An entry
The smallest thing the record knows: one regulated event, written down once. Everything else is built out of these.
Anatomy of an entry
A real entry from the demo chain, sealed in your browser. The identity fields make its ID computable. The hash covers everything, including the link to the entry before it.
Sealing entry…
The ID is computed, not assigned
The same event always produces the same ID, so a duplicate entry is detectable on sight. Nobody, including us, gets to hand out IDs.
One bad entry is one bad entry
Today doubt spreads: when an auditor cannot trust one line in a file, the whole file is in question. Sealing each entry on its own keeps the doubt where it belongs. An entry that fails the check is one failed entry. The entries around it keep their own hashes and their own links.
What an entry does not claim
An entry does not certify that its contents are correct. It certifies that this record was made, at this place, on this day, by this recorder, in this sequence, and has not changed since. Whether the rent was the right amount is a question for the auditor. The entry's job is to make sure the record they audit is the record that was made.