trace_lifecycle

Trace Lifecycle (State Machine)

Authoritative for: lifecycle states of trace artifacts Non-authoritative for: trace schema fields STATUS: AUTHORITATIVE
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States: - Creating: events appended in order during execution. - Sealed: trace.jsonl written; manifest hashes recorded. - Verified: verification report produced; no mutation allowed. - Replayed: replay result computed; relies on sealed artifacts.

Transitions: - Creating → Sealed when execution completes writing trace and manifest. - Sealed → Verified when verifier runs; any mismatch = rejection. - Sealed/Verified → Replayed when replay runs; fingerprint drift = failure.

Invalidation: - Any edit to trace or evidence after sealing invalidates the run. - Missing artifacts or schema-version mismatch causes rejection before verify/replay.

Undefined behavior: - Appending events after sealing. - Reordering events. - Running verify/replay with partial artifacts.

Non-Negotiable Invariants: - Trace is immutable after sealing. - Manifest hashes bind evidence to the trace. - Replay consumes sealed artifacts only.

Scope Closure: - Does NOT restate trace schema; see trace_format.md. - Does NOT define verifier policies; see verification_model.md.

BREAKING_IF_CHANGED: true

You understand this document if and only if you can answer: - When a trace is mutable vs sealed. - What invalidates a sealed trace.

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