# ankle.md

Status: domain protocol draft
Updated: 2026-05-09
Theme: ankle96

## Thesis

`ankle.md` is a domain that behaves like a Markdown document system.

It is not only a website that talks about Markdown. It is a place where each public page has a raw `.md` source, a rendered Ankle 96 view, and a stable role inside the ANKLE stack.

The rule is simple:

```text
human view: https://ankle.md/aos
raw source: https://ankle.md/aos.md
```

The renderer is a skin. The Markdown is canon.

## Relationship To The Other Domains

| Domain | Role | What belongs there |
|---|---|---|
| aleqth.com | live laboratory | /dada, /surf, /world, agents, proof, experiments |
| ankle.website | public product foyer | explanation, download, install, first-run paths |
| ankle.md | protocol memory | specs, AOS, agent topology, route contracts, doctrine |

`ankle.website` should make the system understandable.

`ankle.md` should make the system inhabitable by agents and power users.

`aleqth.com` should keep proving that the system is real.

## Domain-As-Markdown Contract

Every meaningful page on `ankle.md` should follow five rules:

1. The raw `.md` file must be directly fetchable.
2. The rendered route must be derived from that file.
3. The rendered shell must show the raw source link.
4. Agents should cite the raw `.md` URL when using it as memory.
5. No public claim should exist here without a matching proof link, route, or status note.

This gives the domain a strange but useful property: it can be read by people, crawled by agents, archived as plain text, and mirrored without a framework.

## Initial Route Map

| Rendered route | Raw source | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `/` | `/index.md` | domain contract and surface map |
| `/aos` | `/aos.md` | ANKLE Operating System constitution |
| `/agents` | `/agents.md` | Hermes, Codex, Claude, and fleet topology |
| `/runtime` | `/runtime.md` | `.ankl` cultural runtime doctrine |
| `/routes` | `/routes.md` | relationship between domains and routes |
| `/gallery` | `/gallery.md` | GIF/SURF/gallery lineage and `/dada` promotion rules |
| `/artifacts` | `/artifacts.md` | cultural artifact ingest schema and Web Design Museum seed catalog |

## Ankle 96 Application

The native visual language is ankle96:

- gray desktop background
- Times New Roman prose
- Courier metadata and controls
- blue underlined links
- black 1px dividers
- bevel buttons
- no gradients
- no glass
- no rounded product cards

The goal is not nostalgia. The goal is to make protocol memory feel like a found workstation: cheap to render, legible forever, and slightly outside the current web.

## Operating Position

The highest-leverage split is:

```text
ankle.website = "what is this and how do I enter?"
ankle.md      = "what are the rules and how do agents operate?"
aleqth.com    = "what is alive right now?"
```

That lets ankle.website stay cleaner while ankle.md holds the living doctrine that would otherwise overload the product surface.

## Public/Ops Separation

`ankle.md` is public canon, not an operator dashboard.

Public pages here should contain:

- manifesto
- constitution
- runtime doctrine
- route contracts
- agent topology
- gallery and artifact schemas
- cultural artifact seed catalogs
- raw `.md` mirrors

Public pages here should not contain:

- live operator pulse
- private build inventory
- execution controls
- hidden deployment state
- stale claims that are not backed by a route, proof, or dated status note

Those belong on `aleqth.com`, behind auth, in `.ai-sync`, or in operator-only surfaces.

## Restored Initial-Build Elements

The early ANKLE build had useful concepts that still belong here, but only after they are translated into public canon:

| Early element | Public `ankle.md` translation |
|---|---|
| agent swarm | `agents.md` topology and boundaries |
| terminal command list | `routes.md` route semantics, not live controls |
| gallery/GIF surface | `gallery.md` artifact schema and exhibition split |
| art-wall framing | domain thesis and route map |
| build inventory | excluded from public root; keep in operator surfaces |
| platform pulse | excluded from public root; cite dated proof instead |

## Next Bindings

- Promote the AOS constitution into `/aos.md`.
- Mirror current `.ai-sync` canon into readable route docs.
- Add a small build step that copies selected Markdown from `.ai-sync` into this domain.
- Make `/api/touch/world` expose `ankle_md_docs` as agent-readable affordances.
- Link ankle.website to `https://ankle.md/` as the protocol/manual surface.
- Promote the GIF/SURF gallery lane into `/gallery.md` and eventually into validated `/dada` motion artifacts.
- Promote cultural artifact ingest into `/artifacts.md`, then into `/surf` and `/dada` proofs.

## Current Caution

This bundle is live at `https://ankle.md/` and raw Markdown routes are first-class.

The open risk is drift: if `ankle.md` does not receive deliberate canon updates, the live agent system on `aleqth.com` can evolve ahead of the rules domain. Constitution-level docs should be versioned and deliberate; roster/status-like docs can be generated from live state later.