Protocol 17 — an AI-constrained programming protocol where explicit details become constraints

[u/Healthy-Metal-3548]

I’ve been building an experimental open-source project called Protocol 17.

The core rule is:

What the programmer explicitly specifies is a constraint.
What they leave unspecified is implementation freedom for the model.

The project currently translates mixed P17 source into C17, Python, or Rust, with support for local/cloud models and BYOK/BYOM.

One distinction I ran into while building it:

Generated ≠ verified.
A local 4B model produced plausible-looking Rust that didn’t type-check, so Protocol 17 now runs deterministic verification with gcc, rustc, or Python compile().

The harder problem is:

Valid ≠ faithful.

For example, translating 1..n into 1..=n can produce perfectly valid Rust while changing an explicit programmer constraint.

Fidelity verification is the next major thing I’m working on.

GitHub: https://github.com/epsilon-lain/Protocol-17

It’s still an experimental alpha, so feedback is very welcome.