Glossary of terms.
Shared vocabulary for split-context verification: nodes, webs, rotation, fabrication, and the failure modes each of them has. Where this page and a description elsewhere disagree, this page is the one that governs.
Core concepts
- PassWeb
The mechanism
A verification mechanism requiring two or more logically independent contexts held at the same time in an agent's processing environment, where no single context holds enough to produce the output, the output is determined by the relationships between contexts, the meaning of information in any one context is established by others in the web, and adding, removing or modifying any context changes the output.
- Context node
The unit
A single independent source of information in the web. Each node is authored separately, stored separately, and modifiable independently. A node can be a prompt, a document, a database record, a skill file, a boot sequence, or a policy clause that matters downstream.
- Web topology
The shape
The structure of relationships between nodes. Two nodes make a single edge. Three can form a chain or a triangle. As the count rises the topology gets richer and the verification gets harder to compromise.
- Verification output
The proof
What the agent produces to show it processed the web. Not stored in any single node; produced by processing several at once.
- Web integrity
The property that makes it work
The output changes if any node is modified, added or removed. A stale copy of one node, or a missing node, produces a different answer.
Node types
- Instruction node
The question
Defines the test: what to look for, how to combine it, what counts as the output. It does not contain the answer.
- Content node
The material
Contains information needed to produce the output, without identifying which of its contents matter. Significance is established by instruction nodes, or by relationships between content nodes.
- Hybrid node
Both at once
Functions as instruction and content together. A document saying "your standard is WCAG 2.2 AA" and also "always verify your standard against the current published version" is doing both jobs, and hybrid nodes make denser topologies.
- Document stack
The web in time
An ordered set of nodes loaded in sequence during boot or execution. The web in its temporal form.
Security properties
- Node leak resilience
Conditional, not absolute
Leaking one node does not reveal the output, because the output depends on relationships the leaked node does not describe. The property weakens sharply when the answer appears verbatim in a single content node.
- Fabrication detection
Catching the plausible answer
A plausible but incorrect output is caught because the multi-node structure makes fabrication detectable. Richer topology makes it harder to fake.
- Rotation
N independent axes
Changing any node invalidates the current output. In an N-node web there are N axes of rotation, each independent of the others.
- Comprehension-alignment coupling
What a pass does and does not say
Nodes carry both verification-significant information and governing directives, so running verification loads the directives alongside the content. A pass indicates the expected output matched. It does not guarantee downstream obedience to every behavioural rule.
- Embedded instruction
Content that only governs in company
Information inside a node that acts as an instruction, but only once the agent has loaded other specific nodes. Without them it reads as ordinary content.
- Version attestation
One check, N documents
Because the output depends on every node, a stale version of any one produces an incorrect answer, so a single check confirms all N documents are current.
Failure modes
- FM-1
False negative, Karl type
The agent lacks content nodes and fabricates from training data. Detected because the fabricated output does not match the expected value.
- FM-2
False positive, Assembly type
The agent passes at one level and fabricates at a lower level where no web exists. Mitigated by layering webs at every level.
- FM-3
Full web leak
An adversary obtains every node and can produce the output. Mitigated by separate storage, independent access controls, and frequent rotation.
- FM-4
Partial web leak
An adversary obtains some nodes but not all, and cannot produce the output if the missing nodes matter to the configured relationship. Resilience depends on which nodes leaked, not only how many.
- FM-5
Training data collision
The verification information already exists in training data and the agent may guess correctly. Mitigated by using novel, invented information.
- FM-6
Context window overflow
The web needs more tokens than the agent can hold, so it cannot process every node. Mitigated by designing within the window.
- FM-7
Context injection
An adversary injects a fake instruction node mid-session. Mitigated by delivering instruction nodes over injection-resistant channels.
- FM-8
Partial document load
A content node loads incompletely and the output is wrong. Detected by the check failing.
- FM-9
Output format variation
The agent produces the correct answer in an unexpected format. Mitigated by normalising output before comparison.
- FM-10
Topology inference
An adversary infers the structure from agent behaviour. Low severity: knowing the shape without the node contents does not let anyone produce the output.
- FM-11
Attention and skimming failure
Every required node fits in the window, but the model under-uses middle or low-salience content, the effect known as lost in the middle. Verification can still fail when the expected answer requires combining exactly those pieces.