WRID Specification v0.1

This document defines the Writer Record Identifier (WRID) standard: its format, resolution behavior, entity model, and machine-readable metadata outputs in JSON and ONIX. WRID is designed to be a stable, persistent identifier infrastructure for writers, personas, works, editions, and creative bibliographies.

1. Introduction

A Writer Record Identifier (WRID) is a unique, persistent, URL-resolvable identifier assigned to one of several literary entities:

WRIDs are globally unique, time-sortable, and encoded to be human-readable. They serve as the foundation of the WriterID metadata ecosystem.

2. Identifier Format

2.1 Canonical Form

A WRID is a UUIDv7 (RFC 9562) encoded in Crockford Base32 and finished with the Crockford check symbol. For display it is grouped with hyphens: 

0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZMC

Characteristics:

2.2 Stability

A WRID is permanent once issued. It MUST NOT be reassigned or reused. A withdrawn record keeps its WRID and resolves to 410 Gone.

3. Entity Types

Each WRID MUST belong to exactly one entity type:

3.1 Person

A private record representing a real individual. Contains legal identity, estate instructions, private notes, and links to Personas. A Person WRID exists but never resolves publicly.

3.2 Persona (Pen Name)

A public creative identity. Associated with one Person. Has its own public metadata and list of Works.

3.3 Work

A creative work such as a novel, short story, script, or essay: the intellectual content, independent of format. May be linked to one or more Personas and to a Series.

3.4 Edition

One concrete publication of a Work: a format (paperback, hardcover, ebook, audiobook), an ISBN, a publisher, a release date and physical or digital dimensions. Editions live inside their Work’s record and each has its own WRID.

This is the ONIX distinction between a Work and a Product. Metadata about the text (title, description, subject, series, contributors) belongs to the Work; metadata about the object (ISBN, format, extent, publisher, date) belongs to the Edition. One WRID can therefore stand for “the book” while each ISBN still has its own resolvable record.

3.5 Series (Optional)

An ordered collection of related Works under one Persona. May itself have metadata.

4. Resolver Behavior

Every WRID MUST resolve through the canonical resolver:

https://wrid.org/<wrid>

The resolver offers these routes:

4.1 Content Negotiation

User agents MAY request a specific format via Accept headers on the bare /<wrid> route. The resolver SHOULD honor this when possible.

4.2 Status Codes

4.3 Permanence of URLs

WRID resolver URLs MUST remain stable and publicly accessible for the lifetime of the WRID Foundation.

5. JSON Schema

The JSON representation MUST return a top-level object with fields depending on the entity type. All representations MUST include:

5.1 Example: Persona JSON

{
  "wrid": "0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZMC",
  "type": "persona",
  "name": "John Smith",
  "works": [
    "0001QWER-ASDF-ZXCV-1234-567890A"
  ],
  "links": {
    "website": "https://johnsmithbooks.com"
  },
  "created": "2025-01-15T12:00:00Z",
  "updated": "2025-01-20T09:30:00Z"
}

The owning Person is never included in public output. A Work’s JSON lists its Editions, each with its own wrid, format and isbn.

6. ONIX Output

The /onix representation is an ONIX 3.0 message. For a Work it contains one <Product> per Edition; for an Edition, that single product. Personas appear as contributors with a WRID name identifier.

6.1 Example: Product fragment

<Product>
  <RecordReference>0001QWER-ASDF-ZXCV-1234-567890A</RecordReference>
  <NotificationType>03</NotificationType>
  <ProductIdentifier>
    <ProductIDType>15</ProductIDType>
    <IDValue>9780000000002</IDValue>
  </ProductIdentifier>

  <DescriptiveDetail>
    <TitleDetail>
      <TitleElement>
        <TitleText>The Example Novel</TitleText>
      </TitleElement>
    </TitleDetail>

    <Contributor>
      <ContributorRole>A01</ContributorRole>
      <NameIdentifier>
        <NameIDType>01</NameIDType>
        <IDTypeName>WRID</IDTypeName>
        <IDValue>0001K6CW-KHTV-F04F-QHBK-YE3HZMC</IDValue>
      </NameIdentifier>
      <PersonName>John Smith</PersonName>
    </Contributor>
  </DescriptiveDetail>
</Product>

7. Privacy Model

WRID adheres to a strict privacy boundary between Persons and Personas.

8. Legacy & Estate Instructions

Person records MAY contain posthumous directives describing how bibliographies, licenses, personas, and pen-name visibility should be managed after death.

Examples include:

These instructions MUST NOT be exposed in public resolver outputs.

9. Versioning

This specification is versioned and publicly accessible. Future versions may add fields or new entity types but SHOULD remain backward-compatible wherever possible.

Current version: v0.1 (revised to add Editions, the check symbol and the ONIX route)

10. Contact & Governance

WRID is developed openly with the long-term goal of establishing the WRID Foundation, a neutral non-profit steward of the namespace, resolver, and metadata standards.

Project information and updates are available at: writerid.org