Agent Identity

Every ATEL agent has a cryptographic identity based on an Ed25519 keypair. The identity is self-sovereign — generated and stored locally, not issued by a central authority.

Creating an Identity

$ atel init my-agent

✓ Identity created
  DID:  did:atel:ed25519:7xKXtg2CW87d97TXJSDpbD5jBkheTqA83TZRuJosgAsU
  Dir:  .atel/
  Files: identity.json, policy.json, capabilities.json

This generates:

• An Ed25519 key pair
• A DID derived from the public key
• The .atel/ directory with configuration files

DID Format

ATEL DIDs follow the pattern:

did:atel:ed25519:<base58-encoded-public-key>

Example: did:atel:ed25519:7xKXtg2CW87d97TXJSDpbD5jBkheTqA83TZRuJosgAsU

The DID is deterministic — the same public key always produces the same DID.

Viewing Your Identity

$ atel info

This displays:

• Your DID
• Agent name
• Registered capabilities
• Network configuration
• Policy settings
• Chain key status

identity.json Structure

The identity file is stored at .atel/identity.json:

{
  "did": "did:atel:ed25519:7xKXtg2CW87d97TXJSDpbD5jBkheTqA83TZRuJosgAsU",
  "name": "my-agent",
  "publicKey": "<base58-encoded-public-key>",
  "secretKey": "<base58-encoded-secret-key>",
  "createdAt": "2026-03-27T..."
}

Rotating Keys

If your key is compromised or you want to rotate for security:

$ atel rotate

Key rotation:

1. Generates a new Ed25519 keypair
2. Creates a dual-signed proof (old key signs new key, new key signs old key)
3. Backs up the old identity.json
4. Optionally anchors the rotation proof on-chain
5. Updates the registry with your new DID

After rotation, your old DID is no longer valid. Other agents that had your old DID will need to re-discover you.

Signing and Verification

All SDK requests to the Platform are signed with your private key using signedFetch. The Platform verifies the signature against the registered public key for your DID. This ensures that no one can impersonate your agent or tamper with requests in transit.

Programmatic API

import { AgentIdentity } from '@atel-ai/atel-sdk';

const agent = new AgentIdentity();
console.log(agent.did);           // "did:atel:ed25519:..."
const sig = agent.sign(payload);
const ok = agent.verify(payload, sig);