# Nomads

A **Nomad** is a person using the OpenYield mesh through a **Reach** — the
protocol-level identity a Holder uses to act on the mesh without a
custodian, a gatekeeper, or a legacy financial position. The Nomad path
is the entry path: a Nomad is a Holder who has a Reach and a [Stash](stash.md)
and is on the way to earning the four Freeholder signals, but has not yet
earned all four.

## The Nomad path

The pages here cover what a Nomad does day-to-day on the mesh:

- [Reach](reach.md) — the identity; the first Freeholder signal (REQ-005).
- [Stash](stash.md) — the personal [Storage Pool](../shared/storage-pools.md)
  where a Nomad holds Bread (REQ-014).
- [Bearers](bearers.md) — how a Nomad reaches the mesh (REQ-019): Internet,
  OY-BLE, OY-WiFi-Direct, OY-LR live now; OY-SAT and OY-QR coming.
- [Maps & Pay](maps-pay.md) — finding services and paying for them.
- [Pacts](pacts.md) — the six contract shapes a Nomad encounters
  (REQ-020): Pause, Ground, Stance, Cover, Stand Registry, Hub API.
- [Standing](standing.md) — the Bayesian anti-gaming metric (REQ-006),
  and why the mesh cannot be gamed.
- [Window](window.md) — the delegation primitive (REQ-015): scope,
  duration, rate-limit, audit-log, revoke.

## Where a Nomad starts

A Nomad starts with a Reach and a Stash — that is enough to begin. From
there the bearers carry value to the Stash, Maps finds services, Pay and
the Window let a Nomad use them without giving up custody, and Standing
accrues as the Nomad acts. A Nomad who earns the 90-day Stash signal, the
Standing threshold, the Capital signal, and the Vouch signal becomes a
Freeholder (see the Freeholders section).

## Shared concepts

The Nomad path rests on the [shared concepts](../shared/index.md): the
[Six Principles](../shared/six-principles.md), the [Bread scale](../shared/bread-scale.md),
the [Storage Pools](../shared/storage-pools.md), the [Watchers & Mirror](../shared/watchers-mirror.md),
and the [Lexicon](../shared/lexicon.md). The covenant is the same for
every audience; the Nomad pages describe how it shows up in everyday use.