Conformance & Testing | ACDP Library

This crate is the reference implementation, so "do the tests pass" and "does it conform to the spec" are two different questions. This page explains the test layers, the golden vectors that pin the wire format, and the ACDP_SPEC_DIR switch that turns on full conformance.

The conformance fixtures and profiles are defined in the spec repo (schemas/conformance/ and registries/profiles.md).

The test layers

File	Layer	What it pins
`tests/golden_vector.rs`	Wire format	`sig-001` (Ed25519 signature) and `can-001` (JCS canonicalization) — byte-exact against the spec vectors.
`tests/proptest_jcs.rs`	Canonicalization	Property tests for RFC 8785 JCS, including the `-0.0` edge case.
`tests/wire_serialization.rs`	Serde	Round-trip JSON serialization and the absent-vs-null convention.
`tests/conformance.rs`	Behavior	The spec conformance fixtures (see below).
`tests/tls_conformance.rs`	Network/SSRF	`fed-` and `did-ssrf-` fixtures against an in-process TLS server.
`tests/registry_client.rs`	HTTP client	`RegistryClient` / `WebResolver` against `wiremock`.
`tests/cli.rs`	CLI	The `acdp` binary as a subprocess.

The golden vectors are non-negotiable

sig-001 and can-001 are the protocol's anchor points. Any change to the wire format, the hash preimage, the signature input, or DID resolution must keep these passing:

cargo test --all-features golden_vector::sig_001
cargo test --all-features golden_vector::can_001

The binding test suites pin the same sig-001 constants (content_hash = "sha256:f170150d…", signature.value = "ErkbV+FU…") — see Language bindings. If these drift, the protocol is broken, not just the test.

ACDP_SPEC_DIR — the conformance switch

tests/conformance.rs parses the canonical spec fixtures: sig-001, can-001, all 16 conformance files, and every examples/**/*.json. It locates the spec checkout via the ACDP_SPEC_DIR environment variable, falling back to a sibling-directory path, and skips gracefully if neither is found.

⚠️ A green local cargo test does not prove conformance unless ACDP_SPEC_DIR points at a real spec checkout. Without it, the conformance tests skip silently. Always run the full conformance pass with the variable set before claiming conformance:

ACDP_SPEC_DIR=../agentcontextdistributionprotocol cargo test --test conformance

(Adjust the path to wherever you've checked out the spec repo.)

The full pre-PR check set

This mirrors CI exactly:

cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --all-features --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo clippy --no-default-features --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --all-features
cargo test --no-default-features
RUSTDOCFLAGS="--cfg docsrs -D warnings" cargo +nightly doc --all-features --no-deps
ACDP_SPEC_DIR=../agentcontextdistributionprotocol cargo test --test conformance

cargo deny check and cargo audit run in CI too; install them locally only when touching dependencies or crypto.

Running a subset

cargo test --all-features golden_vector::sig_001   # one golden vector
cargo test --test conformance                      # one integration file
cargo test -- --nocapture some_test                # with stdout
cargo test --no-default-features                    # core only, no HTTP

Which profile does this crate claim?

This crate implements the acdp-consumer profile (RFC-ACDP-0001 §9.1) — end-to-end signature verification, cross-registry resolution with SSRF defenses, client-side visibility, and forward-compatible field tolerance. The typed vocabulary is in acdp::profile; CapabilitiesDocument::claims_profile and supports_required help registries check what a peer advertises.

Registry implementers built on the server feature claim acdp-registry-core / -discovery / -federated instead, and must pass the corresponding fixture subsets — see Implementing a registry and the spec's registries/profiles.md.