GITHUNTER is for authorized research. Scope is explicit and default status is UNKNOWN. Importing or observing an asset never grants authorization. Commands that attach active research work to UNKNOWN or OUT_OF_SCOPE assets warn clearly; no feature bypasses access controls.

• No network, shell, scanner, payload, or external-tool execution in MVP.
• Configuration rejects secret-like fields; credentials, cookies, tokens, and passwords are not persisted.
• Evidence is private/local by default; source file paths are validated, opened read-only, hashed, MIME-sniffed, and copied as data only.
• Reject absolute destination paths, traversal segments, symlinks escaping repository roots, and unsafe filenames.

• SHA-256 object names are recomputed on read by doctor and backup verification.
• Parameterized SQL, foreign keys, migrations, input-size limits, strict parsers, and allowlisted enum states are mandatory.
• Atomic filesystem writes and SQLite transactions prevent partial state. A crash may leave an unreferenced object, which doctor reports safely.
• Errors redact database internals and avoid leaking evidence paths unless the user requested diagnostics.

Local machine compromise, full-disk theft, and malicious files exploiting OS viewers require OS-level controls. GITHUNTER will not auto-open evidence or claim encryption at rest.