Evidence, Provenance & Receipts
Keep origin, support and executed effects distinguishable.
Provenance says where information came from. Evidence says what supports a claim. A receipt says what execution or transition actually happened.
A newspaper clipping, a reason you believe something, and a receipt showing you bought something are different kinds of proof. Primitive tries not to mix them up.
This distinction is foundational to trustworthy agentic work. Generated text is not automatically a source; a source is not automatically sufficient evidence; an intention is not automatically an executed action. Primitive's memory, opportunity engines, Harness and Control each implement parts of this traceability model.
Where this concept shows up
Provenance
Tracks origin and lineage, including provenance-preserving memory merge and source boundaries in analytical engines.
Evidence
Supports claims or decisions and can carry strength, scope or conflict independently from simple source existence.
Receipts
Represent observed execution or transition outcomes. Harness receipts and Control transition receipts operate at different but complementary boundaries.
Source lineage
Concept pages preserve whether an idea is canonical, proposed or working theory. That label is independent from whether a related product feature is implemented.