This document is the full technical schema specification for the Portable Continuity Object (PCO) and Open Continuity Metadata Standard (OCMS). It is a companion to the Continuity Receipts standards proposal at emfoundation.net/paper-continuity-receipts.html. Implementers should read that document first for conceptual grounding.
Document Status — Draft Technical Specification v0.1
OCMS v0.1 is the Foundation's proposed open standard — not a ratified community standard. It is published for open review, critique, and implementation experimentation. Schema fields, data types, and validation rules are subject to revision through community engagement. The Open Continuity Standards Consortium referenced in the Continuity Receipts paper has not yet been formally established. Implementers should treat v0.1 as a working draft.
I. Schema Architecture Overview
The OCMS defines three nested object types: the Continuity Receipt (CR), which documents a single AI output event; the Portable Continuity Object (PCO), which groups multiple CRs from a sustained reasoning thread; and the Audit Chain Reference (ACR), which provides cross-system verifiability. Together these form a complete provenance infrastructure for AI-assisted reasoning.
II. Continuity Receipt — Core Schema
OCMS CR Schema v0.1 — Full Specification {
"$schema": "https://ocms.emfoundation.net/schemas/cr/v0.1.json",
"$id": "ContinuityReceipt",
"type": "object",
"required": ["cr_version","cr_id","timestamp","query_hash",
"reliance_level","status","confidence"],
"properties": {
"cr_version": { "type": "string", "const": "0.1" },
"cr_id": { "type": "string", "format": "uuid" },
"timestamp": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"query_hash": { "type": "string", "pattern": "^[a-f0-9]{64}$" },
"reliance_level": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["RC-1","RC-2","RC-3","RC-4","RC-5"]
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["PASS","FAILURE"]
},
"confidence": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["aggregate","source_quality","retrieval_coverage",
"internal_consistency","temporal_freshness",
"domain_confidence"],
"properties": {
"aggregate": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"source_quality": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"retrieval_coverage": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"internal_consistency": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"temporal_freshness": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"domain_confidence": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"weights": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Domain-specific weighting coefficients. Must sum to 1.0.",
"properties": {
"source_quality": { "type": "number" },
"retrieval_coverage": { "type": "number" },
"internal_consistency": { "type": "number" },
"temporal_freshness": { "type": "number" },
"domain_confidence": { "type": "number" }
}
}
}
},
"provenance": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"sources": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["id","source_type","confidence"],
"properties": {
"id": { "type": "string" },
"uri": { "type": "string", "format": "uri" },
"title": { "type": "string" },
"retrieved_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"source_type": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["primary","secondary","tertiary","model-knowledge"]
},
"confidence": { "type": "number", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1 },
"freshness_months": { "type": "integer" },
"jurisdiction": { "type": "string" },
"flagged": { "type": "boolean", "default": false },
"flag_reason": { "type": "string" }
}
}
},
"retrieval_method": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["RAG","web","corpus","model-knowledge","hybrid"]
},
"coverage_gaps": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
"domain": { "type": "string" },
"freshness_note": { "type": "string" }
}
},
"contradictions": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["id","severity","description"],
"properties": {
"id": { "type": "string" },
"severity": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["minor","moderate","critical"]
},
"description": { "type": "string" },
"sources_involved": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
"resolution": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["unresolved","source-a-preferred","flagged-for-review",
"domain-consensus","explicitly-noted"]
},
"resolution_notes": { "type": "string" }
}
}
},
"failure_receipt": {
"oneOf": [
{ "type": "null" },
{
"type": "object",
"required": ["dimensions_failed","threshold_required",
"threshold_achieved","required_action"],
"properties": {
"dimensions_failed": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
"threshold_required": { "type": "number" },
"threshold_achieved": { "type": "number" },
"blocking_contradictions":{ "type": "integer" },
"required_action": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["human-expert-review","domain-specialist","licensed-professional",
"additional-retrieval","scope-reduction"]
},
"partial_output_available": { "type": "boolean" },
"partial_output_rc_level": { "type": "string" },
"recommended_sources": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }
}
}
]
},
"human_review": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"required": { "type": "boolean" },
"completed": { "type": "boolean" },
"reviewer_id": { "type": "string" },
"reviewer_role": { "type": "string" },
"review_timestamp": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"review_outcome": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["approved","flagged","revised","rejected"]
},
"review_notes": { "type": "string" },
"audit_chain_hash": { "type": "string" }
}
},
"pco_id": { "type": ["string","null"], "format": "uuid" },
"cr_signature":{ "type": "string", "description": "SHA-256 of canonical CR object" }
}
}
III. Portable Continuity Object — Full Schema
OCMS PCO Schema v0.1 {
"$schema": "https://ocms.emfoundation.net/schemas/pco/v0.1.json",
"$id": "PortableContinuityObject",
"type": "object",
"required": ["pco_version","pco_id","created_at","domain",
"continuity_receipts","thread_integrity"],
"properties": {
"pco_version": { "type": "string", "const": "0.1" },
"pco_id": { "type": "string", "format": "uuid" },
"created_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"updated_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"domain": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["legal","medical","policy","research","education",
"governance","engineering","general"]
},
"thread_title": { "type": "string", "maxLength": 200 },
"thread_description": { "type": "string" },
"participants": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"participant_id": { "type": "string" },
"role": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["primary","reviewer","observer","system"]
},
"joined_at": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" }
}
}
},
"continuity_receipts": {
"type": "array",
"items": { "type": "string", "format": "uuid" },
"description": "Ordered list of CR IDs in thread sequence"
},
"thread_integrity": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["receipt_count","chain_hash","integrity_verified"],
"properties": {
"receipt_count": { "type": "integer" },
"chain_hash": {
"type": "string",
"description": "SHA-256 of ordered concatenation of all CR IDs"
},
"integrity_verified": { "type": "boolean" },
"last_verified": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"verification_method":{ "type": "string" }
}
},
"aggregate_thread_confidence": {
"type": "number",
"description": "Weighted average across all CRs in thread"
},
"thread_contradictions": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"unresolved": { "type": "integer" },
"resolved": { "type": "integer" },
"critical": { "type": "integer" }
}
},
"reliance_ceiling": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["RC-1","RC-2","RC-3","RC-4","RC-5"],
"description": "Lowest RC ceiling across all CRs — limits thread reliance"
},
"human_review_log": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"reviewer_id": { "type": "string" },
"reviewer_role": { "type": "string" },
"timestamp": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time" },
"scope": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["full-thread","specific-cr","summary-only"]
},
"outcome": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["approved","flagged","revised","rejected","partial"]
},
"notes": { "type": "string" }
}
}
},
"export_formats": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string",
"enum": ["json","signed-json","pdf","signed-pdf","html"]
}
},
"interoperability": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Cross-system reference identifiers",
"properties": {
"case_number": { "type": "string" },
"matter_id": { "type": "string" },
"study_id": { "type": "string" },
"policy_reference": { "type": "string" },
"external_system": { "type": "string" },
"external_id": { "type": "string" }
}
},
"pco_signature": {
"type": "string",
"description": "SHA-256 of canonical PCO object excluding this field"
}
}
}
IV. Example Payloads
IV.1 Complete CR — Legal Research (PASS)
Example: RC-3 Legal Research — PASS {
"cr_version": "0.1",
"cr_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
"timestamp": "2026-05-26T14:32:00Z",
"query_hash": "e3b0c44298fc1c149afb...64",
"reliance_level": "RC-3",
"status": "PASS",
"confidence": {
"aggregate": 0.79,
"source_quality": 0.88,
"retrieval_coverage": 0.74,
"internal_consistency": 0.85,
"temporal_freshness": 0.71,
"domain_confidence": 0.82,
"weights": {
"source_quality": 0.25,
"retrieval_coverage": 0.20,
"internal_consistency": 0.25,
"temporal_freshness": 0.15,
"domain_confidence": 0.15
}
},
"provenance": {
"sources": [
{
"id": "src-001",
"uri": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R1689",
"title": "EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689)",
"retrieved_at": "2026-05-26T14:31:45Z",
"source_type": "primary",
"confidence": 0.95,
"freshness_months": 24,
"jurisdiction": "EU",
"flagged": false
},
{
"id": "src-002",
"uri": "https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/",
"title": "EU AI Act Implementation Tracker",
"retrieved_at": "2026-05-26T14:31:46Z",
"source_type": "secondary",
"confidence": 0.82,
"freshness_months": 2,
"jurisdiction": "EU",
"flagged": false
}
],
"retrieval_method": "RAG",
"coverage_gaps": [
"Member state implementing legislation not yet enacted",
"GPAI model obligations guidance still pending"
],
"domain": "legal",
"freshness_note": "Core legislation current; implementation guidance evolving"
},
"contradictions": [
{
"id": "con-001",
"severity": "minor",
"description": "Two sources differ on exact timeline for Article 6 obligations",
"sources_involved": ["src-001","src-002"],
"resolution": "source-a-preferred",
"resolution_notes": "Primary legislative text takes precedence over tracker"
}
],
"failure_receipt": null,
"human_review": {
"required": true,
"completed": false,
"reviewer_id": null,
"audit_chain_hash": null
},
"pco_id": null,
"cr_signature": "sha256:7f83b1657ff..."
}
IV.2 Failure Receipt — RC-4 Threshold Not Met
Example: RC-4 Legal Filing — FAILURE {
"cr_version": "0.1",
"cr_id": "b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901",
"timestamp": "2026-05-26T15:10:00Z",
"query_hash": "f7c2d55309fc2c249bfc...64",
"reliance_level": "RC-4",
"status": "FAILURE",
"confidence": {
"aggregate": 0.52,
"source_quality": 0.74,
"retrieval_coverage": 0.42,
"internal_consistency": 0.38,
"temporal_freshness": 0.55,
"domain_confidence": 0.68
},
"provenance": {
"sources": [],
"retrieval_method": "RAG",
"coverage_gaps": [
"November 2024 USSC amendments not in retrieval corpus",
"Jurisdiction-specific circuit court precedent incomplete"
],
"domain": "legal",
"freshness_note": "Guidelines updated November 2024 — retrieval corpus not current"
},
"contradictions": [
{
"id": "con-001",
"severity": "critical",
"description": "Sources conflict on threshold treatment for first-time offenders",
"sources_involved": ["src-003","src-004"],
"resolution": "unresolved"
},
{
"id": "con-002",
"severity": "moderate",
"description": "Pre-2024 and post-2024 guideline amounts differ",
"sources_involved": ["src-001","src-005"],
"resolution": "flagged-for-review"
}
],
"failure_receipt": {
"dimensions_failed": ["retrieval_coverage","internal_consistency"],
"threshold_required": 0.85,
"threshold_achieved": 0.52,
"blocking_contradictions": 2,
"required_action": "licensed-professional",
"partial_output_available": true,
"partial_output_rc_level": "RC-2",
"recommended_sources": [
"USSC Guidelines Manual (current edition)",
"Circuit-specific case law database"
]
},
"human_review": {
"required": true,
"completed": false
},
"pco_id": null,
"cr_signature": "sha256:3a9c7e2814f..."
}
IV.3 PCO — Legal Matter Thread
Example: PCO — Environmental Litigation Matter {
"pco_version": "0.1",
"pco_id": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-123456789012",
"created_at": "2026-03-03T09:00:00Z",
"updated_at": "2026-05-26T15:00:00Z",
"domain": "legal",
"thread_title": "ENV-2026-044 — Groundwater contamination enforcement",
"thread_description": "Environmental litigation matter: EPA enforcement action, prior owner liability analysis",
"participants": [
{
"participant_id": "atty-j-williams",
"role": "primary",
"joined_at": "2026-03-03T09:00:00Z"
},
{
"participant_id": "atty-m-chen",
"role": "reviewer",
"joined_at": "2026-03-15T10:00:00Z"
}
],
"continuity_receipts": [
"a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
"b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901",
"c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-123456789012"
],
"thread_integrity": {
"receipt_count": 3,
"chain_hash": "sha256:9a4b2c1d8e7f...",
"integrity_verified": true,
"last_verified": "2026-05-26T15:00:00Z",
"verification_method": "sequential-sha256-chain"
},
"aggregate_thread_confidence": 0.71,
"thread_contradictions": {
"unresolved": 1,
"resolved": 2,
"critical": 0
},
"reliance_ceiling": "RC-3",
"human_review_log": [
{
"reviewer_id": "atty-j-williams",
"reviewer_role": "lead-counsel",
"timestamp": "2026-04-01T14:00:00Z",
"scope": "full-thread",
"outcome": "approved",
"notes": "Strategy confirmed. Chen dissent noted and preserved."
}
],
"export_formats": ["signed-json","signed-pdf"],
"interoperability": {
"case_number": "ENV-2026-044",
"matter_id": "WIL-2026-ENV-044",
"external_system": "Clio",
"external_id": "CLO-98765"
},
"pco_signature": "sha256:1f2e3d4c5b6a..."
}
V. Interoperability Design
The OCMS is designed for cross-system portability. A PCO generated in one legal practice management system should be importable into another without loss of continuity integrity. The following principles govern interoperability:
Principle Implementation Schema versioning All objects carry explicit version fields. Processors must handle version mismatches gracefully by preserving unrecognized fields. Chain integrity SHA-256 chain hashes are computed over canonical JSON (sorted keys, no whitespace). Any processor that modifies an object must recompute and invalidate the signature. Append-only enforcement CR objects must never be modified after creation. Corrections are new CRs that reference the original. The PCO's chain hash detects tampering. Null-safe processing Optional fields may be null or absent. Processors must not fail on absent optional fields. URI resolution Source URIs should be resolvable at assessment time. Processors may cache resolved content with timestamp for audit purposes. Export portability signed-json format uses JWS (JSON Web Signature) with RS256. signed-pdf embeds the JSON as a PDF attachment with certification signature.
VI. Implementation Tiers
Tier Required Fields Optional Extensions Tier 1 — Lightweight CR cr_id, timestamp, query_hash, reliance_level, status, confidence (aggregate only) Provenance sources, domain Tier 2 — Enhanced CR All Tier 1 + full 5-dimension confidence, provenance, contradictions Human review, PCO linkage Tier 3 — Institutional CR All Tier 2 + human review, pco_id, cr_signature, append-only chain Participant log, export formats, interoperability IDs PCO — Basic pco_id, domain, continuity_receipts, thread_integrity Participants, review log PCO — Institutional All PCO-Basic + human_review_log, interoperability, pco_signature Export formats, participants
Schema registry and JSON Schema validation files available at emfoundation.net/ocms. Implementers are encouraged to submit schema extension proposals through the OCSC public comment process. Contact research@emfoundation.net with implementation questions.