Show HN: MEDF – Mutable Expression Description Format | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: MEDF – Mutable Expression Description Format

github.com

2 pointsmaskin1 comment

Hi HN,

I’m sharing MEDF (Mutable Expression Description Format), a document format and CLI focused on one narrow problem: making text content verifiable without freezing how it is presented or reused.

MEDF treats text blocks as immutable and verifiable (using RFC 8785 canonicalization and hashes), while explicitly allowing rendering, indexing, and layout to change over time.

It does not attempt to solve trust, identity, correctness, or authority. It only answers: “Is this exactly the same text that was published?”

The reference CLI supports block-level hashing, optional signatures, and offline verification.

Repo: https://github.com/maskin/medf

Feedback and criticism welcome — especially on real-world use cases

Open articleView on HN

Hi HN,

We’re releasing MEDF (Mutable Expression Description Format) — an open document format designed for the AI era.

The core idea is simple:

AI-generated documents are not the problem. Unverifiable documents are.

Instead of trying to detect or ban AI-generated text, MEDF focuses on fixing the canonical meaning of a document, while allowing its expressions (PDF, Markdown, indexes, summaries) to remain mutable.

What MEDF does

Documents are split into semantic blocks

Each block and the document as a whole are hashed and signed

Offline verification is possible (no external services required)

Indexes and views are explicitly non-canonical and regenerable

AI usage is optional metadata — not a requirement for validity

What MEDF does NOT do

No AI detection

No watermarking

No blockchain dependency

No centralized trust service

We believe this approach works better for:

government and administrative documents

academic papers and citations

long-term archives in the AI era

Repository (spec + early foundation): https://github.com/maskin/medf

This is not a final standard — it’s a starting point. Critical feedback is very welcome.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com