| Internet-Draft | JEP Receipt Profile | September 2026 |
| Wang | Expires 30 March 2027 | [Page] |
This document defines JEP Receipt Profile 1 (JEP-RP-1), a minimal receipt and evidence profile for the Judgment Event Protocol (JEP) [JEP].¶
JEP-RP-1 binds a JEP event to one digest-addressed receipt record through a critical JEP extension. It defines a small behavior-record format, portable receipt manifests and bundles, and independent receipt-validation checks. JEP remains authoritative for event verbs, Event Identity, Event Hash, signature processing, references, extension processing, validation modes, and acceptance semantics.¶
Receipt records are technical evidence about observable behavior and related artifacts. JEP-RP-1 does not assign legal liability, prove subjective intent, establish authorization validity, determine causality or factual truth, define governance outcomes, or establish regulatory compliance.¶
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.¶
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.¶
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 30 March 2027.¶
Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
AI agents and automated services increasingly act across platforms, organizations, tools, and jurisdictions. Operators, counterparties, auditors, and downstream systems may need a portable record showing that a specific JEP event was cryptographically bound to a specific behavior or receipt record.¶
JEP-RP-1 provides that receipt layer.¶
The narrow profile question is:¶
Which JEP event was signed, which receipt record was bound to it, and can that binding be independently revalidated?¶
The profile deliberately does not answer whether the recorded action was correct, authorized, fair, lawful, causally complete, or sufficient for an external policy.¶
JEP Profiles [JEP-PROFILES] defines the general profile-selection and composition model. JEP Conformance [JEP-CONFORMANCE] defines executable Core validation-result and test-harness conventions used by Receipt Profile implementations.¶
Earlier work used the technical name HJS in draft-wang-hjs-accountability. This document uses a new Internet-Draft filename and is intended to replace that draft series. The protocol component name is JEP Receipt Profile. Organizational names are outside the protocol namespace.¶
Where this document conflicts with JEP-Core, JEP-Core controls.¶
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, NOT RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals.¶
JEP-RP-1 defines:¶
JEP-RP-1 does not define:¶
JEP-Core is authoritative for:¶
(who,id);¶
ref;¶
ext and ext_crit;¶
JEP-RP-1 MUST NOT redefine those semantics.¶
JEP-RP-1 distinguishes three concepts:¶
who field;¶
These MAY refer to the same entity, but JEP-RP-1 MUST NOT assume that they do.¶
Actor/key binding is determined by the selected trust profile.¶
The observed-agent identifier is evidence content. It does not establish that the observed agent controlled the signing key or emitted the JEP event.¶
The JEP-RP-1 profile identifier is:¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1¶
The human-readable label JEP-RP-1 MAY be used in documentation and user interfaces.¶
The profile identifier is a publisher-controlled HTTPS URI. Dereferencing it is not required for validation. The publisher SHOULD keep the URI stable and SHOULD make profile documentation available there when practical.¶
The JEP-RP-1 receipt-binding extension identifier is:¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/extensions/receipt-binding/1¶
An event claiming JEP-RP-1 conformance MUST carry this extension under JEP ext and MUST list the identifier in ext_crit.¶
A verifier that does not understand this critical extension cannot claim successful JEP-RP-1 validation.¶
JEP-RP-1 is not wire-compatible with the HJS-Core-1 binding model used by draft-wang-hjs-accountability-05.¶
HJS-Core-1 commonly placed an external record digest in JEP what. That model is not a valid generic binding rule for JEP-Core 0.7 because D, T, and V have verb-specific required what members.¶
JEP-RP-1 therefore moves receipt binding into a critical JEP extension and leaves Core what semantics entirely under JEP-Core.¶
Historical HJS-Core-1 receipts MUST NOT be silently rewritten as JEP-RP-1 receipts.¶
A JEP-RP-1 Receipt Event is a JEP-Core event that:¶
ext_crit;¶
The underlying JEP verb remains authoritative.¶
JEP-RP-1 does not assign new meanings to J, D, T, or V.¶
A producer MUST satisfy the JEP-Core requirements for the selected verb before receipt binding is considered.¶
In particular:¶
what.delegatee and what.scope semantics;¶
what.termination_scope and ref semantics;¶
what.verification_scope, what.result, and ref semantics.¶
Receipt metadata MUST NOT replace those Core fields.¶
who
The JEP who field identifies the actor claimed by the Receipt Event.¶
JEP-RP-1 MUST NOT describe who as a verified signer identity unless the applicable actor-binding check actually passed.¶
who SHOULD NOT contain plaintext personal information unless the deployment requires that form and has an appropriate privacy basis.¶
ref
JEP-RP-1 uses JEP ref exactly as defined by JEP-Core.¶
A logical reference to another JEP event SHOULD use Event Identity. An optional Event Hash MAY pin an exact signed artifact.¶
JEP-RP-1 MUST NOT use Event Hash as a substitute for stable Event Identity when the reference is logically about an event.¶
The presence of a JEP reference does not establish causality, completeness, authorization, endorsement, or legal effect.¶
The receipt-binding extension value MUST be a JSON object containing:¶
profile MUST equal https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1.¶
record_type MUST be one of:¶
record_digest MUST be an algorithm-tagged digest string conforming to the JEP digest-string rules.¶
media_type MUST be a non-empty string. JEP-RP-1 JSON records use application/json.¶
The extension MAY additionally contain record_uri. If present, record_uri is a retrieval hint only. Validation MUST NOT depend solely on trusting the retrieved location.¶
{
"ext": {
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/extensions/receipt-binding/1": {
"profile": "https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1",
"record_type": "behavior",
"record_digest": "sha256:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
"media_type": "application/json"
}
},
"ext_crit": [
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/extensions/receipt-binding/1"
]
}
¶
The example digest is illustrative and is not a test vector.¶
Each JEP-RP-1 Receipt Event binds exactly one primary receipt record through the receipt extension.¶
Additional evidence objects are referenced from that primary record or a receipt manifest. This rule avoids ambiguity about which object the Receipt Event primarily authenticates.¶
A JEP-RP-1 behavior record MUST be a JSON object containing:¶
jep_receipt_record MUST equal "1".¶
record_type MUST equal "behavior".¶
agent MUST be a JSON object containing a non-empty string id. agent.role and agent.deployment_id MAY be present as non-empty strings.¶
action MUST be a JSON object containing a non-empty string type. Additional action fields are deployment-defined.¶
created_at MUST be a non-negative integer representing declared Unix seconds for record creation. It is not trusted time or proof of freshness.¶
evidence MUST be a JSON array of zero or more Evidence Descriptors.¶
The record MAY additionally contain:¶
No other top-level members are defined by JEP-RP-1. Additional structured content SHOULD be placed in evidence objects or defined by an explicitly selected companion profile.¶
An Evidence Descriptor MUST be a JSON object containing:¶
kind MUST be a non-empty string describing the evidence class.¶
digest MUST be an algorithm-tagged digest string.¶
An Evidence Descriptor MAY additionally contain:¶
media_type, when present, MUST be a non-empty string.¶
uri, when present, is a retrieval hint. A verifier MUST NOT treat URI dereference success as evidence-integrity success.¶
redaction, when present, SHOULD be one of:¶
A companion profile MAY define additional redaction values.¶
human_participants, when present, MUST be an array of structured references.¶
Each reference MUST contain:¶
role and reference_type MUST be non-empty strings.¶
If reference_type is not withheld, the object MUST contain reference.¶
If reference_type is withheld, reference MUST be absent.¶
A reference MAY contain privacy_mode and salt_holder.¶
JEP-RP-1 does not guarantee anonymity or unlinkability. Timing, metadata, content similarity, device identifiers, storage locations, or salt reuse can create linkability.¶
context, when present, MUST be a JSON object whose semantics are defined by the deployment or companion profile.¶
redaction, when present, MUST be a JSON object describing minimization or redaction applied to the behavior record or its referenced evidence.¶
The presence of a redaction descriptor does not prove that redaction was legally required, sufficient, complete, or correctly performed.¶
For JEP-RP-1, the Behavior Record Digest uses JCS [RFC8785] and is:¶
sha256(UTF8(JCS(behavior_record)))¶
The textual digest is represented as a JEP algorithm-tagged digest string.¶
JEP-RP-1 producers and verifiers MUST support sha256 for behavior-record digests.¶
A companion profile MAY permit additional digest algorithms but MUST NOT change the meaning of the JEP-RP-1 baseline digest.¶
A behavior record MUST NOT embed the Event Hash of the JEP event that binds it, because doing so would create a circular artifact dependency.¶
A JEP-RP-1 receipt manifest MUST be a JSON object containing:¶
jep_receipt_manifest MUST equal "1".¶
profile MUST equal https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1.¶
root_event MUST be an Event Descriptor.¶
events MUST be a non-empty array of Event Descriptors.¶
records MUST be a non-empty array of Record Descriptors.¶
created_at MUST be a non-negative integer representing declared Unix seconds for manifest creation. It is not trusted time.¶
A receipt manifest MAY additionally contain:¶
An Event Descriptor MUST contain event_identity:¶
{
"event_identity": {
"who": "did:example:agent-123",
"id": "urn:uuid:018f4f8d-7c63-7c2e-9b43-4ef657eec1c0"
}
}
¶
event_identity.who and event_identity.id MUST be non-empty strings.¶
An Event Descriptor MAY additionally contain:¶
event_hash, when present, pins one exact signed event artifact.¶
uri, when present, is only a retrieval hint.¶
Every Event Identity in events MUST be unique within the manifest.¶
root_event.event_identity MUST equal one Event Identity listed in events.¶
If root_event.event_hash is present, it MUST equal the Event Hash for the corresponding exact signed artifact, except as prohibited by Section 8.4.¶
A Record Descriptor MUST contain:¶
record_type MUST be a non-empty string.¶
digest MUST be an algorithm-tagged digest string.¶
A Record Descriptor MAY additionally contain:¶
The digest, not the URI, is the integrity identity of the record.¶
If a JEP Receipt Event binds a receipt manifest as its primary record, that manifest MUST identify the binding event by Event Identity and MUST NOT include the binding event's Event Hash anywhere in the manifest.¶
This rule applies to both root_event and any corresponding entry in events.¶
The manifest MAY include Event Hash values for other JEP events.¶
A verifier MUST reject a manifest that includes the binding event's Event Hash, because the binding Event Hash depends on the signed extension containing the manifest digest and would create a circular artifact dependency.¶
A JSON receipt manifest is digest-addressed using:¶
sha256(UTF8(JCS(receipt_manifest)))¶
A Receipt Event MAY bind a receipt manifest as its primary record by using record_type equal to receipt-manifest in the receipt-binding extension.¶
A JEP receipt bundle is a packaging concept containing zero or more:¶
JEP-RP-1 does not define a validation-report primary record type. Validation reports MAY appear as bundle artifacts, but their structure and semantics are outside the JEP-RP-1 baseline.¶
JEP-RP-1 does not define a mandatory ZIP, CBOR, JSON, archive, transport, or storage container.¶
Packaging MUST NOT alter signed JEP event bytes or misrepresent digest-bound record content.¶
A bundle MAY contain only a subset of available evidence.¶
A partial or redacted export MUST NOT present omitted material as nonexistent, unchanged, irrelevant, agreed, waived, or verified.¶
Where omission could affect interpretation, the export SHOULD include an explicit withheld, redacted, or partial-view indication.¶
A bundle containing multiple events is not, merely by being a bundle, a causal chain, responsibility chain, authorization chain, or complete event history.¶
Chain reconstruction, cycle analysis, termination cascade, complete-log assumptions, and causal interpretation belong to a selected chain profile or external system.¶
Receipt validation reports separately:¶
JEP-RP-1 MUST NOT replace or overwrite the underlying JEP validation result.¶
A JEP-RP-1 Verifier MUST support JEP archival validation mode.¶
If no JEP validation mode is explicitly requested, receipt validation MUST use archival mode.¶
Archival receipt validation MUST NOT consume JEP acceptance state.¶
A deployment MAY additionally request acceptance, chain, or policy mode when those semantics are required. Those modes remain JEP modes and MUST NOT be redefined by this profile.¶
The initial JEP-RP-1 check identifiers are:¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#profile-binding¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#receipt-extension¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#record-binding¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#record-structure¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#manifest-structure¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#bundle-integrity¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#privacy-reference-format¶
Check statuses use the JEP conformance vocabulary:¶
A verifier MUST NOT report an unperformed Receipt Profile check as pass.¶
The Receipt Profile overall status is one of:¶
For the requested Receipt Profile validation context:¶
invalid means the underlying required JEP validation is invalid or at least one required Receipt Profile check failed;¶
indeterminate means no required check failed, but the underlying required JEP validation is indeterminate or at least one required Receipt Profile check is unsupported, not checked, or indeterminate;¶
valid means the underlying required JEP validation is valid and every required Receipt Profile check passed or was not applicable.¶
A verifier SHOULD:¶
ext_crit;¶
record_digest;¶
record_type;¶
A successful Receipt Profile result proves the checked cryptographic and structural bindings. It does not prove the external truth or completeness of the recorded behavior.¶
{
"receipt_status": "valid",
"profile": "https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1",
"jep": {
"status": "valid",
"mode": "archival",
"event_identity": {
"who": "did:example:receipt-service",
"id": "urn:uuid:018f4f8d-7c63-7c2e-9b43-4ef657eec1c0"
},
"event_hash": "sha256:bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
},
"checks": {
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#profile-binding": "pass",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#receipt-extension": "pass",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#record-binding": "pass",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#record-structure": "pass",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#manifest-structure": "not_applicable",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#bundle-integrity": "not_applicable",
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#privacy-reference-format": "not_applicable"
},
"record": {
"record_type": "behavior",
"record_digest": "sha256:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
},
"warnings": [],
"errors": []
}
¶
The example is illustrative and is not a test vector.¶
A JEP V event MAY record a Receipt Profile evaluation.¶
The V event MUST satisfy JEP-Core V requirements.¶
JEP-RP-1 defines the following provisional profile-specific verification scopes:¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#receipt-validation¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#record-binding¶
https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1#bundle-integrity¶
A V event MUST identify its target through JEP ref.¶
A V event's what.result reports the semantic result of its declared verification scope. It MUST NOT be confused with the independent per-check status vocabulary used by a Receipt Profile verifier.¶
A V event MUST NOT imply evaluation beyond its declared scope.¶
A conforming JEP-RP-1 Producer MUST:¶
ext_crit;¶
A conforming JEP-RP-1 Verifier MUST:¶
archival validation mode;¶
indeterminate rather than success when a required check cannot be completed.¶
An implementation claiming Receipt Bundle Verifier capability MUST additionally:¶
A valid JEP-RP-1 receipt does not prove that the described behavior actually occurred as represented. It proves only the properties that were actually validated.¶
Implementations MUST consider:¶
A verifier MUST compare the recomputed primary-record digest with the digest inside the signed critical receipt extension.¶
A verifier MUST enforce Section 8.4 when a Receipt Event binds a receipt manifest.¶
A verifier MUST NOT claim actor binding unless the applicable trust-profile check passed.¶
A verifier MUST NOT infer authorization, causality, truth, completeness, liability, or policy compliance from successful Receipt Profile structural validation.¶
Receipt records can expose:¶
Implementations SHOULD minimize plaintext personal data.¶
Human participant references SHOULD use opaque, pseudonymous, rotating, digest-only, or withheld representations when direct identity is unnecessary.¶
Digest-based references can still enable correlation or dictionary attacks, especially when the underlying value has low entropy.¶
A receipt bundle SHOULD disclose only the evidence required for its intended validation purpose.¶
Receipt Profile privacy mechanisms do not themselves establish consent, lawful basis, data-subject rights compliance, confidentiality obligations, or entitlement to disclosure.¶
JEP-RP-1 is a technical receipt profile.¶
A successful Receipt Profile validation MUST NOT be presented, by itself, as proof:¶
External profiles and policies MAY use receipt evidence when making such determinations, but those conclusions remain external to JEP-RP-1.¶
This document requests no IANA actions.¶
The JEP-RP-1 profile identifier, receipt-extension identifier, Receipt Profile check identifiers, and Receipt Profile verification-scope identifiers defined by this document are publisher-controlled HTTPS URI identifiers.¶
Future specifications MAY define registries if stable interoperable deployment requires them.¶
{
"jep_receipt_record": "1",
"record_type": "behavior",
"agent": {
"id": "did:example:agent-789",
"role": "planner",
"deployment_id": "runtime-42"
},
"action": {
"type": "tool_call",
"name": "calendar.create_event"
},
"created_at": 1790424000,
"evidence": [
{
"kind": "tool_request",
"digest": "sha256:1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111",
"media_type": "application/json",
"redaction": "digest-only"
},
{
"kind": "tool_response",
"digest": "sha256:2222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222",
"media_type": "application/json",
"redaction": "partial"
}
]
}
¶
{
"jep": "1",
"id": "urn:uuid:018f4f8d-7c63-7c2e-9b43-4ef657eec1c0",
"verb": "J",
"who": "did:example:receipt-service",
"when": 1790424000,
"what": {
"claim": "agent-behavior-recorded"
},
"ext": {
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/extensions/receipt-binding/1": {
"profile": "https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1",
"record_type": "behavior",
"record_digest": "sha256:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
"media_type": "application/json"
}
},
"ext_crit": [
"https://humanjudgment.org/jep/extensions/receipt-binding/1"
],
"sig": "..."
}
¶
The J what object remains a JEP-Core judgment claim. The receipt-record binding is carried only in the critical receipt extension.¶
{
"jep_receipt_manifest": "1",
"profile": "https://humanjudgment.org/jep/profiles/receipt/1",
"root_event": {
"event_identity": {
"who": "did:example:receipt-service",
"id": "urn:uuid:018f4f8d-7c63-7c2e-9b43-4ef657eec1c0"
}
},
"events": [
{
"event_identity": {
"who": "did:example:receipt-service",
"id": "urn:uuid:018f4f8d-7c63-7c2e-9b43-4ef657eec1c0"
}
}
],
"records": [
{
"record_type": "behavior",
"digest": "sha256:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",
"media_type": "application/json"
}
],
"created_at": 1790424010
}
¶
This example is suitable for a manifest that is itself bound by the root Receipt Event; therefore the binding event is identified by Event Identity without its Event Hash, avoiding a circular dependency.¶
This Internet-Draft is intended to replace draft-wang-hjs-accountability. The following summarizes the technical transition from draft-wang-hjs-accountability-05:¶
what to a critical JEP extension so D, T, and V retain their required Core what semantics;¶
root_event and event descriptors to carry Event Identity plus optional Event Hash;¶
validation-report as a baseline primary record type; validation reports may remain bundle artifacts;¶
archival mode the required and default repeatable receipt validation mode when no other mode is explicitly requested;¶
valid / invalid / indeterminate status;¶