dev.idiolect.belief

A signed doxastic claim that a referenced record is true or applicable. Belief records are how third parties represent what they think about another record without flattening provenance: the subject strong-ref pins the exact referenced record, the holder names the party whose attitude is represented, and the basis names what grounds it.

Source: lexicons/dev/idiolect/belief.json · Rust: idiolect_records::Belief · TS: @idiolect-dev/schema/belief · Fixture: idiolect_records::examples::belief

Shape

Field details

subject is a strong reference

subject carries both the AT-URI and the CID of the record the belief is about. Pinning by CID means a later revision of the target record does not silently change what this belief asserts. A consumer reading a belief about a recommendation can fetch the exact recommendation revision the holder believed in, even if the recommendation has been edited since.

holder versus the repo owner

The simplest case: the repo owner is the holder. The record expresses the publisher's own belief; holder is omitted.

The richer case: the repo owner is publishing a belief on behalf of, or about, another party. A labeler that publishes { subject: <some encounter>, holder: did:plc:other-party } is asserting that the other party believes the encounter is applicable. The labeler's signature attests that the labeler made the attribution; the holder field carries who the attitude is attributed to.

basis carries the grounds

When the holder is not the repo owner, the consumer needs to know on what grounds the attribution rests. The four basis variants:

See defs#basis for the field shapes.

Use as a labeler primitive

A labeler workflow that wants to record "a third party endorses this lens for a particular use" uses three records:

1. The lens record (in the lens author's PDS).
2. The encounter or recommendation describing the use (in either the labeler's or the third party's PDS).
3. A belief record (in the labeler's PDS) with subject pointing at the encounter / recommendation, holder set to the third party's DID, and basis carrying the structured grounds.

Consumers reading the belief see all three. The labeler's signature on the belief is what makes the attribution accountable.

Example

{
  "$type": "dev.idiolect.belief",
  "subject": {
    "uri": "at://did:plc:other-party/dev.idiolect.recommendation/3l5",
    "cid": "bafy..."
  },
  "holder": "did:plc:other-party",
  "basis": {
    "$type": "dev.idiolect.defs#basisCommunityPolicy",
    "community": "at://did:plc:community/dev.idiolect.community/canonical",
    "policyUri": "https://community.example/policies/lens-endorsement-v1"
  },
  "annotations": "Labeler attests the holder accepted this recommendation.",
  "visibility": "public-detailed",
  "occurredAt": "2026-04-19T00:00:00.000Z"
}

How beliefs compose

flowchart LR
    L[labeler] -->|publishes| B[belief]
    B -->|subject| R[recommendation]
    B -->|holder| H[holder DID]
    B -->|basis| G[community policy]
    R -->|signed by| C[community]
    C -.recognised by.-> H

A consumer reading the belief sees: which record is being endorsed (subject), who is doing the endorsing (holder), on what grounds (basis), and who is attributing it (the repo signer). Disagreements among labelers about a holder's beliefs are themselves first-class records: a contradicting belief from a different labeler is just another record, signed and visible.

Concept references

• Concepts: The dev.idiolect.* lexicon family
• Concepts: Records as content-addressed signed data
• Lexicons: defs (#basis, #strongRecordRef) · recommendation