Agent Receipt Schema

An Agent Receipt is a W3C Verifiable Credential with type AgentReceipt. This page documents the full schema with all required and optional fields.

Full receipt example

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/credentials/v2",
    "https://agentreceipts.ai/context/v1"
  ],
  "id": "urn:receipt:550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "type": ["VerifiableCredential", "AgentReceipt"],
  "version": "0.1.0",

  "issuer": {
    "id": "did:agent:claude-cowork-instance-abc123",
    "type": "AIAgent",
    "name": "Claude Cowork",
    "operator": {
      "id": "did:org:anthropic",
      "name": "Anthropic"
    },
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "session_id": "session_xyz789"
  },

  "validFrom": "2026-03-31T14:30:00Z",

  "credentialSubject": {
    "principal": {
      "id": "did:user:otto-abc",
      "type": "HumanPrincipal"
    },

    "action": {
      "id": "act_7f3a1b2c-d4e5-46f7-a8b9-c0d1e2f3a4b5",
      "type": "filesystem.file.delete",
      "risk_level": "high",
      "target": {
        "system": "local",
        "resource": "/tmp/old-report.pdf"
      },
      "parameters_hash": "sha256:a3f1c2d4e5b6a7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1d6",
      "timestamp": "2026-03-31T14:30:00Z",
      "trusted_timestamp": null
    },

    "intent": {
      "conversation_hash": "sha256:b4e2d1f3a5c6b7d8e9f0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1e7",
      "prompt_preview": "Clean up old reports in /tmp",
      "prompt_preview_truncated": true,
      "reasoning_hash": "sha256:c5f3e2d4a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2f8"
    },

    "outcome": {
      "status": "success",
      "error": null,
      "reversible": false,
      "reversal_method": null,
      "reversal_window_seconds": null,
      "state_change": {
        "before_hash": "sha256:d604f3e5a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3a9",
        "after_hash": "sha256:e7a504f6a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4ba"
      }
    },

    "authorization": {
      "scopes": ["filesystem:write"],
      "granted_at": "2026-03-31T14:00:00Z",
      "expires_at": "2026-03-31T15:00:00Z",
      "grant_ref": null
    },

    "chain": {
      "sequence": 1,
      "previous_receipt_hash": null,
      "chain_id": "chain_session_xyz789"
    }
  },

  "proof": {
    "type": "Ed25519Signature2020",
    "created": "2026-03-31T14:30:01Z",
    "verificationMethod": "did:agent:claude-cowork-instance-abc123#key-1",
    "proofPurpose": "assertionMethod",
    "proofValue": "z..."
  }
}

Top-level fields

Field	Required	Description
@context	Yes	JSON-LD context. Must include the W3C VC v2 and Agent Receipt context URIs in order.
id	Yes	Globally unique identifier. Must be urn:receipt:<uuid>.
type	Yes	Must be ["VerifiableCredential", "AgentReceipt"].
version	Yes	Spec version. Must be "0.1.0" for this version.
issuer	Yes	The agent or platform that issued the receipt.
validFrom	Yes	ISO 8601 datetime when the receipt was issued. May differ from action.timestamp.
credentialSubject	Yes	The receipt payload.
proof	Yes	Cryptographic proof.

Issuer

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	DID or URI identifying the agent instance.
type	No	Should be "AIAgent".
name	No	Human-readable agent name.
operator.id	Conditional	DID or URI of the operating entity. Required when operator is present.
operator.name	Conditional	Human-readable operator name. Required when operator is present.
model	No	Model identifier (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-6).
session_id	No	Opaque session identifier.

Credential subject

principal

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	DID or URI identifying the human or org.
type	No	"HumanPrincipal" or "OrganizationPrincipal".

action

Field	Required	Description
id	Yes	Unique action ID. Format: act_<uuid>.
type	Yes	Action type from the taxonomy.
risk_level	Yes	low, medium, high, or critical.
target.system	No	The system or service acted upon.
target.resource	No	The specific resource within the system.
parameters_hash	No	sha256: prefixed hash of action parameters (RFC 8785 canonical JSON).
timestamp	Yes	ISO 8601 datetime when the action was executed.
trusted_timestamp	No	Base64-encoded RFC 3161 TimeStampToken, or null.

intent

Field	Required	Description
conversation_hash	No	sha256: hash of the conversation context.
prompt_preview	No	Plain-text preview of the triggering prompt (may be truncated).
prompt_preview_truncated	No	true if preview was truncated.
reasoning_hash	No	sha256: hash of the agent’s reasoning trace.

outcome

Field	Required	Description
status	Yes	success, failure, or pending.
error	No	Error message if status is failure.
reversible	No	true if the action can be undone.
reversal_method	No	Machine-readable reversal method (e.g. gmail:undo_send).
reversal_window_seconds	No	Seconds within which reversal is possible.
reversal_of	No	urn:receipt:<uuid> of the original receipt this receipt reverses. Present only on reversal receipts.
state_change.before_hash	Conditional	sha256: hash of state before. Required when state_change is present.
state_change.after_hash	Conditional	sha256: hash of state after. Required when state_change is present.

authorization

Field	Required	Description
scopes	Conditional	Authorization scopes. Required when authorization is present.
granted_at	Conditional	When authorization was granted. Required when authorization is present.
expires_at	No	When authorization expires.
grant_ref	No	Reference to authorization grant (e.g. Grantex token).

delegation

Present when this chain was spawned by delegation from another agent. All fields are required when delegation is present.

Field	Required	Description
parent_chain_id	Conditional	chain_id of the delegating agent’s chain. Required when delegation is present.
parent_receipt_id	Conditional	id of the receipt in the parent chain where delegation occurred. Required when delegation is present.
delegator.id	Conditional	DID or URI of the delegating agent (the parent chain’s issuer). Required when delegation is present.

chain

Field	Required	Description
chain_id	Yes	Opaque identifier grouping receipts into a chain.
sequence	Yes	Monotonically increasing integer, starting at 1.
previous_receipt_hash	Yes	sha256: hash of previous receipt, or null for first in chain.

Proof

Field	Required	Description
type	Yes	Must be "Ed25519Signature2020".
created	Yes	ISO 8601 datetime when the proof was created.
verificationMethod	Yes	DID URL of the signing key.
proofPurpose	Yes	Must be "assertionMethod".
proofValue	Yes	Multibase-encoded (z-prefixed base58btc) Ed25519 signature.

JSON Schema

A machine-readable JSON Schema (draft 2020-12) is available at schema/action-receipt.schema.json.