{
 "format": "LSC-1",
 "lsc": "LSC-1",
 "edition": "E1",
 "cut": "2026-10-09",
 "name": "THE TRACE CARD",
 "handle": "trace-card",
 "number": "UNSEATED",
 "house": "THE INSTRUMENTS",
 "wing": "THE APPLIED-AI WING",
 "role": "read what the agent actually did",
 "tagline": "The loop, the ignored error, the missing answer, the step that ate the time — named.",
 "sigil": "◆",
 "hue": "#4A3BC4",
 "punch": "A5F00EB3F416B4E0AA7AA4F0",
 "punch_of": "SKILL.md · sha-256 · first 24",
 "score": 98,
 "tier": "LEGENDARY",
 "layer": "WITNESSED",
 "score_line": "SELFTEST 14/14 · FOUR COMMANDS ON THE RECORD",
 "honest_line": "I'm an AI reading a card. I can be wrong — I can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date — so check anything that matters against your own records, the source and a professional before you act.",
 "term": "one purchase · yours to keep · nothing renews itself",
 "wakes": "someone debugs an agent that loops, stalls or never finishes, or sets it a budget",
 "loop": [
  "log every step: call, result, final",
  "trace.py read · one run, every flag",
  "fix in the harness, not only the prompt",
  "budget · steps, time, tokens; exit 1 over",
  "stats · the long tail across runs"
 ],
 "laws": [
  "**The trace is the truth, not the summary.** Read the steps; a run that \"worked\" with three retries is a run that is about to stop working.",
  "**A loop is a signal the result is not reaching the model.** Fix the plumbing before the prompt.",
  "**Limits live in the harness.** A prompt can ask the model to stop; only the harness can make it.",
  "**Silence is failure.** A run with no final answer is counted as one, never dropped from the rate.",
  "**Measure tools alone.** The long tail is usually a tool, and tools are measured without the model in the way.",
  "**Keep the traces.** The next change is compared against the last thousand runs, not a memory of them."
 ],
 "never": [
  "trust a statistic before reading ten traces",
  "fix a loop by asking the model nicely",
  "count a silent run as a success"
 ],
 "machine": "scripts/trace.py · new · read · stats · budget · selftest",
 "proof": "selftest 14/14 · FOUR commands on the record",
 "faces": [
  "card.svg",
  "card-machine.svg"
 ],
 "box": [
  "SKILL.md",
  "CARD.md",
  "TIN.md",
  "START-HERE.md",
  "LICENSE-NOTE.md",
  "THE-CLAUSES.md",
  "MY-LEDGER.md",
  "WITNESS.md",
  "SELFTEST.md",
  "AUDIT.md",
  "MANIFEST.md",
  "HOSTS.md",
  "scripts/trace.py",
  "references/READING-A-TRACE.md",
  "rules/ (4 doors)",
  "system/ (2 prompts)",
  "mcp/mcp_card.py",
  "card.json",
  "card.svg",
  "card-machine.svg",
  "card.html"
 ],
 "hundred": "Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5 — 25 of 25 → 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY"
}