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Specimen

A refused write: a purchase invoice stopped at rung 3

This illustrative specimen shows a purchase invoice that an AI agent proposed and elan1 refused at rung 3, the pre-gates. It shows the typed refusal, the gate that stopped it and the proof record a refusal still leaves. A refusal is metered at 0.4 of a governed action: ₹0.64 at L1 beyond the allowance. The company and data are fictional.

Specimen B. Same 16 fields, for a write intent refused at rung 3. The caller received a typed code; the record joins the chain; the meter shows 0.4 of a governed action.

Illustrative specimenIllustrative specimen. Not customer data.

RefusedMode A · EnforcedL1 · GuardedL1 Guarded and L2 Attested available

Published by elan1.

01The record

Sixteen fields, read three ways.

Plain English for the meaning, the fields for the record, JSON for your tools, and the chain for how it links to its neighbours.

Illustrative specimenIllustrative specimen. Not customer data.

An agent proposed posting purchase invoice pinv_specimen_0418. The GST gate (G4) found a rate mismatch at rung 3. The write was refused, the record was still written, and the meter shows 0.4 of a governed action (₹0.64 at L1 beyond the allowance).

Nothing changed in the system of record. F13 record_version stays at 0 because no version was written. The refusal is still evidence: it shows which rule said no, under which declaration version, and when.

Checked and recorded by elan1 Govern.

Refusal codes on this site are illustrative. Real codes come from the frozen register in KernelPort v1; we do not invent them.

02The path it took

Rung by rung, from STOP to METERED.

Every write takes the same route. Any rung can refuse; a refusal stops the climb and still writes a record.

  1. 0bSTOP Passed Writes are not stopped for this tenant.
  2. 1IDENTITY Passed Identity: agent agt_specimen_ap01.
  3. 2WRITE DOOR Passed purchase_invoice.post is on the declaration's list of write types.
  4. 3PRE-GATES Refused G4 GST found a rate mismatch against the tenant's own data. Typed refusal returned to the caller.
  5. 4evaluate()Not reached
  6. 5GUARDRAILNot reached
  7. 6AUTONOMYNot reached
  8. 7ACTNot reached
  9. 8PROOF Done The refusal was sealed and chained like any other record.
  10. 9METERED Done Metered at 0.4 of a governed action: ₹0.64 at L1 beyond the allowance.

The Right Path in the reference architecture

03Field notes

What each field tells you.

F01 tenant_id to F16 recorded_at. The values are invented; the field names come from Seal v6.

Field notes, F01 to F16
FieldNameValue in this specimenWhat it tells you
F01tenant_idtnt_specimen_01The tenant this record belongs to. Chains never cross tenants.
F02seq1043The record's position in this tenant's chain. It only ever goes up by one.
F03prev_digestsha256:4be1…90c7The digest of the record before this one. It is what links the chain.
F04write_idwr_specimen_7c3The identifier of the write intent. Every invoice line must carry one.
F05write_typepurchase_invoice.postThe kind of write, from the declaration's list of allowed write types.
F06declaration_iddecl_gst_purchaseThe declaration — the process's rules in seven blocks — that was checked.
F07declaration_version4Which version of that declaration was in force at the time.
F08policy_version2027.06.1The version of the policy rules evaluate() ran. No model, only rules.
F09actor_idagt_specimen_ap01Who acted: the named approver, or the agent that proposed the write.
F10actor_kindagentWhether the actor was a human or an agent.
F11autonomy_levelA1The autonomy level A0–A5 the write ran at; above the ceiling a person decides.
F12record_idpinv_specimen_0418The record in your system of record that changed, or would have.
F13record_version0The version of that record after the write.
F14payload_hashsha256:c03a…11feA hash of the payload, not the payload itself, so personal data stays out of evidence.
F15lexicon_hashsha256:e2c4…0b16A hash of the vocabulary the write was expressed in, so meanings cannot drift.
F16recorded_at2027-07-14T10:44:51+05:30When the record was sealed, with the time-zone offset.

04How to verify

Check it without asking us.

At L1, the chain is the check. From L2, signatures and outside timestamps let someone else check it too.

  1. seq 1042Specimen A · committeddigestsha256:4be1…90c7
  2. seq 1043 · this recordSpecimen B · refusedprev_digestsha256:4be1…90c7digestsha256:d81f…3a52
  3. seq 1044Next recordprev_digestsha256:d81f…3a52digestsha256:…

Each record’s F03 prev_digest is the digest of the record before it, and seq goes up by exactly one. Change or remove a record and the next link no longer matches. That is what tamper-evident means at L1.

L1 Guarded · available

  1. Recompute SHA-256 over the length-prefixed 16 fields (Seal v6).
  2. Compare the digest with F03 prev_digest on the next record.
  3. Check F02 seq goes up by exactly one. Walk the chain.

Tamper-evident to you; not signed.

L2 Attested · available

  1. Receive the eight-member evidence bundle.
  2. Check each Ed25519 signature and the Merkle root.
  3. Check timestamps from two RFC 3161 authorities; run the free offline verifier with no network.

Signed and checkable offline, without us.

How verification works, and what it doesn’t prove

05Mapped clauses

What this record helps evidence — and what it doesn't.

Each row says what the record supports and what stays with you. No product makes you compliant on its own.

What this record helps evidence
FrameworkClauseHelps evidenceNot covered
EU AI ActArt. 12Automatic records of who acted (F09–F10), under which rules (F06–F08) and when (F16).Whether your system is high-risk, and logging of the model's own operation.
ISO/IEC 42001Annex A · event loggingA per-change event record you can sample for internal audit.The AI management system itself. No certification is implied.
NIST AI RMFMANAGEEvidence that a risk response — a gate or an approval — ran at the moment of action.MAP and MEASURE work: context, impacts and model evaluation.
India DPDP ActSecurity; minimisationF14 holds a hash of the payload, so personal data stays out of evidence.Erasure duties as the Data Fiduciary stay yours; erasure alongside an append-only chain is set out in the library note on DPDP.

Clause references are our reading of each framework. Not legal advice. elan1 does not make you compliant on its own; see the regulation hubs for what each framework asks.

06Other specimens

Read the other outcomes.

Illustrative specimenCommitted
write_id wr_specimen_7c2

An allowed write: a month-end journal entry

A named approver commits a month-end journal entry.

View the full record
Illustrative specimenCommitted
write_id wr_specimen_7Q2M

A small firm's journal entry, read by its CA

An agent posts a GL entry for Kolam Components*, within its autonomy.

View the full record
Illustrative specimenHeld
write_id wr_specimen_7c4

A write held for a named approver

A write above the autonomy ceiling waits at rung 6 for a person.

View the full record

// SEE IT

See the record being made.

The walkthrough follows one write from intent to proof record, step by step, with a refusal branch.

See a governed actionAll specimens