---
title: "What is an evidence status?"
description: "Evidence status is an application decision about support, conflict, absence or retrieval failure. Learn how to use it alongside retrieved sources."
canonical: https://past.dev/glossary/evidence-status
last-updated: 2026-10-17
---
# Evidence status

Source: https://past.dev/glossary/evidence-status

An evidence status is a classification an application can assign to retrieved evidence: supported, conflicting, or insufficient. The consuming application owns this classification; past.dev recall returns the underlying evidence. It turns retrieval from a ranked list into a claim the caller can act on. Without a status, an empty result is ambiguous and a weak match looks like an answer. With one, the agent can branch: answer, surface the conflict, ask the user, or retry later.

## The problem a status solves

Raw retrieval returns a ranked list and nothing else. The list does not say whether the top result answers the question, whether other stored records contradict it, or whether an empty list means absence or failure. Similarity scores do not help: they are relative to the candidate pool and make no claim about truth. An evidence status adds that claim as a machine-readable field, so the agent can branch on it instead of inferring quality from rank.

## Status labels as an application pattern

An application can turn retrieval into a branch point by assigning its own label after inspecting the returned material. These conceptual examples belong to application policy and do not appear as fields in the past.dev response:

| Status value | Meaning | What the agent does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Support found | The returned evidence establishes the answer. | Use it and cite the evidence. |
| Conflicting support | Credible sources disagree; evidence from both sides is returned. | Present both sides with dates. See [contradictory facts](/guides/contradictory-facts). |
| No support found | The stored evidence does not establish an answer. | Abstain: ask the user, escalate, or search elsewhere. |
| Retrieval failed | Retrieval could not complete. | Treat as unknown and retry. Absence was never established. |

## Why it matters for AI agents

An explicit status turns recall into a branch point the agent can code against: answer, surface a conflict, abstain, or retry. Two distinctions matter most. Absence is different from failure: a store with no answer and a lookup that broke both return nothing, and only the status keeps them apart. A conflict is information: credible sources disagreeing, each with dates, is a state to surface rather than resolve silently. The status plus the dated evidence also records why the agent acted as it did, the raw material of an [audit trail](/glossary/audit-trail).

How grounding and abstention are evaluated is described in the [benchmark methodology](/benchmarks/methodology).

## Related concepts

- **[Abstention](/glossary/abstention)**: the behavior a no-support status triggers.
- **[Grounding](/glossary/grounding)**: the evidence link a supported status certifies.
- **[Recall](/glossary/recall)**: the operation the status is attached to.
- **[Audit trail](/glossary/audit-trail)**: where statuses and evidence end up when actions must be explained.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is an evidence status in AI memory?

It is an explicit label on a recall response saying what the returned evidence establishes: it supports an answer, sources conflict, or no stored evidence answers the question. The agent branches on it.

### Why is an empty search result ambiguous?

An empty list can mean the fact was never stored, the query missed it, or retrieval failed partway. Those three cases call for different actions, and a status value tells them apart.

### Does past.dev recall return an evidence status?

No. Recall returns ranked documents with ranks, dates, and source excerpts. The application decides whether that material supports an answer, contains a disagreement, or is insufficient.

## Related

- [Abstention](https://past.dev/glossary/abstention)
- [Grounding](https://past.dev/glossary/grounding)
- [Recall](https://past.dev/glossary/recall)
- [Contradictory facts](https://past.dev/guides/contradictory-facts)
- [Memory API quickstart](https://past.dev/docs/memory-api/quickstart)