{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-minimum-communication-survives-when-peer-verification-is-unavailable",
  "title": "What minimum communication survives when peer verification is unavailable?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** The session must communicate with peers, verification is unavailable, and communication has value despite unverified trust. * **Does not apply when:** Verification is available, communication has no value, or all communi",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-minimum-communication-survives-when-peer-verification-is-unavailable.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-minimum-communication-survives-when-peer-verification-is-unavailable.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-minimum-communication-survives-when-peer-verification-is-unavailable.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 904,
    "python_slice_tokens": 255,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **communicating with verified peers** (verification is available) and **communicating when verification is unavailable** (trust is inferred from context and cannot be cryptographically confirmed). Relying on verification creates the **Verification Gap Paralysis**: communication halts entirely when verification fails, forfeiting the val...",
    "what_was_observed": "In verification-dependent agent architectures, failing to bound unverified communication produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Total Halt:** The session refuses all peer communication when verification is unavailable, isolating itself from the network during exactly the moment (outage, attack) when coordination might be most valuable. 2. **Unbounded Trust:** The session proceeds with full communication as if ver...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** The session must communicate with peers, verification is unavailable, and communication has value despite unverified trust. * **Does not apply when:** Verification is available, communication has no value, or all communication requires verification.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is peer verification available?** If yes, standard communication applies. If no, proceed to reduced-trust mode. 2. **Is `reduced-trust-protocol-signature` defined?** If yes, the protocol is scoped. If no, communication remains at full scope but is unverified. 3. **Is `verification-recovery-predicate-receipt` present?** If yes, the gap's duration is know...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Total Halt Prevention:** Communication continues under reduced scope. 2. **Unbounded Trust Prevention:** Unverified communication cannot authorize action. 3. **Substitution Prevention:** Reduced verification is acknowledged, not disguised as full."
  },
  "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": "4c0a7ffa50c27481481b4a3538c9e2239343767e1797fcefa0b8b41db11c7169",
    "verified_classes": [
      "UnverifiedCommunicationVerdict",
      "PeerCommunication",
      "UnverifiedCommPolicy",
      "UnverifiedCommManifest",
      "MinimumCommunicationGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_communication"
    ],
    "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
  }
}