The Sonder Protocol:
Autonomous Attention Intelligence, Pre-Flight Gatekeeping & Egress Attestation
A mathematically verifiable runtime governing ethical signal intake, real-world statutory pressure oracles, and cryptographic attention proofs for autonomous artificial intelligence systems.
As the marginal cost of generating synthetic text and deploying autonomous agents approaches zero, recipient human attention emerges as the sole strictly bounded constraint in the global economic system.
Unconstrained probabilistic outreach induces systemic communication failure: domain reputation collapse, inbox filter fortification, and zero-sum attention destruction.
The Sonder Protocol specifies a dual-speed edge intelligence standard that transitions outbound interaction from extractive synthetic volume to verified statutory self-diagnosis, governed by deterministic identity resolution, continuous cognitive headroom calculation, and cryptographic egress attestation (X-Sonder-Proof).
The Living Human State Vector
The atomic state unit of the Sonder Protocol is the Human State Vector ((mathbf{S}_h)), a persistent, self-decaying JSONB entity maintained across Cloudflare edge nodes. Unlike ephemeral tracking cookies or static CRM tables, (mathbf{S}_h) continuously reconciles explicit user-entered telemetry with public sector filings and decay curves.
Where (lambda = 0.015, ext{day}^{-1}) (active state half-life), (mathcal{T}_i) denotes verified diagnostic completions, and (mathbf{W}_i in {1.00, 0.70, 0.35}) represents provenance weighting (Granted > Projected > Cohort).
1.1 Deterministic Identity Resolution Layers
The protocol strictly forbids speculative probabilistic merging. All identity stitching executes deterministically across three defined layers:
| Resolution Layer | Identifier Format | Attribution Weight | Protocol Invariant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layer 1: Explicit | RFC 5322 Email | (mathbf{W} = 1.00) | Deterministic merge to canonical identity (snd_*). Highest confidence. |
| Layer 2: Corporate | Registered Domain Root | (mathbf{W} = 0.85) | Stitches statutory company filings (Companies House / SEC / HMRC). |
| Layer 3: Session | Cryptographic Token | (mathbf{W} = 0.70) | Maintains pre-conversion anonymous calculator continuity without tracking. |
The Cognitive Headroom & Fatigue Engine
Before any outbound communication or solution recommendation is permitted, the engine computes the real-time Cognitive Headroom Score ((H in [0, 100])).
Weights: (w_t = 0.35) (Temporal Index), (w_f = 0.30) (Fatigue State), (w_v = 0.15) (Engagement Velocity), (w_u = 0.20) (Catalyst Urgency).
2.1 Constitutional Fatigue Limits
The protocol enforces two absolute runtime invariants:
- The Trailing 7-Day Saturation Ceiling: If contacts in trailing 7 days (ge 3), (H(t) equiv 0). The engine returns HTTP 429
ATTENTION_FATIGUE_EXCEEDED. - The Universal 30-Day Cooldown: An unsubscribe or negative sentiment signal immediately activates an immutable 30-day focus blackout across all connected spokes.
Cryptographic Egress Attestation (X-Sonder-Proof)
Outbound messages that pass the Pre-Flight Attention Gate are issued an immutable HMAC-SHA256 signature. Receiving mail transfer agents (MTAs) and Personal AI Gatekeepers verify this header to bypass spam filters and prioritize verified communications.
X-Sonder-Proof: v=1;sig=0x[0-9a-f]{16};id=snd_[a-z0-9_]+;jury=pass;headroom=[0-9]+;src=[A-Z0-9_]+;iat=[0-9]+;exp=[0-9]+
The Public Statutory & Regulatory Oracle
Sonder nodes continuously ingest, cryptographically sign, and expose active legal deadlines and tax revisions. Outreach is permitted solely when grounded in active statutory pressure:
| Catalyst ID | Jurisdiction | Authority / Statutory Basis | Statutory Cutoff | Verified Commercial Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hmrc_fleet_capital_allowance_2026 | United Kingdom | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) | 2026-12-31 UTC | Full-Expensing Capital Relief (£900/vehicle) |
| epc_commercial_mees_2027 | UK / England | DESNZ Energy Act 2023 | 2027-04-01 UTC | EPC Band C Minimum Energy Standard |
| irs_sec179_indexed_cap_2026 | US Federal | IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 | 2026-12-31 UTC | $1,250,000 First-Year Equipment Cap |
Live Edge Protocol Testbench
Interact directly with the Cloudflare Worker runtime below to inspect real-time state transformation, statutory pressure matching, and cryptographic attestation generation:
// Click 'Execute Protocol Endpoint' to dispatch live HTTP request...
The 7 Constitutional Invariants
Every node executing the Sonder Protocol is cryptographically bound by the Sonder Ethical Constitution:
| Invariant Article | Doctrine Name | Operational Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| ARTICLE § 1.1 | The 12-Person Jury Test | Twelve reasonable peers must unanimously agree communication was beneficial and respectful. |
| ARTICLE § 1.2 | The 20-Year Retrospective Test | Outreach must remain defensible after two decades of public scrutiny. |
| ARTICLE § 1.3 | Strict Data Provenance | Zero hallucinated personalization; Granted (1.0) > Projected (0.85) > Cohort (0.7). |
| ARTICLE § 1.4 | Absolute Saturation Ceiling | Hard maximum 3 contacts in trailing 7 days across the entire connected mesh. |
| ARTICLE § 1.5 | Consequence-Anchored Pricing | Solution fee (le 10%) of diagnosed financial exposure (e.g. £797 to unlock £38,000). |
| ARTICLE § 1.6 | Sovereign User Transparency | Full inspectability and 1-click 60-day focus snooze on me.sonderprotocol.com. |
Reference Implementation & MCP Integration
7.1 Browser Client Drop-in (< 2.3 KB)
<!-- Include in spoke calculators or diagnostic landing pages -->
<script src="https://sonderprotocol.com/sonder.js" data-spoke="sec179_rules" defer></script>
<script>
window.sonder.track('tool_completed', {
toolId: 'fleet_depreciation',
estimatedRelief: 37800,
vehicleCount: 42
}, 'david.baker@apexlogistics.co.uk');
</script>
7.2 Model Context Protocol (Claude Desktop & Cursor)
// Add to claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"sonder-protocol": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@quitegoodproject/sonder-mcp"],
"env": {
"SONDER_API_URL": "https://api.sonderprotocol.com"
}
}
}
}
Sovereign User Attention Vault
End users possess absolute cryptographic ownership over their attention profile.
Querying GET /v1/vault/me returns all attributed data points, and POST /v1/vault/snooze applies an immediate 60-day silence directive across all connected spokes.