ServiceParticipant Schema

**Container:** Participant.participantAttributes **Extends:** *(standalone — domain-neutral base)* **Protocol Version:** 2.0 **Semantic Model:** generalised **Tag:** service generic-service participant

Overview

ServiceParticipant is the domain-neutral base for participant attribute schemas in the Beckn generalised model. It defines a single field — credentialRefs — an array of Beckn Credential/2.0 objects that participant schemas in any domain can inherit via allOf to provide runtime proof of credentials.

The schema is intentionally minimal. It does not model role, identity, or domain-specific attributes — those belong in the domain extension schema. Its sole purpose is to make credentialRefs a portable, reusable, consistently typed field across all Beckn networks.

Attachment Points

Attaches to Participant.participantAttributes within Contract.participants[]. Domain-specific participant schemas extend ServiceParticipant and add role, identity, and domain-specific sub-objects alongside the inherited credentialRefs.

Design Rationale

• **credentialRefs referencing Beckn Credential/2.0** — Rather than defining a custom credential structure, ServiceParticipant delegates entirely to the Beckn core Credential/2.0 type (https://schema.beckn.io/Credential/v2.0/attributes.yaml). This keeps the definition authoritative and in sync with the broader Beckn trust infrastructure.

• **Credential/2.0 is a oneOf of two branches:**
• *W3C Verifiable Credential* — an opaque JSON object (additionalProperties: true) conforming to the W3C VC Data Model. Machine-verifiable via the issuer's DID. Beckn intentionally does not validate the internal VC structure at the schema layer — the W3C VC spec governs that.
• *Document Credential* — a Beckn Document/2.0 object (label, url, mimeType required; standard, security optional). For manual/offline verification of PDFs, images, or other document-based credentials. Use the standard field to convey credential type (e.g. MedicalLicence, FacilityAccreditation, NGORegistration).

• **Separation from domain-specific credential metadata** — credentialRefs is the runtime proof link, not a place to model credential attributes. Any domain-specific structured credential metadata (e.g. specialty, accreditation body, registration number for query and filtering purposes) belongs in a domain-specific sub-object in the extending schema (e.g. specialistAccreditation in HealthParticipant).

• **No role or identity fields at base level** — Role and identity are domain-specific enough that generalising them here would produce an unusable schema. Domain extensions add those fields on top.

Non-Goals

• Does not model participant role — that belongs in the domain-specific extension.
• Does not model national or sector-specific identity identifiers — those belong in the domain extension (e.g. healthIds in HealthParticipant).
• Does not model consent, authorisation, or access control — those belong in the Contract schema.
• Does not validate credential content — credential verification is a network trust layer concern, not a schema concern.

Upstream Candidates

• credentialRefs (Credential/2.0 array) — if Beckn core defines a Participant.credentials field at the protocol level in a future version, this field could be upstreamed and ServiceParticipant retired. Until then, it serves as the generalised layer between Beckn core types and domain participant schemas.