FERMAT

Format for Electronic Registry Manifest Automation and Transfer

A standardized manifest format for tracking classified document deliveries across multiple classification authorities (NATO, EU, national systems).

Named after Pierre de Fermat (1607-1665), mathematician from Toulouse, France.

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Overview

FERMAT enables secure, auditable transfer of classified documents between organizations with:

• Authority-aggnostic: NATO, EU, US, France, and other national classification systems
• Structured classification metadata: Machine-readable classification objects with authority, level, marking, and caveats
• Automation-ready: Designed for integration with Document Management Systems (DMS)
• Human-readable: YAML format allows manual editing for simple transfers
• Integrity verification: Built-in checksums and HMAC signatures
• Compliance: Aligned with EU, NATO, and national security regulations

Quick Start

For Simple Document Transfers

For small deliveries (1-5 documents), you can create a FERMAT manifest manually using any text editor:

1. Create a file named manifest.yaml or manifest.fermat.yaml

2. Edit with Notepad/TextEdit/vim - the YAML format is human-readable. Here is a minimal example:

manifest:
  format: fermat-manifest

delivery:
  reference: DP-2026-001
  sender: Your Organization
  recipient: Receiving Organization
  title: Quarterly Activity Report
  classification: NATO RESTRICTED

documents:
  - id: 2026-arp-001-nr
    filename: report_q1_2026.pdf
    title: Q1 2026 Activity Report
    classification: NATO RESTRICTED
  - id: 2026-inv-002
    filename: invoice_2026-01.pdf
    title: Q1 2026 Activity Report Invoice
    classification: ~

3. Save and transmit with your documents according to approved procedures

For Automated/Bulk Processing

For large deliveries (10+ documents), use automation tools and libraries (see Tools & Libraries). Such tools could be more verbose to avoid any ambiguity:

manifest:
  schema-version: 1.0.0
  id: MAN-20260214-A1B2C3D4
  created: 2026-02-14T10:30:00Z
  format: fermat-manifest
  encoding: utf-8
  classification:
    authority: NATO
    level: unclassified
    marking: NATO UNCLASSIFIED
    caveats: null

delivery:
  sender: Your Organization
  recipient: Receiving Organization
  reference: DP-2026-001
  title: Quarterly Security Report
  classification:
    authority: NATO
    level: restricted
    marking: NATO RESTRICTED
    caveats: null
  transmission_method: secure_network
  acknowledgment_required: false

documents:
  - id: reference of the first document
    filename: report_q1_2026.pdf
    title: Q1 2026 Security Assessment
    classification:
      authority: NATO
      level: restricted
      marking: NATO RESTRICTED
    mime_type: application/pdf
    size: 1048576
    checksum:
      algorithm: sha256
      value: a3b2c1d4e5f6...your_checksum_here
  - id: reference of the second document
    filename: communication_q1.pdf
    title: Q1 2026 Communication flyer
    classification: null
    mime-type: application/pdf
    size:
      unit: bytes
      value: 10485
    checksum
      algorithm: sha256
      value: 0226a3b2c1d4e5f6...your_checksum_here

Key Features

Authority-agnostic, Multi-Authority Classification and Multi Classification

Support for multiple classification in a single delivery (each document has its own).

Security & Compliance

• Built-in integrity verification (SHA-256 checksums)

Automation-Friendly

• Machine-readable JSON/YAML format
• Schema validation support
• Designed for DMS integration
• Auto-computed summary statistics

Documentation

Detailed specifications are available in the docs/ directory:

Document	Description
FERMAT Specification	Complete FERMAT manifest format specification
Classification Metadata Format	Referenced classification structure specification
Document Metadata Format	Referenced document structure specification

Use Cases

1. Transmission Workflow

┌─────────────────┐
│ Prepare Delivery│
│  - Collect docs │
│  - Verify class.│
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Create Manifest │ ◄─── Manual (text editor)
│  - FERMAT YAML  │      or Automated (DMS)
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Transmit Package│
│  - Manifest +   │
│    Documents    │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Recipient       │
│ - Verify        │
│ - Register      │ ◄─── Manual (text editor) or Automated (DMS)
│ - Acknowledge   │
└─────────────────┘

File Formats

FERMAT supports two serialization formats:

YAML (Recommended for manual editing)

Automation tools SHALL accept YAML when receiving.

# manifest.fermat.yaml
manifest:
  schema_version: "1.0.0"
  # ...

Advantages:

• Human-readable and editable
• Supports comments
• Less verbose than JSON
• Perfect for simple/manual workflows

JSON (Recommended for automation)

Automation tools SHOULD accept JSON and YAML when receiving. Automation tools SHOULD use JSON for known recipient having coompatible tools.

{
  "manifest": {
    "schema-version": "1.0.0"
  }
}

Advantages:

• Universal parser support
• Strict schema validation
• Better for automated systems

Tools & Libraries

Community contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Conformance Levels

Minimum Conformance

A conforming manifest MUST:

• Include all required fields (manifest, delivery, documents)
• Use valid classification objects
• Use RFC 3339 datetime format
• Set format to "fermat-manifest"
• Ensure marking fields contain only base official markings (no embedded caveats)

Full Conformance

A fully conforming implementation SHOULD:

• Support both JSON and YAML formats
• Support all classification object forms (canonical, shorthand, simplified)
• Compute checksums for all documents
• Support HMAC signing and verification
• Auto-compute summary section
• Validate against JSON Schema
• Validate classification objects against authority registries

Security Considerations

When Using FERMAT

1. Physical Security: Manifests may contain classified metadata - handle according to highest classification level present
2. Transmission: When manifest is classified, use approved secure channels (encrypted networks, courier, diplomatic pouch)
3. Integrity: Always verify checksums and signatures on receipt
4. Audit Trail: Preserve manifests for compliance audits

Checksum Generation

# SHA-256 checksum
sha256sum document.pdf
# Output: a3b2c1d4e5f6... document.pdf

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• Reporting issues
• Proposing enhancements
• Submitting pull requests
• Adding support for new classification authorities
• Creating tools and libraries

Version History

Version	Date	Changes
1.0.0	February 2026	Initial release

License

FERMAT is an open standard. See LICENSE for details.

References

Normative References

• ISO 3166-1 - Country codes
• RFC 3339 - Date and time format
• RFC 4648 — Base16 (hex) and Base64 encoding
• RFC 2046 — MIME types
• RFC 5652 — Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) for digital signatures
• ISO 3166-1 — Country codes (alpha-2)
• ISO 639-1 — Language codes
• YAML 1.2
• JSON Schema draft-07 - JSON/YAML Validation schema definition
• kebab-case - all keys naming

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues