Directive 1: Minimum Length (Hints & Answer)

Hint first (no full spoiler): The Committee wants more than a handful of characters; count them on your fingers if you must, then add one.

Directive 1 asks that your password contain at least 6 characters. The Vault Security Committee wishes to note, for the record, that this is the last reasonable request it will make.

If your password is shorter than 6 characters, the directive floats to the top of your form stamped DENIED. Add characters until it stops.

The full solution

Type six or more of anything. That is the entire solution. Some passing examples:

• potato (6 characters, APPROVED)
• abc123 (6 characters, APPROVED)
• Friday9!venus (13 characters, and it quietly satisfies several future directives too)

Characters are counted the way you perceive them. An emoji is 1 character. A space is 1 character. The game does not count bytes or code points, so a party popper emoji is one character, not four.

Since 29 more directives are coming, a smart opening move is to start with a base that will survive the next few checks. A weekday, a digit, a capital letter, and a special character will all be demanded shortly. Starting with something like Friday9! saves edits later.

What breaks later

Directive 1 itself never breaks. Once you have 6 characters, you will never fall below 6 again, because the game only piles on requirements that make your password longer. The Committee considers this its one act of mercy.

The counting rule, however, matters for the rest of the run:

• Directive 6 requires your total length to be a prime number, and it uses the same emoji-counts-as-1 arithmetic. Length stops being a formality and becomes a budget.
• Directive 2 and Directive 4 arrive fast, so any padding you add now might as well be digits and specials rather than random letters. Random letters become a liability in Act III when letter counts get capped.

The practical takeaway: do not fall in love with your opening password. It is scaffolding. By the vault, almost none of it will remain.

Pass 6 characters, receive your APPROVED stamp, and proceed. Fern the seedling has not been introduced yet. Enjoy that while it lasts.

Stuck on a different directive? Browse all 30 rule guides or return to the vault. Fern believes in you.