diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index 85c37a9..86808bf 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.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
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7c36cbc..cc3210d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,46 @@
-# MCL Wire
+
+ 
+
-`mcl-wire` defines the canonical deterministic representation of Machine Contact Layer semantic objects.
+MCL Wire
+
+The exact bytes. One canonical encoding for every MCL object, on every transport.
+
+
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+
+
+
+ Use the SDK instead ·
+ Specifications ·
+ mcl-link
+
+
+---
+
+> ### 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 can only agree on meaning if they first agree, byte for byte, on
+representation. MCL Wire is that agreement: one canonical encoding, no
+optional orderings, no implementation-defined padding, and the same result on a
+microcontroller and a server.
+
+An encoder that produces different bytes for the same object is wrong, and the
+conformance vectors in this repository are how you find out.
+
+**Wire major 1 is Stable.** Major 0 remains for experimental objects; a Stable
+major carries only Stable semantics, and the encoder refuses anything else.
The specification is language-neutral. The v1.0 reference implementation is **portable freestanding C99** so the same byte contract can be used on bare-metal microcontrollers, RTOS targets, larger embedded systems, and hosted systems.