# The Answerworthy Standard

**Version:** 0.2.0-draft.1  
**Status:** Working draft, open for implementation  
**Canonical location:** https://answerworthy.md/standard  
**Spec license:** CC BY 4.0. **Tooling license:** Apache-2.0.  
**Steward:** Alexander Pichugin.

## 0. What changed from 0.1

Draft 0.1 used four public artifacts. Draft 0.2 collapses the model into one published file, `answerworthy.md`. Evaluation evidence, remediation work and implementation records enter the file by section or reference, or remain private implementation deliverables.

The reason is deliberate. One string is the file, the standard and the domain. Every mention concentrates on one place. The conventions that achieved broad adoption use a single file at a known path.

## 1. The one file

**Name:** `answerworthy.md`. **Path:** `/answerworthy.md` at the site root.

A pointer at `/.well-known/answerworthy.md` is permitted while a registered well-known URI does not exist. The pointer names the root file as canonical and carries no independent substance.

The file uses UTF-8 Markdown with YAML frontmatter. Frontmatter and fixed level-two sections provide machine-readable structure. The prose remains useful to a person without specialised tooling.

## 2. First principle

answerworthy.md is the canonical file. Any JSON, HTML, or PDF that an implementation emits is a projection of it and cannot outrank it.

A projection may improve convenience. When a projection and the file disagree, the file wins.

## 3. Axioms

1. **One canonical file.** Section 2 governs every implementation.
2. **Declaration is not verification.** Publishing the file proves control of the origin. Truth, independence and citation eligibility require separate evidence.
3. **No evidence, no evaluated claim.** A pass, warning or failure references retained evidence. Missing evidence is unavailable, manual or not applicable.
4. **Unknown is not zero.** Blocked access, provider failure and parser failure never become fabricated absence or a zero score.
5. **Side effects denied by default.** The file grants no credentials, publication authority, outreach permission or third-party consent.
6. **No guaranteed outcome.** The standard does not guarantee ranking, citation, recommendation, traffic, leads or revenue.

## 4. File grammar

A conforming file has YAML frontmatter and Markdown sections keyed on fixed level-two headings.

### Required frontmatter

- `answerworthy`: specification version;
- `entity`: canonical subject name;
- `canonical`: canonical subject URL;
- `last_verified`: ISO date.

### Recommended frontmatter

- `kind`;
- `aliases`;
- `sameas`;
- `maintainer`;
- `license`;
- `freshness_days`;
- `conformance`;
- independent attestation fields when M3 or M4 is claimed.

### Required sections

- `## Identity`;
- `## Answers`.

### Recommended sections

- `## Canonical facts`;
- `## Entities`;
- `## Provenance`;
- `## Known corrections`;
- `## Coverage limits`;
- `## Freshness policy`;
- `## Dimensions`;
- `## Conformance`.

A canonical fact carries `statement`, `basis`, `source_class`, `source` and `verified_at`. An answer uses a question-form level-three heading, a self-contained response and a `source` line.

## 5. Six dimensions

Answerworthiness is a dated evidence condition evaluated against the file and the live site. Each finding maps to one dimension or a namespaced extension.

1. **access-retrieval:** can relevant systems retrieve and render the public evidence?
2. **entity-certainty:** can the subject be identified without material ambiguity or contradiction?
3. **offer-comprehension:** can a qualified buyer or agent understand what is offered, for whom and under which conditions?
4. **evidence-corroboration:** can consequential claims be supported, attributed and independently checked?
5. **buyer-question-coverage:** does the public evidence answer priority pre-brand questions, comparisons and constraints?
6. **answer-performance:** what was actually mentioned, cited, recommended or followed through in declared answer-system observations?

Implementations may score these dimensions. The standard defines no universal ranking formula.

## 6. Conformance states

A subject claims the highest cumulative state it fully meets. M0 through M2 may be self-declared. M3 requires an independent party.

- **M0 Present:** a valid answerworthy.md exists at the canonical path and parses.
- **M1 Structured:** required frontmatter and sections are present and well formed.
- **M2 Sourced:** material facts carry basis, source class, source and verification date.
- **M3 Corroborated:** an independent party re-fetched the site and attested that the file's claims hold, including contradictions and unavailable evidence.
- **M4 Maintained:** the file stays within its freshness policy and receives dated rechecks.

### M3 attestation

The attestation is recorded inside answerworthy.md. A conforming M3 claim includes one of these patterns:

- signed attestation fields inside the file;
- an attestation URL plus a SHA-256 hash;
- a verifier identifier, method, date and retained evidence reference.

The attestation does not become a separate standard artifact. A subject cannot issue M3 about itself.

## 7. Agent contract

Four verbs operate on the one file and the live site.

- **generate:** draft answerworthy.md from a site and mark unsupported facts for confirmation;
- **audit:** evaluate the file and site across six dimensions, preserve unavailable states and produce a ranked remediation list as working output;
- **remediate:** apply changes within granted permission and separate credentials, then update the file;
- **refresh:** re-fetch, recheck, update `last_verified` and record material changes without rewriting history.

An implementation may expose these verbs through a CLI, API or MCP server. Working evidence and remediation may live in session state, a repository or a private client delivery. The public standard mints no additional artifact.

## 8. Verification and commercial implementation

Verification is an act. An independent implementation re-fetches the site, checks material claims against retained evidence and records the attestation inside answerworthy.md.

The Answerworthy Engine is the initial reference implementation. It performs the corroboration that can raise a subject from M2 to M3, produces a private remediation sequence with dependencies and completion tests, and applies founder judgment to offer-comprehension and buyer-question-coverage.

The free path includes the specification, file grammar and validator. The paid path includes independent corroboration, private remediation and founder judgment.

## 9. Interoperability

answerworthy.md sits beside the existing web stack. `llms.txt` links to it. `robots.txt` states crawler access. Schema.org and the file agree where both assert a fact.

Discovery uses the root path. The optional well-known pointer remains derivative and names the root file as canonical.

## 10. Governance and license

Specification prose: CC BY 4.0. Tooling: Apache-2.0.

Both are usable with no purchase. Alexander Pichugin stewards the name, canonical specification and reference tooling during the 0.x series. Broader governance is intended after independent implementations and recurring external contribution exist.

Anyone may implement the standard. Other implementations are invited. A conforming implementation resolves its output to a published answerworthy.md file and records any claimed independent attestation inside that file.

## Appendix A. Minimal conforming file

```markdown
---
answerworthy: "0.2"
entity: "Example Co"
canonical: https://example.com
last_verified: 2026-08-05
kind: organization
conformance: M2
freshness_days: 30
---

## Identity

Example Co makes accounting software for freelancers.

## Canonical facts

- statement: "Example Co's plans start at 12 EUR per month with a free tier."
  basis: declared
  source_class: owned
  source: https://example.com/pricing
  verified_at: 2026-08-05

## Answers

### What does Example Co make?

Accounting software for freelancers: invoicing, expense tracking and quarterly tax estimates.

source: https://example.com/product

## Conformance

Self-declared M2. No independent corroboration is recorded.
```

End of Draft 0.2. The standard defines exactly one published file.