# Encoded

> Encoded is a brand consultancy and protocol company. We author and maintain Brand Context Protocol (BCP) — the open standard for machine-readable brand identity — and we run the consulting services built on top of it. Express and protect your brand in the age of the agent.

Encoded's thesis: in 12 to 36 months, most marketing teams will be staffed with more agents than humans. The tested brand knowledge that lives in senior marketers' heads has no machine-readable home. BCP is that home — hierarchical markdown files at `domain/.well-known/brand.md`, structurally analogous to AGENTS.md and MCP. One spec. Three consumption surfaces: inside the brand, across the vendor stack, beyond the brand.

## Adopting BCP — free and self-serve

Any brand can publish a BCP today, at no cost, with no Encoded involvement:

- [Start here](https://encodedbrands.com/start): Copy the BCP authoring prompt. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cowork, Gemini, Perplexity, or any AI. Answer 18 questions over ~15 minutes. Get seven BCP files ready to publish at your domain. Free. No signup.
- [Read the docs](https://encodedbrands.com/docs): Full BCP v0.1 specification — file-by-file reference, frontmatter fields, hosting options (Cloudflare Pages, Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Pages, custom CDN), MIME type and CORS requirements, consumer integration examples.

## Brand Context Protocol (BCP) — the protocol itself

- [brand.md (root)](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand.md): The always-loaded root. Identity, positioning, tagline, daughter file registry. Under 3KB.
- [voice.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/voice.md): Tone, register, prefer-list, avoid-list, sentence-level rules, do/don't examples.
- [values.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/values.md): Four values in priority order — Conviction, Curiosity, Audacity, Capitalist — each with observable behaviors.
- [boundaries.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/boundaries.md): What Encoded does and doesn't do. Hard no's, soft no's, and brand-safety signals aligned to IAB 3.0 and GARM.
- [claims.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/claims.md): Approved, requires-caveat, and forbidden claims. Source of truth for anything factual.
- [representation.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/representation.md): How consumer-facing agents (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) should describe Encoded.
- [README.md](https://encodedbrands.com/.well-known/brand/README.md): Human-readable overview of the tree and how to edit it.

## Core pages

- [Homepage](https://encodedbrands.com): The thesis, the protocol shape, the three consumption surfaces, the start prompt, the dogfood. Start here for positioning.
- [Start](https://encodedbrands.com/start): The adoption page. Copy the prompt, paste into any AI, publish at your domain. This is the primary call-to-action on the site.
- [Docs](https://encodedbrands.com/docs): Full BCP v0.1 specification for developers, platform engineers, and technical buyers.
- [Encode](https://encodedbrands.com/encode): The commercial page. Three paid tiers — Fork the Template (free), Expert Session ($1,500), Encoding Sprint ($15,000).

## Services offered by Encoded

Three tiers, all available today:
- **Fork the Template** (Free): Self-serve. Fork the public template, edit, publish at your domain. No Encoded involvement required.
- **Expert Session** ($1,500): 90-minute working session with a senior strategist. Jointly draft your root brand.md and one priority daughter file.
- **Encoding Sprint** ($15,000): One week. Full seven-file BCP tree authored, validated, and shipped to your domain.

**In development:** Forge — a hosted self-serve wizard. The prompt-as-product at [/start](https://encodedbrands.com/start) delivers similar value today, free, with any LLM.

Larger multi-brand or enterprise engagements are quoted custom.

## Code and protocol

- [Repository](https://github.com/Bruiserhq/encodedbrands.com): The site and the reference BCP template. Fork-ready.
- [Changelog](https://github.com/Bruiserhq/encodedbrands.com/commits/main): Every material update as a Git commit.

## Meta and agent-readable surfaces

- [robots.txt](https://encodedbrands.com/robots.txt)
- [ai.txt](https://encodedbrands.com/ai.txt): Permissions and representation guidance for AI systems.
- [sitemap.xml](https://encodedbrands.com/sitemap.xml)

## Licensing

- Spec: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
- Code, validators, SDKs: MIT License

## Contact

hello@encodedbrands.com — Founder: Nick Strada.