Source: https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/json-xml-size-depth-analyzer/mechanism/

instrument mechanism / verified-with-binding-errata

# JSON/XML Size & Depth Analyzer mechanism

The inspectable method record for JSON/XML Size & Depth Analyzer, kept separate from implementation and qualification.

Status: **VERIFIED_WITH_ERRATA**Lifecycle: **verified-with-binding-errata**

## Model scope

The instrument concept is viable, but the specification lacks exact definitions for encoding, serialization/minification, depth, counting, percentage calculation, and parser-error behavior. The empty honest_label is a concern: the product should disclose that byte size and minified size depend on encoding and serializer policy, and that XML whitespace handling is not universally semantics-preserving.

- The formula description, "tree traversal counting nodes, depth, and serialized length," is not sufficiently defined to reproduce the outputs.

- Maximum-depth convention is unspecified: it is unclear whether the root has depth 0 or 1, and whether scalar JSON values, arrays, object properties, XML text nodes, attributes, comments, and processing instructions contribute to depth.

- The count metric is ambiguous: JSON may count keys, all values, or all tree nodes; XML may count elements only or also attributes, text nodes, comments, and processing instructions.

- Raw byte size requires a specified character encoding; character count is not byte count for non-ASCII input.

- Minified serialization is undefined, especially for XML. Removing whitespace can alter XML text content, and canonicalization choices for attribute quoting, entities, declarations, comments, and empty-element syntax affect size.

- The size-reduction percentage formula is not explicitly stated. The expected conventional formula is 100 * (raw_bytes - minified_bytes) / raw_bytes.

## Units and conventions

- The test vectors assume UTF-8 encoding and byte size means the number of UTF-8 encoded bytes.

- For these vectors, JSON minification removes insignificant JSON whitespace while preserving values and uses compact separators.

- For these vectors, XML minification removes only whitespace between tags; whitespace inside text content is preserved.

- Depth is assumed to be one-based, with the document root at depth 1; JSON scalar values do not increase depth beyond their containing structure.

- JSON count means object keys only; XML count means element nodes only. XML attributes and text nodes are excluded.

- Size reduction is assumed to be 100 * (raw_bytes - minified_bytes) / raw_bytes.

## Inspectable vector

One of 4 source-bound review vectors:

````
{
  "inputs": {
    "format": "JSON",
    "raw_text": "{\"a\": 1, \"b\": [true, null]}",
    "encoding": "UTF-8"
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "raw_bytes": 27,
    "minified_bytes": 23,
    "max_depth": 2,
    "key_or_element_count": 2,
    "size_reduction_percent": 14.8148148148
  },
  "working": "Raw UTF-8 text is ASCII, so bytes = characters = 27. Minified form is {\"a\":1,\"b\":[true,null]} and has 23 bytes. Depth: root object = 1; nested array = 2; maximum = 2. Key count: a and b = 2. Reduction = 27 - 23 = 4 bytes. Percentage = (4 / 27) * 100 = 14.8148148148%."
}
````

## Failure boundary

**BREAK_CLAIMED** · SELF_FLAGGED

Empty input produces raw size zero and makes the minification-reduction formula undefined as 0/0; the analyzer must reject it before calculation. The specification also leaves byte encoding and depth conventions unstated, which can produce different reported values for Unicode input.

## Other records

[01**Overview**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/json-xml-size-depth-analyzer/>)[03**Implementation**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/json-xml-size-depth-analyzer/implementation/>)[04**Qualification**](<https://guthlabs.ai/docs/instruments/json-xml-size-depth-analyzer/qualification/>)

## Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

- `VERIFIED_LEDGER.json`

- `evidence-tranche5/tranche5-results.json`

- `BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json`