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Merge pull request #143 from MatrixAI/feature-docs-landing-revamp
Feature docs landing revamp
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docs/README.md

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# Polykey Documentation
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# **Welcome to the Polykey documentation**
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Welcome to the Polykey documentation.
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- [Tutorials:](https://polykey.com/docs/tutorials) Step-by-step guides that
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introduce Polykey through practical outcomes.
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- [Tutorials](./tutorials) - these are a series of steps to introduce Polykey to
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new beginners to achieve a practical outcome
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- [How-To Guides](/docs/how-to-guides) - these are short guides on how to
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achieve a specific use-case which makes assumptions on the reader
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- [Theory](./theory/) - these are important for understanding the "why" of
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Polykey
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- [Reference](./reference/) - these are useful when you need remember how to use
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a particular command or function
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- [How-To Guides:](https://polykey.com/docs/how-to-guides) Short, targeted
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instructions for achieving specific use-cases, assuming prior familiarity.
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- [Theory:](https://polykey.com/docs/theory/) Conceptual foundations explaining
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the rationale behind Polykey.
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- [Reference:](https://polykey.com/docs/reference/) Lookup documentation for
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commands, functions, and technical specifications.
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## Introduction
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Polykey helps yourself, teams and software agents to manage and share secrets in
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a secure and easy-to-use manner.
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- Usable for the average person, you don't need to be a cryptography or
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cybersecurity expert to securely manage and share secrets.
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- Can be integrated into software for automation of secret workflows.
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- Unifies the workflow between interactive password management and
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infrastructure key management.
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- Decentralized and local-first software that does not hand over your secrets to
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the cloud. You maintain sovereignty over your secrets on your devices.
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- Easily backup and synchronise your secrets across all your devices: desktop,
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mobile or server.
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- End to end encryption for all network communication.
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- All data is encrypted at rest, thus preventing compromise even if devices are
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lost or stolen.
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PolyKey is an open-source decentralised peer to peer secrets management system.
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It provides a software agent that runs on your device locally. Each agent
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process is a node in the Polykey peer to peer network. This agent manages your
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secret data and is capable of sharing secrets with other trusted Polykey agents.
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The secret data can be placed inside any directory on your computer including on
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USB storage.
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Polykey helps individuals, teams, and software agents manage and share secrets
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securely and intuitively.
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- **User-Friendly:** Designed for everyday users, with no need to be a
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cryptography or cybersecurity expert.
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- **Automation-Ready:** Integrates into software workflows for automated secret
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handling.
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- **Unified Secrets Management:** Bridges the gap between personal password
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management and infrastructure-level key handling.
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- **Decentralized and Local-First:** Your secrets never leave your device unless
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you choose to share them.
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- **Seamless Synchronization:** Backup and sync secrets across desktops, mobile
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devices, and servers.
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- **Comprehensive Encryption:** All data is end-to-end encrypted in transit and
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encrypted at rest.
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Polykey is an open-source, peer-to-peer secrets management system. Each Polykey
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agent runs locally as a node in the network, managing secrets and enabling
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sharing with trusted peers. Secrets are stored within encrypted vaults and can
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be placed anywhere on your system, including external storage like USB drives.
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## Features
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TBD
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Polykey delivers robust, decentralized secrets management through the following
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capabilities:
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## Principles
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- **Decentralized & Local-First:** Operates entirely on your device in a
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peer-to-peer network, giving you full control over your secrets.
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There are 2 main concepts to understand in Polykey:
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- **State-of-the-Art Cryptography:** Employs XChaCha20-Poly1305 for encryption,
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X25519 for key exchange, and Ed25519 for signatures, ensuring confidentiality
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and integrity.
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- Secrets Management
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- Decentralized Trust
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- **Secure Vault Architecture:** Secrets are organized into fully encrypted,
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version-controlled vaults that function like a secure, virtual filesystem,
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enabling safe storage, backup, and sharing with trusted peers. Data remains
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encrypted at rest, even when the Polykey agent is not running. It is only
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decrypted when the agent is launched and the user authenticates.
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### Secrets Management
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- **Gestalt Identity Model:** Aggregates multiple digital identities into a
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unified, trusted representation to facilitate secure sharing.
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Polykey was built from the ground up to focus on secrets management.
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- **Integration & Automation:** Works interactively or via CLI integration for
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seamless inclusion in CI/CD pipelines and system workflows.
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Secrets can be any kind of data that enables some sort of capability in the
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physical or virtual world.
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- **Cross-Platform & Open Source:** Actively maintained, open-source, and
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operable across multiple environments.
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The world is full of secrets. For example, a password is a secret that enables
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you to login to a website. A private key is a secret that enables you to sign
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and verify some data. A symmetric key is a secret that enables you to encrypt
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and decrypt some data. A token is a secret that enables software agents and
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machines to authenticate to remote services. A credit card is a secret that
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enables payments.
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- **Forward-Looking Security:** Investigating post-quantum cryptography and
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advanced protective mechanisms to stay ahead of evolving threats.
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Polykey is designed to manage all kinds of secrets. It is not limited to
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passwords or keys.
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## Core Concepts
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For this reason, we think of secrets as "capabilities".
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### Secrets Management
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All secrets are put into vaults. Each vault is a persistent, fully encrypted
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virtual filesystem with automatic version history. Vaults can be shared with
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other Polykey agents.
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Polykey was purpose-built for secrets management: any data that enables
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capability.
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Polykey's secrets management system provides users with secure communication and
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secure computation.
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- **Passwords** for authentication
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### Decentralized Trust
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- **Private Keys** for signing or decryption
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Sharing secrets depends on secure communications. Secure communications depends
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on trusted identities.
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- **Tokens** for machine-to-service authentication
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Polykey introduces a concept called "Gestalt Identity".
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- **Credit Card Info** for payments
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All secrets are stored in encrypted vaults with automatic versioning. Vaults can
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be shared securely with other Polykey agents. Secrets are treated as
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capabilities, or elements that grant power in both digital and physical systems.
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### Decentralized Trust
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A Gestalt Identity is a collection of digital identities (i.e. social media
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profiles and Polykey nodes) that all represent the same entity.
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Secret sharing relies on secure communications, which require trusted
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identities. Polykey introduces this via the concept of a Gestalt.
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When you start a Polykey agent, it immediately forms its own gestalt with the
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Polykey node as its only identity. Link up your digital identities to the node
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in order to expand your gestalt.
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A **Gestalt Identity** is a collection of digital identities (e.g. social
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profiles or Polykey nodes) representing the same person or agent.
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As you deploy more Polykey agents, you can join existing gestalts.
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- When a Polykey agent starts, it begins with a single-node gestalt.
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Your gestalt is how other users are able to share secrets with a trusted
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identity. Your identity is the sum of the reputation of all your digital
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identities that are part of the gestalt.
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- Users can link other identities to expand trust.
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## Comparison to other Tools
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- Gestalts allow others to verify and trust your identity when sharing secrets.
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TBD
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Trust in Polykey is compositional, built from the integrity of all linked
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identities in your gestalt.

docs/reference/architecture/encryption-algorithms.md

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### Symmetric Encryption
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- **AES-GCM (Advanced Encryption Standard - Galois/Counter Mode)**
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- Used for encrypting data at rest and in transit.
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- Provides both encryption and authentication in a single step.
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- 256-bit key length for strong security.
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- Resistant to padding oracle attacks due to its authenticated encryption
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structure.
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-### Symmetric Encryption
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- **XChaCha20-Poly1305 (IETF)**
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- **Key Size:** 256 bits
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- **Nonce Size:** 192 bits
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- **MAC Size:** 128 bits
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- This extended 192-bit nonce allows random nonces to be safely used, reducing
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the risk of nonce reuse and making the encryption scheme misuse-resistant.
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- A stream cipher approach is employed, encrypting data per block with a
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fresh, random nonce each time.
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- Polykey stores its persistent state in an encrypted database, protected by a
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“Data Encryption Key” (DEK). This DEK is not derived from the root key, so
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rotating the root key does not require re-encrypting the entire database.
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- By combining encryption and authentication, XChaCha20-Poly1305 ensures both
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confidentiality and integrity of the stored data.
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### Asymmetric Encryption
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