ONP-3200

Open News Protocol (ONP): Search

Abstract

This document defines the Search Extension: org.onp.search. It is deliberately narrow: an indexing-consent signal (indexable) and an optional, publisher-controlled snippet for search result display (search_snippet). It does not duplicate the generic discovery fields ONP-1005 (Core Metadata) already provides, and it explicitly declines to define any ranking, priority, or relevance signal — this document is about whether and how content may be indexed, never about how prominently it should rank once it is.

Status of This Document

This document is part of the ONP Extension series (ONP-3000-3999). It is directly implementable. It is a Working Draft.

Normative Language

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174], per the interpretation established in ONP-0000.

1. Introduction

ONP-1005 already gives every News Object a Companion-agnostic title, summary, language, and tags layer any indexer can use without understanding a specific Companion's schema. This document does not repeat that work. What it adds is narrower and specific to search: an explicit, signed indexing-consent signal, and an optional snippet a publisher may craft specifically for how their content appears in search results, distinct from the more general-purpose onp:metadata.summary.

2. Scope

2.1 In Scope

• indexable: a boolean indexing-consent signal, defaulting to permissive absence (Section 4.4) — a deliberate departure from this series' usual no-default convention, explained in Section 4.4;
• search_snippet: an OPTIONAL, publisher-crafted string for search result display;
• the one Claim Domain this Extension declares;
• its relationship to existing robots.txt conventions.

2.2 Out of Scope

This document does NOT define:

• any ranking, priority, freshness weighting, or relevance signal — deliberately excluded; standardizing such a signal would function as an SEO-manipulation surface this document has no interest in creating;
• a global ONP search index or resolver — consistent with the no-global-resolver posture ONP-1001 Section 4.6 already established, this document defines a consent signal an indexer MAY respect, not an indexing service ONP itself provides;
• any duplication of onp:metadata's title, summary, language, or tags fields (ONP-1005) — this Extension is additive to that layer, not a replacement for it.

3. Terminology

This document introduces no new general terms beyond its namespace and Claim Domain registration (Section 4).

4. Requirements

4.1 Extension Namespace Declaration

This Extension's fields MUST be carried under onp:extensions.org.onp.search.

4.2 Companion-vs-Extension Classification

Does "Search" have independent identity and an independent
lifecycle, separable from the Object it describes?

- Indexing consent and a search snippet are inherently properties
  of an existing Object; neither has any standalone existence a
  reader would reference on its own.
- NO -> Extension, consistent with the classification ONP-3100
  (AI Metadata) already reached for a structurally similar case.

4.3 Content Schema

indexable and search_snippet are both OPTIONAL, under the single Claim Domain search-indexing-consent (Section 4.5).

4.4 Indexing Consent — A Deliberate Default Exception

1. indexable, if present, MUST be a boolean.
2. Unlike training_permitted (ONP-3100) or Rights permission flags (ONP-2400), an absent indexable MUST be treated as true. This is a deliberate, reasoned departure from this series' usual no-default-assumption discipline: search indexing follows a long-established web convention (content is indexable unless explicitly excluded, mirroring robots.txt and noindex conventions), and the harm profile of over-permissive search indexing is materially different from over-permissive AI training or commercial rights — matching existing, well-understood practice (Principle P3) is judged more valuable here than the general caution that motivates "no default" elsewhere in this series.
3. indexable and training_permitted (ONP-3100) are independent signals. A Node MUST NOT infer one from the other's value — a publisher MAY be excluded from search indexing while still permitting AI training under a separate arrangement, or the reverse.

4.5 Claim Domain

This Extension declares one Claim Domain: search-indexing-consent, covering both indexable and search_snippet. It MUST be registered in ONP-0002 alongside this document's publication (Section 10.3).

4.6 Search Snippet

search_snippet, if present, MUST be a plain-text string, distinct from onp:metadata.summary. A publisher MAY use it to provide search-result-optimized phrasing without altering the more general-purpose summary a non-search consumer would see.

4.7 Relationship to robots.txt

indexable operates at the level of a signed News Object, not at the level of an HTTP endpoint. It does not replace or override a publisher's robots.txt directives for conventional web crawling, which remain a separate, HTTP-layer convention this document does not alter. Where both exist and appear to disagree for the same content, a Node SHOULD apply the more restrictive of the two.

5. Object Model

{
  "onp:extensions": {
    "org.onp.search": {
      "indexable": "boolean, OPTIONAL, default true if absent",
      "search_snippet": "string, OPTIONAL"
    }
  }
}

6. Processing Model

6.1 Consumption

A search indexer or crawler consuming a News Object SHOULD check onp:extensions.org.onp.search.indexable before indexing it, applying the permissive default (Section 4.4) when absent, and MAY use search_snippet in place of onp:metadata.summary for result display when present.

6.2 Interoperability

A Node without this Extension implemented treats every Object as indexable by the same permissive default this document itself specifies — implementing this Extension changes what a Node can express, not the default outcome for Nodes that do not.

7. Examples

7.1 Explicit Opt-Out (Paywalled Content)

{
  "onp:extensions": {
    "org.onp.search": {
      "indexable": false
    }
  }
}

7.2 Custom Search Snippet

{
  "onp:extensions": {
    "org.onp.search": {
      "indexable": true,
      "search_snippet": "Volledig overzicht van het fusieonderzoek tussen Purmerend, Landsmeer, Wormerland en Oostzaan, inclusief budgetanalyse."
    }
  }
}

8. Security Considerations

indexable is a declared consent signal, not an access control mechanism (the same limitation ONP-2400 Section 4.8 already states for Rights): a Node or crawler that ignores it can still index the content, since ONP provides no technical enforcement of any declaration. This document's contribution is a standard, signed place to express the preference, not a guarantee it will be honored by every consumer.

9. Privacy Considerations

This document defines no fields carrying personal data and introduces no privacy impact beyond what is already established elsewhere in this series.

10. References

10.1 Normative References

• [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119.
• [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174.
• ONP-0001, Architecture — Section 4.4, the decision test applied in Section 4.2.
• ONP-0003, Design Principles — Principle P3 (Ordinary Technology), motivating the permissive default in Section 4.4.
• ONP-1001, Identifiers — Section 4.6, the no-global-resolver posture this document's own scoping (Section 2.2) is consistent with.
• ONP-1005, Core Metadata — the generic discovery layer this Extension is additive to, not a replacement for.
• ONP-3000, Extension Framework — Section 4.1 (namespace registration), Section 4.3 (Claim Domain declaration).
• ONP-3100, AI Metadata — Section 4.2's classification precedent, and Section 4.4, rule 3's independence from training_permitted.

10.2 Informative References

• robots.txt (Robots Exclusion Protocol) — the existing web convention Section 4.4 and Section 4.7 align with.

10.3 Registry Registration

As part of this document's publication, org.onp.search and search-indexing-consent are registered in ONP-0002.

Appendix A: Full Schema Reference

{
  "onp:extensions": {
    "org.onp.search": {
      "indexable": "boolean, OPTIONAL, default true",
      "search_snippet": "string, OPTIONAL"
    }
  }
}

Appendix B: Search Extension Checklist

[ ] Fields carried under onp:extensions.org.onp.search
[ ] indexable, if absent, is understood as true (deliberate
    exception to this series' usual no-default rule, Section 4.4)
[ ] indexable is NOT inferred from training_permitted (ONP-3100) or
    vice versa — the two are independent
[ ] search_snippet, if present, is distinct from onp:metadata.summary
[ ] no ranking, priority, or relevance signal has been added here —
    that remains explicitly out of scope
[ ] robots.txt, where present, is checked alongside this signal; the
    more restrictive of the two SHOULD apply

End of Document