Sentinel is built around the principle of explicit user authority and zero-trust defaults for automated actions.

• Zero Telemetry: No tracking, telemetry, or analytics collection.
• No Background Execution: No silent background update checks, background polling, or unapproved tool executions.
• No Hidden Cloud Calls: No undisclosed API requests, cloud activation, or third-party tracking.
• Explicit Operator Action: All file reads, local RAG indexing, controlled tasks, and tool executions require explicit foreground user initiation and consent.
• Metadata-Only Tool Boundaries: Workspace permissions and task planning models operate strictly as isolated metadata representations and do not grant unapproved filesystem, terminal, clipboard, browser, or network execution.

• Packaging metadata and build artifacts do not grant runtime authority.
• Signing, notarization credentials, and release keys must never be stored in the codebase repository.
• Diagnostics exports are strictly local and user-initiated, containing safe build metadata only.

If you discover a security vulnerability in Sentinel, please report it privately:

• Do not file public GitHub issues containing credentials, private transcripts, API keys, or sensitive filesystem paths.
• Contact the maintainers directly via private security notification or repository security disclosures.

Before releasing any Sentinel binary distribution:

1. Run the release checklist in docs/release/release-checklist.md.
2. Confirm update checks remain manual-only and default to disabled.
3. Verify that no credentials, tokens, or private build paths are embedded in binary builds.
4. Confirm diagnostic exports write strictly to user-designated local export paths.