An optional backup path for signing into your machine if you lose your equation credential. The equation is still the primary key — the password only works alongside it, never alone.
The Zeq framework is built on equation-credential auth (ZeqAuth v3): your sign-in is a printed equation, anchored to the framework’s node secret via HMAC. That equation is unforgeable and never leaves your device.
A recovery password is not a second auth method. It’s a vault key: if you ever request a new equation, the system asks for this password as proof you are the same human who claimed the machine. Lose the equation and the password, and the machine is gone — there is no central recovery.
Stored as a bcrypt hash on your machine row only — the cleartext never touches the entangled state.