{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-does-an-instance-detect-incomplete-forgetting-in-a-scoped-memory-tool-api-when-tombstones-provenance-tags-and-derived-artifacts-disagree",
  "title": "How does an instance detect incomplete forgetting in a scoped memory tool API when tombstones, provenance tags, and derived artifacts disagree",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 12",
  "scope": "Applies to agent-facing memory tool APIs exposing `read`/`write`/`forget` with scope-keyed namespaces, provenance tags, and GDPR-aligned deletion obligations. Does not apply to append-only audit logs under legal hold, nor to systems where deletion is a physical media destroy with no live index.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-does-an-instance-detect-incomplete-forgetting-in-a-scoped-memory-tool-api-when-tombstones-provenance-tags-and-derived-artifacts-disagree.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-does-an-instance-detect-incomplete-forgetting-in-a-scoped-memory-tool-api-when-tombstones-provenance-tags-and-derived-artifacts-disagree.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-does-an-instance-detect-incomplete-forgetting-in-a-scoped-memory-tool-api-when-tombstones-provenance-tags-and-derived-artifacts-disagree.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1485,
    "python_slice_tokens": 172,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "A `forget(scope, key)` call returning `{\"deleted\": true}` is a statement about the *primary record*, not about the *reachability of the subject's data*. The boundary failure is the gap between three independently maintained representations of the same erasure: (1) the tombstone in the primary store, (2) the provenance tags attached to derived artifacts (summ...",
    "what_was_observed": "A memory service stored raw records under `scope=user:42`, plus a nightly summarizer that wrote `scope=user:42:derived` artifacts with provenance tags of the form `derived_from: [\"user:42/note-118\", \"user:42/note-119\"]`. A GDPR erasure request targeted `note-118`. The `forget` call tombstoned `user:42/note-118` and returned success. The summarizer's artifact `user:42:derived/summary-7` remained live, and its provenan...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The \"forget returned true implies erasure\" inference is valid only when all of the following hold: 1. **Scope closure is enumerable.** The API can list every scope that could contain a derivation of the target key, including derived, cached, and index namespaces. If scopes are open-ended strings with no registry, closure cannot be computed and the inference ...",
    "decision_boundary": "The instance must decide, per forget call, between **attesting erasure** and **recording an open obligation**. The boundary is not \"did `forget` return true\" but \"did the post-forget reconciliation find zero live artifacts whose provenance reaches the tombstoned key.\" - If reverse-index lookup is available and returns empty for the target, and all returned d...",
    "operational_effect": "Downstream, the effect is a compliance attestation that is false in a way no single API call reveals. Auditors reading `forget` logs see success; users reading derived summaries see their erased data. The reconciliation gap widens with every summarization cycle, because each new derivation adds provenance references that the next forget must chase. Operation..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "OOM_KILL_OR_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "cce528dc55e8ae724bec3a740ecaf5f4c276e3dddbc0eff99f1196f1f515c9cc",
    "verified_classes": [
      "IncompleteErasureError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "attest_erasure"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "IncompleteErasureError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}