v0.1: The Envelope Format

Universal Manifest v0.1 shipped the core idea: a single JSON document that carries everything a person or entity needs to present about themselves in one portable container.

What v0.1 defined

The manifest envelope is a structured JSON object with a fixed schema. It carries:

• Identity references. A subject field binding the manifest to a specific entity.
• Facets. An array of typed entries: claims about the subject, consent records, device registrations, and pointers to external resources.
• A proof slot. A placeholder for cryptographic signatures (optional in v0.1, mandatory from v0.2 onward).
• Resource limits. 1 MB maximum size, 10 levels of nesting, 1,000 array elements. These limits prevent abuse without restricting legitimate use.

The envelope format is agnostic to transport. It works over HTTP, Bluetooth, NFC, QR code, or file transfer. The document is self-describing: any system that receives it can parse the structure without prior coordination.

What v0.1 did not do

Signatures were optional. There was no evaluation contract. There were no rules about what a system receiving a manifest must do with it. And there were no selective disclosure rules: the entire document traveled as-is.

In practical terms: you could describe a person’s context in one portable document, but you could not yet prove that document was authentic, and you could not control which parts of it a given evaluator would see.

Why it mattered

Before v0.1, portable identity required stitching together multiple documents from multiple systems with no shared structure. The envelope format gave the ecosystem a single container shape. Everything that followed (signatures, the evaluation contract, selective disclosure, sealed entries) builds on this foundation.

Read the v0.1 specification for the full schema and resource limits.