Trust earned through consistent good actions.

v2.5.0

Overview

KARMA (Kinetic Assessment of Reputation & Merit Accumulation) provides multi-level trust assessment for the Yakmesh network. Unlike simple binary trust, KARMA combines multiple verification sources to create a nuanced understanding of node reliability and integrity.

Karma Levels

KARMA classifies nodes into levels representing their spiritual journey toward network trust. Each level unlocks greater privileges and responsibilities:

Core Components

KarmaTrustModel

The main trust assessment engine—the wheel of cause and effect:

import { KarmaTrustModel, KARMA_TIER } from 'yakmesh/security/trust-tier';

// Initialize the karma system
const karma = new KarmaTrustModel({
  minAgeForSirdar: 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 30 days for SIRDAR
  minAgeForSathi: 14 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000,  // 14 days for SATHI
  autoPromoteEnabled: true,                   // Auto-promotion when earned
});

// Get a node's karma tier
const { tier, tierInfo, score } = karma.getTrustLevel(nodeId);
console.log(`${nodeId}: ${tierInfo.name} (${tierInfo.nepali})`);
console.log(`Karma Score: ${score}/100`);

// Listen for karma tier changes
karma.on('tierChanged', ({ nodeId, previous, current }) => {
  if (current > previous) {
    console.log(`${nodeId} has advanced to ${KARMA_TIER[current]}!`);
  } else {
    console.log(`${nodeId}'s karma has decreased.`);
  }
});

KarmaEvidence

Records the spiritual ledger of a node's actions:

// Record evidence from various sources
const evidence = karma.getEvidence(nodeId);

// DOKO verification (identity)
evidence.recordDokoVerification({
  passed: true,
  gatesChecked: 7,
  dokoHash: 'abc123...'
});

// Mesh quorum verification
evidence.recordMeshQuorum({
  valid: true,
  validProofs: 5,
  verifiers: ['node1', 'node2', 'node3', 'node4', 'node5'],
  diversity: { subnets: 4, asns: 3 }
});

// SSL verification
evidence.recordSSL({
  valid: true,
  certType: 'ca-signed',
  issuer: 'DigiCert'
});

// Recompute karma level
karma.computeTrustLevel(nodeId);

Evidence Sources

Source	Weight	Description
DOKO	Required	Cryptographic identity verification via NAMCHE gates
Mesh Quorum	High	Multiple independent nodes attest to validity
SSL Certificate	Medium	CA-signed certificate proves domain control
Domain Ownership	Medium	DNS-based proof of domain control
Beacon Consistency	Time-based	Regular presence over 7+ days

Configuration

const config = {
  // Time requirements
  minAgeForGold: 0,                           // Immediate if mesh verified
  minAgeForPlatinum: 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 7 days for ENLIGHTENED
  
  // Beacon consistency
  minBeaconConsistency: 0.8,                  // 80% uptime for ENLIGHTENED
  beaconCheckWindow: 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // 7 day window
  
  // Mesh verification
  minQuorumForGold: 3,                        // Minimum verifiers
  minDiversityForGold: 3,                     // Different subnets
  
  // SSL requirements
  requireSSLForPlatinum: true,
  acceptSelfSignedSSL: true,                  // For DOKO-bound certs
  
  // Trust decay (negative karma over time)
  trustDecayEnabled: true,
  trustDecayPeriod: 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000, // After 30 days inactive
  
  // Auto-promotion
  autoPromoteEnabled: true,
  promotionCheckInterval: 60 * 60 * 1000,     // Check hourly
};

Integration with Other Protocols

NPU Trust Level Prediction

predictTrustLevel() feeds a 14-feature evidence vector into the karma-trust ONNX model, returning softmax probabilities over [UNTRUSTED, SEEKING, AWAKENED, ENLIGHTENED]. The NPU prediction is a "second opinion" — the authoritative trust level is always the rule-based calculateTrustLevel().

14-Feature Input Vector

Backward Compatibility

For existing codebases using the original naming, legacy exports are maintained:

// Legacy imports still work
import { HybridTrustModel, TrustLevel, TrustEvidence } from 'yakmesh/security/hybrid-trust';

// These map to the new KARMA names
// HybridTrustModel → KarmaTrustModel
// TrustLevel → KarmaLevel
// TrustEvidence → KarmaEvidence

// Level aliases
// BRONZE → SEEKING
// GOLD → AWAKENED
// PLATINUM → ENLIGHTENED

Version History

Version	Changes
v3.0.0	NPU-accelerated predictTrustLevel() with 14-feature karma-trust ONNX model (softmax over 4 levels). CPU rule-based fallback preserved as authoritative.
v2.5.0	Initial KARMA trust model. Trit-based evidence, 4 levels, backward compat aliases.