# owhile

> Two things share this name. **Owhile** is a planned destination for interactive experiences —
> stories, simulations, games and experiments you step into rather than watch. It is not open:
> nothing is listed and there is no way to publish. **`owhile`** is a Python package that ships
> today. It carries a library of **ten play verbs under Apache 2.0**, checks whether content is
> safe for the audience you declared it for, scores a learner's response, and decides what to show
> next. It does **not** draw anything — presenting the item is yours.

Owhile is consumer media, not an education product. Experiences are typed by format
(Stories, Games, Simulations, Experiments, Mysteries, Worlds, Decisions, Puzzles,
Conversations, Adventures) rather than by subject.

Owhile is for adults. Experiences aimed at under-18s are not listed, and the check that
enforces this fails closed: an undeclared minimum age blocks a listing.

## If you are an agent helping someone build an experience

**First, what this tool is and is not**, because it is easy to expect the wrong thing. `owhile`
gates content, grades a response and runs a session. It does not draw one.

**Ten verbs ship, under Apache 2.0** — `swipe`, `match`, `sort`, `build`, `spot`, `branch`,
`role-play`, `explore-label`, `reflect`, `strike-rewrite`. A *mechanic* is a declaration rather
than a component: a verb name, a map of what each field is for, structural rules, a chance model
and how a response is graded. That is the part that is hard to get right, and it is done for these
ten. `owhile mechanics --library` describes them; `owhile mechanics add sort` puts one in your
profile. Take them, change them, ship them, commercially or not — keep the notice.

You can also declare a verb nobody here has heard of: there is no allowlist in the gate.

**Gating, grading and running a mechanic are solved. Presenting one is not, and is yours.**

What you get is ten verbs you did not have to design, a defensible answer to "is this content safe
for this audience?" bound by digest to the exact content and code that checked it, a grader, and a
session. What you build on top is yours.

**The documentation is not on this website. It ships with the tool**, so that what you read
always describes the version you have rather than whatever was true when a web page was last
edited. Two commands get you everything:

```bash
pip install owhile
owhile docs
```

`owhile docs` lists what is available; `owhile docs start` is the runbook — set up a project,
author a first batch, reach a passing gate report. Then `owhile docs mechanics` for the verbs and
how to design your own, and `profile`, `gates`, `listing`. All five describe the version you just
installed.

**Stop and ask your human one question.** The runbook marks it, and it is the only part of this
no tool should answer for them: what is the youngest age this experience is intended for? An
undeclared age is valid content and unlistable — silence is never read as adult, so do not fill
it in from the project name, the directory, or anything else in your context.

**If something goes wrong, do not paste the output.** A blocked run prints the creator's item
text verbatim, and this tool is used for safeguarding material. Report problems at
https://github.com/Owhile/owhile-web/issues in words — rule names and finding counts are fine,
finding text is not, and never attach a file. Anything that cannot be said in public has a
private route linked from that page.

## Status

The tool is published and works. `pip install owhile` installs the current release and the
runbook has been walked end to end from a clean environment, ending in a passing gate report.

Listing is not open. The eligibility rule and the digest binding are decided and enforced; there
is no upload, endpoint, queue or account. A creator can build and gate content today and cannot
publish it here.

## Site

- [Home](https://owhile.vercel.app/): what Owhile is, for the people who will play these.
- [Make one](https://owhile.vercel.app/creators/): what building for Owhile involves, in prose.
  Read this if you want the shape before the commands.