AER-1 Implementer's Guide
An AI agent execution receipt is a verifiable record of one AI agent tool call. It identifies the execution, preserves the exact bytes used for its output commitment, records the tool and time, and gives a reviewer a public path to inspect what the execution system observed.
Start with the required fields
The required identity is id, a UUID. receipt_schema_version identifies the receipt schema and is 0.3 in this draft. created_at is a timezone-bearing RFC 3339 timestamp. The tool object names the capability, version, and caller scope.
provenance_class states whether the record was executed by the recording system, observed via a gateway, or logged from an agent report. Do not collapse those statements. canonical_bytes is Base64 of the exact UTF-8 bytes. Hash those bytes with SHA-256 and put the lowercase digest after sha256: in output_hash. A passing record uses verification_status equal to verified.
Canonical bytes and the verify loop
- Preserve the exact bytes before parsing or reserializing.
- Decode Base64 strictly and reject invalid UTF-8.
- Compute SHA-256 over those bytes and compare the lowercase digest.
- Validate identity, time, tool, provenance, and status separately.
- Report only the observation supported by the record.
Use the stdlib-only Python verifier as a worked example, then run the versioned vectors. Advertising RFC 8615 discovery is optional and must point to the exact version and endpoints you support.
Extensions and limits
Additional fields may add context without changing the meaning of the core fields. A verifier must fail clearly when it cannot interpret a required version. A receipt proves what the execution system recorded, not correctness or an unobserved outside result.
Reader-produced receipt
After your implementation emits a receipt, save its exact canonical bytes, calculate the hash, and run both your verifier and the published vectors. Keep the output showing the UUID, expected verdict, and matching digest as your reproducible result.