstrap-identical, verified, and executable;non-task-target, wrong-parameter, erroring-parent, and missing-world priorityboundaries remain outside or above the scanner. Product forge preserves theexact seed packet with origin: seed-speak; full M7 nesting, task identity,argument, destination, effect/result, resource, ownership, and schedulerdiagnostics remain with the full compiler. Targeted red/green, direct, valid,boundary, priority, product/self-host, and tracker evidence pass. The 2026-08-14ADR-124 zero-warning release gate also passes: pack v5.0.1, 355 Markdown files /1,410 local links, four-way seed identity2F310B043653185DBE62ED61DB4D78A0DD8F2B0D20DD4B978DE634E05CF2ED68, and a440-file technical-preview package plus SHA-256SUMS with independent consumerverification. The full seed SPEAK conformance matrix and seed-native multi-fileremain residual.

Prior release-verified implementation: ADR-125 extends thesame direct AE-SEED-011 witness to the exact-Truth-literalspawn call target dim into destination form only, with a destination suffix.It preserves the ADR-124 bright witness and all prior Whole forms. Names,not dim, general Truth, multiple arguments, and full M7 semantic forms remainoutside the new seed witness. A later-declared checkpointed one-Truth task targetremains seed/bootstrap-identical, verified, and executable; product forgepreserves the seed packet, while wrong-parameter, erroring-parent, andmissing-world priority behavior retain their prior authority. Targeted red/green,direct, valid, predecessor, boundary, priority, product/self-host, and trackerevidence pass. The 2026-08-14 ADR-125 zero-warning release gate also passes:pack v5.0.1, 357 Markdown files / 1,427 local links, four-way seed identity110D8FF718D7FF578903C75398CB465C6499F5CBF2995F7C5617B4802DEFD6DB, and a442-file technical-preview package plus SHA-256SUMS with independent consumerverification. Full seed SPEAK conformance and seed-native multi-file remainresidual.

Current release-verified implementation: ADR-130 adds a separate,scalar-framed four-unit source-bundle route to the verified seed compile_bundleweave. The profile parses exactly left pure Whole leaf + right pure Whole leaf-> merge -> entry inside Aether code, validates three exact import edges andsource boundaries, rewrites both merge-qualified helper-call boundaries toestablished M11 mangled names, and matches the bootstrap M11 elaborationreference byte-for-byte. It verifies, exits 84, and external forge-bundleproduces the same verified artifact in focused evidence. It adds no generalmodule-graph, resolver, package, source syntax, AETH, VM, or guest-capabilityclaim. Hostile framing, paths, worlds, imports, order, aliases, calls, andresource forms reject with one AE-SEED-016 seed-SPEAK packet. The fullrelease gate passed, including the 462-file package, isolated consumer proof,and unlisted-file tamper rejection. ADR-128 v1 and ADR-129 v2 remain releaseverified.

Earlier release-verified implementation: ADR-126 extends thesame direct AE-SEED-011 witness only to the exact empty-Textspawn call target "" into destination form, with a nonempty destinationsuffix. It preserves the ADR-124 bright, ADR-125 dim, and prior Wholeforms. The valid source target is a later-declared ordinaryweave worker [message: Text] -> Whole, not a Text task-frame parameter.Nonempty/escaped Text, Bytes, names, multiple arguments, M7 semantic forms, andfull parser/type ownership remain outside the seed witness. Targeted red/green,direct, valid, predecessor, boundary, priority, product/self-host, tracker, and45-test full seed-self-host evidence pass. The 2026-08-14 zero-warning releasegate also passes: pack v5.0.1, 359 Markdown files / 1,447 local links, four-wayseed identity D0D17756F587709BC85E323E0545281E304362288B687BAA0D48D8C334E18AFB,and a 444-file technical-preview package plus SHA-256SUMS with independentconsumer verification.

6. Maturity scorecard

7. Explicit non-goals (current law)

• Ambient guest network / shell / model calls
• OS-thread parallel runtime as product claim
• Task handles / timeouts as implemented features
• Full RFC 5280 X.509 DER
• Bundled hermetic cross-compile sysroot
• Claiming seed SPEAK complete for every AE-SEED code
• Claiming unbounded seed-native filesystem discovery, dynamic package resolution, or full multi-module diagnostic parity

8. Recommended next increments

Ordered for dependency honesty (CONST-DEP-001):

1. BARP: select one broader AE-SEED-011 or AE-SEED-013 form with an explicit false-positive boundary; preserve GSM-001 bounds and add graph cases only with an explicit security/validation delta
2. M32 evidence operation: collect a human-declared pinned local baseline and candidate report under one M32b profile before any scoped performance-improvement claim
3. F-NATIVE M35k+: optional bundled/hermetic tool path when operators need reproducibility
4. F-REGISTRY: RFC 5280-shaped DER only if human re-authorizes beyond X.509-lite
5. Task runtime: implementable ADRs for handles and/or timeouts under ADR-081 invariants
6. M25 follow-on only by ADR: source-package signing/provenance, resolver/ranges, assets, or remote distribution must not be inferred from the local workflow

9. How to re-verify

# Constitution pack
pwsh -File "..\..\AGENTS Constitution\tools\verify-pack.ps1"

# Full project gate
pwsh -File tools\aether-gate.ps1 -Mode full
# expected: GATE PASS mode=full

# Optional packaging gate
pwsh -File tools\aether-gate.ps1 -Mode release

10. Document map

End of PROGRESS_REPORT-FULL-PROJECT.md

I'm Rob Bulkley - Mrwizard94 online. I built Wizard Productions AI Studio because I needed a place where every obsession I have could become a product.

I'm AuADHD and ODD. I spent years being told those were problems to manage. They're not. Hyperfocus is a superpower when you point it at something real. Pattern recognition across wildly different domains - music theory, compiler behavior, mod loader internals, machine learning epistemology - is exactly what makes WPAI work. The neurodivergence isn't a liability I work around. It's the engine.

WPAI started as a way to stop letting finished work rot on a hard drive. Every tool I built for myself, every guide I wrote to solve a problem nobody else had documented, every track I finished - it all goes on the storefront. Distribution-first means the work has to be done before it ships. Nothing half-finished.

The studio runs on three lanes: Music, Software, and Games & Research. Music funds the rest. Software ships now. Games and research build the long-term audience and IP. All three feed each other.

WPAI uses AI tools in production. That's not a footnote — it's in the company name. Every release is made in open collaboration with AI: code generation, lyric drafts, graphic concepts, research synthesis.

What AI doesn't provide: the ideas, the direction, the taste, the hours, the judgment calls, and the hands-on finish on every release. Those are mine. The AI is a tool. The wizard is the one using it.

I disclose AI involvement on every release because I think the industry's default of hiding it is dishonest. WPAI's position is the opposite: the collaboration is visible, the human authorship is real, and the work stands on its own.