Craig’s Interpolation theorem has a wide range of applications, from mathematical logic to computer science. Proof-theoretic techniques for establishing interpolation usually follow a method first introduced by Maehara for the sequent calculus and then adapted by Prawitz to Natural Deduction. The result can be strengthened to a proof-relevant version, taking proof terms into account: this was first established by Čubrić in the simply-typed λ-calculus with sums and more recently in linear, classical and intuitionistic sequent calculi. We give a new proof of Čubrić’s proof-relevant interpolation theorem by building on principles of bidirectional typing, and formalise it in Rocq.

The ability to cast values between related types is a leitmotiv of many flavors of dependent type theory, such as observational type theories, subtyping, or cast calculi for gradual typing. These casts all exhibit a common structural behavior that boils down to the pervasive functoriality of type formers. We propose and extensively study a type theory, called AdapTT, which makes systematic and precise this idea of functorial type formers, with respect to an abstract notion of adapters relating types. Leveraging descriptions for functorial inductive types in AdapTT, we derive structural laws for type casts on general inductive type formers.

Artefact described in the article “What does it take to certify conversion?”, to be published at FSCD 2025.

Coq is built around a well-delimited kernel that performs type checking for definitions in a variant of the Calculus of Inductive Constructions ( CIC ). Although the metatheory of CIC is very stable and reliable, the correctness of its implementation in Coq is less clear. Indeed, implementing an efficient type checker for CIC is a rather complex task, and many parts of the code rely on implicit invariants which can easily be broken by further evolution of the code. Therefore, on average, one critical bug has been found every year in Coq . This article presents the first implementation of a type checker for the kernel of Coq (without the module system, template polymorphism and η-conversion), which is proven sound and complete in Coq with respect to its formal specification. Note that because of Gödel’s second incompleteness theorem, there is no hope to prove completely the soundness of the specification of Coq inside Coq (in particular strong normalization), but it is possible to prove the correctness and completeness of the implementation assuming soundness of the specification, thus moving from a trusted code base (TCB) to a trusted theory base (TTB) paradigm. Our work is based on the MetaCoq project which provides meta-programming facilities to work with terms and declarations at the level of the kernel. We verify a relatively efficient type checker based on the specification of the typing relation of the Polymorphic, Cumulative Calculus of Inductive Constructions ( PCUIC ) at the basis of Coq . It is worth mentioning that during the verification process, we have found a source of incompleteness in Coq ’s official type checker, which has then been fixed in Coq 8.14 thanks to our work. In addition to the kernel implementation, another essential feature of Coq is the so-called extraction mechanism: the production of executable code in functional languages from Coq definitions. We present a verified version of this subtle type and proof erasure step, therefore enabling the verified extraction of a safe type checker for Coq in the future.

We present an extensive mechanization of the metatheory of Martin-Löf Type Theory (MLTT) in the Coq proof assistant. Our development builds on pre-existing work in Agda to show not only the decidability of conversion, but also the decidability of type checking, using an approach guided by bidirectional type checking. From our proof of decidability, we obtain a certified and executable type checker for a full-fledged version of MLTT with support for Π, Σ, ℕ, and Id types, and one universe. Our development does not rely on impredicativity, induction-recursion or any axiom beyond MLTT extended with indexed inductive types and a handful of predicative universes, thus narrowing the gap between the object theory and the metatheory to a mere difference in universes. Furthermore, our formalization choices are geared towards a modular development that relies on Coq's features, e.g. universe polymorphism and metaprogramming with tactics.

Abstract Dependently typed proof assistant rely crucially on definitional equality, which relates types and terms that are automatically identified in the underlying type theory. This paper extends type theory with definitional functor laws, equations satisfied propositionally by a large class of container-like type constructors $$F : {\text {Type}}\rightarrow {\text {Type}}$$ F : Type → Type , equipped with a $$\textrm{map}_{F} {{\,\mathrm{:}\,}}(A \rightarrow B) \rightarrow F\,A \rightarrow F\,B$$ map F : ( A → B ) → F A → F B , such as lists or trees. Promoting these equations to definitional ones strengthens the theory, enabling slicker proofs and more automation for functorial type constructors. This extension is used to modularly justify a structural form of coercive subtyping, propagating subtyping through type formers in a map-like fashion. We show that the resulting notion of coercive subtyping, thanks to the extra definitional equations, is equivalent to a natural and implicit form of subsumptive subtyping. The key result of decidability of type-checking in a dependent type system with functor laws for lists has been entirely mechanized in Coq.

Abstract This document describes the Coq formalisation accompanying the paper Definitional Functoriality for Dependent (Sub)Types, more specifically the content of section 4.

Gradualizing the Calculus of Inductive Constructions (CIC) involves dealing with subtle tensions between normalization, graduality, and conservativity with respect to CIC. Recently, GCIC has been proposed as a parametrized gradual type theory that admits three variants, each sacrificing one of these properties. For devising a gradual proof assistant based on CIC, normalization and conservativity with respect to CIC are key, but the tension with graduality needs to be addressed. Additionally, several challenges remain: (1) The presence of two wildcard terms at any type---the error and unknown terms---enables trivial proofs of any theorem, jeopardizing the use of a gradual type theory in a proof assistant; (2) Supporting general indexed inductive families, most prominently equality, is an open problem; (3) Theoretical accounts of gradual typing and graduality so far do not support handling type mismatches detected during reduction; (4) Precision and graduality are external notions not amenable to reasoning within a gradual type theory. All these issues manifest primally in CastCIC, the cast calculus used to define GCIC. In this work, we present an extension of CastCIC called GRIP. GRIP is a reasonably gradual type theory that addresses the issues above, featuring internal precision and general exception handling. By adopting a novel interpretation of the unknown term that carefully accounts for universe levels, GRIP satisfies graduality for a large and well-defined class of terms, in addition to being normalizing and a conservative extension of CIC. Internal precision supports reasoning about graduality within GRIP itself, for instance to characterize gradual exception-handling terms, and supports gradual subset types. We develop the metatheory of GRIP using a model formalized in Coq, and provide a prototype implementation of GRIP in Agda.

We investigate gradual variations on the Calculus of Inductive Construction (CIC) for swifter prototyping with imprecise types and terms. We observe, with a no-go theorem, a crucial trade-off between graduality and the key properties of normalization and closure of universes under dependent product that CIC enjoys. Beyond this Fire Triangle of Graduality, we explore the gradualization of CIC with three different compromises, each relaxing one edge of the Fire Triangle. We develop a parametrized presentation of Gradual CIC (GCIC) that encompasses all three variations, and develop their metatheory. We first present a bidirectional elaboration of GCIC to a dependently-typed cast calculus, CastCIC, which elucidates the interrelation between typing, conversion, and the gradual guarantees. We use a syntactic model of CastCIC to inform the design of a safe, confluent reduction, and establish, when applicable, normalization. We study the static and dynamic gradual guarantees as well as the stronger notion of graduality with embedding-projection pairs formulated by New and Ahmed, using appropriate semantic model constructions. This work informs and paves the way towards the development of malleable proof assistants and dependently-typed programming languages.