AqtaCore Attestation Specification

The open specification and reference verifier libraries for AqtaCore attestation receipts: cryptographic proof that an AI enforcement decision actually ran.

What this is

AqtaCore is a managed service that sits between enterprise AI applications and the model providers. Every enforcement decision AqtaCore makes returns a signed receipt: Ed25519, hash-chained on export, independently verifiable.

This repository is not the AqtaCore service. It is the open spec, two reference verifier libraries, a stand-alone reference issuer, and a conformance test suite so that any third party can verify a receipt, or build their own compliant issuer or verifier.

The trust model in one picture

┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
│  Enterprise  │      │   AqtaCore   │      │     LLM      │
│     app      │─────▶│   gateway    │─────▶│   provider   │
└──────────────┘      └──────┬───────┘      └──────────────┘
                             │
                             │  Ed25519-signed
                             │    attestation
                             ▼
                      ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
                      │   Receipt    │      │   Auditor    │
                      │   (inline    │─────▶│     or       │
                      │  w/ response)│      │  regulator   │
                      └──────────────┘      └──────┬───────┘
                                                   │
                                    verify locally with
                                    aqta-verify-receipt and
                                    the published public key
                                    (no contact with AqtaCore)

Every receipt is self-describing. The auditor never has to trust AqtaCore's servers.

Contents

• 📄 ATTESTATION-v1: the open specification for the receipt format, CC-BY-4.0.
• 🐍 packages/verify-receipt-py: reference Python verifier, Apache 2.0, on PyPI.
• 🟦 packages/verify-receipt: reference TypeScript verifier, Apache 2.0, npm publication pending.
• 🧪 examples/reference-issuer.py: stand-alone minimal issuer, used for test-vector generation and the cross-implementation interop test.
• 📋 test-vectors/: deterministic conformance vectors for third-party verifiers; six valid, eight invalid, each documenting a specific behaviour.
• 📏 CONFORMANCE.md: what it takes for an independent implementation to claim ATTESTATION-v1 conformance.

Why it is published

Regulators, auditors, and internal compliance teams who rely on AqtaCore receipts need to be able to verify them without trusting AqtaCore's servers. An auditor who could not independently verify a receipt would not trust a vendor-stamped receipt in the first place.

Publishing the spec and the verifiers is the credibility floor for the product.

Verify a receipt in 30 seconds

pip install aqta-verify-receipt

from aqta_verify_receipt import verify_receipt, fetch_published_public_key

trusted = fetch_published_public_key()   # pin once
result = verify_receipt(receipt, trusted_public_key=trusted)

print(result.valid)   # → True if the signature is genuine

The TypeScript verifier mirrors this API (pending npm publication; clone from this repo and build locally in the meantime).

Conformance

Any issuer or verifier claiming ATTESTATION-v1 conformance must pass the cross-implementation interop test:

cd packages/verify-receipt
npm install && npm run build
cd ../..
node scripts/make-interop-fixture.mjs

This generates a receipt with the reference issuer (Python) and verifies it with the reference verifier (TypeScript). If both sides agree on the canonical payload, signing, and verification rules, the test exits 0.

Independent verifiers should additionally pass every vector in test-vectors/. See CONFORMANCE.md for the full requirements.

Licences

• Specification (spec/): Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0).
• Code (packages/, examples/, scripts/, test-vectors/): Apache License 2.0.

Learn more

• AqtaCore managed service: https://app.aqta.ai
• Security and published public key: https://app.aqta.ai/security
• Disclosure policy: SECURITY.md
• Change history: CHANGELOG.md
• How to contribute: CONTRIBUTING.md