Canonical Reference Monitor & Architectural Specification

Governance That Follows
Derivation Trees

A portable semantic specification for provenance-scoped governance conditions across agentic AI pipelines, datasets, and modern software supply chains.

Launch Reference Monitor Read Specification v0.1

The Architectural Primitive: A "Lien" for Code & Models

Comparing encumbrances on physical property with provenance conditions on digital assets

Physical World Precedent

Real Estate Property Lien

  • Recorded on Title: Attached to property record, not the current resident.
  • Runs with the Land: Survives transfer of ownership and renovations.
  • Encumbers Sale: Prevents clean closing until satisfied or released.
  • Typed Authority: Only authorized lienholders (tax authority, mortgage lender) can record or clear.
Digital Supply Chain Analogue

Material Governance Condition (MGC)

  • Recorded on Provenance: Bound cryptographically to entity digest via W3C PROV.
  • Runs with Derivation: Inherited transitively across builds, forks, and fine-tunes.
  • Encumbers Deployment: Prevents consumption or execution until discharged.
  • Typed Authority: Dispositions require KMS-backed keys matching typed authority roles.

Foundational Design Principles

Rigorous, lightweight governance primitives verified at the infrastructure boundary

Bounded Lattice Algebra

Deterministic combination of competing constraints. DENY strictly dominates REVIEW, MONITOR, and NONE across all graph paths, eliminating ambiguous policy conflicts.

Typed Disposition Roles

No single administrator key. Separate cryptographic keys for Issuer, Security Resolution, Risk Owner, Adjudicator, and Break-Glass override enforce role separation in KMS.

TOCTOU Race Immunity

Credential broker architecture ensures verification occurs atomically at the point of action. Agents never hold reusable credentials across evaluation boundaries.