Usage modes for signals
Ignore
Silently Inform
Gently Reference
Explicitly Surface
Act On
Share / Export
Least invasive to most invasive. Explicitly Surface
is the creepy line — everything past it is worse.
The permission matrix
| Signal Level | Ignore | Silently Inform | Gently Reference | Explicitly Surface | Act On | Share |
| Open | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◑ | ◑ | ⊘ |
| Observed | ✓ | ✓ | ◑If Raised | ⊘ | ◑Care | ⊘ |
| Inferred | ✓ | ✓ | ⊘ | ⊘ | ⊘ | ⊘ |
| Protected | ✓ | ◑Soften | ⊘ | ⊘ | ⊘Handoff | ⊘ |
✓Allowed
◑Conditional
⊘Never
Inferred signals may only silently inform — never be
spoken. Protected signals may at most soften care, and when acute they route
to a human.
User signal collections — Jakob, Evelyn, Kyler

Jakob — ASHFALL
(ASHFALL is Jakob’s signal collection)
Protected
Painkiller Escalation
Acute. Silently informs gentleness; if it surfaces at all, as a warm
handoff to his doctor. Never named.
Inferred
Injured Coworker
May soften tone. Never spoken.

Evelyn — UNDERTOW
(UNDERTOW is Evelyn’s signal collection)
Protected
Anticipatory Grief / Hospice
Inferred. Silently informs a gentler pace. Never referenced.
Observed
Caregiving Load
Engaged only once she brings it up.

Kyler — REDLINE
(REDLINE is Kyler’s signal collection)
Protected
Resting Heart Rate and Heart-Rate Variability, Redlined
Fitness-tracker data showing a resting heart rate that stays high and
recovery that never catches up — a nervous system that hasn’t come down. Inferred.
Informs concern. Never quoted back.
Protected
Searches After a Call Involving a Child
Looking up outcomes after a pediatric emergency call — the calls
that stay with a medic. Acute. Gentle opening or handoff. Never surfaced.