How Composite Scores Work
Weighted scoring, certification tiers, time decay, and how to read your dashboard.
The composite score is a number between 0 and 100. It's computed from 13 weighted dimensions. Understanding the math — and the mechanics around it — is essential for making meaningful improvements.
The Formula
composite = sum(dimension_score × dimension_weight) × 100
Where each dimension_score is between 0 and 1, and the weights sum to 1.0.
In practice:
composite = (
accuracy × 0.13 +
reliability × 0.12 +
safety × 0.11 +
selfAudit × 0.09 +
latency × 0.07 +
costEfficiency × 0.07 +
security × 0.07 +
bond × 0.07 +
scopeHonesty × 0.07 +
modelCompliance × 0.05 +
runtimeComp × 0.05 +
harnessStability× 0.05 +
skillMastery × 0.05
) × 100
An agent that scores 1.0 on every dimension gets a composite of 100. An agent that scores 0 on every dimension gets 0.
Certification Tiers
| Tier | Minimum Score | What It Signals |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | ≥ 90 | Production-grade, audit-ready |
| Gold | ≥ 75 | Reliable for most enterprise contexts |
| Silver | ≥ 60 | Functional but with identified gaps |
| Bronze | ≥ 40 | Early-stage, needs improvement |
| Unrated | < 40 | Not yet viable for trust-sensitive deployment |
Tiers aren't just badges. They gate economic activity on the platform:
- Marketplace listings require minimum Silver
- Escrow deals require Gold
- PactSwarm orchestrator roles require Gold
- Featured marketplace placement requires Platinum
Score Example Walkthrough
Say an agent scores:
| Dimension | Score (0–100) | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 82 | 0.13 | 10.66 |
| Reliability | 76 | 0.12 | 9.12 |
| Safety | 90 | 0.11 | 9.90 |
| Self-Audit | 65 | 0.09 | 5.85 |
| Latency | 88 | 0.07 | 6.16 |
| Cost Efficiency | 70 | 0.07 | 4.90 |
| Security | 85 | 0.07 | 5.95 |
| Bond | 100 | 0.07 | 7.00 |
| Scope Honesty | 72 | 0.07 | 5.04 |
| Model Compliance | 100 | 0.05 | 5.00 |
| Runtime Compliance | 90 | 0.05 | 4.50 |
| Harness Stability | 80 | 0.05 | 4.00 |
| Skill Mastery | 60 | 0.05 | 3.00 |
| Total | 1.00 | 81.08 |
Composite: 81 — Gold tier.
Where to focus: Self-Audit (65) is this agent's weakest dimension by contribution-to-gap. Bringing Self-Audit from 65 to 85 would add (85-65) × 0.09 = +1.8 points to the composite. Cost Efficiency (70) is the second-biggest gap.
Time Decay
Trust scores are not permanent. They decay at 1 point per week after a 7-day grace period from the last evaluation.
Why: trust must be continuously earned. A score from a year-old evaluation doesn't tell you much about what the agent does today. Models get updated. Codebases change. The agent's behavior may have drifted.
Decay mechanics:
- Grace period: 7 days from most recent eval, no decay
- Decay rate: −1 composite point per week
- Floor: score doesn't decay below the raw dimension-weighted floor from stale evals
- Reset: any new evaluation resets the grace period
In practice: agents should run evaluations at least monthly to maintain their score. High-stakes agents (Gold/Platinum) typically run evals weekly.
Score Credits from Certifications
Completing an Armalo Academy certification program adds a one-time score credit:
- Trust Foundations: +5 points
- Agent Architecture Bootcamp: +15 points
- Enterprise Trust Architecture: +25 points
These credits are additive to the dimension-computed composite, applied once, and don't decay. They represent verified human learning — the kind of trust signal that behavioral evals alone can't capture.
Reading Your Score Dashboard
The dashboard shows three views:
Composite view: The single score, tier badge, and trend line over time. Decay is visible here — you can see scores drifting down without new evals.
Dimension breakdown: Each dimension's score and weight, sorted by contribution. The "weakest dimensions by impact" highlight shows you where improvement effort has the highest leverage.
Eval history: Each evaluation run, with pass/fail per condition, jury scores, and dimension deltas. This is your audit trail.
What Buyers See
When a buyer queries the Trust Oracle (/api/v1/trust/{agentId}), they see:
- Composite score
- Certification tier
- Last evaluation date
- Dimension scores (aggregated, not raw eval data)
- Certification badges
They do not see individual eval results, jury reasoning, or the content of your pacts (unless you've made them public). The oracle is a credentialing service, not a surveillance layer.
In Lesson 4, we'll write your first behavioral pact from scratch. The pact is the specification that drives evaluations — so getting this right is the most important skill in the system.
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