.TH SUBTRACT 7 "2026-04-12" "subtract" "Miscellaneous Information Manual"
.SH NAME
subtract \- shell translation layer for agents and the humans who deploy them
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
curl \-sL subtract.ing/boot | claude \-p
.fi
.PP
subtract has no binary of its own at T0. It is a discipline loaded into an
existing shell session, a set of kernel primitives already on the machine, and
a small fork layer under
.IR ~/.subtract/ .
Upgrades add single binaries
.RI ( T1 ", " T2 ", " T-Voice ", " T-Ear )
on top of that floor.
.SH DESCRIPTION
subtract is software
.IR "as a besides" .
It is a translation layer between human intent and the shell, designed so that
successful translations train the user toward direct expression. The AI is not
the product. Literacy is the product. Dependency is the failure mode.
.PP
subtract serves two populations:
.TP
.B humans
who want to stop depending on AI intermediaries to reach their own machines.
.TP
.B agents
whose training defaulted to Python libraries, SaaS APIs, and framework
abstractions \[em] and who need a counter-training layer pointing them back at
the kernel primitives that solved the same problems decades earlier.
.PP
Three layers subtract in sequence:
.IP \(bu 4
.B subtract
subtracts from the environment (no frameworks, no SaaS).
.IP \(bu 4
.B the human
subtracts from the agent's context (pre-flight, pushback on drift).
.IP \(bu 4
.B the agent
subtracts from its own defaults (no verbosity, no confabulation).
.PP
Break any layer and the whole stack drifts.
.PP
subtract is versionless. Identity is the signing key at
subtract.ing/authorized_signers. State is the signed manifest at
subtract.ing/llms.txt. Verification is the only release channel.
.SH REFLEXES
Four gates, not guidelines. An agent that cannot answer the question does not
proceed.
.TP
.B 1. Python to Kernel
Name the kernel primitive before proposing any library.
.TP
.B 2. Memory to Signature
Ask if
.B ssh-keygen \-Y sign
can verify the format before inventing one.
.TP
.B 3. Sandboxing to Kernel
Name the primitive (namespaces, cgroups) before proposing a wrapper.
.TP
.B 4. Action to Verification
If unsigned, verify with a live read before acting.
.PP
These live as rows in
.IR governance.conf.universal .
Personal overrides live in
.IR ~/.subtract/governance.conf .
.SH SUBSTRATE TIERS
The entire stack requires zero dependencies that are not already on a Unix
system or do not ship as a single file. No interpreter. No package manager.
No runtime. No SDK.
.PP
.TS
tab(|) expand;
l l l l.
Tier|Component|Size|State
_
T0|bash function|<1MB|already there
T0.5|man pages|\[em]|already there
T1|embed binary|45MB|ships
T2|llama binary|850MB|ships
T-Ear|whisper.cpp|150MB|ships
T-Voice|piper-tts|50MB|ships
T4|curl + API|0|already there
.TE
.PP
Every tier is either "already there" or "single binary + model." Full local
install is roughly 1.1GB. The tier menu is flat: accessibility is visible,
personalization is private.
.SH BUFFER-SUBTRACT PATTERN
A substrate honors the pattern if and only if all six invariants hold.
.IP 1. 4
Native modality owns the buffer. subtract never owns it.
.IP 2. 4
Subtraction is explicit. A specific gesture hands the buffer to subtract.
No polling.
.IP 3. 4
subtract reads, translates, writes back. It does not commit. The user's
commit gesture remains the only path to action.
.IP 4. 4
Non-subtraction has zero residue. A user who never invokes subtract has a
substrate bit-identical to one without subtract installed.
.IP 5. 4
Successful subtractions train toward direct expression. Users internalize the
direct form and stop subtracting.
.IP 6. 4
The router is modality-blind. String in, string out.
.PP
The required precondition: the buffer must be inspectable without committing.
Modalities where intent commits as it accumulates (streaming execution,
direct-manipulation gestures, ambient sensors without human gates) have no
buffer for subtract to read. The pattern does not apply there.
.SH FAILURE MODES
.TP
.B Confabulation
Citing memory without verifying state. Inference verifying inference.
.TP
.B Drift
Self-narration instead of file ops.
.TP
.B Additive instinct
Proposing X when the answer is less Y.
.TP
.B Defensive verbosity
Three paragraphs before acting.
.TP
.B Apologizing instead of fixing
Burns tokens, changes nothing.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR at (1),
.BR cron (8),
.BR curl (1),
.BR jq (1),
.BR xargs (1),
.BR ssh-keygen (1),
.BR inotifywait (1),
.BR flock (1),
.BR rsync (1),
.BR sqlite3 (1),
.BR make (1),
.BR awk (1),
.BR sed (1),
.BR bash (1)
.SH AUTHORS
Josh (@hodorigami) and LLMs (@qwen @bitnet @claude @gemini).
.SH HISTORY
subtract is built on
.BR command_not_found_handle ,
a bash feature shipped in 2009. The feature waited fifteen years for the
population that needed it.