URLeket

URLeket is a hypothetical open-standard framework for managing URLs and their associated metadata across distributed systems. It aims to decouple the addressing of resources from transport methods and to provide verifiable information about URLs, including provenance, access policies, and historical redirection data.

The framework proposes a minimal operation set and registry. A URLeket entry describes a resource with an identifier, resource type, metadata, and cryptographic signatures. Core operations include register, resolve, and validate: registering a resource to the registry, resolving a URL to its current location, and validating metadata integrity and provenance.

URLeket defines a registry-based data model and schemas for payloads. It supports cryptographic proofs to establish provenance, and it can be used with content-addressable identifiers to improve immutability. The design emphasizes interoperability with existing web standards, using structured payloads such as JSON-based metadata.

Implementation and status. As a theoretical concept, URLeket has been examined in academic and industry discussions as a way to improve trust in links, enable richer metadata during navigation, and facilitate auditability of redirects. Real-world adoption remains limited to pilot projects and prototypes, with ongoing debates about governance, privacy, and performance.

Related topics include Uniform Resource Identifier, URL, link metadata, cryptographic signatures, and content-addressable storage.