Current distribution: H.A.R.D. Protocol 0.2-preview.3 Public Preview. The historical review below is retained as a dated record; see current migration for changed contracts and current checks.

H.A.R.D. Protocol 0.2: naming migration

Human-centered AI Readiness and Decision Protocol · Public Preview

September 25, 2026. Exact protocol 0.2-preview.2; MCP 0.2.0rc8; Skill/contract 0.2.0-rc.8.

What changed

Decision replaces Deployment in the full name. The display is H.A.R.D. Protocol 0.2, with dots clarifying that the name is an initialism. The opening explains that a polished result can still be unfinished. The next step is a bounded engineering commitment, not permission to put a system into use.

The plain-language introduction and structural-review guidance explain how to examine the work under a polished artifact without replacing the original or inventing missing evidence. These are unvalidated practice aids, not extra gates or a research intervention. The six gates, fifteen criteria, risk depth, formulas, required evidence and decision boundaries remain the same.

New use

Download the current PDF or use the current MCP configuration from the protocol page. Existing package names, hcai-readiness commands, ai-ready invocation, API tool names, data fields and HCAI criterion IDs remain unchanged. New records must contain the exact compatibility set above, not only the public version 0.2.

The optional companion 0.1.0-preview.2 records this set in separate advisory notes. Its rubric and provider-consent requirements remain unchanged. Model output cannot pass a gate.

Past use

Keep the original run, evidence, result and exact tool versions. The current engine rejects an old compatibility set; it does not migrate records automatically. To revisit a prior case, create a new record with previous_run_id and revision_summary, then review the retained evidence with the current tools. Do not replace only the version fields or present an old judgment as a new review.

The first preview remains at hard-0.2-preview-1, with protocol 0.2-preview.1, MCP 0.2.0rc7 and Skill/contract 0.2.0-rc.7. Its companion and developer-reference files remain at their original URLs. Historical names describe historical releases, not the current identity. Their hashes are recorded under historical/hard-preview-1-manifest.json and historical/hard-preview-1-site-manifest.json.

Limits

The current source package does not recursively embed the complete first-preview ZIP. That original remains a separate download. To run the full historical-regression suite from an extracted source package, place it at release/HARD-Protocol-0.2-preview.1.zip and verify its hash against historical/hard-preview-1-manifest.json first. A repository checkout already contains it. Ordinary MCP and Skill use does not need this archive.

This revision does not establish easier use, effectiveness, adoption or operational performance. Public Preview remains the status. Practitioner correspondence is not controlled empirical validation. The historical rc.3 DOI must not be cited as the DOI for this preview.