@atrib/trace 0.2.0

package/LICENSE

@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+                                 Apache License
+                           Version 2.0, January 2004
+                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/
+
+   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
+
+   1. Definitions.
+
+      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
+      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
+
+      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
+      the copyright owner that is granting the License.
+
+      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
+      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
+      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
+      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
+      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
+      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
+      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
+
+      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
+      exercising permissions granted by this License.
+
+      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
+      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
+      source, and configuration files.
+
+      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
+      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
+      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
+      and conversions to other media types.
+
+      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship made available under
+      the License, as indicated by a copyright notice that is included in
+      or attached to the work (an example is provided in the Appendix below).
+
+      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
+      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
+      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
+      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
+      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
+      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
+      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
+
+      "Contribution" shall mean, as submitted to the Licensor for inclusion
+      in the Work by the copyright owner or by an individual or Legal Entity
+      authorized to submit on behalf of the copyright owner. For the purposes
+      of this definition, "submitted" means any form of electronic, verbal,
+      or written communication sent to the Licensor or its representatives,
+      including but not limited to communication on electronic mailing lists,
+      source code control systems, and issue tracking systems that are managed
+      by, or on behalf of, the Licensor for the purpose of discussing and
+      improving the Work, but excluding communication that is conspicuously
+      marked or otherwise designated in writing by the copyright owner as
+      "Not a Contribution."
+
+      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any Legal Entity on behalf of
+      whom a Contribution has been received by the Licensor and subsequently
+      incorporated within the Work.
+
+   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
+      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
+      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
+
+   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
+      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
+      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
+      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
+      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
+      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
+      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim
+      or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution
+      incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or contributory patent
+      infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You under this License
+      for that Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed.
+
+   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
+      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
+      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
+      meet the following conditions:
+
+      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works
+          a copy of this License; and
+
+      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
+          stating that You changed the files; and
+
+      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
+          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
+          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
+          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
+          the Derivative Works; and
+
+      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
+          distribution, You must include a readable copy of the attribution
+          notices contained within such NOTICE file, in at least one
+          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
+          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
+          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
+          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
+          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
+          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
+          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
+          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
+          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
+          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
+          as modifying the License.
+
+      You may add Your own license statement for Your modifications and
+      may provide additional grant of rights to use, modify, or distribute
+      those modifications in accordance with this License.
+
+   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
+      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
+      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
+      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
+      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
+      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
+      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
+
+   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
+      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
+      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
+      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
+
+   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
+      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
+      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
+      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
+      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
+      appropriateness of using or reproducing the Work and assume any
+      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
+
+   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
+      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
+      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
+      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
+      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
+      incidental, or exemplary damages of any character arising as a
+      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
+      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
+      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or all other
+      commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor has been
+      advised of the possibility of such damages.
+
+   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
+      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
+      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
+      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
+      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
+      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
+      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
+      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
+      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
+      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
+
+   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
+
+   APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
+
+      To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
+      boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
+      replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
+      the brackets!)  The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
+      comment syntax for the file format in question. Also, an optional
+      "Statement of Purpose" appears after the copyright notice.
+
+   Copyright 2025-2026 Atrib contributors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+   implied. See the License for the specific language governing
+   permissions and limitations under the License.

package/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# @atrib/atrib-trace
+
+MCP server exposing the `trace` tool — walks a record's `informed_by` chain backward to surface the reasoning chain that led to it.
+
+Closes the consumer-side cognitive-loop primitive: recall returns raw records; trace returns the causal chain, so an agent asking "why did I do X?" can see "X was informed by Y, which was informed by Z" without manually walking `informed_by` hash-by-hash.
+
+## Tool
+
+```
+mcp__atrib-trace__trace({
+  record_hash: "sha256:<64-hex>",  // start
+  depth?: number,                   // hop cap (default 3, max 10)
+  max_nodes?: number,               // safety cap (default 200, max 500)
+  compact?: boolean                 // omit signature/content_id bytes (default true)
+})
+→ {
+  start_hash, direction: "backward",
+  depth_requested, depth_reached,
+  visited: [
+    {
+      depth, record_hash, parent_hashes, source,
+      event_type, context_id, creator_key, timestamp,
+      next_informed_by, next_resolved, next_dangling,
+      sidecar_summary?: { tool_name?, topics?, what?, importance?, producer? }
+    }
+  ],
+  dangling: string[],
+  truncated_by_depth, truncated_by_cap,
+  warnings
+}
+```
+
+## Reads
+
+Every `*.jsonl` mirror under `~/.atrib/records/` (override via `ATRIB_RECORDS_DIR`). Tolerates both producer envelope shapes:
+
+- Bare `AtribRecord` per line (legacy / wrapper convention pre-sidecar)
+- `{ record, _local?, written_at }` envelope (current shape)
+
+When the envelope carries an optional `_local` sidecar (per the local-mirror sidecar pattern shipped in `@atrib/mcp` v0.2.x), trace surfaces a compact `sidecar_summary` per record: `tool_name`, `topics`, first ~200 chars of `what`/`summary`, and `importance` for annotations. Without the sidecar (legacy entries), the per-record output still includes the cryptographic evidence (event_type, hashes, creator_key, timestamp) — just without the semantic context.
+
+## Behaviors
+
+- **Cycle-safe**: every record visited at most once, even with multiple parents referencing it.
+- **Cap-safe**: hits `max_nodes` → returns partial result with `truncated_by_cap: true`.
+- **Depth-safe**: hits `depth` → returns partial result with `truncated_by_depth: true`.
+- **Dangling-aware**: `informed_by` entries pointing at records not in the local mirror surface in `dangling` and do NOT advance the walk.
+- **Local-only (v1)**: reads only the local mirror. v2 will fall back to `log.atrib.dev/v1/lookup/<hash>` for hashes not in the local mirror.
+- **Backward-only (v1)**: walks `informed_by` upstream. Forward-walk (records that reference THIS one) is a v2 concern via the graph service.
+
+## Wire-up
+
+Add to your MCP host config (e.g. `~/.claude.json` `mcpServers`):
+
+```json
+{
+  "atrib-trace": {
+    "command": "node",
+    "args": ["/path/to/atrib-trace/dist/main.js"]
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Or run as a one-off subprocess via `pnpm --filter @atrib/atrib-trace start`.
+
+## Status
+
+Initial scaffold (v0.1.0). 8 tests covering: empty-mirror, single-record, one-hop walk, multi-hop chain, depth truncation, diamond fan-in, dangling references, max_nodes cap. Full workspace tests green.
+
+The companion consumer-side primitive `atrib-summarize` (synthesizes narrative across N records) is the next ship.

package/dist/index.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/**
+ * atrib-trace MCP server: registers the `trace` tool that walks a record's
+ * informed_by chain backward to surface the reasoning chain that led to it.
+ *
+ * Closes the consumer-side cognitive-loop primitive: recall returns raw
+ * records; trace returns the causal chain, so an agent asking "why did
+ * I do X?" can see "X was informed by Y, which was informed by Z" without
+ * manually walking informed_by hash-by-hash.
+ *
+ * Reads only the local mirror (~/.atrib/records/*.jsonl) for v1 — same scope
+ * as recall. v2 will fall back to log.atrib.dev/v1/lookup/<hash> for hashes
+ * not in the local mirror. Forward-walk (records that reference THIS one)
+ * is also a v2 concern; v1 is backward-only.
+ */
+import { McpServer } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js';
+export interface AtribTraceServer {
+    mcp: McpServer;
+}
+export declare function createAtribTraceServer(): Promise<AtribTraceServer>;

package/dist/index.js

@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/**
+ * atrib-trace MCP server: registers the `trace` tool that walks a record's
+ * informed_by chain backward to surface the reasoning chain that led to it.
+ *
+ * Closes the consumer-side cognitive-loop primitive: recall returns raw
+ * records; trace returns the causal chain, so an agent asking "why did
+ * I do X?" can see "X was informed by Y, which was informed by Z" without
+ * manually walking informed_by hash-by-hash.
+ *
+ * Reads only the local mirror (~/.atrib/records/*.jsonl) for v1 — same scope
+ * as recall. v2 will fall back to log.atrib.dev/v1/lookup/<hash> for hashes
+ * not in the local mirror. Forward-walk (records that reference THIS one)
+ * is also a v2 concern; v1 is backward-only.
+ */
+import { McpServer } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js';
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import { loadAllRecords } from './storage.js';
+import { traceBackward } from './trace.js';
+const SHA256_REF_PATTERN = /^sha256:[0-9a-f]{64}$/;
+const TraceInput = z.object({
+    record_hash: z.string().regex(SHA256_REF_PATTERN).describe("The 'sha256:<64-hex>' record_hash to start from. Walks backward via " +
+        'informed_by edges from this record.'),
+    depth: z.number().int().min(1).max(10).optional().describe('Maximum hop count from the starting record. Defaults to 3. Bounded ' +
+        'at 10 to keep responses tractable; deeper chains should be walked ' +
+        'in pieces by re-rooting at a returned upstream hash.'),
+    max_nodes: z.number().int().min(1).max(500).optional().describe('Hard cap on total visited records. Defaults to 200. Prevents pathological ' +
+        'fan-out (a record with hundreds of informed_by entries) from exploding ' +
+        'the response.'),
+    compact: z.boolean().optional().describe('When true (the default), per-record output omits signature/content_id/' +
+        'spec_version/chain_root to keep the response small. Set false for full ' +
+        'record bytes (useful for re-verification).'),
+});
+/** Pull a compact summary from the sidecar's content payload. */
+function summarizeSidecar(loadedRecord) {
+    if (!loadedRecord?.local)
+        return undefined;
+    const sc = loadedRecord.local;
+    const out = {};
+    if (sc.toolName)
+        out.tool_name = sc.toolName;
+    if (sc.producer)
+        out.producer = sc.producer;
+    const c = sc.content;
+    if (c && Array.isArray(c['topics'])) {
+        out.topics = c['topics'].filter((t) => typeof t === 'string').slice(0, 6);
+    }
+    if (c && typeof c['what'] === 'string') {
+        const w = c['what'];
+        out.what = w.length > 200 ? w.slice(0, 197) + '…' : w;
+    }
+    else if (c && typeof c['summary'] === 'string') {
+        const s = c['summary'];
+        out.what = s.length > 200 ? s.slice(0, 197) + '…' : s;
+    }
+    if (c && typeof c['importance'] === 'string')
+        out.importance = c['importance'];
+    return Object.keys(out).length === 0 ? undefined : out;
+}
+function compactVisited(v, danglingSet, byHash) {
+    const indexed = byHash.get(v.record_hash);
+    return {
+        depth: v.depth,
+        record_hash: v.record_hash,
+        parent_hashes: v.parent_hashes,
+        source: v.source,
+        event_type: v.record?.event_type ?? null,
+        context_id: v.record?.context_id ?? null,
+        creator_key: v.record?.creator_key ?? null,
+        timestamp: v.record?.timestamp ?? null,
+        next_informed_by: v.next_informed_by,
+        next_resolved: v.next_informed_by.filter((h) => !danglingSet.has(h)),
+        next_dangling: v.next_informed_by.filter((h) => danglingSet.has(h)),
+        ...(summarizeSidecar(indexed) ? { sidecar_summary: summarizeSidecar(indexed) } : {}),
+    };
+}
+export async function createAtribTraceServer() {
+    const mcp = new McpServer({
+        name: 'atrib-trace',
+        version: '0.1.0',
+    });
+    mcp.registerTool('trace', {
+        title: 'trace informed_by chain backward',
+        description: 'Walk a record\'s informed_by chain backward to surface the reasoning ' +
+            'chain that led to it. Reads from the local signed-record mirror ' +
+            '(~/.atrib/records/*.jsonl). Returns the records visited, parent links ' +
+            'so the caller can reconstruct the tree, and dangling hashes (records ' +
+            'referenced via informed_by but not present in the local mirror).',
+        inputSchema: TraceInput.shape,
+    }, async (args) => {
+        const depth = args.depth ?? 3;
+        const maxNodes = args.max_nodes ?? 200;
+        const compact = args.compact ?? true;
+        const { byHash } = loadAllRecords();
+        const result = traceBackward(args.record_hash, depth, byHash, { maxNodes });
+        const danglingSet = new Set(result.dangling);
+        const payload = compact
+            ? {
+                start_hash: result.start_hash,
+                direction: result.direction,
+                depth_requested: result.depth_requested,
+                depth_reached: result.depth_reached,
+                visited: result.visited.map((v) => compactVisited(v, danglingSet, byHash)),
+                dangling: result.dangling,
+                truncated_by_depth: result.truncated_by_depth,
+                truncated_by_cap: result.truncated_by_cap,
+                warnings: result.warnings,
+            }
+            : {
+                ...result,
+                // Full records included
+            };
+        return {
+            content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2) }],
+        };
+    });
+    return { mcp };
+}

package/dist/main.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+export {};

package/dist/main.js

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+// atrib-trace standalone binary. Wires the McpServer to a stdio transport
+// so it can be launched as a subprocess by an MCP host (Claude Code,
+// Claude Desktop, etc.).
+import { StdioServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js';
+import { createAtribTraceServer } from './index.js';
+async function main() {
+    const { mcp } = await createAtribTraceServer();
+    const transport = new StdioServerTransport();
+    await mcp.connect(transport);
+    // Stays alive on the stdio transport until the host closes it.
+}
+main().catch((e) => {
+    console.error('atrib-trace: fatal', e instanceof Error ? e.stack ?? e.message : String(e));
+    process.exit(1);
+});

package/dist/storage.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { type AtribRecord, type OnRecordSidecar } from '@atrib/mcp';
+export interface IndexedRecord {
+    record: AtribRecord;
+    /** sha256:<64-hex> form, matching informed_by entries. */
+    record_hash: string;
+    /** Source file the record was read from (for debugging). */
+    source: string;
+    /**
+     * Pre-sign payload context, when the producer wrote it to the local
+     * mirror as a `_local` sidecar on the envelope. Carries semantic content
+     * (toolName, args, result, content) the signed AtribRecord COMMITS TO
+     * via content_id / args_hash / result_hash but does not itself contain.
+     * Absent on legacy bare-record entries from older mirror writes.
+     */
+    local?: SidecarPayload;
+}
+/**
+ * Combined sidecar shape — superset of every producer's local payload
+ * (mcp-wrap writes toolName/args/result; atrib-emit writes content).
+ */
+export interface SidecarPayload extends OnRecordSidecar {
+    content?: Record<string, unknown>;
+    producer?: string;
+}
+/**
+ * Read every *.jsonl mirror in ATRIB_RECORDS_DIR and return an index keyed
+ * by sha256:<64-hex> record_hash. Both shapes (bare AtribRecord and emit's
+ * { record, proof, written_at } envelope) are supported.
+ *
+ * Returns the indexed map AND a flat list (newest-first by timestamp) for
+ * callers that want recall-style enumeration without by-hash lookup.
+ */
+export declare function loadAllRecords(dir?: string): {
+    byHash: Map<string, IndexedRecord>;
+    newestFirst: IndexedRecord[];
+};

package/dist/storage.js

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/**
+ * Local mirror reader for atrib-trace.
+ *
+ * Reads every *.jsonl mirror under ~/.atrib/records/ and normalizes to bare
+ * AtribRecord shape regardless of producer (wrapper-signed or emit envelope).
+ *
+ * Builds an in-memory index by record_hash so trace can walk informed_by
+ * chains in O(1) per hop. The hash key is sha256:<64-hex> (the same form
+ * informed_by entries use), so no transformation needed at lookup time.
+ */
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { homedir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { canonicalRecord, hexEncode, sha256 } from '@atrib/mcp';
+const RECORDS_DIR = process.env.ATRIB_RECORDS_DIR ?? join(homedir(), '.atrib', 'records');
+/**
+ * Read every *.jsonl mirror in ATRIB_RECORDS_DIR and return an index keyed
+ * by sha256:<64-hex> record_hash. Both shapes (bare AtribRecord and emit's
+ * { record, proof, written_at } envelope) are supported.
+ *
+ * Returns the indexed map AND a flat list (newest-first by timestamp) for
+ * callers that want recall-style enumeration without by-hash lookup.
+ */
+export function loadAllRecords(dir = RECORDS_DIR) {
+    const byHash = new Map();
+    const all = [];
+    if (!existsSync(dir))
+        return { byHash, newestFirst: [] };
+    let files = [];
+    try {
+        files = readdirSync(dir).filter((f) => f.endsWith('.jsonl'));
+    }
+    catch {
+        return { byHash, newestFirst: [] };
+    }
+    for (const fname of files) {
+        const path = join(dir, fname);
+        try {
+            const raw = readFileSync(path, 'utf8');
+            for (const line of raw.split('\n')) {
+                const trimmed = line.trim();
+                if (!trimmed)
+                    continue;
+                try {
+                    const parsed = JSON.parse(trimmed);
+                    // Normalize: envelope shape vs legacy bare record shape.
+                    const isEnvelope = 'record' in parsed &&
+                        parsed.record &&
+                        parsed.record.context_id !== undefined;
+                    const rec = isEnvelope
+                        ? parsed.record
+                        : parsed;
+                    if (!rec.context_id || !rec.signature || !rec.timestamp)
+                        continue;
+                    const hashHex = hexEncode(sha256(canonicalRecord(rec)));
+                    const indexed = {
+                        record: rec,
+                        record_hash: `sha256:${hashHex}`,
+                        source: fname,
+                    };
+                    // Lift the `_local` sidecar onto the indexed record when present.
+                    // Legacy bare-record entries have no sidecar; that's OK — consumers
+                    // tolerate its absence.
+                    if (isEnvelope) {
+                        const sidecar = parsed._local;
+                        if (sidecar)
+                            indexed.local = sidecar;
+                    }
+                    byHash.set(indexed.record_hash, indexed);
+                    all.push(indexed);
+                }
+                catch {
+                    // Malformed line; skip.
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        catch {
+            // File read failure; skip this file.
+        }
+    }
+    all.sort((a, b) => b.record.timestamp - a.record.timestamp);
+    return { byHash, newestFirst: all };
+}

package/dist/trace.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/**
+ * Bounded backward walk through informed_by chains.
+ *
+ * Given a starting record_hash and a depth bound, breadth-first walks every
+ * informed_by edge until either (a) depth bound reached, (b) no more
+ * unresolved hashes remain, or (c) safety cap on total visited nodes hit.
+ *
+ * Each visited record is annotated with:
+ *   - depth        — hop count from the starting record (0 = the start)
+ *   - parent_hashes — which records in the previous level referenced this one
+ *
+ * Records referenced via informed_by but NOT present in the local mirror
+ * are surfaced as `dangling` entries: the verifier hasn't seen the upstream
+ * locally. This is informational, not a failure — the upstream may live on
+ * the public log but not in the agent's local mirror.
+ *
+ * Forward-walk (records that reference THIS record via informed_by) is
+ * out of scope for v1; it requires either a full-mirror scan per call
+ * (acceptable but slower) or the graph service. v1 is backward-only;
+ * forward-walk arrives in v2.
+ */
+import type { IndexedRecord } from './storage.js';
+import type { AtribRecord } from '@atrib/mcp';
+export type TraceDirection = 'backward';
+export interface TraceVisited {
+    depth: number;
+    record_hash: string;
+    parent_hashes: string[];
+    /** Empty when source mirror lacks this record (dangling). */
+    record: AtribRecord | null;
+    /** Source file the record was read from, or null if dangling. */
+    source: string | null;
+    /** Sub-set of informed_by entries that are themselves walkable next-hop. */
+    next_informed_by: string[];
+}
+export interface TraceResult {
+    start_hash: string;
+    direction: TraceDirection;
+    depth_requested: number;
+    depth_reached: number;
+    visited: TraceVisited[];
+    dangling: string[];
+    truncated_by_depth: boolean;
+    truncated_by_cap: boolean;
+    warnings: string[];
+}
+export interface TraceOptions {
+    /** Hard cap on total visited nodes regardless of depth. Defaults to 200. */
+    maxNodes?: number;
+}
+/**
+ * Walk informed_by edges backward from the starting record.
+ *
+ * Behaviors:
+ *   - Cycle-safe: every record is visited at most once, even if multiple
+ *     parents reference it.
+ *   - Cap-safe: if maxNodes is hit mid-walk, returns partial result with
+ *     truncated_by_cap=true. Callers can re-run with a smaller depth or
+ *     start from a sub-tree if needed.
+ *   - Dangling-aware: informed_by entries pointing at records not in the
+ *     local mirror surface as `dangling`. Those entries do NOT advance the
+ *     walk (we have nothing to walk from).
+ */
+export declare function traceBackward(startHash: string, depth: number, index: Map<string, IndexedRecord>, options?: TraceOptions): TraceResult;

package/dist/trace.js

@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+/**
+ * Walk informed_by edges backward from the starting record.
+ *
+ * Behaviors:
+ *   - Cycle-safe: every record is visited at most once, even if multiple
+ *     parents reference it.
+ *   - Cap-safe: if maxNodes is hit mid-walk, returns partial result with
+ *     truncated_by_cap=true. Callers can re-run with a smaller depth or
+ *     start from a sub-tree if needed.
+ *   - Dangling-aware: informed_by entries pointing at records not in the
+ *     local mirror surface as `dangling`. Those entries do NOT advance the
+ *     walk (we have nothing to walk from).
+ */
+export function traceBackward(startHash, depth, index, options = {}) {
+    const maxNodes = options.maxNodes ?? 200;
+    const warnings = [];
+    const visited = new Map();
+    const dangling = new Set();
+    let truncatedByCap = false;
+    let truncatedByDepth = false;
+    let depthReached = 0;
+    const startIdx = index.get(startHash);
+    if (!startIdx) {
+        return {
+            start_hash: startHash,
+            direction: 'backward',
+            depth_requested: depth,
+            depth_reached: 0,
+            visited: [],
+            dangling: [startHash],
+            truncated_by_depth: false,
+            truncated_by_cap: false,
+            warnings: [`start_hash ${startHash} not in local mirror`],
+        };
+    }
+    const frontier = [{ hash: startHash, depth: 0, parent: null }];
+    while (frontier.length > 0) {
+        if (visited.size >= maxNodes) {
+            truncatedByCap = true;
+            break;
+        }
+        const current = frontier.shift();
+        if (current.depth > depth) {
+            truncatedByDepth = true;
+            continue;
+        }
+        depthReached = Math.max(depthReached, current.depth);
+        const idx = index.get(current.hash);
+        if (!idx) {
+            dangling.add(current.hash);
+            // Tag the parent so caller can see which walkable record had a
+            // dangling reference, but we don't visit further.
+            continue;
+        }
+        let v = visited.get(current.hash);
+        if (!v) {
+            const informedByEntries = Array.isArray(idx.record.informed_by)
+                ? idx.record.informed_by
+                : [];
+            v = {
+                depth: current.depth,
+                record_hash: current.hash,
+                parent_hashes: [],
+                record: idx.record,
+                source: idx.source,
+                next_informed_by: informedByEntries,
+            };
+            visited.set(current.hash, v);
+            // Schedule informed_by entries for visit at depth+1.
+            if (current.depth < depth) {
+                for (const upstream of informedByEntries) {
+                    frontier.push({ hash: upstream, depth: current.depth + 1, parent: current.hash });
+                }
+            }
+            else if (informedByEntries.length > 0) {
+                truncatedByDepth = true;
+            }
+        }
+        if (current.parent && !v.parent_hashes.includes(current.parent)) {
+            v.parent_hashes.push(current.parent);
+        }
+    }
+    return {
+        start_hash: startHash,
+        direction: 'backward',
+        depth_requested: depth,
+        depth_reached: depthReached,
+        visited: Array.from(visited.values()),
+        dangling: Array.from(dangling),
+        truncated_by_depth: truncatedByDepth,
+        truncated_by_cap: truncatedByCap,
+        warnings,
+    };
+}

package/package.json

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{
+  "name": "@atrib/trace",
+  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "description": "MCP server for atrib. Walks informed_by chains backward from a record_hash to surface the reasoning chain that produced it.",
+  "license": "Apache-2.0",
+  "type": "module",
+  "main": "./dist/index.js",
+  "bin": {
+    "atrib-trace": "./dist/main.js"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.29.0",
+    "zod": "^3.25.76",
+    "@atrib/mcp": "0.4.0"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@types/node": "^22.19.17",
+    "tsx": "^4.21.0",
+    "typescript": "^5.9.3",
+    "vitest": "^3.2.4"
+  },
+  "files": [
+    "dist"
+  ],
+  "publishConfig": {
+    "access": "public"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "rm -rf dist && tsc",
+    "start": "node dist/main.js",
+    "dev": "tsx src/main.ts",
+    "test": "vitest run"
+  }
+}