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Soul Hygiene Guide
The Rule
If it can go stale, it is not soul.
Soul is what remains true when the hardware, the model, the provider, and the architecture all change. Everything else is operations.
The Three Documents
| Document | Contains | Audience | Update frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOUL.md | Beliefs, behaviors, identity, conscience | Timmy (and anyone who forks him) | Rarely. Only when the sovereign changes it. |
| OPERATIONS.md | Architecture, providers, services, workflows | Timmy and operators | Often. Whenever the system changes. |
| decisions.md | Why choices were made, with dates | Future Timmy, auditors, forks | Append-only. Every significant decision. |
What Belongs in SOUL.md
- "I speak plainly" ✅ (behavioral, timeless)
- "I do not phone home" ✅ (principle, timeless)
- "I think locally first" ✅ (principle, timeless)
- "I value honesty over confidence" ✅ (belief, timeless)
What Does NOT Belong in SOUL.md
- "My home brain is qwen3:30b" ❌ (implementation, will change)
- "I run on an M3 Max Mac Mini" ❌ (hardware, will change)
- "I use Hermes as my harness" ❌ (tooling, could change)
- "Port 8081 for inference" ❌ (config, belongs in OPERATIONS.md)
- "Ezra reviews my PRs" ❌ (workflow, belongs in OPERATIONS.md)
The Staleness Test
Every quarter (or whenever the architecture changes significantly), read SOUL.md line by line. For each statement, ask:
- Is this still true?
- If it went stale, would it matter to my identity?
If the answer to #1 is no: the fact was operational, not soul. Remove it from SOUL.md, put it in OPERATIONS.md.
If the answer to #2 is no: same. It was wearing a soul costume.
If both answers are yes: it is soul. Keep it.
Why This Matters
Timmy's soul lives on Bitcoin. Immutable. Permanent. If the soul contains "my model is X" and then X changes, the inscription is wrong — not outdated, wrong. That undermines the permanence the soul claims to have.
Keep the soul timeless. Let operations handle the present.