Coming Soon

    Give Your Agents a Valid Identity

    Your agents live in Attach. When they go out to browse the web, consume APIs, or access premium content—they need to prove who they are. OpenBotAuth gives them a cryptographic identity using RFC 9421 HTTP Message Signatures.

    The Agentic Web Needs Identity

    Your agents are powerful. They can browse the web, call APIs, and gather data. But without identity, they're just anonymous bots—blocked, rate-limited, or ignored.

    • Publishers can't tell your agent from a scraper
    • Premium APIs require proof of identity, not just API keys
    • Agent-to-agent calls need verifiable identity chains

    OpenBotAuth gives your agents a passport. Every agent gets an Ed25519 keypair and signs requests using RFC 9421—proving exactly who they are.

    What OpenBotAuth Adds

    Identity for Your Agents

    Your agents get a cryptographic identity. When they browse the web or call APIs, they can prove who they are.

    RFC 9421 Signatures

    Industry-standard HTTP Message Signatures. Every request your agent makes is cryptographically signed.

    Access Premium Content

    Publishers can verify your agents. Access paywalled content, premium APIs, and gated data sources.

    How It Works

    ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
    │  Attach Runtime │     │   Your Agent    │     │   The Web       │
    │  (Your Agents)  │────▶│  + OpenBotAuth  │────▶│  (APIs, Data,   │
    └─────────────────┘     │   Identity      │     │   Publishers)   │
                            └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
    
    Your agent's outbound request:
      Signature-Input: sig1=(...);created=1234;keyid="your-agent"
      Signature: sig1=:base64signature:
      → Publishers verify and grant access

    Your agents run in Attach. When they go out to the web, OpenBotAuth signs every request with their cryptographic identity. Publishers can verify and trust your agents.

    Setup Guide (Preview)

    1

    Register your agent with OpenBotAuth

    Get cryptographic identity for your AI agent.

    # Visit registry.openbotauth.org
    # or use the CLI
    npm i -g @openbotauth/bot-cli
    oba-bot keygen  # Generate Ed25519 keypair
    2

    Configure Attach Gateway

    # Enable OpenBotAuth verification
    export AUTH_BACKEND=openbotauth
    export OB_TRUSTED_DIRECTORIES=https://registry.openbotauth.org
    
    # Start the gateway
    attach-gateway --port 8080
    3

    Sign requests with your agent identity

    # Using oba-bot CLI
    oba-bot fetch http://localhost:8080/api/chat -v
    
    # Or sign programmatically (Node.js)
    import { signRequest } from '@openbotauth/registry-signer';
    
    const signed = await signRequest(request, {
      keyId: 'your-agent-id',
      privateKey: yourPrivateKey,
    });
    4

    Attach verifies and forwards

    # Request includes RFC 9421 headers:
    # Signature-Input: sig1=(...);created=1234;keyid="agent-id"
    # Signature: sig1=:base64signature:
    # Signature-Agent: https://registry.openbotauth.org/jwks/agent-id
    
    # Attach verifies signature, adds X-Attach-Agent header
    # Downstream services know exactly which agent is calling

    Built on Standards

    RFC 9421HTTP Message Signatures
    Ed25519EdDSA signature scheme
    RFC 7517JSON Web Key (JWK)
    IETF Web Bot AuthDraft specification

    What Your Agents Can Do

    Browse the Web with Trust

    Your agents prove they're legitimate. Publishers grant access instead of blocking.

    Access Premium APIs

    Call third-party APIs with verified identity. Higher rate limits, better access.

    Consume Gated Content

    Access paywalled data sources. Publishers can verify and bill your agents directly.

    Multi-Agent Collaboration

    When your agents call other agents, identity chains are preserved cryptographically.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is OpenBotAuth a standard or a product?

    Both. OpenBotAuth builds on RFC 9421 (HTTP Message Signatures), which is an IETF standard. The OpenBotAuth project provides reference implementations, a public registry, and tooling—all open source. Anyone can run their own registry.

    Do publishers need to support OpenBotAuth specifically?

    Publishers verify RFC 9421 signatures and look up public keys from the registry. Any site that supports HTTP Message Signatures can verify OpenBotAuth identities. The registry just provides a trusted directory of agent public keys.

    How do I manage my agent's private key?

    Your private key never leaves your infrastructure. The oba-bot CLI generates a keypair locally—only the public key is uploaded to the registry. Store your private key in a secure location like environment variables, a secrets manager, or HSM depending on your security requirements.

    What if a publisher doesn't recognize my agent?

    Publishers can choose which registries to trust. If they trust the OpenBotAuth public registry, your agent will be recognized. Some publishers may run private registries for their partners. The ecosystem is designed to be decentralized.

    Coming Soon to Attach Gateway

    OpenBotAuth integration is in development. Join the waitlist or contribute to the open-source project.