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Experimental artifact-first mechanisms#

Acronyms: reduced instruction set computer (RISC); Verifier Standard (VSTD); zero-identity/zero-knowledge (ZIZK).

This directory does not make VSTD's ZIZK artifact-first architecture experimental. That governing orientation is normative in standard/LADDER.md section 1.1.

TRUST is mechanism-earned forward artifact support; ROT is typed, time-indexed degradation of current admissibility; and RUST is the inverse-TRUST diagnostic backtrace toward recorded ancestors. These are formal semantic names, not acronyms, actor ratings, receipt verdicts, scalar scores, or references to the Rust programming language. They serialize as typed events in VSTD-GRAPH-ASSURANCE-1, not self-authenticating status words.

Implemented bounded mechanisms#

• Assurance event serialization and replay: recheck_assurance_log reconstructs the historical Graph, rehashes embedded evidence, and rechecks the bound propositions for the recorded events.
• Edge-local TRUST transfer: record_trust binds an exact transformation and prerequisite events; degraded or conflicted routes are excluded from current support without deleting history. This is not a universal support algebra.
• ROT derivation and propagation through challenge projection produce additive current-state overlays. Descendant discovery alone does not establish a descendant verdict.
• RUST concentration and localization use reverse reachability, deduplication, and diagnostic attribution in bounded reference mechanisms. Structural reachability alone does not establish causality, blame, guilt, or responsibility.

The architecture ownership matrix states the exact mechanism boundaries. Their implementation does not establish independent deployment, external interoperability, or domain-general correctness.

Remaining experimental work#

Open work includes domain-specific transfer, current-admissibility and localization mechanisms; independent deployment, reimplementation and replay; the complete domain-independent TRUST-transfer algebra; complete hidden-witness trichotomy derivation; and specific optional proof backends while they remain unfinished. Preserve the manifest's UNKNOWN horizons; universal anonymity remains OUT_OF_SCOPE, not a promised feature.

The bounded identity-disclosure evaluator and tracked RISC Zero proof-carrying reference mechanism are under examples/zizk_artifact_first/. The experiment.json manifest records the mechanism studies and their remaining horizons without assigning experimental status to the governing architecture.