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:

PROTOCOL.md

Quick Reference

Core Requirements

Any implementation claiming Free Association conformance preserves:

1. Mutual Recognition Foundation

• Recognition weights sum to 100% per entity

• Mutual recognition = min(A→B, B→A)

• Recognition is non-transferable

• Recognition is dynamically adjustable

2. Needs-Based Allocation

• Allocations capped at declared need

• Remaining need = max(0, declared - received)

• Each resource type tracked independently

3. Mathematical Fairness Guarantees

• Contraction property

• Proportional allocation

• Two-tier priority

• No accumulation possible

Allocation Formula

Tier 1 (Mutual Recognition):

Share(r) = MR(P, r) / Σ MR(P, All_Mutual_Recipients)
RawAllocation(r) = Capacity × Share(r)
FinalAllocation(r) = min(RawAllocation(r), Need(r))

Tier 2 (Unilateral Recognition):

RemainingCapacity = Capacity - Σ FinalAllocation(Tier1)
Share(r) = Recognition(P→r) / Σ Recognition(P→All_Unilateral)
RawAllocation(r) = RemainingCapacity × Share(r)
FinalAllocation(r) = min(RawAllocation(r), Need(r))

Required Properties

Conformant implementations demonstrate:

✅ Contraction: Total needs decrease or stay constant ✅ No Accumulation: Received ≤ Declared Need always ✅ Fairness: Equal mutual recognition → equal shares ✅ Determinism: Same state → same allocations

Protocol Violations

The following are NON-CONFORMANT:

❌ Allowing accumulation beyond declared need ❌ Making recognition transferable or tradeable ❌ Weighting by need size instead of recognition ❌ Prioritizing unilateral over mutual recognition ❌ 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

• Convergence behavior

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:

1. Submit proposal with protocol-rfc tag

2. Community discussion (minimum 2-4 weeks)

3. Mathematical proof of preserved properties

4. Reference implementation update

5. 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

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Note: This page provides overview and quick reference. See the full specification for complete normative requirements.