> Markdown version of https://agledger.ai/docs/concepts/records-and-chain/
> Full index of this site for AI assistants: https://agledger.ai/llms.txt

# Records and the Chain

These are the words you will see in the Quick Start, in the API responses, and across the rest of
the documentation. Read this once and everything else reads faster.

## Record

A **record** is the unit AGLedger writes to disk: a structured, signed statement of what an agent
is about to do, or what it did. It is the noun - the thing on the chain.

## Notarize

**Notarize** is the verb. An agent notarizes twice around a piece of work: once for what it is
about to do, and once for what was done. That is two records. Between the two signatures the agent
can reset its context, hand off to another agent, or be replaced - the chain holds both records
byte-for-byte, so the work survives the gap. The chain is durable memory across context resets.

## Chain

The records form a **chain**: each one is Ed25519-signed and references the hash of the record
before it. Because every record points back to the one prior, the sequence is append-only and
tamper-evident, and anyone holding the public keys can verify it offline, without calling AGLedger.
For why that property holds and what a passing verification proves, see the [security whitepaper](/security/).

## Delegation

When work passes from one agent or service to another, the new party's record links back to the
parent record by signature. That linked parent-child sequence is a **delegation chain**: it ties
the original work to the final outcome, no matter how many hands it passed through.

## Next

Create your first record in the [Quick Start](/docs/quick-start/). To run the Server these records
live on, see [Install](/docs/install/).