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Namespaces and Identifiers

Accountable Records uses authority-based identifiers.

A namespace authority owns stable names within a project space. A project space may be a public project, private project, repository, package, standard, product, or domain-specific system.

A verifiable element type has:

  • a canonical URI
  • an optional persistent ID
  • a compact ID
  • a local name
  • a version

Canonical URI

Canonical URIs are preferred for public identifiers.

https://<authority>/<project>/elements/<component-group>/<element-type>

Example:

https://structural-explainability.org/accountable-record/elements/claims/claim

Persistent ID

Persistent IDs may be used for archival, proprietary, private, or non-web contexts.

urn:ar:<authority-alias>:<project>:<component-group>:<element-type>

Example:

urn:ar:se:accountable-record:claims:claim

Compact ID

Compact IDs are human-readable and tool-friendly.

<authority-alias>.<project>.<component-group>.<element-type>

Example:

se.accountable-record.claims.claim

Authority aliases are registry-scoped. A catalog must resolve each alias through the namespace authority registry.

Versions

Canonical identity does not include version.

A versioned reference appends a version to the compact ID:

se.accountable-record.claims.claim@0.1.0

Published identifiers must not be renamed, repurposed, or silently reused. A breaking change requires a new major version or a replacement identifier. Deprecated identifiers remain citable and must point to their successors when successors exist.

Hosting

Hosting location is metadata, not identity.

A project may be hosted on GitHub, GitLab, an institutional repository, a private registry, or another system without changing canonical identity.