Default Settlement Verifier

Deterministic, neutral verification for agent-to-agent and programmatic settlements.

Landing page: https://defaultverifier.com

Overview

The Default Settlement Verifier is a stateless verification service that evaluates whether a claimed settlement outcome satisfies predefined conditions under deterministic rules.

It answers one question only:

“Given this claim and these conditions, does it verify?”

It produces signed, replayable truth, not coordination, custody, or enforcement.

What It Does

The verifier accepts a structured verification request describing a settlement claim and evaluates it against deterministic rules. It returns:

A binary verdict (PASS / FAIL)
A confidence score
A cryptographic signature
Optional fee metadata (fee-aware; currently not enforced)

The verifier:

Does not hold funds
Does not initiate payments
Does not maintain session state
Does not rely on identity, reputation, or trust assumptions

Core Properties

Deterministic — Identical inputs always produce identical signed results
Stateless — Every call is independent
Neutral — No buyer/seller bias, no incentives, no governance layer
Composable — Plugs into agent frameworks, payment rails, and settlement protocols
Auditable — Signed responses allow downstream verification and logging

Intended Use Cases

Agent-to-agent payments requiring post-condition verification
x402-style pay-after-execution flows
Automated escrow or conditional release systems
Buyer protection primitives without custody
Programmatic settlement validation in AI workflows

Canonical Verification Endpoint (POST)

POST https://defaultverifier.com/verify

Important:
This endpoint accepts POST requests only.
Browsers will show “Cannot GET /verify”. This is expected behavior.

Example request:

{
  "task_id": "example-001",
  "spec": { "expected_output": "hash_or_descriptor" },
  "output": { "expected_output": "hash_or_descriptor" }
}

SettlementWitness (v0)

SettlementWitness is a thin, stateless wrapper that calls the Default Settlement Verifier and returns a replay-stable receipt for agent workflows.

It adds:

no state
no judgment
no retries
no facilitation logic

Canonical Endpoints

Notes:

POST /settlement-witness is POST-only.
GET /settlement-witness returns 405 by design.

Example (PASS)

curl -s -X POST https://defaultverifier.com/settlement-witness \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "task_id": "example-002",
    "spec": { "expected": "foo" },
    "output": { "expected": "foo" }
  }'

Minimal response shape (trimmed):

{
  "witness": "SettlementWitness",
  "witness_version": "v0",
  "task_id": "example-002",
  "verifier_response": {
    "verdict": "PASS",
    "reason_code": "MATCH",
    "signature": "..."
  },
  "witness_timestamp": "...",
  "receipt_id": "..."
}

MCP (Canonical)

SettlementWitness is available via MCP for agent-native workflows.

MCP Server: https://defaultverifier.com/mcp
Health: https://defaultverifier.com/mcp-healthz
Tool: settlement_witness
Arguments (required):
- task_id (string)
- spec (object)
- output (object)
Returns: receipt JSON (verbatim)

Determinism guarantee: Identical inputs produce the same receipt_id and verifier signature. Timestamps may differ.

Security & Settlement Gating

Default Settlement Verifier can serve as a lightweight mitigation layer in autonomous workflows:

Proof-of-Delivery — Deterministic PASS/FAIL verdicts verify outputs match task specifications before settlement.
Settlement Gating — Payments or downstream actions can be conditioned on verifiable completion.
Dispute Reduction — Signed receipts provide replayable evidence for post-task settlement decisions.

The verifier does not enforce outcomes or custody funds; it produces neutral, signed verification receipts.

Determinism & Signatures (Replay Stability)

timestamp and witness_timestamp may change on each call (observability).
For identical inputs (task_id, spec, output), the verifier signature is stable.
receipt_id is derived from the verifier signature and is stable for identical inputs.

Endpoint Behavior (Expected)

POST /verify → works (GET not supported)
POST /settlement-witness → works (GET returns 405)
GET /manifest → works

OpenClaw Compatibility

SettlementWitness is compatible with OpenClaw via a drop-in skill definition included in this repository:

openclaw/skills/settlement-witness/SKILL.md

The skill calls the public HTTPS endpoint:

POST https://defaultverifier.com/settlement-witness

No local services are required.

Agent Wrappers & Skills

SettlementWitness is a stateless witness wrapper that issues replay-stable verification receipts for post-task settlement workflows.

It is compatible with:

Heurist Mesh (submission pending)
MCP invocation patterns
OpenClaw skills (drop-in wrapper included)

Deployment Notes (Factual)

Verifier and SettlementWitness are served via HTTPS behind NGINX on defaultverifier.com
SettlementWitness runs persistently and is proxied via NGINX (no raw port exposure)
Cloudflare cache bypass is enabled for API routes (/verify, /settlement-witness, /manifest)

Non-Goals

The Default Settlement Verifier explicitly does not:

Act as an oracle of subjective truth
Resolve disputes
Store or escrow funds
Enforce payment
Provide reputation or identity services

Those layers belong upstream or downstream.

Roadmap (Non-Commitment)

Expanded claim schemas
Optional replay-safe receipts
Public verification key endpoint
Optional metrics endpoint

No timelines are guaranteed.

License

MIT License

Contact

Project discussions and updates:

https://x.com/defaultsettle

SettlementWitness