approval-engine/docs/emission-cadence.md
tegwick 9c9528f5b2 Implement the engine spine: claim, outbox, machine, API
Contracts first (T02–T04): approval claim schema with issuer, freshness,
and binding digest; local transactional outbox wire; load-bearing cadence
as heartbeat or reconciliation (layer.yaml declared).

Then the object (T06–T08): SQLite closed state machine, CAS supersession,
distinct-approver fail-closed, revocation without holder cooperation,
outbox insert in the same transaction. Tests fail the mutation when
emission fails, and revoke while the drain sink is down.

Introspection GET /v1/approvals/{id}/claim is a PIP fact, not a decision.
No public consume (T05 waits on GH-WP-0002-T06). Canon T-06 coverage for
wrong binding, expiry, revoke, and supersede.

FLEX-WP-0017 T03 is unblocked on this object; T05 remains blocked only on
consumption ordering.

Assistant: grok
Assistant-Session: 01a04ceb-2057-7e20-b0f9-c282964d5dd9
2026-08-29 12:52:49 +02:00

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Markdown

# Emission cadence — source declaration
Statute §9.6: approval evidence is **load-bearing** and **low-volume**. Rate
monitoring is the wrong form. A handful of revocations a month has no rate to
drop below; suppression is indistinguishable from a quiet month.
This file is the source side of `GH-WP-0002-T04`. That task is the detection
surface; this declaration is what it reads. Machine-readable copy:
[`../cadence.yaml`](../cadence.yaml).
## Form
**Heartbeat, plus reconciliation counts.** Not a rate.
### Heartbeat
A signed positive claim: *nothing to report*, together with per-class
transition counts since the previous heartbeat (or since process start on
the first). The claim can itself go missing, which is the point — silence
becomes a missing positive rather than a quiet month.
| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Class | `heartbeat` |
| Interval | 24 hours (SHOULD also be emittable on demand) |
| Assertion | `nothing-to-report` |
| Counts | `{issuance, use, supersession, revocation}` of committed outbox rows |
| Missing heartbeat | **finding** |
### Reconciliation
Compare this engine's committed outbox counts per class to `audit-core`'s
accepted event counts for `source=approval-engine` and the corresponding
`action`. Divergence is a **finding**, not a log line.
| This engine | `audit-core` `action` |
| --- | --- |
| `issuance` | `approval.issuance` |
| `use` | `approval.use` |
| `supersession` | `approval.supersession` |
| `revocation` | `approval.revocation` |
| `heartbeat` | `approval.heartbeat` |
Undrained local rows are this engine's lag, not yet a divergence. A row
with `drained_at` set that `audit-core` does not hold is the omission
case §9.6 names.
## What is a finding
- No heartbeat arrives for more than one interval.
- `audit-core` count for a class is less than this engine's drained count
for that class.
- Outbox depth or age exceeds the lag bound in `cadence.yaml` (drain stuck).
None of these are rate drops. None of these are informational logs.
## Residual
Atomicity prevents accidental omission (crash between mutation and emit).
Cadence and reconciliation **detect** adversarial omission after the fact.
Nothing in the model prevents a compromised source from suppressing. That
residual is stated, not closed.