{
  "title": "Rightshold Validator Circles",
  "about": "A validator circle is a standing panel that reviews hard cases together. Rightshold has one standing circle: the bureau panel. Cases do not start there — the published rules decide the clear-cut cases, and Rightshold's AI arbitrator reviews the rest when both parties consent to AI review. A case reaches the circle only by a recorded route: a party appeals a binding award, a party opts out of AI review, the rules refer a case they cannot decide, or a recommendation is not accepted by both parties on an escrow dispute. Before the circle decides a referred case, a mediation step is recorded on it, and only a declined or expired step proceeds. The circle's decisions are recorded on each case with the method rightshold-human-panel-v1 and an evidence digest that is the sha256 of the case record, so the parties can verify the decision was made on that record; a decision binds only where both parties agreed to be bound or it settles escrow the parties placed with Rightshold, and on a general matter without that consent the recorded decision is a recommendation. This document is the circle's public shape: its queue and its recorded decisions, counted — no case, party or content is named. The circle is not the ledger-validator program: no block cosigning, deposit or payout lives here. This surface enrols no one, assigns no case and decides nothing; it reads the panel record at read time and stores nothing.",
  "method": "rightshold-validator-circles-v1",
  "rules": "One standing circle (the bureau panel) — exactly one standing panel exists, so exactly one circle is named, and no member roll is published because no panel-membership record exists. Queue: panelQueue over the cases in appealed or panel_review, verbatim from the panel-queue surface. Recorded decisions: every arbitration case carrying a panel decision, counted by the decision's recorded outcome (claimant / respondent / split), by whether the record says it binds, and by case kind; the last decision time is the latest recorded decided_at. Mediation: every case that recorded a mediation step, counted by the step's recorded outcome (settled / declined / expired / still open). Nothing is stored: every read recomputes from the arbitration case records.",
  "totals": {
    "circles": 1,
    "pending": 0,
    "decisions_recorded": 8,
    "mediation_steps_recorded": 0
  },
  "circles": [
    {
      "id": "bureau-panel",
      "name": "Bureau panel circle",
      "standing": true,
      "body": "Rightshold's bureau panel — the human panel of the arbitration machinery",
      "queue": {
        "pending": 0,
        "by_status": {
          "appealed": 0,
          "panel_review": 0
        },
        "oldest_wait_hours": null,
        "median_wait_hours": null,
        "age_buckets": {
          "under_24h": 0,
          "1_to_3_days": 0,
          "3_to_7_days": 0,
          "over_7_days": 0
        },
        "panel_decisions_recorded": 8,
        "last_panel_decision_at": "2026-10-23T15:38:39.751Z",
        "note": "Cases reach the panel when a party appeals a binding award, opts out of AI review, or the published rules refer the case. The queue is worked by Rightshold's bureau panel; this view shows the queue's size and how long cases in it have been waiting, and nothing about any case in it."
      },
      "recorded": {
        "decisions": 8,
        "binding": 8,
        "recommendations": 0,
        "by_outcome": {
          "claimant": 8
        },
        "by_kind": {
          "arbitration": 8
        },
        "last_decision_at": "2026-10-23T15:38:39.750Z",
        "decision_method": "rightshold-human-panel-v1",
        "evidence_digest": "sha256 of the case record the decision was made on; the parties to a case can recompute it from that record"
      },
      "mediation_first": {
        "steps_recorded": 0,
        "by_outcome": {
          "settled": 0,
          "declined": 0,
          "expired": 0,
          "open": 0
        },
        "rule": "Before the circle decides a case referred to it, a mediation step is recorded on the case: for the published mediation window either party may propose a split of the disputed amount for the other to accept or reject; an accepted proposal settles the case on escrow. The step does not apply to an appealed binding award, which goes to the circle as the appealing party asked."
      },
      "referral_routes": [
        {
          "route": "appeal",
          "how": "A party appeals a binding award to the panel within 72 hours of the award."
        },
        {
          "route": "ai_review_opt_out",
          "how": "A party sets ai_consent to false; the case is referred to the panel instead of AI review, after the recorded mediation step."
        },
        {
          "route": "rules_referral",
          "how": "The published rules decide only clear-cut cases; a case they cannot decide on the record is referred to the panel, after the recorded mediation step."
        },
        {
          "route": "recommendation_not_accepted",
          "how": "A recommendation is not accepted by both parties in time and the matter is an escrow dispute; a general matter closes instead."
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "panel_queue_url": "https://www.rightshold.com/v1/arbitration/panel-queue",
        "rules_url": "https://www.rightshold.com/v1/arbitration/rules",
        "arbitration_url": "https://www.rightshold.com/arbitration"
      }
    }
  ]
}