Trust-State Standard v1.1

Status: Official Release

Publication Date: June 8, 2026

Published by: VTI Foundation, Inc.

Canonical PDF (Immutable Release Artifact)

SHA-256: 41C7A702FF9C9ABCB7E10121009562B5EA6812D4E339CFBE5B9F37F95AEB2DEF

The Trust-State Standard defines a deterministic framework for evaluating and recording the integrity and authorization state of digital systems.

The specification establishes canonical evidence serialization requirements, rule identity derivation mechanisms, and replay-equivalent evaluation constraints necessary to ensure consistent trust-state determination across heterogeneous execution environments.

Conformance to this standard requires strict adherence to the defined canonicalization, hashing, invariant binding, and conformity artifact construction procedures specified herein.

Identical canonical inputs and rule identities SHALL produce identical conformity artifacts without discretionary override.

1. Scope

The Trust-State Standard defines deterministic computational requirements for evaluating, binding, and verifying digital system integrity.

This standard establishes mandatory rules governing:

• Canonical serialization of evaluation inputs;
• Deterministic rule identity derivation;
• Replay-equivalent evaluation execution;
• Conformity artifact construction and integrity binding;
• Conformance validation and certification eligibility.

This standard applies to digital systems requiring reproducible, auditable, and independently verifiable evaluation outcomes.

This standard does not prescribe:

• Programming language;
• System architecture;
• Deployment model;
• Storage medium;
• Transport protocol.

Implementations SHALL satisfy all normative annex requirements in order to claim conformance.

2. Normative References

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this standard.

• FIPS 180-4 — Secure Hash Standard (SHA-256)
• RFC 8259 — The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format
• Unicode Standard — Unicode Code Point Ordering
• RFC 2119 — Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels

Where referenced specifications conflict with the requirements of this standard, the requirements of the Trust-State Standard SHALL take precedence.

All hash computations defined within this standard SHALL use SHA-256 as defined in FIPS 180-4.

3. Definitions

3.1 Canonical Serialization

The deterministic transformation of structured data into a byte-identical UTF-8 encoded representation according to Annex A.

3.2 Canonical Evidence

Evaluation input data serialized in canonical form and used as the basis for hash derivation and replay validation.

3.3 Rule Identity

A cryptographic hash derived from the canonical serialized representation of a rule definition as defined in Annex B.

3.4 Deterministic Replay

Re-execution of evaluation logic under identical canonical evidence and rule identity conditions producing identical outcomes.

3.5 Replay Equivalence

A Boolean condition evaluating TRUE only if recomputed evidence hash, rule identity hash, decision, state, and artifact hash match original issuance values.

3.6 Conformity Artifact

A structured record containing evidence hash, rule hash, evaluation outcome, and artifact hash as defined in Annex E.

3.7 Conformance

Verified adherence to all mandatory sections and annexes of the applicable published version of the Trust-State Standard.

3.8 Certification

Formal recognition that an implementation satisfies all conformance requirements under Annex F.

4. Canonical Evidence

This section defines deterministic requirements for canonical serialization and evidence hashing.

4.1 Canonical Serialization Requirements

This standard does not mandate a specific serialization format. Implementations MAY use any structured data representation provided that canonicalization produces deterministic and reproducible outputs.

Canonical serialization MUST:

• Preserve field names and values without semantic alteration;
• Use a consistent character encoding;
• Apply deterministic ordering of object members;
• Exclude non-deterministic metadata unless explicitly defined.

Implementations MUST NOT introduce runtime-dependent, environment-dependent, or time-dependent fields into canonical evidence unless explicitly required by rule definitions.

4.2 Evidence Hash Derivation

Implementations MUST compute a collision-resistant hash of the canonical serialized evidence.

The resulting hash value MUST be reproducible across independent implementations when provided identical canonical evidence inputs.

4.3 Deterministic Constraints

Canonical serialization and hash derivation procedures MUST produce identical outputs when executed in independent environments using identical inputs.

Any deviation from deterministic serialization requirements renders the resulting conformity artifact non-conformant.

5. Rule Identity

This section defines deterministic requirements for rule identity derivation and binding of evaluation results to invariant rule definitions.

5.1 Invariant Rule Definition

Rule definitions consumed by conformant implementations MUST be treated as invariant logical structures for purposes of identity derivation.

Human-readable version identifiers MAY be used for administrative purposes, but such identifiers MUST NOT substitute for or override the deterministically derived rule identity defined in this section.

Any modification to rule logic, rule parameters affecting evaluation semantics, or rule composition structure MUST result in a new rule identity.

5.2 Canonical Rule Serialization

Rule definitions MUST be serialized in a deterministic manner consistent with the canonicalization requirements defined in Section 4.1.

Identical rule definitions MUST produce identical serialized outputs across independent implementations.

5.3 Rule Identity Hash Derivation

Implementations MUST derive a collision-resistant identifier from the canonical serialized rule definition.

The resulting rule identity MUST uniquely represent the semantic content of the rule definition.

The hash function used for rule identity derivation MUST meet the collision-resistance requirements defined in Section 2.

5.4 Rule Identity Binding

Conformity artifacts MUST include the rule identity associated with the evaluation that produced the artifact.

Implementations MUST NOT substitute or reinterpret rule identities post-evaluation.

Evaluation results that cannot be bound to a deterministically derived rule identity are non-conformant with this standard.

6. Conformance

This section defines mandatory requirements that an implementation MUST satisfy in order to claim conformance with the referenced published version of the Trust-State Standard.

6.1 Normative Annex Binding

Conformance SHALL require full adherence to the following normative annexes:

• Annex A — Canonical Serialization
• Annex B — Rule Identity Derivation
• Annex C — Deterministic Replay Equivalence
• Annex D — Deterministic Test Vectors
• Annex E — Conformity Artifact Structure
• Annex F — Conformance & Certification Criteria

Failure to comply with any mandatory annex SHALL constitute non-conformance.

6.2 Conformance Requirements

An implementation claiming conformance MUST:

• Produce byte-identical canonical serialization under Annex A;
• Derive rule identity hashes exactly as defined in Annex B;
• Ensure deterministic replay equivalence as defined in Annex C;
• Construct conformity artifacts exactly as defined in Annex E;
• Successfully reproduce test vector results defined in Annex D.

All hash computations SHALL use SHA-256 as defined in FIPS 180-4. No alternative hash function SHALL be substituted.

6.3 Conformity Artifact Integrity

The artifact hash MUST:

• Be computed over the canonical serialized artifact structure;
• Be independently reproducible;
• Change deterministically upon any modification to artifact content.

Replay under identical canonical inputs and rule identity conditions MUST reproduce an identical artifact hash.

6.4 Prohibited Modifications

An implementation MUST NOT claim conformance if:

• Canonical ordering rules are altered;
• Rule identity derivation is modified;
• Replay conditions permit non-deterministic variance;
• Artifact structure fields are omitted or redefined.

6.5 Conformance Declaration

An implementation claiming conformance MUST publish a declaration including:

• The implemented version of the Trust-State Standard;
• The implementation release date;
• A statement affirming adherence to all mandatory annexes.

Conformance claims SHALL explicitly reference the specific published version of the Trust-State Standard.

7. Security Considerations

This standard defines deterministic evaluation and identity binding requirements. It does not, by itself, guarantee system security.

7.1 Deterministic Integrity Boundaries

Conformance ensures reproducibility of evidence serialization, rule identity derivation, and conformity artifact construction. It does not ensure correctness of rule logic or integrity of external inputs.

7.2 Hash Function Selection

Implementations MUST use collision-resistant hash functions appropriate for current cryptographic best practices.

Use of deprecated or compromised hash algorithms renders the implementation non-conformant.

7.3 Rule Integrity

Rule definitions MUST be protected against unauthorized modification.

This standard assumes that rule definitions supplied to an implementation have not been tampered with prior to canonical serialization and identity derivation.

7.4 Environmental Considerations

This standard does not define transport security, storage encryption, access control mechanisms, or operational controls.

Implementers are responsible for ensuring that deployment environments provide appropriate protections consistent with their risk model.

7.5 Replay Verification

Replay equivalence ensures reproducibility under identical inputs. It does not prevent malicious replay of valid artifacts in inappropriate contexts.

Implementations MUST apply contextual validation consistent with deployment requirements.

7.6 Infrastructure Neutrality

This standard does not require distributed ledger, blockchain, or consensus-based infrastructure.

Deterministic evidence serialization, rule identity derivation, and conformity artifact construction may be implemented in centralized, distributed, or hybrid environments.

8. Governance

Steward: VTI Foundation, Inc.

Applies To: Trust-State Standard

8.1 Stewardship Authority

The Trust-State Standard is stewarded exclusively by VTI Foundation, Inc.

VTI Foundation, Inc. is the authoritative publisher of:

• Normative text of the Trust-State Standard;
• Annexes designated as normative;
• Version identifiers and publication records;
• Official conformance terminology.

No other entity may publish modifications as an official Trust-State release.

8.2 Publication and Versioning

Each release SHALL include:

• A version identifier;
• A publication date;
• A stable canonical URL;
• A description of normative changes.

Published versions are immutable. Corrections or amendments SHALL be issued as a new version. Prior versions SHALL NOT be modified retroactively.

8.3 Normative and Informative Material

The standard MAY contain both normative and informative content.

• Normative content uses SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, and MAY as defined in RFC 2119.
• Informative content is non-binding.

Annexes SHALL explicitly state their designation. If not stated, an annex is informative by default.

8.4 Change Control

Amendments SHALL preserve deterministic conformance guarantees.

• Canonicalization and hashing requirements SHALL remain reproducible;
• Replay-equivalent evaluation constraints SHALL NOT be weakened;
• No amendment may introduce discretionary artifact variance.

Any modification permitting multiple valid conformity artifacts from identical canonical inputs is non-conformant and SHALL NOT be adopted.

8.5 Conformance Claims

Conformance claims SHALL reference a specific published version.

Conformance SHALL NOT be claimed against unpublished or draft text unless explicitly designated as Draft Conformance.

8.6 Interpretation

In the event of interpretive conflict, the order of precedence is:

1. Normative text in the Standard;
2. Normative annexes;
3. Informative material.

Interpretations SHALL favor determinism, reproducibility, and independent verifiability.

9. Change Log

Version 1.0 — February 2026

• Initial release of the Trust-State Standard.

Version 1.1 — June 8, 2026

• Corrected cross-references and canonical publication artifact.
• No normative clauses modified.