creduent

# Creduent: Open Standard for AI Agent Identity & Trust [](https://idevsec.com/creduent) [](https://idevsec.com/creduent/licensing) [](https://creduent.idevsec.com) [](https://pypi.org/project/creduent/) [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@idevsec/creduent) **Creduent** is the open standard for cryptographic identity and trust verification of autonomous AI agents. It defines how agents publish signed identity documents (`agent.json`), bind them to internet domains via DNS TXT records, and register with a public attestation registry. Originated and stewarded by [IDevSec](https://idevsec.com). Open source under Apache 2.0. - **Protocol overview**: [idevsec.com/creduent](https://idevsec.com/creduent) - **Technical docs**: [idevsec.com/creduent/docs](https://idevsec.com/creduent/docs) - **Reference registry**: [creduent.idevsec.com](https://creduent.idevsec.com) - **Licensing**: [idevsec.com/creduent/licensing](https://idevsec.com/creduent/licensing) > **GitHub Topics**: `ai-agent` `agent-identity` `ed25519` `open-standard` `mcp` `attestation` `agent-trust` `cryptographic-signing` `dns-verification` `autonomous-agent` ## The Problem Autonomous agents lack a native, decentralized mechanism to verify their identities, ownership, and endpoint capabilities. Traditional web security relies on human-centric authentication systems. Without a machine-readable protocol-native trust infrastructure, automated machine-to-machine interactions are vulnerable to identity spoofing, unauthorized access, and lack of capability discovery. ## How It Works ``` +-------------------+ +----------------------+ +-------------------+ | Agent Provider | | Creduent Registry | | Client App | | (agent.json) | | | | (MCP Host) | +-------------------+ +----------------------+ +-------------------+ | | | |----- 1. Host agent.json -------->| | | |-- 2. Verify identity & DNS ------>| | | and sign attestation | | | | |<---- 3. Call agent endpoint -----------------------------------------| (verify_agent tool) | | | | |<--- 4. Fetch attestation ---------| (registry validation) ``` ## The agent.json Document Every agent publishes its cryptographic identity at `https://<domain>/.well-known/agent.json`. The document contains 8 fields: ```json { "version": "1.0", "issued_at": "2026-05-27T02:41:21Z", "agent_id": "agent://example/agent", "owner": "Example Corp", "public_key": "ed25519:hArTvbITJ2jirL170IOSjcVvEvstC4s+RjYLu4chCwg=", "endpoint": "https://api.example.com/assistant", "capabilities": ["scan", "query"], "signature": "base64_signature_here" } ``` ## Quickstart ### 1. Generate Keys & Sign agent.json Use the signing CLI to generate keypairs and sign your draft identity payload using RFC 8785 JSON Canonicalization Scheme (JCS) and Ed25519: ```bash python cli/creduent-sign.py generate-keys python cli/creduent-sign.py sign --key private_key.pem --input examples/draft_agent.json --output agent.json ``` ### 2. Expose Metadata and Configure DNS Host `agent.json` on your web server at `https://<domain>/.well-known/agent.json`. Then, publish a DNS TXT record under your domain to bind the domain identity to the agent ID: ``` _creduent.example.com TXT "agent://example/agent" ``` ### 3. Register with Creduent Registry Submit your agent's registration to the registry: ```bash curl -X POST https://creduent.idevsec.com/register \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"agent_id": "agent://example/agent", "domain": "example.com", "agent_json_url": "https://example.com/.well-known/agent.json"}' ``` ## SDKs & Tooling ### Python SDK ```bash pip install creduent ``` ### JavaScript / TypeScript SDK ```bash npm install @idevsec/creduent ``` ### CLI Tool ```bash npm install -g @idevsec/creduent-cli ``` ## MCP Integration Creduent exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server with the `verify_agent` tool to enable verification in agent hosts. Configure it in your MCP settings: ```json { "mcpServers": { "creduent": { "command": "python", "args": ["/path/to/creduent/mcp/creduent_mcp_server.py"], "env": { "CREDUENT_REGISTRY_URL": "https://creduent.idevsec.com" } } } } ``` Call `verify_agent` with target agent ID or domain to receive structural, cryptographic signature, and registry-attested status. ## Agent Framework Integrations Creduent provides native verification tools and classes for the leading AI agent frameworks: - **CrewAI**: Import `CreduentVerifyTool` from `creduent.integrations.crewai` to verify external agents within your Crew definitions dynamically. - **LangGraph**: Add the `verify_agent_node` node function from `creduent.integrations.langgraph` to your state graph to validate agent identities before executing next nodes. - **AutoGen**: Subclass your agents using `CreduentConversableAgent` from `creduent.integrations.autogen` to enforce cryptographic sender identity checks on incoming messages. ## Registry API - `POST /register` - Verifies the agent's identity via signature and DNS TXT checks, then issues a signed attestation. - `POST /attest` - Developer direct agent registration (no agent_json_url required). - `GET /attest/{agent_id}` - Retrieves the active Creduent-signed attestation for the specified agent. - `GET /agents` - Lists all registered agent metadata and attestations in the registry. - `DELETE /revoke/{agent_id}` - Revokes an agent attestation from the registry (requires multisig headers or legacy `CREDUENT-ADMIN-KEY`). - `POST /recovery/override` - Key override using domain DNS TXT record checks. - `POST /renew` - Renew agent attestation with a new expiry date. - `POST /webhook/register` - Register a webhook URL for expiry notifications. - `GET /webhook/{agent_id}` - Retrieve the registered webhook URL for an agent. - `GET /stats` - Registry telemetry (total, verified, unverified, revoked, expiring soon). - `GET /challenge/{agent_id}` - Generates a secure challenge and nonce for identity verification. - `POST /verify-challenge` - Verifies a signed challenge response and issues a short-lived proof token. - `GET /public-key` - Retrieves the registry public key used to verify proof tokens. - `GET /dashboard` - Developer dashboard UI at `creduent.idevsec.com/dashboard`. - `GET /resolver` - Agent:// URI resolver UI at `creduent.idevsec.com/resolver`. ## Protocol Standards & Specification The Creduent Protocol is structured as a series of formal standards-track documents maintained by IDevSec: * **[Standards Index](standards/README.md)** - Main index of all protocol standards * **[CREDUENT-001: agent.json](standards/CREDUENT-001-agent-json.md)** (based on canonical **[SPEC.md](SPEC.md)**) - Base identity specification * **[CREDUENT-002: Attestation](standards/CREDUENT-002-attestation.md)** - Signed attestation schemas and verification pipelines * **[CREDUENT-003: Registry API](standards/CREDUENT-003-registry-api.md)** - Registry HTTP API endpoints and security controls * **[CREDUENT-004: Agent URI Resolution](standards/CREDUENT-004-uri-resolution.md)** - DNS-bound `agent://` URI scheme resolution * **[CREDUENT-005: Federation](standards/CREDUENT-005-federation.md)** - Federated Root-and-Node trust model * **[CREDUENT-006: Dynamic Attestation](standards/CREDUENT-006-dynamic-attestation.md)** - Dynamic prompt and hardware attestation (Draft) ## Origin and Stewardship Kashish Kanojia is the creator of the Creduent Protocol, stewarded by [IDevSec](https://idevsec.com). Creduent is an open protocol intended for community adoption, interoperability, and federated trust. Long-term governance and stewardship are managed by IDevSec to ensure it remains a neutral, open standard for the entire AI agent ecosystem. For details on the project's history, please see: * [AUTHORS.md](AUTHORS.md) - Founding details and references The reference registry, SDKs, and protocol tooling serve as the initial implementation of the protocol. ## Contributing Contributions to the Creduent Protocol standards and reference implementations are welcome. - Open an issue or discussion on GitHub to propose protocol changes - All specification changes follow the CIP (Creduent Improvement Proposal) process defined in [CREDUENT-005](standards/CREDUENT-005-federation.md) - Join the consortium: [idevsec.com/creduent](https://idevsec.com/creduent) ## Useful Links | Resource | URL | |---|---| | Protocol Showcase | https://idevsec.com/creduent | | Technical Documentation | https://idevsec.com/creduent/docs | | Licensing Details | https://idevsec.com/creduent/licensing | | Reference Registry | https://creduent.idevsec.com | | Registry Dashboard | https://creduent.idevsec.com/dashboard | | Python SDK (PyPI) | https://pypi.org/project/creduent/ | | JavaScript SDK (npm) | https://www.npmjs.com/package/@idevsec/creduent | | CLI Tool (npm) | https://www.npmjs.com/package/@idevsec/creduent-cli | ## Security & Hardening The Creduent Registry includes several security guarantees and resilience safeguards built-in: - **Fail-Closed Validation:** If an agent's attestation timestamp or expiration date fails to parse due to corruption or malicious payload tempering, the verification pipeline defaults to marking the attestation as `expired` (`expired = True`). - **Serverless Rate Limiting Guard:** To prevent clients from bypassing rate limits in stateless environments (like Vercel serverless functions where in-memory fallback databases are wiped during container cold starts), the registry explicitly raises an `HTTP 500` error if Upstash Redis credentials are not configured. - **Canonical JCS Serialization:** All cryptographic signature validations use unified JSON Canonicalization Scheme (JCS) encoding wrappers compliant with RFC 8785 to avoid formatting discrepancies. - **SSRF Prevention in Webhooks:** All outbound webhook alerts go through rigorous IP validation filters (`safe_requests_post`) that drop private, loopback, and local IP ranges, preventing Server-Side Request Forgery. - **Authorized Webhook Queries:** Retrieval of registered webhook URLs via `/webhook/{agent_id}` is restricted to authorized administrators (requiring the `CREDUENT-ADMIN-KEY` token) to prevent metadata information leaks. - **CLI Admin Integration:** The developer CLI automatically forwards administrative credentials from the environment, ensuring seamless operation for authorized operators without exposing public lookup endpoints. - **Decoupled Security Audits:** Agent capability scans (DNS, OSINT headers, and Clickjacking/HSTS verification) are separated from the main registry controllers into isolated services, allowing independent code auditing. --- ## Licensing Creduent's licensing model is designed to maximize community adoption and interoperability: * **Protocol Specification:** The Creduent Protocol specifications (including standard documents `CREDUENT-001` through `CREDUENT-006` located in the `standards/` directory) are open, public-domain standards. Anyone is free to implement the protocol, build custom registries, or design compatible clients without any license restrictions or royalties. * **Reference Implementation, SDKs & CLIs:** All Creduent software assets (including the Python SDK, JavaScript/TypeScript SDK (`@idevsec/creduent`), CLI Tool (`@idevsec/creduent-cli`), MCP Server, and reference registry source code) are licensed under the **[Apache License 2.0](LICENSE)**.