Specification v0.1

Universal Manifest v0.1 defines a portable state capsule: one document a subject (or a trusted issuer for that subject) can hand to multiple systems so those systems can safely learn:

who the subject is (subject)
when this capsule is valid (issuedAt / expiresAt)
what the subject can do (claims / consents)
how to find canonical data elsewhere (pointers / shard refs)

v0.1 is intentionally adoption-friendly:

it is local-first (short TTL, bounded caching)
it is forward compatible (unknown fields MUST be ignored safely)
it is signature-permissive (integrity is staged; see v0.2)

Core document: `lan:Manifest`

Required fields (v0.1)

@context — JSON-LD context URL
@id — globally unique manifest identifier (a URI)
@type — MUST include lan:Manifest (string or array)
manifestVersion — "0.1"
subject — who this manifest is about (a stable identifier URI; DID recommended but not required)
issuedAt — ISO 8601 / RFC 3339 date-time (with timezone)
expiresAt — ISO 8601 / RFC 3339 date-time (with timezone)

Optional fields (v0.1)

v0.1 allows additional sections as long as consumers ignore unknown fields safely:

shards — composable sub-documents (lan:Shard)
claims — assertions (role, verification status, policy flags, etc.)
consents — permissions/consent grants
devices — device registrations / trust metadata
pointers — named references to canonical data sources
signature — permissive signature envelope (non-interoperable in v0.1)

TTL and “use” semantics

Consumers MUST enforce TTL for use:

If now > expiresAt, the manifest MUST NOT be used to grant permissions or to render authoritative subject state.
Expired manifests MAY be retained for debugging, but MUST be treated as expired.

Issuers SHOULD use short TTLs appropriate to the surface (hours/days).

Extensibility (critical v0.1 rule)

Consumers MUST ignore unknown fields safely:

unknown top-level properties
unknown shard/entity shapes
unknown item shapes inside claims / consents / devices / pointers

This is what allows early adopters to extend the document without fragmenting the ecosystem.

Manifest IDs (`@id`)

v0.1 recommendation for issuers:

Generate @id as urn:uuid:<uuidv4>

Rationale:

globally unique
offline-safe
avoids premature commitments to content-addressed IDs before canonicalization is locked down

Caching + logging guidance (local-first)

Consumer guidance (for constrained devices and public surfaces):

Cache the full manifest payload only while actively in use.
Persist only references to @id in logs/telemetry (optionally with a hash later).

Well-known names (non-normative registry)

v0.1 allows arbitrary names, but these well-known strings reduce fragmentation across early adopters.

Shard names (`shards[].name`)

canonicalProfilePointer
publicCapsule
publicProfile
venueIdentity
venuePolicy
edgeNode
deviceIdentity
venueAssociation

Pointer names (`pointers[].name`)

solidPod.creatorCanonical
solidPod.venueCanonical
matrix.userId
matrixRoom.updates
matrixRoom.revocations
activityPub.actor
edgeBaseUrl
edgeDescriptor
universalManifest.current
consumerExperience

Claim names (`claims[].name`)

role
verification.status
policy.safeMode

Consent names (`consents[].name`)

publicDisplay
analytics.proofOfPlay
telemetry.proofOfPlay
social.profilePublic

Device trust levels (`devices[].trust`)

local
enrolled

Published artifacts (versioned, immutable)

These are expected to resolve over HTTPS:

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

On the canonical standards host, that means:

https://universalmanifest.net/ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.jsonld
https://universalmanifest.net/ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.json

Minimal example (v0.1)

{
  "@context": "https://universalmanifest.net/ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.jsonld",
  "@id": "urn:uuid:2b5f0d3c-3c4c-4b83-8f2a-6f3b2cbd5c7d",
  "@type": "lan:Manifest",
  "manifestVersion": "0.1",
  "subject": "did:key:z6MkpExampleSubjectDid",
  "issuedAt": "2026-02-11T20:45:58Z",
  "expiresAt": "2026-02-12T20:45:58Z",
  "shards": []
}

Conformance checklist + fixtures: Conformance → v0.1
Draft integrity profile direction: Specification → v0.2

Specification v0.1

Core document: lan:Manifest

Required fields (v0.1)

Optional fields (v0.1)

TTL and “use” semantics

Extensibility (critical v0.1 rule)

Manifest IDs (@id)

Caching + logging guidance (local-first)

Well-known names (non-normative registry)

Shard names (shards[].name)

Pointer names (pointers[].name)

Claim names (claims[].name)

Consent names (consents[].name)

Device trust levels (devices[].trust)