Quick Start

This is the implementer quick start for Universal Manifest v0.1.

1) Understand the contract (15 minutes)

Read:

• Getting Started → Concepts
• Specification → v0.1

Key takeaways you need:

• A Universal Manifest is a JSON(-LD) document with a stable identifier (@id / UMID), a subject, and a TTL (issuedAt/expiresAt).
• Consumers must ignore unknown fields safely (forward compatibility).
• The manifest is an envelope: it can contain embedded shards and/or pointers to canonical data elsewhere.

2) Implement the minimum viable consumer (v0.1)

Your consumer should:

1. Require core fields: @context, @id, @type, manifestVersion, subject, issuedAt, expiresAt
2. Enforce TTL (“freshness for use”):
   • reject for use if now > expiresAt
   • (recommended) reject if issuedAt > expiresAt
3. Treat unknown fields as ignorable
4. Read only the parts you understand:
   • shards (composable fragments)
   • pointers (links to canonical sources)
   • claims, consents, devices (optional sections)

3) Validate against artifacts and fixtures

Normative artifacts (published)

• JSON-LD context: /ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.jsonld
• Structural schema: /ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.json
• Discovery (non-normative): /.well-known/universal-manifest.json

Fixtures (examples)

Start with:

• Getting Started → Stub Manifests (near-real examples)
• Conformance → v0.1 (what a consumer MUST do to claim support)

Visual sanity check (optional)

Open the harness:

• /harness/

If you are testing a resolver implementation too, read:

• Conformance → Resolver (myum.net)