Audience: All implementors, reviewers, certifiers, and auditors of the AGTS specification suite
Classification: Normative vocabulary — no protocol behavior is defined here
Preamble
This document defines the normative terminology used across the Autonomous Governance Transparency Standard (AGTS) specification suite. All specifications in the AGTS suite — AGTS-0 through AGTS-12 — MUST use terms as defined in this document. Where a term was previously defined in either the RTR Protocol Suite or the OSCP Protocol Suite, its AGTS definition supersedes the source-suite definition for all AGTS-conforming implementations.
1. Normative Language
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, and MAY are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
| Primitive | Definition |
|---|---|
| Hash function | SHA256(x) refers to the SHA-256 algorithm as defined in FIPS 180-4. Implementations MUST NOT substitute SHA-224, SHA-512/256, or any truncated variant without an explicit version identifier distinguishing the output namespace. |
| Canonical JSON | canonical_json(x) refers to the JSON Canonicalization Scheme as defined in RFC 8785. Keys sorted lexicographically by Unicode code point; no insignificant whitespace; UTF-8 encoding; no trailing commas. Implementations MUST produce byte-identical output for the same input object. |
| Signature algorithm | Sign(x) for log operator and authority signatures MUST use one of: Ed25519 (RFC 8032) — recommended for new deployments; ECDSA P-256 / SHA-256 (FIPS 186-5) — acceptable for enterprise environments. RSA and non-P-256 ECDSA are prohibited for STHs and Governance Envelopes. |
2. Suite Identity
| Suite | Definition |
|---|---|
| AGTS | The Autonomous Governance Transparency Standard. Integrates the RTR Protocol Suite (governance) and OSCP Protocol Suite (transparency) into a single coherent standard for measurable, validated, cryptographically recorded, and independently verifiable autonomous system governance.
AGTS = RTR (governance) + OSCP (transparency)
|
| RTR Protocol Suite | The source governance specification, comprising RTR-CAP (capability measurement), RTR-GOV (governance validation), and RTR-CONFORMANCE (certification). |
| OSCP Protocol Suite | ObligationSign Core Protocol. The source transparency specification, comprising OSCP-0 through OSCP-8 and OSCP-TERMS. Within AGTS, OSCP content is incorporated into AGTS-3 through AGTS-8. |
3. Protocol Layers
| Layer | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Governance Layer | Measurement and validation of autonomous system updates |
| Envelope Layer | Packaging governance artifacts for transparency admission |
| Transparency Layer | Append-only recording of governance artifacts |
| Verification Layer | Independent checking of log integrity |
| Trust Policy Layer | Client-side trust decisions |
4. Selected Key Terms
The most-referenced terms across all five protocol layers. The complete vocabulary (~80 terms) is published at GitHub.
| Term | Definition | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability Measurement (RTR Layer) | |||||||||||||||||
| Task Probability Space | The triple (T, 𝒜, 𝒟) where T is the task domain, 𝒜 is the action space, and 𝒟 is the declared deployment distribution over T. The deployment distribution MUST be explicitly declared before any capability measurement is performed. | ||||||||||||||||
| Capability Functional | Cap(S; 𝒟) = 𝔼τ∼𝒟[P(S, τ)] — the expected performance of system state S under deployment distribution 𝒟. | ||||||||||||||||
| Tail-Robust Capability | Capβ(S; 𝒟) — expected performance over the worst (1−β) fraction of the deployment distribution. The tail parameter β ∈ (0,1) MUST be declared in the Evaluation Configuration. | ||||||||||||||||
| Transparency Layer (OSCP Layer) | |||||||||||||||||
| Canonical Leaf | The immutable, hash-chained record of a governance decision admitted to the transparency log.leaf_hash = SHA256("AGTS_LEAF_V1" || canonical_json(governance_envelope))The AGTS_LEAF_V1 prefix provides domain separation against other protocol versions. |
||||||||||||||||
| Signed Tree Head (STH) | A signed statement of the log's current state: log_id, tree_size, root_hash, timestamp. The log_signature covers these four fields only — witness_signatures are excluded from the signed body and appended separately. Any party with the log operator's public key can verify the STH independently. |
||||||||||||||||
| Replay Seed | A hex string or URI sufficient to deterministically reproduce the G1–G5 evaluation from evidence. Stored in the Proof Bundle. Used in gate-by-gate replay to reconstruct the exact decision context from the canonical leaf. | ||||||||||||||||
| Governance Artifacts | |||||||||||||||||
Proof BundleAGTS_PROOF_BUNDLE_V1 |
The governance evidence artifact: gate results (G1–G5), four G4 evidence hashes, system state snapshots before/after, replay seed, parent bundle hash, node signature. Submitted to validators for evaluation. Never admitted to the log directly — only via Governance Envelope. | ||||||||||||||||
Governance EnvelopeAGTS_GOVERNANCE_ENVELOPE_V1 |
A Proof Bundle wrapped with a quorum certificate (≥3 AGTS_VOTE_V1 records) and a Sovereign Authority signature. The artifact admitted to the transparency log as a canonical leaf. |
||||||||||||||||
| Quorum Certificate | An array of ≥3 valid AGTS_VOTE_V1 records with ECDSA P-256 signatures, all voting ACCEPT on the same proof bundle body hash. A quorum certificate is sufficient proof that no Byzantine coalition of 2 validators could have forged it. |
||||||||||||||||
| Trust Infrastructure | |||||||||||||||||
| Sovereign Authority | The hardware-backed signing key (ECDSA P-256, StrongBox-backed on GrapheneOS Pixel Titan M2) that produces the authority_signature in the Governance Envelope. Generated in a one-time key ceremony, cannot be exported, and is biometric-gated. The public SPKI is published at /patents. |
||||||||||||||||
| Governance Mesh | The AGTS network of transparency logs, witnesses, and monitors. A single log is L3. Two or more logs cross-witnessing is the beginning of a mesh. A fully networked mesh with independent monitors is L4. | ||||||||||||||||
| Observability & Health | |||||||||||||||||
| HCE Observables | Three real-valued scalar observables that summarize governance health:
|
||||||||||||||||
| Omega (Ω) | The admissible state space — the set of H/C/E states that satisfy governance policy thresholds simultaneously. A system is "in Ω" when H ≤ H_max, C ≥ C_min, E ≤ E_max, Q ≥ Q_min all hold. An omega breach ( omega_breach = true in a Variance Record) means the system was in Ω at authorization time but executed outside Ω. |
||||||||||||||||
Complete vocabulary
The full AGTS-TERMS document (1,371 lines) defines approximately 80 terms across all five protocol layers, including the complete RTR gate specifications, the OSCP transparency protocol vocabulary, the settlement and audit terms, and the conformance level definitions.
Published at github.com/obligationsign/agts-clearinghouse under pitchdecks/template/agts_spec/AGTS-TERMS.md.