Documentation
Understanding Confidance Core Concepts and Terminology
Vision Confidance
Confidance is a programmable payment protocol centered on clarity, traceability, and explainability of payments.
Table of Contents
Core Concepts
Payment
A Payment is a persistent payment intent, created by a user, that defines what to pay, to whom, when, and according to what rules.
Key Distinctions:
Persistent Intent: A Payment exists independently of its release. It can generate zero, one, or multiple Releases depending on its type.
Payment Types
instant
Payment released immediately after creation.
scheduled
Single payment released at a planned date.
recurring
Payment released monthly over a limited duration.
- →Limited duration: the number of installments is defined at creation
- →Different first installment: initial amount can differ from subsequent ones
- →Cancelable anytime: Payment can be canceled before future release
Payment Identity
Every Payment must have a label and a category. These are mandatory fields that enable AI explanation, classification, and insight generation.
label
Human-readable name describing the Payment.
category
Functional category associated with the Payment.
Role for AI and Analytics: These fields allow for explanation, classification, and creation of insights.
Payment Status
Payment created but not activated, no Execution possible
Payment is active, Executions can be generated according to rules
Payment temporarily suspended, no Execution should be triggered
Payment definitively canceled, no future Execution
Payment finished (all planned Executions have occurred)
Execution
A Release is the application of a Payment at a given date (in the dashboard this is always shown as "Released"). A Release is always linked to a single Payment.
Release Status:
Timeline
The Timeline is the explanatory history of a Payment's events. It ensures traceability and justification for every change.
Core Rule:
Every status change or release of a Payment must create an event in the Timeline.
Official Event Types:
Skip Rule: A last_execution_hash starting with skipped_ indicates a failed release. This must generate a payment_failed event (never payment_released).
Payment Categories
Official Confidance v1 categories:
Housing-related payments
Salary and payroll payments
Recurring subscriptions
Utilities and services
Professional services
General transfers
Uncategorized payments
Semantic Precision: These categories carry precise business meaning and must not be used as synonyms or approximations.
Analytics & Insights
Participants
payer
The account that initiates and funds the Payment.
beneficiaries
The accounts that receive the payment (supports multi-beneficiary split).
Monthly Analytics
Monthly view of payments and releases. The Timeline is the single source of truth for analytics. All analytics must be justifiable from Timeline events.
Insights
An Insight is a non-blocking explanatory observation. It does not modify a Payment or its release.
Examples:
- •"Your services payments increased this month."
- •"You have canceled several recent payments."
Fees
Gas Fee
Technical fees required for release.
Protocol Fee
Fees applied by Confidance for the service.
Fees must be displayed and tracked separately for transparency.
Fundamental Rules
- A payment is not a transaction
- AI never triggers a release alone
- Every release is explainable
- Every number is justifiable
- Every payment is cancelable before release
Advisory AI
Confidance AI is advisory only and operates in read-only mode. The AI does not create or execute payments.
Principles:
- →Every recommendation must be traceable to explicit data
- →Human confirmation is mandatory for all actions
- →Strict operational limits apply
Versioning
This document defines the official Confidance vocabulary version 1.0.
Core Principles:
- •We add, we never rename: Once defined, a term must never be renamed
- •Future compatibility: Future versions must remain compatible with existing definitions
- •No semantic regression: No existing definition can change meaning in later versions
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Confidance-defi • Programmable Payment Protocol • Est. 2025