notes: events/talks/kericonf26-09-elliot-open-keri-infrastructure

This data as json

path title type status classification words body
events/talks/kericonf26-09-elliot-open-keri-infrastructure Jay Alexander Elliot: Open KERI Infrastructure (KERIConf 2026) summary v0.1 — 2026-10-15: drafted by Claude from the curated transcript; unread by Mark; marked partner on Mark's word 2026-10-21, paraphrase only, no quotation partner 708 # Jay Alexander Elliot: Open KERI Infrastructure (KERIConf 2026) **Abstract.** Jay Alexander Elliot presented the open-source, debranded version of the Locksmith desktop wallet for KERI (Key Event Receipt Infrastructure) that healthKERI donated, and argued that the controller-side wallet must stay separate from any single provider's services. The short talk was followed by a demo and an open question period. It is for builders who want to run or extend an open KERI wallet. ## Summary Elliot introduced Locksmith as the desktop wallet for KERI and pointed the room to a public demo repository with setup instructions. His theme was the controller side of the system, where keys stay local and the user manages identifiers. In KERI, he explained, the controller is what actually controls the AID (autonomic identifier) by managing its keys through the key event life cycle. If the user-facing wallet is absorbed into one vertically integrated stack, the system can look open on paper but become less open in practice. For KERI to remain open, the wallet has to remain separate, and that separation has to be real and verifiable. He placed Locksmith in the stack as the controller-side wallet layer. Witnesses and watchers stay outside it, and providers (witness and watcher operators, credential services, workflow services and other integrations) connect to it through a plugin boundary without becoming the wallet. The first thing Locksmith demonstrates is local state: multiple local vaults and controller-owned state on disk, with portability to come later. The architecture flow he described has the user signing and storing locally, the wallet talking to providers through the plugin boundary, events going to witnesses and watchers with receipts coming back, and verifiers kept out of that path. He drew a line between what exists now and what is next. Available now are the desktop identity vault, local identifier workflows, the plugin boundary in code and a repeatable setup. Still to come are the KERI Foundation's own provider plugin, mobile and web portability, and related browser work. The live demo installed the wallet from scripts, initialized a vault and showed identifier creation and cryptographic strength settings. He explained that much functionality had been removed with the healthKERI-specific code and that the open version is expected to reach rough parity later. In the question period, participants clarified that the key event log (KEL) is created and held locally and published to one or more witnesses, and that the transaction event log (TEL) tracks credential state for ACDCs (Authentic Chained Data Containers), separately from the KEL. Vaults were compared to the separate vaults of a password manager. Connecting to witnesses and watchers requires a provider plugin, and the KERI Foundation plans its own so that several providers could appear side by side in one interface. The Fort apps for iOS, Android and web were described as deployments of the same code to different targets. A participant asked for documentation on writing a provider plugin, and the room agreed none yet exists formally. The session closed with a brief look at the iOS build. ## Key terms Locksmith, controller, wallet boundary, plugin boundary, provider, vault, local-first state, witness, watcher, KEL and TEL ## Claims and their evidence - In KERI the controller is the part that controls the AID, by managing its keys across the key event life cycle. [informative] - Keeping the wallet separate from provider services is what keeps the ecosystem open in practice, not only on paper. [presenter-reported] - The open Locksmith release is a debranded version of healthKERI's wallet with the proprietary features removed, and it lacks some functionality until rebuilt. [presenter-reported] - The KERI Foundation intends to build its own provider plugin for witnesses and watchers. [presenter-reported] - The KEL records the state of an identifier's keys, while the TEL records the state of credentials issued as ACDCs. [informative] ## Related Locksmith (healthKERI), the speaker's public locksmith-demo repository, the Fort wallet apps for iOS, Android and web, the KERI Foundation repositories, the speaker's later KERIConf 2026 demo session, a KERIConf 2026 talk on ACDC the next morning. ## Provenance Drafted by Claude on 2026-10-15 from the curated transcript (09-jay-alexander-elliot-open-keri-infrastructure.md), all minutes read (the transcript ends at about 23 minutes of the listed 42:50). No quotations; paraphrase only. Not yet read by Mark.

Links from other tables