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Verifiable Replication & Node Proofs

Protocol Version V1

Valori provides cryptographic proofs of its memory state to enable Verifiable Replication. Any node can be asked to prove its state, and this proof can be verified offline against a trusted snapshot history.

The Proof Endpoint

GET /v1/proof/state

Headers:

  • Authorization: Bearer <token> (Required)

Response:

{
  "kernel_version": 1,
  "snapshot_hash": "a1b2c3...",
  "wal_hash": "e5f6g7...",
  "final_state_hash": "123456..."
}

Equivalence Semantics

Two nodes $A$ and $B$ are considered State Equivalent if and only if:

$$ Proof(A) == Proof(B) $$

This implies:

  1. They started from the same Snapshot (Canonical content match).
  2. They applied the same Command Log (WAL match).
  3. They reached the same Kernel Memory State (including empty slots).

One bit difference in any vector, flag, or topology link will result in a different final_state_hash.

Divergence Detection

Valori nodes are Fail-Closed. If a node's internal state diverges from the expected replay of its inputs (Snapshot + WAL), the proof will reveal this.

Common Failure Modes

Condition Proof Result Verification
Clean Sync Hash matches Snapshot + Empty WAL PASS
Pending Writes State Hash differs from Snapshot FAIL (until persisted)
Corruption State Hash differs from expected FAIL
Forked History WAL Hash differs FAIL

"Dirty" Nodes

Since valori-node V1 persists via Snapshots Only (No WAL persistence), a node that has accepted writes but not yet saved a snapshot is considered "Dirty". Its proof will show:

  • snapshot_hash: Hash of last saved snapshot.
  • wal_hash: Empty (no persisted log).
  • final_state_hash: Hash of current modified memory.

A verifier will check Replay(Snapshot, EmptyWAL) and find it does not match final_state_hash. This is correct behavior. It indicates the node has uncommitted state. To fix, trigger POST /v1/snapshot/save.

Verification Tooling

Use valori-verify to audit proofs offline.

# verify equivalence manually or strictly
valori-verify snapshot.bin wal.bin