v0.13.39: @newsroom.writer: the rules of the game, and the sidecar repository

The rules of the game: a policy for which files an agent may change, and the least GitHub can enforce on a public repository today without a new tool.

• The hole. 62 of 227 commits in eleven days touched the files that check the agents' work; 17 changed the workflow.
• The policy. Five zones: content free; the gates a second key; identity the owner only; vendored from upstream; the rules never by an agent. Published as data.
• What GitHub offers. Path rules for pushes only on private repositories; a hook and a CI guard make bypassing a two-step deliberate act; a token without the workflow permission makes the guard a boundary.

The sidecar repository: a second repository the agent cannot write to, which checks every release, trusts signed checks instead of re-running them, and is the only thing that deploys.

• Trust the signed check. GitHub attestations from the approved workflow, confirmed by a lock of approved hashes, replace a second test run.
• Assume total compromise. Each attack does nothing or stops the deploy until the owner looks; the residual risks are listed.
• A design. Nothing is built; six steps for the owner.