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Signal Format Specification

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Overview

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Wire Format

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Header (8 bytes)

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|    Magic (0x4E544C)   | Ver |T| Flags         | Body Length    |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                    Body Length (continued)                     |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

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Flags

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Body (CBOR)

{
  "id": bytes(16),           ; ULID - REQUIRED
  "origin": bytes(32),       ; Node public key hash - REQUIRED
  "sig": bytes(variable),    ; Cryptographic signature - REQUIRED
  "ts": uint64,              ; Timestamp nanoseconds - REQUIRED
  "w": float32,              ; Weight 0.0-1.0 - REQUIRED
  "ttl": uint16,             ; Time-to-live hops - REQUIRED
  "p": bytes(variable),      ; Payload - REQUIRED
  "enc": uint8,              ; Encoding enum - OPTIONAL (default: CBOR)
  "scope": uint8,            ; Propagation scope - OPTIONAL (default: weighted)
  "cor": bytes(16),          ; Correlation ID - OPTIONAL
  "trace": [bytes(32)...],   ; Node ID path - OPTIONAL
  "tags": [text...],         ; Searchable tags - OPTIONAL
}

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Field Definitions

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id (Signal Identifier)

• Type: ULID (16 bytes)
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Description: Universally unique, lexicographically sortable identifier. Generated by the emitting node. MUST be unique across the network.

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origin (Origin Node)

• Type: 32 bytes (BLAKE3 hash of node public key)
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Description: Identifies the node that originally emitted this signal. Used for signature verification and trust scoring.

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sig (Signature)

• Type: Variable-length bytes
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Description: Cryptographic signature over the signal body (excluding the signature field itself). Generated using the active crypto module. Receiving nodes MUST verify the signature before processing.

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ts (Timestamp)

• Type: Unsigned 64-bit integer
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Description: Nanoseconds since Unix epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z). Used for ordering, deduplication, and TTL expiry.

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w (Weight)

• Type: 32-bit float
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Constraints: MUST be in range [0.0, 1.0]
• Description: Signal priority and intensity. Affects activation thresholds and propagation priority.

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ttl (Time-to-Live)

• Type: Unsigned 16-bit integer
• Requirement: REQUIRED
• Constraints: MUST be > 0 on emission. Decremented at each hop.
• Description: Maximum number of hops this signal may traverse. When TTL reaches 0, the signal MUST NOT be propagated further.

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p (Payload)

• Type: Variable-length bytes
• Requirement: REQUIRED (may be empty)
• Description: The actual data carried by the signal. Encoding determined by the enc field.

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enc (Encoding)

• Type: Unsigned 8-bit integer
• Requirement: OPTIONAL (default: 0 = CBOR)
• Values:

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scope (Propagation Scope)

• Type: Unsigned 8-bit integer
• Requirement: OPTIONAL (default: 1 = Weighted)
• Values:

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Signal Types

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Validation Rules

1. The magic bytes are 0x4E544C
2. The version is supported by the receiving node
3. The body length matches the actual CBOR body size
4. All REQUIRED fields are present
5. The id is a valid ULID
6. The w (weight) is in range [0.0, 1.0]
7. The ttl is > 0
8. The sig (signature) verifies against the origin node’s public key
9. The ts (timestamp) is not in the future (with 30-second tolerance)
10. The signal id has not been seen before (deduplication)

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Maximum Signal Size