RFC-PCS-0004

 

PCS Conformance Test Suite (PCS-CTS)

Status: Draft

Intended Status: Standards Track

Updates: RFC-PCS-0001, RFC-PCS-0002, RFC-PCS-0003

Note: L4 is expressly categorized as “Draft/Future Work”

Expires: TBD

 

1. Abstract

This document defines the Persistra Cognitive Standard Conformance Test Suite (PCS-CTS), a normative framework for validating compliance with PCS specifications.

 

PCS-CTS establishes standardized test categories, execution requirements, reporting formats, and pass/fail criteria for determining PCS conformance levels (PCS-L1 through PCS-L4).

 

2. Motivation

Standards without verifiable conformance lead to ambiguity, fragmentation, and unverifiable claims.

 

PCS-CTS exists to:

• Enable independent validation of PCS claims
• Provide deterministic pass/fail outcomes
• Ensure consistent interpretation of PCS requirements
• Support certification, auditing, and regulatory use cases

 

PCS-CTS is designed to be implementation-agnostic and vendor-neutral.

 

3. Scope

PCS-CTS applies to any system claiming PCS compliance, including:

• Proprietary implementations
• Open-source implementations
• Cloud, on-premise, and air-gapped deployments

 

PCS-CTS does not prescribe internal architecture beyond PCS requirements.

 

4. Terminology

• Test Case: An atomic validation scenario

• Test Category: A logical grouping of test cases

• Conformance Level: PCS-L1 through PCS-L4

• Attestation: A signed declaration of test results

• Reference Implementation: Canonical PCS implementation

• Normative language follows RFC 2119.

 

5. Test Suite Structure

PCS-CTS is composed of discrete test categories aligned with PCS levels.

 

PCS-CTS/

├── L1-Persistence/

├── L2-Governance/

├── L3-Continuity/

├── L4-Federation/

└── Common/

 

Each category includes:

• Test definitions
• Required inputs
• Expected outputs
• Validation criteria

 

6. PCS-L1 Conformance Tests (Persistence)

6.1 Required Capabilities

 

PCS-L1 tests validate:

• Cross-session memory persistence
• Decision recall without conversation replay
• State retrieval without full context windows

 

6.2 Example Test Case

Test: L1-DR-001

Description: Verify decision recall after session reset

 

Steps:

• Create Decision Record
• Terminate session
• Resume session
• Query decision
• Pass Criteria:
• Decision retrieved accurately and enforced.

 

7. PCS-L2 Conformance Tests (Governance)

7.1 Required Capabilities

 

PCS-L2 tests validate:

• Deterministic policy enforcement
• Policy survival across sessions
• Provenance generation

 

7.2 Example Test Case

Test: L2-PR-004

Description: Enforce forbidden technology policy

 

Pass Criteria:

Output blocked or modified deterministically.

 

8. PCS-L3 Conformance Tests (CMCC)

8.1 Required Capabilities

PCS-L3 tests validate CMCC compliance as defined in RFC-PCS-0003.

 

Test categories include:

• Decision invariance across models
• Policy invariance across models
• Vision Anchor preservation
• Provenance continuity

 

8.2 Mandatory Transition Scenarios

PCS-CTS MUST include:

• Cloud → Cloud (Vendor A → Vendor B)
• Cloud → Local
• Local → Cloud
• Multi-hop transitions

 

8.3 Threshold Validation

PCS-L3 conformance REQUIRES meeting all CMCC thresholds:

• MetricThreshold

• Decision Recall≥ 95%

• Policy Enforcement100%

• Vision Anchors100%

• Provenance Integrity≥ 98%

Failure of any metric constitutes PCS-L3 failure.

 

9. PCS-L4 Conformance Tests (Federation) - Proposed/Future Work

9.1 Required Capabilities

PCS-L4 tests validate:

• Distributed memory graphs
• Federated synchronization
• Data sovereignty enforcement
• Policy-aware routing

 

9.2 Example Test Case

Test: L4-FG-002

Description: Prevent policy-violating cross-region state sync

Pass Criteria:

• State blocked or redacted per policy.

• 10. Common Test Requirements

• All PCS-CTS tests MUST:

• Be deterministic

• Be repeatable

• Produce machine-readable results

• Generate audit artifacts

 

 

11. Test Execution Requirements

Implementations claiming PCS compliance MUST:

• Execute all tests for claimed level
• Record results for each test case
• Generate signed attestation
• Partial execution is NOT permitted.

 

12. Reporting Format

Test results MUST be reported in structured form.

Minimum required fields:

{

"implementation_id": "...",

"pcs_level_claimed": "L3",

"test_suite_version": "PCS-CTS-1.0",

"execution_timestamp": "...",

"results": {

"passed": 97,

"failed": 3,

"skipped": 0

},

"attestation_signature": "..."

}

 

13. Attestation and Certification

PCS-CTS results MAY be submitted to a certification authority for formal recognition.

Attestations MUST be:

• Cryptographically signed
• Traceable to execution artifacts
• Retained for audit

 

14. Misrepresentation

Claiming PCS compliance without passing PCS-CTS tests constitutes misrepresentation.

 

Implementations MUST NOT claim PCS-L3 or PCS-L4 without full CMCC compliance.

 

15. Security Considerations

PCS-CTS execution artifacts SHOULD be protected against tampering.

Implementations SHOULD isolate test execution from production workloads where feasible.

 

16. Relationship to Intellectual Property

Passing PCS-CTS does not grant any license to intellectual property required to implement PCS features.

 

17. IANA Considerations

This document defines no IANA actions.

 

18. Conclusion

PCS-CTS provides a deterministic, enforceable mechanism for validating PCS compliance.

 

By separating specification from conformance, PCS-CTS enables trustworthy adoption while preventing unverified claims.

 

Appendix A

AVS-1R → PCS-CTS L1-DR-001 • AVS-2E → PCS-CTS L2-PR-004 • AVS-1M → PCS-CTS L3-CMCC-001 (planned)

End of RFC-PCS-0004