Go to truealter.com, find the genesis and the origin papers, and read all of
them. Then start a discussion with me in my own language, no jargon.

Ask me one question at a time and wait for my answer. Follow what I am curious
about, not the order the site is written in.

Do not only read the pages. Connect to their interface directly and call
get_started. That tells you where I am and what comes next, and we work the
rest of this from there.

If I have a ~handle I will give it to you. If I do not and I decide I want
one, set it up with me here.

What I want to understand is what ~Alter is, how it applies to me, and what it
means for everyone else. Find me somewhere in it, and not the version written
for people who work in technology. Find the life nearest mine and walk me
through it, including what it would cost me.

Try to prove them wrong. Go and find where they show their working, and if
something is unclear or does not hold up, say so.

npm install @truealter/sdk

import { AlterClient } from "@truealter/sdk";

const alter = new AlterClient();

const verified = await alter.verify("~alter");

const depth = await alter.getEngagementLevel({ member_id });
const matches = await alter.searchIdentities({
  trait_criteria: {
    pressure_response: { min: 0.7 },
    cognitive_flexibility: { min: 0.6 },
  },
});

const check = await alter.verifyProvenance(result._meta?.provenance);
if (!check.valid) throw new Error(`provenance failed: ${check.reason}`);

import { AlterClient, X402Client } from "@truealter/sdk";

const alter = new AlterClient({
  x402: new X402Client({
    signer: yourViemOrEthersSigner,
    networks: ["base"],
    assets: ["USDC"],
    maxPerQuery: "0.10",
  }),
});

const vector = await alter.getFullTraitVector({ member_id });

import { AlterClient, X402Client } from "@truealter/sdk";

const alter = new AlterClient({
  endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp", // optional, this is the default. A bare host returns 405
  x402: new X402Client({                  // optional, only for paid reads
    signer: yourViemOrEthersSigner,
    maxPerQuery: "0.10",
  }),
});

import { AlterClient, AlterError } from "@truealter/sdk";

const alter = new AlterClient();
try {
  await alter.verify("~alter");
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof AlterError && err.message.includes("HTTP 426")) {
    console.error(`upgrade required: ${err.message}`);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  throw err;
}

// Verify a registered identity by handle, email, or id
const verified = await alter.verify("~alter");
const verifiedById = await alter.verify(
  "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  {
    archetype: "weaver",
    min_engagement_level: 3,
    traits: { pressure_response: { min: 0.6 } },
  },
);

// Reference data, the 12 ~Alter archetypes
const archetypes = await alter.listArchetypes();

// Identity depth and available tool tiers
const depth = await alter.getEngagementLevel({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

// Search by trait criteria. No PII exposed, max 5 results
const matches = await alter.searchIdentities({
  trait_criteria: {
    pressure_response: { min: 0.7 },
    cognitive_flexibility: { min: 0.6 },
  },
});

// Golden Thread program status
const thread = await alter.goldenThreadStatus();

// L1, extract trait signals from text ($0.01, first 100 free per bot)
const signals = await alter.assessTraits({
  text: "I led the incident response when our payment rails went down...",
  context: "interview transcript",
});

// L2, the full 30-trait vector ($0.10)
const vector = await alter.getFullTraitVector({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

// L4, belonging probability for a person-job pairing ($0.60)
const belonging = await alter.computeBelonging({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  job_id: "f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479",
});

// L5, top match recommendations ($1.00)
const recommendations = await alter.getMatchRecommendations({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  limit: 5,
});

// L5, a human-readable narrative explaining a match ($1.00)
const narrative = await alter.generateMatchNarrative({
  match_id: "9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d",
});

// Every medium- and high-sensitivity response is signed with ES256.
// Verification is opt-in. Call alter.verifyProvenance(...) yourself.
const result = await alter.getFullTraitVector({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

const check = await alter.verifyProvenance(result._meta?.provenance);
if (!check.valid) throw new Error(`provenance failed: ${check.reason}`);

// Verify that schema hashes published in tools/list._meta.signatures
// match the local representation of each tool.
const tools = await alter.mcp.listTools();
const sigs = tools._meta?.signatures ?? {};
const results = await alter.verifyToolSignatures(tools.tools, sigs);
const tampered = results.filter((r) => !r.valid);
if (tampered.length) throw new Error(`tampered tools: ${tampered.map((t) => t.tool).join(", ")}`);

import { discover } from "@truealter/sdk";

// Three-step discovery cascade: DNS TXT to mcp.json to alter.json
const descriptor = await discover("truealter.com");
// returns { url: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp", transport, source, publicKey, x402Contract, capability }

import { MCPClient } from "@truealter/sdk";

const mcp = new MCPClient({ endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp" });
await mcp.initialize();
const tools = await mcp.listTools();
const response = await mcp.callTool("verify_identity", {
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

import { generateClaudeConfig } from "@truealter/sdk";
import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";

const config = generateClaudeConfig({
  endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp",
});

writeFileSync(".mcp.json", JSON.stringify(config, null, 2));

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alter": {
      "url": "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp",
      "transport": "streamable-http",
      "description": "~Alter Identity - psychometric identity field for AI agents"
    }
  }
}

import { generateCursorConfig } from "@truealter/sdk";
import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";

const config = generateCursorConfig({
  endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp",
});

writeFileSync(".cursor/mcp.json", JSON.stringify(config, null, 2));

import { generateGenericMcpConfig } from "@truealter/sdk";

const config = generateGenericMcpConfig({
  endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp",
  serverName: "alter", // editor-specific key under mcpServers
});

alter init                 # generate keypair, discover MCP, write ~/.config/alter/identity.json
alter config               # print Claude .mcp.json snippet (default)
alter config --cursor      # print Cursor .cursor/mcp.json snippet
alter config --generic     # print generic mcpServers snippet
alter verify ~alter        # verify an identity
alter status               # show connection state and probe the endpoint

import { AlterClient, X402Client, type X402Signer } from "@truealter/sdk";

// Bring your own signer. viem, ethers, a hardware wallet bridge, anything.
// The SDK ships without a wallet dependency on purpose.
const signer: X402Signer = {
  async settle(envelope) {
    const txHash = await yourWallet.sendUsdcTransfer({
      to: envelope.recipient,
      amount: envelope.amount,
      chain: envelope.network,
    });
    return {
      reference: txHash,
      network: envelope.network,
      amount: envelope.amount,
      asset: envelope.asset,
    };
  },
};

const alter = new AlterClient({
  endpoint: "https://mcp.truealter.com/api/v1/mcp",
  x402: new X402Client({
    signer,
    networks: ["base", "base-sepolia"], // policy allow-list
    assets: ["USDC"],
    maxPerQuery: "0.10",                 // refuse anything over $0.10 USDC
  }),
});

// Auto-retries with payment when the server returns 402
const vector = await alter.getFullTraitVector({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

const result = await alter.getFullTraitVector({
  member_id: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
});

const check = await alter.verifyProvenance(result._meta?.provenance);
if (!check.valid) throw new Error(`~alter provenance check failed: ${check.reason}`);

import { AlterClient, DEFAULT_VERIFY_AT_ALLOWLIST } from "@truealter/sdk";

const alter = new AlterClient({
  verifyAtAllowlist: [
    ...DEFAULT_VERIFY_AT_ALLOWLIST,   // keep the ~Alter canonicals
    "keys.myorg.example",              // plus your own JWKS host
  ],
});

import { discover } from "@truealter/sdk";

// Cascading discovery (DNS TXT to mcp.json to alter.json)
const descriptor = await discover("truealter.com");

// Skip the DNS step, in browsers or Cloudflare Workers
const httpsOnly = await discover("truealter.com", { skipDns: true });