WRID Specification v0.1

1. Introduction

A Writer Record Identifier (WRID) is a unique, persistent, URL-resolvable identifier assigned to one of several literary entities:

• Person — private identity
• Persona — public pen name or creative identity
• Work — book, story, script, etc.
• Series — optional grouping of works

WRIDs are globally unique, time-sortable, and encoded to be human-readable. They serve as the foundation of the WriterID metadata ecosystem.

2. Identifier Format

2.1 Canonical Form

A WRID is derived from a UUIDv7 and encoded in Crockford Base32 with hyphens inserted for readability:

0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZM

Characteristics:

• 32 Crockford Base32 characters
• Hyphenated into 5 groups
• Lowercase/uppercase both permitted (case-insensitive)
• URL-safe
• No ambiguous characters (O/I/L replaced)

2.2 Stability

A WRID is permanent once issued. It MUST NOT be reassigned or reused.

3. Entity Types

Each WRID MUST belong to exactly one entity type:

3.1 Person

A private record representing a real individual. Contains legal identity, estate instructions, private notes, and links to Personas.

3.2 Persona (Pen Name)

A public creative identity. Associated with one Person. Has its own public metadata and list of Works.

3.3 Work

A creative work such as a novel, short story, script, or essay. May be linked to one or more Personas.

3.4 Series (Optional)

A collection of related Works. May itself have metadata and ordering.

4. Resolver Behavior

Every WRID MUST resolve through the canonical resolver:

https://wrid.org/<wrid>

Three primary representations are available:

• https://wrid.org/<wrid> — Human-readable HTML
• https://wrid.org/<wrid>/json — JSON metadata
• https://wrid.org/<wrid>/xml — XML metadata (ONIX-compatible)

4.1 Content Negotiation

User agents MAY request a specific format via Accept headers. The resolver SHOULD honor this when possible.

4.2 Permanence of URLs

WRID resolver URLs MUST remain stable and publicly accessible for the lifetime of the WRID Foundation.

5. JSON Schema

The JSON representation MUST return a top-level object with fields depending on the entity type. All representations MUST include:

• wrid — the identifier
• type — the entity type
• created — timestamp (ISO-8601)
• updated — timestamp (ISO-8601)

5.1 Example: Persona JSON

{
  "wrid": "0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZM",
  "type": "persona",
  "name": "John Smith",
  "owner": "0001ABCD-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX",
  "works": [
    "0001QWER-ASDF-ZXCV-1234-567890"
  ],
  "links": {
    "website": "https://johnsmithbooks.com"
  },
  "created": "2025-01-15T12:00:00Z",
  "updated": "2025-01-20T09:30:00Z"
}

6. XML Schema (ONIX-Compatible)

The XML representation mirrors the JSON structure where possible. For Works, an ONIX 3.0–compatible fragment MUST be used.

6.1 Example: Work XML

<Product>
  <RecordReference>0001QWER-ASDF-ZXCV-1234-567890</RecordReference>
  <NotificationType>03</NotificationType>

  <DescriptiveDetail>
    <TitleDetail>
      <TitleElement>
        <TitleText>The Example Novel</TitleText>
      </TitleElement>
    </TitleDetail>

    <Contributor>
      <ContributorRole>A01</ContributorRole>
      <PersonName>John Smith</PersonName>
      <PersonNameIdentifier>
        <IDTypeName>WRID</IDTypeName>
        <IDValue>0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZM</IDValue>
      </PersonNameIdentifier>
    </Contributor>
  </DescriptiveDetail>
</Product>

7. Privacy Model

WRID adheres to a strict privacy boundary between Persons and Personas.

• Person records are never public
• Linkages between Person and Persona may be private or public, at the writer’s discretion
• Estate instructions are stored privately and revealed only on the specified conditions

8. Legacy & Estate Instructions

Person records MAY contain posthumous directives describing how bibliographies, licenses, personas, and pen-name visibility should be managed after death.

Examples include:

• Release all works under a Creative Commons license
• Reveal pen-name connections after a specified interval
• Transfer control of WRID records to an executor

These instructions MUST NOT be exposed in public resolver outputs.

9. Versioning

This specification is versioned and publicly accessible. Future versions may add fields or new entity types but SHOULD remain backward-compatible wherever possible.

Current version: v0.1

10. Contact & Governance

WRID is developed openly with the long-term goal of establishing the WRID Foundation, a neutral non-profit steward of the namespace, resolver, and metadata standards.

Project information and updates are available at: writerid.org