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TrustTip
Give support that stands on record.
Overview
TrustTip is a cross-platform, audit-grade tipping and attribution system designed to connect digital financial support to the exact content, reason, intent, and financial record associated with each transaction.
TrustTip transforms informal online support into structured, verifiable, and exportable records. Every tip can be connected to a specific post, video, livestream moment, article, repository contribution, or other digital content, creating a clear provenance trail between the supported content and the financial transaction.
The system is designed to support creators, supporters, platforms, accountants, and other authorized parties that need reliable records of digital support. TrustTip provides classification, attribution, reconciliation, analytics, fraud detection, privacy controls, and audit exports while keeping tax and legal determinations advisory rather than treating software classifications as legal conclusions.
Design Principles
- Auditability
- Financial provenance
- Content attribution
- Transparent recordkeeping
- User-controlled privacy
- Cross-platform interoperability
- Vendor neutrality
- Data portability
- Append-only historical integrity
- Human review for consequential classifications
- Non-coercive tipping experiences
- Extensible modular architecture
Core Modules
Core Tipping System
The Core Tipping System provides the primary transaction workflow.
Features include:
- Send tips using customizable amounts and currencies
- Optional payer messages and notes
- Recipient identification
- Required association between a tip and its supported content
- Content URL recording
- Platform identification
- Post, content, or asset identifier recording
- Transaction timestamp
- Tip status tracking
- Tip cancellation and refund status
- Support for high-value transactions
- Transaction history
- Transaction search and filtering
Tip Reason System
The Tip Reason System records why a supporter chose to provide financial support.
Features include:
- Structured tip-reason categories
- Free-text explanations
- Content appreciation
- Educational value
- Entertainment value
- Emotional support
- Technical help
- Artistic value
- Community support
- Sponsorship intent
- Service appreciation
- Other or custom reasons
- Multiple reasons when appropriate
- Reason history
- Reason analytics
Tip Classification Engine
The Tip Classification Engine provides structured classification of transactions based on declared intent, transaction characteristics, and available contextual information.
Features include:
- User-declared transaction type
- Tip classification
- Gift classification
- Support classification
- Sponsorship classification
- Service payment classification
- Unclassified status
- System-inferred classification
- Classification confidence scores
- Classification explanations
- Declared versus inferred classification comparison
- Classification discrepancy detection
- Human review workflows
- Classification history
- Advisory tax and legal warnings
- No automated representation that a classification constitutes a legal or tax determination
Content Attribution Layer
The Content Attribution Layer establishes the relationship between a financial transaction and the exact digital content that received support.
Features include:
- Social media post attribution
- Video attribution
- Livestream attribution
- Livestream moment attribution
- Article and blog attribution
- Digital artwork attribution
- Repository commit attribution
- Repository update attribution
- Independent website attribution
- Content URL
- Platform identifier
- Post or content identifier
- Content publication timestamp
- Tip timestamp
- Content hash
- Optional content snapshot
- Optional screenshot reference
- Content version tracking
- Edited-content detection
- Deleted-content detection
- Attribution history
- Content provenance records
Immutable Audit Ledger
The Immutable Audit Ledger preserves transaction and attribution history as an append-only record.
Features include:
- Append-only transaction records
- Historical record preservation
- Cryptographic integrity hashing
- Timestamp verification
- Immutable event history
- Non-destructive corrections
- Correction records
- Linked amendment records
- Audit event tracking
- Optional external integrity anchoring
- Complete ledger export
- Record verification
- Ledger integrity checking
- Historical reconstruction
Tip Receipt System
The Tip Receipt System creates a durable receipt for every completed transaction.
Features include:
- Unique Tip ID
- Transaction amount
- Currency
- Transaction timestamp
- Payer identifier
- Recipient identifier
- Content reference
- Platform reference
- Tip reason
- Transaction classification
- Classification confidence
- Payer note
- Receipt status
- Refund status
- Exportable receipt
- Printable receipt
- Receipt verification
Tax and Compliance Recordkeeping
The Tax and Compliance Recordkeeping module organizes transaction information for accounting, reporting, and professional review.
Features include:
- Tip income categorization
- Gift-like transfer flagging
- Sponsorship income categorization
- Service-related payment categorization
- Unclassified transaction review
- Annual summaries
- Monthly summaries
- Platform-specific earnings reports
- Post-level revenue reports
- Transaction classification reports
- High-value transaction reports
- Accounting-oriented exports
- CPA review exports
- Tax preparation data exports
- Jurisdiction-aware record organization
- Classification explanations
- Supporting documentation references
- Tax liability warnings
- Compliance review flags
- Recordkeeping audit trails
- Clear distinction between software-generated records and professional tax or legal determinations
Creator Dashboard
The Creator Dashboard provides a consolidated view of financial support and content attribution.
Features include:
- Real-time earnings overview
- Total tips
- Earnings by platform
- Earnings by content
- Earnings by content category
- Revenue by tip reason
- Income composition
- Supporter activity
- Top supporters
- Support trends
- Transaction history
- Classification summaries
- Audit status
- Export controls
- Reconciliation status
Supporter System
The Supporter System provides optional identity, history, and relationship features for people providing tips.
Features include:
- Optional supporter profiles
- Tipping history
- Preferred creators
- Saved creators
- Support history
- Identity visibility controls
- Public identity mode
- Pseudonymous identity mode
- Private identity mode
- Tax-visible identity mode
- Optional supporter reputation
- Supporter transaction exports
- Supporter privacy controls
Reputation Graph
The Reputation Graph provides optional relationship and trust analysis across the TrustTip ecosystem.
Features include:
- Creator reputation metrics
- Supporter reputation metrics
- Transparency indicators
- Transaction consistency indicators
- Engagement quality indicators
- Trust relationships
- Network trust mapping
- Support patterns
- Risk indicators
- Reputation history
- Privacy-controlled graph visibility
Fraud and Abuse Detection
The Fraud and Abuse Detection module identifies potentially suspicious activity while preserving human review for consequential decisions.
Features include:
- Self-tipping detection
- Bot activity detection
- Circular payment pattern detection
- Abnormal transaction spike detection
- Wash transaction risk detection
- Suspicious cluster detection
- Identity anomaly detection
- Repeated microtransaction detection
- Coordinated activity indicators
- High-value transaction review flags
- Transaction velocity analysis
- Behavioral anomaly detection
- Risk scoring
- Evidence references
- Human review workflows
- False-positive review
- Risk history
Tip Escrow Mode
Tip Escrow Mode provides optional conditional support workflows where funds are associated with defined events or milestones.
Features include:
- Conditional tipping
- Content delivery conditions
- Milestone conditions
- Livestream completion conditions
- Verified-action conditions
- Release conditions
- Cancellation conditions
- Refund conditions
- Escrow event history
- Contract-like transaction warnings
- Classification updates when transaction substance changes
- Human review for disputed conditions
Dispute and Refund Layer
The Dispute and Refund Layer manages transaction corrections, disputes, refunds, and resolution records.
Features include:
- Mistaken-tip reporting
- Fraud dispute workflows
- Unauthorized transaction reporting
- Refund requests
- Refund status tracking
- Chargeback tracking
- Dispute evidence
- Resolution records
- Arbitration records
- Transaction correction history
- Linked replacement transactions
- Audit-preserving dispute resolution
Multi-Platform Integration
The Multi-Platform Integration module connects TrustTip with digital platforms where creators publish or distribute content.
Supported integration categories include:
- Social networks
- Video platforms
- Livestream platforms
- Community platforms
- Blogs
- Independent websites
- Digital publishing platforms
- Code repositories
- Creator platforms
- Content management systems
Features include:
- Platform account linking
- Content discovery
- Content attribution
- Platform-specific metadata
- Cross-platform identity mapping
- Cross-platform transaction reconciliation
- Platform-specific reporting
- Content synchronization
- Attribution verification
Embedded Tip Infrastructure
The Embedded Tip Infrastructure module allows TrustTip functionality to be placed directly into digital content experiences.
Features include:
- Embeddable tip buttons
- Embedded tip widgets
- QR tip links
- Shareable tip links
- Browser extension support
- API integration
- Webhooks
- Developer integration interfaces
- Content attribution parameters
- Customizable support experiences
- Attribution-preserving embeds
Smart Tip Engine
The Smart Tip Engine provides optional suggestions designed to help supporters determine an appropriate support amount without creating coercive tipping behavior.
Features include:
- Suggested support levels
- Historical tip averages
- Content category analysis
- Engagement-aware suggestions
- Creator-specific support patterns
- Supporter-specific history
- Custom support limits
- Non-coercive recommendation rules
- Tip fatigue controls
- Recommendation transparency
- User-controlled suggestion settings
Transparency Mode
Transparency Mode allows creators to voluntarily publish selected financial and support information.
Features include:
- Public earnings by post
- Public earnings summaries
- Income breakdowns
- Supporter counts
- Public funding summaries
- Public support trends
- Public attribution records
- Selective disclosure
- Privacy-preserving aggregation
- Creator-controlled transparency settings
Support Graph Visualization
The Support Graph Visualization module presents relationships between creators, supporters, content, and financial support.
Features include:
- Creator-supporter relationships
- Content-support relationships
- Community clusters
- Cross-platform support mapping
- Support flows
- Network relationships
- Community discovery
- Relationship history
- Privacy-controlled visualization
- Aggregated support patterns
Privacy System
The Privacy System provides granular control over the visibility and use of transaction and identity information.
Features include:
- Public identity mode
- Pseudonymous identity mode
- Private identity mode
- Tax-visible-only mode
- Message visibility controls
- Transaction visibility controls
- Supporter visibility controls
- Creator visibility controls
- Public reporting controls
- Data export controls
- Data retention controls
- Consent management
- Granular sharing permissions
Financial Infrastructure
The Financial Infrastructure module manages payment and financial record interoperability.
Features include:
- Payment processor integrations
- Multi-currency transactions
- Currency conversion records
- Payment status tracking
- Settlement tracking
- Reconciliation
- Transaction matching
- Payment metadata
- Accounting system compatibility
- Financial reporting
- External financial record references
Audit Export System
The Audit Export System provides portable representations of TrustTip records.
Features include:
- CSV exports
- JSON exports
- PDF receipts
- CPA-ready summaries
- Full ledger exports
- Transaction exports
- Content attribution exports
- Classification exports
- Dispute exports
- Fraud review exports
- Supporting documentation references
- Date-range exports
- Platform-specific exports
- Creator-specific exports
- Supporter-specific exports
Advanced Data Systems
The Advanced Data Systems module provides analytics and forecasting capabilities.
Features include:
- Tip graph analysis
- Revenue analytics
- Supporter analytics
- Content performance analysis
- Trend detection
- Anomaly detection
- Income forecasting
- Platform comparisons
- Content revenue analysis
- Support behavior analysis
- Historical trend analysis
- Predictive indicators
Compliance Export API
The Compliance Export API provides controlled access to structured TrustTip records for authorized professional and institutional workflows.
Features include:
- Authorized CPA access
- Institutional reporting
- Bulk exports
- Compliance review feeds
- Transaction verification feeds
- Attribution verification
- Classification records
- Audit history
- Export permissions
- Access logging
- Data minimization controls
- Revocable authorization
Optional Plugin Modules
Blockchain Integrity Plugin
Provides optional external anchoring for transaction and ledger integrity.
Features include:
- Timestamp anchoring
- Record hash anchoring
- Ledger integrity verification
- External proof references
- Verification history
- No requirement for cryptocurrency payments
- Optional deployment
Accounting Integration Plugin
Connects TrustTip records to supported accounting workflows.
Features include:
- Accounting record synchronization
- Income categorization transfer
- Transaction reconciliation
- Period-based exports
- Account mapping
- Classification transfer
- Adjustment tracking
- Professional review workflows
Tax Professional Plugin
Provides controlled tools for authorized tax professionals and accounting professionals.
Features include:
- Client authorization
- Tax record review
- Classification review
- Supporting documentation access
- High-value transaction review
- Tax-year summaries
- Professional annotations
- Review history
- Export controls
- Access auditing
Identity Verification Plugin
Provides optional identity verification capabilities for use cases requiring stronger transaction identity assurance.
Features include:
- Identity verification
- Identity status records
- Verification timestamps
- Verification provider references
- High-value transaction verification
- Identity confidence indicators
- Reverification workflows
- Privacy controls
High-Value Transaction Plugin
Provides specialized workflows for unusually large transactions.
Features include:
- High-value transaction thresholds
- Enhanced documentation prompts
- Payer confirmation
- Recipient confirmation
- Transaction purpose documentation
- Source and destination metadata where available
- Additional review workflows
- Fraud risk analysis
- Classification review
- Audit documentation
- Professional review flags
Platform Connector Plugin
Provides platform-specific connectors without requiring the core system to depend on any single platform.
Features include:
- Platform authentication
- Content retrieval
- Content metadata synchronization
- Post identification
- Content version tracking
- Platform attribution validation
- Platform-specific event handling
- Connector-specific privacy controls
AI Analysis Plugin
Provides optional artificial intelligence assisted analysis of transaction and content records.
Features include:
- Tip message analysis
- Intent analysis
- Classification assistance
- Relationship analysis
- Anomaly detection assistance
- Fraud pattern analysis
- Content categorization
- Classification explanations
- Confidence scoring
- Human review escalation
- Model output logging
- Analysis provenance
- No autonomous legal or tax determinations
Public Transparency Plugin
Provides optional public-facing transparency pages and financial provenance views.
Features include:
- Public creator profiles
- Public support records
- Public earnings summaries
- Public content attribution
- Public funding histories
- Selective disclosure
- Privacy-preserving aggregation
- Verification indicators
Developer Integration Plugin
Provides optional developer-facing integration capabilities.
Features include:
- Developer credentials
- API access
- Webhook subscriptions
- Content attribution interfaces
- Transaction creation interfaces
- Receipt retrieval
- Audit record retrieval
- Export interfaces
- Integration event logs
- Access controls
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/trusttip/
License & Notice Requirements
TrustTip is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to any Open Arsenal 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. - TrustTip 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 – TrustTip
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 – May 23, 2026
Created the repository for TrustTip and designed the core system architecture for a verifiable, audit-grade tipping and attribution platform for digital content. - [Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]
License – TrustTip
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: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html