05 · Depth and statuses

Normative source: N-SPEC v0.7 §14.1, §14.2, §14.4, §14.5, §16.1, §17.1, §17.3, §17.6, §18; WHY-N §7, §8. This page explains; it does not restate rules or parameter values.

An included operation and a decision to deliver value are different things. Inclusion records where the operation appears. Depth informs a participant's policy for acting on it. The party delivering value outside BATHRON carries the residual risk and chooses the required depth. WHY-N §7

Choose depth within a domain

There is no native finality. N offers inclusion and depth. Each participant chooses a depth from the published table, within the published domain. Outside it, N makes no quantitative claim. N-SPEC v0.7 §1.4, invariant 18, §17.3, §17.6

The published K(ε) table relates depth to a conditional risk bound for a particular cut in history. It is not a universal delivery policy. Read it together with the domain assumptions and the delivery policy. Copying a depth into an interface without its assumptions would remove the context in which the bound applies. N-SPEC v0.7 §17.3

SPs and LPs can require a greater depth to target a smaller residual risk within that domain. The choice belongs to the party exposed by an external delivery, alongside its exposure policy. A provider's decision does not replace the protocol's rules. WHY-N §7

Read a status with its context

Use the application status identifiers defined in N-SPEC v0.7 §14.5. They distinguish stages such as inclusion, depth assessment, reorganisation and waiting. After reinclusion, depth and stability assessment start from the new inclusion. A previously reached depth does not carry across to that new position. N-SPEC v0.7 §14.5

The API separates O, an objective function of explicit data; L, a local observation; and M, a model result. These categories make the basis of a report visible. An interface should retain the relevant chain, origin and policy context instead of collapsing them into an unconditional assurance flag. N-SPEC v0.7 §16.1

Waiting and suspension

Wait or stop rather than be wrong. A settlement may wait hours; the network may pause to resolve a conflict. This describes the design within its assumptions, not a promise that every conflict will be detected. Delivery can be suspended without an attack, and chain progress alone does not establish that a delivery policy is satisfied. WHY-N §7, §8; N-SPEC v0.7 §14.2, §14.4, §18

Outside the published domain

The table does not provide a quantitative claim outside H_N. Existing halt and recovery rules still apply, but leaving the domain need not trigger STOP. A long wait does not repair missing assumptions. The published limits define what the model does not establish. N-SPEC v0.7 §17.6

See also

Where trust lives, The N engine, Who does what, and Glossary.