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ClaimBound/claimbound-evidence

ClaimBound Evidence

Stars: 1 License: Apache-2.0 Python >=3.12 tests Release: v0.3.1

ClaimBound evidence logo

ClaimBound turns a narrow public AI, ML, data or software-development claim into a small evidence card: a checkable record with the protocol, source boundary, hashes, exact result status, claim boundary and reproduction level.

It is not a model leaderboard, hosted scoring service or certification authority. It is an open-source toolkit for asking one plain question:

Where is the evidence?

If there is no evidence card, the statement is still only a claim.

ClaimBound In 30 Seconds

ClaimBound turns a public statement like "we checked this", "this source exists", "this benchmark reproduced", "this model is better" or "this risky change passed" into a small evidence card: what exactly was checked, under which frozen protocol, against which source, with which status, hashes, limitations and reproduction level.

Its main job is anti-overclaiming. Green means one narrow claim passed under the stated protocol, not "trust everything". Negative, blocked, insufficient and drift results are first-class evidence too, because they stop weak or incomplete claims from being silently upgraded into stronger ones.

Open the standalone document: docs/CLAIMBOUND_IN_30_SECONDS.md.

ClaimBound workflow

For Reviewers And External Operators

Start here if you are reviewing the project, trying it from outside the maintainer's machine, or checking what the open-source foreground is meant to deliver:

  • Reviewer summary gives the problem, strongest cards, public-interest dimension and planned public deliverables in one page.
  • Public roadmap 2026 maps the current public work package to concrete software, workflow and documentation outputs.
  • External operator starter pack explains how to read cards, request a card, rerun an existing card, report source drift or ask a boundary question.

What A Card Shows

An evidence card keeps the useful claim small enough to inspect:

Card field Plain meaning
Claim The exact public statement being checked.
Source The public source or source documentation used for the check.
Protocol The rules fixed before the result was accepted.
Status Passed, negative, blocked, insufficient or reproduced.
Boundary What the card proves and what it must not be used to claim.
Reproduction Whether another run reproduced the outcome, and with what limits.

Raw payloads, prompt text, transcripts and restricted source files stay outside the public repository unless redistribution is clearly allowed. The public record stores hashes, summaries and links so a local operator or organization can keep private evidence reproducible without publishing sensitive material.

Core Public Workflows

The evidence card is the public unit of work. Start with the smallest workflow that keeps the claim honest.

Workflow Use it for Read next
Public AI documentation Source-audit a public system-card, model-card or policy-document boundary without turning it into a runtime claim. Current evidence tracks
Public and European open data Check source access, source drift, official pages and fair result boundaries for public datasets. Evidence card examples
Reproduction and reruns Rerun a completed card and report whether the narrow outcome, source bytes and limitations still match. External operator starter pack
Software and review evidence Attach a bounded evidence record to a risky change, review gate, CI result or AI-assisted development workflow. Software development workflow

Advanced protocol layers for related work families, frontier ledgers and tree overlays are documented separately. Use the smallest layer stack that prevents overclaiming; do not add layers to make a weak result look stronger.

Example: AI System-Card Claim

Public claim:

Anthropic publishes a public system-card index for its AI models.

ClaimBound narrows it:

Can the official Anthropic system-card page be source-audited by URL, access
date, content type, expected markers and SHA-256 without making any model
safety, model quality or runtime-behavior claim?

Current card status:

PASSED_UNDER_PROTOCOL / GREEN_VALIDATED

What this proves: the public source boundary passed the documented source-audit gate at access time.

What it does not prove: that Claude or any Anthropic runtime is safer, better, unchanged, deployment-ready or benchmark-superior.

Read the JSON or open the visual SVG card.

Example Cards

These are deliberately different outcomes: green means a narrow claim passed, yellow means reproduction is useful but limited, amber means the source boundary blocked a fair result, and red means the protocol ran but the claim did not pass.

Green ClaimBound card for Anthropic system-card source audit Yellow ClaimBound card for NASA POWER reproduction with source-byte drift Red ClaimBound card for NOAA negative result

Example Status What the card proves Links
Anthropic system-card source audit PASSED_UNDER_PROTOCOL The official system-card index passed a narrow public-document source audit. JSON / SVG
EEA download-page source audit PASSED_UNDER_PROTOCOL The official EEA download page passed a narrow source-audit boundary before any larger data run was claimed. JSON / SVG
EEA AQ manual track BLOCKED_SOURCE The larger PM10 manual track could not fairly run from an incomplete public URL manifest. JSON / SVG
NASA POWER D-103 PASSED_UNDER_PROTOCOL with REPRODUCED_OUTCOME_WITH_SOURCE_BYTE_DRIFT The frozen gate-level outcome reproduced, but fresh source bytes differed. JSON / SVG
NOAA CO-OPS D-131 NEGATIVE_RESULT_UNDER_PROTOCOL The official-source run completed and honestly did not pass the frozen gate. JSON / SVG

For the full card list, see docs/evidence_cards/README.md. The registry index is docs/registry/evidence_index.json.

Start with ClaimBound in 30 seconds, then read ClaimBound in 5 minutes for the plain-language version.

Install

uv sync --extra dev
uv run --extra dev python -m pytest -n auto

Quick Start

Create a draft scaffold:

uv run claimbound new

Create the same scaffold non-interactively:

uv run claimbound new \
  --source-url "https://example.org/source-docs" \
  --protocol-id "EXAMPLE_D001" \
  --domain "public-data" \
  --track-type "source_audit" \
  --execution-mode "MANUAL_NO_AI" \
  --out "docs/manual_audit/EXAMPLE_D001"

Run local demo helpers:

uv run claimbound demo eea-source-audit
uv run claimbound demo grok-source-audit
uv run claimbound validate-all

validate-all checks committed evidence cards, the registry and any optional docs/track_families/*_FAMILY_LEDGER.json, docs/track_families/*_FRONTIER.json or docs/track_families/*_TREE.json files. Historical cards created before the R&D family protocol do not need retroactive ledgers.

Prepare a local-only run root:

uv run claimbound run-root \
  --protocol-id EXAMPLE_D001 \
  --source-url https://example.org/source \
  --operator your-name-or-handle

claimbound new creates a request, protocol draft, playbook, checklist, operator declaration, draft card, R&D family ledger and source-probe summary. It is not evidence. Evidence begins only after an operator freezes the protocol, runs the check, publishes a sanitized report, validates the card and updates the registry.

Next Steps: Simple To Technical

Step Document Why read it
1 ClaimBound in 30 seconds The one-screen explanation.
2 ClaimBound in 5 minutes The shortest plain-language walkthrough.
3 Evidence card examples Green, yellow, red and blocked examples in one place.
4 Getting started Installation, local run roots and scaffold commands.
5 Result status protocol v0.1 Exact statuses and the color semantics used by cards.
6 Evidence card protocol v0.1 Required JSON fields and validation rules.
7 Current evidence tracks What the committed results prove and do not prove.
8 Project next steps What is next and what is intentionally out of scope.

Individual pre-registration charters live in docs/protocols/. They are protocol-bound examples, not broad claims.

Deeper Guides

Boundary

This repository is independently usable as an open evidence foreground. It does not include, import or require private background technology.

This is a single-maintainer public repository. Evidence cards are reusable examples and validation records, not a support queue, review service, legal advice, or commitment that the maintainer will run third-party checks on demand.

For public review and sustainability boundaries, see governance, maintainer boundary and release process.

The registry stores validated card metadata and sanitized report references, not raw payloads. Distributed-ledger and chain timestamp features are outside the current roadmap.

For the AI provenance log, use public PRs, commits, releases, checks, evidence cards and registry entries first. GitHub organization audit logs are governance support, not AI provenance by themselves. See AI provenance log and audit logs.

Community

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.