Access & Citation Events

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.

Event types

v1.0 defines two canonical event types:

access
citation

Both share a common envelope.

Canonical schema location

https://schemas.agenticintentprotocol.com/aip/1.0/event.schema.json

Schema summary

Field	Type	Required	Description
`aip_version`	string	Yes	Must be `"1.0"`.
`event_id`	string	Yes	Unique identifier for this event.
`event_type`	string	Yes	`access` or `citation`.
`timestamp`	string (date-time)	Yes	ISO 8601 when the event occurred.
`request_id`	string	Yes	`request_id` from the associated RetrieveRequest.
`publisher`	object	Yes	`id`, `domain` (hostname).
`platform`	object	Yes	`id` (platform that initiated the request).
`access`	object	When `event_type` is `access`	`chunks_returned`, `token_count`, `retrieval_mode` (`chunks`).
`citation`	object	When `event_type` is `citation`	`source_url`, `chunk_ids`, `display_surface`.
`extensions`	object	No	Namespaced extensions.

Semantics

`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

`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.

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.

Example: Access event

{
  "aip_version": "1.0",
  "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"
  }
}

Example: Citation event

{
  "aip_version": "1.0",
  "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"
  }
}

What this schema intentionally avoids

impressions
clicks
dwell time
CPM / CPX
advertiser data
user identifiers
engagement scoring

Those belong to separate systems, not AIP v1.0.

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.

Takeaway

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

Schema file

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

Welcome

Get Started

AI Platforms

Publisher Access Governance (PAG)

Common

Purpose (normative)

Event types

Canonical schema location

Schema summary

Semantics

`access` event

`citation` event

Required emission rules

Example: Access event

Example: Citation event

What this schema intentionally avoids

Why this design is correct

Takeaway

Schema file

See also

​Purpose (normative)

​Event types

​Canonical schema location

​Schema summary

​Semantics

​access event

​citation event

​Required emission rules

​Example: Access event

​Example: Citation event

​What this schema intentionally avoids

​Why this design is correct

​Takeaway

​Schema file

​See also

Purpose (normative)

Event types

Canonical schema location

Schema summary

Semantics

`access` event

`citation` event

Required emission rules

Example: Access event

Example: Citation event

What this schema intentionally avoids

Why this design is correct

Takeaway

Schema file

See also