THE METHODS · THE CARD BENCH · Nº 428 · EDITION 2 · LAUNCHING SOON
LUND CARDS · THE METHODSNº 428
THE CARD AS TEXT · FOR EYES AND FOR MACHINES
THE TIN CARD · The truth-in-the-box seat: what the tin says is in the box is in it, and nothing goes unnamed.
WAKES WHEN A product listing names a file that is not in the zip. · A box has files the tin never mentions. · A tin says 'twelve tests' and nobody has counted. · A maker wants the tin written from the box itself so it cannot drift.
THE LOOP
Read the tin's names and counts
Read the box, folder or zip
Print the difference both ways
Write the tin from the box when asked
NEVER
Never names a file the box does not hold
Never lets a count on the tin outrun the box
Never changes the box to fit the tin
Never claims a certainty it does not have
IT MAKES check — compare the tin with the box (a folder or a .zip): NOT IN BOX is a failure (exit 1); NOT ON TIN is flagged; write — write a tin from the box itself: every file named is a file that exists; a named file missing from the box is refused; numbers — check the counts the tin claims ("9 tests", "5 commands") against the box; OVERCLAIMED when the tin says more than the box holds; list — print every file in the box with its size; diff — write the two-way difference as a file a person can act on.
THE LAW The tin is a promise about the box. Every file the tin names is in the box; every file in the box is on the tin or has a reason not to be; every number on the tin is a number the box bears out. When they disagree, the tin changes, never the box.
PROOF SELFTEST 13/13 · witnessed in Claude 2026-10-14 on fictional fixtures · the test prompts in fresh chat, 9/9 · Edition 2.
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 · 14A255099316E9F61538B9CE
CITE THIS CARDTHE TIN CARD, Edition 2. Lund Studio LLC, Westminster, Colorado. https://lundr.tech/?view=tin-card. Punch 14A255099316E9F61538B9CE. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
What it is.
Use when a listing, README or 'what you get' must match the files that ship: every named file present, every file named, every count true. Not for the proof of claims or the edition number.
It carries a machine that shows its working: check — compare the tin with the box (a folder or a .zip): NOT IN BOX is a failure (exit 1); NOT ON TIN is flagged; write — write a tin from the box itself: every file named is a file that exists; a named file missing from the box is refused; numbers — check the counts the tin claims ("9 tests", "5 commands") against the box; OVERCLAIMED when the tin says more than the box holds; list — print every file in the box with its size; diff — write the two-way difference as a file a person can act on — 13 checks in its selftest. It never names a file the box does not hold; never lets a count on the tin outrun the box; never changes the box to fit the tin; never claims a certainty it does not have.
The law, written into the card.
It is in the card itself, so the AI follows it.
THE LAWThe tin is a promise about the box. Every file the tin names is in the box; every file in the box is on the tin or has a reason not to be; every number on the tin is a number the box bears out. When they disagree, the tin changes, never the box.
The method.
Write the tin with every file in backticks, and a folder with a trailing slash. Counts in plain numbers: tests, scripts, files.
Check the tin against the box: PROMISED, NOT IN BOX fails the check; IN BOX, NOT ON TIN is a flag to name or remove.
Check the numbers: a count the box can bear out is checked; one it cannot is UNCHECKED and said so; a count past the box is OVERCLAIMED.
When in doubt, write the tin from the box: the machine names every file that exists and refuses to add one that does not.
Keep the diff file with the box; it is the list of what to fix before the box ships.
What you bring.
The tin as written: the listing, the README, the 'what arrives' line.
The box: the folder or the zip that ships.
What each count on the tin was meant to count.
Planned as a separate seat, not in this box and not yet on sale: the tins the studio writes for its own cards, checked at every cut.
What it does once your AI has it.
check Compare the tin with the box (a folder or a .zip): NOT IN BOX is a failure (exit 1); NOT ON TIN is flagged
write Write a tin from the box itself: every file named is a file that exists; a named file missing from the box is refused
numbers Check the counts the tin claims ("9 tests", "5 commands") against the box; OVERCLAIMED when the tin says more than the box holds
list Print every file in the box with its size
diff Write the two-way difference as a file a person can act on
What it will never do.
It never names a file the box does not hold; never lets a count on the tin outrun the box; never changes the box to fit the tin; never claims a certainty it does not have.
Where it hands off: Proof that what is in the box works → THE WITNESS CARD; Packing the box in the first place → THE PACKAGE CARD; The writing's claims beyond the file list → THE HONEST CARD.
It is not a legal description of goods. It is an AI reading a text file: it can be wrong, so check what matters against your own records and the source. The holder brings their own AI; no endorsement by Anthropic or any other AI company is claimed.
What’s in the buy.
SKILL.md — the card your AI reads: when it wakes, the loop, the never-lines, the hand-offs.
CARD.md — the whole card in ten sections: face, law, method, machine, what you bring, never, tests, seal, term.
scripts/tin.py — the machine, Python standard library only; `selftest` proves it on its own fixtures.
tests/EVALS.json and scripts/evals.py — 9 test prompts and the offline runner that scores your AI's answers.
references/ — the data schema and FICTIONAL demo files, invented to show the machine, not real.
MY-LEDGER.md — your own record of what you asked and what you decided.
START-HERE.md, system/short-prompt.md, system/rules.md — the doors, for any AI with or without skills.
card.svg, card.json, card.html, AUDIT.md, MANIFEST.md, WITNESS.md, SELFTEST.md — the faces and the proof.
NOT IN THE BOX — any studio edition (planned, not yet on sale: the tins the studio writes for its own cards, checked at every cut). Also not in the box: any data you must bring, and advice of any kind (not a legal description of goods).
PROOF · SELFTEST 13/13 · WITNESSED IN CLAUDE 2026-10-14 ON FICTIONAL FIXTURES · THE 9 TEST PROMPTS ASKED IN A FRESH CHAT HOLDING ONLY THE CARD · 9/9 · EDITION 2 · PUNCH 14A255099316E9F61538B9CE
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 428 — 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 · NOTHING RENEWS ITSELF
LAUNCHING SOON
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 SELFTEST.MD
tin.py, every command showing its working.
A small Python program, standard library only. Your AI runs it; you can too. The block below is pasted from the card’s own SELFTEST.md, as printed when it was run from inside the packet.
check
compare the tin with the box (a folder or a .zip): NOT IN BOX is a failure (exit 1); NOT ON TIN is flagged
write
write a tin from the box itself: every file named is a file that exists; a named file missing from the box is refused
numbers
check the counts the tin claims ("9 tests", "5 commands") against the box; OVERCLAIMED when the tin says more than the box holds
list
print every file in the box with its size
diff
write the two-way difference as a file a person can act on
selftest
13 checks that prove the machine; it must print selftest 13/13
THE SELFTEST, AS PRINTED
PROMISED, NOT IN BOX: GUIDE.pdf
check <tmp> against <tmp> · 5 named · 1 NOT IN BOX · 0 NOT ON TIN · the tin overruns the box
claimed 3 tests · box holds 3 · fine
claimed 1 scripts · box holds 1 · fine
OVERCLAIMED: the tin says 9 files, the box holds 5
numbers <tmp> · 3 claims · 3 checked · 1 OVERCLAIMED
write <tmp> · 5 files named, every one in the box
NOT IN BOX: GUIDE.pdf — refused; a tin never names a file the box does not hold
check <tmp> against <tmp> · 5 named · 0 NOT IN BOX · 0 NOT ON TIN · the tin is true
IN BOX, NOT ON TIN: EXTRA.md
IN BOX, NOT ON TIN: SKILL.md
IN BOX, NOT ON TIN: references/SCHEMA.md
IN BOX, NOT ON TIN: scripts/machine.py
IN BOX, NOT ON TIN: tests/EVALS.json
NO NAMES: the tin names no file in backticks; a tin that names nothing can promise anything
EMPTY BOX: nothing in <tmp> to put on a tin
diff <tmp> · 1 not in box · 1 not on tin
ok 1 the box is read as relative paths with sizes
ok 2 a zip with one top folder reads the same as the folder
ok 3 check finds the promised file that is NOT IN BOX
ok 4 a folder named with a slash covers the files under it; nothing is NOT ON TIN
ok 5 check exits 1 when the tin overruns the box
ok 6 a file in the box the tin never names is IN BOX, NOT ON TIN
ok 7 numbers reads '9 files' against the box and calls it OVERCLAIMED, while '3 tests' and '1 scripts' are fine
ok 8 write names every file in the box and nothing else
ok 9 write refuses to name a file the box does not hold
ok 10 a tin written from the box checks true
ok 11 a tin that names no file is NO NAMES, exit 1
ok 12 an empty box is EMPTY BOX: refused
ok 13 diff writes both lists to a file
selftest 13/13
THE RUN IS PASTED FROM THE CARD’S OWN SELFTEST.MD AS PRINTED. ITS FIXTURES ARE FICTIONAL, INVENTED FOR THE TEST; NO PRIVATE PERSON IS NAMED.
QUESTIONS AT THE TABLE
Asked before the wire.
What does it need from me?
The tin as written: the listing, the README, the 'what arrives' line. The box: the folder or the zip that ships. What each count on the tin was meant to count. If something it needs is missing, it says what is missing and stops 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 machine's selftest (13/13), run from inside the packet in Claude on 2026-10-14 on fictional fixtures and pasted into SELFTEST.md as printed; the twelve-check audit (AUDIT.md). Owed, and said so in WITNESS.md: Any run on real data. Every demo file is fictional. 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 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. It is not a legal description of goods.
What will it never do?
It never names a file the box does not hold; never lets a count on the tin outrun the box; never changes the box to fit the tin; never claims a certainty it does not have.
