name: judgment_event_protocol description: Cryptographic event logging for autonomous agents. Record tamper-proof judgment, delegation, termination, and verification events using the Judgment Event Protocol. Provides verifiable decision trails with JCS canonicalization and Ed25519 signatures. user-invocable: true tags:

• jep
• judgment
• delegation
• provenance
• audit
• accountability
• jcs
• ed25519 metadata: openclaw: requires: bins: [python3, pip]

---

Judgment Event Protocol (JEP)#

You have a minimal, verifiable event logging system for AI agent decisions. Use it when you need to record judgments, delegate authority, terminate decision lifecycles, or verify existing events with cryptographic integrity.

Setup#

bash

pip install jep-protocol

Security Considerations#

This skill handles cryptographic keys and external dependencies. Please observe the following practices to ensure safe usage:

• 🔑 Private Key Management: Private keys should never be hardcoded in agent prompts, source files, or shared in conversations. Always store keys using a secure key manager (e.g., environment variables, secret management services, HSMs, or hardware tokens). The code examples below assume private_key and public_key are securely loaded from such a source.
• 📦 Package Integrity: The jep-protocol PyPI package is open source. Verify its integrity by checking the source code at https://github.com/hjs-spec/jep. Consider pinning the package to a reviewed version hash in your dependency manager.
• 🧪 Environment Isolation: Before integrating the library into production systems or granting access to sensitive keys, test it in an isolated environment (e.g., a Python virtual environment or a container).

When to Use This Skill#

• When you need to record an agent's decision for future audit
• When you delegate a task to another agent and need proof of handoff
• When you terminate a decision process and want to seal the record
• When you need to verify the integrity of an existing event chain
• When building accountability trails for compliance or debugging

Core Verbs#

JEP defines four immutable verbs:

VerbNamePurposeJJudgeInitiate a new decision or root audit eventDDelegateTransfer decision authority to another agentTTerminateClose the decision lifecycleVVerifyVerify authenticity of an existing event

Event Structure (JSON Example)#

A minimal JEP event before signing:

json

{
  "jep": "1",
  "verb": "J",
  "who": "did:example:agent-123",
  "when": 1742345678,
  "what": "sha256:e8878aa9a38f4d123456789abcdef01234",
  "nonce": "f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479",
  "aud": "https://platform.example.com",
  "ref": null
}

Core Operations#

Record a Judgment Event (J)#

python

from jep import JEPEvent, Verb

# Assumes private_key is loaded from a secure source
event = JEPEvent(
    verb=Verb.J,
    who="did:example:agent-123",
    what="sha256:hash-of-decision-content",
    aud="https://platform.example.com"
)
receipt = event.sign(private_key)
print(receipt.to_json())

Record a Delegation Event (D)#

python

event = JEPEvent(
    verb=Verb.D,
    who="did:example:agent-123",
    what="sha256:hash-of-delegation-details",
    aud="https://platform.example.com",
    ref="hash-of-parent-event"  # Link to previous event
)

Record a Termination Event (T)#

python

event = JEPEvent(
    verb=Verb.T,
    who="did:example:agent-123",
    what=None,
    aud="https://platform.example.com",
    ref="hash-of-decision-chain-head"
)

Record a Verification Event (V)#

python

event = JEPEvent(
    verb=Verb.V,
    who="did:example:verifier-456",
    what=None,
    aud="https://platform.example.com",
    ref="hash-of-target-event"
)

Verify an Existing Receipt#

python

from jep import verify_receipt

result = verify_receipt(
    receipt_json,
    public_key,
    expected_aud="https://platform.example.com"
)

if result.valid:
    print("Signature valid, chain intact")
else:
    print(f"Verification failed: {result.error}")
    # Possible error codes:
    # - INVALID_SIGNATURE: Signature doesn't match
    # - REPLAY_DETECTED: Nonce already seen
    # - EXPIRED: Timestamp outside allowed window
    # - BROKEN_CHAIN: Parent event hash mismatch
    # - INVALID_AUDIENCE: aud field doesn't match expected value

Optional Privacy Extensions#

JEP supports modular extensions for privacy and compliance:

ExtensionPurposedigest-onlyAnonymize actor identities with salted hashesmultisigRequire multiple signatures for distributed accountabilityttlAuto-expire events for data retention compliancestorageDecouple event storage from protocol for data sovereigntysubjectExplicitly reference decision subjects for traceability

Relationship to HJS and JAC#

JEP is the foundational event format for the broader accountability stack:

LayerProtocolPurposeBaseJEPTamper-proof event recording (this skill)ResponsibilityHJSHuman oversight and privacy protectionCausalityJACCross-agent judgment chain tracking

JEP events serve as the immutable data layer that HJS and JAC build upon. All three protocols share the same JSON canonicalization (JCS/RFC 8785) and signature scheme (JWS/RFC 7515).

Links#

• Protocol Documentation: https://github.com/hjs-spec
• HJS Foundation: https://humanjudgment.org

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