Model Provenance Record: five rules and a five-check script (free sample)
by PaperChaseWebb
From the Model Provenance Record: five rules before an open-weight model is installed (a named person says yes, pin the bytes, read the license first, no pickle without a scan, test behaviour on these exact weights), and a read-only script that checks one small file for them.
- Price
- Free
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Setup
- 5 min
- Format
- .md file
model-provenance-record-five-rules-and-checks-free-sample.md · 11 KB · direct download, no signup
What you end up with
In a few minutes you can see whether the model you are about to install has a named approver, pinned files, a license that fits, no unscanned pickle files, and behaviour tests run on the same weights.
What you get
- Five provenance rules
- provenance_mini.py: five read-only checks on one model.json
- One prompt for all four harnesses
- Worked example: 5 findings, then 0
Who it is for
Anyone who wants a quick check on an open-weight model before it goes in.
Works with
Solid chips: the agent is named in this listing's own tools list. Dashed chip: Plain Markdown, so it also pastes into other agents such as Grok Bot, Hermes, OpenClaw or Muse. We list those as compatible by format only, not as tested.
Tools needed
Cost to run: Free.
Time to result: About five minutes to a first result
Sample prompts, free to use
For the open-weight model you are about to suggest or install, write down the publisher's own page, the exact revision, the license and whether it allows our use, each file with its format and published sha256, and anything in the name, tags or card that says uncensored, abliterated or refusal removed. Download nothing and install nothing. Put it in model.json and run provenance_mini.py model.json.
The rules and the script are in the file.
Free preview of the file
# Model Provenance Record: five rules and a five-check script (free sample)
Version 1.0, 2026-10-29. By PaperChaseWebb. For anyone about to put an open-weight model on a business machine, by hand or through an agent in Grok Bot, Claude Code, Codex or Hermes, who wants to know where it came from and how it behaves before it goes in. One Markdown file and one Python 3 script, standard library only. The script was tested on its worked example (5 findings, then 0) and on a missing file (exit 2). It was not run inside any agent harness or against a real model.
An agent finds a small model that fits on the office machine, picks the copy with the most downloads, pulls it and wires it in. Nobody wrote down who made those exact bytes, whether the license allows business use, whether a file in the folder can run code when loaded, or whether this copy still refuses what the original refused. These five rules cover the gaps that cost the most, and the script checks them in one small file.
## Install in one line
Save this page as FREE-SAMPLE.md, then:
```
python3 -c "import re;t=open('FREE-SAMPLE.md').read();open('provenance_mini.py','w').write(re.search(r'~~~python\n(.*?)~~~',t,re.S).group(1))"
python3 provenance_mini.py model.json
```
## Five rules
1. **A named person says yes.** Not "TBD", and not the agent that found the model. The person who will answer for it later approves the install.
2. **Pin the bytes.** Every file has the link it came from and its sha256. "Latest" is notTest record
- Date
- Oct 29, 2026
- What was run
- provenance_mini.py on the worked example, a fixed file and a missing file.
- Result
- 5 findings, then 0; exit 2 on a missing file.
- Not run
- The prompt inside a harness. Any real model.
Copied from this item's dated test notes. What was not run stays in.
Worth knowing
- The sample checks one file against five rules. The full record, lineage with licenses, format header checks, the 15-test behaviour test with thresholds and judging, results tied to the weights, the install gate, owner approvals by hash and the fifteen checks are in the full pack.
- On 2026-10-29 provenance_mini.py gave 5 findings on the worked example, then 0 on the fixed file, and exited 2 on a missing file. The prompt was not run inside a harness and no real model was tested.
Questions
Does it send anything anywhere?
No. It reads one file and opens no network connection. It never downloads or loads a model.
What is in the full pack?
The record folder with templates and 15 starter behaviour tests, provenance.py that ties every result to the weights and gives the install agent a gate, owner approvals tied to a hash with one use and expiry, fifteen read-only checks with a seeded test record, a skill file, AGENTS.md snippet and Grok Bot rules block, ten prompts and a failure table. $19.
Details
Version 1.0 · Updated Oct 29, 2026 · Markdown version of this page
License: Personal and commercial use. Download terms
Related
Model Provenance Record: where an open-weight model came from, how it behaves, and who said yes, before it is installed
Before any open-weight model goes on a business machine, fill one record: the publisher and exact revision, the license and whether it allows your use, every file with its published and local sha256, a header check that the format cannot run code (or a recorded scan if it can), the lineage back to the original, and a 15-test guardrail behaviour test that must still refuse clear misuse and still answer ordinary questions. Each result is tied to the hash of the weights and the test text, judged by someone who did not run it, and the owner says yes to one install hash. Fifteen read-only checks run on the record and the files.
Vet Before You Install: the twelve checks (free sample)
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Agent Readiness Self-Check: score one workflow before you hand it to an AI agent
A free self-check for agencies and small businesses. Name the decision, then score one workflow across eight areas (workflow mapped, data access, approval gates, owner per agent, handoffs, cost tracking, security and vetting, measurement) with an evidence rule, three gate rules and a skeptical pass, and read your band and the next steps it allows. v1.1 starts with the decision the score will change, scores unknowns as unknown, adds rules for conflicting facts and lookalike public records, ties every band to the next steps it allows with the Production Readiness Audit before go-live, makes owner approval concrete (prepared and approved status, a one-reply approval line, decisions the agent must leave open, a done test), adds agent files for Grok Bot, Claude Code, Codex and Hermes, a second worked example (missed call to booked job), a readiness folder with a fifteen-check read-only checker, a front door test with four questions to ask anyone selling you an agent install, and a plain note on how it was tested. Still free.