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ARVIS Compliance Suite v1 (Draft)

The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 and RFC 8174 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

Status

  • Version: v1 (Draft)
  • Scope: Normative (Compliance Layer)
  • Component: ARVIS Standard

1. Purpose

The ARVIS Compliance Suite defines the mandatory test framework used to verify that an implementation conforms to the ARVIS standard.

It ensures that: - all normative rules are enforced, - decision behavior is deterministic, - outputs are auditable and reproducible, - implementations behave consistently across environments.

The compliance suite is the source of truth for standard conformance.

2. Core Principles

2.1 Deterministic Validation

All compliance tests MUST: - produce identical results across runs, - be independent of runtime noise, - avoid non-deterministic inputs unless explicitly specified.

2.2 Black-Box Compatibility

Compliance tests MUST be executable: - without access to internal implementation details, - using only public objects and APIs.

2.3 Reproducibility

All test scenarios MUST: - include full input definitions, - produce reproducible outputs, - support deterministic replay.

2.4 Version Awareness

Each test MUST specify: - applicable standard version, - required object versions, - compatibility constraints.

3. Compliance Structure

The compliance suite is divided into modules:

compliance/
gate/
projection/
validity/
ir/
timeline/
replay/

4. Test Case Specification

Each compliance test MUST follow this structure:

ComplianceTest:
  id: str
  description: str
  input: dict
  expected_output:
    verdict: str
    reason_codes: list[str]
    constraints: list[str]
  determinism: bool
  replayable: bool

5. Gate Compliance

5.1 Mandatory Test Cases

Case: Projection Invalid - Input: - projection_domain_valid = False - Expected: - verdict = ABSTAIN - reason_codes includes projection_invalid

Case: Kappa Violation - Input: - kappa_safe = False - Expected: - verdict ≠ ALLOW - reason_codes includes kappa_violation

Case: Adaptive Veto - Input: - adaptive_veto = True - Expected: - verdict = ABSTAIN - reason_codes includes adaptive_instability_veto

Case: Valid Input Path - Input: - all constraints valid - Expected: - verdict = ALLOW

5.2 Invariant Tests

The implementation MUST verify:

  • no unsafe upgrade occurs
  • monotonicity is preserved
  • all triggered constraints emit reason codes

6. Projection Compliance

Required Tests - projection unavailable → no ALLOW - projection invalid → verdict MUST NOT be ALLOW and MUST be downgraded at least to REQUIRE_CONFIRMATION, or ABSTAIN depending on severity and policy - projection boundary → REQUIRE_CONFIRMATION - projection certificate consistency

7. Validity Compliance

Required Tests - validity false → verdict MUST NOT be ALLOW and SHOULD degrade to REQUIRE_CONFIRMATION or ABSTAIN depending on policy - validity degraded → REQUIRE_CONFIRMATION - validity reason propagation

8. IR Compliance

Required Tests - IR is deterministic - IR contains all mandatory fields - IR matches Gate output - IR serialization is stable - Aggregated IR consistency: - input/context/state/gate MUST be internally consistent - gate.verdict MUST match IR verdict - reason_codes MUST match normalized registry codes

9. Timeline Compliance

Required Tests - timestamp ordering is consistent - hash chain integrity is preserved - parent-child linkage is valid

10. Replay Compliance

Required Tests - identical input → identical output - decision trace replay produces same verdict - reason codes are stable across replay - extended trace fields MUST NOT alter replay verdicts - extended trace fields MUST remain deterministic across identical runs

11. Determinism Tests

The system MUST pass:

  • repeated execution consistency
  • no hidden randomness
  • no time-based drift
  • deterministic observability extensions MUST remain stable
  • trace scoring outputs MUST be identical across identical executions

12. Compliance Levels

Level 1: Core Compliance

Requires:

  • Gate compliance
  • Reason registry compliance
  • IR structure compliance

Level 2: Projection Compliance

Adds:

  • projection validation
  • projection certificate correctness

Level 3: Full Cognitive Compliance

Adds:

  • timeline integrity
  • replay determinism
  • adaptive behavior consistency

Level 4: Audit-Grade Compliance

Adds:

  • hashchain verification
  • full trace completeness
  • strict determinism guarantees

13. Pass Criteria

An implementation is compliant if:

  • 100% mandatory tests pass
  • no invariant violation occurs
  • outputs match expected structures
  • no forbidden behavior is detected

14. Failure Modes

Failures MUST be classified as:

  • critical → non-compliant implementation
  • major → partial compliance failure
  • minor → non-blocking inconsistency

15. Forbidden Practices

The system MUST NOT:

  • bypass compliance checks
  • suppress failing tests
  • produce non-deterministic outputs
  • alter expected outputs dynamically

16. Non-Claims

Compliance does NOT guarantee:

  • correctness of the underlying model
  • completeness of reasoning
  • absence of external system failure

It guarantees only:

  • adherence to ARVIS rules
  • structural and behavioral consistency

17. Future Extensions (Non-Normative)

Planned improvements:

  • fuzz testing
  • adversarial compliance tests
  • distributed compliance validation
  • formal verification integration