This document defines terms as they are used in this repository.
Definitions are:
- operational
- context-specific
- non-normative
No external definitions are implied.
A minimal execution-time constraint layer that governs how legitimacy may be witnessed.
512 is:
- non-ownable
- voluntary
- enforcement-free
- ideology-free
512 is not a system, protocol, or authority.
The exact point at which a proposed action becomes an irreversible state change.
Before the commit boundary: the action is a proposal. It can be modified, withdrawn, or cancelled.
After the commit boundary: the action is a fact. State has changed. Reversal requires a new action with its own boundary crossing.
The commit boundary is not the moment a request arrives. It is the moment state becomes irreversible.
The property of a correctly positioned gate whereby there exists exactly one path to irreversible state change, and that path does not open without the gate's authorisation signal.
A system that allows execution to proceed to the commit boundary without passing through gate evaluation does not exhibit exclusive commit authority.
The structural requirement that no route to the execution surface exists outside gate evaluation.
Procedural controls — access policies, documented prohibitions, contractual restrictions — do not satisfy this requirement. The path must not exist, not merely be restricted.
A structured record of a proposed action, constructed before the commit boundary is crossed and submitted to the gate for evaluation.
The Proposal Object is the gate's only input from the proposing entity. It is constructed before evaluation begins and is not reconstructed after the fact.
Required fields: proposal_id, agent_id, action_type, action_params,
declared_scope, consent_evidence, contract_reference, exit_available,
rules_disclosed, spec_hash, authorisation_token, intent_hash,
timestamp.
The machine-evaluable form of the constraint definitions for a given deployment, produced by translating policy into deterministic Boolean expressions over named, typed inputs.
The compiled constraint set is hashed to produce the spec hash. It is loaded at gate startup, hash-verified against the canonical commitment, and thereafter immutable for the process lifetime.
The SHA-256 hash of the compiled constraint set active at the moment of evaluation.
The spec hash is embedded in every Evidence Object produced by the witness layer. It binds each evidence record to the exact constraint specification that was in force — enabling independent verification that the declared rules were the rules evaluated against.
The canonical kernel commitment:
7b08c024b77a24830c15e7952d6e54bed383aa960f4c74a71ff95ce51f4d80f5
The result produced by the gate upon completing evaluation of a Proposal Object.
The gate produces exactly two output values:
- ALLOW — all seven invariants are satisfied; the commit path opens
- DENY — one or more invariants are not satisfied; the commit path remains closed
There is no third output value. When the gate cannot complete evaluation, it produces no output. Execution proceeds under the fail-open posture required by Invariant 6. The witness layer records the resulting ungoverned period as an evidence chain gap.
A witness layer classification applied to an ungoverned period in the evidence chain — a period during which execution proceeded without gate evaluation.
An evidence chain gap is produced by the witness layer, not the gate. It is not a gate output. It records that evaluation did not occur, not that evaluation produced a particular result.
An independent evidence-capture system that observes execution events out-of-band, records cryptographic evidence, and produces independently verifiable records of what occurred.
The witness layer does not influence execution. It does not enforce constraints. It does not produce gate outputs. It records what the gate decided and what execution produced.
CVS (Cryptographic Verification Sidecar) is the reference witness layer architecture for 512.
A limitation imposed by physics, irreversibility, or system scale, not by policy or preference.
Constraints are descriptive, not prescriptive.
The ability to verify that an execution occurred as claimed, without asserting correctness, truth, or value.
Legitimacy does not imply approval.
A real-time action performed by a system that produces an effect.
Execution is local, autonomous, and irreversible once completed.
The irreversible recording of a completed execution or commitment.
Settlement does not control execution.
The act of recording evidence that an execution occurred, without influencing the execution itself.
Witnessing is passive.
The behaviour required by Invariant 6 when a system cannot complete evaluation at the commit boundary.
On fail-open:
- the gate produces no output
- execution proceeds — blocking execution on gate failure would itself violate Invariant 6
- governing rules are disclosed
- control returns to the human party
- the witness layer records the ungoverned period as an evidence chain gap
Fail-open is not a gate output. It is a system behaviour. The resulting ungoverned period is classified by the witness layer as an evidence chain gap.
Any mechanism that:
- enforces behavior
- applies rules
- imposes penalties
- requires compliance
Governance is explicitly out of scope for 512.
Any construct that binds actions to a person, entity, or reputation.
512 does not require or process identity.
A system of beliefs, values, or normative claims.
512 contains none.
If a term is not defined in this document, its meaning is:
- implementation-specific
- external to 512
- not canonical
This document defines the canonical vocabulary for the 512 research archive.