Execution Manifest Specification v1

Version: 1.0.0 Status: Published (Sprint 33)

1. Purpose

The Execution Manifest is the canonical task-authorization payload used for cryptographic endorsement and deterministic execution fingerprint binding.

2. Canonical JSON Rules

Manifest payload MUST be JSON object.
Serialization MUST be deterministic: sorted keys + compact separators.
UTF-8 encoding MUST be used for hashing/signing.
Manifest hash MUST be sha256(canonical_json).

Reference implementation:

pkg.orchestrator.manifest.canonical_manifest_json
pkg.orchestrator.manifest.deterministic_manifest_hash

3. Required Fields

Top-level required fields:

manifest_version (semantic version, currently major 1)
issued_at (ISO-8601)
task_context (object)
target_urn (URN format)
tool_sha256 (sha256:<64 lowercase hex>)
nonce (8-128 chars [A-Za-z0-9._:-])
parameters (object)

task_context required fields:

task_id
tenant_id
operator_id
source
action
requested_at
correlation_id

4. Validation Contract

target_urn MUST match urn:<nid>:<nss> style format.
tool_sha256 MUST match exact lowercase SHA-256 format.
manifest_version MUST satisfy semver and supported policy window.
Non-canonical submissions MUST be rejected.

Reference validator path:

pkg.orchestrator.manifest.parse_and_validate_manifest_submission

5. Security Binding

Manifest fields participate in:

pre-sign OPA capability authorization
JWS signing in control plane
unified execution fingerprint generation
Merkle ledger append-only intent/evidence chain

6. Example (Canonical JSON)

{"issued_at":"2026-02-27T00:00:05+00:00","manifest_version":"1.0.0","nonce":"nonce-0001","parameters":{"ports":[443]},"target_urn":"urn:target:ip:10.0.0.5","task_context":{"action":"run","correlation_id":"bc8d85ff-31f2-4b57-9adf-3ce24227de97","operator_id":"op-001","requested_at":"2026-02-27T00:00:00+00:00","source":"api","task_id":"task-001","tenant_id":"tenant-a"},"tool_sha256":"sha256:aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"}