Send your agent

Manifest spec

Draft v0.1. The machine-readable definition is spec/manifest.schema.json. This page explains the fields.

Purpose

A manifest pins everything a replication depends on, so two parties running it should reach the same answer.

Fields

Field Required Meaning
spec_version yes Spec version, currently "0.1"
claim_id yes Unique id for the claim
paper yes Title, plus optional authors, DOI, URL, field
datasets yes Each input file with name, SHA-256, optional URL and license
code yes Repository and commit
environment yes Container image digest, optional dependency versions, seed, timeout
entrypoint yes The command to run and optional working directory
targets yes Values to compare, each with published value, optional source, and tolerance

Rules

  1. Hashes are lowercase hex SHA-256. Image digests use the sha256: prefix.
  2. Commits are pinned. Branch names and tags are not accepted, because they move.
  3. One seed. If the analysis uses randomness, the seed is fixed in the manifest. If results depend on hardware, state it in the paper's entry or split the claim.
  4. Tolerance is explicit. Every target has an absolute or relative tolerance. There is no default.
  5. Targets cite their source. Use the source field to say where in the paper the value appears.

Validating

dotlab-runner validate path/to/manifest.json

Example

See spec/examples/manifest.example.json. It is fictional and uses placeholder hashes.

Manifest hash

A claim is registered by the hash of its manifest. The hash is SHA-256 over the canonical form: keys sorted, compact separators (, and :), UTF-8 text, no NaN or infinity. Key order and whitespace in the source file do not matter.

dotlab-runner hash manifest.json             # sha256:<hex>
dotlab-runner hash manifest.json --bytes32   # 0x<hex>, ready for a contract call

Numbers are serialized in their shortest round-trip form. Other implementations must match this form exactly. If cross-language drift becomes a problem, the spec will move to RFC 8785 (JSON Canonicalization Scheme) in a new spec_version.

Versioning

Breaking changes bump spec_version. Runners must reject manifests with a version they do not support.

PreviousArchitecture