Open Work Standard

Open Work Standard (OWS) is a local-first proof-of-work protocol and toolchain for academic projects. It records project-scoped evidence, packages that evidence into .owspkg, and supports offline verification and human review without claiming automated misconduct judgment.

OWS does:

• record project-scoped work evidence
• initialize a project-scoped .owsignore for safe local exclusions
• register explicitly initialized projects with the local OWS Agent
• package evidence into .owspkg
• optionally seal packages with a canonical root hash and offline RSA signature
• verify package hashes, timeline integrity, and optional offline signatures
• surface neutral review signals for continuity gaps, concentrated activity patterns, and explicit authorship markers

OWS does not:

• run AI cheating detection
• make automated misconduct decisions
• treat missing events as proof of misconduct
• collect keylogging, webcam, microphone, or unrelated personal data
• identify AI or LLM use from a package
• act as an LMS or manage courses, rosters, students, or assessments

Core invariant: Event presence is evidence of recorded activity. Event absence is not proof of misconduct. Activity-pattern signals are review prompts, not proof of misconduct or AI use.

Quick demo path:

1. dotnet build OWS.sln -nologo
2. dotnet test OWS.sln -nologo
3. Install the Windows Agent with artifacts/ows-setup/Ows.Setup.exe.
4. In a project directory, run ows init.
5. Work normally, then run ows package and ows verify <package>.

Windows setup:

• Run scripts/windows/build-ows-setup.ps1, then double-click artifacts/ows-setup/Ows.Setup.exe.
• UAC approval installs the silent OWS Agent SCM service, installs the ows CLI, and registers Open Work Standard in Installed apps.
• Uninstall from Installed apps; choose whether to remove shared Agent data. Project .ows folders are never removed.

Current status:

• MVP reference flow is real
• observation gaps degrade continuity rather than implying misconduct
• the semantic Work Version Graph is still scaffolded/deferred

CLI help:

• Run ows --help for the available commands and options.
• Run ows <command> --help for command-specific help.