Protocol Specification
This is a reference to the formal Free Association Protocol Specification.
Full Specification
The complete protocol specification is available in the main repository:
Quick Reference
Core Requirements
Any implementation claiming Free Association conformance preserves:
1. Recognition Foundation
Recognition weights sum to 100% per entity
Recognition is non-transferable
Recognition is dynamically adjustable
Allocation proportional to recognition
2. Two-Sided Optimization
Provider priorities: Allocate proportionally to recognition
Recipient preferences: Prefer valued providers
Capacity and need constraints respected
Proportional preservation where feasible
3. Mathematical Fairness Guarantees
Proportional allocation
Constraint satisfaction
Pareto efficiency
Determinism
Allocation Formula
Proportional Allocation:
Two-Sided Optimization: The system finds the allocation matrix that minimizes deviation from both:
Provider priorities (recognition weights)
Recipient preferences (source preferences)
While satisfying all capacity and need constraints.
Required Properties
Conformant implementations demonstrate:
✅ Proportional Allocation: Allocations proportional to recognition ✅ Constraint Satisfaction: Respects capacity and need bounds ✅ Pareto Efficiency: No improvement without violating constraints ✅ Determinism: Same state → same allocations
Protocol Violations
The following are NON-CONFORMANT:
❌ Making recognition transferable or tradeable ❌ Breaking proportional allocation property ❌ Violating capacity or need constraints ❌ Breaking determinism property
Version Information
Current Version: 1.0 Status: Reference Standard Last Updated: November 2025
Conformance Testing
Implementations pass test suite covering:
Basic allocation scenarios
Property verification
Edge case handling
Interoperability
Future versions will specify:
Standard data format for recognition exchange
Need/capacity declaration format
Allocation result format
Current version: Implementation-specific approaches permitted.
Changes and Evolution
RFC Process:
Submit proposal with
protocol-rfctagCommunity discussion (minimum 2-4 weeks)
Mathematical proof of preserved properties
Reference implementation update
Version increment
Version Semantics:
Major (X.0): Breaking changes to core formula
Minor (1.X): Backwards-compatible additions
Patch (1.0.X): Documentation only
Resources
Full Protocol Specification: PROTOCOL.md
Reference Implementation: github.com/interplaynetary/free-association
Mathematical Foundations: mathematics.md
Governance Process: ../../GOVERNANCE.md
Contact
Protocol Questions: [email protected]
Technical Issues: GitHub Issues
RFC Submissions: GitHub Issues with protocol-rfc tag
Note: This page provides overview and quick reference. See the full specification for complete normative requirements.
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