> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cryptarium.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Confidence & unknown

> How cryptarium expresses certainty — and why Unknown beats a confident guess.

# Confidence & unknown

Confidence describes how strongly the evidence establishes the primitive and its parameters. `Unknown` is an honest classification when evidence is incomplete.

**Why this matters:** A wrong classification is worse than no classification. Teams that trust inflated confidence make bad migration decisions.

## Confidence levels

| Level      | When it applies                                                                                                                                   |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **High**   | The match alone establishes primitive *and* parameters (e.g., parsed X.509 with clear algorithm and key size; source call with explicit key size) |
| **Medium** | Strong signal but incomplete picture (e.g., crypto library in a lockfile without a correlated call site)                                          |
| **Low**    | Weak or ambiguous signal (regex fallback, partial parse)                                                                                          |

## Unknown

Unrecognized primitives, unparseable files, and missing parameters must not be silently dropped. Prefer:

1. Emit `Unknown` with evidence attached
2. Surface a warning for unparseable files
3. Keep findings-so-far in the inventory

Never invent a quantum-vulnerability claim to fill a gap.