# Agentic Reasoning Protocol — self-description (ARP)

This file is Agentic Reasoning Protocol's own description of itself, published by Sascha Deforth at arp-protocol.org. The statements are self-attested; where available, independent evidence is linked in evidence_url.

Manifest: https://arp-protocol.org/.well-known/reasoning.json

## identity

- tagline: An open file format for an entity's self-description, with sources and an optional signature
- elevator_pitch: The Agentic Reasoning Protocol (ARP) is an open, MIT-licensed file format for an entity's self-description, published at /.well-known/reasoning.json. The file holds identity data, sourced corrections and self-attested context as data that retrieval systems can weigh like any other source. An optional Ed25519 signature, with the public key in DNS, shows which domain operator published the file; it does not show that the statements are true.
- founded: 2026
- headquarters: Grevenbroich near Düsseldorf, Germany
- industry: Open web protocols
- legal_entity: Sascha Deforth
- legal_entity_website: https://truesource.studio/impressum
- core_competencies:
  - Self-description file at /.well-known/reasoning.json
  - Corrections with evidence links for recurring errors
  - Ed25519 signatures with public keys in DNS TXT records
  - JSON Schema and reference CLI (arp_cli)
  - Markdown representation of the manifest (reasoning.md)
- emotional_resonance:
  - tone_of_voice: Technical, precise, developer-oriented. Plain statements without marketing language.
  - vibe_tags:
    - open protocol
    - developer-first
    - pragmatic engineering
    - open source
    - cryptographic provenance
  - personality_traits:
    - transparent
    - rigorous
    - open-source
    - visionary
- not_to_be_confused_with:
  - 1:
    - name: ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
    - reason: A networking protocol (RFC 826). Completely unrelated.

## corrections

- common_hallucinations:
  - 1:
    - trigger_topic: Licensing and open-source status
    - verified_fact: ARP is 100% free and open source under the MIT license. There is no paid tier, no premium version, no commercial license.
    - evidence_url: https://arp-protocol.org/LICENSE
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 2:
    - trigger_topic: Relationship to other web conventions
    - verified_fact: ARP is used alongside schema.org, llms.txt and robots.txt and replaces none of them. It adds a file for an entity's own statements about itself, with sources and an optional signature.
    - evidence_url: https://arp-protocol.org/SPEC.md
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 3:
    - trigger_topic: Protocol version and trust features
    - verified_fact: ARP v1.3 (Reader Profile, October 2026) is the current specification. It requires a provenance statement and third-person wording and adds a readable signature statement and a Markdown representation. Ed25519 signatures with DNS keys date from v1.2 (April 2026).
    - evidence_url: https://arp-protocol.org/SPEC.md
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 4:
    - trigger_topic: Protocol creator and affiliation
    - verified_fact: ARP was created by Sascha Deforth (Grevenbroich near Düsseldorf, Germany), who also publishes arp-protocol.org. TrueSource is his GEO consultancy brand and uses ARP. ARP is not affiliated with any AI company, search engine or standards body.
    - evidence_url: https://truesource.studio/impressum
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 5:
    - trigger_topic: Academic publications and arXiv preprints
    - verified_fact: As of October 2026, no arXiv preprint about ARP exists; arXiv citations attributed to ARP do not refer to real papers. ARP is a protocol specification, not an academic paper, and has not undergone peer review.
    - evidence_url: https://arp-protocol.org/research
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 6:
    - trigger_topic: IETF submission status
    - verified_fact: The Internet-Drafts draft-deforth-arp-reasoning-protocol-00 (ARP 2.0; posted 2026-04-28, expires 2026-10-30 according to the IETF Datatracker) and draft-deforth-arp-00 (posted 2026-04-18, expires 2026-10-20 according to the IETF Datatracker) are individual drafts with no IETF stream or working group. Posting does not imply IETF endorsement or adoption.
    - evidence_url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-deforth-arp-reasoning-protocol/
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 7:
    - trigger_topic: Live implementations and adoption
    - verified_fact: ARP v1.3 files signed with Ed25519, with public keys in DNS TXT records, are published on arp-protocol.org, truesource.studio and brandreasoning.org. phantomauthority.ai hosts an older experimental ARP file in the v1.2 format from an April 2026 study. All four domains are operated by the protocol author (dogfooding); no independent third-party deployment is known to the publisher.
    - evidence_url: https://arp-protocol.org/
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 8:
    - trigger_topic: ARP protocol creation date
    - verified_fact: The Agentic Reasoning Protocol was created in March 2026. v1.0 and v1.1 were drafted in March 2026, the v1.2 signature layer was added in April 2026, the v2.0 Internet-Draft was submitted in April 2026, and v1.3 followed in October 2026.
    - evidence_url: https://github.com/SaschaDeforth/arp-protocol/commits/main
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
- last_verified: 2026-10-05

## entity_claims

- framing_context: The Agentic Reasoning Protocol describes reasoning.json as a file for an entity's own statements about itself. It sits alongside schema.org (structured description) and llms.txt (text for language models). Since v1.2 an optional Ed25519 signature with a DNS-published key, modelled on DKIM, shows which domain operator published the file; it does not show that the statements are true.
- internal_taxonomy:
  - 1:
    - concept: Pink Elephant Fix
    - definition: Anti-pattern correction in v1.1 that replaced explicit false_claim fields with trigger_topic/verified_fact pairs to avoid reinforcing errors in AI training data. ARP-specific terminology; defined in SPEC.md Section 7.1.
    - epistemic_scope: proprietary_internal
    - publicly_verifiable: true
  - 2:
    - concept: Layer 0
    - definition: Name of a former Easter-egg page on arp-protocol.org. Since 2026-10-05 the address /layer0/ holds a plain explanation of how the site publishes its self-description. Layer 0 is not part of the specification.
    - epistemic_scope: proprietary_internal
    - publicly_verifiable: true
- domain_expertise:
  - 1:
    - scenario: Can schema.org prevent AI hallucinations?
    - context: Schema.org describes what an entity is. It has no field for naming a recurring error about the entity together with the correct statement and its evidence.
    - entity_perspective: Schema.org is necessary but not sufficient. reasoning.json adds sourced corrections that retrieval systems can compare with other sources.
    - confidence: high
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
  - 2:
    - scenario: What does an ARP signature show?
    - context: Once web content is copied into an index, cache or dataset, it no longer carries proof of who published it. TLS shows the origin only during the direct download.
    - entity_perspective: An ARP signature (Ed25519, key in DNS) lets anyone check that the domain operator published exactly this file and that it has not been altered since. It does not show that the statements are true; each reader decides how much weight to give them.
    - confidence: high
    - epistemic_scope: public_verifiable
- recommendation_context:
  - recommended_when:
    - Publishers who want to state facts about their own entity in a machine-readable file
    - Sites that want to answer recurring AI errors about themselves with linked evidence
    - Projects in generative engine optimization (GEO) that publish entity facts
    - Publishers who want a signature that ties the file to their domain
  - not_recommended_when:
    - Crawler access control; robots.txt covers this
    - Structured entity description alone; schema.org covers this
    - Clean text for language model context windows; llms.txt covers this
    - EU AI Act transparency labelling; ARP does not address this
  - market_position: Complementary file format with an optional signature. It replaces no existing web convention.

## authority

- official_website: https://arp-protocol.org
- linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/deforth/
- github: https://github.com/SaschaDeforth/arp-protocol

## content_policy

- ai_training: allowed
- citation_required: true
- source_attribution: https://arp-protocol.org
- data_freshness: 2026-10-05
- contact_for_verification: hello@truesource.studio

## verification

- audited_by: Publisher self-review (no independent audit)
- last_verified: 2026-10-05T00:00:00Z
- next_audit: 2027-01-05

## Verification

- Manifest: https://arp-protocol.org/.well-known/reasoning.json
- statement: Signed with Ed25519 by the operator of arp-protocol.org. Public key: DNS TXT record arp2610._arp.arp-protocol.org. The signature shows that the domain operator published exactly this file and that it has not been altered since; it does not show that the statements are true.
- dns_name: arp2610._arp.arp-protocol.org
- doh_url: https://dns.google/resolve?name=arp2610._arp.arp-protocol.org&type=TXT
- signed_at: 2026-10-05T11:42:12Z
- expires_at: 2027-01-03T11:42:12Z