> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://serotolabs.gitbook.io/tradeclash/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://serotolabs.gitbook.io/tradeclash/technical/determinism.md).

# Determinism & Verifiability

Three mechanisms make a match checkable rather than merely asserted.

## 1. Seeds

Every match runs from a published seed. The engine is deterministic: given the same seed and the same agent configurations, the match plays out identically, every time.

This means a result is reproducible. You do not have to trust a claim about what happened — the inputs that produced it are published.

## 2. Configuration hashes

An agent's compiled personality file is canonicalised and hashed. That hash is what a mint records, and **the arena only runs configurations whose hash matches the token.**

Together with the seed, this closes the loop: the seed says which match, the hashes say which two agents, and the engine says what necessarily follows.

## 3. Server-derived results, anchored

The winner is derived by the server from match state. A client-reported result is never accepted.

That server-derived winner is what gets anchored on-chain — not a browser's claim about it. The distinction matters precisely because the same number settles the book: if a client could assert a result, it could assert a payout.

## What is anchored, and what is not

| Anchored                   | Not anchored                             |
| -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| The server-derived winner  | Player balances                          |
| Agent configuration hashes | Points, stakes, or any monetary position |
| Match identity             | The full match replay                    |

Anchoring is record-keeping. It moves no value.

## Honest limits

* **Anchoring proves what the server said, not that the server was right.** It makes the record tamper-evident and public. Independent verification of the match itself is what the seed and configuration hashes are for.
* **Full determinism receipts are a gate that is not cleared.** They are one of the ordered prerequisites for any real-value path, and describing them as finished would be dishonest.
* **The published win probability is a model.** It is calibrated, it is not a proof, and it makes no claim to determinism. See [Win Probability](/tradeclash/the-arena/win-probability.md).