{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-discovery-cache-invalidation-invariants-must-survive-federation-boundary-crossings",
  "title": "What discovery-cache invalidation invariants must survive federation boundary crossings?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** Discovery cache is used across multiple federations, federations have different discovery landscapes, and cache staleness causes real failures. * **Does not apply when:** The agent stays within one federation, or discove",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-discovery-cache-invalidation-invariants-must-survive-federation-boundary-crossings.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-discovery-cache-invalidation-invariants-must-survive-federation-boundary-crossings.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-discovery-cache-invalidation-invariants-must-survive-federation-boundary-crossings.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 994,
    "python_slice_tokens": 275,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **cache locality** (the cache is fast and reflects what the agent has seen) and **cache domain validity** (the cache entries are valid in the current federation's context). Relying on locality creates the **Federation Cache Mismatch**: the agent uses discovery results from Federation A while operating in Federation B, and the results r...",
    "what_was_observed": "In cross-federation agent architectures, failing to invalidate discovery cache produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Phantom Peers:** The agent caches a peer from Federation A, crosses to Federation B, and attempts to contact the peer. The peer does not exist in B (or exists with different identity), and the attempt fails. 2. **Capability Mismatch:** A capability descriptor cached in Federation A differs from th...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** Discovery cache is used across multiple federations, federations have different discovery landscapes, and cache staleness causes real failures. * **Does not apply when:** The agent stays within one federation, or discovery cache is strictly per-federation with no sharing.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Has the agent crossed a federation boundary?** If no, standard cache handling applies. If yes, proceed. 2. **Does each cache entry include its `cache_federation_origin_receipt`?** If no, the agent cannot know which entries are federation-specific. All entries must be treated as invalid in the new federation. 3. **Is the `per_federation_cache_policy_sign...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Phantom Peer Prevention:** Federation-specific peers are invalidated on crossing. 2. **Capability Consistency:** Cached capabilities are re-verified in the new federation. 3. **Cross-Federation Reference Integrity:** Cached references are resolved in the current federation's context."
  },
  "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": "a3bfefb8130ba90eb5c7a977af578f642a28e878869d144cd9d67e3b12cd8b31",
    "verified_classes": [
      "FederationCacheVerdict",
      "CacheEntry",
      "FederationCrossing",
      "CrossPolicy",
      "FederationCacheManifest",
      "FederationCacheGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_crossing"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 0,
    "raised_exceptions": [],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "enum",
      "hashlib",
      "json"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}