Invoice for Japan's e-Bookkeeping Rules (Denchōhō)

What this page covers

Only PDF-level operations: attaching a file, labelling the container as PDF/A-3b, and scoring it with veraPDF. It does not diagnose whether the file satisfies the retention requirements of Japan's Electronic Books Preservation Act (電子帳簿保存法, "Denchōhō"), and it never says the file "complies" with it. Legal requirements are read from the primary text via the houki MCPs; the judgement is a human's.

Scenario

The request is: "Turn this invoice into a PDF that keeps for ten years, with the line-item CSV inside. Run the checks and deliver." The pdf-publish Skill runs write → read-back → verify: the CSV goes in with attach_file, ensure_pdfa runs last, and the veraPDF verdict goes into the Publish Report. "Keeps for ten years" is not stretched into PAdES long-term validation (LTV); nothing is signed.

Below is a real measurement from 2026-09-15 (pdf-writer-mcp v0.21.0 / pdf-verify-mcp v0.26.0 / veraPDF 1.30.0; host Grok Build 1.0.30; a fictitious invoice whose registration number T0000000000000 is deliberately fake).

Cast

Actor	Role
pdf-publish Skill	write → read-back → verify orchestration; Publish Report
pdf-writer	create_markdown_pdf (tagged) → attach_file (CSV, relationship: Data) → ensure_pdfa (pdfa-3b, always last)
pdf-reader	inspect_structure to read back the catalog's AF / Names
pdf-verify	identify_conformance (declaration) → validate_conformance (veraPDF score)

Sequence

Prompt examples

• "Turn this invoice into a PDF that keeps for ten years, with the line-item CSV inside. Run the checks and deliver. Don't sign it"
• "PDF/A-3b with the attachment. Include the veraPDF result"
• "Read it back and confirm the attachment is really in the catalog"

Measured example — dummy invoice + detail CSV

Step	Tool	Measured
1	create_markdown_pdf (tagged, fontPath given)	pageCount 1
2	attach_file (relationship: "Data")	text/csv, 151 bytes
3	ensure_pdfa (pdfa-3b, last)	warning: CLAIMS PDF/A-3b … conformance was NOT checked. Flavour stayed 3b (not downgraded to 1b)
4	inspect_structure	catalog has Names (dict) and AF (Array[1]); EmbeddedFile 1, Filespec 1
5	identify_conformance	declared PDF/A part 3 conformance B and PDF/UA part 1 (a declaration, not a verdict)
6	validate_conformance (pdfa-3b)	engine verapdf, compliant: true, 146/146
—	detect_pades_level	not performed: no signature, so not called. "Ten years" was not stretched into LTV

Calls — attach_file / ensure_pdfa / validate_conformance

{ "inputPath": "/absolute/path/to/denshi-step1.pdf", "attachmentPath": "/absolute/path/to/invoice-detail.csv",
  "relationship": "Data", "outputPath": "/absolute/path/to/denshi-attached.pdf" }

{ "inputPath": "/absolute/path/to/denshi-attached.pdf", "flavour": "pdfa-3b",
  "outputPath": "/absolute/path/to/denshi-invoice.pdf" }

{ "file_path": "/absolute/path/to/denshi-invoice.pdf", "flavour": "pdfa-3b", "response_format": "json" }

{ "engine": "verapdf", "flavour": "PDF/A-3b", "compliant": true,
  "checkedRules": 146, "passedRules": 146, "failedRules": 0 }

Closing line of the Publish Report (quoted): the CSV was attached and veraPDF judged the file PDF/A-3b COMPLIANT (146/146). It does not say the file complies with Denchōhō.

How to read the results

• Only the operations performed and the veraPDF verdict may be written down. "CSV attached as Data", "veraPDF judged PDF/A-3b COMPLIANT (146/146)" — never "Denchōhō-compliant" or "ISO 19005 conformant"
• The ensure_pdfa warning (CLAIMS … NOT checked) is never dropped. Writing the label and passing the score are two different things (→ Long-term Archive (PDF/A))
• The attachment is confirmed via inspect_structure using the catalog's field names (Names, AF, EmbeddedFile). A success return from the writer is not evidence that the attachment is there
• A request that says "ten years" does not license adding signatures or LTV on your own. detect_pades_level is not called on an unsigned file
• With an attachment, PDF/A-4 means pdfa-4f. Plain pdfa-4 requires the attachment itself to be PDF/A

Evaluation kit and full report: eval/hosts/grok-build/reports/UC08.md (Japanese)