Digital Karma Updates & Changelog

A public timeline of how the Digital Karma Federation has evolved, what changed in each release, and which ideas are now considered canonical.

Current Version: v7.1 | Last Updated: 2026-04-22T00:00:00Z | Authority: specs/federation-spec-v7.md

Current Direction

Machine-readable before human-readable.

This principle remains part of the current Digital Karma direction.

Decentralized operation with an optional registry hub.

This principle remains part of the current Digital Karma direction.

Transparent public scoring and clear upgrade paths.

This principle remains part of the current Digital Karma direction.

Static-first, portable, agent-friendly implementation patterns.

This principle remains part of the current Digital Karma direction.

Federation Audit

Apply the latest release to a real site

The changelog explains what changed. The federation audit shows how those changes affect a live public implementation right now.

Public URLs only. Instant results. Exportable upgrade package.

Release Timeline

v7.1 Current 2026-04-21

Portable installer release that tightened root discovery rules and made agent-led upgrades repeatable across the portfolio.

  • Formalized that robots.txt must live at /robots.txt.
  • Formalized that sitemap.xml must live at /sitemap.xml.
  • Clarified that root sitemap.xml is canonical and /ai/sitemap.json is optional only.
  • Established v7.1-DigitalKarma.md as the portable installer brief for repo-to-repo upgrades.
v7.0 Baseline 2026-04-13

Major federation revision that expanded the required machine-readable surface and introduced structured topology patterns.

  • Expanded the required artifacts from 4 to 6 by adding federation.json and llm.txt.
  • Renamed the entry badge from Karma Bronze to Karma Certified.
  • Introduced formal Starter, Certified, Pro, and Elite compliance tiers.
  • Added the 4-stage federation mapping pattern and entity file conventions.
v6.1 Legacy 2026-03-30

Pre-federation structured AI endpoint baseline used across the early portfolio sites.

  • Established the original four-file endpoint pattern.
  • Used looser, less formal network relationship metadata.
  • Did not yet require llm.txt or federation topology documents.

Public Ledger

A shorter public-facing ledger lives here. The more complete running ledger is also available as a knowledge-base article.

Maintenance 2026-04-22

Public-facing v7.1 compliance content refreshed

Aligned the public standards, developer docs, registry copy, and machine-readable indexes so the live site now consistently reflects the v7.1 root discovery rules and current federation version.

Tooling 2026-04-22

Federation audit application introduced on DigitalKarmaWeb.com

Added a public validator and upgrade planner that can audit remote public sites against the latest standard, generate action plans, and export upgrade packages.

Release 2026-04-21

v7.1 portable installer published

Published v7.1-DigitalKarma.md as the portable installer brief and aligned README and authority docs around the new root placement rules.

Spec 2026-04-21

Root discovery rule tightened

Clarified that robots.txt and sitemap.xml belong at the root and should not be relocated into /ai/.

Release 2026-04-13

v7.0 federation baseline shipped

Introduced the 6 required artifacts, formal compliance tiers, federation mapping, and the modern Digital Karma badge naming.

Spec 2026-04-13

Entity and diagnostics patterns documented

Added /entities/ JSON-LD conventions and /ai/diagnostics.json as part of the higher-tier maturity path.

Legacy 2026-03-30

v6.1 endpoint baseline stabilized

Four core AI endpoints formed the original structured baseline before the dedicated federation layer existed.

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