franken_engine
Native Rust runtime for adversarial extension workloads with deterministic replay, cryptographic decision receipts, and fleet-scale containment.
FrankenEngine is a native Rust runtime for untrusted extension workloads with signed evidence
The project binds itself to four constitutional rules, forbids unsafe code in the core, and gates every README claim against a proof matrix.
The four constitutional rules
FrankenEngine is a native Rust runtime for adversarial JavaScript and TypeScript extension workloads, and it is built around four constitutional rules. The first is native only core execution with no V8, JavaScriptCore or QuickJS bindings, achieved by owning parser to scheduler semantics in Rust under a forbid unsafe code attribute. The second is deterministic replay of high impact decisions, capturing the program, policy snapshot, model snapshot, evidence stream and randomness transcript so that a coverage gate fails closed unless every high severity decision replays byte for byte. The third is signed evidence for every containment action, with each entry Ed25519 signed by the runtime's key and chained previous hash fields so any retroactive edit is detectable. The fourth is claim language that cannot exceed its evidence, enforced by a claim to proof matrix gate that rejects prose stronger than its backing artifacts and emits exact downgrade text for violations.
Why the rules exist
The README justifies each rule by the failure class it closes. Native only core execution avoids retrofitting type safe authority membranes around megabytes of upstream unsafe C plus plus or Zig that sit outside the capability algebra. Deterministic replay addresses the fact that streaming policy decisions made under wall clock pressure are not reproducible from a postmortem, which breaks forensic causation. Signed evidence responds to containment actions taken without auditable proof becoming indistinguishable from misconfiguration, leaving no record when rolled back. Claim language constraints respond to documentation drifting ahead of evidence faster than evidence is rebuilt, turning README claims into marketing. The rules compose: a containment action is both replay anchored and signed, so a counterfactual replay under a different policy can reconstruct what would have happened, and the result is itself signed evidence rather than a footnote. The project badges Rust 2024 and unsafe forbidden.
Project status and packaging
The README is blunt that this is research grade infrastructure, not a packaged product. The first published release is version 0.1.0, with prebuilt frankenctl binaries for Linux x86 64 and macOS Apple Silicon shipped through GitHub Releases behind a checksum verified installer, and a source build fallback on other platforms. The current main branch stages core and engine packages at an unreleased 0.2.0 compatibility boundary without creating a tag or release. A claim wording gate script checks the README against a JSON matrix, and claims classified as hypothesis or target must say so explicitly, while absolute superiority language without artifacts is rejected. Automation surfaces such as a shadow daemon ship in advisory only mode and cannot execute live mutations or production deployments until adoption gates are verified green. The repository carries 30 stars and 3 forks with no open issues, the default branch is main, and the license is marked NOASSERTION in the metadata even though the README badge shows MIT.
Editorial conclusion
FrankenEngine is a research grade Rust runtime on the main branch with 30 stars, released as version 0.1.0, that forbids unsafe code in its core and gates README claims through a proof matrix, though its repository license shows as NOASSERTION rather than the MIT the badge claims.
Community notes