Small Trades Cooperative – Trust Framework

Governance specification for the small-trades-cooperative ecosystem. Defines who participates, what credentials exist, how authority is delegated, and what obligations each role carries. Generated by /keri:design0-ecosystem.

1. Executive Summary

The Small Trades Cooperative trust framework establishes a KERI-native governance model for independent skilled tradespeople — plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, welders, carpenters, concrete workers, and related trades. It replaces centralized trust intermediaries (general contractors, review platforms, trade companies) with cryptographically verifiable relationships using Autonomic Identifiers (AIDs), Authentic Chained Data Containers (ACDCs), and delegated authority hierarchies.

Scope: A cooperative of independent skilled tradespeople where each worker holds verifiable credentials — trade licenses, insurance, bonding, safety certifications — and contracts directly with homeowners and cities. No general contractor middleman. Job sequencing, credential verification, and compliance are handled by the protocol. Reputation is built through cryptographically attested job completions and travels with the worker. The cooperative provides community and collective bargaining, not administrative overhead. Workers capture the full value of their labor.

Regulatory basis: State trade licensing codes, local building codes (IBC/IRC), OSHA workplace safety standards, state contractor registration requirements, surety and bonding requirements.

Core principles:

• Essential value chains only. Every role must provide genuine value. Middlemen that exist only because trust verification was expensive are eliminated.
• Workers capture full value. No 40-60% revenue extraction by trade companies. Coops charge membership fees, not revenue cuts.
• Portable reputation. Job completion attestations and credentials travel with the worker. Leaving a coop means leaving with everything.
• Privacy as contract. What gets disclosed, to whom, and under what conditions is defined in contracts up front. Not in platform terms of service.
• Escrow as accountability. Funds are locked before work begins and released on completion or mediation. Both parties are protected.

2. Governance Authority

2.1 Governing Body

This ecosystem operates without a single governing body. Governance is distributed across existing institutional trust anchors and emergent community standards:

• State licensing boards define trade licensing requirements and issue credentials. They are the initial trust anchors in the immature ecosystem.
• City building departments define building code standards as verifiable schemas and retain audit authority over inspectors.
• Cooperatives self-govern through published governance frameworks that define their membership requirements. Each coop is autonomous.
• Arbitration bodies credential mediators who resolve contract disputes.

As the ecosystem matures, governance authority migrates from institutional monopoly to reputation-backed trust. Master tradespeople with strong track records become trust anchors for mentorship and skill attestation. Private inspectors with proven accuracy compete with government inspectors. The institutions don’t disappear — they stop being the only game in town.

2.2 Regulatory Frameworks

• State trade licensing codes — Define who can practice each trade and under what conditions
• Local building codes (IBC/IRC) — Define construction standards that must be met
• OSHA workplace safety standards — Define job site safety requirements
• State contractor registration requirements — Define business registration obligations
• Surety and bonding requirements — Define financial guarantee obligations for larger jobs

2.3 Framework Versioning

This trust framework is versioned. Changes to credential schemas, role definitions, or delegation rules require a new version published to the ecosystem’s schema registry. Participants MUST verify framework version before issuing or accepting credentials.

3. Participant Roles

3.1 Role Summary

3.2 Role Details

Independent Tradesperson (tradesperson)

Description: Licensed skilled worker (plumber, electrician, HVAC, welder, carpenter, concrete worker, etc.) who holds their own credentials, contracts directly with clients, and builds portable reputation through attested job completions. The atomic unit of this ecosystem.

Governance obligations:

• Must maintain valid trade license for practiced trade category
• Must maintain current insurance and bonding credentials
• Must present credentials to homeowner and city upon request
• Must complete work to applicable building code standards

Credentials issued: (receives job_completion_attestation from homeowner) Credentials required to participate: trade_license, insurance_credential, safety_certification

Master Tradesperson (master_tradesperson)

Description: Highly experienced tradesperson who mentors apprentices, issues apprenticeship attestations, and serves as a trust anchor. Their reputation compounds through their apprentices’ success. Mentorship is a revenue stream.

Governance obligations:

• Must hold master designation from licensing board
• Must maintain active practice or recent practice history
• Must accurately attest apprentice skill progression
• Reputation is staked on apprentice quality — poor apprentices reflect on mentor

Credentials issued: apprenticeship_attestation, skill_level Credentials required to participate: trade_license, master_designation, insurance_credential, safety_certification

Apprentice (apprentice)

Description: Tradesperson-in-training working under a master or journeyman. The apprenticeship path is an alternative to trade school — find a good mentor, learn the trade, build verifiable lineage.

Governance obligations:

• Must work under supervision of credentialed mentor
• Must not practice independently beyond apprentice scope

Credentials issued: none Credentials required to participate: apprenticeship_attestation, safety_certification

Trades Cooperative (coop)

Description: Voluntary association of tradespeople with published membership requirements. Provides collective brand, shared marketing, group insurance rates. Does NOT own members’ credentials or capture their revenue. Competes with traditional trade companies by requiring the same quality without taking 40-60% of job revenue.

Governance obligations:

• Must publish governance framework publicly (membership requirements, standards)
• Must maintain witness pool with >= 3 witnesses
• Must verify member credentials on admission and monitor expiry
• Must not retain member credentials or reputation upon departure

Credentials issued: coop_membership, coop_governance_framework Credentials required to participate: coop_registration

Property Owner / Client (homeowner)

Description: Individual or entity contracting for trade services. Funds escrow, receives work, issues job completion attestations. The job completion attestation — not a review — is the atomic unit of tradesperson reputation.

Governance obligations:

• Must fund escrow before work begins
• Must attest job completion or initiate dispute within contract timeframe

Credentials issued: job_completion_attestation Credentials required to participate: financial_responsibility, property_credential

Credentialed Inspector (inspector)

Description: Licensed individual who verifies physical work against building code schemas. Can be government or private. Private inspectors break the city inspector bottleneck by competing on speed, availability, and reputation.

Governance obligations:

• Must hold valid inspector license from licensing board or city
• Must attest only within licensed inspection categories
• Must maintain impartiality — cannot inspect own work or employer’s work
• Subject to audit/spot-check by city building department

Credentials issued: code_compliance_attestation Credentials required to participate: inspector_license

Dispute Mediator (mediator)

Description: Credentialed individual agreed upon in contracts before work begins. Reviews audit trails and evidence to resolve disputes. Fee comes from escrowed funds.

Governance obligations:

• Must hold valid mediator credential from recognized arbitration body
• Must disclose any conflicts of interest before accepting a case
• Must render ruling within timeframe defined in contract
• Ruling history is public and contributes to reputation

Credentials issued: mediation_ruling Credentials required to participate: mediator_credential

State Licensing Board (licensing_board)

Description: Government entity that issues trade licenses and defines requirements. Trust anchor in the immature ecosystem. Role shifts from paper processing to standard-setting and audit as ecosystem matures.

Governance obligations:

• Must issue and maintain trade license credentials
• Must publish licensing requirements as verifiable schemas
• Must revoke credentials when licenses lapse or are suspended
• Must maintain public OOBI endpoints for verification

Credentials issued: trade_license, master_designation, inspector_license, skill_level Credentials required to participate: (root authority)

City Building Department (city_building_dept)

Description: Local government entity that publishes building code as verifiable schemas and accepts inspector attestations. Role shifts from inspection workforce to governance framework and quality audit.

Governance obligations:

• Must publish building code requirements as verifiable schemas
• Must accept attestations from credentialed inspectors
• Must maintain audit/spot-check program for inspector quality
• Must issue permits when credential requirements are met

Credentials issued: inspector_license, property_credential Credentials required to participate: (root authority)

Connector / Recommendation Platform (connector_service)

Description: Optional service facilitating discovery between homeowners and tradespeople. Does NOT own reputation data. Deliberately lightweight — no infrastructure power accumulation. The organic, local alternative to Yelp/Angi.

Governance obligations:

• Must not store or claim ownership of tradesperson reputation data
• Must not gatekeep access to tradespeople
• Must present verifiable credentials, not proprietary ratings

Credentials issued: none Credentials required to participate: connector_registration

Escrow Protocol Service (escrow_service)

Description: Infrastructure holding funds between contract signing and job completion. Cross-ecosystem primitive — not owned by any single entity. Releases on mutual attestation or mediator ruling.

Governance obligations:

• Must hold funds securely and release only on defined trigger conditions
• Must support mutual attestation release and mediator ruling release
• Must publish transparent fee structure
• Must maintain audit trail of all escrow transactions

Credentials issued: escrow_contract, escrow_release Credentials required to participate: (protocol infrastructure)

Hardware Device Attestor (device_attestor)

Description: Manufacturer or certifier of devices that produce hardware-attested images and recordings. Enables the physical-to-digital bridge.

Governance obligations:

• Must certify devices meet authenticity standards
• Must revoke attestation for compromised devices
• Must publish device certification standards

Credentials issued: hardware_attestation Credentials required to participate: (manufacturer authority)

4. Credential Governance

4.1 Issuance Rules

Each credential type has a designated issuer role. Only AIDs holding the required role credential may issue that credential type. Issuance MUST:

• Validate the issuer holds a current, unrevoked role credential
• Verify schema compliance before signing
• Anchor the TEL issuance event in the issuer’s KEL
• Collect witness receipts meeting the ecosystem’s threshold

4.2 Revocation Policies

• Issuers MAY revoke credentials they have issued at any time
• Revocation is immediate upon TEL rev event anchored in the issuer’s KEL
• Licensing boards MUST revoke when licenses lapse or are suspended
• Coops MUST revoke membership when members no longer meet governance requirements
• Revoked credentials MUST NOT be accepted by verifiers
• Auto-expiry: credentials with expiration dates become invalid without requiring explicit revocation

4.3 Dispute Resolution

Graduated 5-filter model designed to resolve disputes at the lowest possible cost:

Filter 1 — Clear contracts. Contracts define scope, milestones, escrow amounts, estimate ranges for unknowns, and pre-designated mediator. Scope changes require signed amendments. Most misunderstandings are prevented here.

Filter 2 — Verifiable attestations. Inspection sign-offs, milestone completions, and timestamps make fault obvious. The audit trail shows who did what, when, to what standard, inspected by whom.

Filter 3 — AI audit. Automated analysis of the KERI audit trail catches non-obvious liability patterns. Adjudicating bodies publish resolution algorithms that run against the evidence chain.

Filter 4 — Credentialed mediator. Pre-designated in the contract. Reviews audit trails, witnessed recordings, and evidence. Issues binding ruling. Fee comes from escrowed funds, defined up front.

Filter 5 — Traditional legal system. Last resort. Court receives cryptographic evidence chain — signed contracts, attested milestones, witnessed recordings, mediator ruling. Case is simpler because evidence is verifiable.

Duplicity (equivocation) detected by watchers constitutes automatic grounds for credential suspension. The governance authority (licensing board or coop) convenes review to evaluate duplicity evidence and render judgment.

5. Infrastructure Obligations

5.1 Witness Pool Requirements

Roles operating witness pools (coop, licensing_board, city_building_dept, escrow_service) MUST:

• Maintain a minimum of 3 geographically distributed witnesses
• Achieve KAACE consensus threshold before confirming events
• Publish OOBI endpoints for witness discovery
• Monitor witness availability and rotate failed witnesses

5.2 Watcher Network Requirements

Roles subscribing to watcher networks (coop, licensing_board, city_building_dept, escrow_service) MUST:

• Sync KELs for all AIDs they interact with
• Report duplicity evidence to the governance body
• Maintain first-seen records for audit purposes

5.3 Agent Service Requirements

All roles running KERIA agents MUST:

• Secure private key material (never at rest on disk unencrypted)
• Implement key rotation on a schedule defined by the governance body
• Maintain backup and recovery procedures
• Support the IPEX protocol for credential exchange

5.4 ACDC Registry Requirements

Roles operating ACDC registries (master_tradesperson, coop, inspector, licensing_board, city_building_dept, escrow_service, device_attestor) MUST:

• Maintain TEL (Transaction Event Log) for all issued credentials
• Process revocation events within 24 hours of trigger condition
• Publish registry OOBI for verifier access

6. Privacy Framework

6.1 Disclosure Modes

• Trade License: Selective disclosure — prove licensed without revealing license number
• Insurance Coverage: Selective disclosure — coverage yes/no and amount, not policy details
• Surety Bond: Selective disclosure — bonded yes/no and amount threshold
• Background Check: Selective disclosure — pass/fail only
• Drug Screening: Selective disclosure — pass/fail, disclosed to coop only
• Safety Certification: Full disclosure
• Skill Level Designation: Full disclosure
• Apprenticeship Attestation: Full disclosure — the lineage is the value
• Master Designation: Full disclosure
• Cooperative Membership: Full disclosure
• Coop Governance Framework: Full disclosure — the transparency IS the brand
• Coop Registration: Full disclosure
• Job Completion Attestation: Full disclosure (worker-controlled presentation)
• Financial Responsibility: Selective disclosure — fundable amount, not bank details
• Property Ownership: Selective disclosure — ownership yes, not purchase price
• Inspector License: Full disclosure
• Code Compliance Attestation: Full disclosure
• Mediator Credential: Full disclosure
• Mediation Ruling: Contractual disclosure — parties and escrow service only
• Escrow Contract: Contractual disclosure — parties and mediator only
• Escrow Release: Selective disclosure — clean/mediated outcome, not amounts
• Witnessed Recording: Contractual disclosure — locked box, dispute-triggered access only
• Hardware Device Attestation: Full disclosure
• Connector Registration: Full disclosure

6.2 Data Minimization

Verifiers MUST request only the minimum credential fields required for their purpose. Selective disclosure credentials MUST be presented in compact form unless the verifier demonstrates a legitimate need for full disclosure.

6.3 Consent

Credential holders control presentation. No credential may be verified without the holder initiating the IPEX presentation exchange. The holder’s agent MUST prompt for consent before disclosing attributes.

6.4 Privacy Requirements

• Trade license numbers use selective disclosure — prove licensed without revealing number
• Insurance policy details use selective disclosure — coverage yes/no and amount only
• Background check results are pass/fail only — no underlying details disclosed
• Drug test results disclosed to coop membership verification only, not to homeowners
• Financial responsibility shows fundability, not bank balances or account details
• Witnessed recordings are contractual disclosure — locked box opened only for dispute resolution
• Property ownership details use selective disclosure — prove ownership without revealing financials
• Workers control their own privacy gradient based on career stage and preference

7. Liability Framework

7.1 Issuer Liability

Credential issuers are liable for the accuracy of claims at the time of issuance. Issuers MUST revoke credentials when underlying facts change. Licensing boards are liable for timely revocation of lapsed licenses. Master tradespeople stake their reputation on apprenticeship attestations — the quality of their apprentices reflects directly on them.

7.2 Verifier Liability

Verifiers are liable for checking revocation status and duplicity evidence before relying on a credential. A homeowner who hires a tradesperson without verifying credentials assumes the risk. A city that accepts an inspector attestation without checking the inspector’s credential status is liable for that omission.

7.3 Holder Liability

Holders are liable for maintaining key security. Compromise of a holder’s keys does not invalidate properly-issued credentials but requires immediate key rotation and re-issuance. Tradespeople are liable for the work they attest to in contracts.

7.4 Infrastructure Liability

Witness pool operators are liable for availability and first-seen integrity. Watcher operators are liable for timely duplicity reporting. Escrow services are liable for secure fund custody and correct release execution.

7.5 Escrow-Specific Liability

The escrow pattern creates clear liability boundaries:

• Before work begins: Homeowner has funded escrow. Tradesperson knows payment exists.
• During work: Milestones and inspections create timestamped evidence of progress and quality.
• On completion: Mutual attestation releases funds. No dispute = no liability ambiguity.
• On dispute: Mediator reviews cryptographic evidence chain. Ruling is binding. Fee comes from escrow.
• Audit trail: Every step is signed, witnessed, and verifiable. Liability follows the evidence, not the argument.

7.6 Multi-Trade Liability

On jobs involving multiple trades, the audit trail establishes causation:

• Each trade’s work is inspected and attested independently
• Timestamps and inspection attestations create a clear timeline
• If Trade A’s work passed inspection at time T1, and Trade B’s subsequent work caused damage at time T2, the evidence chain assigns liability to Trade B
• Auto-dispute resolution algorithms published by adjudicating bodies can process these patterns

8. Delegation Trees

8.1 Trade Licensing

licensing_board (root)
  -> tradesperson (scope: "Practice within licensed category", depth: 1)
  -> master_tradesperson (scope: "Practice + issue apprenticeship attestations", depth: 2)
    -> apprentice (scope: "Practice under supervision", depth: 1)
  -> inspector (scope: "Inspect within licensed trade categories", depth: 1)

8.2 Inspection Authority

city_building_dept (root)
  -> inspector (scope: "Attest code compliance for permitted work", depth: 1)

Mature ecosystem addition:

licensing_board (root)
  -> master_tradesperson (scope: "Attest code compliance within their trade", depth: 1)

8.3 Coop Membership

coop (root)
  -> tradesperson (scope: "Represent brand, meet governance requirements", depth: 1)

No sub-delegation — members cannot grant membership.

8.4 Dispute Resolution

arbitration_body / licensing_board (root)
  -> mediator (scope: "Issue binding rulings on contract disputes", depth: 1)

No sub-delegation — mediator authority is flat.

8.5 Escrow Release

escrow_service (root — protocol)
  -> homeowner + tradesperson (scope: "Jointly trigger release on mutual attestation", depth: 1)
  -> mediator (scope: "Trigger release on binding ruling", depth: 1)

No single party can release unilaterally.

8.6 Mentorship Lineage

licensing_board (root)
  -> master_tradesperson (scope: "Attest skill progression, issue credentials", depth: 3)
    -> journeyman (scope: "Supervise apprentice on site", depth: 1)
      -> apprentice (scope: "Practice under supervision", depth: 0)

Depth 3 allows operational supervision chains. Credentialing authority (apprenticeship_attestation) always comes from the master, not the journeyman.

9. Interoperability

Insurance Ecosystem Bridge

Bridge credentials: insurance_credential, bond_credential

Data flows:

• Tradespeople carry insurance credentials issued by the insurance ecosystem
• Escrow history and dispute-free record may influence insurance premiums
• Clean escrow release history signals lower risk for premium pricing

Financial Ecosystem Bridge

Bridge credentials: financial_responsibility

Data flows:

• Homeowner’s financial institution attests escrow fundability
• Credit-clearing networks (MyCHIPs) as alternative to traditional banking
• Tradesperson payment settlement through financial ecosystem

Escrow Protocol Bridge

Bridge credentials: escrow_contract, escrow_release, mediation_ruling

Data flows:

• Cross-ecosystem escrow primitive — same pattern for any service contract industry
• Mediator credentials recognized across ecosystems

Education / Training Ecosystem Bridge

Bridge credentials: apprenticeship_attestation, safety_certification, skill_level

Data flows:

• Mentorship lineage credentials portable across ecosystems
• Alternative to formal trade school credentials
• Continuing education credentials from training providers

Cross-ecosystem credential verification requires both ecosystems to publish compatible OOBIs and recognize each other’s governance frameworks. Bridge credentials MUST chain from a credential recognized in both ecosystems.

10. Ecosystem Maturity Model

This ecosystem is designed to bootstrap from existing trust structures and evolve toward reputation-based governance.

Phase 1: Bootstrap (Immature)

• State licensing boards and city building departments are primary trust anchors
• Trade companies (AnyHour, etc.) still exist but face competitive pressure from coops
• Inspectors are primarily government-employed
• Escrow is optional, adopted by early-mover coops
• Reputation is thin — few job completion attestations exist

Phase 2: Growth

• Coops proliferate with competing governance frameworks
• Private inspectors emerge, accepted by forward-thinking cities
• Escrow becomes standard for coop members
• Mentorship chains begin to carry market weight
• Connector services replace platform dependency
• Insurance begins pricing off escrow and attestation history

Phase 3: Mature

• Master tradespeople are trust anchors independent of institutions
• Mentorship lineage competes with (or exceeds) trade school credentials
• Government role shrinks to standard-setting and audit
• Escrow is default for all trade contracts
• Reputation is rich — decades of attested job history
• New tradespeople enter through mentorship path as viable alternative
• Insurance ecosystem may be restructured around self-insurance and community risk pools

Next Steps

• Run /keri:design1-service to design services within this ecosystem
• Credential schemas in credential-catalog.md define the ACDC a block for each type
• Infrastructure patterns are selected at C2 based on role requirements in this document