Cato began in the repository with an unusually firm boundary. The product would be organized around a temporary Capsule, not a general chatbot. The first definition set describes a Capsule as a self-contained package of user-provided material for one event or task. Storage, preparation, retrieval, answering, citations, transfer, archiving, and deletion were all expected to follow that boundary.
That decision also produced a clear list of non-goals. Cato would not search the web, become a permanent personal knowledge base, take autonomous actions, or depend on a cloud service for its primary promise. The intended mental model was closer to packing a briefing binder than training or owning an assistant.
The early architecture followed from the product idea. The iPhone would carry and use Capsules offline. A focused Mac companion would prepare heavier source sets locally. A portable package would connect them without requiring account-based synchronization.
This entry records the repository's initial product definitions. It does not establish an external launch, a user-validated market need, or a published origin story.
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