Sealed Mode makes the boundary harder to route around.
ZLAR governs actions that cross the gate. Sealed Mode is the deployment posture that makes more consequential capabilities cross the gate, and blocks the paths that do not.
The gate is necessary. It is not the whole deployment.
ZLAR gate
The deterministic decision point for routed actions.
Sandbox and egress
Deployment controls for paths outside the gate.
Keys and policy files
Read-only gate files and signing authority outside the agent.
Controlled shell and MCP
Consequential capabilities exposed through governed surfaces.
Receipts and reports
Records that explain what happened and where coverage ended.
Verifier and witnesses
External validation paths when the deployment needs them.
The code guarantees what it sees. Deployment decides what it sees.
The practical mission of a serious deployment is to make "routed" approach "all consequential paths." That is not a code property. It is the work of operating the agent inside a controlled environment.
Sealed Mode is the posture for teams that need the execution boundary to be visible, enforceable, and reviewable.
Disclosure
Sealed Mode is a deployment posture, not a magic perimeter. Any capability not routed through ZLAR and not blocked by surrounding controls remains outside ZLAR governance.