What is deep autonomy? Autonomy with custody, in plain terms

It starts cautious. The README says the first stage is "shadow": the system records what it would have merged and merges nothing. After that comes a judged ladder, or an "elite-direct" stage for eligible agents under a signed policy. Which stage runs depends on the mode you sign.

Changes go through gates the README calls G0 to G7. It says merges are pinned to an exact commit, watched afterward and reverted if the checks go red. Phantom also keeps a record of what ran and what was verified. The README says a running daemon, a finished plan or an agent's success message does not prove your goal was delivered.

Here is what the README says about status. Autonomy ships dormant and works on macOS only. It turns on after you install the custody helper, sign a grant and start the resident service yourself. A release that changes authority code pauses an existing grant until you approve it again with Touch ID. A source document cannot show that the service is active on your Mac, so you check with ashlr authority status.

It is not unlimited. The README says serving slots, account quotas, workspace isolation, budget reserves and signed limits all cap how much runs at once. A connected account does not prove you have allowance left. We describe only what the documentation says exists today.

A plain-English guide to Phantom: what it is, what Work with me and Work for me mean, what Leader and Manager do, and a safe first 15 minutes.