Signal State Core
A daily, stimulant-free concept designed to support focus, mental clarity, and stress-resilient productivity — built on transparent doses and an evidence-led ingredient rationale.
Who it's for
Core is a single stimulant-free formula, not a personalized blend — but different work puts weight on different actives. Here's how the same formula maps to the way your days actually run, with the evidence one click away.
The day is one or two long, demanding blocks — writing, engineering, analysis — where the goal is settled, sustained attention, and a caffeine spike-and-crash cycle works against you.
The day is context-switching under pressure — decisions, meetings, fires — where the failure mode is stress-related fatigue by mid-afternoon rather than a lack of raw focus.
The work is reading, retaining, and recalling over weeks — a semester or a research cycle — plus long same-day study blocks that reward staying settled and attentive.
Studied roles, not promised outcomes — every grade and dose is on the ingredient page.
Compare us to anything
We publish the same checklist we expect to be judged by. Put Core — or any competitor — against it.
Cell and rodent studies are a starting point, not proof of an effect in people.
Citing a study is not the same as delivering its dose. We walk through a real, fully sourced label-versus-study comparison in The Signal.
A blend that hides milligrams per ingredient can't be evaluated at all.
A credible product tells you who should be careful, not just who it's for.
Formulation principles
Inclusion follows role, studied dose, safety profile, evidence quality, and whether the supporting language survives review. Nothing gets in on label appeal alone.
Designed around focus and clarity without leaning on stimulant positioning or a caffeine crash.
Dose transparency is a core trust principle and should be visible in every product communication.
Ingredient inclusion follows a clear rationale: role, dose, safety, evidence, and compliant claims.
Copy stays truthful and review-ready. No disease-treatment claims, no invented testing or approvals.
See the full standard applied — including what didn't make the formula — in the Evidence Explorer.
Cognitive actives
The working v1 direction — five stimulant-free cognitive actives, each disclosed at its own studied dose with no proprietary blend. Not a final formula: doses and claims remain subject to manufacturing and regulatory review. Each links to a full The Signal breakdown with evidence grade, studied doses, cautions, and label guidance.
An amino acid found in tea leaves. It is studied for promoting a calm, settled kind of attention without sedation, which fits a stimulant-free focus direction.
Read the full breakdown
A choline-donating compound the body uses in cell-membrane and neurotransmitter pathways. It is studied as a focus and mental-energy ingredient.
Read the full breakdownA traditional herb standardized for compounds called bacosides. It is studied mainly for memory and learning over sustained daily use, not for same-day effects.
Read the full breakdownAn adaptogenic herb standardized for rosavins and salidroside. Its studied benefit is narrow: reducing stress-related mental fatigue and helping sustain output during genuinely demanding stretches (night shifts, exam load) — not lifting baseline performance in a rested, unstressed adult.
Read the full breakdown
A phospholipid that is part of cell membranes, including in the brain. Its most persuasive memory trials used a bovine-cortex source in memory-impaired older adults; modern soy- and sunflower-derived PS — what this and every current supplement actually contains — has not cleared that same bar.
Read the full breakdownFoundational base layer
Vitamin D3 and a B-complex are included for their own well-established foundational roles — vitamin D status and normal nervous-system function. They are a base layer, not cognitive actives, and they do not carry a cognition claim.
The nervous-system B vitamins — B6, folate, and B12 — support normal neurological and psychological function and normal nutrient metabolism. Measurable cognitive benefit is strongest where baseline status is low or homocysteine is elevated (typically older adults); it is limited in young, well-nourished people.
Read the full breakdownA foundational fat-soluble nutrient, not a same-day nootropic. There is no reliable evidence it sharpens focus in people who already have adequate levels, but low vitamin D status is common at Canadian latitudes in winter and is associated with poorer cognition — so it fits as foundational "status insurance," not a cognitive active.
Read the full breakdownEarly access
Waitlist members get formulation updates, ingredient research, and first access at launch.