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What Is the SCP Foundation? A Beginner’s Guide to Its Canon, Classes, and Terms

The SCP Foundation is fiction at the heart of a collaborative wiki. Here’s how its canon, Object Classes, and common terminology work for new readers.
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The SCP Foundation is a fictional organization at the center of a collaborative writing wiki. In its stories, it investigates unusual phenomena, contains them, and tries to keep them secret from the public. You can start with a single story or a linked series: there is no master timeline you need to learn first.

What is the SCP Foundation?

The SCP Wiki is a collaborative fiction site, not a real organization. Its shared premise is that some things do not follow the ordinary rules of reality. Within that fiction, the Foundation studies those anomalies, develops ways to contain them, and conceals them from the public. The official Guide for Newcomers describes a site whose stories range from horror to humor, often told in a clinical, bureaucratic voice.

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The official FAQ gives the Foundation this in-universe description: “We are the last bastion of security in a world where natural laws rapidly break down.” It is fictional Foundation wording, not a statement by a real-world speaker.

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Is there one SCP canon, and where should you start?

No. The wiki has no single binding canon or required reading order. Some works share a universe, refer to one another, or form a series; others contradict them or take a different approach. Readers and writers may follow particular canons, but no one timeline has to reconcile every article.

Choose an article, reading guide, or series that interests you, then follow the references within that thread if you want more. The newcomer guide is designed for questions such as what the site is about and where to start. If a story establishes a term or rule of its own, read it in that story’s context rather than assuming every author uses it identically.

What do SCP and Special Containment Procedures mean?

The FAQ gives two expansions for SCP: “Special Containment Procedures” and “Secure. Contain. Protect.” The first refers to the procedures used in stories to control an anomaly and its effects; it also names the formal instructions commonly found in an SCP article. “Secure. Contain. Protect.” is the Foundation’s motto. “Skip” and “scip” are also used as informal slang for SCP.

What do the main Object Classes mean?

Object Class is not a danger score. The official Object Classes guide explains that a class is chiefly a rough indication of how difficult an anomaly is to contain. In the fiction, it can also inform containment needs, research priorities, and budgeting. A harmless anomaly might be hard to contain, while a dangerous one might be reliably secured.

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Class What it generally signals What it does not mean
Safe It can be contained easily and reliably. It does not necessarily mean harmless. Handling or activating it may still be dangerous.
Euclid Containment is less certain, often because the anomaly is poorly understood or unpredictable. Autonomous or sapient anomalies are generally treated as Euclid because they can act independently. It is not simply a middle level on a danger scale.
Keter It is exceedingly difficult to contain consistently or reliably, often requiring extensive or complex procedures. It does not, by itself, mean more dangerous than a Safe or Euclid anomaly.
Thaumiel The Foundation uses it to contain other SCPs; its existence and details are highly classified within the fictional setting. It is distinguished by its purpose, not just by containment difficulty or danger.

A useful way to compare these classes is to ask how reliably an anomaly can be contained, how predictable or well understood it is, and whether it serves a containment purpose. Safe versus Euclid often turns on reliability and uncertainty; Euclid versus Keter on the degree of containment difficulty. Thaumiel describes a different role. For related practical guidance, the SCP writing guide explicitly distinguishes containment difficulty from the danger an anomaly would pose if it escaped.

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These four are only a starting point. The SCP Tagging Guide lists other standard and esoteric classes, including Apollyon, Archon, Cernunnos, Ticonderoga, Neutralized, Decommissioned, and Pending. Articles may use multiple or esoteric classes, and a class can change in an article’s final version.

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What do common SCP terms mean?

  • Anomaly / anomalous: In the fictional premise, something that does not follow the known rules of reality.
  • Mobile Task Force (MTF): A specialized unit sent to handle particular threats or conditions. Teams can range from paramilitary units to specialist researchers.
  • Group of Interest (GoI): A group outside the Foundation that deals with anomalous matters.
  • D-Class: A recurring fictional personnel designation. Its origin, treatment, and fate vary between stories because the wiki has no centralized canon.
  • Infohazard: Information that is dangerous to know or encounter. The glossary distinguishes it from a cognitohazard, which requires direct contact.

This is a beginner’s glossary, not a guarantee that every story uses every term in precisely the same way. The Guide Hub links to official reader and writing resources if you want to explore further.

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