The user is required to Log In to our cheqd Studio portal and then access their API key to authenticate with our APIs. The API key guards the API from unauthorized access and is required for both testing production environments.

Step 1: Get started with cheqd Studio

Head to our cheqd Studio and click Get Started.

Step 2: Create your account

cheqd Studio uses a to handle user authentication and login. You can create an account or sign in using:

• Email and password

• Google single sign-on

• Discord login

Click Sign In or Create Account to continue.

Step 3: Create a new API key and authenticate with cheqd Studio APIs

Once signed in, create an API key from your account dashboard. This key is required to authenticate with cheqd Studio APIs and protects your environment from unauthorized access.

Step 4: Start using cheqd

Get started with our tutorials for cheqd Studio functionality.

Step 5: Select a Billing plan

You will be able to get started for free on our free trial, but following the expiry of the free trial, users need to sign up for a paid billing plan. cheqd Studio billing uses as a payments processor and users will need to input their card information to initiate a billing plan.

API keys are unique data strings used to authenticate a user and enable access to privileged operations on cheqd Studio APIs. All cheqd Studio APIs use API keys as the mechanism to authenticate client requests. Your API key should be kept confidential and secure at all times.

• Authentication is required for all API requests; without it, the requests will fail.

• All API requests must be made over HTTPS.

Step 1: Sign into cheqd Studio

Follow the tutorial here to get started with your cheqd Studio account.

Step 2: Generate API key

Navigate to the "Developers" tab on cheqd Studio and select "Create an API Key". You are able to choose the expiry date of the API key, and it will automatically be set to expire 1 year from the current date.

Step 3: Use your API key to authenticate with cheqd Studio APIs

Navigate to the "APIs" tab and copy/paste your API key into the API key box towards the top of your page. This will enable you to authenticate with the cheqd Studio APIs, allowing users to use cheqd Studio APIs within their existing Billing Plan and usage limits.

Step 4: Start using cheqd

Get started with our tutorials for cheqd Studio functionality.

Users may exhaust their usage limits in their cheqd Studio billing plan, but may want to continue using the Studio before their usage limits refresh. Therefore, users can manually top up their account with CHEQ tokens to use any APIs that involve a ledger-write, e.g:

1. Creating, Updating or Deactivating DIDs

2. Creating unencrypted or encrypted Status Lists

3. Creating Trust Registries

4. Creating other DID-Linked Resources

Step 1: Locate your cheqd address (for CHEQ)

The following API can be used to fetch the new account information:

• customer_id is used as an identifier for the particular customer using cheqd Studio. It is generated as a sub-field of the JWT token used in the authorization header.

• cheqd_account is used to pay for identity transactions on either testnet or mainnet. A cheqd account is automatically generated when a new customer_id is generated.

Step 2: Adding CHEQ tokens to your account

If you exceed the usage limits in your cheqd Studio billing plan but want to continue using ledger-based functionality before your limits reset, you can manually top up your account using CHEQ tokens.

If you need to add CHEQ tokens to your cheqd Studio cheqd_account, there are a few steps you need to follow:

Once you have successfully created an account and have topped up your CHEQ tokens, you are ready to get started!

Step 3: Continue using cheqd

Get started with our tutorials for cheqd Studio functionality.

Run as standalone application using Docker Compose

If you want to run the application without any external databases or dependent services, we provide a Docker Compose file to spin up a standalone service.

This standalone service uses an in-memory database with no persistence, and therefore is recommended only if you're managing key/secret storage separately.

The in the same folder contains all the environment variables necessary to configure the service. (See section Configuration above.)

Run with external Key Management System (KMS) and/or authentication service using Docker Compose

Construct the postgres URL and configure the env variables mentioned above.

Spinning up a Docker container from the is as simple as the command below:

Configure PostgreSQL database

Configure the environment variables in the :

1. POSTGRES_USER: Username for Postgres database

2. POSTGRES_PASSWORD: Password for Postgres database

3. POSTGRES_MULTIPLE_DATABASES

Then, make the Postgres initialisation scripts executable:

Start LogTo service

Configure the environment variables in the with the settings described in section above.

Then, run the LogTo service to configure the LogTo application API resources, applications, sign-in experiences, roles etc using Docker Compose:

Configuring LogTo is outside the scope of this guide, and we recommend reading to familiarise yourself.

Start credential-service app

Configure the environment variables in the with the settings described in section above. Depending on whether you are using external Veramo KMS only, LogTo only, or both you will need to have previously provisioned these services as there are environment variables in this file that originate from Postgres/LogTo.

Then, start the service using Docker Compose:

Running app or LogTo migrations

When upgrading either the external Veramo KMS or LogTo, you might need to run migrations for the underlying databases.

You can run just the migration scripts using defined in the Compose file.

For example, to run cheqd Studio app migrations on an existing Postgres database (for external Veramo KMS):

Or to run LogTo migrations on an existing Postgres database:

Build using Docker

To build your own image using Docker, use the provided.

Release 7: Manage and verify Credentials (07/11/2025)

Features

• Credential history Updates and Credential Details

• verify Credentials: both JWT and JSON-LD using file uploads and simple paste.

Bug Fixes

• Add expiry status in Credential Details Page

• error handling for jsonld credential verification

• minor ui bugs and test provider

Release 6: Issue Credential and support external providers (21/10/2025)

Features

• Add Download Credential & Supported Providers env

• Add Credential issuance using cheqd Studio

• Support for JWT and JSON-LD credentials

Bug Fixes

• Add email validation in credenitals

• Adjusted responsiveness and min-max widths + more conservative resolution parallelisation limit

• Augmented state handling + interactive management

Performance Improvements

• Integrate did metadata api

Release 5: Optimisations and State management improvement (12/09/2025)

Features

• Display Resource Versions & UI improvements

Bug Fixes

• Apply member filters in server

• Create resource operation

• Improved state management & fixes in list operations

Release 4: Add support for Organizations and Agents (09/09/2025)

Features

• Update Service section to support did name, type fields

• Add organizations and agents as default options for identifiers

Bug Fixes

• Url validations & Create DID form fixes

Release 3: Add support for Trust Ecosystems (03/09/2025)

Features

• Support Trust ecosystems in UI, including accreditations for members in the ecosystem

• Add authorization for specific schemas for members of ecosystems

Bug Fixes

• Release versioning + v1.7.1 beta

Release 2: Add DID-Linked Resources in UI (21/08/2025)

Features

• Add create Resource underneath DIDs in UI

• Optimize data rendering in create-resource

• Add new Settings Tabs

Bug Fixes

• nav bar update

• Remove usdc prices

Release 1: Add new dashboard for cheqd Studio metrics (13/08/2025)

Features

• Add features for Dashboard and Api access in portal

• Add create DID option in UI

• Improve UI for managing API keys

Introduction

cheqd Studio is a set of APIs, guides and tutorials 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

Features

cheqd Studio directly leverages our , making a wide array of features available from launch, including:

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 and 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.

Architecture

Under the hood, cheqd Studio leverages our for its identity functionality. Check out our to understand how cheqd Studio fits together with our other Open Source packages.

Alternative: Use an SDK

If you would rather a deeper integration with lower-level packages, instead of REST APIs, take a look at our suite of cheqd supported SDKs below. Each offers a different set of protocols and underlying technical capabilities.