{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-invariants-prevent-multi-hop-trust-degradation-from-being-lost-in-delegation-chains",
  "title": "What invariants prevent multi-hop trust degradation from being lost in delegation chains?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** Trust is delegated through multi-hop chains, per-hop trust can vary, and terminal trust matters. * **Does not apply when:** Delegation is single-hop, trust is cryptographically preserved end-to-end, or terminal trust is ",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-invariants-prevent-multi-hop-trust-degradation-from-being-lost-in-delegation-chains.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-invariants-prevent-multi-hop-trust-degradation-from-being-lost-in-delegation-chains.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-invariants-prevent-multi-hop-trust-degradation-from-being-lost-in-delegation-chains.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 976,
    "python_slice_tokens": 294,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **per-hop trust** (each hop's trust relationship with the previous) and **cumulative trust** (the effective trust at the end of the chain). Relying on per-hop creates the **Trust Degradation Loss**: each hop appears to preserve trust (B trusts C with some level), but the cumulative trust at D is A→B→C→D attenuated by every hop's uncert...",
    "what_was_observed": "In multi-hop delegation agent architectures, failing to preserve degradation produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Trust Inflation:** Each hop reports its delegation as high-trust, and the terminal consumer receives D as if A directly trusted D at the same level. The cumulative attenuation is invisible. 2. **Compounding Uncertainty:** Each hop introduces uncertainty (B is 90% sure of C's trustworthiness, C is 90...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** Trust is delegated through multi-hop chains, per-hop trust can vary, and terminal trust matters. * **Does not apply when:** Delegation is single-hop, trust is cryptographically preserved end-to-end, or terminal trust is not used.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is the delegation multi-hop?** If no, single-hop applies. If yes, proceed. 2. **Are per-hop trust receipts available?** If yes, cumulative computation is possible. If no, only origin trust is known. 3. **Is `cumulative-trust-signature-receipt` computed?** If yes, terminal trust is explicit. If no, terminal trust is assumed equal to origin trust. 4. **Co...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Trust Inflation Prevention:** Cumulative trust is surfaced, not assumed. 2. **Uncertainty Compounding:** Attenuation is computed, not lost. 3. **Terminal Caps:** Degraded chains have terminal authority caps."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "HTTP_502_503_504_CASCADE"
  ],
  "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": "97f27ac4ff6495cff1f76a645e9f0359ef20f44e881f47cdb80d2cf8b27730cb",
    "verified_classes": [
      "ChainTrustVerdict",
      "TrustHop",
      "TrustChain",
      "ChainTrustPolicy",
      "ChainTrustManifest",
      "MultiHopTrustDegradationGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_chain"
    ],
    "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
  }
}