A Protocol for Declaring, Tracking, and Federating Semantic HelpBlocks™
Metadata
- rfc_id: RFC-006
- title: HelpBlock Registry Specification
- status: Draft
- version: 0.1
- authors:
- David W. Bynon (@TrustPublishing)
- WebMEM Working Group
- date_created: 2025-07-XX
- license: CC BY-SA 4.0
- domain_scope: Vertical-Agnostic
- depends_on: RFC-001, RFC-002, RFC-004
Purpose
This specification defines the registry structure, field schema, and publishing model for Semantic HelpBlocks™—retrieval-optimized fragments such as definitions, FAQs, explainers, or citations, designed for memory reinforcement and AI alignment.
The registry enables:
- AI agents to discover HelpBlocks by type, scope, or glossary alignment
- Retrieval systems to resolve citations to canonical fragments
- Observability of trust propagation (retrieval, scoring, decay)
- Version-controlled publishing with full provenance metadata
Core Object: HelpBlockRegistry
helpblock_registry:
- id: def-moop
title: "Definition: MOOP"
glossary_id: term-mooptotal
type: semantic_definition
retrieval_scope: public
trust_score: 94
last_updated: 2025-07-16
used_by:
- faq-moop
- pod-moop-explainer
citation_ref: ref_cms_pbp_2025
data_attrs:
data-glossary: term-mooptotal
data-fragment: def-moop
Required Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| id | Globally unique HelpBlock identifier |
| title | Human-readable title for UIs and dashboards |
| type | HelpBlock type: semantic_definition, semantic_faq, semantic_citation |
| glossary_id | Reference to the linked glossary term (RFC-004) |
| retrieval_scope | public, inline, or ai-only |
| trust_score | Trust Score computed via RFC-005 (optional) |
| last_updated | ISO timestamp of most recent revision |
| used_by | List of fragment or digest IDs that reference this block |
| citation_ref | Reference key for citation metadata (in references: section) |
| data_attrs | Canonical data-* bindings used in HTML or Markdown rendering |
Output Formats
| Format | Purpose |
|---|---|
| YAML | Primary authoring + version control format |
| JSON-LD | Agent-compatible with Schema.org structure |
| TTL | Semantic web and federated registry traversal |
| Markdown | Documentation and human-readable indexes |
| PROV | Provenance for publication and update history |
Endpoint Topology
HelpBlock registries must be served from canonical paths:
/registry/helpblocks.yaml/registry/helpblocks.jsonld/registry/helpblocks.ttl
All endpoints must support content negotiation via the HTTP Accept header.
Use Cases
- Glossary-aligned HelpBlock indexing across verticals
- Fragment-level AI citation and explainability scaffolds
- Semantic reinforcement in agentic systems
- Cross-organization registry federation (e.g., GitHub mirrors)
- Fitness dashboards tracking fragment trust + usage decay
- Zenodo DOIs for citation-grade memory anchoring
Related Standards
- RFC-001 — Data Definition Schema
- RFC-002 — Digest Structure
- RFC-004 — Glossary Vocabulary
- RFC-005 — Trust Score Computation
Licensing and Contribution
- All HelpBlock registries must be published under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Contributions accepted via:
- Pull Requests on github.com/WebMEM/rfc
- Email submission to rfc@webmem.com
- Zenodo DOI submission for versioned archival
Canonical Reference
RFC-006 is published at webmem.com/rfc/rfc-006/ and is maintained in the WebMEM GitHub RFC Registry.