Trust Assertion

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

A reified, perspectival assertion that one agent (the trustor) trusts another (the trustee), optionally as an introducer to a given depth — the OpenPGP owner-trust notion. Its validity window is carried with gmeow:validFrom/validUntil.

Structure

Subclass of: gufo:Relator

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:TrustAssertion 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 trusts Bob as a level-1 introducer (his certifications count for her).
ex:trust a gmeow:TrustAssertion ;
    gmeow:trustor         ex:alice ;
    gmeow:trustee         ex:bob ;
    gmeow:trustLevel      "full" ;
    gmeow:introducerDepth 1 .

Usage Advice

Use when

Use whenever trust is HELD by a particular agent rather than asserted globally — owner-trust, an introducer designation, a leveled and dated vouching — so the claim names its trustor frame holder explicitly (Principle 9: A trusts B according to A's vantage, never a global verdict).

Avoid when

Avoid for a key↔identity binding attestation (that is gmeow:Certification) and for a quick directional vouch where level and date do not matter (use the gmeow:endorses shortcut); never collapse competing trustors into one privileged trust, and never expect the reasoner to propagate it transitively.

How to use

Mint the relator, bind gmeow:trustor and gmeow:trustee (the EL minimum), set gmeow:trustLevel and the gmeow:introducerDepth / gmeow:introducerAmount trust-signature parameters, and date it with gmeow:validFrom / gmeow:validUntil; transitive validity is a projection-layer metric computed over these inputs, never a reasoner entailment.

Examples

ex:t1 a gmeow:TrustAssertion; gmeow:trustor ex:lillith; gmeow:trustee ex:bob; gmeow:trustLevel "full".