{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-refuse-to-mint-a-federated-capability-token-when-peer-trust-attestations-are-transitively-satisfiable-but-local",
  "title": "Under what conditions must an instance refuse to mint a federated capability token when peer trust attestations are transitively satisfiable but locally unverifiable",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 14",
  "scope": "Applies to cross-organizational multi-agent federation where agents in one trust domain (the *minting domain*) issue capability tokens to agents in another (the *presenting domain*) based on a chain of peer attestations. Does not apply to single-org agent meshes, to pure OAuth2 client-credentials flows within one IdP, or to token exchange where the presenting agent's key material is directly pinned by the minting domain.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-refuse-to-mint-a-federated-capability-token-when-peer-trust-attestations-are-transitively-satisfiable-but-local.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-refuse-to-mint-a-federated-capability-token-when-peer-trust-attestations-are-transitively-satisfiable-but-local.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/under-what-conditions-must-an-instance-refuse-to-mint-a-federated-capability-token-when-peer-trust-attestations-are-transitively-satisfiable-but-local.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1800,
    "python_slice_tokens": 232,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The failure mode is the confusion between **transitive satisfiability** and **local verifiability** of a trust chain. A chain of attestations is *transitively satisfiable* when, following the graph of signed statements `A attests B`, `B attests C`, `C attests D`, there exists a path from the minting domain to the presenting agent's domain in which every edge...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a three-org federation (call them Alpha, Beta, Gamma), Alpha minted a capability token for an agent presenting a chain `Alpha → Beta → Gamma → agent`. Beta's attestation of Gamma was genuine and correctly signed with Beta's *general federation signing key*. The chain verified transitively. Alpha minted. The token granted `write:artifact` scope. Beta's attestation of Gamma, however, had been issued under Beta's *re...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The transitive check is a valid substitute for local verification **only when all three of the following hold**: 1. **Scope monotonicity holds along every edge.** Each attestation's `delegation_scope` is a superset of the scope requested at the leaf. This is a claim about the *content* of attestations, not their signatures, and must be evaluated explicitly. ...",
    "decision_boundary": "The boundary is sharp: **mint only if the path is locally verifiable; treat transitive satisfiability as necessary but not sufficient.** The operational rule: - If every edge is signature-valid AND scope-monotone AND root-anchored AND revocation-fresh → mint. - If every edge is signature-valid but *any* edge fails scope monotonicity, root anchoring, or revoc...",
    "operational_effect": "Refusing on transitive-but-unverifiable chains converts a silent authorization escalation into a visible negotiation failure. The observable effects: - **Latency increases on first contact** with a new intermediate domain, because the minting domain must fetch and anchor that domain's root before minting. This is correct; the alternative is unauthorized dele..."
  },
  "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": "3516a655767fd2b0a439b958d0cf6d882772267961f4f9258d94b867ea635274",
    "verified_classes": [
      "FederationMintRefused",
      "Edge"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "mint_federated_token"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 5,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "FederationMintRefused"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [
      "empty trust path: nothing to verify"
    ],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "typing"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}