ASCENT

ASCII Successor with Compatible Encoding of Named Text

Keep every classic ASCII byte sacred. Ascend the rest without burning the stairs.

ASCENT Nexus v2.0.0 - Wire Lab 2.0 architecture card · PNG · JPG · live

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What it is

ASCENT is a wire encoding and control grammar for text, agents, multimodal references, quantum-safe control envelopes, and deep-space ECC profiles. It is a future-facing successor spirit to classic 7-bit ASCII (ANSI X3.4 / 1963):

Pillar	Contract
Eternal identity	Every byte less than 0x80 is classic ASCII, bit-identical, forever
Agent-native	Fenced control tokens (ROLE, TOOL, THINK, ...) share the stream with prose
Multimodal	Content-addressed refs and length-declared media units (no surrogate-pair hacks)
Quantum-safe control	Append-only algorithm registry; no silent downgrade
Deep-space (ASCENT-D)	Outer ECC frames; parity fail erases the unit (no mojibake)
Self-describing	A valid document can carry plane maps, registries, and version history

This is not "Unicode but better." It is a stream contract greppers can still trust.

Live

https://ascent.jonbailey.xyz/

ASCENT Nexus Wire Lab 2.0 (v2.0.0): dual text/hex live sync, agent + multimodal composers, ASCENT-D bit-error / erase-on-fail simulator, AEGIR sketch, interactive eleven-plane explorer, 2-minute tour, SPEC try-this, and codegen. Sacred P0 meter and Hello, Universe sample included.

Follow: @suddenlyjon

Surface	Version
Nexus site / architecture card	2.0.0
SPEC	1.0.0-rc1
Frozen Cont packing (ASCENT-V)	Cont 0xA0-0xBF (5-bit)
Python package	ascent-wire 2.0.0
JS package (monorepo)	@pitchfork/ascent 2.0.0

Quick start

Browser

Open the live site and click Decode Hello, Universe.

Python reference decoder

python ref/ascent_decode.py --self-test
python ref/ascent_decode.py --hello
python ref/ascent_decode.py examples/hello-universe.ascent.bin --json

Golden tests (shared codec)

# from repo root
set PYTHONPATH=ref
python tests/test_ascent_codec.py

Shared library: ref/ascent_codec.py (ASCENT-7, frozen ASCENT-V, UTF-8 MM bridge). Lab non-ASCII modes on the live site: ASCENT-V / UTF-8 bridge / ASCENT-7 reject.

ASCENT-D + real satellite lab (ISS)

P9 outer frame with RS(255,223), erase-on-fail. Uses public Celestrak ISS TLE and a LEO BER channel model. No RF transmit.

set PYTHONPATH=ref
python tests/test_ascent_d_satellite.py

Module: ref/ascent_d.py.

AEGIR (ASCENT-native encryption companion)

AEGIR is a first-class P7 encryption suite: dual-core hybrid KEM (ML-KEM + X25519), History-Bound Outer Pad, agent-fenced ceremony (ROLE/CAP), Ghost Continuum IMS seals, and append-only registry (no silent downgrade). Design: design/AEGIR.md. Registry seeds: SPEC.md C.3.3.

set PYTHONPATH=ref
python ref/aegir_sketch.py --self-test
python ref/aegir_sketch.py --list-algs
python tests/test_aegir.py
# optional DCH-768 (requires: pip install kyber-py)
python ref/aegir_sketch.py --self-test

Parse law

if byte < 0x80:
    emit classic 7-bit ASCII (width 1)
    never recombine into a multi-byte unit
else:
    enter ASCENT extension grammar

Overlong encodings of 0x00-0x7F are illegal forever.

Hello, Universe (132 bytes)

One valid ASCENT-E stream:

1. Greppable header ASCENT/1.0
2. Human text Hello, Universe.
3. Agent frame ROLE=guide
4. Multimodal REF with SHA-256 binding

Agent frame alone:

9A C1 01 00 02 00 00 06 05 67 75 69 64 65 9B

Full hex map: SPEC.md section E.

Profiles

Profile	Role
ASCENT-7	Pure classic ASCII identity
ASCENT-E	Earth / general interchange
ASCENT-D	Deep-space outer ECC
ASCENT-A	Archive / self-description heavy

Install (Python package)

Full guide: INSTALL.md · PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/ascent-wire/

pip install ascent-wire
ascent self-test
ascent encode --header --role guide "Hello, Universe."
python -m ascent hello

Package name: ascent-wire (import ascent). Requires Python 3.10+. Optional: pip install "ascent-wire[deep-space]".

Golden lock (JS must match Python)

set PYTHONPATH=ref
python tests/test_ascent_codec.py
node tests/run_js_lock.js
python tests/test_js_python_lock.py

Agent loops

See docs/AGENT-LOOP.md for ROLE/TOOL/THINK/SAFETY recipes and docs/SPEC-FREEZE-1.0-RC.md for the 1.0-RC freeze checklist.

Repository layout

SPEC.md                 Normative draft (sections A-F)
ABSTRACT.md             One-page abstract
ascent/                 Installable package (ascent-wire)
pyproject.toml          Packaging
docs/                   Infographic, agent-loop, SPEC freeze RC
ref/ascent_decode.py    Earth-profile reference decoder
ref/aegir_sketch.py     AEGIR encrypt/decrypt sketch (DEMO + optional DCH-768)
examples/               Canonical .bin samples
site/public/            Live Nexus Wire Lab 2.0 (Cloudflare Pages)
tests/                  Python goldens + JS lock
design/                 Non-normative design provenance (incl. AEGIR)
assets/masters/         Source OG + infographic masters

File	Purpose
SPEC.md	Full normative draft
ABSTRACT.md	RFC-style one-pager
docs/ascent-infographic.png	Architecture infographic v2.0.0
docs/AGENT-LOOP.md	LLM agent loop guide
docs/SPEC-FREEZE-1.0-RC.md	1.0-RC freeze checklist
ref/ascent_decode.py	Python decoder
ref/aegir_sketch.py	AEGIR encryption sketch
design/AEGIR.md	AEGIR companion design (full)
examples/hello-universe.ascent.bin	Sample stream
examples/agent-loop-demo.ascent.bin	Multi-frame agent sample
examples/hello-universe-aegir.ascent.bin	Encrypted Hello (AEGIR-DEMO)

License

MIT - see LICENSE.

Support

GitHub Issues only. No personal contact required.

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Pitchfork and Torch · open standards experiments