nf.epistemic.cnf

Context Normal Form (CNF)

Contract ID: nf.epistemic.cnf | Family: epistemic | Index Status: draft | AuthorityEffect: None

⬅ Back to Wiki Home | View SVG Diagram

---

1. Executive Summary & Metadata

Context Normal Form (CNF) enforces structural normalization and explicit defect routing in the epistemic regime.

Property	Value
Canonical ID	nf.epistemic.cnf
Short Name	CNF
Full Name	Context Normal Form
Family	epistemic (Observer-Relative Epistemic, Freshness, Context, Provenance & Distinguishability Contracts)
Qualification	Extended Form Contract (Normal Form Contract)
Data / Math Posture	in_motion
Index Status	draft
Theory Status	proposed
Verification Status	absent
Contract Version	v0
Governance Fence	AuthorityEffect: None (certified_implies_authorized: false)

---

2. Visual Architecture & Normalization Diagram

---

3. Concrete Worked Example & Mechanism

Visual Transition Summary

Stage	Carrier / Operator	Concrete State / Invariant
1. Before / Candidate Input	Input Carrier (CNF Candidate)	Anomaly risk: context smuggling
2. Normalization / Gate	CNF Verification Gate	prompt, retrieval, tool... (certified_implies_authorized: false)
3. After / Certified Output	Certified CNF Output	Invariant: ['user_intent_layer', ; 'retrieval_layer', ; 'tool_output_layer',...

---

4. The Four-Pillar Quadrilateral & Non-Claims

Every contract in simplex-normal-forms is evaluated against the Four-Pillar Quadrilateral defined in contracts/_golden_nfs/standard.yaml:

Pillar	Requirement	Contract Specification for nf.epistemic.cnf
Pillar I: Excludes Anomaly	Name and eliminate a specific class of data or state defects.	context smuggling
Pillar II: Preserves Invariant	State the structural invariant and protected skeleton preserved across transitions.	Invariant: prompt, retrieval, tool results, and hidden policy occupy typed layers with explicit merge rules Protected Skeleton: ['user_intent_layer', 'retrieval_layer', 'tool_output_layer', 'policy_layer']
Pillar III: Lossless Reconstruction	State the non-loss reconstruction operator (join, direct sum, pullback, or replay).	Lossless reconstruction under declared projection, direct sum, or pullback operators.
Pillar IV: Syntactic Decidability	State how conformance is decided from declared constraints without unbudgeted scans.	Decidable from declared schema and witness metadata within bounded evaluation budgets.

Explicit Non-Claims (certified_implies_authorized: false)

• does not ensure retrieval contents are factually correct

---

5. Operational Verification & Terminal Routing

5.1 Required Declarations

• user_intent_layer
• retrieval_layer
• tool_output_layer
• policy_layer
• merge_rules

5.2 Required Evidence

• source_id per retrieval chunk
• signature or seal for policy layer
• sequence_index of interaction

5.3 Validation Criteria

Criterion ID	Name	Condition
criterion	Check	distinct layers must not be merged into a single undifferentiated blob without loss ledger accounting
criterion	Check	policy layer must remain hidden/sealed from user intent inputs
criterion	Check	retrieval chunks must carry source identifiers

5.4 Terminal Route Map

Every evaluation terminates in a declared local route mapped to a canonical terminal in standard.yaml:

Local Terminal Route	Canonical Terminal
ContextStructured	Preserve
ContextCollapsedWithLedger	Repair
ContextSmugglingViolation	Reject
LayerSealingFailure	Reject
Refuse	Refuse

5.5 Declared Failure Modes

• symptom: prompt injection or smuggling via undifferentiated block of user and tool text, diagnosis: context smuggling, terminal: ContextSmugglingViolation

---

6. Epistemic Claim Hygiene Quadrant

In accordance with the repository's epistemic claim discipline:

1. What it supports:
   • Supports syntactic and operational checking of nf.epistemic.cnf (CNF) against its declared schema, boundary constraints, and witness obligations in this model.
   • Supports deterministic terminal routing (ContextStructured, ContextCollapsedWithLedger, ContextSmugglingViolation, LayerSealingFailure) when required declarations or invariants fail.
2. What it does not support:
   • Does not confer operational authority (AuthorityEffect: None, certified_implies_authorized: false).
   • Does not claim semantic truth of undeclared external processes or unverified upstream inputs beyond the declaredprotected skeleton.
3. The narrowest defensible claim:
   • Within the declared substrate in_motion, this contract enforces that context smuggling is either excluded under prompt, retrieval, tool results, and hidden policy occupy typed layers with explicit merge rules or routed to an explicit refusal/recovery terminal.
4. The next test needed:
   • Property-based falsification and mutation testing across boundary edge cases and composed multi-step pipelines for nf.epistemic.cnf.

---

7. Canonical YAML Contract (contracts/nf.epistemic.cnf.yaml)

Click to expand full canonical YAML contract (contracts/nf.epistemic.cnf.yaml)

schema_version: smplx.nf.contract.v0
contract_kind: normal_form_contract
identity:
  id: nf.epistemic.cnf
  name: Context Normal Form
  short_name: CNF
  version: v0
  status: draft
  family: epistemic
  theory_status: proposed
  contract_status: draft
  verification_status: absent
classification:
  hierarchy_level: normal_form
  subject_kind:
  - distributed_claim
  data_posture: in_motion
  mathematical_posture: operational
purpose:
  excludes_anomaly: context smuggling
  preserves_invariant: prompt, retrieval, tool results, and hidden policy occupy typed
    layers with explicit merge rules
  protected_skeleton:
  - user_intent_layer
  - retrieval_layer
  - tool_output_layer
  - policy_layer
  erased_structure:
  - collapsed_context_history
  non_claims:
  - does not ensure retrieval contents are factually correct
declarations_required:
- user_intent_layer
- retrieval_layer
- tool_output_layer
- policy_layer
- merge_rules
evidence_required:
- source_id per retrieval chunk
- signature or seal for policy layer
- sequence_index of interaction
validation_criteria:
- distinct layers must not be merged into a single undifferentiated blob without loss
  ledger accounting
- policy layer must remain hidden/sealed from user intent inputs
- retrieval chunks must carry source identifiers
proof_obligations: []
terminal_routes:
- ContextStructured
- ContextCollapsedWithLedger
- ContextSmugglingViolation
- LayerSealingFailure
- Refuse
certification:
  certificate_required: true
  certificate_kind: context_certificate
  obstruction_class_required: false
  loss_ledger_required: true
  verifier_required: true
authorization:
  authorized_by: null
  certified_implies_authorized: false
failure_modes:
- symptom: prompt injection or smuggling via undifferentiated block of user and tool
    text
  diagnosis: context smuggling
  terminal: ContextSmugglingViolation
references:
- ../1_normal_forms.md
terminal_route_map:
  ContextStructured: Preserve
  ContextCollapsedWithLedger: Repair
  ContextSmugglingViolation: Reject
  LayerSealingFailure: Reject
  Refuse: Refuse
definition:
  source: coda_all_universe/mssn_sn_tower/definitions.md
  formal_statement: context smuggling. prompt, retrieval, tool results, and hidden
    policy occupy typed layers with explicit merge rules
  quadrilateral:
    qualifies_as_true_normal_form: false
    qualification_gap: reconstruction_is_not_a_relational_project_join
    anomaly_exclusion: context smuggling
    lossless_join:
      status: declared_reconstruction
      statement: prompt, retrieval, tool results, and hidden policy occupy typed layers
        with explicit merge rules
    dependency_preservation:
      status: declared_with_the_invariant
      statement: The preserved invariant stays on the declared schema. This form does
        not state a functional-dependency projection of a flat relvar decomposition.
    syntactic_decision:
      status: declaration_decidable
      statement: The check reads the declared constraints and validation criteria.
        One unrecorded runtime image is not the decider.
schema_ref: ./normal_form_contract_schema.yaml