diff --git a/include/amduat/enc/asl_log.h b/include/amduat/enc/asl_log.h
index ca0a6e0..9d2372a 100644
--- a/include/amduat/enc/asl_log.h
+++ b/include/amduat/enc/asl_log.h
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ bool amduat_enc_asl_log_decode_v1(amduat_octets_t bytes,
 void amduat_enc_asl_log_free(amduat_asl_log_record_t *records,
                              size_t record_count);
 
+/* Caller owns out_ref digest; free with amduat_reference_free. */
+bool amduat_asl_log_decode_artifact_ref(amduat_octets_t payload,
+                                        amduat_reference_t *out_ref);
+
+/* Caller owns out_bytes; free with amduat_octets_free. */
+bool amduat_asl_log_encode_artifact_ref(amduat_reference_t ref,
+                                        amduat_octets_t *out_bytes);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 } /* extern "C" */
 #endif
diff --git a/src/near_core/enc/asl_log.c b/src/near_core/enc/asl_log.c
index e62eb1a..0c492e1 100644
--- a/src/near_core/enc/asl_log.c
+++ b/src/near_core/enc/asl_log.c
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ static void amduat_asl_log_store_u32_le(uint8_t *out, uint32_t value) {
   out[3] = (uint8_t)((value >> 24) & 0xffu);
 }
 
+static void amduat_asl_log_store_u16_le(uint8_t *out, uint16_t value) {
+  out[0] = (uint8_t)(value & 0xffu);
+  out[1] = (uint8_t)((value >> 8) & 0xffu);
+}
+
 static void amduat_asl_log_store_u64_le(uint8_t *out, uint64_t value) {
   out[0] = (uint8_t)(value & 0xffu);
   out[1] = (uint8_t)((value >> 8) & 0xffu);
@@ -54,6 +59,19 @@ static bool amduat_asl_log_read_u32_le(amduat_asl_log_cursor_t *cur,
   return true;
 }
 
+static bool amduat_asl_log_read_u16_le(amduat_asl_log_cursor_t *cur,
+                                       uint16_t *out) {
+  const uint8_t *data;
+
+  if (cur->len - cur->offset < 2) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  data = cur->data + cur->offset;
+  *out = (uint16_t)data[0] | ((uint16_t)data[1] << 8);
+  cur->offset += 2;
+  return true;
+}
+
 static bool amduat_asl_log_read_u64_le(amduat_asl_log_cursor_t *cur,
                                       uint64_t *out) {
   const uint8_t *data;
@@ -92,6 +110,67 @@ static bool amduat_asl_log_is_known_record_type(uint32_t record_type) {
   }
 }
 
+bool amduat_asl_log_decode_artifact_ref(amduat_octets_t payload,
+                                        amduat_reference_t *out_ref) {
+  amduat_asl_log_cursor_t cur;
+  uint32_t hash_id_raw;
+  uint16_t digest_len;
+  uint16_t reserved0;
+
+  if (out_ref == NULL || payload.data == NULL || payload.len < 8u) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  cur.data = payload.data;
+  cur.len = payload.len;
+  cur.offset = 0;
+
+  if (!amduat_asl_log_read_u32_le(&cur, &hash_id_raw) ||
+      !amduat_asl_log_read_u16_le(&cur, &digest_len) ||
+      !amduat_asl_log_read_u16_le(&cur, &reserved0)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (hash_id_raw > UINT16_MAX || digest_len == 0 || reserved0 != 0) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (cur.len - cur.offset < digest_len) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  {
+    amduat_octets_t digest = amduat_octets(cur.data + cur.offset, digest_len);
+    amduat_reference_t tmp =
+        amduat_reference((amduat_hash_id_t)hash_id_raw, digest);
+    return amduat_reference_clone(tmp, out_ref);
+  }
+}
+
+bool amduat_asl_log_encode_artifact_ref(amduat_reference_t ref,
+                                        amduat_octets_t *out_bytes) {
+  uint8_t *buf;
+  size_t len;
+
+  if (out_bytes == NULL) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  *out_bytes = amduat_octets(NULL, 0u);
+  if (ref.hash_id == 0 || ref.digest.data == NULL || ref.digest.len == 0) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (ref.digest.len > UINT16_MAX) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  len = 8u + ref.digest.len;
+  buf = (uint8_t *)malloc(len);
+  if (buf == NULL) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  amduat_asl_log_store_u32_le(buf, ref.hash_id);
+  amduat_asl_log_store_u16_le(buf + 4u, (uint16_t)ref.digest.len);
+  amduat_asl_log_store_u16_le(buf + 6u, 0u);
+  memcpy(buf + 8u, ref.digest.data, ref.digest.len);
+  *out_bytes = amduat_octets(buf, len);
+  return true;
+}
+
 static bool amduat_asl_log_hash_record(const uint8_t prev_hash[32],
                                        uint64_t logseq,
                                        uint32_t record_type,