LinearAutoDestroy: Enforcing Mandatory Value Destruction Through Semantic Type Design

A software design concept called LinearAutoDestroy proposes that sensitive values requiring post-use destruction should have that behavior built into their type, rather than relying on manual developer actions. The idea addresses a common source of bugs and security vulnerabilities: the assumption that programmers will always remember to invalidate, revoke, or clean up values after use. LinearAutoDestroy is defined as a Semantic Behavior Type, meaning it encodes an obligatory lifecycle rule — a value can be used only once, after which it is automatically destroyed or made inaccessible. The approach contrasts with low-level language conventions that grant full control to the programmer but also place full responsibility on them for cleanup rituals like defer, drop, or close. By embedding destruction as a type-level property, the design aims to make security-critical behavior deterministic and non-optional, reducing human error.