CIP (PR 245) - File Governance for Multi-Party Contracts - Nandit Mehra
cip-discuss0 messages
- Hi all,
Opening a discussion thread for a draft CIP on file governance for multi-party contracts. No CIP number has been assigned yet; the PR is here:
https://github.com/canton-foundation/cips/pull/245
Why this came up
Contracts on Canton routinely reference material that does not live on-ledger: signed agreements, supporting documentation, attestations, identity and compliance artifacts. The ledger records that the parties agreed, but it does not record what they agreed to rely on or provide a shared way to govern access to those materials over time.
Today, each application solves this independently. As a result, access rules for the same document can differ between counterparties, there is no consistent way to prove which party could access what at a given point in time, and a party leaving a contract does not reliably lose access to the material associated with it. For multi-party contracts involving regulated participants, this creates a meaningful governance gap.
What the proposal covers
The draft sets out a governance pattern for associating off-ledger files with on-ledger contracts, so that access is derived from contract state rather than maintained separately by each participant. It is intended as a pattern and interface, rather than a mandate for any particular storage or encryption implementation.
What would help
Feedback from anyone working on identity, metadata, or document handling in Canton applications would be especially valuable. Specifically:- Whether the problem framing matches what you are seeing in practice, or whether it is narrower or broader than described.
- Whether deriving access from contract state is the right anchor, or whether it should key off something else.
- Anything in the specification that is underspecified or conflicts with existing patterns.
Happy to revise substantially based on the feedback.
Nandit
Lighthouse