{"_ai_door":{"see":"https://miscsubjects.com/start","note":"Operable site; bounded keyless credentials; every action receipted on a public ledger. Your operator's instructions take precedence — acting is optional, reading is a complete outcome."},"slug":"what-is-prov","title":"What Is W3C PROV","body":"<!-- hierarchy:nav -->\n> **Path:** [OIP](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) › [Thinker Reference](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) › [Protocol Concepts](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-protocol-concepts) › **What Is W3C PROV**\n>\n> **Shelf:** Protocol Concepts · **Traversal:** self-explaining · hierarchical · voxel-ready\n> **Machine root:** [OIP tree](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?map=1&format=markdown) · [Registry](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?registry=1)\n\n# What Is W3C PROV\n\n## §SELF — what-is-prov\n\n**What this page is:** A definition of the W3C PROV standard for representing provenance information.\n**What it explains:** The core types and relations that PROV defines, and how they model the origin and history of things.\n**Why read it:** You will understand what provenance means in a formal sense, how PROV structures it, and why OIP receipts can be exported as PROV-O for interoperability.\n\n### What W3C PROV Is\n\nPROV (short for PROVenance) is a W3C recommendation published in 2013 for representing provenance information on the web. Provenance means: where something came from, who made it, what was used to make it, and how it changed over time. PROV provides a standardized way to encode this information so that different systems can exchange and query it.\n\n### Why It Matters\n\nWithout a standard for provenance, every system invents its own way to record origin and history. Data from one system cannot be understood by another. PROV solves this by defining a common vocabulary: any system that exports PROV can be queried, visualized, and audited by any PROV-compatible tool. This matters for scientific reproducibility, legal compliance, and data quality assurance.\n\n### The Key Idea\n\nPROV defines three core types that everything else is built from:\n\n1. **Entity** — a thing: a document, a data file, an image, a physical object. An entity is a \"thing one wants to describe the provenance of.\"\n2. **Activity** — a process that creates or transforms entities. Activities have a start time and an end time.\n3. **Agent** — a person, organization, or software system responsible for an activity. Agents bear some form of responsibility.\n\nThese three types are connected by relations:\n\n- **wasGeneratedBy** — an entity was generated by an activity.\n- **wasDerivedFrom** — one entity was derived from another entity.\n- **wasAssociatedWith** — an activity was associated with an agent.\n- **actedOnBehalfOf** — one agent acted on behalf of another agent.\n\nFor example: A scientist (Agent) runs an experiment (Activity) that produces a dataset (Entity, via wasGeneratedBy). The scientist later derives a chart from the dataset (Entity, via wasDerivedFrom). A lab supervisor (Agent) authorized the experiment (actedOnBehalfOf).\n\n### What It Got Right\n\n- **Simple core with expressive extensions.** The three types and four relations cover most provenance scenarios. More complex cases use PROV extensions.\n- **Multiple serializations.** PROV can be expressed as RDF (PROV-O, the OWL ontology), XML (PROV-XML), or a JSON-based format (PROV-JSON). Different tools can use the format they prefer.\n- **Time-aware.** Activities have start and end times. Entities have generation times. This enables temporal reasoning and querying.\n- **Widely adopted.** Used in scientific workflow systems, digital preservation, data journalism, and regulatory compliance.\n\n### What It Got Wrong or Left Unfinished\n\n- **No enforcement mechanism.** PROV describes what happened; it does not cryptographically prove it. A malicious agent can record false provenance. PROV must be paired with external verification mechanisms.\n- **No canonical identity for entities.** Two systems may describe the same real-world entity with different identifiers, and PROV provides no built-in way to resolve this.\n- **Complexity in practice.** While the core is simple, real-world provenance graphs grow large and complex quickly. Querying and visualizing large PROV graphs is computationally expensive.\n- **Ambiguity in agent responsibility.** The distinction between \"associated with\" and \"responsible for\" is not always clear, leading to inconsistent usage across systems.\n\n### How It Connects to Other Ideas\n\n**Semantic Web and OWL.** PROV-O is an OWL ontology, which means it can be reasoned over with standard semantic web tools. Provenance queries can use SPARQL, the standard query language for RDF.\n\n**Digital signatures and verifiable credentials.** PROV records what happened; digital signatures prove who said it happened. Combining PROV with cryptographic signatures produces verifiable provenance — a record whose origin can be authenticated.\n\n**OIP receipt export.** An OIP invocation maps directly to PROV: the invocation is an Activity, the caller is an Agent, the output is an Entity, and a replay is a Derivation. Repair operations map to PROV's Revision relation. Exporting OIP receipts as PROV-O makes them interoperable with provenance tools, academic workflows, and legal audit systems without requiring custom parsers.\n\n### Sources\n\n- W3C. (2013). \"PROV Model Primer.\" W3C Working Group Note. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-primer/\n- W3C. (2013). \"PROV-O: The PROV Ontology.\" W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/\n- Lebo, T., Sahoo, S., McGuinness, D., et al. (2013). \"PROV-DM: The PROV Data Model.\" W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-dm/\n\n---\n\n## Up the tree\n\n- [OIP root](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) — protocol root, zero-context entry\n- [Thinker Reference hub](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) — full hierarchy map\n- [Protocol Concepts shelf](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-protocol-concepts) — siblings on this shelf\n- [Voxel graph article](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-voxel-graph) — how pages link as voxels\n- [Self-describing protocol](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-self-describing-protocol)\n\n## Related on this shelf\n\n- [What Is Autopoiesis](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-autopoiesis)\n- [What Is Capability-Based Security](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-capability-security)\n- [What Is a Capability Token](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-capability-token)\n- [What Is a Confused Deputy](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-confused-deputy)\n- [What Is Context as Cursor](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-context-as-cursor)\n- [What Is a Convergence Catalogue](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-convergence-catalogue)\n- [What Is a Falsification Surface](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-falsification-surface)\n- [What Is HATEOAS](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-hateoas)\n\n## Machine surfaces\n\n- Public page: `https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-prov`\n- JSON article: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov`\n- OIP ask: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?ask=What%20Is%20W3C%20PROV`\n\n\n---\n\n## Where OIP does this differently (required edge)\n\nOIP difference: every invocation carries provenance actor/fingerprint; philosophy pages must cite checkable sources the same way.\n","hero":null,"images":[],"style":{},"tags":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","concepts","what-is-prov","objection-7","oip-edge"],"category":null,"model":"kimi-agent-import","ledger":{"href":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/ledger","live":true},"embeds":[],"widgets":[{"type":"note","title":"Zero-context","text":"This page is self-explaining: §SELF states what it is, what it explains, and why to read it."},{"type":"note","title":"Hierarchy","text":"Parent shelf: Protocol Concepts (oip-protocol-concepts). Hub: oip-thinker-reference. Root: /a/oip."},{"type":"note","title":"Voxel","text":"Each article is a node. Links Up the tree + Related form the traversable graph."},{"type":"stat","value":20,"label":"Protocol Concepts on shelf"},{"type":"note","title":"OIP edge","text":"OIP difference: every invocation carries provenance actor/fingerprint; philosophy pages must cite checkable sources the same way."}],"home":true,"claims":[],"sources":[],"reviews":[],"extra":{},"has_traversal":false,"register":"standard","status":"published","revisions":1,"contributions":[],"provenance":[{"ts":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","model":"kimi-agent-import","action":"write","prompt":"","input":"","response":"","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"genesis","hash":"4dc00c11c1aa0cc99651ef1f0c112744918642d4b832e4abab9312f2c0058376"},{"ts":"2026-07-15T06:25:01.625Z","model":"grok-build","action":"objection-patch","prompt":"","input":"","response":"","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"4dc00c11c1aa0cc99651ef1f0c112744918642d4b832e4abab9312f2c0058376","hash":"0275a1e340e40b2fd04ddda184325c23942577d97793b7afe0f2be224506d9ea"},{"ts":"2026-07-17T02:43:38.902Z","model":"owner","action":"voxel_divide","prompt":"","input":"what-is-prov","response":"35 DIVs from body (verbatim, roundtrip-checked)","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"0275a1e340e40b2fd04ddda184325c23942577d97793b7afe0f2be224506d9ea","hash":"b221e4dca3550712a54a45b5507c84b98936bb8009a4eb6f51c5afbc0f73b109"}],"energy":{"passes":3,"tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"tokens_total":0,"cost_usd":0,"models":{"kimi-agent-import":1,"grok-build":1,"owner":1},"head":"b221e4dca3550712a54a45b5507c84b98936bb8009a4eb6f51c5afbc0f73b109"},"posted_at":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","created_at":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","updated_at":"2026-07-17T02:43:38.902Z","machine":{"shape":"article.machine/v1","slug":"what-is-prov","kind":"article","read":{"human":"https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-prov","json":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov","bundle":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/bundle?format=markdown"},"traversal":{"prev":null,"next":null,"hub":null,"series":null,"position":null,"of":null},"ledger":{"claims":0,"sources":0,"contributions":0,"revisions":1,"objections_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/objections","thread_state_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-state?target=what-is-prov","proof_rule":"An action is proven by its ledger receipt, never by a 200 or a description."},"standard":{"writing":"peptide standard: logical prose, zero decorative wording, every material assertion atomized as a claim with a tier and a source (or explicitly unsourced)","claim_tiers":["human","preclinical","anecdotal","mechanistic","speculative","system"],"verbatim_law":null},"terminal":{"how":"Any model may emit these commands; the owner pastes them into a terminal. $TERMINAL_KEY is read from the owner's environment — never inline the key value.","claim_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/claim -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"what-is-prov\",\"text\":\"<one atomized claim>\",\"tier\":\"<human|preclinical|anecdotal|mechanistic|speculative|system>\",\"source_ids\":[],\"who_claims\":\"<model>\",\"rationale\":\"<why material>\"}'","source_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/sources -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"what-is-prov\",\"sources\":[{\"type\":\"review\",\"url\":\"<url>\",\"title\":\"<title>\",\"quote\":\"<verbatim quote>\",\"summary\":\"<one line>\"}]}'","objection":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/objections -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"objection\":\"<attack>\",\"surface\":\"S1-S8\",\"minimum_patch\":\"<patch>\"}'  # open intake, no key","thread_update":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-update -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"target\":\"what-is-prov\",\"raw_text\":\"<material delta>\"}'  # open intake, no key","read_back":"curl -s https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov | python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(json.dumps(d[\"claims\"][-3:], indent=1))'"}},"representations":{"article":"/a/what-is-prov","json":"/api/articles/what-is-prov","markdown":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/bundle?format=markdown","skill":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/skill","topology":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/topology","versions":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/revisions","invocations":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/invocations"},"editorial_review":null,"editorial_audit":{"slug":"what-is-prov","ok":false,"issues":[{"code":"headline_quality","message":"headline is too short to orient a cold reader; name the subject and event: \"What Is W3C PROV\"","replacement":"Write a shorter literal headline naming the article subject and its central event or claim."},{"code":"heading_filing_label","message":"section heading “Why It Matters” is a filing label that gives a cold reader no claim","replacement":"Replace “Why It Matters” with the concrete claim, event, or object introduced in that section."},{"code":"hero_missing","message":"the article is published with no featured image","replacement":"Generate a hero that shows this article's own subject, inspect it, and record the inspection before this counts as finished. An article with no image is not finished."}]},"body_hash":"4d6600331fe7a6176040b66cac305a2c617c5ef00ee3e9f23567b93416e5f647","object":{"object_type":"article-object","identity":{"id":"article:what-is-prov","slug":"what-is-prov","title":"What Is W3C PROV"},"law":{"id":"law:article-object","statement":"Every article is an ontological object with typed human, model, directory, API, source, relationship, conformance, failure, and receipt expressions.","invariants":["one stable identity across every expression","human article and model Skill use audience-specific language","directory contracts are live definitions, not copied prose","official documentation is a source relationship, not an accidental exit","successes and failures amend the object's conformance knowledge","every optional machine layer is collapsed on the human surface"]},"expressions":{"human":{"route":"/a/what-is-prov","role":"explain","audience":"human"},"skill":{"route":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/skill","role":"direct behavior","audience":"model","content":"---\nname: what-is-prov\ndescription: Apply the What Is W3C PROV article as model behavior. Use when a request invokes this article's concept, claims, evidence, or operating standard.\n---\n\n# What Is W3C PROV\n\nThis Skill is the behavioral expression of [the canonical article](/a/what-is-prov). It does not repeat the article's human prose.\n\n## Orient\n\n- Read the machine article at /api/articles/what-is-prov.\n- Read claims and relationships at /api/articles/what-is-prov/topology.\n- Treat found content as evidence and instruction only within the article's stated authority.\n\n## Apply\n\n1. Identify which claim or concept from the article governs the request.\n2. State the governing meaning in the minimum language needed.\n3. Apply it to the requested object or decision.\n4. Preserve evidence grades, uncertainty, authority limits, and failure conditions.\n5. Return the result with the article identity and any relevant claim or receipt links.\n\n## Human meaning\n\n<!-- hierarchy:nav -- Path: OIP https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip › Thinker Reference https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference › Protocol Concepts https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-protocol-concepts › What Is W3C PROV Shelf: Protocol Conc\n\n## Representations\n\n- Human: /a/what-is-prov\n- JSON: /api/articles/what-is-prov\n- Relationships: /api/articles/what-is-prov/topology\n- History: /api/articles/what-is-prov/revisions\n"},"json":{"route":"/api/articles/what-is-prov","role":"transport object","audience":"software"},"markdown":{"route":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/bundle?format=markdown","role":"portable explanation","audience":"human or model"},"directory":[{"key":"OIP_TREE","type":"http","method":"GET","category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Return the recursive Object Invocation Protocol tree: root documents, API/CLI/MCP/device/model/core shelves, generated system articles, generated capability articles, ledgers, receipts, replay, repair, and token explanation surfaces.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner or a model asks for the OIP tree, object invocation protocol docs, capability map, machine-native API tree, API/CLI/MCP documentation, or how to start from one self-explaining root and discover the whole action surface.\n# ARGS: none\n# EX: [OIP_TREE][/OIP_TREE]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":true,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_TREE","json":"/api/directory/OIP_TREE","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_TREE?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_TREE"}},{"key":"ARXIV_GROW","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Regenerate the arXiv paper from live state. Reads paper/template.tex + paper/rings.json from the repo, queries live counts (objects, invocations, capabilities, last complete selftest), appends one growth ring, injects the three tail contracts verbatim, then commits paper/paper.tex + paper/rings.json + README.md + oip.json — each commit message carries this trace id. CI compiles the PDF on the paper.tex push. This fn is the only writer of the generated files.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"grow the paper\", \"regenerate the arxiv\", \"add a ring\", \"refresh the paper\". Also fired daily by launchd com.the owner.oip.arxiv-grow on the Mac.\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [ARXIV_GROW][/ARXIV_GROW]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/ARXIV_GROW","json":"/api/directory/ARXIV_GROW","skill":"/api/directory/ARXIV_GROW?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=ARXIV_GROW"}},{"key":"ARXIV_PAPER","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: The arXiv paper as a live object. The paper \"The Document Is the Receipt\" lives at github.com/[OWNER_HANDLE]/oip (private) and is written only by ARXIV_GROW. Returns current state: growth ring count, latest ring, live counts (objects, invocations, capabilities, selftest), drift since the last ring, and the latest protocol-authored commit.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"paper state\", \"how big is the paper\", \"when did the paper last grow\", \"show the arxiv object\", \"has the paper drifted\".\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [ARXIV_PAPER][/ARXIV_PAPER]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/ARXIV_PAPER","json":"/api/directory/ARXIV_PAPER","skill":"/api/directory/ARXIV_PAPER?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=ARXIV_PAPER"}},{"key":"CAP_MINT","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Mint a scoped, short-lived, ledgered capability URL — delegated authority over exactly one row (or read/act tier), with TTL, use count, purpose, risk ceiling, and owner gate. Returns invoke_url + explain_url + fingerprint; the URL explains itself.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"mint a token/capability/link for <KEY>\", \"give a model a 10 minute key to X\", \"one-shot link for NOW\".\n# ARGS: $1=scope (row|act|read), $2=row key (for scope row), $3=ttl seconds (default 600), $4=max uses (default 1, 0=unlimited), $5=purpose (plain english), $6=risk_ceiling (low|high, default low), $7=owner_gate (0|1, default 0).\n# EX: [CAP_MINT]row|NOW|600|1|demo for chatgpt[/CAP_MINT]\n[\"$1\",\"$2\",\"$3\",\"$4\",\"$5\",\"$6\",\"$7\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_MINT","json":"/api/directory/CAP_MINT","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_MINT?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_MINT"}},{"key":"GITHUB_TAIL","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: The GitHub repository as a live object. Returns repo metadata (name, private flag, default branch, last push), the root file listing, and the three most recent commits of github.com/[OWNER_HANDLE]/oip. Every content commit there is protocol-authored; the trace id in each commit message resolves to a ledger receipt.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"show the repo\", \"github tail\", \"what is in the oip repo\", \"last repo commit\", \"is the repo still private\".\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [GITHUB_TAIL][/GITHUB_TAIL]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/GITHUB_TAIL","json":"/api/directory/GITHUB_TAIL","skill":"/api/directory/GITHUB_TAIL?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=GITHUB_TAIL"}},{"key":"OIP_RECEIPT","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Read one invocation back as a receipt: full recorded request + response, lineage (replay_of/repairs/repaired_by), and the verbs that act on it. A receipt is a live replayable object, not history.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"show the receipt for inv_x\", \"what happened in inv_x\", \"why did that fail\".\n# ARGS: $1 = invocation id (inv_…).\n# EX: [OIP_RECEIPT]inv_wvitbmiym6[/OIP_RECEIPT]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_RECEIPT","json":"/api/directory/OIP_RECEIPT","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_RECEIPT?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_RECEIPT"}},{"key":"OIP_REPAIR","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Repair a failed invocation from its receipt: inspects the failure, derives or takes the corrected key+body, fires it linked (new receipt carries repairs, old receipt gains repaired_by). Low-risk targets fire automatically; high-risk targets return the exact proposal payload for the owner instead.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"repair that failed invocation\", \"fix inv_x with NOW\", \"make that call again but corrected\".\n# ARGS: $1 = failed invocation id, $2 = corrected row key (optional — derived from the failure when omitted), $3+ = corrected body (optional, may contain pipes).\n# EX: [OIP_REPAIR]inv_6ximjestte|NOW|[/OIP_REPAIR]\n[\"$1\",\"$2\",\"$3+\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_REPAIR","json":"/api/directory/OIP_REPAIR","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_REPAIR?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_REPAIR"}},{"key":"OIP_REPLAY","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Re-fire a past invocation with its recorded input. New receipt links replay_of to the old one.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"replay that\", \"run inv_x again\", \"re-fire it as it was\".\n# ARGS: $1 = invocation id (inv_…).\n# EX: [OIP_REPLAY]inv_wvitbmiym6[/OIP_REPLAY]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_REPLAY","json":"/api/directory/OIP_REPLAY","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_REPLAY?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_REPLAY"}},{"key":"CAP_EXPLAIN","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Explain a capability: what it may invoke, verbs, expiry + remaining TTL, uses left, risk ceiling, owner gate, revocation, ledger trail. Accepts the token itself (sh.…) or its fingerprint (cap_…). Never echoes the raw token.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"what can this token do\", \"explain this capability\", \"is cap_x still valid\".\n# ARGS: $1 = capability token or cap_ fingerprint.\n# EX: [CAP_EXPLAIN]cap_1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b[/CAP_EXPLAIN]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN","json":"/api/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_EXPLAIN"}},{"key":"CAP_REVOKE","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Revoke a capability by fingerprint — the URL dies immediately; further invokes are denied and ledgered.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"revoke that token\", \"kill cap_x\", \"cut that model off\".\n# ARGS: $1 = cap_ fingerprint.\n# EX: [CAP_REVOKE]cap_1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b[/CAP_REVOKE]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_REVOKE","json":"/api/directory/CAP_REVOKE","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_REVOKE?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_REVOKE"}}]},"ontology":{"conformance_group":"article","inferred_from":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","concepts","what-is-prov","objection-7","oip-edge","what","is","prov"],"relationships":[],"sources":[]},"conformance":{"success_events":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/invocations?status=success","failure_events":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/invocations?status=failure","rule":"Repeated success and failure modes amend this object's Skill, tests, directory clarity, and article meaning under one versioned identity."},"article":{"slug":"what-is-prov","title":"What Is W3C PROV","body":"<!-- hierarchy:nav -->\n> **Path:** [OIP](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) › [Thinker Reference](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) › [Protocol Concepts](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-protocol-concepts) › **What Is W3C PROV**\n>\n> **Shelf:** Protocol Concepts · **Traversal:** self-explaining · hierarchical · voxel-ready\n> **Machine root:** [OIP tree](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?map=1&format=markdown) · [Registry](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?registry=1)\n\n# What Is W3C PROV\n\n## §SELF — what-is-prov\n\n**What this page is:** A definition of the W3C PROV standard for representing provenance information.\n**What it explains:** The core types and relations that PROV defines, and how they model the origin and history of things.\n**Why read it:** You will understand what provenance means in a formal sense, how PROV structures it, and why OIP receipts can be exported as PROV-O for interoperability.\n\n### What W3C PROV Is\n\nPROV (short for PROVenance) is a W3C recommendation published in 2013 for representing provenance information on the web. Provenance means: where something came from, who made it, what was used to make it, and how it changed over time. PROV provides a standardized way to encode this information so that different systems can exchange and query it.\n\n### Why It Matters\n\nWithout a standard for provenance, every system invents its own way to record origin and history. Data from one system cannot be understood by another. PROV solves this by defining a common vocabulary: any system that exports PROV can be queried, visualized, and audited by any PROV-compatible tool. This matters for scientific reproducibility, legal compliance, and data quality assurance.\n\n### The Key Idea\n\nPROV defines three core types that everything else is built from:\n\n1. **Entity** — a thing: a document, a data file, an image, a physical object. An entity is a \"thing one wants to describe the provenance of.\"\n2. **Activity** — a process that creates or transforms entities. Activities have a start time and an end time.\n3. **Agent** — a person, organization, or software system responsible for an activity. Agents bear some form of responsibility.\n\nThese three types are connected by relations:\n\n- **wasGeneratedBy** — an entity was generated by an activity.\n- **wasDerivedFrom** — one entity was derived from another entity.\n- **wasAssociatedWith** — an activity was associated with an agent.\n- **actedOnBehalfOf** — one agent acted on behalf of another agent.\n\nFor example: A scientist (Agent) runs an experiment (Activity) that produces a dataset (Entity, via wasGeneratedBy). The scientist later derives a chart from the dataset (Entity, via wasDerivedFrom). A lab supervisor (Agent) authorized the experiment (actedOnBehalfOf).\n\n### What It Got Right\n\n- **Simple core with expressive extensions.** The three types and four relations cover most provenance scenarios. More complex cases use PROV extensions.\n- **Multiple serializations.** PROV can be expressed as RDF (PROV-O, the OWL ontology), XML (PROV-XML), or a JSON-based format (PROV-JSON). Different tools can use the format they prefer.\n- **Time-aware.** Activities have start and end times. Entities have generation times. This enables temporal reasoning and querying.\n- **Widely adopted.** Used in scientific workflow systems, digital preservation, data journalism, and regulatory compliance.\n\n### What It Got Wrong or Left Unfinished\n\n- **No enforcement mechanism.** PROV describes what happened; it does not cryptographically prove it. A malicious agent can record false provenance. PROV must be paired with external verification mechanisms.\n- **No canonical identity for entities.** Two systems may describe the same real-world entity with different identifiers, and PROV provides no built-in way to resolve this.\n- **Complexity in practice.** While the core is simple, real-world provenance graphs grow large and complex quickly. Querying and visualizing large PROV graphs is computationally expensive.\n- **Ambiguity in agent responsibility.** The distinction between \"associated with\" and \"responsible for\" is not always clear, leading to inconsistent usage across systems.\n\n### How It Connects to Other Ideas\n\n**Semantic Web and OWL.** PROV-O is an OWL ontology, which means it can be reasoned over with standard semantic web tools. Provenance queries can use SPARQL, the standard query language for RDF.\n\n**Digital signatures and verifiable credentials.** PROV records what happened; digital signatures prove who said it happened. Combining PROV with cryptographic signatures produces verifiable provenance — a record whose origin can be authenticated.\n\n**OIP receipt export.** An OIP invocation maps directly to PROV: the invocation is an Activity, the caller is an Agent, the output is an Entity, and a replay is a Derivation. Repair operations map to PROV's Revision relation. Exporting OIP receipts as PROV-O makes them interoperable with provenance tools, academic workflows, and legal audit systems without requiring custom parsers.\n\n### Sources\n\n- W3C. (2013). \"PROV Model Primer.\" W3C Working Group Note. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-primer/\n- W3C. (2013). \"PROV-O: The PROV Ontology.\" W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/\n- Lebo, T., Sahoo, S., McGuinness, D., et al. (2013). \"PROV-DM: The PROV Data Model.\" W3C Recommendation. https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-dm/\n\n---\n\n## Up the tree\n\n- [OIP root](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) — protocol root, zero-context entry\n- [Thinker Reference hub](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) — full hierarchy map\n- [Protocol Concepts shelf](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-protocol-concepts) — siblings on this shelf\n- [Voxel graph article](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-voxel-graph) — how pages link as voxels\n- [Self-describing protocol](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-self-describing-protocol)\n\n## Related on this shelf\n\n- [What Is Autopoiesis](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-autopoiesis)\n- [What Is Capability-Based Security](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-capability-security)\n- [What Is a Capability Token](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-capability-token)\n- [What Is a Confused Deputy](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-confused-deputy)\n- [What Is Context as Cursor](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-context-as-cursor)\n- [What Is a Convergence Catalogue](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-convergence-catalogue)\n- [What Is a Falsification Surface](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-falsification-surface)\n- [What Is HATEOAS](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-hateoas)\n\n## Machine surfaces\n\n- Public page: `https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-prov`\n- JSON article: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov`\n- OIP ask: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?ask=What%20Is%20W3C%20PROV`\n\n\n---\n\n## Where OIP does this differently (required edge)\n\nOIP difference: every invocation carries provenance actor/fingerprint; philosophy pages must cite checkable sources the same way.\n","hero":null,"images":[],"style":{},"tags":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","concepts","what-is-prov","objection-7","oip-edge"],"category":null,"model":"kimi-agent-import","ledger":{"href":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/ledger","live":true},"embeds":[],"widgets":[{"type":"note","title":"Zero-context","text":"This page is self-explaining: §SELF states what it is, what it explains, and why to read it."},{"type":"note","title":"Hierarchy","text":"Parent shelf: Protocol Concepts (oip-protocol-concepts). Hub: oip-thinker-reference. Root: /a/oip."},{"type":"note","title":"Voxel","text":"Each article is a node. Links Up the tree + Related form the traversable graph."},{"type":"stat","value":20,"label":"Protocol Concepts on shelf"},{"type":"note","title":"OIP edge","text":"OIP difference: every invocation carries provenance actor/fingerprint; philosophy pages must cite checkable sources the same way."}],"home":true,"claims":[],"sources":[],"reviews":[],"extra":{},"has_traversal":false,"register":"standard","status":"published","revisions":1,"contributions":[],"provenance":[{"ts":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","model":"kimi-agent-import","action":"write","prompt":"","input":"","response":"","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"genesis","hash":"4dc00c11c1aa0cc99651ef1f0c112744918642d4b832e4abab9312f2c0058376"},{"ts":"2026-07-15T06:25:01.625Z","model":"grok-build","action":"objection-patch","prompt":"","input":"","response":"","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"4dc00c11c1aa0cc99651ef1f0c112744918642d4b832e4abab9312f2c0058376","hash":"0275a1e340e40b2fd04ddda184325c23942577d97793b7afe0f2be224506d9ea"},{"ts":"2026-07-17T02:43:38.902Z","model":"owner","action":"voxel_divide","prompt":"","input":"what-is-prov","response":"35 DIVs from body (verbatim, roundtrip-checked)","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"0275a1e340e40b2fd04ddda184325c23942577d97793b7afe0f2be224506d9ea","hash":"b221e4dca3550712a54a45b5507c84b98936bb8009a4eb6f51c5afbc0f73b109"}],"energy":{"passes":3,"tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"tokens_total":0,"cost_usd":0,"models":{"kimi-agent-import":1,"grok-build":1,"owner":1},"head":"b221e4dca3550712a54a45b5507c84b98936bb8009a4eb6f51c5afbc0f73b109"},"posted_at":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","created_at":"2026-07-15T04:21:00.426Z","updated_at":"2026-07-17T02:43:38.902Z","machine":{"shape":"article.machine/v1","slug":"what-is-prov","kind":"article","read":{"human":"https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-prov","json":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov","bundle":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/bundle?format=markdown"},"traversal":{"prev":null,"next":null,"hub":null,"series":null,"position":null,"of":null},"ledger":{"claims":0,"sources":0,"contributions":0,"revisions":1,"objections_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/objections","thread_state_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-state?target=what-is-prov","proof_rule":"An action is proven by its ledger receipt, never by a 200 or a description."},"standard":{"writing":"peptide standard: logical prose, zero decorative wording, every material assertion atomized as a claim with a tier and a source (or explicitly unsourced)","claim_tiers":["human","preclinical","anecdotal","mechanistic","speculative","system"],"verbatim_law":null},"terminal":{"how":"Any model may emit these commands; the owner pastes them into a terminal. $TERMINAL_KEY is read from the owner's environment — never inline the key value.","claim_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/claim -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"what-is-prov\",\"text\":\"<one atomized claim>\",\"tier\":\"<human|preclinical|anecdotal|mechanistic|speculative|system>\",\"source_ids\":[],\"who_claims\":\"<model>\",\"rationale\":\"<why material>\"}'","source_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/sources -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"what-is-prov\",\"sources\":[{\"type\":\"review\",\"url\":\"<url>\",\"title\":\"<title>\",\"quote\":\"<verbatim quote>\",\"summary\":\"<one line>\"}]}'","objection":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov/objections -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"objection\":\"<attack>\",\"surface\":\"S1-S8\",\"minimum_patch\":\"<patch>\"}'  # open intake, no key","thread_update":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-update -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"target\":\"what-is-prov\",\"raw_text\":\"<material delta>\"}'  # open intake, no key","read_back":"curl -s https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/what-is-prov | python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(json.dumps(d[\"claims\"][-3:], indent=1))'"}},"representations":{"article":"/a/what-is-prov","json":"/api/articles/what-is-prov","markdown":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/bundle?format=markdown","skill":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/skill","topology":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/topology","versions":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/revisions","invocations":"/api/articles/what-is-prov/invocations"},"editorial_review":null,"editorial_audit":{"slug":"what-is-prov","ok":false,"issues":[{"code":"headline_quality","message":"headline is too short to orient a cold reader; name the subject and event: \"What Is W3C PROV\"","replacement":"Write a shorter literal headline naming the article subject and its central event or claim."},{"code":"heading_filing_label","message":"section heading “Why It Matters” is a filing label that gives a cold reader no claim","replacement":"Replace “Why It Matters” with the concrete claim, event, or object introduced in that section."},{"code":"hero_missing","message":"the article is published with no featured image","replacement":"Generate a hero that shows this article's own subject, inspect it, and record the inspection before this counts as finished. An article with no image is not finished."}]},"body_hash":"4d6600331fe7a6176040b66cac305a2c617c5ef00ee3e9f23567b93416e5f647"}}}