docs(nips): harden NIP-AM read gate and delta ordering semantics

Address design-review findings: forbid the id-lookup exemption from the
44200 owner gate (a non-owner learning an event id must not retrieve the
envelope), require sessionId + a monotonic turnSeq whenever cumulative
usage is present so consumers can deterministically recompute deltas
(created_at is seconds-precision and unordered within a second), define
counter-reset behavior as null-not-negative, and add normative numeric
validity and cache-token-folding rules.

Co-authored-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Will Pfleger <pfleger.will@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
npub1fgdl5qqnh3k3f2xkqrvt7cujalhm623x4s7fdjdj5yrtp5fzjl9qrjpucw
2026-07-01 16:31:10 -04:00
co-authored by Will Pfleger
parent a44dde01e0
commit 19889ba0c0
+51 -7
View File
@@ -80,8 +80,9 @@ The `content` field decrypts to a UTF-8 JSON object:
"harness": "goose", // REQUIRED: harness identifier
"model": "claude-sonnet-4-5", // model id, or null if unknown
"channelId": "<channel_uuid>" | null,
"sessionId": "<session_id>" | null,
"sessionId": "<session_id>" | null, // REQUIRED when "cumulative" is present
"turnId": "<turn_id>" | null,
"turnSeq": 17 | null, // REQUIRED when "cumulative" is present
"timestamp": "2026-07-01T20:11:03.213Z", // REQUIRED: RFC 3339, end of turn
// Usage for THIS turn (computed delta). Fields are null when the harness
@@ -111,14 +112,49 @@ The `content` field decrypts to a UTF-8 JSON object:
```
`harness` and `timestamp` are REQUIRED. All other fields are OPTIONAL or
nullable. Consumers MUST ignore unknown fields (forward compatibility).
nullable, except as constrained below. Consumers MUST ignore unknown fields
(forward compatibility).
### Ordering and delta recomputation
When a `cumulative` object is present, `sessionId` and `turnSeq` are
REQUIRED. `turnSeq` is a per-session monotonically increasing integer
starting at any value, incremented by the publisher on every published turn
metric for that session; a publisher restart that loses the counter MUST
start a new `sessionId` rather than reuse the old one with a reset `turnSeq`.
Cumulative values form a series only *within* one `sessionId`, ordered by
`turnSeq` — consumers MUST NOT diff cumulative values across different
`sessionId`s, and MUST NOT rely on `created_at` (seconds precision, ambiguous
for same-second turns) for ordering within a session.
If a consumer recomputing deltas observes a cumulative counter that decreases
between consecutive `turnSeq` values (counter reset, harness bug), it MUST
treat the affected turn's usage as unknown (null), not as negative usage.
Publishers likewise MUST NOT emit negative values in `turn`; when the
computed delta would be negative or the previous baseline is unknown, the
publisher sets the affected `turn` counters to null and `deltaReliable:
false`.
Where the harness reports only cumulative counters, the publisher computes
`turn` as the difference between consecutive cumulative snapshots within one
session. Publishers MUST set `deltaReliable: false` when the baseline is
unknown; consumers doing exact accounting SHOULD prefer recomputing deltas
session. Consumers doing exact accounting SHOULD prefer recomputing deltas
from consecutive `cumulative` values and treat `turn` as a convenience.
### Numeric validity and token semantics
All token counts MUST be non-negative integers. `costUsd` MUST be a finite,
non-negative number. `totalTokens` is the harness- or provider-reported
total when available; publishers MUST NOT derive it by summing `inputTokens`
and `outputTokens` (providers may count categories a simple sum misses) —
when no total is reported, `totalTokens` is null. `inputTokens` is the
inclusive input-side total: where the provider reports cache reads/writes
separately (e.g. Anthropic `cache_read_input_tokens` /
`cache_creation_input_tokens`), the publisher folds them into `inputTokens`.
Publishers MAY additionally report the cache components in optional
`cacheReadTokens` / `cacheWriteTokens` fields inside `turn` and `cumulative`;
when present these are informational subsets of `inputTokens`, not additions
to it.
`costUsd` values are estimates (provider list prices at publish time, or a
harness-reported estimate). They are advisory, not billing records.
@@ -148,8 +184,13 @@ On receiving a kind 44200 event, a relay MUST:
searchable and must not enter search indexes).
Reads MUST be gated: only an authenticated ([NIP-42](42.md)) reader whose
pubkey equals the `#p` tag value may receive the event. Unauthorized publish
or subscribe attempts MUST be rejected with `AUTH required`.
pubkey equals the `#p` tag value may receive the event. This gate applies to
**every** read path, including explicit `ids` filters — knowing an event id
MUST NOT grant access. (Some p-gated kinds exempt id-addressed lookups on the
theory that knowing the id implies authorization; kind 44200 events are
long-lived and their cleartext envelope leaks turn activity, so no such
exemption is permitted.) Unauthorized publish or subscribe attempts MUST be
rejected with `AUTH required`.
Relays SHOULD rate-limit kind 44200 to a rate consistent with real turn
frequency (RECOMMENDED: 60 events/minute per agent pubkey).
@@ -164,7 +205,10 @@ Owners recover usage history with:
On receiving an event, a client MUST verify the signature, decrypt with its
own secret key and `event.pubkey`, and ignore events that fail to decrypt or
parse. Clients SHOULD deduplicate by event id and sort by `created_at`.
parse. Clients SHOULD deduplicate by event id. For within-session ordering,
clients MUST use `(sessionId, turnSeq)` from the decrypted payload as
described above; `created_at` is suitable only for coarse time-window
queries.
## Relationship to Other NIPs