algovoi-delegation-ref

Content-addressed delegation references for the AlgoVoi substrate. An agent delegates authority to another agent for a scope and a validity window; the delegation_ref is the content hash of that delegation envelope, so any tamper (widening the scope, extending the expiry, swapping the delegate) changes the ref and is detectable offline. Delegations chain (A→B→C) via prev_delegation_ref, giving a tamper-evident delegation chain.

This is the inverse of an opaque delegation token (an arbitrary label that does not change when the delegation's content is altered). Additive over the frozen substrate (Apache-2.0); no new cryptography:

delegation_ref = "sha256:" + SHA-256(JCS(RFC 8785)({
    delegate_id, delegator_id, not_after_ms, not_before_ms,
    prev_delegation_ref, scope }))

with integer-millisecond validity bounds.

Install

pip install algovoi-delegation-ref

Use

from algovoi_delegation_ref import delegation_ref, tamper_detected, verify_chain

root = {
    "delegator_id": "did:web:org.example",
    "delegate_id":  "did:web:agent-1.example",
    "scope":        "payments:usdc:<=100",
    "not_before_ms": 1716494400000,
    "not_after_ms":  1716498000000,
    "prev_delegation_ref": "",
}
ref = delegation_ref(root)
tamper_detected(ref, root)                              # False (matches)
tamper_detected(ref, {**root, "scope": "payments:usdc:*"})   # True (scope widened)

# chain a sub-delegation and verify integrity end to end
sub = {**root, "delegator_id": "did:web:agent-1.example",
       "delegate_id": "did:web:agent-2.example",
       "scope": "payments:usdc:<=50", "prev_delegation_ref": ref}
verify_chain([root, sub])    # -> [root_ref, sub_ref]; raises on a broken link

Envelope key order does not matter (JCS absorbs it). A non-integer validity bound (e.g. an RFC-3339 string) is rejected, not hashed.

Conformance

conformance/delegation_ref_v1/: 3 positives (root, reordered-key, chain link), 5 negatives (scope / expiry / delegate / chain-link tamper, plus a rejected malformed bound), and two invariants (key-order, chain integrity). The verifier imports only the standard library plus rfc8785 (no algovoi import):

pip install rfc8785
python conformance/delegation_ref_v1/verify.py

Adopters

Build on algovoi-delegation-ref, pin ==0.1.0, anchor a canonical vector hash, and keep the NOTICE, and you qualify for a free v0 licence key for algovoi-mandate-auditor. The gate is scripts/check_v0_adoption.py (dependency + canonical hash anchor + NOTICE + version pin → ISSUE_V0_KEY). Apply: email chopmob@gmail.com.

License

Apache-2.0. Copyright 2026 AlgoVoi. Preserve the NOTICE in any distribution.