SPECIFICATION
Component: Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD)
Component Type: Specification
Maintaining Entity: Structured™
Parent Authority: Structured Authority & Attribution
Operating Environment: The Structured Layer™
Version: 1.0
Status: Active
Publication Date: August 13, 2026
1. AUTHORITY & STATUS
The Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD) is a Structured-defined specification developed and maintained by Structured™ within The Structured Layer™.
Structured™ maintains the canonical definition, specification, versioning, and conformance requirements of the CSD specification.
Authority, attribution, implementation, and conformance relationships applicable to the CSD are further governed by the applicable Structured Authority & Attribution documentation and the CSD Authority & Attribution statement.
2. CANONICAL DEFINITION
The Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD) is a Structured-defined specification for declaring canonical structural information about a defined subject, including its identity, attributes, relationships, authority, and provenance.
A CSD records declared structural information. A declaration does not, by itself, establish the truth, ownership, legitimacy, authority, or existence of the information or relationships it declares.
3. PURPOSE
The purpose of the Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD) is to provide a standardized method for expressing canonical structural information about a defined subject in a consistent, attributable, and implementation-independent form.
The CSD enables structural information—including identity, attributes, relationships, authority, and provenance—to be explicitly declared rather than inferred from distributed or potentially inconsistent representations.
The CSD provides a common specification through which declared structural information can be represented, maintained, referenced, and interpreted across implementations without requiring a specific technical format, platform, protocol, or processing system.
The CSD does not determine whether declared information is factually correct, externally recognized, legally authoritative, or accepted by any consuming system.
Conformance with the CSD specification concerns the structure and expression of a declaration, not the independent validity of the claims contained within it.
4. SCOPE
The CSD specification defines a standardized model for declaring canonical structural information about a defined subject.
The specification defines requirements applicable to:
- identification of the subject;
- expression of canonical identity;
- declaration of structural attributes;
- declaration of structural relationships;
- identification of declaring authority;
- expression of provenance;
- declaration structure and interpretation;
- declaration maintenance and lifecycle;
- version identification;
- conformance; and
- implementation-independent representation.
The CSD specification applies to the declaration and the structural information expressed through that declaration.
4.1 Non-Scope
The CSD does not independently determine, verify, create, transfer, or guarantee:
- factual truth;
- legitimacy;
- ownership;
- legal status;
- authority;
- external recognition;
- identity authentication;
- acceptance by consuming systems;
- search ranking or search performance;
- visibility or discoverability;
- citation outcomes;
- evaluation or scoring;
- certification; or
- endorsement by Structured™.
The CSD does not require a particular storage mechanism, transport mechanism, publication method, discovery mechanism, serialization, file extension, programming language, protocol, platform, or vendor implementation.
4.2 Search and Marketing Independence
The CSD is a structural declaration specification. It is not a search optimization, ranking, visibility, traffic, citation, marketing, or promotional system.
CSD conformance does not indicate or guarantee improved search rankings, generative search inclusion, citations, visibility, discoverability, traffic, or other performance outcomes.
Implementations MUST NOT represent CSD conformance as evidence of search, generative-system, marketing, or performance advantage.
DECLARATION BOUNDARY AND NON-BINDING EFFECT
- DECLARATION BOUNDARY
A Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD) is a first-party declaration of information and defined relationships made by or under the authority of the declaring entity.
Declaration authority establishes the declaring entity as the source and authority for the declaration. It does not establish the declaring entity as an authority over information, systems, entities, or relationships beyond the scope of its declaration.
A CSD expresses information and relationships as declared by the declaring entity. It does not, by itself, constitute independent verification, certification, endorsement, approval, warranty, guarantee, or representation of legal compliance.
A CSD does not establish authority over an external system’s interpretation, processing, characterization, acceptance, or use of the declaration.
External systems, platforms, persons, organizations, and other third parties remain independent in determining whether and how a CSD is discovered, accessed, interpreted, processed, relied upon, or used.
Declaration authority and specification authority are distinct. The declaring entity remains authoritative for the contents of its declaration. Structured™ remains the maintaining authority for the Structured-defined CSD specification.
- NON-BINDING EFFECT
Publication, implementation, reference, or use of a CSD does not, by itself, create a contract, warranty, guarantee, certification, representation of legal compliance, fiduciary duty, legal undertaking, or other binding obligation between the declaring entity, Structured™, an implementing entity, an external system, or any third party.
Publication of a CSD does not, by itself, create a continuing obligation to monitor, maintain, update, correct, preserve, republish, or continue the declaration.
Discovery, access, interpretation, processing, reliance, or use of a CSD by an external party or system does not, by itself, create an obligation, duty, warranty, or other binding relationship on the part of the declaring entity or Structured™.
Nothing in the CSD specification requires an external system, platform, person, organization, or other third party to discover, access, accept, rely upon, process, interpret, reproduce, prioritize, or use a CSD.
A CSD does not, by itself, supersede applicable law, regulation, contract, policy, governing instrument, or other independently binding requirement.
Nothing in this section limits an obligation or legal effect established independently of the CSD specification through applicable law, regulation, contract, agreement, or other binding authority.
Conformance with the CSD specification establishes conformance with the applicable specification requirements only.
Conformance does not, by itself, constitute certification, endorsement, approval, legal compliance, acceptance by Structured™, or acceptance by any external party.
5. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
A CSD Declaration expresses canonical structural information concerning a defined Subject within an applicable Context.
A declaration may contain Identity, Attributes, Relationships, Authority, and Provenance and carries sufficient lifecycle information to distinguish and maintain the declaration.
The conceptual model is independent of technical implementation.
5.1 CSD Declaration
A CSD Declaration is a structured expression of canonical structural information concerning a defined Subject in accordance with the CSD specification.
The CSD is the specification.
A CSD Declaration is an instance expressed in accordance with that specification.
5.2 Subject
A Subject is the identified entity, concept, system, specification, document, resource, or other supported structural object about which a CSD Declaration expresses structural information.
A declaration MUST identify its Subject sufficiently to distinguish that Subject within the applicable Context.
5.3 Identity
Identity is structural information used to identify and distinguish the Subject represented by a CSD Declaration.
Identity represents the identity being declared for the Subject. It does not independently authenticate the Subject or establish legal identity.
5.4 Attribute
An Attribute is a declared structural property or characteristic associated with the Subject.
5.5 Relationship
A Relationship is a declared structural association between the Subject and another identified subject or structural object.
5.6 Declaring Authority
The Declaring Authority is the entity responsible for issuing and maintaining a CSD Declaration.
5.7 Provenance
Provenance is information describing the origin, source, maintenance, or derivation of structural information contained in a CSD Declaration.
5.8 Context
Context is the defined structural or interpretive boundary within which a CSD Declaration and its declared information apply.
5.9 Status
Status identifies the lifecycle condition of a CSD Declaration.
5.10 Version
Version identifies a defined state of the CSD specification or an individual CSD Declaration, as applicable.
6. DECLARATION REQUIREMENTS
A conforming CSD Declaration MUST contain sufficient information to:
- identify its Subject;
- express the applicable canonical structural information;
- identify its Declaring Authority; and
- distinguish and maintain the declaration.
A CSD Declaration consists logically of five core components:
Subject
Identifies what the declaration concerns.
Identity
States the canonical identity being declared for the Subject.
Structure
Expresses applicable Attributes and/or Relationships.
Authority & Provenance
Identifies the Declaring Authority and, where applicable, the origin or basis of the declared information.
Declaration Metadata
Provides lifecycle information necessary to distinguish and maintain the declaration, including applicable version and status information.
A CSD Declaration SHOULD contain only structural information applicable to its Subject and Context.
Implementations SHOULD NOT require unused optional information to be represented.
Additional information MAY be included when necessary to express the Subject accurately, provided that it does not alter or conflict with required CSD structural meaning.
The absence of optional information MUST NOT make an otherwise conforming declaration non-conforming.
CSD follows a minimum-sufficient-information model. A declaration SHOULD express only the structural information necessary to identify, interpret, attribute, and maintain the declared structure of its Subject.
7. AUTHORITY & PROVENANCE
Every CSD Declaration MUST identify its Declaring Authority.
A CSD Declaration records asserted authority. It does not create, transfer, verify, or grant authority through the act of declaration.
A CSD Declaration MAY concern a Subject controlled or maintained by its Declaring Authority or a Subject maintained by another entity.
A declaration concerning a third-party Subject MUST NOT represent itself as originating from, authorized by, or endorsed by that Subject or its maintaining authority unless such authority exists independently of the declaration.
Multiple CSD Declarations MAY concern the same Subject.
The existence of multiple or conflicting declarations does not require the CSD specification to determine which declaration is authoritative.
Each declaration remains attributable to its respective Declaring Authority and Provenance.
8. CANONICALITY & RELATIONSHIPS
Within the CSD specification, canonical identifies structural information designated by a CSD Declaration as the reference representation for its Subject within the applicable declaration Context.
Canonical designation does not, by itself, establish:
- universal truth;
- legal authority;
- independent verification;
- exclusivity; or
- universal acceptance.
A CSD Declaration MAY express structural Relationships between its Subject and other identified subjects or structural objects.
A Relationship SHOULD contain sufficient information to distinguish:
Subject → Relationship → Object
A declared Relationship represents structural information. Its inclusion does not independently establish the validity or authority of the underlying relationship.
9. CONFORMANCE & IMPLEMENTATION INDEPENDENCE
A CSD Declaration conforms to this specification when it contains the required declaration components and preserves their structural meaning in accordance with the specification.
A conforming CSD Declaration MUST:
- identify its Subject;
- express applicable canonical structural information;
- identify its Declaring Authority;
- provide sufficient declaration metadata to distinguish and maintain the declaration; and
- preserve the meaning of required CSD components.
Conformance with the CSD specification does not constitute certification, approval, verification, or endorsement by Structured™.
The CSD specification is implementation-independent.
A conforming implementation MAY express or transport a CSD Declaration using different technical formats or mechanisms provided that the implementation preserves the structural meaning and applicable requirements defined by this specification.
No serialization, file format, transport mechanism, storage system, programming language, protocol, platform, or vendor implementation constitutes the CSD itself unless explicitly designated by the specification.
The CSD Conceptual Model does not prescribe how declared structural information must be processed, evaluated, ranked, resolved, or acted upon by consuming systems.
10. VERSIONING & LIFECYCLE
CSD distinguishes between specification versioning and declaration versioning.
10.1 CSD Specification Version
The CSD Specification Version identifies the applicable version of the Canonical Structural Declaration specification.
10.2 CSD Declaration Version
The CSD Declaration Version identifies a defined maintained state of an individual CSD Declaration.
A change to an individual declaration does not constitute a change to the CSD specification.
A change to the CSD specification does not automatically modify existing CSD Declarations.
10.3 Declaration Status
A CSD Declaration MAY use the following lifecycle states:
Draft — The declaration is under development and is not the active declaration.
Active — The declaration is the current maintained declaration.
Superseded — The declaration has been replaced by a newer declaration.
Withdrawn — The declaration has been intentionally removed from active use without replacement.
A Superseded or Withdrawn declaration MAY remain available as a historical record provided that its status is clearly represented.
11. NORMATIVE LANGUAGE
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, and MAY indicate requirement levels within this specification.
MUST / MUST NOT indicate requirements necessary for conformance.
SHOULD / SHOULD NOT indicate recommended practices for which valid exceptions may exist.
MAY indicates an optional capability or practice.
Descriptive material that does not use normative terminology does not independently establish a conformance requirement.
12. TERMINOLOGY
For purposes of this specification:
Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD)
The Structured-defined specification for declaring canonical structural information.
CSD Declaration
An instance expressing structural information in accordance with the CSD specification.
Subject
The identified object about which structural information is declared.
Identity
Structural information identifying and distinguishing the Subject.
Attribute
A declared structural property or characteristic associated with the Subject.
Relationship
A declared structural association between the Subject and another identified structural object.
Declaring Authority
The entity responsible for issuing and maintaining a CSD Declaration.
Provenance
Information describing the origin or basis of declared structural information.
Context
The boundary within which a declaration and its canonical designation apply.
Canonical
Designated as the reference structural representation within the applicable declaration Context.
Status
The lifecycle condition of a CSD Declaration.
Version
An identifier distinguishing a defined state of the CSD specification or a CSD Declaration, as applicable.
13. GOVERNING PRINCIPLE
The Canonical Structural Declaration provides a standardized, attributable, and implementation-independent method for explicitly declaring canonical structural information about a defined Subject.
A CSD Declaration represents declared structure.
It does not, merely through declaration, create or verify the underlying truth, ownership, legitimacy, authority, identity, or Relationships it describes.
Canonical Structural Declaration (CSD)
Specification Version 1.0
Maintained by Structured™
Operating Environment: The Structured Layer™