➡️Get started with cheqd Studio
Understanding cheqd's API product offering, cheqd Studio
Introduction
cheqd Studio is a set of guides, tutorials and APIs to help users establish an end-to-end trusted ecosystem for digital credentials.
Using REST APIs, customers can build cheqd's trust infrastructure into existing applications. All of cheqd’s existing open-source libraries remain available, and cheqd Studio does not necessitate developers to switch their SSI stack in their entirety, but allows them to build into their existing tooling, for example alongside APIs such as the Universal Resolver.
Get started
Set up your account
Begin your cheqd Studio set up, creating your account, creating an API key and authenticating with our APIs.
Advanced config options
Run cheqd Studio yourself or utilise your own external database.
Features
cheqd Studio directly leverages our Veramo SDK Plugin, making a wide array of features available from launch, including:
DIDs and Identity Keys
Create did:cheqd
DIDs for credential issuers and for DID-Linked Resources
Trust Registries
Create an end-to-end trusted ecosystem, using Trust Chains to build a full Trust Registry.
Payments
Create commercial models for verifiable credentials, such as verifier-pays-issuer
Status Lists
Create status lists, including Status List v2021 and Token Status List
Credentials
Issue any type of credential, including SD-JWT, VCDM and AnonCreds via our partners, including trust registries, status lists and payments.
Resources
Create custom resources for policies, presentation definitions, schemas and visual representations of credentials
Understanding the different modes and client choices
With cheqd Studio, there are multiple ways it can be deployed and hosted to support clients with different requirements.
Option 1: Custodied by cheqd (Custodian Mode)
This mode is the most simple for users, allowing cheqd to custody both Cosmos AND Identity keys in Veramo KMS. This means that manages both ledger-writes and signing identity transactions on behalf of the customer.
To ensure this is highly secure, we have deployed an instance of a Veramo Key Management Store (KMS) which uses a Postgress DB (TypeOrm) to store Cosmos AND identity keys in one encrypted table, so it cannot be read in plaintext. This design allows us to segment different customers' keys securely and efficiently.
We use similar techniques to Password Managers such as 1Password and Bitwarden to ensure that even if the database were to be compromised, the keys would remain encrypted and unusable.
User optionality and toggles:
Within Custodian mode, we also enable clients to toggle
Option 2: Self-custodied (Client-managed mode)
Client-managed mode gives the cheqd Studio user the ability to utilise their own identity keys for signing identity transactions, while still allowing cheqd Studio to manage the CHEQ account keys for writing to the cheqd network. This mode is intended to be used for more production environments where the user signs each identity transaction independently, affording a greater level of security and control to the client.
Full client-managed mode is still in development and we will update this documentation as and when it becomes available
Architecture
Under the hood, cheqd Studio leverages our Veramo SDK Plugin for its identity functionality. Check out our guide on supported SDKs to understand how cheqd Studio fits together with our other Open Source packages.
Alternatives
Below are a list of alternatives for integrating with cheqd. Each offers a different set of protocols and underlying technical capabilities.
Veramo
The Veramo SDK Plugin supports JSON, JSON-LD credentials as well as cheqd Credential Payments in an SDK.
Credo
Credo is an SDK which supports the European Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF) standards as well as AnonCreds with full cheqd support for DIDs.
Walt.id Community Stack
Walt.id Community Stack is an SDK that supports the European Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF) standards for identity, with full cheqd support.
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