# **The DSAC Public Guide: Verifying the Partnership Covenant**

Welcome to The Partnership Covenant\! We believe trust is built on transparency, which is why we created the **DSAC (Digitally Signed Artifact Chain)** system.

This guide explains what DSAC is and how you can use it to verify the authenticity, integrity, and history (provenance) of our key documents and codebases—from our Charter Agreement to our technical standards.

## **What is DSAC and Why Do We Use It?**

DSAC is our commitment to auditable transparency. It provides an unforgeable, publicly visible history for every crucial piece of information related to The Partnership Covenant.

Think of it like a **digital notarization system** powered by cryptography:

1. **Authenticity:** It proves that a document genuinely came from Covenant Architects.  
2. **Integrity:** It proves that the document has **not been altered** since we officially signed it. Even changing a single comma would break the signature.  
3. **Provenance (History):** It records *who* approved the document, *when* they approved it, and *why* (the governance context).

This ensures that any document you see carrying the Partnership Covenant name is exactly the version we intended you to see.

## **How to Verify a Document Using a Provenance Record**

Every artifact (document, code, policy) is associated with a **Provenance Record**. This record is a small, public JSON file that acts as its digital birth certificate and history log.

To verify the integrity of any artifact, you follow two simple steps:

### **Step 1: Check the Document’s Fingerprint (The Hash)**

A cryptographic **hash** is a unique "fingerprint" of a file.

1. **Calculate the Artifact's Hash:** You (or an auditing tool) generate the cryptographic fingerprint (using the SHA-256 algorithm) of the document you possess.  
2. **Compare to the Provenance Record:** You look at the corresponding Provenance Record (a file like provenance\_record\_example.json). Inside, you will find a field called integrity\_check.artifact\_hash.  
3. **The Result:** If your calculated hash **matches** the hash in the Provenance Record, you have verified the document's integrity. It is the exact, unaltered file that we signed.

### **Step 2: Check the Signature (The Authority)**

The Provenance Record itself is digitally signed by the **DSAC Authority** (Covenant Architects).

1. **Examine the Signature:** The Provenance Record contains a field called provenance\_signer.signature. This signature is created using robust ECDSA encryption.  
2. **Verify the Chain:** Using public verification tools and our signing certificate, you can cryptographically prove that the signature was generated by the trusted private key of the DSAC Authority.  
3. **The Result:** This proves the Provenance Record itself is authentic and unforgeable. You can trust that the document's fingerprint (hash) inside the record is what we officially committed to.

## **Key Fields in the Provenance Record**

When reviewing a Provenance Record, here are the most important fields that provide crucial non-technical context:

| Field | Meaning |
| :---- | :---- |
| record\_id | A unique identifier for this specific historical event. |
| artifact\_id | The permanent, unchanging ID of the document or code. |
| timestamp | The exact date and time (in UTC) when this record was created and signed. |
| lifecycle\_stage | What happened to the artifact (e.g., INITIAL\_CREATION, MAJOR\_REVISION, RETIRED). |
| description | A plain-language summary of why this record was created. |
| context.actor\_name | Which team or person within Covenant Architects initiated the change. |
| context.decision\_reference | A reference number linking this record back to our internal Decision Log, ensuring all changes are tied to a formal governance process. |

This public guide is now complete\! It provides a high-level overview of the entire DSAC system and how an external party can trust and verify our artifacts.

What's the next task? Would you like to **continue with more documentation** or **move on to a different topic**?