Identity & Derivation — human.cv Docs

One root, a tree of time-seeded keys. This is the mechanism that lets you wear many masks while remaining, provably, one person.

Hierarchical, deterministic

human.cv borrows the model behind HD wallets (BIP-32): a single secret expands into an entire tree of keys through a one-way function. Each derivation path encodes context and time, for example m/cv'/0'/2026·Q3/social.

Because derivation is deterministic, the relationship between the root and any child exists the moment the child is created. Nothing is registered after the fact — the link is a property of the math, waiting to be disclosed or kept hidden.

See it work

Pick a contribution below. Notice that each derived identity inherits verified human from the root, yet stays detached from you until you reveal it.

OG Root Key

bound once to your humanity

PoP ✓

Derivation pathroot → m/cv'/0'/2026·Q3/git

Inherited from root

Verified Human ✓

Attributed to

0x7e3f…a91c

Right now this is detached from your identity. Reveal whenever you choose.

Why a time seed

Seeding derivation with time gives every period its own family of keys. That makes contributions naturally compartmentalized — a key used for an anonymous repo in one quarter shares nothing observable with a pseudonymous handle in another — while all of them still resolve to the same root when you choose to prove it.

One person, many keys — not many people

Compartmentalization is the point. Observers see unrelated keys; you hold the single root that unifies them. The asymmetry is what makes pseudonymity safe and provable at once.

What the root never does

It never signs ordinary contributions — derived keys do.
It never appears alongside a derived key publicly unless you reveal the link.
It is the one thing worth protecting and backing up.