SPECIFICATION · DRAFT v0.3
Specification
The specification defines the one common format every GovSchema document conforms to: the document envelope, how a process is identified and versioned, and the field model. This page is the specification's overview — start here, then read the three chapters below.
Draft standard — v0.x is pre-stabilization
The specification is at draft v0.3 and is being prepared for public release. v0.x is pre-stabilization: the format may change between minor versions while the standard is being founded, and some identity conventions are still under open proposal. Where this site and the normative specification differ, the specification governs.
Chapters
Schema format — the document envelope: identity, provenance, verification, fields, and flow.
Identifiers & versioning — how a process is named (the GSID), how that name maps to a registry path, and how document versions evolve.
Field types & validation — the field model and its constrained JSON Schema validation subset.
Verification — how a schema's claim to match its live government source is checked, and the practices that keep it that way.
Two definitions everything rests on
- Schema noun
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A standardized, machine-readable definition of a single government form or process — its fields, their types and validation rules, and the flow of steps. An agent can read a schema programmatically instead of guessing at a web page. Each schema records its jurisdiction, its authoritative source URL, and a version.
Example: the schema for a national passport-renewal form lists every field an applicant must provide, which combinations are valid, and the order the steps occur in.
- Verification practice noun
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A documented, repeatable method for confirming that a published schema still matches the live government source it describes. Verification is what separates a standard from a guess: a schema is only useful if you can show it is accurate and current.
Example: a verification practice specifies how and how often a schema is re-checked against the official source, and how a mismatch is recorded and resolved.
How the standard works
The specification enables one pipeline, end to end: a schema is authored against the format, published to the registry, checked against its live source, and consumed by an agent.
- Schema
- Registry
- Verification
- Agent
Specify. The specification defines one common format for describing any government form or process: fields, types, validation rules, flow steps, plus conventions for identifiers, jurisdiction, source URL, and version.
Author & register. Contributors author schemas for concrete processes that conform to the specification and submit them to the public registry, where each is reviewed and versioned.
Verify. Each schema is checked against its live government source using a documented verification practice, and its verification status is recorded openly.
Consume. Agent developers read schemas from the registry, validate against them, and pin to a version — building on a contract they can trust and re-check.