# Evidence Linking Evidence linking connects each governed state item and governance event back to its originating message or source event. State should not be treated as detached truth - it should remain inspectable in relation to where it came from. *** ## What Evidence Linking Enables * Source attribution for governed state * Operator review during conflict resolution * Traceable explanations in the Why Panel * Historical inspection after supersession or expiry * Confidence in handoffs between humans and agents {% hint style="info" %} **When a user asks why an action was blocked or why a value appears in state, the answer is not just a generated explanation.** The system can point back to evidence and let the operator inspect the originating context. {% endhint %} Cogna8 links state to sources inside the Cogna8-managed interaction path. It does not claim omniscient provenance across every external system unless those systems are explicitly integrated. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://cogna8-io.gitbook.io/docs/core-concepts/evidence-linking.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.