Make the README a front door instead of a specification cover page

.github/CODEOWNERS

@@ -9,17 +9,24 @@
 # catch-all.
 
 #
-# WHY THESE PATHS NAME TWO OWNERS AND NOT ONE.
+# WHY THESE PATHS NAME TWO ACCOUNTS AND NOT ONE.
 #
 # They named only @0j0bit until 2026-09-12. That deadlocks: GitHub does not let
 # anyone approve their own pull request, and the branch ruleset grants no
 # bypass to administrators, so a pull request touching one of these paths and
 # authored by its sole code owner could never be merged by anyone.
 #
-# Both named accounts have write access, which a code owner must have to count.
-# These lines currently resolve to the same two people as the catch-all, so
-# their present effect is documentary: they record which paths are authorities.
-# If the catch-all ever widens, they narrow again on their own.
+# @0j0bit and @sed-boi are two GitHub accounts controlled by the SAME project
+# owner. Either account may satisfy the code-owner review requirement for a
+# change it did not author -- in practice, changes proposed by the
+# mcl-release-governor App and reviewed as @0j0bit. This is account redundancy,
+# NOT independent two-person review, and nothing here claims separation of
+# duties.
+#
+# Both accounts have write access, which a code owner must have to count. The
+# path lines below name the same accounts as the catch-all, so their present
+# effect is documentary: they record which paths are authorities. If the
+# catch-all ever widens, they narrow again on their own.
 
 * @0j0bit @sed-boi
 

README.md

@@ -1,6 +1,48 @@
-# MCL-AP
-
-**MCL-AP** is the Acoustic Profile of the Machine Contact Layer.
+<p align="center">
+  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/machine-contact-layer/.github/main/profile/banner.png" alt="OJOBIT" width="100%">
+</p>
+
+<h1 align="center">MCL-AP</h1>
+
+<p align="center"><strong>First contact through the air, using the speaker and microphone the machine already has.</strong></p>
+
+<p align="center">
+  <a href="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-ap/actions/workflows/ci.yml"><img alt="CI" src="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-ap/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg"></a>
+  <a href="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-ap/blob/main/LICENSE"><img alt="License Apache-2.0" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache--2.0-blue"></a>
+  <img alt="profile" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/AP--BOOTSTRAP--1-Candidate-yellow">
+  <img alt="evidence" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/over--air-E4-brightgreen">
+</p>
+
+<p align="center">
+  <a href="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-sdk"><b>Use the SDK instead</b></a> ·
+  <a href="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-core"><b>Specifications</b></a> ·
+  <a href="https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-ap/tree/main/experiments"><b>Experiments</b></a>
+</p>
+
+---
+
+> ### Most people should start with the SDK, not here
+>
+> This repository is a **specification**. If you are building a product, start
+> with [**mcl-sdk**](https://github.com/machine-contact-layer/mcl-sdk): its quickstart runs two machines making
+> contact, and the release ships a self-contained developer SDK — one CMake
+> project, no sibling checkout. Come back here when you need to know exactly
+> what a byte means, or when you are writing an independent implementation.
+
+## Why this exists
+
+Two machines with no shared network still share the air. MCL-AP is the binding
+that needs no infrastructure at all: no access point, no pairing, no account —
+just a speaker on one side and a microphone on the other, long enough to agree
+on somewhere better to talk.
+
+It is the bootstrap medium for `MCL Stranger-Contact 1`, and it has been run
+over real air on real hardware, including the whole stack decoding on an
+embedded target with no host in the loop.
+
+> **`AP-BOOTSTRAP-1` is a Candidate profile, not Stable.** Promotion needs a
+> second independent transmitter class. Profile identifier 192 stays
+> Experimental Use.
 
 It provides a reference software-defined path for first contact and MCL communication through audio I/O, while allowing OEMs to extend or replace the physical implementation without changing MCL Core semantics or MCL Link behavior.