External evidence
Ananke Labs can attach external evidence records to issued documents. This page explains the concept at a high level and what developers need to know.
What it is
External evidence is an optional process where issuance evidence is recorded in an independent system outside the issuer workspace. This provides additional confidence for later audits and dispute handling.
This process is optional and asynchronous. A document remains verifiable immediately after issuance, even before external evidence is finalized.
How it works
The external evidence flow:
- A document is issued and assigned verification evidence
- The evidence is processed by external services
- A durable reference is recorded for later checks
- An evidence record is attached to the document
The exact implementation may vary by environment and product configuration. Integrations should treat evidence records as verification metadata rather than as a direct dependency for normal issuance flows.
Evidence record
An evidence record ties a document to external verification context. It may contain:
- Record reference — the document verification identifier
- External evidence reference — a pointer to external verification data
- Status — evidence processing state
- Timestamp — when the evidence was finalized
Integrations can use this record as an additional trust signal where needed.
Developer impact
For most integrations, this is transparent. Documents are verifiable immediately. Evidence status may appear as an additional verification field but is not required for baseline verification.
In local development, external evidence may be simulated while preserving the same API behavior.