- Root key (OG)
- The single secret your whole identity descends from. Personhood is bound to it once; recovery converges on it.
- Derived key
- A key produced deterministically from the root with a time + context seed. Signs contributions; detached from identity until revealed.
- Derivation path
- An identifier encoding context and time, e.g.
m/cv'/0'/2026·Q3/git, that determines a derived key. - Proof of Personhood (PoP)
- A check that one unique human stands behind the root. Bound once; inherited by every derived key.
- Claim
- A proof that a derived key — and the work it signed — descends from your root. You can only claim keys you control.
- Reveal
- Selective disclosure of a claim to a chosen audience. Discloses a link that was already true; not a new registration.
- Commit-and-reveal
- Posting a hidden commitment now and proving authorship later, preserving the original timestamp.
- Attestation
- An on-chain record on Base binding an artifact hash to a derived key and a timestamp. Makes a claim verifiable by anyone.
- Smart account (ERC-4337)
- An account-abstraction account used for identities — enabling sponsored gas, programmable validation, and recovery.
- CREATE2
- A deployment scheme that makes an address a pure function of deployer, salt, and code — so addresses exist before deployment.
- Counterfactual identity
- A derived address that accumulates proofs while existing only as a future address, deployed lazily when needed.
- Arweave
- Permanent, write-once storage where artifacts live so they outlast any platform.
- Irys
- The layer used to pay for Arweave storage with ETH on Base, keeping contributors within the Base experience.
- Selective disclosure
- Revealing exactly what you choose, to exactly whom you choose — the granularity behind every reveal.
