cardano-keri

KERI-style self-certifying identifiers (AIDs) on Cardano.

An AID is a 32-byte key that is self-certifying: its value is blake2b_256(inception_event), where the inception event commits to the initial public key and the hash of the next key (pre-rotation).

This repository builds a minimal on-chain identity registry that:

• lets anyone register an AID by publishing a self-certifying inception proof
• lets the key holder rotate to a pre-committed key without oracle permission
• lets other on-chain contracts (e.g. MPFS value cages) reference key-state via CIP-31 reference inputs — no oracle permission required
• extends to full vLEI ACDC credential verification on-chain

Documentation

The rendered documentation site:

https://lambdasistemi.github.io/cardano-keri/

The same content lives in the repository as an MkDocs site rooted at docs/index.md. Start there, or go straight to:

• docs/roadmap.md — milestone layout and overall plan
• docs/keri-primer.md — KERI, pre-rotation, Veridian
• docs/architecture/overview.md — the on-chain model
• docs/design/business-cases/index.md — the four business cases and the factored core

Layout

• onchain/ — Aiken validators (dual-root cage, identity registry)
• offchain/ — Haskell library and test-vector generator
• specs/ — per-issue specifications
• docs/ — MkDocs documentation site
• vetting/, claude/, codex/ — adversarial cross-model design analyses
• discussion.md, system-discussion.md — running design discussions

Building

• onchain/: aiken build and aiken check
• offchain/: nix build .#checks.x86_64-linux.unit-tests (or enter nix develop for a GHC shell); cabal run gen-vectors regenerates the Aiken test vectors

Status

Work is planned in five GitHub milestones: identity core, verification + authorization core, KERI-wallet ↔ Cardano signing bridge, preprod pilots, and case adapters. The identity foundation is in progress (dual-root cage landed); every milestone closes with a runnable end-to-end demo — see the roadmap.