<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<reference anchor="I-D.cowles-volt" target="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-cowles-volt-00">
   <front>
      <title>Verifiable Operations Ledger and Trace (VOLT) Protocol</title>
      <author initials="A." surname="Cowles" fullname="Adam Cowles">
         <organization>Quox Ltd</organization>
      </author>
      <date month="February" day="28" year="2026" />
      <abstract>
	 <t>   The Verifiable Operations Ledger and Trace (VOLT) protocol defines a
   minimal, interoperable format for producing tamper-evident execution
   traces for agentic AI workflows.  VOLT records are linked via SHA-256
   hash chains and packaged into portable Evidence Bundles that can be
   verified independently by any conformant implementation.

   VOLT functions as a &quot;flight recorder&quot; for AI agent operations: it
   captures the sequence of events -- messages received, policy
   decisions evaluated, human approvals granted, tools invoked, and
   results returned -- with cryptographic integrity guarantees that
   detect post-hoc modification, deletion, or insertion of records.

   The protocol is privacy-first by design.  Events carry metadata and
   content-addressed references rather than raw secrets or sensitive
   payloads.  Evidence Bundles support explicit redaction, optional
   Ed25519 signatures for non-repudiation, and both rolling and final
   snapshot modes for long-running workflows.

	 </t>
      </abstract>
   </front>
   <seriesInfo name="Internet-Draft" value="draft-cowles-volt-00" />
   
</reference>
