07 — PIPs · PIP-0005
Canonical meaning of receipts.route
Specify the only shape `route` may take, and keep it empty until a router exists that is allowed to fill it.
- Number
- PIP-0005
- Status
- implemented
- Type
- Core
- Author
- PATH
- Date
- 2026-09-13
- Source
- On the register
Why this exists
PIP-0004 refused to fill route until three conditions held. The first was a single canonical meaning across networks. This PIP writes that meaning. It does not authorise anyone to populate the field.
A receipt with a route and a receipt without one remain the same kind of object — path.receipt, same signature rules, route nullable. Filling it still must not require PATH to admit members or hold balances. Those two conditions stay; they belong to the PIP that first writes a non-null route.
The shape
{
"legs": [
{
"via": { "rail": "sepa-inst", "asset_type": "fiat", "asset_code": "EUR" },
"provider": "member-a",
"share": "1",
"asset_in": { "asset_type": "fiat", "asset_code": "EUR" },
"asset_out": { "asset_type": "fiat", "asset_code": "EUR" },
"eta_seconds": 30
}
],
"providers": ["member-a"],
"eta_seconds": 30
}| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `legs[]` | Ordered hops. A one-rail payment is one leg. |
| `legs[].via` | The capability of the hop ([PIP-0006](/pips/0006)). Its `rail` is a rail register identifier ([PIP-0007](/pips/0007)), never a PATH network slug. |
| `legs[].provider` | Optional member that executed that hop. |
| `legs[].share` | Optional decimal fraction of the amount on this hop. Sum of shares on a split is `"1"`. |
| `legs[].asset_in` / `asset_out` | Assets ([PIP-0006](/pips/0006)) that entered and left the hop. |
| `legs[].eta_seconds` | Optional expected duration of the hop. |
| `providers` | Distinct providers across legs, for a reader that does not want to walk them. |
| `eta_seconds` | Optional expected duration of the whole route. |
route is either this object or null. Any other value is a non-conformity.
Amendment — 2026-10-04
legs[].rail (a string) is replaced by legs[].via (a capability), and asset_in / asset_out are Assets rather than codes. The field is null in every conforming receipt, so no emitted object changes.
Rule, still
Implementations MUST accept this shape and MUST emit null until a later PIP names who may fill it. A non-empty route today is the same non-conformity PIP-0004 already recorded: inventing PATH Liquidity that was not specified.
SEPA Instant, UPI and a blockchain are rails. They are not PATH networks. A network that writes its own corridor into route is still inventing a field this protocol has not opened.