How it works

Why a title is safe

Every change to a title — issued, claimed, transferred — is a signed entry linked to the one before it. Nobody can change or remove an entry without it showing.

Every entry is published to a public archive and timestamped on a public blockchain, so anyone can check a title’s history themselves, without trusting TitleDrive. If TitleDrive ever disappeared, the titles and their history would still be there and still be checkable.

Your issuer identity and main key

As an issuer, your main key is your issuer identity: it signs your issuer name and everything that changes who can issue in your name. It is created in your browser and TitleDrive never gets a copy, so nobody — including TitleDrive — can take over your issuer identity or hold your titles hostage.

You rarely need the main key: only to switch automatic issuing on or off, change your guardians, or replace the key. Keep it in a password manager. If it is lost, only your guardians can approve a new one.

Your public key is safe to share. Put it on your website or paperwork so buyers can check your titles.

Automatic issuing

With automatic issuing on (the default), your main key gives TitleDrive a separate key that can only issue titles in your name. That lets you issue from the dashboard, in bulk, or from your web shop without ever touching your main key.

That key can never change your issuer identity. Switching automatic issuing off cancels it for good; titles it already issued stay valid. With it off, you sign each title yourself with your main key.

Your backup key

Day to day, your passkey signs for your titles. Your backup key is a second key you keep in your password manager. If you lose your passkey, the backup key moves your titles to a new one — on TitleDrive or with the standalone recovery tool, so it works even without TitleDrive. TitleDrive never sees it.

Keys made before password-manager keys existed were 24-word phrases or key files. Those still work: paste the words, or the file’s text, wherever a key is asked for.

Guardians

Guardians are people you trust (or your own backup keys kept elsewhere). If you lose your key, a set number of them can together approve a new one. Nobody else can do it — not even TitleDrive.

To add a guardian, send them the guardian link. They save a key of their own in their password manager and send you its public key to add to your list.

The verified badge

The badge shows buyers that the issuer controls their website’s domain. To get it, enter your domain on your issuer overview and add the DNS TXT record it shows:

Type

TXT

Name

_titledrive-verify.yourshop.com

Value

the code shown on your overview

TitleDrive checks automatically every few minutes. Can’t edit DNS? You can put the code in a file on your website instead. Anyone can redo the same check.

Checking an issuer

Each title shows the key of the issuer who signed it. Compare it with the key the issuer publishes on their own website or paperwork. If they match, the title really comes from that issuer.

Reported stolen

If an item is stolen, its titleholder (or the issuer, before anyone has claimed it) can mark the title reported stolen. The mark is a signed entry in the title’s public history, so everyone checking the title sees it — on TitleDrive or anywhere else.

The title can still be transferred, for example to an insurer, and the mark stays until a holder marks the item recovered. Both entries stay in the history.

Bring your own key

Technical issuers can register an Ed25519 key they already have and sign titles from their own systems. See docs/self_hosted_issuers.md in the TitleDrive repository, or get in touch.

API keys

An API key lets your own systems issue titles. A sandbox key issues free test titles that are never published. A production key issues real titles and needs a Business or Scale plan. Creating a key asks for your password again.