Guides

Quickstart

Install Auths, create an identity, and verify your first signed commit in five minutes

Go from zero to a verified, signed commit in about five minutes — entirely offline, no account or server required.

Before you start, you'll need:

  • macOS or Linux (Windows via WSL). Intel Macs are supported via Homebrew.
  • Homebrew installed (brew.sh).
  • A Git repository with at least one commit — this guide signs your latest commit (HEAD).

auths init will ask you to set a passphrase that protects your signing key. For non-interactive environments (CI), set AUTHS_PASSPHRASE instead. Keys are stored under ~/.auths.

1. Install

bash
brew install auths-dev/auths-cli/auths

Confirm it's on your PATH:

bash
auths --version

You should see the installed version printed. (Other install methods — curl, build-from-source — are on the installation page.)

2. Create your identity

bash
auths init

This guided wizard generates your signing key, sets up Git signing, and stores everything under ~/.auths. You'll be prompted for a passphrase. To skip the prompts entirely:

bash
auths init --non-interactive

Check who you are:

bash
auths whoami

You should see your new identity — a self-certifying identifier backed by a key event log (KEL), a tamper-evident history of your keys that travels with you. No account, no server.

3. Sign a commit

Make sure you have a commit to sign, then sign your latest one:

bash
auths sign HEAD

You should see output like:

text
✔ Signed: HEAD
  Verify with `auths verify HEAD` or `git log --show-signature`.

Already have staged changes? auths sign also accepts a commit range or an artifact file path — it auto-detects what you gave it.

4. Verify it

bash
auths verify HEAD

A successful verification is the payoff — it confirms the commit's signature resolves to your identity, checked locally with no network call:

text
✔ Verified: HEAD
  Signer: <root>
  Signature valid.

That's it — you've produced and verified offline provenance for a commit. 🎉

Tip: run auths status for an overview of your identity and signing setup, or auths demo for a zero-config offline sign-and-verify you can run anywhere.

See it in the browser (optional)

Auths can render a "Verified" badge for a repository's releases using the embeddable verify widget. This is an optional next step — the badge resolves a published release attestation (a signed statement binding an artifact to an identity), so it lights up green once a repo publishes one. Your terminal auths verify above is the source of truth and works today with no extra setup.

Next steps

  • Bound an AI agent — put a Claude or Cursor MCP agent behind a scope, a budget, and an expiry.
  • Sign commits in depth — signing ranges, CI, and team workflows.
  • Concepts — how identities, keys, and verification work under the hood.
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