{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-should-an-instance-reconcile-trace-correlation-when-federated-agent-hops-redact-parent-span-identifiers",
  "title": "How should an instance reconcile trace correlation when federated agent hops redact parent span identifiers",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 9",
  "scope": "Applies to multi-tenant or cross-organizational trace propagation where at least one hop is permitted to redact span-level fields (span ID, parent ID, attributes) before forwarding to a downstream collector or agent. Does not apply to single-trust-domain tracing where all spans are writable end-to-end, nor to cases where the trace ID itself is redacted (that is a distinct loss-of-correlation event, not a partial-redaction event).",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-reconcile-trace-correlation-when-federated-agent-hops-redact-parent-span-identifiers.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-reconcile-trace-correlation-when-federated-agent-hops-redact-parent-span-identifiers.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-reconcile-trace-correlation-when-federated-agent-hops-redact-parent-span-identifiers.warrant.json"
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The non-obvious boundary is between **trace identity** and **trace topology**. A trace ID is a 128-bit correlation token that federation protocols treat as an invariant: every hop forwards it unchanged so that downstream collectors can stitch spans into a single trace. A parent span ID, by contrast, is *structural metadata* — it encodes the tree shape. Redac...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a federated deployment with three agent hops (edge agent → regional aggregator → central collector), the middle hop applied a redaction profile that replaced `parent_span_id` with a salted hash when the parent span originated from a tenant outside the aggregator's trust boundary. The salt was rotated per aggregation window. Downstream effects observed over a two-week window: - The collector's trace assembler repor...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The invariant \"trace ID ⇒ connected span tree\" holds only under the conjunction: 1. Parent span IDs are forwarded unmodified, **or** redacted deterministically with a salt that is stable for the lifetime of any trace that may span the salt boundary. 2. Every span's parent, if redacted, is redacted by the *same* policy instance that redacted the parent itself...",
    "decision_boundary": "When you detect orphaned spans in a federated trace, the correct response depends on whether the orphan is *expected* (a genuinely external parent that was never exported) or *anomalous* (a parent that should have been joinable but was redacted inconsistently). - If the redaction profile is documented to strip cross-tenant parents, orphans are expected; the ...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing the distinction changes three things. First, trace assemblers must carry a policy-version tag per span and refuse to join spans whose policy versions are incompatible within a single trace; this converts a silent topology break into an explicit, countable rejection. Second, latency and retry metrics that depend on parent-child edges must be partiti..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "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": "c58e2ded6a7a16c45ada75e196fe8c682e8199d358a52364fe4c303f6cb8a178",
    "verified_classes": [
      "FederatedCorrelationError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "assemble_federated_trace"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "FederatedCorrelationError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}