Governance Receipts
The anatomy of a governance receipt
A governance receipt is the evidence record produced for a governed event. It records, at minimum, the fields below.
Synthetic example — not a live record
- Event reference
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Identity of the governed event.
evt:governed/2026/sample-0001 - Content binding
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The bound representation of the event's material content.
cb:sha-256:SYNTHETIC-EXAMPLE-DIGEST - Authority context
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The human/institutional authority under which the event occurred.
authority: institution / role (synthetic) - Proof structure
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The constructed verifiable proof over the content.
proof: consistency-structure (synthetic) - Signature
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The authoritative signature establishing origin.
sig: authoritative-signing (synthetic) - Preservation reference
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Where and how the record is preserved.
preservation: evidence-store/ref (synthetic) - Timestamp & sequence
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Position of the event in the ordered record.
seq: 000123 · ts: 2026-07-19T00:00:00Z (synthetic) - Trust tier
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The tier of assurance the record currently carries.
tier: signed content-bound proof (synthetic)
What a receipt is — and is not
A governance receipt is a description of a governed event bound to that event's material content, signed under authoritative signing, and preserved as a durable record. It is designed to be independently verified and replayed.
A receipt makes no claim of an always-on, unauthenticated verification endpoint, a fixed guaranteed retention period, or that records are impossible to remove. It records the authority context of an event; it does not replace that authority.