For schemes
Build your domain on Signatif
Signatif is deliberately unfinished: the standard fixes the machinery — chains, scope, verification, transparency — while each scheme defines the domain. Here is what a scheme owns and the path from concept to claimed conformance.
What a scheme owns
A scheme is the organization — a sector consortium, a regulator, an industry body — that instantiates Signatif for its domain. The standard prescribes the requirements classes; the scheme decides every domain-specific value, and mutual recognition between schemes is itself standardized.
- Registries — algorithms by class, format profiles, dimension tags, ceremony types
- Scope dimensions and live conditions for the domain
- The set of trust dimensions and their attestation sources
- Classification policy and acceptance thresholds
- Deployment manifest — tiers, thresholds, logs, migration phase
- Topology and conformance claims (/conf classes)
The development path
From concept to a conforming deployment — each step lands in an artifact the standard already defines.
1authorities
Map your hierarchy
Map your real-world tiers onto root, delegated, and federated trust authorities down to end certificates. Choose a topology profile — hierarchical, federated, cross-recognized, or mesh — and set thresholds (for example 3-of-5 at the root).
2scope
Define the authorization boundary
Declare the scope dimensions that matter in your domain — sector, product class, geography, lot — and the live conditions evaluated at verification time. Scope narrows monotonically at every delegation; that invariant is enforced for you.
3registries
Populate your registries
A scheme owns its registries: algorithm identifiers (by class — classical, composite, post-quantum), format profiles, dimension tags, ceremony types. National and regulatory algorithm choices fit here, not in the standard.
4dimensions
Choose your trust dimensions
Pick which aspects of reality become cryptographic co-signatures. Eight dimensions are registered — authority, person, time, location, environment, authorization, identity, oracle — and your scheme registers its own through the dimension-tag registry: the set is open for extension, closed for modification. Each claimed dimension is a conformance class with tests.
5classification
Publish your policies
Define the classification policy that maps coverage reports to your labels, and the acceptance thresholds per decision context. Both are pure functions, published in the deployment manifest.
6manifest
Declare and claim conformance
Write the deployment manifest — tiers, thresholds, transparency logs, migration phase — claim your /conf classes, and validate against the abstract test suite.
Two schemes, sketched
Illustrative profiles in the style of the standard’s supply-chain annex — every value here is a scheme decision, not a standard requirement.
Fresh food traceability
illustrative profile
Hierarchy and thresholds
| Food-safety authority consortium (root) | 3-of-5 | Defines sector scope: fresh food, hazard classes |
| National food authority | 2-of-3 | Narrows to geography and product category |
| Certification body | 1-of-1 / 2-of-3 | Accredits producers; narrows to certification type |
| Producer / packer key | 1-of-1 | End certificate; signs lot records |
| Lot record | — | The trusted artifact — measurement of the batch |
Scope dimensions
sector: fresh food · hazard class: cold-chain, allergen · geography: origin and processing · lot identifier
Trust dimensions
- Authority
- delegation chain from the consortium root
- Person
- certified inspector co-signs the lot
- Time
- time authority anchors harvest and packing events
- Location
- origin and processing site attestations
- Environment
- cold-chain sensor co-signs transit temperatures
Electronic components
illustrative profile
Hierarchy and thresholds
| Industry consortium (root) | 4-of-7 | Defines component sector scope and classes |
| Brand / ODM authority | 3-of-5 | Narrows to product family and process |
| Fab or line authority | 2-of-3 | Narrows to line and process step |
| Line batch key | 1-of-1 | End certificate; signs batch records |
| Batch record | — | The trusted artifact — the component lot |
Scope dimensions
component family · process node / line · lot identifier · customer: OEM / distribution
Trust dimensions
- Authority
- chain from the consortium root
- Person
- line quality engineer co-signs
- Time
- time authority anchors production time
- Environment
- handling conditions attested for the lot