Canonical state
CANONICAL means that an object has been admitted as authoritative OpenRSN state within a defined authority boundary according to the applicable validation, identity, provenance, lifecycle, policy, and authority rules.
Specification-sourced: quoted from the governing specification, pending the applicable specification-owner approvals. The specification controls.
In plain words
Canonical does not mean universally true. A lab's canonical Observation is the authoritative record of what the lab reported within its authority boundary, not a guarantee that every proposition in it is correct; canonicality answers "is this the record?", not "is this true?".
What it is not
Canonical state ≠ Projection
A Projection is a non-authoritative view assembled from canonical state; it may be stale or incomplete without changing the canonical record it represents. Projection State · Canonical Model & Protocol (source: 04 §3.5)
Canonical state ≠ Derived state
Derived state is reasoning about canonical inputs; storing it durably for audit or collaboration does not make it canonical. Derived State · Canonical Model & Protocol (source: 04 §3.3)
Canonical state ≠ Operational state
Operational state organizes work and may reference canonical objects, but it does not become an authority because applications depend on it. Operational State · Canonical Model & Protocol (source: 04 §3.4)