mars-protocol 0.4.0

Mars® — AI post-invocation governance protocol specification (Capitoline Triad)

Mars® Protocol

Proprietary and Confidential Copyright © 2026 Causum. All rights reserved. See LICENSE.md.

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The Capitoline Triad

Mars® governance is structured around three foundational protocol components — the Capitoline Triad — each governing a distinct layer of the architecture. Together they compose a closed, independently-evaluable governance loop over any AI invocation.

Triad Member	Protocol Layer	Governs
Juno	§01 — Domain Modeling	Authority: the formal domain model, order decomposition, perspective constitution, variant declaration, and higher-order synthesis. Every downstream section consumes Juno's outputs as given.
Jupiter	§02 — Analysis	Law and conformance: the analysis battery, base certification, delta-attestation lifecycle, integrated boundary enforcement (inbound and outbound), and elevated pre-invocation governance.
Minerva	§03 — Artifacts	Knowledge and evidence: semantic binding, knowledge-base construction, evidence-gathering verification, and governed artifact production.

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Architecture overview

The overview document defines all canonical terms, introduces the governed round-trip, and establishes the dependency order that the Triad enforces. Read it first.

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Reading order

The specification is organized in strict dependency order. Each layer consumes outputs produced by all prior layers. Read in the sequence below; skipping sections will produce undefined terms.

File	Layer	Produces
spec/00-overview/overview.md	Overview	Canonical definitions; architecture introduction
spec/01-juno/modeling.md	§01 Juno — Domain Modeling	Formal domain model; order decomposition; perspective constitution; variant declaration; higher-order synthesis
spec/02-jupiter/02a-base.md	§02a Jupiter — Base Analysis	Analysis battery; symbolic lift; divergence signal; conformance certificate (nine structural invariants)
spec/02-jupiter/02b-i-delta-attestation.md	§02b-i Jupiter — Delta-Attestation	Amendment-governance primitive; delta-attestation object; delta-classification decision table; versioned re-discharge
spec/02-jupiter/02b-ii-integrated-boundary.md	§02b-ii Jupiter — Integrated Boundary	Inbound boundary; non-language-provenance anchor; composition gate (V1–V7); procedural-confidence derivation; R1/R2
spec/02-jupiter/02b-iii-actuation.md	§02b-iii Jupiter — Actuation	Outbound boundary; actuation anchor; downstream actuation gate; R3/R4/R5; named-authority standing
spec/02-jupiter/02c-elevated.md	§02c Jupiter — Elevated Analysis (AIGP)	Pre-invocation admissibility; forensic record; model governance; sycophancy gate
spec/03-minerva/03-i-semantic-binding.md	§03-i Minerva — Semantic Binding	Data source characterization; Pymnemon and Impera client classes; aspect-keyed query library; multi-locus gap report
spec/03-minerva/03-ii-knowledge-base.md	§03-ii Minerva — Knowledge Base	Aspect-typed primitive extraction; co-indexed bidirectional store; controlled embedding-space transformations; map-governed chunking
spec/03-minerva/03-iii-evidence-gathering.md	§03-iii Minerva — Evidence-Gathering	Evidence-gathering verification; grounded conformance verdict; recomputation witness; symmetric reinforcement
spec/03-minerva/03-iv-governed-production.md	§03-iv Minerva — Governed Production	Governed data and benchmark generation; model evaluation scenarios; benchmark consumer interface
spec/appendix/A-use-cases.md	Appendix A	Representative deployment use cases (non-normative)
spec/appendix/B-conformance-checklist.md	Appendix B	Normative conformance checklist — all numbered properties in one table
spec/appendix/C-glossary.md	Appendix C	Canonical term definitions

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Machine-readable schemas

Formal JSON Schema definitions for the named objects in this specification live in schemas/. Each schema is the machine-readable complement to the corresponding prose definition. An implementation is conformant if and only if every instance it produces validates against the schema for that object type.

Schema	Object	Defined in
schemas/conformance-certificate.json	Conformance certificate	§02a
schemas/delta-attestation.json	Delta-attestation record	§02b-i
schemas/actuation-anchor.json	Actuation anchor	§02b-iii
schemas/named-authority.json	Named-authority record	§02b-iii

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Specification registry

The registry/ directory holds entries for specifications registered under the Mars® architecture. The registry-template.md defines the required fields for a compliant registration.

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IP ownership and licensing

See LICENSE.md.

The Mars® architecture spans two IP estates:

Causum owns the Mars® name, mark, and the following specification layers: domain modeling (§01 Juno), base analysis (§02a Jupiter), integrated analysis (§02b-i through §02b-iii Jupiter), elevated analysis (§02c Jupiter), and artifacts (§03-i through §03-iv Minerva).

Licensing. The Mars® Specification is made available solely for the purpose of evaluating and implementing a license from Causum. No right to practice, sublicense, modify, distribute, or create derivative works is granted by possession of or access to this document. Implementation of the mechanisms described herein requires a valid license agreement with Causum. Inquiries: contact Causum directly.

Multiple patent applications pending. Publication of this specification does not constitute a waiver of any patent, trade secret, or other intellectual property right.

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Version

v0.2.0 — §02b split into §02b-i, §02b-ii, §02b-iii; §03 split into §03-i, §03-ii, §03-iii, §03-iv; specification reorganized under Capitoline Triad structure; machine-readable schemas and conformance checklist added.

See CHANGELOG.md for full version history.

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Mars® is a registered trademark of Causum.