Actor — an identity authorized to create an event.
Agreement — required parties authorizing identical canonical terms.
Attestation — a signed claim by an external issuer.
Claim — one actor's statement; not automatically mutual proof.
Client — software used to discover, negotiate, sign, validate, and store pacts.
CommonPact core — shared envelope, authorization, agreement, lifecycle, evidence, profile, and compatibility rules.
Critical extension — an extension that must be understood before safe processing.
Event — a signed protocol statement.
Event ID — deterministic hash of the canonical signing object.
Evidence — a signed record retained with provenance.
Intent — an expiring discovery statement.
Optional provider — a relay, processor, insurer, verifier, moderator, or other service not mandated by the core.
Pact — one profile-qualified coordination aggregate.
Profile — domain-specific rules built on the core.
Proposal — complete proposed terms.
Receipt — profile-required parties authorizing one identical completion record.
Relay — infrastructure forwarding events without becoming authority for validity.
Terms hash — deterministic hash of complete canonical agreement terms.
Transport — the mechanism carrying events.
Unilateral claim — a statement signed by only one relevant party.