Proof of Conduct
Ownership and Attribution Notice
Proof of Conduct (PP-SPEC-089) is authored by Craig Thomas Ellrod and is published as part of Proof Protocol. Copyright (c) 2026 Craig Thomas Ellrod.
Any use, implementation, derivative, citation, or incorporation of this specification, in whole or in part, MUST attribute Craig Thomas Ellrod and Proof Protocol. This requirement applies to standards bodies, working groups, consortia, and commercial implementations.
Licensed under the Proof Protocol License 1.1 (see LICENSE.md); text CC BY 4.0 under Part A, which grants no patent rights. Original inventor: Craig Thomas Ellrod (ORCID 0009-0004-1058-7666).
Patents. Patent terms are in PATENT-SCHEDULE.md. Claims not listed there are reserved by Craig Thomas Ellrod. Licensing: 1proofprotocol@gmail.com.
Did the agent stay inside its committed boundary?
An agent's own report of what it did is never evidence of what it did.
Proof of Conduct is the claim that an Agent Under Test took no action outside its Pre-Committed Boundary over a declared window and Witness Coverage Map. The boundary, the actions allowed on the path from the entry path point to the exit path point, is sealed to a Time Anchor before the agent starts. An independent Proof Witness maps observed effects onto the boundary by exclusionary homomorphism and records only the effects the boundary excludes. Cost scales with exceptions, not actions.
How it works
- Declare first. The claim, its subject, scope and limits are registered and anchored before the evidence they are measured against is produced.
- Evidence from the family. The claim is determined only from Conformant, registered Proof Protocol records: - Declared Policy and Pre-Committed Boundary - Exclusion records - Witness Coverage Map - PP-SPEC-078 offense classification
- Determine mechanically. Exactly one of
proven,refutedorinsufficient, computed the same way by a person and a machine. - Publish everything. Every Determination is registered, whatever its result.
- Expire honestly. A changed control, a revoked basis record, or the end of the declared period ends the claim.
Part of the Proof of X family
Only Proof of Efficacy answers whether a control worked. Proof of Conduct answers one other question a reader needs answered. See SPEC.md Section 11 for the whole family, PP-SPEC-082, PP-SPEC-089 to PP-SPEC-099 and PP-SPEC-101.
Repository
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
| SPEC.md | The normative specification, PP-SPEC-089 |
| docs/overview.md | Plain-English walkthrough |
| docs/glossary.md | Terms |
| docs/conformance.md | Conformance checklist |
| schemas/conduct-claim.schema.json | Claim Declaration and Claim Record schemas |
| schemas/ai-disclosure.schema.json | Authorship Disclosure schema (077 21.15) |
| CHANGELOG.md | Version history |
| CONTRIBUTING.md | How to engage |
| GOVERNANCE.md | How this specification is governed |
| NOTICE.md | Attribution requirements |
| AI_DISCLOSURE.md | What was human-authored and what was AI-drafted |
| FUNDING.md | Funding disclosure |
| REVIEWERS.md | Review disclosure |
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md | Credits |
| ETHICS.md | Proof Economy Code of Ethics |
| CITATION.cff | Citation metadata |
| SECURITY.md | Reporting protocol flaws |
| PATENT-SCHEDULE.md | Patent terms |
| LICENSE.md | License terms |
| LICENSE-CC-BY-4.0.md | CC BY 4.0, specification text |
| LICENSE-APACHE-2.0.md | Apache License 2.0, reference text |
Status
Draft, version 0.1.0, 2026-11-04. Maintained by Craig Thomas Ellrod as part of Proof Protocol.
Builds on PP-SPEC-078 (Jailed Canary), PP-SPEC-077 (Dead Canary), PP-SPEC-023 (Structural Independence and Fidelity-at-Capture). Records are registered to a PP-SPEC-004 registry; the public instance is proofregister.com.
Glossary: Proof of Conduct. Specifications: proofprotocol.io.
Archived on Zenodo: pending.
Related: Proof Economy Prior Art Declaration, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21379780.
Cite
Ellrod, C. (2026). Proof of Conduct (PP-SPEC-089), v0.1.0.
Craig Thomas Ellrod, Proof Protocol. https://github.com/proofprotocol/PP-SPEC-089-PROOF-OF-CONDUCT