• Canonical identification of pages, sections, and site-level resources.
• Correct backlinking within provenance, trust, and authority models.
• AI-friendly navigation across the website.
• Reliable deduplication when multiple URLs mirror the same resource.

MSP-1 emphasizes clean, canonical URLs to avoid ambiguity and maximize machine readability.

• Be absolute — including scheme (https://).
• Be canonical — representing the preferred reference location.
• Be stable — not change unless the resource permanently moves.
• Be unambiguous — resolve to exactly one resource.

URLs MUST NOT include tracking parameters or ephemeral query strings in canonical declarations.

• url — the canonical URL string.

Recommended optional fields:

• alternate — alternate forms or mirrors of the resource.
• previous — former addresses for migration tracking.
• redirect — permanent redirect targets if the URL has moved.
• notes — human-readable explanation of URL decisions.

Implementers SHOULD ensure URL consistency across all MSP-1 metadata declarations.

• AI MUST treat URL declarations as authoritative identifiers.
• Conflicts between URLs across metadata MUST be considered structural errors.
• AI SHOULD use canonical URLs for reference consolidation and deduplication.
• Alternate URLs MAY be used for discovery but not treated as primary identifiers.
• Stability of URL history SHOULD influence trust and provenance interpretation.

Clean URLs dramatically improve AI retrieval accuracy and reduce hallucination risks.

• id — local identifier; url is the global web-facing address.
• page — each page should declare a canonical URL.
• site — site-level URL identifies the root of the domain.
• provenance — URLs connect provenance elements to source materials.
• trust — stable URLs support trust evaluation.
• parent — helps resolve structural relationships.

{
  "url": "https://msp-1.org/spec/url/"
}

URL with alternates:

{
  "url": "https://msp-1.org/docs/privacy-security/",
  "alternate": [
    "https://msp1.org/docs/privacy-security/",
    "https://msp-1.com/docs/privacy-security/"
  ]
}

URL migration example:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/reference/article/",
  "previous": "https://example.org/old-article/",
  "redirect": "https://example.com/reference/article/"
}

Within a page declaration:

{
  "page": {
    "id": "intro",
    "url": "https://msp-1.org/intro/"
  }
}

• It declares a valid canonical URL.
• The URL is stable, unambiguous, and consistent across declarations.
• Alternate and previous URLs (when provided) are truthful and structured.
• All normative requirements for URL semantics are satisfied.