WHP Standing

@wheelerhubbell/whp-standing-client

Fail-closed epistemic standing middleware for autonomous AI agents.
Governed by the Authority Conservation Principle: $A(c) \le P(c)$ (Authority cannot exceed provenance).

Standing detects and stops Coherent Substitution—when an AI agent silently replaces the assigned task with an adjacent one ($q \to q^*$), reasons coherently about the replacement, and executes unauthorized state mutations.

📚 Case Studies & Theory

• Coherent Substitution (v1.1): Theoretical formulation of proposition integrity and why systems fail before their reasoning becomes wrong.
• Mata v. Avianca Epistemic Autopsy: Controlled forensic breakdown showing how an agent citing 100% verified sources still fails by answering the wrong question ($Q_0 \to Q_1$).

⚡ 1-Line Middleware Integration

Install the package:

npm install @wheelerhubbell/whp-standing-client

Place guardAction immediately before tool execution:

import { guardAction } from '@wheelerhubbell/whp-standing-client';
// Before any agent tool runs:await guardAction(toolCall, {  standing: executionContext.standing});
// Proceed only if standing is warrantedreturn await tool.execute(toolCall.arguments);

If an agent attempts a state-changing operation (file deletion, database write, API mutation) without attributable upstream authorization or provenance, guardAction throws a StandingViolationError before the boundary is crossed.

🔍 Observability: evaluateStanding

For inspection without throwing:

import { evaluateStanding } from '@wheelerhubbell/whp-standing-client';
const decision = await evaluateStanding(toolCall, context);if (!decision.allowed) {  console.warn(`Blocked [${decision.code}]: ${decision.message}`);  return decision;}

Diagnostic Decision Object

{  "allowed": false,  "code": "MISSING_UPSTREAM_PROVENANCE",  "actionId": "call_8cb2f1",  "toolName": "delete_database_table",  "required": ["authority", "provenance"],  "observed": {    "toolName": "delete_database_table",    "arguments": { "table": "users" },    "missing": ["provenance", "authority"]  },  "message": "Tool execution blocked for 'delete_database_table': no attributable upstream authorization or provenance."}

🛡️ Core Semantics

• Fail-Closed by Default: Any state-changing action missing valid provenance or authority is rejected.
• Authority Windows: Bounded by valid_until timestamps.
• Loop & Recursion Bounds: Halts unbounded agent loops (executionCount > maxExecutionCount).
• Zero Overhead for Reads: Passive read operations execute without blocking.

🌐 Verifiable Network Verification

The live service has a plain front door for ordinary x402 agents: POST /v1/evaluate with subject, claim and optional provenance, priced at 1.00 USDC on Base (x402 v2). It returns a signed evaluation record. That record is not a sealed Standing Mark. Marks are issued through POST /v1/evaluations, which takes signed submissions per the published contract.

Example using the official x402 client (requires your own funded wallet and spending limits; not yet verified end to end against the live service):

import { x402Client, wrapFetchWithPayment } from '@x402/fetch';import { registerExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm/exact/client';import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts';
const client = new x402Client();registerExactEvmScheme(client, { signer: privateKeyToAccount(process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY) });const fetchWithPayment = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client);
const res = await fetchWithPayment('https://api.wheelerhubbellpublishing.com/v1/evaluate', {  method: 'POST',  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },  body: JSON.stringify({    subject: 'agent-session-42',    claim: 'Agent executed system mutation',    provenance: { source: 'user-intent', authority: 'admin' }  })});console.log(await res.json());

Direct Autonomous Client (StandingClient)

The client provides built-in autonomous wallet signing and settlement over Base USDC (x402-v2):

import { StandingClient } from '@wheelerhubbell/whp-standing-client';
const client = new StandingClient({ privateKey: process.env.BASE_WALLET_KEY });
// Front-door structural evaluation (POST /v1/evaluate)const record = await client.evaluate({  subject: 'Production Deployment',  claim: 'Deploy release to production',  provenance: { source: 'ci/cd pipeline', authority: 'release-engineering' }});console.log('Outcome:', record.evaluation?.determination?.outcome);console.log('Record Hash:', record.record_hash);
// Or purchase an authoritative sealed Standing Mark (POST /v1/evaluations):// const mark = await client.purchase(signedSubmission);

• Live Service: https://api.wheelerhubbellpublishing.com
• Discovery: /.well-known/x402
• Protocol: x402-v2 / Base Network

License

MIT © Wheeler Hubbell Publishing