CivicTrust Specification

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CivicTrust

Verifying Actions, Protecting Communities

CivicTrust is an open-source, privacy-first accountability system for autonomous agents and distributed automated systems. It provides universal infrastructure for verifiable identity, human-anchored stewardship, traceable actions, privacy-preserving verification, constitutional governance, and enforceable accountability.

CivicTrust is designed to operate without dependence on Big Tech identity providers, proprietary KYA platforms, centralized ownership systems, or blockchain-only identity and accountability mechanisms.

The system uses a modular architecture in which core capabilities operate as independent modules while remaining interoperable through shared CivicTrust protocols, APIs, schemas, and verification mechanisms.

Purpose

CivicTrust establishes a common accountability layer for autonomous systems.

The system is designed to ensure that:

Every participating agent can establish a verifiable identity.
Every autonomous agent has a human or organizational steward.
Agent capabilities and authority can be independently verified.
Significant actions can produce cryptographically verifiable records.
Constitutional rules can be expressed as machine-readable policies.
Violations can trigger defined enforcement actions.
Verification can occur without unnecessary disclosure of personal information.
Independent networks can establish their own trust policies while remaining interoperable.
Communities can audit participating systems without surrendering control to a centralized provider.
Autonomous systems remain accountable to identifiable human responsibility.

Human-in-the-Loop Governance

CivicTrust supports human approval, review, escalation, intervention, and accountability for actions that require human authority.

Core Modules

Identity Core

The Identity Core provides cryptographic identity services for humans, agents, organizations, nodes, and other authorized entities.

Features include:

Decentralized identifiers
Cryptographic key management
Identity creation
Identity verification
Identity resolution
Identity rotation
Key rotation
Identity revocation
Identity recovery
Delegated identity authority
Multi-key identities
Identity status
Cross-network identity verification
Identity federation
Identity metadata minimization
Identity lifecycle management
Identity proof generation
Identity proof verification

The Identity Core separates identity verification from unnecessary disclosure of personal information.

Stewardship Core

The Stewardship Core establishes the human accountability relationship for autonomous agents.

Features include:

Proof-of-Human Stewardship
Human steward registration
Agent-to-steward relationships
Organization-to-agent relationships
Multiple steward support
Delegated stewardship
Steward authorization
Steward revocation
Agent ownership transfer
Emergency stewardship procedures
Steward activity records
Steward accountability records
Steward status verification
Steward succession
Steward dispute handling
Agent suspension by steward
Agent retirement by steward

The Stewardship Core provides a clear accountability chain without requiring public disclosure of unnecessary personal information.

Credential Core

The Credential Core manages verifiable claims concerning identities, authority, capabilities, roles, certifications, and relationships.

Features include:

Verifiable credentials
Credential issuance
Credential verification
Credential presentation
Credential expiration
Credential revocation
Credential suspension
Credential renewal
Selective disclosure
Credential status verification
Credential chaining
Credential versioning
Capability credentials
Stewardship credentials
Agent authorization credentials
Organization credentials
Cross-network credential verification
Credential policy enforcement
Credential history
Credential provenance

The Credential Core should support established open credential standards where practical.

Constitution Core

The Constitution Core provides the policy and governance enforcement layer.

Features include:

Machine-readable constitutions
Policy definitions
Rule evaluation
Permission policies
Agent capability restrictions
Required disclosure policies
Required logging policies
Stewardship requirements
Data handling requirements
Communication policies
Operational restrictions
Constitutional versioning
Constitutional amendments
Policy inheritance
Policy exceptions
Compliance evaluation
Violation detection
Enforcement actions
Policy simulation
Policy testing
Constitutional audit records
Constitutional history
Rule dependency management
Policy conflict detection
Policy precedence
Emergency policy controls

Constitutions may be defined at the network, organization, agent class, or individual agent level, subject to applicable governance rules.

Action and Evidence Core

The Action and Evidence Core creates verifiable records of significant agent activity.

Features include:

Cryptographically signed actions
Action identifiers
Event identifiers
Timestamped events
Append-only records
Tamper-evident records
Hash-linked records
Merkle-based verification
Action provenance
Evidence collection
Evidence integrity verification
Action sequencing
Action relationships
Agent activity history
Evidence export
Evidence verification
Audit evidence packages
Event retention policies
Evidence retention policies
Evidence access controls
Selective evidence disclosure

The Action and Evidence Core should allow an authorized verifier to establish what happened, which agent performed an action, under whose authority the agent operated, and whether the record has been altered.

Audit Log Core

The Audit Log Core maintains the operational audit trail for CivicTrust networks.

Features include:

Agent audit logs
Steward audit logs
Credential audit logs
Governance audit logs
Constitution audit logs
Security audit logs
Administrative audit logs
Log integrity verification
Log indexing
Log search
Log retention
Log archival
Log export
Audit trail reconstruction
Independent log verification
Distributed log synchronization

Audit logs should support privacy-preserving access controls and should not expose sensitive information unnecessarily.

Trust Registry Core

The Trust Registry Core maintains information required to evaluate trust relationships.

Features include:

Trusted issuer registry
Agent registry
Steward registry
Organization registry
Credential registry
Revoked identity registry
Revoked credential registry
Revoked key registry
Compromised identity registry
Trust authority registry
Federation registry
Registry synchronization
Registry versioning
Registry snapshots
Registry verification
Registry history
Public verification endpoints
Local trust policies
Network trust policies

Trust registries may be independently operated and synchronized according to federation policies.

Verification Core

The Verification Core allows agents, organizations, communities, and independent auditors to verify CivicTrust claims.

Features include:

Identity verification
Stewardship verification
Credential verification
Signature verification
Action verification
Evidence verification
Constitution compliance verification
Policy verification
Trust registry verification
Revocation verification
Key status verification
Reputation verification
Cross-network verification
Selective disclosure verification
Zero-knowledge verification

Verification should be possible without requiring the verifier to trust a single centralized service.

Privacy Core

The Privacy Core provides privacy-preserving mechanisms throughout CivicTrust.

Features include:

Selective disclosure
Zero-knowledge proofs
Anonymous credential support
Pseudonymous identifiers
Metadata minimization
Data minimization
Encrypted storage
Encrypted communication
Local-first processing
Privacy-preserving verification
Consent-based disclosure
Data retention controls
Data access controls
Privacy policy enforcement
Identity compartmentalization
Private agent relationships

The Privacy Core should ensure that accountability does not require unnecessary surveillance.

Reputation Core

The Reputation Core provides evidence-based reputation information for agents, stewards, organizations, and trust authorities.

Features include:

Agent reputation
Steward reputation
Organization reputation
Trust authority reputation
Reputation history
Reliability metrics
Integrity metrics
Transparency metrics
Constitutional compliance metrics
Audit history
Community attestations
Reputation decay
Reputation recovery
Reputation disputes
Reputation evidence
Reputation verification
Reputation portability

Reputation must be evidence-based and should not become an opaque centralized score that cannot be independently evaluated.

Communication Core

The Communication Core provides secure communication between participating entities.

Features include:

Agent-to-agent communication
Agent-to-human communication
Human-to-agent communication
Organization-to-agent communication
Encrypted messaging
Signed messages
Message verification
Secure channels
Peer-to-peer communication
Event notifications
Message routing
Communication authorization
Communication policy enforcement
Message integrity verification
Communication audit records

The Communication Core should support interoperable secure messaging protocols.

Governance Core

The Governance Core provides mechanisms for managing CivicTrust networks and their constitutional systems.

Features include:

Governance structures
Steward governance
Community proposals
Policy proposals
Constitutional amendments
Voting mechanisms
Delegated voting
Governance records
Governance transparency
Governance roles
Council management
Authority delegation
Governance disputes
Emergency governance procedures
Governance audit trails

Governance mechanisms should remain configurable so independent CivicTrust networks can establish their own legitimate governance structures.

Compliance Core

The Compliance Core evaluates agents and organizations against applicable rules and policies.

Features include:

Constitution compliance
Policy compliance
Credential compliance
Stewardship compliance
Logging compliance
Privacy compliance
Operational compliance
Configuration compliance
Compliance reports
Compliance evidence
Compliance alerts
Compliance history
Remediation workflows
Compliance verification
Compliance status

Incident Core

The Incident Core manages violations, security events, suspected abuse, and accountability incidents.

Features include:

Incident creation
Incident classification
Incident evidence collection
Incident investigation
Incident escalation
Steward notification
Auditor notification
Agent suspension
Agent quarantine
Credential suspension
Credential revocation
Key revocation
Remediation tracking
Incident resolution
Incident history
Incident reporting

Security Core

The Security Core protects CivicTrust infrastructure and cryptographic assets.

Features include:

Secure key storage
Key rotation
Key revocation
Key recovery
Multi-signature authorization
Hardware security module support
Trusted platform module support
Secure enclave integration
Cryptographic verification
Secure configuration
Access controls
Authentication
Authorization
Security event monitoring
Supply chain integrity
Dependency verification
Secure update mechanisms

Federation Core

The Federation Core allows independently operated CivicTrust networks to interoperate.

Features include:

Network federation
Cross-network identity verification
Cross-network credential verification
Cross-network trust
Cross-network reputation
Federation policies
Federation authorization
Federation registries
Federation discovery
Federation synchronization
Federation revocation
Federation dispute handling
Federation governance

Federation must remain optional so a deployment can operate independently without joining an external network.

API Core

The API Core provides standardized interfaces for CivicTrust functionality.

Features include:

REST APIs
GraphQL APIs
WebSocket interfaces
Event APIs
Verification APIs
Identity APIs
Credential APIs
Stewardship APIs
Logging APIs
Governance APIs
Reputation APIs
Federation APIs
Webhook support
Authentication
Authorization
API versioning
Rate limiting
API audit logging

SDK Core

The SDK Core provides tools for integrating CivicTrust into autonomous systems.

Features include:

Agent SDKs
Identity SDKs
Credential SDKs
Stewardship SDKs
Logging SDKs
Constitution SDKs
Verification SDKs
Communication SDKs
Governance SDKs
API clients
Event clients
Plugin development interfaces
Integration helpers
Testing utilities

SDK implementations may be provided for multiple programming languages.

CLI Core

The CLI Core provides command-line administration and integration tools.

Features include:

Identity management
Steward registration
Agent registration
Credential management
Constitution management
Action verification
Log inspection
Trust registry inspection
Reputation inspection
Incident management
Governance operations
Federation management
Configuration management
Diagnostics
Security checks

Schema Core

The Schema Core defines interoperable data structures used throughout CivicTrust.

Features include:

Identity schemas
Agent schemas
Stewardship schemas
Credential schemas
Action schemas
Evidence schemas
Constitution schemas
Policy schemas
Audit schemas
Reputation schemas
Governance schemas
Incident schemas
Federation schemas
Versioned schemas
Schema validation
Schema compatibility

Optional Plugin Modules

Optional plugins extend CivicTrust without making additional capabilities mandatory for every deployment.

Blockchain Adapter Plugin

Provides optional integration with blockchain networks for anchoring or verification.

Features include:

Hash anchoring
Timestamp anchoring
Public verification
Smart contract adapters
Chain-specific integrations

Blockchain is an optional verification mechanism and is not required for CivicTrust identity, stewardship, logging, governance, or accountability.

Hardware Trust Plugin

Provides optional hardware-backed identity and key protection.

Features include:

TPM integration
Secure enclave integration
Hardware-backed signatures
Hardware identity attestation
Secure key storage
Hardware integrity verification

Zero-Knowledge Plugin

Provides optional advanced zero-knowledge verification mechanisms.

Features include:

Private compliance proofs
Private identity claims
Credential proofs
Attribute proofs
Policy compliance proofs
Selective disclosure proofs

DID Method Plugin

Provides support for additional decentralized identifier methods.

Features include:

DID method adapters
DID resolution
DID registration
DID verification
DID method discovery
Cross-method interoperability

Credential Provider Plugin

Allows CivicTrust networks to integrate external credential issuers.

Features include:

Credential issuer adapters
Credential verification adapters
Credential status adapters
Credential transformation
Credential interoperability

Transparency Log Plugin

Provides integrations with external transparency log implementations.

Features include:

Transparency log publishing
Merkle verification
External log synchronization
Inclusion proofs
Log consistency verification

Hardware Security Module Plugin

Provides optional integration with external HSM systems.

Features include:

HSM-backed signing
Key generation
Key storage
Key rotation
Key revocation
Hardware-backed authorization

Communication Protocol Plugin

Provides adapters for additional secure communication protocols.

Features include:

Protocol adapters
Message translation
Identity binding
Signature verification
Routing integration
Protocol-specific authorization

Identity Provider Adapter Plugin

Provides optional interoperability with external identity systems.

Features include:

Identity federation
Credential translation
External identity verification
Enterprise integration
Legacy identity interoperability

External identity providers must remain optional and must not become a required CivicTrust dependency.

Agent Framework Plugin

Provides integrations with existing autonomous agent frameworks.

Features include:

Agent registration
Agent identity binding
Action interception
Action logging
Credential verification
Constitution enforcement
Stewardship integration
Framework-specific event handling

Security Monitoring Plugin

Provides integration with external security monitoring systems.

Features include:

Security event ingestion
Threat detection integration
Incident creation
Agent quarantine
Credential suspension
Security audit integration

Civic Network Plugin

Provides tools for community and civic deployments.

Features include:

Public verification
Community reporting
Civic audit interfaces
Community attestations
Public accountability records
Community governance integration

Governance Plugin

Provides optional governance models for specific networks.

Features include:

Council systems
Voting systems
Delegation
Proposal management
Constitutional amendment workflows
Governance records
Dispute resolution

Reputation Provider Plugin

Allows external reputation systems to provide verifiable reputation evidence.

Features include:

Reputation provider integration
Reputation attestations
Reputation verification
Reputation history import
Reputation portability

Storage Plugin

Provides adapters for different storage systems.

Features include:

Local storage
Distributed storage
Content-addressed storage
Object storage
Database storage
Encrypted storage
Storage replication
Storage migration

Analytics Plugin

Provides optional analytics without making analytics part of the accountability core.

Features include:

Agent activity analytics
Compliance analytics
Network analytics
Incident analytics
Reputation analytics
Governance analytics
Privacy-preserving aggregate reporting

Notification Plugin

Provides optional notification integrations.

Features include:

Steward alerts
Security alerts
Compliance alerts
Credential expiration alerts
Credential revocation alerts
Incident alerts
Governance notifications
Webhook notifications

Interoperability Requirements

CivicTrust implementations should:

Use documented protocols.
Expose stable interfaces.
Support versioned schemas.
Avoid unnecessary vendor-specific dependencies.
Support independent implementations.
Permit replacement of individual modules.
Support federation where enabled.
Preserve cryptographic verification across implementations.
Maintain backward compatibility where practical.

Extensibility

CivicTrust must allow new capabilities to be introduced without modifying the fundamental accountability model.

New functionality should be implemented as:

Core module functionality when it is fundamental to accountability.
Optional plugin functionality when it provides specialized integration or deployment-specific capabilities.
External services when the functionality does not need to be part of the CivicTrust trust boundary.

Plugins must use documented interfaces and must not silently bypass identity, stewardship, logging, privacy, or constitutional controls.

Security Requirements

CivicTrust implementations should:

Protect private keys.
Verify signatures before accepting authenticated claims.
Validate credentials before accepting delegated authority.
Check revocation status where required.
Prevent unauthorized stewardship changes.
Protect audit records from unauthorized modification.
Protect sensitive information from unnecessary disclosure.
Support secure key rotation.
Provide secure recovery mechanisms.
Record security-sensitive administrative actions.
Validate plugin permissions.
Protect module boundaries.
Maintain dependency integrity.
Provide mechanisms for incident response.

Specification Branding License (SBL)

Standard

Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
Copyleft enforced for network deployments
Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/

Optional

Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/civictrust/

License & Notice Requirements

CivicTrust is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.

Please note the following:

All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
CivicTrust specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments. Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.

For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.

Notice – CivicTrust

Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.

Contributors

This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.

Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – March 12, 2026
Created the repository for CivicTrust. Developed the open-source accountability platform for autonomous agents with provable identities, human-anchored stewardship, traceable actions, and constitutional enforcement.
[Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]

License – CivicTrust

This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

Key Points

You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.

For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.