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FAQ

Canonical repository reference: docs/FAQ.md

A skeptic's FAQ for Fulcrum Boundary. Every answer in the canonical version is bound to a doc in the repository and is written to its limitations, not past them. Highlights:

  • Routed-only. Boundary governs an action only when the route is forced through it. Direct shell, editor, CI, SSH, or API access to the same tool is a bypass unless deployment topology removes that path; closing it is a deployment-topology job, confirmed with the route-conformance checklist.
  • Fixture-only demos. The two proof lanes run against synthetic fixtures with no credentials, no network calls, and no live mutation. They demonstrate the deny-before-execution decision; they do not prove every deployment route is protected.
  • Hash-verifiable = integrity, not authenticity. Decision-record hashes are unkeyed SHA-256 over canonical bytes. Recomputation with boundary verify-record detects post-emission tampering; it does not make a record proved, tamper-proof, immutable, or attested, and upstream_called=false / executed=false are adapter self-reports.
  • Record-scoped RFC 8785 / JCS. That conformance statement is scoped to the decision record's canonical bytes; it is not a claim that Boundary as a whole is standards-conformant.
  • MCP is the only production route. All other adapters and profiles ship as labeled previews; production status requires passing the adapter-readiness gate.
  • Static and cgo builds differ only in SQL classification depth. Cgo builds use the full Postgres AST classifier. Static builds (CGO_ENABLED=0, Homebrew, container images, and _static-nocgo archives) classify routed SQL as UNKNOWN and deny it fail-closed.
  • No model in the local verdict path. The verdict path is deterministic; semantic rules escalate rather than guess, and Boundary does not emit proved.
  • Standalone vs kernel. Standalone is the zero-dependency OSS path; kernel is the commercial Fulcrum integration and fails hard on incomplete config.
  • Replay reproduces the decision, not enforcement. A reproduced deny is not evidence the action was blocked, and a match does not prove the verdict was correct.
  • The claims gate is an exit code. Clone the repo and run go test ./claims/... -count=1 and make release-check to check the docs against the tests yourself.

Related references: How We Keep Ourselves Honest · Claims · Route Conformance · Troubleshooting