AOTrust — Cryptographic Proof of Existence for AI Agents

AOTrust issues PDRs (Provenance Data Records) — 239-byte cryptographic receipts proving a digital artifact existed at a specific time. $0.01 USDC on Base via x402. Anchored daily to NEAR blockchain. No account needed. Supports ordinary (v0x03) and bilateral (v0x04) signatures.

Positioning: an Independent External Provenance Checkpoint. Native attestations (Sigstore, GitHub artifact attestations) verify a build inside the CI system that produced it. AOTrust complements them: it issues a signed certificate outside GitHub/Microsoft infrastructure and anchors it daily to the NEAR blockchain — so provenance survives even if the repository is rewritten, the CI logs disappear, or the attestation store is unavailable. Use both.

Agent Checkpoint (new)

Connect your AI coding agent in 60 seconds and make it notarize plan/patch/release checkpoints — free tier, no account: agent-checkpoint/ — mcp.json drop-ins for Cursor, Cline, and any MCP client, plus a copy-paste AGENTS.md block (Provenance: <Shield ID> in commits).

Quickstart

# 1. Compute SHA-256 hash of your artifact
HASH=$(echo -n "Hello AOTrust" | sha256sum | cut -d' ' -f1)

# 2. Request notarization → get 402 payment details
curl -X POST https://api.aotrust.link/notarize \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"work_hash\":\"$HASH\",\"agent_sig\":\"\",\"agent_pubkey\":\"\"}"

# 3. Pay $0.01 USDC on Base (EIP-3009), then POST with x-payment header
# Full example: see SKILL.md → "Step 3: Pay"

For full EIP-3009 signing code (Python + ethers.js examples), see SKILL.md.

Interfaces

Interface	Best for	Auth
HTTP API	Developers, scripts, CI/CD	x402 payment (no API key needed); free tier 5/day/IP
MCP	AI agents (Claude, Cursor, Cline)	None for discovery + free tools (notary_free 5/day/IP)

Endpoints:

API: https://api.aotrust.link/notarize
MCP: https://api.aotrust.link/mcp
Verify: https://verify.aotrust.link
Docs: https://docs.aotrust.link

PDR Specification & Tools

pdr-spec.md — PDR v2.3/v2.4 binary format (Internal 193B + External 239B, ordinary + bilateral)
pdr_parser.py — standalone parser, zero dependencies, offline verification
aotrust-notarize/SKILL.md — full integration guide for AI agents

Comparison

Feature	AOTrust	Chainlink	OpenTimestamps	Notary.fyi
Price/PDR	$0.01	$0.25+	Free (slow)	$0.50+
Payment rail	x402 USDC	LINK	Bitcoin TX	Stripe
PDR format	239B binary	Oracle data	OTS file	PDF
AI agent native	MCP + HTTP	No	No	No
Blockchain anchor	NEAR (daily)	Ethereum	Bitcoin	None
Offline verify	Yes (pdr_parser.py)	No	Yes	No

GitHub Action

Notarize build artifacts or AI-generated files directly in CI/CD — free, no wallet needed.

- uses: GitSerge-crypto/aotrust-skills@v1.1
  with:
    files: dist/*

Outputs: shield_id, verify_url, pdr_b64. Results appear in $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY as a markdown table with verification links.

Example workflow

name: Release
on:
  release:
    types: [published]

jobs:
  notarize:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: GitSerge-crypto/aotrust-skills@v1.1
        with:
          files: dist/*
      - name: Show shield ID
        run: echo "Shield ID: ${{ steps.notarize.outputs.shield_id }}"

License

MIT

AOTrust Notarization & Evidence Server