Recipes

A recipe is a YAML document that configures exactly what happens when you call POST /v1/sign or POST /v1/verify. It controls which watermark engine to use, which C2PA assertions to include, anchoring tier, manifest retention, and billing meter.

Built-in presets

Verbitas ships 10 preset recipes. They are immutable after the release tag.

Recipe ID	Media type	C2PA	Watermark	Anchoring	Use case
`image-genai-v1`	image	required	TrustMark	OTS Tier 1	Standard AI image
`image-editorial-v1`	image	required	TrustMark	OTS + Arbitrum	Editorial photography
`image-deepfake-v1`	image	required + deepfake assertion	TrustMark	OTS + Arbitrum	Deepfake disclosure
`image-legal-evidence-v1`	image	required	TrustMark	5-min OTS + Arbitrum	Legal chain of custody
`audio-genai-v1`	audio	required	AudioSeal	OTS Tier 1	AI-generated audio
`audio-voiceclone-v1`	audio	required + voiceclone assertion	AudioSeal	OTS + Arbitrum	Voice clone disclosure
`video-genai-v1`	video	required	VideoSeal	OTS Tier 1	AI-generated video
`video-advertising-v1`	video	required	VideoSeal	OTS + Arbitrum	Advertising provenance
`text-genai-disclosure-v1`	text	required (sidecar)	SynthID-Text	OTS Tier 1	LLM text disclosure
`enterprise-strict-v1`	any	required	all applicable	OTS + Arbitrum + BYOC	BYOK KMS, enterprise

Recipe YAML structure

id: my-image-pipeline-v1         # unique ID; convention: <slug>-v<N>
version: 1                        # starts at 1; increment on each change
extends: image-genai-v1@1         # base preset to extend (required for custom recipes)
media_type: image                 # image | audio | video | text
description: My image pipeline provenance

c2pa:
  enabled: true                   # must be true for ai_generated: true content
  assertions:
    - ai_generated
    - generator
    - model
    - created_at
  require_ingredient_chain: false # set true for editorial / legal-evidence

watermark:
  enabled: true
  engine: trustmark               # trustmark | audioseal | videoseal | synthid_text
  payload:
    type: manifest_pointer
    encoding: compact

soft_binding:
  enabled: true
  methods:
    - exact_watermark              # exact_watermark | exact_hash | perceptual_hash
    - perceptual_hash

anchoring:
  enabled: true
  methods:
    - opentimestamps               # opentimestamps | arbitrum
  batch_interval_minutes: 60      # 5 = legal-evidence fast anchor; 60 = standard

kms_mode: kms                     # kms (default) | byok | dev_local

retention:
  manifest_days: 365              # how long to keep the manifest
  original_asset_days: 0          # 0 = do not store original asset
  derived_asset_days: 30          # 0 = do not store derived (signed) asset

verification:
  minimum_confidence: 0.92
  ocsp_mode: default              # default | required
  ambiguous_match_behavior: manual_review  # manual_review | reject | accept_partial

billing:
  meter: image_sign               # see Reference: Meter Kinds
  unit: asset

ui:
  public_label: "AI-generated image with verifiable provenance"

Step kinds (closed enum)

A recipe specifies which operations run, but the operations themselves are a closed enum. You cannot add new step kinds without an RFC in docs/rfcs/. The current valid values are:

Step kind	What it does
`c2pa_build`	Constructs the C2PA claim structure from assertions and metadata
`watermark_embed`	Runs the watermark engine to embed the payload in the asset signal
`soft_binding_write`	Writes the fingerprint index entry (exact hash, pHash, watermark_id)
`anchor_queue`	Enqueues the manifest digest for the next anchor batch
`c2pa_finalize`	Calls the signer, receives signature + cert chain + timestamp, assembles JUMBF manifest

These steps run in the order above during every sign job. The recipe controls whether each step is active and which parameters it uses — not the order.

Custom recipes

Custom recipes must extend one of the 10 presets using the extends field. They are validated against packages/recipes/schema/recipe.schema.json on submission.

Custom recipes are immutable after first use. If an asset was signed with my-recipe-v1, it will always verify against my-recipe-v1. To change the recipe, create my-recipe-v2.

Create via API

Requires admin-scoped key.

curl -X POST https://api.verbitas.io/v1/recipes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vb_admin_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/yaml" \
  --data-binary @my-image-pipeline-v1.yaml

Response:

{ "recipe_id": "my-image-pipeline-v1", "version": 1, "created_at": "2026-05-09T10:00:00Z" }

Errors

Code	Meaning
`verbitas.recipes.invalid_schema`	YAML does not pass `recipe.schema.json` validation
`verbitas.recipes.unknown_step_kind`	`step.kind` outside closed enum
`verbitas.recipes.byok_plan_required`	`kms_mode: byok` requires Enterprise BYOK plan
`verbitas.recipes.conflict`	Recipe ID + version already exists

Recipe selection guide

Use case	Recipe
AI-generated image	`image-genai-v1`
Editorial photography	`image-editorial-v1`
Deepfake disclosure required	`image-deepfake-v1`
Legal chain of custody	`image-legal-evidence-v1`
AI-generated audio / TTS	`audio-genai-v1`
Voice clone disclosure	`audio-voiceclone-v1`
AI-generated video	`video-genai-v1`
Advertising video provenance	`video-advertising-v1`
LLM text disclosure	`text-genai-disclosure-v1`
Enterprise, BYOK, all anchors	`enterprise-strict-v1`
Custom	`POST /v1/recipes` with `extends:`

See Guides: Custom Recipes for a complete walkthrough of writing a custom recipe.