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Purpose (normative)

Access and Citation Events provide post-retrieval accountability under the Agentic Intent Protocol. They allow publishers to:
  • record when content was accessed,
  • verify how it was used,
  • audit citations shown to users.
They allow platforms/operators to:
  • prove compliant usage,
  • reconcile settlement (outside this spec),
  • support disputes.
Events are append-only facts, not signals. No ads. No pricing. No user identity leakage.

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Event types

v0.1 defines two canonical event types:
  1. access
  2. citation
Both share a common envelope.

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Canonical schema location

https://schemas.agenticintentprotocol.com/aip/0.1/event.schema.json

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Schema summary

FieldTypeRequiredDescription
aip_versionstringYesMust be "0.1".
event_idstringYesUnique identifier for this event.
event_typestringYesaccess or citation.
timestampstring (date-time)YesISO 8601 when the event occurred.
request_idstringYesrequest_id from the associated RetrieveRequest.
publisherobjectYesid, domain (hostname).
platformobjectYesid (platform that initiated the request).
accessobjectWhen event_type is accesschunks_returned, token_count, retrieval_mode (chunks).
citationobjectWhen event_type is citationsource_url, chunk_ids, display_surface.
extensionsobjectNoNamespaced extensions.

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Semantics

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access event

Emitted when content is successfully returned in a RetrieveResponse. It answers:
  • was access granted?
  • how much content was returned?
  • under what retrieval mode?
It does not answer:
  • how the content was ranked
  • whether it was monetized
  • whether the user clicked anything

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citation event

Emitted when the publisher’s content is surfaced to the user as a citation. It answers:
  • which URL was cited
  • which chunks were referenced
  • where it was displayed
It does not imply endorsement, licensing, or commercial use.

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Required emission rules

  • Publishers MUST emit an access event for every successful retrieval.
  • Platforms SHOULD emit citation events when citations are shown.
  • If endpoints.event.required = true in aip.json, platforms MUST emit citation events.

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Example: Access event

{
  "aip_version": "0.1",
  "event_id": "evt_access_001",
  "event_type": "access",
  "timestamp": "2025-11-14T18:22:01Z",
  "request_id": "req_92fA1",
  "publisher": {
    "id": "forbes",
    "domain": "forbes.com"
  },
  "platform": {
    "id": "openai_chat"
  },
  "access": {
    "chunks_returned": 1,
    "token_count": 18,
    "retrieval_mode": "chunks"
  }
}

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Example: Citation event

{
  "aip_version": "0.1",
  "event_id": "evt_citation_002",
  "event_type": "citation",
  "timestamp": "2025-11-14T18:22:05Z",
  "request_id": "req_92fA1",
  "publisher": {
    "id": "forbes",
    "domain": "forbes.com"
  },
  "platform": {
    "id": "openai_chat"
  },
  "citation": {
    "source_url": "https://forbes.com/crm-guide",
    "chunk_ids": ["c1"],
    "display_surface": "answer"
  }
}

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What this schema intentionally avoids

  • impressions
  • clicks
  • dwell time
  • CPM / CPX
  • advertiser data
  • user identifiers
  • engagement scoring
Those belong to separate systems, not AIP v0.1.

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Why this design is correct

  • Events are facts, not optimization signals.
  • Publishers gain verifiable usage records.
  • Platforms gain compliance proof.
  • Operators can build settlement without contaminating the protocol.
  • Regulators can audit end-to-end.

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Takeaway

If RetrieveRequest is permission, and RetrieveResponse is content, then Events are the receipt. You now have a complete, closed loop.

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Schema file

Full JSON Schema (Draft 2020-12): access-citation-event.json

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See also