Actions, Metadata, and What Gets Claimed

A C2PA manifest is built from assertions. Two assertions matter most for most files.

The actions assertion (c2pa.actions.v2) lists discrete operations in order. The first entry is almost always c2pa.created. It can carry a digitalSourceType that places the work in a broad category such as digitalArt. Subsequent entries can describe color adjustments, cropping, or other modifications. The list is meant to be complete for the signed history.

The metadata assertion carries ordinary descriptive fields: title, description, creator, subject, creation date. These fields use Dublin Core names inside a Schema.org context in common practice. They are the main place where human-readable information about the work can travel with the manifest.

The format therefore pushes two different kinds of statement. The actions list favors a machine-readable account of process. The metadata section favors the kind of description an artist might already write for a caption or artist statement. Both are signed together.

The choice of what to put in these fields is not neutral. A minimal manifest that only records creation with a generic digital source type says little. A richer manifest that includes a precise title and a description can carry more of the work's intended context. That richness also becomes part of the permanent record attached to the file.

Platforms that consume these manifests will likely treat the presence of structured claims differently from their absence. The decision to include or omit particular statements therefore becomes part of how the work is presented to automated systems long after the signer has moved on.