@techreport{cowles-volt-00,
    number =    {draft-cowles-volt-00},
    type =      {Internet-Draft},
    institution =   {Internet Engineering Task Force},
    publisher = {Internet Engineering Task Force},
    note =      {Work in Progress},
    url =       {https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-cowles-volt/00/},
    author =    {Adam Cowles},
    title =     {{Verifiable Operations Ledger and Trace (VOLT) Protocol}},
    pagetotal = 40,
    year =      2026,
    month =     feb,
    day =       28,
    abstract =  {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 "flight recorder" 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.},
}