Trust is a set of answers, not a level badge.
A provenance document can exist and still be unsigned. A signature can be valid and still come from the wrong party. A graph can be continuous and still omit a branch. Makoto reports these checks separately so a receiver can write policy around the evidence it actually needs.
Seven dimensions the receiver evaluates
| Dimension | Evidence required | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Core schemas and any required organizational profiles pass. | Who signed the claim or whether it is complete. |
| Authenticity | DSSE signatures authenticate the exact payload bytes. | Whether that key was permitted to make the claim. |
| Authorization | Receiver policy authorizes each key for its source, operation, profile, or handoff role. | Whether the claimed event really happened. |
| Continuity | Every transformation binds exact predecessor statements and input artifact digests. | Whether an entire branch was withheld. |
| Completeness | A signed handoff commits to exact roots, heads, statements, profiles, and final artifacts. | Whether an older complete handoff was replayed. |
| Freshness | An independent expected head, manifest, nonce, artifact, or age bound matches. | Data quality or source truthfulness. |
| Artifact integrity | The receiver hashes the bytes it actually received and matches the signed subject. | Whether those unchanged bytes are safe or useful. |
Adopt one honest boundary at a time
- Start at one sourceChoose a real collection boundary and bind the origin claim to exact source bytes.
- Append one transformMake the next producer name its exact predecessor statement and input artifact instead of rewriting a shared history.
- Separate the receiverMove trust policy, schema catalogs, expected artifacts, and evaluation time outside the producer's bundle.
- Sign the handoffCommit to the exact graph and artifacts intentionally transferred across the organizational boundary.
- Add private rulesUse digest-pinned JSON Schema profiles for the organization-specific fields and structured-data constraints that matter to the decision.
Claims Makoto deliberately does not compress into a badge
Makoto does not call data “unforgeable,” prove that transformation code executed, certify a source as truthful, establish legal compliance, or make unchanged content safe. Hardware-backed keys, isolated builders, transparency logs, access controls, and governance systems may strengthen a deployment, but each remains a separate claim with its own evidence and policy.
Make the receiving decision inspectable.
The reference verifier emits a structured report for each prerequisite. Start with the runnable positive and denial fixtures, then add the organizational profile and signer rules your handoff requires.