DCP Core¶
This directory contains the core specification for the Digital Citizenship Protocol — the minimum interoperable protocol surface that every DCP implementation must support.
What is DCP Core?¶
DCP Core defines the artifacts, their relationships, and the verification model that allow any verifier to evaluate:
- Who is responsible for an agent (Responsible Principal binding)
- What the agent declared it intended to do (Intent Declaration)
- What policy outcome was applied (Policy Decision)
- What verifiable evidence was produced (Action Evidence / Audit Trail)
- How all artifacts are bundled for portable verification (Bundle Manifest)
The core is deliberately minimal. It defines what must be present and how to verify it, but delegates how to sign, which algorithms to use, how agents discover each other, and how governance policies are enforced to profiles.
Core Artifacts¶
| Artifact | Purpose | Existing Spec |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible Principal Record | Binds an agent to a human or legal entity | DCP-01 (as "Responsible Principal Record") |
| Agent Passport | Agent identity, capabilities, key material | DCP-01 |
| Intent Declaration | Structured pre-action declaration | DCP-02 |
| Policy Outcome | Authorization decision for an intent | DCP-02 |
| Action Evidence | Hash-chained audit entries | DCP-03 |
| Bundle Manifest | Portable package binding all artifacts | BUNDLE |
Documents¶
- dcp-core.md — Editorial core specification with full rationale and artifact definitions
Relationship to Existing Specs¶
The core specification is an editorial overlay that organizes the existing normative specs (DCP-01 through DCP-03, BUNDLE, VERIFICATION) into a coherent core. It does not replace them — it provides a unified view of the minimum protocol surface.
What is NOT Core¶
The following are explicitly outside the core and belong to profiles or services:
- Specific cryptographic algorithms (Ed25519, ML-DSA-65, etc.) → Crypto Profile
- Agent-to-agent discovery and communication → A2A Profile
- Risk tiers, jurisdiction, revocation, governance → Governance Profile
- Verification servers, anchoring, transparency logs → Infrastructure Services
Implementation notes (informative)¶
Added 25/10/2026. Not normative. These notes add no requirement and change nothing above: they describe how the reference code on
mainrelates to this text. Where they differ, the normative text above stands.
- The core artifacts exist in two wire versions. V1 (
schemas/v1/): no manifest, noSignedPayloadenvelopes, nosession_nonce, one Ed25519 signature over the bundle, and at least one audit entry. V2 (schemas/v2/, specified in DCP-AI v2.0): a signed manifest that commits to each artifact,SignedPayloadenvelopes for the RPR, passport, intent and policy decision, a session nonce, composite signatures, and an audit trail that may be empty. - In V2 the RPR carries the principal's
binding_keysand the passport is signed by the agent's own keys. A bundle that verifies proves its signatures match the keys it lists, not who the principal is: trust comes from the verifier's trust set (docs/ADMISSION.md).