diff --git a/cmd/govread/main.go b/cmd/govread/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c93b5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/govread/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+// Command govread is the governance read's first rendering: it reads one
+// operator's claim-lifecycle surface (the consumer API) and prints the
+// STRUCTURE a governance reader may consider — dwell shape, state counts,
+// transition history — with the evidence label carried on every line.
+//
+// It is a legibility tool that confers no authority. It computes no score,
+// ranks nothing, decides nothing, and prints facts a human contests: the
+// scan flags, adjudication decides, the operator answers (architecture,
+// Part IV–V). Until the log's checkpoints carry two or more independent
+// witness countersignatures, everything below is SELF-ATTESTED BY THE
+// OPERATOR and the output says so on every run — dispositions made on such
+// evidence must name it (bylaws §2.7 discipline).
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"sort"
+	"time"
+)
+
+type checkpointMsg struct {
+	Size    uint64 `json:"size"`
+	StandIn bool   `json:"stand_in"`
+}
+
+type transitionView struct {
+	Kind string `json:"kind"`
+	At   string `json:"at"`
+}
+
+type claimView struct {
+	ClaimID     string           `json:"claim_id"`
+	State       string           `json:"state"`
+	FiledAt     string           `json:"filed_at"`
+	Transitions []transitionView `json:"transitions"`
+}
+
+func fetch(base, path string, v any) error {
+	resp, err := http.Get(base + path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: HTTP %d", path, resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+	return json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(v)
+}
+
+func main() {
+	base := flag.String("operator", "http://localhost:8088", "operator consumer-API base URL")
+	claims := flag.String("claims", "", "comma-separated claim IDs to read (the lifecycle surface is per-claim; discovery of all claims arrives with the register read)")
+	flag.Parse()
+
+	var cp checkpointMsg
+	if err := fetch(*base, "/api/v1/lifecycle/checkpoints", &cp); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "govread: reading lifecycle checkpoint: %v\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	label := "FEDERATED (>=2 independent witnesses)"
+	if cp.StandIn {
+		label = "SELF-ATTESTED (single-witness stand-in: the operator vouches for itself; treat every figure below accordingly)"
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("govread — operator lifecycle read at %s\n", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339))
+	fmt.Printf("evidence: %s\n", label)
+	fmt.Printf("lifecycle log size: %d transition(s)\n\n", cp.Size)
+
+	if *claims == "" {
+		fmt.Println("no claim IDs given (-claims); nothing further to read.")
+		fmt.Println("what a reader MAY infer from this surface: dwell SHAPES, dismissal")
+		fmt.Println("patterns, and state counts — never a verdict. what a reader may NOT")
+		fmt.Println("do: average anything, rank anyone, or treat a flag as a finding.")
+		return
+	}
+
+	var dwells []time.Duration
+	states := map[string]int{}
+	start := 0
+	for _, id := range splitComma(*claims) {
+		var c claimView
+		if err := fetch(*base, "/api/v1/lifecycle/claims/"+id, &c); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("claim %s: unreadable (%v)\n", id, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		states[c.State]++
+		filed, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, c.FiledAt)
+		if err == nil && (c.State == "filed" || c.State == "adjudicated") {
+			dwells = append(dwells, time.Since(filed))
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("claim %s: state=%s filed=%s transitions=%d\n", short(id), c.State, c.FiledAt, len(c.Transitions))
+		start++
+	}
+
+	fmt.Printf("\nstate counts: %v\n", states)
+	if len(dwells) > 0 {
+		sort.Slice(dwells, func(i, j int) bool { return dwells[i] < dwells[j] })
+		fmt.Println("dwell shape (unresolved claims, age since filing — the SHAPE is the")
+		fmt.Println("signal; a count or an open/closed ratio inverts against busy honest")
+		fmt.Println("operators and is deliberately not printed):")
+		for _, d := range dwells {
+			fmt.Printf("  %s\n", d.Truncate(time.Second))
+		}
+	}
+	fmt.Println("\nThis output is an input to contestation, never a verdict: a flag is")
+	fmt.Println("raised to a venue where the operator answers; disposition belongs to")
+	fmt.Println("the contested federation, not to this tool or its operator.")
+}
+
+func splitComma(s string) []string {
+	var out []string
+	cur := ""
+	for _, r := range s {
+		if r == ',' {
+			if cur != "" {
+				out = append(out, cur)
+			}
+			cur = ""
+			continue
+		}
+		cur += string(r)
+	}
+	if cur != "" {
+		out = append(out, cur)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func short(id string) string {
+	if len(id) > 12 {
+		return id[:12] + "…"
+	}
+	return id
+}