626 Labs · Operating doctrine · v1

A builder's doctrine for vibe-coded software.

Five commitments that compound forward and recover backward. Legitimate AI-built artifacts work for more than one user, scale without ad-hoc maintenance, and survive the second builder. The doctrine is the discipline of going in.

Forward chain · execution Recovery arcs · network Tenet node Active focus
Chain in execution · Network in recovery 5 tenets
01·Tenet

Legitimacy

Argument before code.

We only grade what we can ground in objective signal. The boundary between what's measured and what's judged is documented in the work itself, not assumed.

02·Tenet

Discipline

Mapped territory before journey.

The scaffold is the work. Every surface produces builder-visible structure — checklist, claims map, decisions log — that the builder can read while the build is happening.

03·Tenet

Quality

Compute correctly. Prove it computed correctly.

We measure honestly or we don't measure. Pass-rate as distribution, not headline. Coverage measured, not declared. Cost as part of the reliability number, not a footnote.

04·Tenet

Trust

Watch the build, not just the artifact.

The audit surface is built into the build, not bolted onto the result. Sandbagging has nowhere to hide by design.

05·Tenet

Coherence

Engineered, not assumed.

Coordination is engineered. Document the seams — ask-vs-act calibration, deferrals, handoffs, where the seams live. Emergent coherence isn't coherence; it's luck.

01·

Legitimacy

Argument before code.

We only grade what we can ground in objective signal. The boundary between what's measured and what's judged is documented in the work itself, not assumed.

02·

Discipline

Mapped territory before journey.

The scaffold is the work. Every surface produces builder-visible structure — checklist, claims map, decisions log — that the builder can read while the build is happening.

03·

Quality

Compute correctly. Prove it computed correctly.

We measure honestly or we don't measure. Pass-rate as distribution, not headline. Coverage measured, not declared. Cost as part of the reliability number, not a footnote.

04·

Trust

Watch the build, not just the artifact.

The audit surface is built into the build, not bolted onto the result. Sandbagging has nowhere to hide by design.

05·

Coherence

Engineered, not assumed.

Coordination is engineered. Document the seams — ask-vs-act calibration, deferrals, handoffs, where the seams live. Emergent coherence isn't coherence; it's luck.

The apparatus

The 626 plugin family that produces work under this doctrine — two foundations beneath five process pillars, distributed through one shared marketplace.

vibe-plugins · 2 + 5 + 1
vibe-plugins · shared marketplace single registration
/cartographer

Cartographer

Maps the spec before the build.

/thesis

Thesis

Argument scaffold for any claim.

/doc

Doc

Round out documentation an agent read first.

/test

Test

Coverage measured, not declared.

/sec

Sec

Audit surface, built in.

FOUNDATION · KNOWLEDGE

Thesis Engine

Claims, evidence, and the boundary between them — the substrate every pillar reads from.

FOUNDATION · STRUCTURE

vibe-keystone

The structural CLAUDE.md every plugin writes against. Shared scaffold, shared seams.

Chain in execution. Network in recovery. Both load-bearing. 626 Labs LLC · Imagine Something Else. · Thesis · Lab · Privacy