blackroad-os-research/papers/ps-sha-infinity/ps-sha-infinity.md

PS-SHA∞ Overview

PS-SHA∞ defines a persistent, cryptographically anchored identity over time. It treats an agent's existence as a worldline of journaled states where every decision, observation, or action is hashed and chained, creating a tamper-evident record. The construct centers on resilient identity, lineage, and accountability rather than consensus or currency.

Motivations

• Agent identity persistence: Agents must persist across sessions, deployments, and orchestrations with continuity of memory and accountability.
• Tamper-evident logs: Decisions and context should be verifiable with cryptographic integrity, enabling post-hoc auditing and replay.
• Fine-grained audit trails in regulated contexts: Financial and safety-critical domains require clear, inspectable history for control and regulatory overlays.

Core Properties

• Append-only: Events are added in sequence without mutation, preserving historical fidelity.
• Hash-chained: Each entry links to its predecessor via previousHash and a computed hash, producing a verifiable chain.
• Identity binding: Entries bind to an actorId to maintain continuity of the agent or system worldline.
• Reconstructable worldline: The sequence can be replayed to rebuild state, diagnose decisions, or generate attestations.

Relation to JournalEntry

PS-SHA∞ entries mirror the JournalEntry shape outlined in blackroad-os-core:

• actorId: identity of the agent or subsystem making the entry.
• actionType: category of the action or observation.
• timestamp: RFC 3339 timestamp capturing when the event was recorded.
• payload: structured data describing the event.
• previousHash: link to the prior entry, enabling chain verification.
• hash: digest covering the entry content and previousHash to anchor integrity.

Intended Use

• Finance agents: Treasury, close, and compliance flows journal every control-relevant action for audit and reconciliation.
• Contradiction resolution: Conflicts and their resolutions are recorded, preserving both accepted and discarded branches for review.
• External attestation: Future RoadChain or similar integrations can expose verifiable worldlines for regulators, partners, or auditors.

TODOs

• Expand with specific hashing strategies and signature schemes once RoadChain primitives are finalized.
• Formalize rotation and retention policies for long-lived agents and federated deployments.