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6- # Polykey Documentation
6+ # ** Welcome to the Polykey documentation **
77
8- Welcome to the Polykey documentation.
8+ - [ Tutorials:] ( https://polykey.com/docs/tutorials ) Step-by-step guides that
9+ introduce Polykey through practical outcomes.
910
10- - [ Tutorials ] ( ./tutorials ) - these are a series of steps to introduce Polykey to
11- new beginners to achieve a practical outcome
12- - [ How-To Guides ] ( /docs/how-to-guides ) - these are short guides on how to
13- achieve a specific use-case which makes assumptions on the reader
14- - [ Theory ] ( ./theory/ ) - these are important for understanding the "why" of
15- Polykey
16- - [ Reference] ( ./ reference/) - these are useful when you need remember how to use
17- a particular command or function
11+ - [ How-To Guides: ] ( https://polykey.com/docs/how-to-guides ) Short, targeted
12+ instructions for achieving specific use-cases, assuming prior familiarity.
13+
14+ - [ Theory: ] ( https://polykey.com/docs/theory/ ) Conceptual foundations explaining
15+ the rationale behind Polykey.
16+
17+ - [ Reference: ] ( https://polykey.com/docs/ reference/) Lookup documentation for
18+ commands, functions, and technical specifications.
1819
1920## Introduction
2021
21- Polykey helps yourself, teams and software agents to manage and share secrets in
22- a secure and easy-to-use manner.
23-
24- - Usable for the average person, you don't need to be a cryptography or
25- cybersecurity expert to securely manage and share secrets.
26- - Can be integrated into software for automation of secret workflows.
27- - Unifies the workflow between interactive password management and
28- infrastructure key management.
29- - Decentralized and local-first software that does not hand over your secrets to
30- the cloud. You maintain sovereignty over your secrets on your devices.
31- - Easily backup and synchronise your secrets across all your devices: desktop,
32- mobile or server.
33- - End to end encryption for all network communication.
34- - All data is encrypted at rest, thus preventing compromise even if devices are
35- lost or stolen.
36-
37- PolyKey is an open-source decentralised peer to peer secrets management system.
38- It provides a software agent that runs on your device locally. Each agent
39- process is a node in the Polykey peer to peer network. This agent manages your
40- secret data and is capable of sharing secrets with other trusted Polykey agents.
41- The secret data can be placed inside any directory on your computer including on
42- USB storage.
22+ Polykey helps individuals, teams, and software agents manage and share secrets
23+ securely and intuitively.
24+
25+ - ** User-Friendly:** Designed for everyday users, with no need to be a
26+ cryptography or cybersecurity expert.
27+
28+ - ** Automation-Ready:** Integrates into software workflows for automated secret
29+ handling.
30+
31+ - ** Unified Secrets Management:** Bridges the gap between personal password
32+ management and infrastructure-level key handling.
33+
34+ - ** Decentralized and Local-First:** Your secrets never leave your device unless
35+ you choose to share them.
36+
37+ - ** Seamless Synchronization:** Backup and sync secrets across desktops, mobile
38+ devices, and servers.
39+
40+ - ** Comprehensive Encryption:** All data is end-to-end encrypted in transit and
41+ encrypted at rest.
42+
43+ Polykey is an open-source, peer-to-peer secrets management system. Each Polykey
44+ agent runs locally as a node in the network, managing secrets and enabling
45+ sharing with trusted peers. Secrets are stored within encrypted vaults and can
46+ be placed anywhere on your system, including external storage like USB drives.
4347
4448## Features
4549
46- TBD
50+ Polykey delivers robust, decentralized secrets management through the following
51+ capabilities:
4752
48- ## Principles
53+ - ** Decentralized & Local-First:** Operates entirely on your device in a
54+ peer-to-peer network, giving you full control over your secrets.
4955
50- There are 2 main concepts to understand in Polykey:
56+ - ** State-of-the-Art Cryptography:** Employs XChaCha20-Poly1305 for encryption,
57+ X25519 for key exchange, and Ed25519 for signatures, ensuring confidentiality
58+ and integrity.
5159
52- - Secrets Management
53- - Decentralized Trust
60+ - ** Secure Vault Architecture:** Secrets are organized into fully encrypted,
61+ version-controlled vaults that function like a secure, virtual filesystem,
62+ enabling safe storage, backup, and sharing with trusted peers. Data remains
63+ encrypted at rest, even when the Polykey agent is not running. It is only
64+ decrypted when the agent is launched and the user authenticates.
5465
55- ### Secrets Management
66+ - ** Gestalt Identity Model:** Aggregates multiple digital identities into a
67+ unified, trusted representation to facilitate secure sharing.
5668
57- Polykey was built from the ground up to focus on secrets management.
69+ - ** Integration & Automation:** Works interactively or via CLI integration for
70+ seamless inclusion in CI/CD pipelines and system workflows.
5871
59- Secrets can be any kind of data that enables some sort of capability in the
60- physical or virtual world .
72+ - ** Cross-Platform & Open Source: ** Actively maintained, open-source, and
73+ operable across multiple environments .
6174
62- The world is full of secrets. For example, a password is a secret that enables
63- you to login to a website. A private key is a secret that enables you to sign
64- and verify some data. A symmetric key is a secret that enables you to encrypt
65- and decrypt some data. A token is a secret that enables software agents and
66- machines to authenticate to remote services. A credit card is a secret that
67- enables payments.
75+ - ** Forward-Looking Security:** Investigating post-quantum cryptography and
76+ advanced protective mechanisms to stay ahead of evolving threats.
6877
69- Polykey is designed to manage all kinds of secrets. It is not limited to
70- passwords or keys.
78+ ## Core Concepts
7179
72- For this reason, we think of secrets as "capabilities".
80+ ### Secrets Management
7381
74- All secrets are put into vaults. Each vault is a persistent, fully encrypted
75- virtual filesystem with automatic version history. Vaults can be shared with
76- other Polykey agents.
82+ Polykey was purpose-built for secrets management: any data that enables
83+ capability.
7784
78- Polykey's secrets management system provides users with secure communication and
79- secure computation.
85+ - ** Passwords** for authentication
8086
81- ### Decentralized Trust
87+ - ** Private Keys ** for signing or decryption
8288
83- Sharing secrets depends on secure communications. Secure communications depends
84- on trusted identities.
89+ - ** Tokens** for machine-to-service authentication
8590
86- Polykey introduces a concept called "Gestalt Identity".
91+ - ** Credit Card Info** for payments
92+
93+ All secrets are stored in encrypted vaults with automatic versioning. Vaults can
94+ be shared securely with other Polykey agents. Secrets are treated as
95+ capabilities, or elements that grant power in both digital and physical systems.
96+
97+ ### Decentralized Trust
8798
88- A Gestalt Identity is a collection of digital identities (i.e. social media
89- profiles and Polykey nodes) that all represent the same entity .
99+ Secret sharing relies on secure communications, which require trusted
100+ identities. Polykey introduces this via the concept of a Gestalt .
90101
91- When you start a Polykey agent, it immediately forms its own gestalt with the
92- Polykey node as its only identity. Link up your digital identities to the node
93- in order to expand your gestalt.
102+ A ** Gestalt Identity** is a collection of digital identities (e.g. social
103+ profiles or Polykey nodes) representing the same person or agent.
94104
95- As you deploy more Polykey agents, you can join existing gestalts .
105+ - When a Polykey agent starts, it begins with a single-node gestalt .
96106
97- Your gestalt is how other users are able to share secrets with a trusted
98- identity. Your identity is the sum of the reputation of all your digital
99- identities that are part of the gestalt.
107+ - Users can link other identities to expand trust.
100108
101- ## Comparison to other Tools
109+ - Gestalts allow others to verify and trust your identity when sharing secrets.
102110
103- TBD
111+ Trust in Polykey is compositional, built from the integrity of all linked
112+ identities in your gestalt.
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