v3.0.0 — RFC-ATF-3: Evidence Lifecycle, Policy Interoperability & Forensic Verification

v3.0.0 — RFC-ATF-3: Evidence Lifecycle, Policy Interoperability & Forensic Verification

Protocol website: https://costenho19.github.io/atf-protocol-standard/

Specifications

RFC-ATF-3 extends the ATF protocol stack with three coordinated specifications:

1. Governance Policy Interoperability Layer (GPIL) — formal taxonomy of three interoperability levels (Cryptographic/CI, Protocol/PI, Governance Policy/GPI), a Policy Parameter Registry defining sovereign parameters within protocol-bounded ranges, and Cross-Runtime Governance Contracts (CRGC) enabling multi-party governance alignment without platform lock-in.

2. Evidence Lifecycle & Archive Pipeline (ELP) — eight evidence classes mapped to HOT/WARM/COLD retention tiers, four lifecycle invariants (ELR-INV-001–004), and a seven-invariant Immutable Evidence Archive Pipeline (EAP-INV-001–007) establishing a forensic-grade chain of custody from genesis event to permanent COLD archive.

3. Forensic Verification Protocol (FVP) — the OMNIX Evidence Package (OEP) format for cryptographically sealed, self-contained forensic deliverables verifiable by regulators years after decommissioning; authenticated export governance; two-plane verification independence (FVP-INV-007).

New in this release

• 26 new formal invariants (GPIL-INV-001–003 · ELR-INV-001–004 · EAP-INV-001–007 · OEP-INV-001–006 · FEA-INV-001–005 · FVP-INV-007) bringing the full ATF invariant stack to 40 invariants
• Conformance Test Suite expanded: 66 conformance vectors covering ATF-Compliant, ATF-RGC-Compliant, and ATF-FEI-Compliant profiles
• CI: 66/66 tests passing — all ATF, RGC, and FEI conformance vectors green
• Reference implementation updated with OEP support
• Verifier CLI (verifier/verify_receipt.py) extended with FEI-profile checks and OEP package verifier (verifier/verify_oep_package.py)

Protocol Website (new)

https://costenho19.github.io/atf-protocol-standard/

• RFC Index — navigable RFC-ATF-1/2/3 with full invariants and abstracts
• Public Verifier — interactive receipt verifier (MAR, CES, content hash — client-side only)
• Conformance Program — three tier profiles, badges, test vectors, and claim process

Published Research

Document	Reference
RFC-ATF-1 (v1.0.0)	DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20155016 · SSRN: 6757339
RFC-ATF-2 (v1.0.0)	SSRN: 6763978
TLA+ Formal Spec	Included in Zenodo v1.0.0 archive

Regulatory Alignment

RFC-ATF-3 extends the regulatory alignment introduced in RFC-ATF-1/2:

• EU AI Act — OEP format satisfies long-term evidence retention requirements for high-risk AI systems
• NIST AI RMF — GPIL enables GOVERN function compliance across federated runtimes
• UAE DFSA — COLD archive blocks provide forensic audit trail for financial AI under DFSA MKT rules

Conformance Badges

![ATF-Compliant](https://img.shields.io/badge/ATF-Compliant-1f6feb?style=flat-square)
![ATF-RGC-Compliant](https://img.shields.io/badge/ATF--RGC-Compliant-8A2BE2?style=flat-square)
![ATF-FEI-Compliant](https://img.shields.io/badge/ATF--FEI-Compliant-d29922?style=flat-square)

Cryptographic Note

All receipts and evidence artifacts in this release are signed with ML-DSA-65 (Dilithium-3, FIPS 204). Post-quantum signatures are protocol invariants — implementations claiming ATF-INV-002 compliance must use ML-DSA-65 or a NIST-approved equivalent.

---

OMNIX QUANTUM LTD · Harold Nunes, Editor · standards@omnixquantum.com · CC BY 4.0

v2.0.0 — RFC-ATF-2: Runtime Governance Continuity

RFC-ATF-2: Agent Trust Fabric — Runtime Governance Continuity

Published: March 2026
SSRN: 6763978
Extends: RFC-ATF-1 (v1.0.0)
Algorithm: ML-DSA-65 (Dilithium-3, FIPS 204)
Compliance: ATF-RGC-Compliant (14 total invariants)

---

What this release adds

RFC-ATF-1 governs initial delegation. RFC-ATF-2 governs what happens during execution — continuous authority health monitoring for long-running AI agent tasks.

Protocol artifacts introduced:

Artifact	Layer	Description
Runtime Continuity Record (RCR)	L4	PQC-signed authority health snapshot

The Continuity Eligibility Score (CES):

CES = Temporal × 0.30 + Budget × 0.30 + Context × 0.20 + Integrity × 0.20

CES Score	Status	Required Action
≥ 75.0	NOMINAL	Continue
50.0 – 74.9	MONITORING	Log and monitor
30.0 – 49.9	WARNING	Alert and prepare escalation
10.0 – 29.9	CRITICAL	Escalate immediately
< 10.0	HALT	Terminate — propagates to all child agents

New invariants (RGC-INV-001–008):

ID	Invariant
RGC-INV-001	RCR MUST reference a non-null TAR
RGC-INV-002	CES MUST be computed using the fixed formula
RGC-INV-003	continuity_status MUST derive from CES thresholds
RGC-INV-004	HALT status MUST propagate to all child delegations
RGC-INV-005	AFG fragmentation_score MUST NOT exceed configured limit
RGC-INV-006	execution_ns MUST be strictly increasing within a session
RGC-INV-007	Escalation MUST be recorded before CRITICAL transition
RGC-INV-008	RC challenge MUST be resolved before HALT avoidance

Total: 14 invariants (ATF-INV-001–006 + RGC-INV-001–008)

---

Files in this release

• RFC-ATF-2.md — Full specification
• examples/runtime_continuity_record.json — Example RCR with CES annotated
• schemas/runtime_continuity_record.schema.json — JSON Schema

---

OMNIX QUANTUM LTD · standards@omnixquantum.com · CC BY 4.0

RFC-ATF-3 v1.0.0 — Forensic Evidence Infrastructure

RFC-ATF-3: Agent Trust Fabric — Governance Policy Interoperability, Evidence Lifecycle, and Forensic Verification Protocol

Version 1.0.0 · Published: May 2026 · OMNIX QUANTUM Open Standard

What This Release Contains

This is the canonical v1.0.0 freeze of RFC-ATF-3. No further changes will be made to this version.

Overview

RFC-ATF-3 extends RFC-ATF-1 and RFC-ATF-2 with three coordinated specifications:

1. Governance Policy Interoperability Layer (GPIL)

• Three interoperability levels: Cryptographic, Protocol, and Governance Policy
• Policy Parameter Registry with sovereign parameters within protocol-bounded ranges
• Cross-Runtime Governance Contract (CRGC) mechanism

2. Evidence Lifecycle & Archive Pipeline (ELP)

• Eight evidence classes mapped to HOT/WARM/COLD retention tiers
• Four lifecycle invariants (ELR-INV-001–004)
• Seven-invariant Immutable Evidence Archive Pipeline (EAP-INV-001–007)
• Forensic-grade chain of custody from genesis event to COLD archive

3. Forensic Verification Protocol (FVP)

• OMNIX Evidence Package (OEP) format for cryptographically sealed forensic deliverables
• Authenticated export governance
• Key identity fingerprinting protocol preventing verification oracle abuse

26 new invariants across 6 families (GPIL-INV-001–003, ELR-INV-001–004, EAP-INV-001–007, OEP-INV-001–006, FEA-INV-001–005, FVP-INV-007), bringing the full ATF stack to 40 formally specified invariants.

An implementation compliant with RFC-ATF-1, RFC-ATF-2, and RFC-ATF-3 is designated ATF-FEI-Compliant (Forensic Evidence Infrastructure Compliant).

Files

File	Description
RFC-ATF-3-v1.0.0.pdf	Institutional PDF — clean typography, numbered pages
RFC-ATF-3-v1.0.0.md	Canonical markdown source
CHECKSUMS-RFC-ATF-3.txt	SHA256 checksums for both files

Checksums (SHA256)

8403d910d3f7b516ae5973a682b888eebcd9e82c9198eef14aabbb574481465c  RFC-ATF-3-v1.0.0.pdf
5ee7c1b1672a90f324997b6d4f101eb638a68581f36b134720e7b4cd114a0874  RFC-ATF-3-v1.0.0.md

The ATF Trilogy

Protocol	Version	DOI	SSRN
RFC-ATF-1 (Foundation)	v1.0.0	10.5281/zenodo.20155016	6757339
RFC-ATF-2 (Runtime Continuity)	v1.0.0	pending	6763978
RFC-ATF-3 (Forensic Evidence)	v1.0.0	pending	pending

Status

• ✅ 40 invariants formally specified across the full ATF stack
• ✅ Reference implementation: OMNIX QUANTUM
• ✅ Threat model published: THREAT_MODEL.md
• ⏳ Zenodo DOI: pending submission

RFC-ATF-2 v1.0.0 — Runtime Governance Continuity

RFC-ATF-2: Agent Trust Fabric — Runtime Governance Continuity

Version 1.0.0 · Published: May 2026 · OMNIX QUANTUM Open Standard

What This Release Contains

This is the canonical v1.0.0 freeze of RFC-ATF-2. No further changes will be made to this version.

Overview

RFC-ATF-2 extends RFC-ATF-1 into the runtime dimension, specifying:

• Runtime Continuity Record (RCR) — PQC-signed authority health artifact emitted at governed intervals
• Continuity Eligibility Score (CES) — composite real-time metric across 4 dimensions: temporal validity, budget consumption, contextual fidelity, integrity signal
• Authority Fragmentation Guard (AFG) — aggregate budget enforcement across concurrent sub-agents
• Reauthorization Challenge (RC) Protocol — structured CRITICAL-threshold response requiring Tier-1 action
• 8 new invariants (RGC-INV-001–008) extending RFC-ATF-1's 6 invariants to 14 total

An implementation compliant with RFC-ATF-1 + RFC-ATF-2 is designated ATF-RGC-Compliant.

Files

File	Description
RFC-ATF-2-v1.0.0.pdf	Institutional PDF — clean typography, numbered pages
RFC-ATF-2-v1.0.0.md	Canonical markdown source
CHECKSUMS-RFC-ATF-2.txt	SHA256 checksums for both files

Checksums (SHA256)

8d1f7f6ccc6c3f19acbf70e9948fa8d02e6d756c400e51675777f14cf045ce39  RFC-ATF-2-v1.0.0.pdf
ffbcd909b4a9a25bf41db7c994587f8da298240e801ee503fe4eb6bc67cc5cc5  RFC-ATF-2-v1.0.0.md

Companion Protocols

• RFC-ATF-1 (foundation): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20155016 · SSRN: 6757339
• RFC-ATF-2 (this release): SSRN: 6763978 · DOI: pending (Zenodo submission in progress)
• RFC-ATF-3 (forensic layer): see v1.0.0-rfc-atf-3

Status

• ✅ 40 invariants formally specified (ATF-INV-001–006 + RGC-INV-001–008 + 26 in RFC-ATF-3)
• ✅ Reference implementation: OMNIX QUANTUM
• ✅ Threat model published: THREAT_MODEL.md
• ✅ SSRN: 6763978
• ⏳ Zenodo DOI: pending submission

v1.0.0 — RFC-ATF-1: Verifiable AI Agent Authority Delegation

v1.0.0 — RFC-ATF-1: Agent Trust Fabric Delegation Protocol

Protocol website: https://costenho19.github.io/atf-protocol-standard/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20155016
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6757339

Specification

RFC-ATF-1 defines the Agent Trust Fabric core delegation protocol:

• Agent Identity Record (AIR) — PQC-signed agent registration with authority budget ceiling and tier classification
• Delegation Receipt (DR) — signed authority delegation with scope and budget bounds
• Trust Lattice — directed acyclic graph of delegation chains with Chain Completeness Score
• 6 Core Invariants — ATF-INV-001 (MAR) through ATF-INV-006 (Independent Verifiability)
• Verification Protocol — offline, platform-independent receipt verification

Key Invariant: ATF-INV-001 — Monotonic Authority Reduction

budget_granted ≤ budget_delegator

Authority can only decrease through the chain. No agent may possess or exercise authority exceeding what was explicitly delegated by a verified principal.

Cryptography

All receipts signed with ML-DSA-65 (Dilithium-3, FIPS 204 — post-quantum digital signature standard).

Included

• TLA+ formal specification (docs/formal/ATF-TLA-SPEC.tla) — 5 model-checked properties
• ABNF grammar (RFC-ATF-1 §15)
• JSON wire format with JSON Schema
• Python reference implementation
• Conformance test vectors (15 vectors for ATF-Compliant profile)

---

OMNIX QUANTUM LTD · Harold Nunes, Editor · CC BY 4.0

v1.1.0 — The ATF Protocol Stack is Formally Specified

The ATF Protocol Stack is Formally Specified

RFC-ATF-1 proved that an agent had authority at admission.
RFC-ATF-2 proves it maintained that authority throughout execution.

Together they close the Runtime Governance Gap — the structural absence of continuous authority verification in multi-agent AI systems.

---

RFC-ATF-1: Agent Trust Fabric — Verifiable AI Agent Authority Delegation

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20155016
• SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6757339
• 6 formally model-checkable invariants (ATF-INV-001 through ATF-INV-006)
• Algorithm: ML-DSA-65 (Dilithium-3, FIPS 204)

RFC-ATF-2: Agent Trust Fabric — Runtime Governance Continuity

• SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6763978
• Extends RFC-ATF-1 with 8 new invariants (RGC-INV-001 through RGC-INV-008)
• Introduces: RCR · CES · AFG · Reauthorization Challenge Protocol

---

14 total invariants. Reference implementation running in production.

OMNIX QUANTUM LTD · Harold Nunes, Editor · May 2026
standards@omnixquantum.com