Open specification · Draft v0.1 · CC BY 4.0
ai-governance.json — a machine-readable manifest of an organization's AI governance facts.
Self-hosted at a well-known path, dated everywhere, presence-only by design. The specification is free to implement forever, for everyone, with or without any Certian service.
https://example.com/.well-known/ai-governance.json
What it is
A dated, factual, self-published record of an organization's AI governance posture: which certifications it holds, where its disclosure pages live, which policies it publishes, and when each fact was last updated. The manifest states facts and locations. It does not score, grade, or promise anything — and neither does this specification.
What it is not
Not a certification, and not a claim of compliance with anything. Not a substitute for the underlying documents it points to. Not owned by anyone: implementation requires no registration and no relationship with Certian.
Draft schema (v0.1)
{
"spec_version": "0.1",
"organization": { "legal_name": "", "domain": "", "jurisdiction": "" },
"updated": "YYYY-MM-DD",
"certifications": [
{ "scheme": "", "certificate_id": "", "issuer": "", "scope": "",
"registry_url": "", "valid_until": "YYYY-MM-DD" }
],
"disclosures": [
{ "type": "", "url": "", "jurisdictions": [], "updated": "YYYY-MM-DD" }
],
"policies": [
{ "type": "", "url": "", "updated": "YYYY-MM-DD" }
],
"contact": ""
}Every list may be empty. An empty list is a statement too — the manifest records what exists, dated, and nothing else.
Design principles
Presence-only. Fields record that a documented fact exists and where — never an opinion about it. Dated everything. Every object carries its own updated date; staleness should be visible, not hidden. Point to checkable sources. Certifications reference the public registry where they can be confirmed; the manifest is a map, not the territory. Self-hosted. The organization publishes its own manifest on its own domain — control of the domain is the authentication.
Status & stewardship
Draft v0.1, published 20 July 2026, open for comment via GitHub issues. A JSON Schema file and field vocabulary follow; versioned changes are recorded in the repository's history and, where they touch the register, in the changelog. The specification is stewarded by Certian and licensed CC BY 4.0; rendering and nightly checking of published manifests are services Certian offers — the format itself belongs to everyone.