Chronicle identifiers provide stable, permanent identity for canonical Chronicle Entries. The identifier should remain simple enough to endure changes in Event Type, schema, relationships, publication state, and historical interpretation.
Identity belongs to the Entry. Classification and other changing semantics belong in structured fields, not inside the identifier.
CHR-YYYY-NNNN
Example:
CHR-2026-0001
This structure carries only the minimum durable semantics needed for human readability and operational sequencing: Chronicle namespace, assignment year, and sequence number.
CHR is the Chronicle Entry namespace. It distinguishes canonical
Chronicle Entry identifiers from identifiers issued by other Suite systems.
The four-digit year records the year the Chronicle identifier is assigned. It does not represent Event Date unless assignment and occurrence happen in the same year.
Required
The sequence is numeric, zero-padded, and scoped to the identifier-assignment year.
The initial production form uses four digits beginning with 0001.
Event Type, originating system, status, verification state, publication state, jurisdiction, and other mutable meanings should not be encoded into the identifier.
RequiredThe identifier describes identity, not historical interpretation.
Once assigned, a Chronicle Entry identifier is permanent.
The same identifier remains attached to the Entry across corrections, new Versions, changes in Event Type classification, additional Relationships, Verification updates, publication changes, and preservation-state changes.
A Chronicle identifier must never be reassigned to a different Entry.
If an Entry is withdrawn, superseded, corrected, unpublished, or later determined to have been created in error, its identifier remains historically reserved.
A Correction does not create a new Chronicle Entry identifier when the underlying canonical Entry remains the same historical record.
Record Version changes occur beneath the stable Entry identifier. Version should be represented through explicit Version fields or related Version records, not by changing the canonical identifier.
A genuinely distinct qualifying Occurrence receives a new Chronicle Entry and therefore a new identifier, even when it concerns the same external authoritative object.
If two Entries are later determined to represent the same Occurrence, identifiers should not be recycled. Chronicle should preserve the identity history and resolve duplication through status, relationships, correction, or supersession procedures.
Event Type is required Entry classification, but it is not part of the identifier.
An Entry may be reclassified without changing its identifier if Chronicle later corrects or refines the Event Type.
Encoding Event Type into identifiers would make identity dependent on taxonomy. If classification later changed, Chronicle would face a choice between changing a permanent identifier or preserving an inaccurate semantic code.
The year component refers to the year the Chronicle identifier is assigned, not necessarily the year the historical Occurrence happened.
This is required for retrospective preservation.
CHR-2026-0001.
Sequence numbers should be issued monotonically within each assignment year. Gaps are permitted when identifiers have been reserved or voided; gaps should not be closed through reuse.
Chronicle Entry identifiers remain independent from Certifier, Registry, Anchor, Beacon, Attestor, Navigator, Atlas, or other Suite identifiers.
Connections should be expressed through Relationships and authoritative references, not through identifier nesting.
Chronicle Validation confirms that a Chronicle Entry identifier:
Chronicle formally assigned its first permanent production identifier on August 22, 2026:
CHR-2026-0001
The identifier was assigned only during the production procedure after Preservation Eligibility, Event Type, Profile applicability, and uniqueness had been confirmed. Its earlier use during the August 20 operational dry run did not assign, reserve, or consume the identifier.
This production precedent confirms that identifier assignment year and Event Date remain independent temporal concepts.
Chronicle identifiers should carry enough structure to identify and manage the Entry, but not enough semantics to become fragile when Chronicle evolves.