Biofirm is a research package for reproducible ecological control and bioregion research. Its safety model is deliberately conservative: offline by default, network access only under an explicit opt-in flag, and no credentials in artifacts.

• Offline by default. All commands except live research run without network access. Live research requires both an explicit --live flag and PERPLEXITY_API_KEY in the environment; it fails closed when either is missing.
• Official endpoint only. The default research endpoint is the official HTTPS provider endpoint. Custom endpoints require --allow-custom-endpoint and are intended only for trusted HTTPS-compatible providers; the CLI never sends credentials over insecure HTTP.
• No keys in artifacts or git. API keys are read from the environment only. .env is git-ignored and .env.example contains a placeholder. tools/verify_repository.py scans tracked files for credential patterns.
• Provenance over trust. Simulation artifacts carry a schema version, configuration snapshot, and configuration hash so consumers can validate the exact document they analyze. Structural validation establishes artifact integrity; it does not certify the factual quality of citations or research claims.

Please report suspected vulnerabilities privately via GitHub's private vulnerability reporting for this repository (Security tab) rather than a public issue. Include the affected command or module, a minimal reproduction, and any relevant artifact. Reports are acknowledged and triaged by the maintainers.

The --allow-custom-endpoint escape hatch exists for trusted providers; any proposal to weaken the offline-by-default or HTTPS-only guarantees should be raised as a security discussion before implementation.