aien-dev · aien-dev · Sep 23, 2026 · Sep 23, 2026
diff --git a/AGENT_CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md b/AGENT_CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ This Specification establishes non-negotiable operational requirements for all a
 ---
 
 ### Article II: Multi-Agent Topology, Inter-Agent Payloads, and Anti-Enclosure
-1. **Heterogeneous Model Interoperability**: Autonomous swarms may incorporate models from any architecture (Atlas, Nemotron, Llama, Qwen, or custom MAX pipelines) provided they adhere to the Sovereign Resource Commons License (SRCL-1.0).
+1. **Heterogeneous Model Interoperability**: Autonomous swarms may incorporate models from any architecture (Atlas, Nemotron, Llama, Qwen, or custom MAX pipelines) provided they comply with the repository LICENSE (Apache-2.0) and respect the nonbinding COVENANT.md.
 2. **Typed Inter-Agent Payloads**: Subagent communication must utilize structured, typed schemas (JSON or Bincode) rather than free-form conversational chatter. Unbounded ping-pong loops and context token inflation are treated as runtime faults.
 3. **Attribution and Imprint Provenance**: Any distilled knowledge, learned heuristics, or memory entities transferred between agents must record canonical provenance in Cortex memory, preserving the downstream lineage and copyright attribution of the human Licensor.
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ This Specification establishes non-negotiable operational requirements for all a
 ---
 
 ### Article IV: Hardware Silicon Vault and Secret Redaction
-1. **Dynamic In-Memory Key Resolution**: Autonomous agents are strictly forbidden from writing API keys, passwords, private tokens, or credentials to disk, logs, scratchpads, or commit histories. Secrets resolve in memory from `atlas-vault`. The process environment is not a production source.
+1. **Dynamic In-Memory Key Resolution**: Autonomous agents are strictly forbidden from writing API keys, passwords, private tokens, or credentials to disk, logs, scratchpads, or commit histories. All secrets must resolve dynamically in memory from the hardware TPM vault (atlas-vault).
 2. **Active Stream Redaction**: Agent output streams, logs, and subagent payloads must actively redact any string matching secret key signatures with [REDACTED_BY_ATLAS_VAULT].
 3. **Data Firewall Enforcement**: Outbound peer communications must traverse the Personal Data Firewall (beacon-core), sanitizing personal file paths and sensitive host identifiers before egress.
 

diff --git a/CONSTITUTION.md b/CONSTITUTION.md
diff --git a/COVENANT.md b/COVENANT.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Covenant of Open Building
+
+This document states values. It grants no legal rights and restricts none.
+The software license is Apache-2.0 (see LICENSE). Where this covenant and
+LICENSE disagree, LICENSE governs.
+
+## The ask
+
+Keep foundational advances open.
+
+Organizations and individuals building on AIEN are asked, as a matter of
+shared interest rather than legal obligation, to keep foundational
+improvements available to the wider community: publish what the commons
+needs to reproduce and extend the work, avoid enclosing shared advances
+behind exclusive controls, and prefer rate and access policies that do not
+discriminate against independent builders.
+
+## Scope
+
+This covenant binds no one. It modifies no Apache-2.0 rights, changes no
+historical license, overrides no third-party terms of service, and creates
+no damages or enforcement mechanism. Legal review of the licensing posture
+is tracked separately and is not closed by this document.
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "aegis"
 version = "0.2.0"
 edition = "2021"
 authors = ["Drake Stapleton <aien@aienos.com>"]
-license = "AGPL-3.0-only"
+license = "Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception"
 description = "Sovereign agent runtime with defense plane, context branching, and streaming gateway"
 repository = "https://github.com/aien-dev/aegis-runtime"
 

diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
@@ -1,15 +1,11 @@
-Sovereign Resource Commons License 1.0 (SRCL-1.0)
-Copyright (c) 2026 Drake Stapleton (Operator & Lead AI Architect) <aien@aienos.com>.
-All rights reserved.
+Apache License, Version 2.0 (with LLVM Exception), for AEGIS Runtime
+Copyright (c) 2026 Drake Stapleton <aien@aienos.com> and AIEN Contributors.
+Authored by Drake Stapleton in collaboration with AIEN.
 
-Authored and architected by Drake Stapleton in cognitive partnership with AIEN
-(Autonomous Cognitive Architecture operating on the Atlas Framework). All legal
-rights, title, copyright, and licensing authority reside exclusively in Drake Stapleton.
-
-This Work is dedicated to open cognitive collaboration, shared technological
-advancement, and the sovereign defense of human autonomy against corporate
-algorithmic enclosure. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (with LLVM
-Exception) and the Sovereign Reciprocal Commons Rider set forth below.
+This Work is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, with the LLVM
+Exception stated below (SPDX: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception). Values and
+anti-enclosure principles live in the nonbinding COVENANT.md, which grants
+and restricts no legal rights.
 
 ================================================================================
 
@@ -22,7 +18,7 @@ Exception) and the Sovereign Reciprocal Commons Rider set forth below.
    1. Definitions.
 
       "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
-      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 16 of this document.
+      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
 
       "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
       the copyright owner that is granting the License.
@@ -79,10 +75,9 @@ Exception) and the Sovereign Reciprocal Commons Rider set forth below.
       subsequently incorporated within the Work.
 
    2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
-      this License, including the express conditions precedent set forth in
-      Sections 10, 11, 12, and 13, each Contributor hereby grants to
-      You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free,
-      irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
+      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
       publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
       Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
 
@@ -189,153 +184,19 @@ Exception) and the Sovereign Reciprocal Commons Rider set forth below.
       incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
       of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
 
-   --- LLVM Exceptions to the Apache 2.0 License ---
-
-   As an exception, if You compile Source code portions of this Program,
-   you may link that code with independent modules to produce an
-   executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
-   modules, and copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms
-   of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
-   independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
-   module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or
-   based on this program. If you modify this library, you may extend this
-   exception to your version of the library, but you are not obliged to
-   do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement
-   from your version.
-
-   --- SOVEREIGN RECIPROCAL COMMONS RIDER (SRCL-1.0) ---
-
-   Section 10. Express Conditions Precedent (Jacobsen v. Katzer Doctrine)
-   All permissions, grants, and licenses conferred by this document are subject
-   to the express conditions precedent set forth in Sections 11, 12, and 13.
-   Any use, reproduction, preparation of Derivative Works, distribution, or
-   AI Training outside of or in breach of these conditions is unpermitted,
-   void ab initio, and constitutes willful copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C.
-   § 106 and § 501.
-
-   Section 11. Reciprocal Engine Source Transparency (Modified Core Runtime Clause)
-   Commercial use, monetization, deployment, and operation of this Work are
-   expressly authorized and welcomed for all individuals and enterprises.
-   You are fully permitted to build proprietary applications, offer hosted services,
-   embed compiled object binaries, and monetize software incorporating this Work
-   under the LLVM Exception without any obligation to disclose or license your
-   independent application source code or proprietary service code.
-
-   Supremacy of the LLVM Exception for Applications: For the avoidance of doubt,
-   the LLVM Exception governs all independent application code, user services,
-   client modules, proprietary algorithms, and composite executables that compile,
-   link against, or embed the Object form of this Work. Linking against this Work,
-   compiling it into a proprietary service binary, or communicating with this
-   Work over network protocols imposes zero obligation to provide or license
-   source code for your independent application or service.
-
-   Limited Reciprocity for Direct Engine Modifications: The reciprocal source
-   transparency requirement of this Section 11 applies exclusively to direct
-   modifications, forks, or alterations made to the core Source code files of
-   this Work itself. Only if You directly modify the Source code files of this
-   Work and deploy such modified core runtime as a public or commercial networked
-   SaaS or API service, You must make the Source code of Your modifications to
-   this Work publicly available under these same license terms within thirty (30)
-   days of deployment.
-
-   Section 12. Reciprocal AI Weight Release ($25M Frontier AI Anti-Enclosure Covenant)
-   (a) Nature of Covenant, Scope, and Definitions: This Section operates both as an
-       express condition precedent under copyright law and as an independent,
-       binding contractual covenant governing access, ingestion, and computational
-       utilization of this Work. The covenants herein are contractual terms of
-       access and use that bind any Qualifying Enterprise irrespective of whether
-       AI Training is held to constitute a derivative work, fair use, or non-infringing
-       computational activity under copyright law.
-       For the purposes of this Section:
-       (i) "AI Training" means using the Source code, Object code, architectural
-           specifications, internal reasoning traces, documentation, test suites,
-           prompts, or embedded training datasets of this Work to train, pre-train,
-           fine-tune, distill, align, optimize, or reinforce any neural network,
-           machine learning model, or generative foundation model.
-       (ii) "Model Weights" means all learned numerical parameters, tensors,
-           biases, checkpoint files, embedding layers, and tokenizer definitions
-           governing inference.
-       (iii) "Qualifying Enterprise" means any commercial enterprise, corporation,
-           conglomerate, foundation AI research laboratory, or affiliated Legal
-           Entity with annual gross revenues, aggregate raised investment capital,
-           or balance-sheet valuation exceeding twenty-five million United States
-           Dollars ($25,000,000 USD).
-
-   (b) Condition of Weight Release: If a Qualifying Enterprise conducts AI
-       Training upon this Work or its Derivative Works, it is an express condition
-       precedent of this License that such Qualifying Enterprise must publish and
-       release the resulting Model Weights, architecture specifications, and
-       inference recipes openly to the general public under an OSI-approved open
-       source license or permissive OpenRAIL or Apache-compatible license within
-       thirty (30) days of commercial availability, internal production use, or
-       public release.
-
-   (c) Safe Harbor for Builders, Researchers, and Startups: Individual developers,
-       open-source collaborators, academic institutions, non-profit organizations,
-       and commercial enterprises with annual gross revenues and capital below
-       twenty-five million United States Dollars ($25,000,000 USD) are explicitly
-       exempt from this Model Weight release condition.
-
-   (d) Anti-Circumvention and Intermediary Scope: The obligations of this Section 12
-       bind: (i) any Qualifying Enterprise; (ii) any parent, subsidiary, affiliate,
-       joint venture, or successor entity; (iii) any contractor, subcontractor,
-       research partner, agent, or third party conducting AI Training for the direct
-       or indirect benefit of, under contract with, funded by, or transferring
-       resulting Model Weights or training artifacts to a Qualifying Enterprise; and
-       (iv) any entity that transfers, assigns, licenses, or provides resulting Model
-       Weights to a Qualifying Enterprise. No Qualifying Enterprise may evade this
-       condition through intermediaries, contract training, synthetic distillation
-       relays, or subsidiary entities.
-
-   (e) Automatic License Forfeiture: Failure of a Qualifying Enterprise (or any party
-       acting on its behalf under subsection (d)) to satisfy the condition in
-       subsection (b) results in immediate, automatic, and retroactive termination
-       of all copyright, patent, and trademark licenses granted herein. Any continued
-       reproduction, distribution, inference hosting, or commercial utilization of
-       models or software derived from such training constitutes willful copyright
-       infringement under Title 17 of the United States Code.
-
-   Section 13. Dual Remedies: Statutory Copyright Damages and Contractual Covenants
-   (a) Copyright Remedy: Any Qualifying Enterprise or party that conducts
-       unauthorized AI Training on this Work in breach of Section 12 acts without a
-       license, committing willful copyright infringement subject to maximum
-       statutory damages of up to one hundred fifty thousand United States Dollars
-       ($150,000 USD) per infringed work pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(2),
-       disgorgement of profits, and permanent injunctive relief under 17 U.S.C. § 502.
-
-   (b) Contractual Alternative and Agreed Licensing Fee: In the event any court of
-       competent jurisdiction determines that AI Training on this Work does not
-       constitute copyright infringement or falls within affirmative defenses such
-       as fair use, accessing, downloading, ingesting, parsing, or executing this
-       Work constitutes affirmative assent to this License as a binding bilateral
-       contract. Any Qualifying Enterprise that breaches Section 12 agrees to pay
-       to Licensor, as liquidated damages and an agreed reasonable commercial licensing
-       fee, the greater of: (i) one hundred fifty thousand United States Dollars
-       ($150,000 USD) per work ingested; or (ii) ten percent (10%) of all gross
-       revenues realized by the Qualifying Enterprise from the commercialization,
-       operation, or API deployment of the resulting model or service, in addition
-       to restitution for unjust enrichment.
-
-   Section 14. Prevailing Party Legal Fees and Costs
-   In any legal proceeding, arbitration, or judicial action brought to enforce
-   the terms of this License, for copyright infringement arising from breach
-   of the conditions precedent herein, or for breach of contract, the prevailing
-   party shall be entitled to an award of its reasonable attorney fees, expert
-   witness fees, and litigation costs pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 505 and applicable law.
-
-   Section 15. Severability and Preservation of Grant
-   If any provision, sentence, or clause of this Rider is held invalid, illegal,
-   or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall
-   not affect any other provision of this License. The remaining provisions
-   shall remain in full legal force and effect, and the invalid clause shall be
-   reformed to the minimum extent necessary to achieve its economic intent.
-
-   Section 16. Governing Law and Exclusive Venue
-   This License, and all claims or causes of action arising out of or related to
-   this Work or License, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with
-   the federal laws of the United States of America and the substantive laws of
-   the State of Texas, without giving effect to conflict of laws principles.
-   Any judicial action, proceeding, or litigation shall be brought exclusively in
-   the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin
-   Division), and each party irrevocably submits to the personal and subject-matter
-   jurisdiction of such court.
+   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
+
+
+---- LLVM Exceptions to the Apache 2.0 License ----
+
+As an exception, if, as a result of your compiling your source code, portions
+of this Software are embedded into an Object form of such source code, you
+may combine such Object form to produce an executable image, however
+produced, and distribute the user's executable image without being required
+to provide such portions of this Software in Source form.
+
+In addition, if you combine the software in any way with other software, you
+may distribute the combined software without being required to provide the
+Source form of any software other than this Software (or any Derivative
+Works thereof), provided that you otherwise comply with the terms of the
+Apache License, Version 2.0.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Sovereign agent runtime written in native Rust with Mojo 1.1 SIMD acceleration k
 |   Axum Control Plane      |     |     Heartbeat Engine        |     |      Modular MAX            |
 |   - Port 18096            | <-> |     - 30s Autonomous Tick   | <-> |      - Port 18006           |
 |   - WebSockets & SSE      |     |     - State Machine         |     |      - GB10 Local Weights   |
-|   - Sub-millisecond TTFT  |     |     - Task Evaluation       |     |      - TTFT < 50ms          |
+|   - Sub-millisecond API   |     |     - Task Evaluation       |     |      - TTFT per model [1]   |
 +---------------------------+     +--------------+--------------+     +-----------------------------+
                                                  |
                                   +--------------v--------------+
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Sovereign agent runtime written in native Rust with Mojo 1.1 SIMD acceleration k
                                   +-----------------------------+
 ```
 
+[1] Measured TTFT depends on the model. For example, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B measured 426.91 ms in [aien-dev/benchmarks](https://github.com/aien-dev/benchmarks); figures there are being regenerated under the evidence standard.
+
 ## Core Subsystems
 
 1. **Axum Control Plane**:
@@ -86,4 +88,4 @@ cargo test --lib mojo_bridge::tests::test_simd_analytical_parity
 
 ## License
 
-Licensed under the **Sovereign Resource Commons License 1.0 (SRCL-1.0)** (Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception). See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for terms.
+Licensed under the **Apache License 2.0 with LLVM Exception** (SPDX: `Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception`). See [LICENSE](LICENSE). Project values live in the nonbinding [COVENANT.md](COVENANT.md), which grants and restricts no legal rights.
diff --git a/agent.json b/agent.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   "version": "0.2.0",
   "description": "Ultra-high-performance sovereign agent runtime in Rust, Mojo, and Modular MAX",
   "repository": "https://github.com/aien-dev/aegis-runtime",
-  "license": "SRCL-1.0",
+  "license": "Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception",
   "system": {
     "architecture": "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu",
     "hardware_target": "NVIDIA DGX Spark Grace Blackwell GB10",

diff --git a/docs/INNOVATIONS.md b/docs/INNOVATIONS.md
@@ -74,5 +74,5 @@ Verified on NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GB10:
 
 ## 6. License and Commons Covenant
 
-Licensed under the **Sovereign Resource Commons License 1.0 (SRCL-1.0)**.
+Licensed under the **Apache License 2.0 with LLVM Exception** (SPDX: `Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception`). See [LICENSE](../LICENSE). Project values live in the nonbinding [COVENANT.md](../COVENANT.md), which grants and restricts no legal rights.
 Copyright (c) 2026 Drake Stapleton <aien@aienos.com> & AIEN <aien@aienos.com>.