Minimum team artifact standard

This standard builds on the VeriLex object model (concept v0.2), which is based on JSON Schema 2020-12.

1. Purpose and principles

The standard defines the minimum requirements for a work package (Legal Work Package, LWP) — the unit of team handoff for the results of legal work. Principles:

1. Open formats. Markdown, JSON/JSONL, YAML, CSV, Mermaid, Git. No proprietary containers; the package is readable by a human in any editor and by an agent in any environment.
2. Proportionality. Three levels of detail (basic / extended / audit); the level is chosen by the cost of error, not "just in case".
3. Verifiability over completeness. Every mandatory element exists because someone checks it — a human or an agent.
4. Interoperability. A package assembled in one agent environment (OpenAI Codex, Anthropic Claude Code, open equivalents) must be accepted and verified in any other. The standard relies only on ready, industrially operated environments — there is no need to develop custom software for working with packages, and the standard can be applied starting today.
5. No source, no strong conclusion. The agent proposes — the human decides.

2. Eight artifact types (the core of the standard)

Inherited from the VeriLex v0.2 object model:

Type	File	Purpose
source_registry	sources/source-registry.json	Registry of sources: what the work is based on, with identifiers, dates, and access statuses
evidence_pack	sources/evidence-pack.jsonl	Extracted evidentiary fragments anchored to a specific place in a specific source
fact_matrix	analysis/fact-matrix.json	Facts with statuses, separated from legal assessments
rules_matrix	analysis/rules-matrix.json	Applicable rules and criteria (with editions and effective dates) linked to facts
issue_tree	analysis/issue-tree.json	Tree of legal issues: analysis as a set of verifiable questions
critique_pack	analysis/critique-pack.json	Weak points, counterarguments, alternative positions — mandatory for every serious conclusion
decision_log	logs/decision-log.json	Log of key decisions: forks, alternatives, uncertainty, who confirmed
handoff_package	handoff/handoff.json	Handoff package: what was done, what was checked, what is disputed, what the next person should do; references specific artifact versions

3. The common metadata envelope

Every artifact carries an envelope:

artifact_type: fact_matrix        # one of the 8 types
schema_version: "0.1"             # version of the standard schema
matter_id: MAT-2026-0042          # matter/case identifier
version: 3                        # integer increment; versions are immutable
created_at: 2026-07-10T14:30:00+03:00
created_by:
  actor: "О. Шевченко"
  actor_type: human               # human | agent | joint
  agent_env: "claude-code 2.x"    # if an agent took part
review_status: human_confirmed    # draft | agent_generated | human_review_pending |
                                  # human_confirmed | returned_for_rework | archived
depends_on:                       # which input versions it was assembled from
  - fact_matrix@2
  - rules_matrix@1
model_call_refs: []               # references to the model-call log (audit level)
confidentiality: institutional    # public | institutional | confidential
language: uk

4. Fact statuses (the canonical set)

alleged · established · disputed · inferred · missing (no data) · rejected · excluded.

Invariants:

• established requires ≥1 linked piece of evidence from evidence_pack and human confirmation;
• a conclusion resting only on alleged/inferred facts may not be marked as strong;
• every material statement in the final text references a fact_id / rule_id / source_id.

5. The provenance chain

source → evidence → fact → rule → issue → conclusion → decision_log → handoff

The links are stored in the artifacts themselves (fields source_id, evidence_ids, fact_ids, rule_ids, issue_id) and form a verifiable graph. A validator must be able to build the graph and find: dangling conclusions (without grounds), unused sources, breaks in the chain, and cycles.

6. The three package levels

Basic (day-to-day work)

Mandatory: final/ (text) + source_registry + key facts (a simplified fact_matrix) + a brief verification log + open-questions.md.

Extended (complex research)

Basic + full fact_matrix, rules_matrix, issue_tree, critique_pack, an evidence table, a link graph (reasoning-graph.mmd), and a verification protocol.

Audit (high cost of error)

Extended + decision_log with confirmation fields, an activity log (activity.jsonl), model/instruction identifiers (model_call_refs, instruction version), file checksums (checksums.sha256), participant roles, and a snapshot of the package at the moment of decision.

7. Mandatory checks on package intake

The receiving side (its agent) performs at minimum:

1. Schema validation of all JSON/YAML artifacts.
2. Chain check: no strong conclusions without grounds (check_unsupported_claims).
3. Citation check: extracted fragments match the primary sources (validate_evidence_links).
4. Date check: rule editions are valid as of the legally relevant dates (date-check).
5. Confidentiality check: the package contains no data prohibited from transfer at this level (redaction-check) — the Ukrainian sensitive-data dictionary: taxpayer numbers (РНОКПП/ІПН), passport data, addresses, banking details, medical and attorney-client privilege.
6. Handoff completeness check: unresolved questions and the next step are specified.

A package that fails checks 1–3 is returned automatically with a structured list of blockers (this is not a "rejection" but a normal cycle).

8. Rules of assembly and intake

1. Artifact versions are immutable; a correction = a new version. Past versions are not deleted but archived.
2. A handoff_package references specific versions (fact_matrix@4), not the "latest state".
3. Comments are filed as a critique_pack addressed to specific elements (fact_id, conclusion_id) — not as prose in an email.
4. The final document (final/*.md) is a derived artifact: if the text and the matrices diverge, the matrices take priority; a divergence = a package defect.
5. Languages: artifacts in the working language (uk), metadata and keys in Latin script per the standard; a parallel _en field is allowed.
6. The package lives in the matter's Git repository; the tag handoff/<n> marks the moment of handoff.

9. Package quality metrics

Metric	Formula	Pilot target threshold
Source coverage	share of material statements linked to sources	≥ 90%
Unsupported claim rate	share of strong conclusions without grounds	→ 0
Handoff completeness	share of handoffs accepted without return on formal grounds	≥ 80%
Time to review	median time for the recipient to review a package	↓ ≥ 50% vs baseline
Reproducibility score	share of conclusions with a recoverable "which input versions" chain	≥ 95%

10. Status and evolution of the standard

Version 0.1 is a starting point for the pilots; it is deliberately minimal. Changes go through a PR to the open repository (positioning is described separately); every schema change = an increment of schema_version + a migration note. The full JSON schemas of the eight artifacts already exist in the VeriLex object model and are being migrated into the open repository as a normative appendix to this standard; for a filled-in package, see the example artifact package.