Methodology
VERSION 1 · SEPTEMBER 2026 · APPLIES TO EVERY CERTIFICATE ISSUED
Institutions adopt what they can cite. This page states, in plain terms, what a Chronicled certificate claims, exactly how its score is built, how anyone can verify one without trusting us, and how the data behind it is handled. It is versioned; material changes are dated here.
What a certificate claims — and what it doesn't
It claims
- that a specific sequence of sessions existed, in this order, at these times, and has not been altered since;
- that the recorded process signals — input cadence, snapshots, files, notes, device context — were captured as stated;
- that the finished image is bound to that record by signature and by an invisible watermark.
It does not claim
- that the work is original, good, or free of reference material;
- that forgery is impossible — only that it is expensive and, where attempted, detectable;
- to be a legal determination of authorship. It is evidence for a human reviewer, not a verdict.
How the score is built · 100 points
Seven independent dimensions, each earning up to a fixed maximum. The certificate shows the sum as “N-Point Certified” and lists every dimension with the points earned and why — nothing is hidden behind a grade.
| Dimension | Max | What earns it |
|---|---|---|
| Tamper-evident chain | 18 | Every event links to the one before it, and every session links to the previous session, by cryptographic hash. Any insertion, removal, reordering or edit anywhere in the timeline breaks the chain. Full points if the chain is intact end to end; zero otherwise. |
| Process evidence | 22 | Evidence that a human process produced the work, by one of three routes: live input telemetry from in-browser capture (sample volume, cadence, varying pressure); uploaded session artifacts (a recording, source-file types such as project files or RAW photos, process images, notes); or a partner tool's signed export with a progression analysis. Points scale with the richness and variety of what was captured. |
| Incremental visual progression | 16 | Snapshot frames showing the piece building up. Points scale with the number of frames, reaching the maximum at ten or more. |
| Built over sessions and time | 12 | Three points per recorded session (up to eight), plus a bonus for real elapsed time between the first session and completion: one point beyond a few minutes, two beyond an hour, four beyond a day. A believable multi-week rhythm is the hardest signal to fabricate. |
| Device and environment attestation | 8 | The device and application context each session was captured in, an authenticated upload session, or a partner tool's vendor attestation. |
| Creator identity | 14 | A Verified Creator — identity reviewed manually by Chronicled — earns the full dimension. An unverified account is a freely minted pseudonym and earns four points. When an account becomes verified, all of its existing certificates are re-scored automatically. |
| Public blockchain anchor | 10 | The finished record's digest committed to the Bitcoin blockchain through OpenTimestamps: ten points once confirmed in a block, six while the anchor is pending, three when only individual sessions are timestamped. |
Verifying a certificate independently
- Open the certificate link, or drop any copy of the image on the verify page.
- Read the checks. Each names what it tests — chain intact, sessions signed, record anchored, watermark resolves — and passes or fails in the open.
- Download the Bitcoin proof (an .ots file) from the certificate and confirm the timestamp against the public chain with the open-source OpenTimestamps client or website.
- The artist's public key and the record's signature are printed on the certificate for anyone who wants to check the signature directly.
Data, privacy and security
- Private by default. Notes, uploaded files and session images are shown to visitors only if the artist enables it per work; the timelapse and checks are always public.
- Only fingerprints are public. Beyond what the artist chooses to show, the public record consists of cryptographic hashes — enough to prove integrity, nothing more.
- Never resold, never used for AI training — a commitment in the Terms, not a policy page.
- Storage. Files live in private object storage, encrypted at rest and addressed by their own hash; nothing is served without a signed request.
- Deletion. Artists can delete works and accounts. Hashes already committed to Bitcoin cannot be un-published, but they reveal nothing about the work.
Limits we design against
Replayed or synthetic process signals. A sophisticated actor could try to fabricate input telemetry. Device attestation, the multi-session time signal, and identity verification raise the cost; the certificate always states which route the process evidence came from.
Watermark removal. Any single watermark layer can be attacked by cropping or re-encoding. Three independent layers are embedded so that defeating one leaves the others; the survival matrix is tested as part of the service.
Backdating. Impossible by construction: a public blockchain only moves forward, and every later edit breaks the chain visibly.
What the parts prove. The chain and the anchor prove when and that nothing changed; the process signals speak to who and how. Strength comes from all of them together, which is why the score is a sum of independent dimensions.
Questions about this methodology, or a request to review it for an institutional programme: contact@chronicled.art.