Relationships define how Anchor connects an Integrity Reference to the Source Artifact it protects, to its own Versions and Corrections, and to external integrity evidence such as signatures, timestamps, transparency records, or future Bitcoin commitments.
Anchor is inherently reference-heavy. Those references must therefore be explicit, directional, machine-readable, and authority-preserving.
Every relationship should identify what is connected, why it is connected, and which institution remains authoritative for each object.
Connects an Integrity Reference to the Authoritative Artifact and Source-System Identifier whose representation is being preserved.
CoreConnects a later Anchor Version to a prior Version while preserving the identity of the underlying Integrity Reference where applicable.
CoreConnects an Anchor Correction to the Integrity Reference or Version whose Anchor-owned information is being corrected.
CoreConnects an earlier Integrity Reference to a later Integrity Reference when the later record replaces or succeeds the earlier one without erasing it.
CoreConnects an Integrity Reference to external integrity evidence such as a timestamp record, transparency-log entry, Merkle commitment, or Bitcoin transaction.
CoreLater architecture may connect Integrity References to discrete Verification, Validation, or Publication artifacts where those become separately governed objects.
ProvisionalThese relationship categories remain architecturally required. Production has now frozen the first machine token needed by IR #1:
All additional Relationship Type tokens remain unfrozen until later production records require them.
Relationships should be directional whenever direction changes meaning.
Reciprocal relationships may also be published for navigation, but their machine semantics must remain explicit.
Every production Integrity Reference must preserve a direct machine-readable relationship to the Source Artifact whose representation it anchors.
The first production relationship is:
Source Institution → Satoshium Certifier
Source Version → 1.1
Where multiple Anchor Versions remain the same Integrity Reference, Version lineage should preserve their governed ordering.
Versioning architecture is now defined, but the machine Relationship Type tokens for Version lineage remain unfrozen until a real Version 2 production case requires them.
Anchor Corrections must preserve which prior Anchor state or field was corrected and which later state carries the correction.
Correction lineage must remain reconstructable.
Supersession applies when one Integrity Reference is replaced by another without erasing the historical identity of the earlier record.
Both Anchor Identifiers should remain persistent and independently resolvable.
External commitment evidence remains external to Anchor identity.
Potential external commitment identifiers may include:
Anchor should not assume all relationships are one-to-one.
Relationship architecture must therefore support multiplicity without overloading the Anchor Identifier.
Anchor governs relationships stored inside Anchor-owned records.
Anchor does not gain authority over the objects merely because it records their identifiers or relationships.
Production has now frozen the first Relationship Type token:
Definition: connects an Anchor Integrity Reference to the Source Artifact whose governed representation the Integrity Reference preserves.
Candidate future tokens remain:
These remain unfrozen until a production relationship actually requires them.
First Token FrozenThe Integrity Reference Base Schema now defines the machine-readable relationship structure.
The relationships array is required for production and must contain at least one references_source relationship.
Some relationships naturally have reciprocal forms.
Later schema design should determine whether both directions are stored, one is stored and the other derived, or both are published for convenience.
Formal Anchor Validation now checks relationship structure and required Source linkage.
Production IR #1 must contain a valid references_source relationship to SCRD-SC-CERT-2026-0001.
A relationship may remain historically valid even if its target later becomes unavailable online.
Anchor should distinguish:
Maintenance architecture should govern how these conditions are handled.
Relationships answer:
Provenance answers:
The Provenance architecture is now defined and uses the Source relationship as one component of the larger origin and generation chain.
Relationship Type is a governed Controlled Value category.
Additional Relationship Type tokens remain unfrozen until production proves they are necessary.
The Integrity Reference Base Schema now provides a repeatable machine-readable relationships array.
The Base Schema requires at least one relationship and requires that production records contain a references_source relationship.
Anchor IR #1 requires exactly one relationship at initial construction:
No Version, Correction, Supersession, Verification, Publication, Maintenance, or external-commitment relationship is required for the initial Version 1 candidate.
This is intentional minimum-necessary structure.
IR #1 Relationship Set DefinedRelationships should make Anchor lineage and external reference explicit without confusing connection with ownership or authority.