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Ratify Protocol Ratify Protocol

Protocol vs. Verify

Ratify is two products, one protocol. The split is intentional and the boundary is sharp.

The short version

Section titled “The short version”
You need…You use…LicensePricing
To create, present, or verify proof bundles in codeThe open protocol + SDKsApache-2.0 (SDKs) + CC-BY-4.0 (spec)Free, forever
Hosted infrastructure around proofs: revocation lists, audit archive, key custody, delegation controls, integration adaptersRatify Verify (managed)CommercialPer-verification (Operational); annual contract (Trust)
Self-hosted Verify in your VPC / on-premVerify SovereignCommercial license + customer-controlled keysAnnual license

Pick a path

Section titled “Pick a path”
                   ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
                   │  What are you building?                │
                   └─────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                                     │
            ┌────────────────────────┼────────────────────────┐
            ▼                        ▼                        ▼
  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐
  │ An AI agent that │  │ A platform that     │  │ An enterprise that  │
  │ needs to PROVE   │  │ HOSTS AI agents for │  │ wants to AUTHORIZE  │
  │ what it can do.  │  │ many customers.     │  │ AI usage at scale.  │
  └────────┬─────────┘  └──────────┬──────────┘  └──────────┬──────────┘
           │                       │                        │
           ▼                       ▼                        ▼
  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐
  │ Use the SDK.     │  │ Use the SDK +       │  │ Use Ratify Verify.  │
  │ Build proof      │  │ register your       │  │ Enterprise IT       │
  │ bundles.         │  │ platform with       │  │ controls policy +   │
  │                  │  │ Verify so your      │  │ audit. Agent        │
  │ Open source.     │  │ users' agents are   │  │ platforms connect   │
  │ Apache-2.0.      │  │ verifiable wherever │  │ in. Policy and      │
  │                  │  │ they act.           │  │ audit built in.     │
  └──────────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘

What the open protocol gives you

Section titled “What the open protocol gives you”
  • The wire format. Signed DelegationCert + ProofBundle JSON shapes.
  • Hybrid Ed25519 + ML-DSA-65 signing. Quantum-safe in v1.
  • The verifier algorithm: fail-closed, deterministic, milliseconds to run (sub-millisecond in the Go reference).
  • 79 canonical conformance fixtures. Any implementation passing them is byte-for-byte interoperable.
  • Reference SDKs in Go, TypeScript, Python, Rust, and C/C++.
  • A working ratify-cli for local experimentation.

You can build a complete agent authorization system using nothing but the open protocol. Many will. The protocol owes nothing to Identities AI as a company; the spec is CC-BY-4.0.

What Ratify Verify adds

Section titled “What Ratify Verify adds”
  • Hosted revocation lists with fail-closed cache invalidation.
  • Append-only audit history — hash-chained for organization workspaces in the current alpha; decision details are not yet covered by the chain. KMS-signed checkpoints and WORM archival are implemented but not yet runtime-verified in the alpha.
  • Org-scoped key custody with envelope encryption (AES-256-GCM under Cloud KMS) and self-custody upgrade paths.
  • Agentic API integration: call the managed Verify API from MCP servers, A2A services, REST gateways, or application middleware before executing a protected action.
  • Delegation controls and Meetings policy configuration, with verifier-local policy tooling on the roadmap.
  • Surface integrations: Conversational AI is the next managed integration target. A Meetings control plane and Zoom adapter implementation are under validation. Physical AI remains a later managed integration; the open protocol and SDKs already support its authorization constraints.
  • Multi-tenant onboarding: invite users, claim a domain, all the boring SaaS plumbing.
  • Compliance mappings (roadmap): audit fields mapped to SOX, FINRA, NYDFS, HIPAA, and the EU AI Act.

Verify is the operational layer that turns protocol primitives into a managed authorization service with hosted verification, revocation checks, audit, and delegation controls.

When you use the SDK without Verify

Section titled “When you use the SDK without Verify”

All of the following are fine, and supported, with no commercial relationship:

  • Run a single-user Ratify identity from a laptop or phone.
  • Self-host a verifier endpoint and check proofs in-process.
  • Build a research demo, a hackathon project, an open-source side project.
  • Implement a new-language SDK that passes all 79 fixtures.

The protocol does not phone home. There is no telemetry. There is no “validation server” you have to ping. The SDK ships with the verifier algorithm built in.

When you graduate to Verify

Section titled “When you graduate to Verify”

Most teams hit one of these triggers:

  1. You need managed verification for consequential API and tool actions. An agent is about to invoke an MCP tool, send an A2A request, or hit a REST operation that matters, and you want the authorization decision metered, attributed, and recorded with one call from your middleware.
  2. You need revocation at scale. A leaked agent key has to be revoked across every verifier you rely on, quickly. Self-hosting revocation lists works for a single instance; it breaks down across regions and customers.
  3. You need retained verification history. Hash-chained logs with signed checkpoints and write-once storage are non-trivial to build correctly. Verify’s alpha includes an append-only audit history, hash-chained for organization workspaces; production retention and compliance evidence capabilities (including audit fields mapped to SOX/FINRA/NYDFS/HIPAA/EU AI Act) are still being validated or on the roadmap.
  4. You want managed surface integrations. Your customers’ teams want to onboard, set policy, see audit, and move on without running infrastructure. Conversational AI is the next managed integration target; a Meetings control plane and Zoom adapter are under validation.

Source of truth

Section titled “Source of truth”