Route Receipt v0.1

Route Receipt v0.1 defines a JSON document that records the route used to produce one AI response. A receipt may be returned with an API response, stored in an audit log, or rendered in a user-facing transparency panel.

Core receipt record

A conforming receipt identifies the receipt version, the response it describes, when it was issued, the provider, the served model, the requested model alias if one was used, and the disclosure view for which the receipt was generated.

The model fields distinguish the name requested by the caller from the model that actually served the response. If a provider only exposes a model family or alias, the receipt should say that instead of inventing a resolved version.

Route field details

The draft schema leaves capability tier, tool calls, retrieval sources, fallback attempts, safety interventions, region scope, data retention mode, and billing or latency class optional because current platforms expose them unevenly.

Each optional field uses a status value when the exact fact cannot be disclosed. The expected statuses are exposed, redacted, not_exposed, not_applicable, and unknown for that field. A receipt should prefer an explicit redaction marker over silence.

View-specific redaction

The same event can produce different views. A user view may show the model family, tool category, and whether fallback occurred. An auditor view may include internal request identifiers, policy rule identifiers, and more precise retention metadata.

Redaction is not a loophole. A redacted field still shows that the fact exists and was withheld. That distinction matters when a team needs to know whether a missing value means “not applicable” or “known but intentionally hidden.”

Scope exclusions

Route Receipt leaves model evaluation, provider ranking, safety policy, and procurement policy to other systems. It also does not require providers to reveal private reasoning traces, router internals, safety classifier prompts, exact failover thresholds, or infrastructure coordinates.

The schema captures only the route, not a full provenance record. It sits near the answer and explains the route that served it.

Schema versioning

The schema identifier is https://routereceipt.org/schemas/route-receipt/v0.1/schema.json. Subsequent versions should follow semantic versioning, with additions remaining backward-compatible within a major version.

The canonical v0.1 schema is JSON Schema.