- hashing.algorithm names the hash function in every document; a consumer refuses one it does not implement (doc.hash.algorithm)
- ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) is an implemented signature scheme: pure-Python reference in tools/oracle/mldsa.py checked against NIST ACVP vectors, a receipt signed by the new roster key dana, and signature vectors for key generation and a deterministic signature
- roster keys may carry a did:key, which the validator checks against the public key (doc.roster.did), and a witness purpose for parties that cosign log checkpoints
- model provenance: a correction's author and an annotation's generator name the model with provider, version and the hashes of its weights, prompt and parameters, and where it ran
- the transparency log gains the tlog-tiles static layout (fixtures/records/log/), a project settings.log with origin, witnesses and threshold, and an acceptance rule; the fixture checkpoint is cosigned by a witness
- store.sql: roster_keys accepts cose and ml-dsa-65 and gains a did column
- spec chapters 01, 08, 11, 18, 20 and 23, the rationale, glossary, fixture, vector and tool guides updated; stress harness covers ML-DSA
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Keys (spec/02 §2.4), the rule paperstack settled on:
- A work key is a Scholar-style citation key, a hyphen and the first four
Crockford base32 characters of SHA-256("scienting-key/1:" + identity),
where the identity is the first of doi, arxiv, isbn, pmid, pmcid and
openalex in same_as, else the folded title, year and family name. A
collision lengthens the later key by two characters; a key is minted
once and never recomputed. A document key adds .si, .v<seq> or .<type>
for versions other than the version of record.
- Every fixture key is now minted (hale2026harmonic-damb,
okafor2025solvent-acth, writer2027fixed-ynr7.v3, tiny2026tiny-j4qm), so
every node and record ID was re-minted and the docs rewritten to match.
The validator checks the document key against the work key and version
(doc.key.work) and the hash part against the identifier (doc.key.suffix).
vectors/keys.jsonl pins the cases paperstack's tests pin.
Review:
- Spot-check seeds are ECVRF-EDWARDS25519-SHA512-TAI proofs (RFC 9381),
implemented in tools/oracle/vrf.py in plain Python and reproduced
against the RFC's Example 16; the sample ranks by the VRF output. The
earlier Ed25519 seed could be ground by a dishonest checker.
- RFC 9162 inclusion and consistency proofs (crypto.inclusion_path,
verify_inclusion, consistency_proof, verify_consistency) with
scienting-proof/1, vectors/proofs.jsonl and two fixture records.
- document.json carries `history`, the root over the corrections, with
the empty-tree hash for none (spec/11 §11.5, rule doc.history).
- A provisional transparency log (spec/23): log entries, signed-note
checkpoints with key hashes as transparency logs share them, the rule
that a logged revocation beats a self-asserted time, and vectors.
- Reserved signature schemes cose and ml-dsa-65 (spec/08 §8.4).
Identifiers and text:
- urn:scienting: becomes tag:scient.ing,2026: (RFC 4151), since the URN
namespace was never registered.
- Unicode 16.0 is pinned for normalization and categories (spec/01 §1.4);
the checker refuses another version.
Checking:
- check.py: keys, proofs, VRF and checkpoint vectors; the proof and
checkpoint records; a check that every ID and hash the prose quotes
exists in the fixtures or vectors; three more broken packages
(history-wrong, key-suffix, key-work).
- stress.py: key, VRF, proof and checkpoint properties.
- Docs: a keys section in the concepts and FAQ, rationale entries for
keys, VRF, proofs, tag URIs and the Unicode pin, a "Looking ahead"
section, media-type registration and OCI distribution notes.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Features for the next six months (accessible HTML export, paperpack and
Lode on packages, the personal bundle):
- Zipped packages: the oracle writes and reads `.sct.zip` archives under
the rules of spec/12 §12.2; validate.py and load.py accept them; a
byte-identical zip of the tiny package joins the fixtures, and two
broken archives (traversal, symbolic link) join fixtures/invalid.
- The target set of targeted F3 (spec/08 §8.10) is computed by the
oracle and pinned by vectors/targets.jsonl under each digit rule; the
rule now covers cells as well as sentences and the leaves of anchored
containers, and defines a node's section.
- scienting-checklist/1 (provisional): a conformance check of an export,
covered by a receipt as ["checklist", id, hash] (spec/08 §8.11), with a
WCAG 2.1 AA fixture and its receipt.
- QA reports are signed like receipts (spec/08 §8.9).
- A `description` annotation body with role alt or long, so an
accessible export can find a confirmed figure description; the layer
fixture carries one, and the store's body-kind constraint allows it.
- scienting-spot-check/1, the seed payload, is registered with a schema.
- exercise, submission and grade are provisional until a course has
used them.
Audit fixes, each with a vector or a broken package where one was
missing:
- Folder packages: symbolic links are refused on validate and load,
manifest paths must not collide under case folding, listed files are
matched by exact name, files are hashed in chunks under a size limit.
- Files are compared byte for byte, so CR LF, a byte order mark, NaN,
a lone surrogate or invalid UTF-8 is refused instead of translated;
integers beyond 2^53 are read as doubles, as canonical JSON writes them.
- Receipts: signature.key must equal by and the key must be valid when
signed; a qa receipt's nodes must be the sample at the original's
hashes, its scope must name qa.of, its errors must be sampled nodes;
statuses are computed once, iteratively, so chains of spot-checks
hundreds deep settle; Base64 and manifest shape errors become refusals
instead of tracebacks; counts and the fidelity of roster-less packages
are recomputed.
- The gate enforces rule 11 of spec/11 §11.4: changed nodes are
validated against the node schema and the references between nodes
are checked, so a set to a bad value, an insert with unknown
properties or a delete of a referenced header cell is refused; a
relabel to null drops the label; a reclassify drops foreign
attributes; a split strips whitespace across runs; ids.jsonl order
follows spec/04 §4.4 in every state; a move after itself is refused.
- Anchors: the relabel rule requires that nothing else changed below the
node; an alias chain ending in a deletion no longer crashes resolve.
- Notation: a script after an empty group applies to the previous atom
({}^{14}C); letters are defined by Unicode block in spec/05 §5.4 and
the oracle; \left) is complex.
- Page fingerprints delete whitespace before folding, so "10 -20" and
"10-20" fold alike (spec/07 §7.1).
- Grades are summed with exact decimals; the reviewer error bound is
computed with integer arithmetic.
- receipts and revocations are keyed by (doc_key, id) in SQL, since one
revocation may be carried by several packages.
Checking:
- tools/stress.py: seeded randomized property tests over canonical JSON,
normalization, notation, random correction walks, anchor resolution,
Merkle roots, spot-check samples, error bounds, fingerprints, mutated
archives and packages, rights and spot-check chains; CI runs it.
- check.py verifies every count and version the prose states against
the repository, the zipped fixture and crafted archives, the checklist
coverage, and nine more broken packages.
- CONTRIBUTING.md gains a release checklist.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add tools/validate.py: validates packages, and with --correction runs
proposed corrections through the gate against a package without
writing anything (spec/11 §11.4). The gate now refuses a proposal that
fails the correction schema, rule correction.schema.
- tools/load.py validates every package before loading, and with
--bundle --built-from builds a scienting-bundle/1 with the FTS5 search
index and bundle_meta (spec/13 §13.5). Search rows are defined per
unit (sentence, cell, equation outside a sentence, figure-text) with
the parent kind as context.
- Roster keys carry a role, and a key with the role owner may revoke any
receipt (spec/08 §8.7, spec/20); roster schema, store table and the
fixture roster updated. The checker signs a trial revocation to prove
the rule both ways.
- A qa: receipt raises the nodes it sampled except those in its errors
(spec/08 §8.2); the example paper's fidelity counts become 27 F3,
13 F2, 4 F1 and 1 F0.
- The destination chooses the keyed scheme, not the text policy:
hmac-team between the team's machines, hkdf-pages outside the team
(spec/05 §5.8, spec/12 §12.5).
- A TextQuoteSelector must repeat the anchor's plain quote and is absent
for hashed or keyed anchors (spec/18 §18.3).
- Add fixtures/records/suspect.json, a scienting-suspect/1 record.
- Oracle: hashes are kept incrementally and checked after every
correction against a full recomputation; load and write refuse unsafe
manifest paths; Ed25519, HKDF and schema validation come from the
cryptography and jsonschema packages; canonical JSON uses the built-in
encoder with an exact RFC 8785 fallback.
- The tools need Python 3.14 with cryptography and jsonschema; the py310
CI environment is dropped and the workflow runs the default only.
- Resolve every [CHECK] note in the docs, READMEs and context; add
CONTRIBUTING.md; every tool answers --help and refuses unknown options.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
alexmandClaude