Certification

• CURIE: gmeow:Certification
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/Certification
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/trust
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

A reified attestation that a cryptographic key belongs to a given identity, made by a certifying agent (a PGP key-signature / Web-of-Trust certification). Its validity window is carried with gmeow:validFrom/validUntil; revocation sets validUntil.

Structure

Subclass of: gufo:Relator

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:Certification as a specialized kind of gufo:Relator. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Web Of Trust

• Source: slices/core/trust/examples/web-of-trust.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-trust-examples-web-of-trust

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: the PGP web of trust. Trust is decentralized and
# relational: agents gmeow:holdsKey cryptographic keys; one agent's
# gmeow:Certification signs another's key (a key-signing, binding key↔identity);
# and a gmeow:TrustAssertion records how much a trustor trusts a trustee AS AN
# INTRODUCER (gmeow:trustLevel + gmeow:introducerDepth — how far transitive trust
# may flow). gmeow:endorses is the lightweight, keyless vouch. No central
# authority: trust is asserted pairwise and composed.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/trust/> .

# --- Alice signs Bob's key, certifying the key↔identity binding.
ex:cert a gmeow:Certification ;
    gmeow:certifier         ex:alice ;
    gmeow:certifiedKey      ex:bobKey ;
    gmeow:certifiedIdentity ex:bob ;
    gmeow:certificationLevel "positive" .

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: wd, wot

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use to reify a Web-of-Trust attestation — a PGP key-signature — that a certifying agent vouches a given key belongs to a given identity; the relator that mediates certifier, key, and identity and carries its own dated validity window.

Avoid when

• Avoid for an agent's subjective trust in another agent (that is gmeow:TrustAssertion) and for mere key possession (gmeow:holdsKey); a certification is a third-party binding claim, and a contested binding is recorded as competing standpoints, never a primaryCertification flag (Principle 9).

How to use

• Mint the relator, bind gmeow:certifier, gmeow:certifiedKey, and gmeow:certifiedIdentity (the EL minimum), set gmeow:certificationLevel, and carry the window with gmeow:validFrom / gmeow:validUntil — revocation sets gmeow:validUntil; a disputed binding rides the cross-cutting gmeow:accordingTo standpoint axis.

Examples

• ex:cert1 a gmeow:Certification; gmeow:certifier ex:bob; gmeow:certifiedKey ex:lillithKey; gmeow:certifiedIdentity ex:lillith.