VHCEL

Verifiable History with Cryptographic Event Log — version 0.1, an exploratory editor's draft authored in ReSpec.

Read the specification

Short implementation guide

The initial text comes from the VHCEL design conversation. It covers the abstract history model, genesis, chaining, state transitions, authorization, pre-rotation, witnessing, external data, verification, application profiles, and security and privacy considerations.

Every history has a required genesis-derived SCID. Each subsequent event uses CEL-style previousEvent linkage to the digest of its immediate predecessor. Event digests are computed; no stored current-event ID or ID-substitution procedure is required. The exact binding and cryptographic encoding remain under development.

Preview and edit

Requires Node.js 24 or newer and Python 3. From this directory:

npm ci
npm start

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080/. Edit index.html and reload the browser. ReSpec adds section numbering, the table of contents, definitions, references, conformance terminology, and an issue summary. The browser preview loads ReSpec from W3C and requires internet access.

• index.html is the editable specification source.
• respec-config.js contains publication metadata and bibliography entries.
• implementation-guide.html is the separate prototype implementation checklist.
• package-lock.json pins the build dependency tree.
• EDITORIAL.md records changes made while importing the conversation.

Use nested <section> elements with stable IDs. ReSpec supplies section numbers, so do not type them into headings. Use <dfn> for terms, <a href="#section-id"></a> for automatic section references, and <p class="issue" id="issue-topic"> for unresolved decisions. Mark informative sections with class="informative".

Validate and export

npm run build

This uses the pinned local ReSpec 37.4.0 release, serves the source temporarily on port 8081, and writes build/index.html. The build fails on ReSpec errors or warnings. Installation may download a browser for ReSpec's exporter. Building can require internet access for bibliography and styling resources.

The generated HTML needs no ReSpec processing to be read; it still references external styles. Serve it with the same preview server at http://127.0.0.1:8080/build/index.html. Do not edit generated output.

Draft status

This is a processing-model draft, not yet a complete interoperable wire protocol. The inline issues track the CEL binding, canonicalization and proof coverage, SCID construction, pre-rotation, witness-policy transitions, serialization, and compatibility tests against existing CEL and did:webvh histories.

GitHub Pages

The Pages workflow validates and exports the spec on every push to main, then deploys the specification and implementation guide to https://aviarytech.github.io/vhcel/. Pull requests run the same build without deploying. The workflow can also be run manually from the Actions tab.

GitHub Pages uses GitHub Actions as its publishing source. Generated output is uploaded as a Pages artifact and is not committed to the repository.

Editors, standards publication venue, and licensing remain provisional. The ReSpec status is unofficial; the copyright placeholder deliberately makes no W3C ownership claim or license selection.