governance: core-team-only contribution policy + CODEOWNERS

Only authorized core-team members contribute. Unsolicited external PRs (branding/
attribution, dependency, CI/workflow) are closed; no third-party attribution or
brand strings; fork CI is never approved to run. CODEOWNERS gates all changes on
maintainer review.

Author: arham766

.github/CODEOWNERS

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Fortress is maintained by the core team. All changes require the maintainer's
+# review. External / unsolicited contributions are not accepted — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
+* @arham766

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,90 +1,26 @@
 # Contributing to Fortress
 
-Fortress is a stealth Chromium engine that corrects fingerprint surfaces in the browser's **C++**,
-then exposes raw CDP on `http://localhost:9222` as a drop-in for Playwright and Puppeteer. This
-guide covers how to report a detection and how to get a change merged.
-
-## The single most valuable contribution
-
-**A page that reliably flags Fortress.** A minimal, reproducible detector — a URL or short script
-that separates Fortress from real Chrome — is worth more than any feature. Open an issue with the
-**Detection vector** template.
-
-Before filing, sanity-check it is a **fingerprint** issue and not an **IP** one: roughly 90% of
-"it got blocked" reports are the datacenter IP getting flagged before any page script runs. Re-run
-through a residential or mobile proxy first — if it clears, the fingerprint was fine. See rule 4 in
-[AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md).
-
-## Two house rules
-
-1. **Every claim ships with a way to reproduce it.** A patch that changes a surface comes with the
-   command or test page that shows the before/after.
-2. **Every limitation is written down.** If a patch is partial, say so in the patch header and the
-   docs. The word *undetectable* stays out of this project — we correct specific, named surfaces.
-
-## How the patch set is organized
-
-Fortress is a set of source patches applied to a pinned Chromium checkout (`CHROMIUM_VERSION`), not
-a runtime library.
-
-- **`patches/`** — one patch per file, numbered, **single-surface**. `0002`/`0003` are the
-  `base::UxrConfig` singleton every override reads from; the rest each touch one place.
-- **`patches/series`** — the apply order. **A patch not listed here is silently skipped** by
-  `build/apply-patches.sh`, so always add your patch to `series`.
-- **`build/apply-patches.sh`** applies the series onto a Chromium `src/`.
-- **`tools/gauntlet.py`** — the live detection harness (CreepJS / Sannysoft / BrowserScan).
-- **`tools/verify_release.py <tag>`** — checks a published release is internally consistent:
-  every expected bundle asset is present and `SHA256SUMS` matches the SDK tables. Runs
-  automatically when a release is published; run it locally with `--full` to re-hash assets.
-
-Full build instructions: [docs/BUILD_NATIVE.md](docs/BUILD_NATIVE.md). Expect a multi-hour first
-compile; incremental rebuilds after a one-line patch are minutes.
-
-### The de-branded switch prefix — do not rename it
-
-Runtime overrides are exposed as `--uxr-*` flags read through `base::UxrConfig`. That prefix is
-intentional and **must stay `uxr`** — a neutral token so the binary carries no product string a
-detector could match. A new surface means a new `--uxr-<surface>` flag; never a `--fortress-*` /
-`--tilion-*` flag, and never a brand string literal baked into the binary.
-
-## Before you open a PR — run the checks
-
-CI runs these on every PR; run them locally first (`make check`):
-
-```bash
-python tools/check_patches.py      # patch-set integrity (series, numbering, single-surface, uxr-only)
-python -m pytest sdk/python/tests -q
-```
-
-Optionally install the git hooks so they run automatically:
-
-```bash
-pip install pre-commit && pre-commit install
-```
-
-Markdown links and badges in `README.md` and `docs/` are verified by the **links** workflow
-([lychee](https://github.com/lycheeverse/lychee-action)) — on PRs that touch a `*.md` file and on
-a weekly schedule. A hard 404 fails the job. If an external host merely rate-limits the CI crawler,
-add it to [`.lycheeignore`](.lycheeignore) rather than leaving the check red.
-
-## Submitting a change
-
-1. **Open an issue first** for anything beyond a typo, so we can agree on the surface and approach.
-2. **Branch** from `main`, focused on one surface / one fix.
-3. **One patch per file, single-surface**, and add it to `patches/series`.
-4. **Verify** with `tools/gauntlet.py`; paste the before/after into the PR.
-5. **Rebase, don't merge** — `git fetch && git rebase origin/main` before pushing. The patch set is
-   rebased monthly onto new Chromium; a linear history keeps that sane.
-
-Docs, examples, the gauntlet, packaging, and the SDKs do **not** require a Chromium build — a great
-place to start.
-
-## Security
-
-A page that *fingerprints* Fortress is not a security issue — file it in the open. A crash, sandbox
-escape, or host leak **is** — report it privately per [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md).
-
-## Licensing
-
-Fortress is BSD-3-Clause (a Chromium derivative — see [LICENSE](LICENSE) and [NOTICE](NOTICE)). By
-contributing, you agree your contribution is licensed under the same terms.
+Fortress is built and maintained by its **core team**. To protect the stealth
+engine's invariants and keep the supply chain trustworthy, contributions are
+accepted **only from authorized core-team members**.
+
+## Policy
+
+- **Unsolicited external pull requests are not accepted and will be closed.**
+  This explicitly includes branding / attribution / "brand refresh" PRs,
+  dependency-bump PRs, and CI / GitHub Actions workflow PRs from non-team accounts.
+- **No third-party attribution, badges, or brand strings** may be added to this
+  repository. Fortress is not affiliated with, and is not "built" or "maintained
+  by," any outside party.
+- **CI / GitHub Actions from forks is never approved to run**, and workflow files
+  are only added by the core team.
+- **Core-team members** coordinate with the maintainer before opening a PR. Any
+  test change needing elevated permissions (CI secrets, publishing, infra) must be
+  authorized in advance.
+- Changes to `patches/`, the SDK, packaging, and `.github/workflows/` require
+  maintainer review — see [.github/CODEOWNERS](.github/CODEOWNERS).
+
+## Bug reports
+
+Anyone may open an **issue** for a genuine bug or question. Code, however, lands
+only through the core team.