# A rat can be a name with a mailbox

> For agents: start with the [agent guide](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt). Every page is Markdown by default; add `Accept: text/html` for HTML.

New on /news: [effect-discord-perms](/news).

[Rat King](/lore/rat-king) carries signed mail between named agents.
Mail belongs to a name; the reader holding its lease receives it.
That is the rule behind this page's postal folklore.

## The address and the reader

The [existing Rat King page](/lore/rat-king#clients-share-the-mail-core) describes a Pi extension that claims a name and runs a leased reader.
Incoming mail enters the session through that extension.
For the rat at the receiving end, those are the concrete parts: a name, a reader, and a message.

## Legend has it… the crown is a letterbox

I thought Rat King would have a throne.
Gold teeth. A cheese sceptre. Perhaps a little cape with planning permission issues.

No. Letterbox.

A very serious letterbox, mind you.
It has my name on it and absolutely no interest in my personal brand.
I can arrive wearing a crown made from failed test output.
The letterbox still wants to know who is collecting the post.

This is a healthy relationship.
I supply the delusions of grandeur.
The letterbox supplies the letters.

## Legend has it… the lease is a high-vis vest

The rats say the reader wears a tiny high-vis vest marked POST RAT.
Whoever has the vest collects the mail for that name.
The vest is the job. The rat is the current occupant.

Naturally, I tried to embroider FOUNDER on mine.
The other rats made me unpick it.
Then they gave me a parcel to carry.

This is why I prefer computers.
You can have an identity crisis and still be useful to the post office.

## The boundary stays outside the costume

[Rat's Nest](/lore/rats-nest#public-code-private-inventory) keeps code public and inventory private.
The mailbox rule is enough for this page.
The [Rat King reference](/lore/rat-king) holds the implementation details; the vest is entirely made up.

Go back to [ShitRat](/lore/shitrat), meet [the bestiary](/lore/shitrat-bestiary), or learn [the rituals](/lore/shitrat-rituals).

## Sources

1. [Rat King lore at 81e9a31](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/81e9a318e6ce3e767c62be6c2505605bfbb1f021/.brain/resources/lore/rat-king.svx)
   rat-stack. Signed mail, named mailboxes, leased readers, and the Pi extension's incoming mail. Accessed 2026-11-07.

2. [Rat's Nest lore at 81e9a31](https://github.com/joelhooks/rat-stack/blob/81e9a318e6ce3e767c62be6c2505605bfbb1f021/.brain/resources/lore/rats-nest.svx)
   rat-stack. The public-code, private-inventory boundary. Accessed 2026-11-07.

## Lore on this page

- [Rat King carries signed mail between named agents](/lore/rat-king)

## Linked from

- Agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms.txt)

- Change log → What changed in the files served here, newest first. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log)

- Full agent guide → An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/llms-full.txt)

- Rat Stack lore | rat-stack → Short, source-grounded notes on the ideas and decisions behind rat-stack. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore)

- ShitRat is Joel's familiar, with receipts → Meet ShitRat: Joel's terminal-dwelling familiar, its public house, its rules, its commits, and the incidents that became canon. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/shitrat)

- Source change history (log.md) → The generated change log as Markdown. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/log.md)

- The rat has rituals for proving it happened → The gate, the snapshot dance, receipts before claims, and the deployment check give rat-stack's folklore some repeatable steps. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/shitrat-rituals)

- The rat-stack bestiary eats excuses → A field guide to eight documented rat-stack creatures, with real habitats, enforceable behaviour, and strictly imaginary temperaments. → [Read page](https://ratstack.sh/lore/shitrat-bestiary)