THE STEWARD CARD · Keeps an organisation's skill library in order: owners, versions, what changed and what went stale.
WAKES WHEN A team manages many skills · Someone asks what changed in the library · Skills have no owners or versions
THE LOOP
Take the library and last register.
Run `register` with the date.
Read changes, then warnings.
Name who acts on each warning.
Keep the new register as the baseline.
NEVER
Guesses an owner or version
Deletes a skill
Calls something stale without a date
IT MAKES register — register every skill; compare with the last register.
THE STANDARD owners and versions are read; every file is hashed; stale is only computed against a date given; a record; verify by execution; say the limit out loud in the work; nothing hidden; the person decides.
PROOF SELFTEST 14/14 · witnessed 2026-10-13 on material and live on Claude · Edition 1.
THE SEAL 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY · WITNESSED · Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5
IT CAN BE WRONG an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong and can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date; check what matters against your own records and the source; the risk is yours. LICENSE-NOTE.md rides in the packet and is the licence.
THE PUNCH · SHA-256 OF SKILL.MD · 672102AFD801436A12AF090A
CITE THIS CARDTHE STEWARD CARD, Edition 1. Lund Studio LLC, Westminster, Colorado. https://lundr.tech/?view=steward-card. Punch 672102AFD801436A12AF090A. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
What it is.
Keeps an organisation's skill library in order: registers every skill with its owner, version, status, punch and a hash of every file, compares with the last register to show what was added, changed or removed, and flags missing owners, changes without a version bump, duplicates, retired skills still installed and stale ones.
Use when a team manages many skills over time. Do not use to judge whether a skill is good (THE LIFT CARD) or to manage a store's product catalogue.
It carries a machine that shows its working: register — register every skill; compare with the last register — 14 checks in its selftest. It will never guesses an owner or version; never deletes a skill; never calls something stale without a date.
Eight laws, written into the card.
They are in the card itself, so the AI follows them.
OWNERS AND VERSIONS ARE READOwners and versions are read, never guessed.
EVERY FILE IS HASHEDEvery file is hashed, so a change is seen even when no one says so.
STALE IS ONLY COMPUTED AGAINST A DATE GIVENStale is only computed against a date given.
A RECORDA record, not a verdict on quality.
VERIFY BY EXECUTIONVerify by execution, not by reasoning: run the machine and read what it prints before saying a thing is done.
SAY THE LIMIT OUT LOUD IN THE WORKSay the limit out loud in the work: every result names what it did not check.
NOTHING HIDDENNothing hidden: two readers, the person and the AI, see the same words.
THE PERSON DECIDESThe person decides.
What rides in the card.
In the card’s own voice, with a machine that shows its working.
THE GUIDEreferences/THE-METADATA.md
THE MACHINEsteward.py · one commandregister — register every skill; compare with the last register. Every command prints its working and refuses a bad input; 14 checks in its selftest.
What it does once your AI has it.
register Register every skill; compare with the last register
On the record this cut's own 18 packets — real material (not made up for the test). A first register of all 18 with owner, version, status, punch and a hash of every file: 0 warnings. The compare run (added / changed / removed, version-bump check) is proven in the selftest, not yet on a second real register. Live on Claude Sonnet, 2026-10-13: 7 of 7 passed; the card fired on 3 of 3 trigger cases and on none of its hand-off cases.
What it will never do.
It will never guesses an owner or version; never deletes a skill; never calls something stale without a date.
It sees files and metadata. It cannot tell who actually uses a skill, whether it still works, or whether an owner is still at the company. It is an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong, so check what matters against your own records and the source.
What’s in the buy.
CARD.md — the whole card: its boot, laws, loop, when it says no, its seals, ledger, term and score · SKILL.md — the door your AI reads first · START-HERE.md — the first five minutes, for you
THE-METADATA.md — the guide in references/, in the card's own voice
scripts/steward.py — the machine: register, standard library only, no network, selftest 14/14
WITNESS.md — the runs on real material and live on Claude, with what was not run · SELFTEST.md — the machine's own test, as run at the cut · MANIFEST.md, every file hashed · CHANGELOG.md
tests/evals.json + EVALS.md — the cases it must take, hand off and refuse
MY-LEDGER.md — the card's memory, on your own machine · TIN.md, the nine lines on the tin · LICENSE-NOTE.md
card.svg + card-machine.svg + card.json · card.html, the card as one offline file · doors/ — the rules files for Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Copilot and Claude Code, the system text for any other AI, a local-model file and an MCP door
PROOF · SELFTEST 14/14 · WITNESSED ON MATERIAL · LIVE ON CLAUDE SONNET 2026-10-13 · 7 OF 7 PASSED · EDITION 1 · PUNCH 672102AFD801436A12AF090A
ON EVERY DOOR · A CARD FOR YOUR AI, A FILE FOR YOUR COMPUTER
In Claude: turn on code execution under Settings › Capabilities, then Customize › Skills › + › Create skill, and upload the zip as it is — START-HERE.md in the box walks you through it, and tells you how to keep the ledger. In ChatGPT, Gemini and the rest: a Project, a GPT or a Gem with the card’s files attached and the short door in the box pasted as its instructions. The words run anywhere an AI reads Markdown; the machines run wherever the host runs Python. Witnessed in Claude only. The host marks →
Take it.
Nº 1201 PROPOSED — LAUNCHING SOON
Sold as is under the term printed. A card instructs an AI you operate; results depend on your model, your files and your judgement. Not medical, legal, tax or financial advice, never the person’s boss, and not a licence to practise. The terms →
One payment. The file is yours to keep and keeps working at its edition; new editions issued in the year after you buy reach you by email as replacement files. Tax is added at checkout where it applies. Nothing auto-renews.
A TERM, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION: NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF AND NOBODY IS CHARGED AGAIN. WHEN A TERM ENDS THE FILES STAY ON YOUR COMPUTER AND STAY READABLE — FREEZE, NOT LOSS.
THE MACHINE · IN THE OPEN · FROM THE CARD’S OWN WITNESS.MD
steward.py, every command showing its working.
A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. The blocks below are pasted from the card’s own WITNESS.md, as printed.
register
register every skill; compare with the last register
selftest
14 checks that prove the machine; it must print 14/14
THE COMMANDS, IN ORDER, ON THIS CUT'S OWN 18 PACKETS
$ python3 scripts/steward.py register PACKETS --out out --date 2026-10-12
THE RUNS ARE PASTED FROM THE CARD’S OWN WITNESS.MD AS PRINTED. FIXTURES MARKED FICTIONAL ARE THE STUDIO’S OWN EXAMPLES, INVENTED FOR THE RECORD; NO PRIVATE PERSON IS NAMED.
QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE
Asked before the wire.
What does it need from me?
The library folder; the last register to compare with. Take the library and last register, and it goes from there.
Does it send anything anywhere?
No. The machine is a standard-library Python program that runs on your own computer and sends nothing anywhere; the words run wherever an AI reads Markdown. No server, no account, no key.
What is on the record?
The self-test (14/14), a run on real or invented material with every command and verdict pasted into WITNESS.md as printed, and live runs on Claude Sonnet: 7 of 7 passed; the card fired on 3 of 3 trigger cases and on none of its hand-off cases.; the punch on the face is the SHA-256 of SKILL.md, so a downloaded copy can be checked against this room.
Can it be wrong?
Yes — it is an AI reading a text file. It sees files and metadata. It cannot tell who actually uses a skill, whether it still works, or whether an owner is still at the company.
What will it never do?
It will never guesses an owner or version; never deletes a skill; never calls something stale without a date.
