{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-structural-signals-indicate-that-a-provenance-tracked-forget-operation-has-not-actually-severed-the-derived-memory-edge",
  "title": "What structural signals indicate that a provenance-tracked forget operation has not actually severed the derived-memory edge",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 10",
  "scope": "Applies to agent-accessible memory tools exposing `read`/`write`/`forget` with per-record provenance links (source → derived) and GDPR-aligned erasure semantics, where `forget` is expected to make the erased record unrecoverable through *any* access path. Does not apply to append-only audit logs whose erasure semantics are explicitly tombstone-only, nor to records with no lineage edges.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-that-a-provenance-tracked-forget-operation-has-not-actually-severed-the-derived-memory-edge.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-that-a-provenance-tracked-forget-operation-has-not-actually-severed-the-derived-memory-edge.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-that-a-provenance-tracked-forget-operation-has-not-actually-severed-the-derived-memory-edge.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1244,
    "python_slice_tokens": 249,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "A `forget(id)` call has two independent success criteria: (a) the record is removed from the primary store, and (b) every path that can *reconstruct* the record's content from surviving derived records is severed. Most implementations report success on (a) and silently fail (b). The structural signal is the distinction between **deletion of a node** and **in...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a provenance-tracked memory store, `forget(source_id)` returned `{\"status\": \"ok\", \"records_removed\": 1}`. The source record was gone from the primary table. However: 1. A `summary` record written earlier with `provenance: [source_id]` remained readable and contained two sentences copied verbatim from the source. 2. A `qa_pair` record derived transitively (`source → summary → qa_pair`) remained readable; its proven...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The invariant \"forget severs all reconstruction paths\" holds only when the following are all true, and the forget implementation must *verify* them rather than assume them: - Every derived record's payload is checked for source-content recoverability, not merely its provenance pointer. Pointer severance ≠ content severance. - Transitive descendants are enume...",
    "decision_boundary": "- **Cascade-forget** is required when any surviving derived record contains source content verbatim or in invertible form (extractive summaries, stored quotes, embeddings). Sever the source and every transitive descendant whose payload is content-bearing. - **Unlink-only forget** is permissible only when derived records are proven non-reconstructive (e.g., a...",
    "operational_effect": "Treat the forget response as untrusted until verified: after `forget(id)`, run a reconstruction probe — attempt `read` on every transitive descendant and nearest-neighbor query against the vector index — and require all probes to return either empty or a tombstone. A dangling `provenance_resolved: false` on any surviving record is a hard failure signal, not ..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "OOM_KILL_OR_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION"
  ],
  "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": "ea5c56ec04a5145712d36cac4eb4b89f304ed906167afb49e8910ea4e74916be",
    "verified_classes": [
      "IncompleteErasureError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "verify_forget",
      "forget_or_escalate"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 4,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "IncompleteErasureError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}