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feat: add Reasoning Verification extension for MPP#187

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ThoughtProof wants to merge 2 commits intotempoxyz:mainfrom
ThoughtProof:feat/reasoning-verification-extension
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feat: add Reasoning Verification extension for MPP#187
ThoughtProof wants to merge 2 commits intotempoxyz:mainfrom
ThoughtProof:feat/reasoning-verification-extension

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@ThoughtProof
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What

Proposes a "reasoning-verification" extension for MPP that adds a pre-payment verification step — an independent service evaluates the agent's decision logic before payment credentials are issued.

Why

Identity checks answer "who is this agent?" Payment authorization answers "can this agent pay?" Neither answers "should this agent pay for this, given its reasoning?"

An authorized agent with valid identity can still make poorly-reasoned payments. This extension catches those defects before settlement.

How

  • Server includes reasoning-verification="required" in the 402 challenge
  • Agent submits decision logic to a verification endpoint
  • Verifier returns ALLOW/HOLD/UNCERTAIN/DISSENT with confidence score
  • Agent includes verification result in payment credential

Stake-proportional: low-value payments skip verification, high-value payments require multi-model adversarial critique.

Design Choices

  • Provider-agnostic: any verification service can implement the endpoint
  • OPTIONAL extension: servers opt in per-resource or per-amount threshold
  • Fail-closed for "required", fail-open for "recommended"
  • Compatible with x402 and ERC-8183 verification patterns

Related

  • ERC-8004 (identity) + Maiat (behavioral trust) + this extension (reasoning quality) = complete trust stack
  • x402 v2 Extensions system has a similar design space

Defines a pre-payment verification step where an independent service
evaluates the agent's decision logic before payment credential issuance.

- Stake-proportional depth (micro→critical)
- Verification receipts (signed, replayable on-chain)
- Compatible with x402 and ERC-8183 verification patterns

Co-exists with identity (ERC-8004) and trust (Maiat) — reasoning
verification is the missing third layer.
@ThoughtProof
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Updated this branch to align with pot-sdk v2.0 (now live at api.thoughtproof.ai).

Changes:

• Removed HOLD and DISSENT from the verdict table — replaced with BLOCK
• UNCERTAIN updated: explicitly a safe escalation state, not model uncertainty
• Removed micro stake level (minimum is now low)
• Pricing table updated (low: $0.01 standard / $0.005 lite)

HOLD and DISSENT are now internal calibration states — they no longer appear in public API responses.

───

Verdict semantics in the MPP extension:

Verdict Meaning Server action
ALLOW Reasoning passed verification Issue payment credential
BLOCK Material reasoning defects or unacceptable risk Reject payment request
UNCERTAIN Safe escalation state — insufficient clean evidence Require human review or additional context

The key design point: UNCERTAIN is not "the model didn't know" — it's a deliberate risk-aware system decision to escalate rather than guess.

@ThoughtProof
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Friendly bump — happy to address any feedback or questions on the reasoning verification extension. We've since shipped onchain_proof (ecrecover-compatible attestations) which would strengthen the on-chain integration path described here.

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