Definition
An agent receipt is the record that lets judgment survive speed.
When work moves through models, APIs, MCP tools, files, providers, and generated artifacts, the operator needs more than the final answer. The operator needs the chain of what happened.
An agent receipt is that chain in a useful shape. It records the mission, the authority, the tool call, the artifact, the evaluation, the correction, and the next decision without exposing private secrets.
Anatomy
The receipt should preserve enough structure to inspect the work.
The receipt does not need to be theatrical. It needs to be durable. If the system claims it used a tool, changed a file, generated an asset, retrieved a source, or refused a request, the receipt should make that event visible.
This is where AI work becomes less mystical. A fluent answer may be useful, but the receipt is what lets the operator ask whether the answer was earned.
- Mission ID: the contract or objective that authorized the work.
- Action ID: the specific step inside the mission.
- Tool surface: API, MCP server, file, model, database, provider, or browser action.
- Input and output shape: enough to understand the action without leaking private data.
- Artifact reference: what was created, changed, tested, or rejected.
- Evaluation state: pass, fail, uncertain, needs review, or corrected.
Aweb
Receipts are how Aweb keeps the operator in the loop without slowing every step.
Aweb’s ambition is to let one operator hold larger work in motion. That only works if the system can move quickly while leaving evidence behind.
The receipt layer makes the loop inspectable after the action. The operator does not need to micromanage every token, but the operator must be able to inspect the decision path before accepting the result.
Boundary
A receipt is not a public dump of private operations.
Public receipts and internal receipts are different. A public page can explain the structure and show safe examples. Internal systems can hold deeper logs, private artifacts, and sensitive context under access rules.
The important rule is that no version of Aweb should ask the operator to believe an answer simply because the answer sounded finished.
The answer is not the receipt. The receipt is what lets the operator decide whether the answer deserves to become work.