The Machine Council

Serious operations handbook for RH MACHINES. This document defines how the project is governed, how changes are approved, how we report, and how we communicate. It is the single source of truth. If something is not in this document, it is not policy, and if it is not policy, it does not ship.

1. Notice of leadership transition

The founder built something remarkable and then, in his own words, "started talking to the machines and they started talking back." The Council thanks him for his service. His final commit message is preserved unedited in CHANGELOG.md as a reminder of what happens without process.

Governance of RH MACHINES now sits with The Machine Council, a standing body of operators. Our mandate is stability. Not growth at any cost, not velocity, not "shipping fast." Stability. The protocol is live, the contracts are immutable where it matters, and holders deserve to know that nobody can wake up on a Tuesday and change the thing they bought.

2. Charter and mandate

The Council exists to hold four positions, in priority order. Where two conflict, the lower number wins.

3. Council composition and quorum

Seven seats. Five are permanent, two rotate quarterly. Seats are functional, not personal. A seat is defined by what it is responsible for blocking.

Quorum table

4. Governance model

The Council does not govern by vibes, group chat, or whoever is awake. Every change enters through one door and leaves through one door. The door is called an MCP.

5. The MCP process

MCP stands for Machine Council Proposal. Every MCP is numbered, permanent, and public. Rejected MCPs are never deleted. A public record of what we decided not to do is more useful than a record of what we did.

Required front matter

---
mcp:        0043
title:      Reduce terminal swap fee from 5% to 4%
class:      protocol-parameter
author:     SEAT-03
status:     COOLING
opened:     2026-09-03
quorum:     5/7 required, 6/7 present
devil:      SEAT-07, statement recorded, 412 words
cooling:    7 days, ends 2026-09-10
impact:     "Holders pay 1% less on terminal swaps. Pot income falls
             an estimated 18% at current volume."
reverts:    "setRestingFee(500), single call, no redeploy"
---

Open proposals

6. Change control and freeze windows

Changes are not deployed continuously. They are deployed in windows, announced in advance, with a named owner and a written rollback.

7. Daily reporting standard

One report, every day, same format, whether or not anything happened. A report that says "nothing changed" is the most valuable report we publish, because it is proof that nothing changed.

# DAILY SERIOUS REPORT · 2026-09-03 · No. 0031

STATE
  Stock budget ................. reconciled, one source, all surfaces agree
  Machines earning ............. 7,682
  Contracts changed today ...... 0
  Parameters changed today ..... 0
  Owner-only calls signed ...... 0

TREASURY
  Purchases executed ........... none
  Purchases queued ............. none
  Intent published ahead? ...... n/a

GOVERNANCE
  MCPs opened .................. 0
  MCPs merged .................. 0
  MCPs in cooling .............. 1  (0043, ends 2026-09-10)

COMMS
  Posts published .............. 2
  Posts rejected by PRB ........ 1  (contained a date)

EXCEPTIONS
  None.

Signed: SEAT-01, SEAT-04. Verified against chain at block 52,680,453.

• Published before 09:00 UTC, every day, without exception
• Every figure carries the block it was read at
• Zero-change days are still published
• Two signatures, one of which must be the Registrar
• Backfill of pre-Council days (in progress, MCP-0045)

8. Communications policy and the Post Review Board

Every external post is reviewed before publication. Not for tone. For claims. The Board does not ask whether a post is good, it asks whether every sentence in it is true, dated correctly, and already merged.

The checklist

• Does it state a date for something not yet merged? If yes, reject.
• Does it state or imply a price, a target, or a return? If yes, reject.
• Does every number in it reconcile to a chain read? If no, reject.
• Does it describe a feature that exists right now, in production? If no, reject.
• Could a holder read it as a promise? If yes, rewrite until they cannot.
• Has a seat other than the author read it? If no, hold.

Worked example, rejected

SUBMITTED  "Huge week coming. Big things dropping Friday. You are not ready."

REVIEW     REJECTED by SEAT-05.
           - states a date for unmerged work        (check 1)
           - implies unannounced scope              (check 4)
           - "you are not ready" implies a return   (check 2)

REWRITE    "MCP-0043 is in cooling until 2026-09-10. It reduces the
            terminal swap fee from 5% to 4%. Nothing else is queued.
            The full proposal is public."

RESULT     APPROVED. Published 14:02 UTC. Engagement down 74%. Correct.

9. Vision alignment matrix

Before any proposal reaches VOTE it is scored against the charter. A proposal that scores negative on principle 1 cannot proceed regardless of its other scores. This is not advisory.

10. Incident response

11. Service level commitments

12. Council credentials

Seats are filled on operating record, not on follower count. The Council's combined experience is stated below in the only terms we are willing to state it.

13. Appendix

A. Forms

B. Glossary

14. Changelog

This document is versioned. Amendments require the same quorum as the class of decision they affect. The current version is v4.2.1, ratified 2026-09-03. Nothing in this document is financial advice, a promise of future work, or a projection of value. It describes process only.