---
sidebar_position: 2
title: Reading Your Certificate
description: "How to read a TrackForge AAA-D rating certificate: the rating, methodology version and hash, jurisdictional scope, evidence snapshot and proof bundle fields."
keywords:
  - reading certificate
  - AAA-D rating
  - proof bundle
  - methodology hash
  - jurisdictional scope
---

# Reading Your Certificate

A TrackForge certificate is a point-in-time rating event. It should tell you what was rated, under which methodology, using which evidence snapshot, and whether the cryptographic proof chain is pending, confirmed, failed, or local-only.

## The Headline Rating

The certificate-facing rating is AAA-D.

| Rating | How to read it |
|---|---|
| **AAA-AA** | Clean or near-clean under the declared workflow and scope. |
| **A-BBB** | Low to moderate leakage exposure; review active conditions before relying on operational cleanliness. |
| **BB-B** | Elevated to high leakage exposure; remediation is material. |
| **CCC-C** | Severe to critical leakage exposure; collection pathways are compromised. |
| **D** | Failing state under the current methodology. |

The rating is scoped. A UK/US certificate should not be read as direct proof that every non-UK/US society record was checked.

## Fields To Check First

| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Rating scale | Should state `TRACKFORGE_AAA_D` for current certificates. |
| Methodology version/hash | Pins the rules used. |
| Taxonomy version | Pins the leakage taxonomy used. |
| Workflow version | Pins the operational checks performed. |
| Jurisdictional scope | States the direct certification scope. |
| Snapshot run ID/time | Identifies the frozen run that was rated. |
| Agreement-binding summary | Shows whether PRS/MCPS-scoped works are explicitly tied to client WACD agreements or only inferred/assumed. |
| ISWC coverage summary | Shows missing or conflicting work identifiers that can affect registration resolution. |
| Merkle root | Commits the evidence packet set. |
| OTS status | Tells you whether anchoring is pending, confirmed, failed, or local-only. |

## Leakage Summary

The leakage summary is the certificate-facing compression of the Results page. The Results page shows the run-scoped findings produced from the ingested catalogue: failure modes, affected assets, evidence, valuation tier, owner entity, and provenance. The rating event translates that detected leakage state into row scores, catalogue caps, and an AAA-D grade.

The leakage summary shows which taxonomy families are active and which revenue pathways they affect. It is separate from remediation status. A fixed issue should appear in a later rating event, not silently disappear from the original event.

For PRS/MCPS-scoped catalogues, agreement binding deserves special attention. A work can still generate income when it is not explicitly tied to a specific WACD agreement, but that income route may be inferred or assumed rather than agreement-determined. That is a stronger transaction-risk signal than an ordinary metadata gap.

## Legacy Fields

You may see legacy completeness-tier fields in historical bundles or compatibility exports. They are retained to preserve old records and API consumers. They are not the current rating scale unless the certificate is explicitly historical and tied to that older methodology.

## Proof State

Read proof status literally:

- **Pending** means proof has not yet confirmed.
- **Confirmed** means the proof is confirmed.
- **Failed** means anchoring failed.
- **Local-only** means TrackForge recorded a local witness, not an external public timestamp.

Do not rely on a pending proof as a confirmed blockchain anchor.

## If You Remediate

Remediation does not rewrite the certificate you already have. Once fixes are complete, TrackForge should produce a later rating event with its own snapshot time, hashes, Merkle root, and proof state.