What is an Enforcement Receipt?
An Enforcement Receipt is a signed record documenting a governance decision. It captures what action was taken, why, when, and links to the previous receipt in a tamper-evident chain.
Key Components
- ■Event Type: Classification of what occurred (POLICY_LOADED, DRIFT_DETECTED, ENFORCED, etc.)
- ■Decision Block: Action taken, reason code, and human-readable details
- ■Policy Reference: Hash of the policy that governed the decision
- ■Chain Linkage: Hash of previous receipt creating tamper-evident sequence
- ■Signature: Ed25519 signature from the governance boundary
Why It Matters
Enforcement Receipts transform claims about governance into cryptographic proofs. Instead of saying "we blocked that operation," the receipt proves the boundary made the decision, when it happened, and why.
The chain linkage means receipts cannot be modified or reordered without detection. Auditors can verify the complete history independently.
Receipt Structure
{
"receipt_v": "1",
"receipt_id": "sha256:...",
"counter": 42,
"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"event_type": "ENFORCED",
"decision": {
"action": "TERMINATE",
"reason_code": "DRIFT_DETECTED"
},
"chain": {
"prev_receipt_hash": "sha256:...",
"this_receipt_hash": "sha256:..."
},
"signer": {
"key_id": "abc123",
"signature": "Ed25519:..."
}
}