XML Namespace Spec — TRACE Metadata Standard

Namespace Declaration

URI and Prefix

The canonical namespace URI is the identifier for the TRACE XML vocabulary. The recommended prefix is trace. Declare it in the root element of your feed alongside any other namespaces you use.

Namespace URI

https://tracestandard.org/ns/trace/1.0

Namespace declaration in RSS 2.0

<rss version="2.0"
     xmlns:trace="https://tracestandard.org/ns/trace/1.0"
     xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0">

Prefix choice: The prefix trace is recommended but not required. Any valid XML prefix works. Consumers of the namespace use the URI to identify elements, not the prefix. If you use an alternative prefix, your feed remains conformant.

Element Reference

TRACE XML Elements

All elements are in the https://tracestandard.org/ns/trace/1.0 namespace. Nesting structure is shown by indentation. Elements marked required must be present when a trace:assessment block is used.

Element	Parent	Status	Content / Purpose
trace:assessment	channel, item	required	Root container for all TRACE metadata. Carries a `version` attribute.
trace:content	assessment	optional	Content identification block. Attributes carry the title, URL, and type. May be omitted when the content is the feed item itself.
trace:producer	assessment	required	Text content: name of the producer. Optional `url` attribute for a homepage or profile.
trace:community	assessment	required	Text content: free-text description of the community represented or depicted.
trace:ai	assessment	optional	AI disclosure block. Attributes: `generated` (true/false), `role` (primary/partial/assisted/none). Contains zero or more `trace:tool` children.
trace:tool	ai	optional	Text content: name of one AI tool used. Add one element per tool.
trace:track	assessment	required	Text content: `A` or `B`.
trace:disqualified	assessment	required	Text content: `true` or `false`. Optional `code` attribute: `DQ1` or `DQ2` when triggered.
trace:scores	assessment	optional	Container for category-level scores. Omit when `disqualified` is true. Contains one `trace:score` per category.
trace:score	scores	optional	Self-closing. Attributes: `category`, `value` (integer), `max` (integer). See categories below.
trace:total	assessment	required	Self-closing. Attributes: `score` (integer), `max` (integer), `pct` (integer 0–100, optional). Omit when disqualified.
trace:verdict	assessment	required	Text content: verdict string. See Verdict Values. Omit when disqualified, or use `Disqualified`.
trace:assessmentDate	assessment	required	Text content: ISO 8601 date (`YYYY-MM-DD`).
trace:assessedBy	assessment	optional	Text content: `self`, `third-party`, or assessor name.
trace:nextReviewDate	assessment	optional	Text content: ISO 8601 date of planned reassessment.
trace:cardURL	assessment	optional	Text content: URL of the TRACE scorecard for this assessment.

Category values for trace:score

The category attribute of trace:score must be one of the following strings:

category value	Track A max	Track B max
transparency	4	7
sourceIntegrity	3	4
displacement	2	5
consentAttribution	4	4
benefitFlow	5	6
accountability	2	4
governanceDurability	—	5 (Track B only)

Channel-Level Use

Assessing a Whole Feed or Series

Place trace:assessment directly inside <channel> to assert an assessment that applies to the entire feed or podcast series. This is appropriate when a single assessment covers the production practices of all episodes, and individual episode-level differences are not material enough to track separately.

Channel-level placement

<channel>
  <title>Cariboo Signals</title>
  <link>https://cariboosignals.ca</link>
  <description>Community journalism for the Cariboo</description>

  <!-- TRACE assessment for the entire series -->
  <trace:assessment version="1.0">
    <trace:producer>Cariboo Signals</trace:producer>
    <trace:community>Rural Cariboo region, BC</trace:community>
    <trace:ai generated="true" role="partial">
      <trace:tool>Claude</trace:tool>
      <trace:tool>ElevenLabs</trace:tool>
    </trace:ai>
    <trace:track>A</trace:track>
    <trace:disqualified>false</trace:disqualified>
    <trace:total score="15" max="20" pct="75"/>
    <trace:verdict>Sound</trace:verdict>
    <trace:assessmentDate>2026-05-15</trace:assessmentDate>
  </trace:assessment>

  <item>...</item>
</channel>

Item-Level Use

Episode-Specific Assessments

Place trace:assessment inside an <item> to override or add to the channel-level assessment for that specific episode. An item-level assessment takes precedence over the channel-level one for that item. You can use both: channel-level as the default, item-level for episodes that deviate.

Item-level placement with full scores

<item>
  <title>Ep 12: Water Rights on the Chilcotin</title>
  <link>https://cariboosignals.ca/episodes/12</link>
  <guid>cariboo-ep-12</guid>

  <trace:assessment version="1.0">
    <trace:content
      title="Ep 12: Water Rights on the Chilcotin"
      url="https://cariboosignals.ca/episodes/12"
      type="podcast"/>
    <trace:producer>Cariboo Signals</trace:producer>
    <trace:community>Tsilhqot'in Nation; rural Cariboo</trace:community>
    <trace:ai generated="true" role="partial">
      <trace:tool>Claude</trace:tool>
    </trace:ai>
    <trace:track>A</trace:track>
    <trace:disqualified>false</trace:disqualified>
    <trace:scores>
      <trace:score category="transparency"       value="3" max="4"/>
      <trace:score category="sourceIntegrity"    value="2" max="3"/>
      <trace:score category="displacement"      value="2" max="2"/>
      <trace:score category="consentAttribution" value="3" max="4"/>
      <trace:score category="benefitFlow"       value="3" max="5"/>
      <trace:score category="accountability"    value="2" max="2"/>
    </trace:scores>
    <trace:total score="15" max="20" pct="75"/>
    <trace:verdict>Sound</trace:verdict>
    <trace:assessmentDate>2026-05-15</trace:assessmentDate>
    <trace:assessedBy>self</trace:assessedBy>
    <trace:cardURL>https://tracestandard.org/cards/cariboo-ep12</trace:cardURL>
  </trace:assessment>
</item>

Full RSS Example

Complete RSS 2.0 Feed

Complete feed with channel + item TRACE blocks

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
     xmlns:trace="https://tracestandard.org/ns/trace/1.0"
     xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0"
     xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">

  <channel>
    <title>Cariboo Signals</title>
    <link>https://cariboosignals.ca</link>
    <description>Community journalism for the Cariboo</description>
    <language>en-ca</language>

    <!-- Series-level TRACE assessment -->
    <trace:assessment version="1.0">
      <trace:producer url="https://cariboosignals.ca">Cariboo Signals</trace:producer>
      <trace:community>Rural Cariboo region, BC</trace:community>
      <trace:ai generated="true" role="partial">
        <trace:tool>Claude</trace:tool>
        <trace:tool>ElevenLabs</trace:tool>
      </trace:ai>
      <trace:track>A</trace:track>
      <trace:disqualified>false</trace:disqualified>
      <trace:total score="15" max="20"/>
      <trace:verdict>Sound</trace:verdict>
      <trace:assessmentDate>2026-05-15</trace:assessmentDate>
    </trace:assessment>

    <item>
      <title>Ep 12: Water Rights on the Chilcotin</title>
      <link>https://cariboosignals.ca/episodes/12</link>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">cariboo-ep-12</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2026 09:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <enclosure url="https://cdn.cariboosignals.ca/ep12.mp3"
                 length="47832044" type="audio/mpeg"/>

      <!-- Episode-specific override: community differs from series default -->
      <trace:assessment version="1.0">
        <trace:community>Tsilhqot'in Nation; rural Cariboo</trace:community>
        <trace:track>A</trace:track>
        <trace:disqualified>false</trace:disqualified>
        <trace:total score="15" max="20"/>
        <trace:verdict>Sound</trace:verdict>
        <trace:assessmentDate>2026-05-15</trace:assessmentDate>
        <trace:cardURL>https://tracestandard.org/cards/cariboo-ep12</trace:cardURL>
      </trace:assessment>
    </item>

  </channel>
</rss>

Atom Feed

Atom 1.0 Integration

The namespace declaration and element structure are identical in Atom feeds. Declare the namespace on the root <feed> element and use trace:assessment as a child of <feed> (series-level) or <entry> (item-level).

Atom feed fragment

<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
      xmlns:trace="https://tracestandard.org/ns/trace/1.0">

  <title>Cariboo Signals</title>

  <trace:assessment version="1.0">
    <trace:producer>Cariboo Signals</trace:producer>
    <trace:track>A</trace:track>
    <trace:disqualified>false</trace:disqualified>
    <trace:total score="15" max="20"/>
    <trace:verdict>Sound</trace:verdict>
    <trace:assessmentDate>2026-05-15</trace:assessmentDate>
  </trace:assessment>

  <entry>
    <title>Ep 12: Water Rights on the Chilcotin</title>
    <!-- entry-level trace:assessment goes here if needed -->
  </entry>

</feed>

Validation

Checking Your Feed

Tool	What it checks	URL
W3C Feed Validator	RSS and Atom well-formedness; namespace extension support	`validator.w3.org/feed`
Podcast Index Validator	Podcasting 2.0 namespace compliance; coexistence check	`podcastindex.org/validate`
TRACE Feed Validator	TRACE-specific element and attribute validation	`tracestandard.org/validate/xml` (forthcoming)

Unknown element handling: Feed readers that do not recognize the trace: namespace will silently ignore all TRACE elements. The feed remains valid and fully functional for those consumers. TRACE metadata is purely additive.

Change Log

Version History

Version	Date	Status	Notes
1.0	May 2026	Draft	Initial draft. All elements defined. Awaiting community review and XSD schema publication.