CatenorSpecification v0.1

Catenor Protocol

03 — Core Model

Defines the canonical object relationships and trust flow of Catenor Draft v0.1.

Status: Draft v0.1

1. Core abstraction

Catenor models identity and authority as a set of independently verifiable layers:

Canonical Subject
      │
      ├── DID Document
      ├── Verification Methods
      ├── Account Bindings
      ├── Verifiable Credentials
      ├── Relationships
      ├── Capabilities
      ├── Delegations
      └── Audit History

A Policy consumes verified facts from those layers and produces a Decision.

Execution authorization is intentionally outside the Policy Decision itself.

2. Canonical Subject

A Canonical Subject is the stable identity object.

Native identifier:

did:catenor:<opaque-high-entropy-id>

Subject classes:

HUMAN
ORGANIZATION
AGENT

Assets/resources are not Subjects by default.

3. Identity vs accounts

Canonical Subject
    !=
wallet / execution account / authentication account

Accounts bind to the Subject through Account Bindings.

Account Bindings are private by default.

4. Public DID state

Public/resolvable state includes:

did:catenor identifier
DID Document
public Verification Methods
verification relationships
status/resolution metadata where defined

Private financial Account Bindings MUST NOT be published merely because they belong to the same Subject.

5. Credential model

A Verifiable Credential is a signed claim.

A valid proof establishes:

authorship
+
integrity

It does not independently establish:

truth
issuer trust
issuer authority
status
scope
policy acceptance

6. Authority model

Catenor separates:

Relationship
= connection

Capability
= permission

Delegation
= bounded transfer of permission

Canonical invariant:

delegated authority ⊆ delegator authority

7. Issuer model

Issuer is not a global protocol role flag.

Issuer is:

Catenor Subject
+
valid ISSUE_CREDENTIAL capability
+
credential-type scope
+
constraints
+
active authority chain

ISSUE_CREDENTIAL and AUTHORIZE_ISSUER are distinct Capabilities.

8. Trust model

Trust is contextual to a Trust Domain.

A Trust Domain identifies which:

Trust Anchors
Issuers
credential types
evidence sources
Policies

are accepted.

Catenor does not define a universal global Issuer whitelist.

9. Trust Anchor bootstrap

Initial trust is established through Trust Anchor Admission.

<mermaid-placeholder index="0" />

Infrastructure control alone does not create Trust Anchor authority.

10. Policy model

A Policy consumes verified context:

verified Credentials
verified Relationships
verified Capabilities
verified Delegations
Authority Chain
status
resource context

and produces:

ALLOW
DENY

Optional non-authoritative outcomes may include:

INDETERMINATE
REQUIRES_REVIEW
ERROR

11. Confidential verification

Sensitive evidence may be evaluated through a Confidential Verification Environment.

private evidence
      ↓
confidential verification
      ↓
minimum necessary verifiable fact

The protocol defines security properties, not a specific technology.

12. Execution separation

Catenor Policy Decision
        !=
Execution Authorization

A Policy may say ALLOW while an execution system independently denies the requested transaction.

13. Audit model

Security-relevant lifecycle changes are append-oriented.

The audit layer should preserve enough history to answer questions such as:

Was this key active at time T?
Was this credential active at time T?
Was this Issuer authorized at time T?
Was this Delegation still valid?
Which Policy version applied?

14. Canonical flow

<mermaid-placeholder index="1" />

15. Frozen invariants

wallet != identity
PII != DID seed
provider ID != DID
database row != authority proof
signature validity != claim truth
Relationship != Capability
ISSUE_CREDENTIAL != AUTHORIZE_ISSUER
delegated authority <= delegator authority
Policy Decision != Execution Authorization
Credential Assertion Key != Financial Execution Key

16. Open design items

This document does not freeze:

DID persistence architecture
Crypto Profile
Credential Status mechanism
Subject Continuity algorithm
Account Control Proof wire format
Capability vocabulary
Delegation wire format
Policy DSL
Audit persistence
public/shared anchoring