Gordian Envelope

Protocolo Semántico y de Datos

Specification for a "smart document" structured data format providing hierarchical binary documents with built-in Merkle-like digest tree, deterministic CBOR encoding, signatures, encryption, and selective elision/redaction. The defining feature is hash-based elision: holders can selectively reveal or hide parts of a document for specific recipients without invalidating the digest tree, supporting both privacy-preserving disclosure and cryptographic proofs of original content. Foundation for the Blockchain Commons "Gordian" stack and underlying format for XID controller documents, Gordian Clubs, and GSTP transport. Sub-specs include Known Values (vocabulary), Permits (cryptographic access control), GSTP (Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol), and ESC (Encrypted State Continuation)

Comunidad

Enlaces

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Detalles

Licencia

BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent License — bc-envelope (Rust), BCSwiftEnvelope (Swift), bc-envelope-cli, multiple TypeScript ports

Estado de Desarrollo 🟢 Activo

Detalle del Estado de Desarrollo

Released — production-ready libraries (Rust, Swift, TypeScript); IETF Informational Draft (Experimental track), draft-mcnally-envelope-10; ongoing W3C Credentials Community Group discussion

Propietario

Blockchain Commons LLC (not-for-profit benefit corporation founded by Christopher Allen, April 25, 2019; Berkeley, California). Specification authors: Wolf McNally (Lead Researcher) and Christopher Allen

Órgano de Gobierno Blockchain Commons LLC (not-for-profit benefit corporation) | IETF (Informational Draft, Experimental track)

País

USA (Berkeley, California)

Año de Inicio 2022

Stack

Rust (bc-envelope), Swift (BCSwiftEnvelope), TypeScript ports; CLI tool (bc-envelope-cli)

Financiamiento

Blockchain Commons donations and patron sponsorships (GitHub Sponsors, BTCPay)

Última Investigación 1 jul 2026

Dominios de Caso de Uso

Co-creación y Conocimiento

Protocolo Semántico y de Datos Atributos

Orígenes

Blockchain Commons; built atop dCBOR foundation

Base de Datos

N/A — data format specification; envelopes can be stored in any database, file, or transmitted over any channel

Lenguaje de Consulta

N/A directly — Envelope structure supports selective-disclosure queries via inclusion proofs; expression evaluation supported via BCR-2023-012 but not a general query language

Formatos de Datos

CBOR (deterministic via dCBOR); SHA-256 Merkle digest tree; recursive subject-predicate-object semantic triples

Edición Colaborativa en Vivo

N/A — data format, not a collaborative editor

Edición de Texto Enriquecido

N/A — data format; rich-text concerns belong to applications using Envelope

Soporte Móvil

Yes (via Swift and Rust libraries)

Soporte Web

Yes (via TypeScript ports)

Aplicaciones Nativas

Yes — used in Gordian Seed Tool (iOS/macOS), Gordian Coordinator, and other reference apps

Términos

Open standard, BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent License

Fondos

Unknown — funded under Blockchain Commons general operating budget (GitHub Sponsors and corporate sponsors); specific Envelope allocation not separately published

Basado En

dCBOR (Deterministic CBOR Application Profile); RFC 8949 (CBOR); SHA-256

Compatibilidad con la Web Semántica

Subject-predicate-object model derived from RDF; Known Values include Schema.org assignments; cross-references possible to RDF/JSON-LD vocabularies

Madurez del Protocolo / Estandarización

IETF Informational Draft (draft-mcnally-envelope-10, Sep 30, 2025, Experimental track); W3C CCG discussion ongoing; production-ready libraries

Tipo de Vocabulario / Ontología

Smart document structure with Known Values registry (predicate vocabulary); subject-predicate-object semantic triples

Patrón de Uso

Foundation for higher-level Blockchain Commons specs (XID, Gordian Clubs, GSTP, ESC); used as a structured data carrier in airgap protocols, credential systems, autonomous cryptographic objects