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Provance

How the evidence works

Evidence you can check without trusting us.

Each Provance output comes with a record of how it was made, linked by hash to everything before it, signed, and timestamped by an independent authority. You verify it on your own machine, offline.

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An evidence chainFive records, from source to export, each linked to the one before it by its hash. All of them are covered by a signed checkpoint with an independent timestamp, which anyone can verify offline.Sourcedomain, prompt or your dataDe-identifiedpersonal details removedQuality checksrules and results recordedSafety reviewpolicy version and modelExportonly what passed every gateSIGNEDCHECKPOINTRFC 3161 timeVerify offline withprovance-verify

1 · The record

What every record holds.

Records hold hashes, identifiers, versions, counts and verdicts. Hashes of guessable values are keyed per organisation, so a hash cannot be used to guess your content.

What was made
The SHA-256 hash of the artifact: a concept prompt, ontology, gold standard, conversation, QA result, safety review, human decision, export file or Engine document.
What it was made from
The hashes of the exact inputs, so every output traces back to its first inputs.
How it was made
The prompt template and rendered-prompt hashes, the model actually served and its settings.
Under which rules
The versions of the safety policy and quality rules that applied.
Who and when
The person or service that acted, and the time.
Where it sits
The hash of the record before it on the same chain.

2 · Chain, seal, checkpoint, time

Linked, sealed and stamped by someone else's clock.

Because an independent authority timestamps each checkpoint, nobody can rewrite a chain afterwards without it showing, including someone holding Provance's signing key.

  1. 01

    Record

    Every artifact gets a record, hashed in a canonical form.
  2. 02

    Chain

    Records link by hash, one chain per Engine project or Synthetic domain.
  3. 03

    Seal

    Each run and export is sealed with a signed Merkle root over its lines.
  4. 04

    Checkpoint

    Every hour, a signed checkpoint covers every chain's head.
  5. 05

    Timestamp

    An independent RFC 3161 authority timestamps each checkpoint.
    Independent
  6. 06

    Verify

    You check the bundle offline with provance-verify.
    Offline

Records are append-only: the database refuses updates and deletes on them. There is no blockchain and nothing about your data is written to a public log.

3 · The evidence bundle

Everything an auditor needs, in standard formats.

Paid plans get an evidence bundle with every Synthetic run and export. It contains no conversation text, prompts or reviewer notes.

  • A signed manifest covering every file in the bundle
  • The records needed to trace each exported line to its first inputs
  • Chain entries, signed checkpoints, their RFC 3161 timestamps and proofs
  • The export's signed seal
  • in-toto attestations in DSSE envelopes
  • A W3C PROV-JSON view of the lineage
  • A Croissant dataset card with Responsible AI metadata
  • A signed, plain-language assurance summary

4 · Verify it yourself

provance-verify is a small tool licensed under Apache-2.0 with one dependency. It runs offline and trusts only the public key set and timestamp-authority certificate you fetch yourself, never copies inside the bundle.

provance-verify ds_evidence.zip \
  --keys provance-keys.json \
  --tsa-cert tsa.pem \
  --export ds_export.zip

It checks eleven layers: the manifest signature and file hashes, every record hash, the chains and their Merkle roots, the checkpoints, the timestamps, consistency between checkpoints, the seal, every exported line, the trace back to inputs, the attestations and the assurance summary. Exit code 0 means verified.

Plainly

What the evidence shows, and what it doesn't.

It shows

  • The output you hold is exactly what was sealed
  • The records behind it are the ones on Provance's chains
  • Those chains have not been rewritten since the timestamp
  • Which checks, policy versions, models and people were involved

It does not show

  • Anything a record does not say. Data stored before provenance tracking is labelled as such, and nothing is claimed about it.
  • That your data or system complies with a law or standard. Provance supplies the evidence; your assessors decide.

In the app, the Trace view shows the same chain in plain language: for any conversation, what it was made from, which checks ran, what they found and who decided.

FAQ

Evidence questions.

How can I check the evidence without trusting Provance?

Paid plans include an evidence bundle with each export: signed records, hash-chain entries, signed checkpoints and their RFC 3161 timestamps from an independent timestamp authority. The provance-verify tool, licensed under Apache-2.0, checks a bundle entirely offline, trusting only the public key and timestamp certificate you give it.

Is this a blockchain?

No. Records are linked by SHA-256 hashes in a chain per project or domain, and checkpoints are signed and timestamped by an independent authority. Nothing about your data is written to a public ledger.

Privacy questions are on Security and privacy.

Put a verifiable record behind your next dataset.

Start free: Engine for 90 days with your own model key, a Synthetic preview with three gold standards, and 100,000 words a month of Compliance Pack checks. No card needed to look around.

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