Met Guard

Met Guard

Hunker down behind a hardened front; the sides stay open.

What This Skill Does

Use Met Guard when a single attack vector needs hardening and you can accept that protection only covers one face. Inspired by the Mettaur's helmet: tough from the front, exposed everywhere else. In this chip pack, Met Guard is treated as a hybrid battle-chip procedure with a shipping-now delivery profile. Canonical reference input: Met Guard. Hermes shelf: Defense and Recovery.

When To Use

• A specific interface, endpoint, or input channel needs hardening against a known threat vector.
• You can clearly identify which direction attacks come from and are willing to leave other faces unguarded.
• Omnidirectional protection is too expensive or unnecessary; a focused shield buys enough time to act.

Prerequisites

• Name which part of this move is real tool use versus battle-chip framing before you act.
• These procedures rely on the normal tools already present in the active Hermes runtime; this repo does not ship a separate integration layer.

Procedure

1. Restate the target, success condition, and no-touch boundaries before you spend the chip.
2. Identify the one direction or surface that needs hardening and name the threat vector explicitly.
3. Place the lightest viable guard on that face: input validation, rate limit, auth gate, or firewall rule.
4. Document which faces are now protected and which remain exposed.
5. Package the result with concrete evidence, what stayed untouched, and the next recommended chip only if follow-up is truly needed.

Deliverables

• A directional guard, gate, or hardened surface applied to one attack vector.
• A brief facing diagram: what is shielded, what is not, and what that means for the operator.

Pitfalls / Guardrails

• Keep the theatrical framing, but name the concrete mechanism that makes the chip useful right now.
• Met Guard protects exactly one face. Do not assume coverage extends to sides, rear, or lateral surfaces.
• A directional shield is not a security audit. It buys time; it does not eliminate the threat.
• If you cannot articulate which direction the threat comes from, reassess before deploying.
• Keep the chip metaphor anchored to a real operating move; do not let flavor substitute for procedure.

Verification

• Check that the response includes every promised deliverable and leaves an inspectable audit trail.
• Check that confirmed facts, assumptions, and proposed follow-up are visibly separated.
• Check which parts are concrete actions versus framing, so the operator can tell what is real now.

Example Invocation

/met-guard harden one specific attack surface with the lightest viable protection, then document exactly where the shield faces and where the blind spots remain