/** OS process creation identity; null means inspection was unavailable, never proof of exit. */
export declare function readProcessIdentity(pid: number): Promise<string | null>;
export type ProcessLiveness = 'alive' | 'dead' | 'unknown';
/**
 * Three-state liveness. `unknown` means the pid exists but its recorded creation
 * identity could not be re-inspected — distinct from `alive`, so callers can offer
 * a time-bounded takeover path instead of waiting on a probe that never succeeds.
 * Identities recorded through different interchangeable probe sources also resolve
 * to `unknown` rather than `dead`, because such a mismatch proves nothing about reuse.
 */
export declare function inspectProcessLiveness(pid: number, identity?: string): Promise<ProcessLiveness>;
export declare function processInstanceMayBeAlive(pid: number, identity?: string): Promise<boolean>;
//# sourceMappingURL=process-identity.d.ts.map