Auths

Important

This repository is the experimental predecessor to the current Auths implementation. Experimental 0.1.x packages were published from this project, but it was not released as the supported Auths v1 product. The current implementation supersedes it and is developed in auths-dev/auths-proof, whose repository name is a temporary coordinate. This repository remains available as research history and prior art; new adopters should start at auths.dev. See the migration and deferral ledger.

Cryptographic identity and signing for budgeted agents, developer identity, and software supply chains.

No central authority. No CA. No server. Just Git and cryptography.

MCP

Bounded agents for MCP: wrap any MCP server so every tools/call an agent makes is signed, metered against a hard budget, and receipted. A call outside the granted scope, past the cap, or after expiry is refused before the downstream server is ever invoked — and anyone can re-derive the spend from the signed log offline, without trusting you or us.

See more here: https://docs.auths.dev/docs/mcp

Wrap a server (test mode — nothing at risk):

npx -y @auths-dev/mcp wrap --scope paid.call --budget '$5' --ttl 30m \
  --rail x402 --test-mode -- <your MCP server command>

Or drop it into your MCP client's mcp.json — the agent connects to the gateway exactly as it would to the raw server:

"my-paid-tool": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": [
    "-y", "@auths-dev/mcp", "wrap",
    "--scope", "paid.call",
    "--budget", "$5",
    "--ttl", "30m",
    "--rail", "x402",
    "--test-mode",
    "--", "<your MCP server command>"
  ]
}

Audit the spend afterwards — every figure re-derives from the signed log, with no trust in the operator that produced it:

npx -y @auths-dev/mcp verify-spend --log spend.jsonl \
  --registry ./registry --agent <agent did> --root <root did>
# verify-spend: consistent — 12 call(s), $0.36 re-derived from signed costs

Identity & Signing

Quick Start

brew tap auths-dev/auths-cli
brew install auths
auths init                       # create your identity
auths sign ./release.tar.gz      # sign an artifact
auths verify ./release.tar.gz    # verify it

Install

Homebrew:

brew tap auths-dev/auths-cli
brew install auths

Install from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/auths-dev/auths.git auths_cli

This installs auths, auths-sign, and auths-verify.

Walkthrough

1. Initialize your identity (30 seconds)

auths init

Follow the prompts. This creates your cryptographic identity and stores the key securely in your system keychain.

2. See what you created

auths status

Output:

Identity:    did:keri:EBf2cE...
Key aliases: main
Witnesses:   none designated
Agent:       stopped
Devices:     none

3. Sign your first commit

auths init already configured Git commit signing (gpg.format, commit.gpgsign), so just commit:

git commit -m "My first signed commit"

Verify it:

auths verify HEAD

Output:

Commit a1b2c3d verified: signed by did:keri:EBf2cE...

That's it. Your commits are now cryptographically signed with your decentralized identity.

Want the whole loop in one shot? auths demo signs and verifies a sample artifact in under 30 seconds.

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How it works

Auths stores your identity and device attestations in a Git repository (~/.auths by default). Each device link is a cryptographically signed attestation stored as a Git ref.

• Identity: A did:keri derived from your P-256 key (Ed25519 is also supported; P-256 is the default because it is what the iOS Secure Enclave can hold)
• Devices: did:key identifiers linked via signed attestations
• Keys: Stored in your OS keychain (macOS Keychain, or encrypted file fallback)
• Attestations: Stored in Git refs under refs/auths/
• Trust: Your repo commits .auths/roots — the trusted root a clone anchors to — and your KEL travels to that repo's remote alongside your code, so git clone && auths verify HEAD works with no setup

No central server. No blockchain. Just Git and cryptography.

What "verify" actually checks

Auths signs commits with a standard SSH signature (ecdsa-sha2-nistp256), so auths verify replays the signer's key history — their KEL — and checks the signature against the key that was valid at signing time, then confirms that key chains back to a root the repository pins.

Sigstore and GitHub can verify offline too. The difference is narrower than "offline vs online" and worth stating precisely: their offline path checks a signature against a trust-root snapshot you refreshed at some point, so a key rotation or revocation you have not downloaded is one you cannot see. A KEL carries its own rotation history, so key state verifies without refreshing a trust root. That matters most for long-lived device keys, which is Auths's model.

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Commands

Command	Description
auths init	Initialize identity (also configures Git signing)
auths demo	Sign + verify a sample artifact in 30 seconds
auths sign <file>	Sign an artifact
auths verify <target>	Verify a commit (e.g. HEAD) or signed artifact
auths status	Show identity and device overview
auths whoami	Print your identity DID
auths pair	Link another device via QR / short code
auths trust pin	Pin a trusted identity
auths doctor	Diagnose setup issues
auths tutorial	Interactive guided tour

Run auths --help for full documentation, or auths --help-all to include advanced commands.

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License

Apache 2.0