https://github.com/did-method-plc/did-method-plc
Public Ledger of Credentials: a cryptographic, strongly-consistent, and recoverable DID method
https://github.com/did-method-plc/did-method-plc
atproto did did-plc
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Public Ledger of Credentials: a cryptographic, strongly-consistent, and recoverable DID method
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/did-method-plc/did-method-plc
- Owner: did-method-plc
- License: other
- Created: 2023-02-22T19:57:31.000Z (about 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-06-05T20:46:06.000Z (10 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-06-15T01:52:07.591Z (9 months ago)
- Topics: atproto, did, did-plc
- Language: TypeScript
- Homepage: https://web.plc.directory/
- Size: 699 KB
- Stars: 267
- Watchers: 18
- Forks: 49
- Open Issues: 25
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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- awesome-starred - did-method-plc/did-method-plc - A cryptographic, strongly-consistent, and recoverable DID method (others)
README
# DID PLC Method (did:plc)
DID PLC is a self-authenticating [DID](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/) which is strongly-consistent, recoverable, and allows for key rotation.
An example DID is: `did:plc:ewvi7nxzyoun6zhxrhs64oiz`
Control over a `did:plc` identity rests in a set of reconfigurable rotation keys pairs. These keys can sign update operations to mutate the identity (including key rotations), with each operation referencing a prior version of the identity state by hash. Each identity starts from an initial genesis operation, and the hash of this initial object is what defines the DID itself (that is, the DID URI identifier string). A central directory server collects and validates operations, and maintains a transparent log of operations for each DID.
This git repository contains a TypeScript reference implementation of the method (`@did-plc/lib`) and a directory server `@did-plc/server`, both in the `package/` directory. The `go-didplc/`directory is intended to hold a golang implementation.
## Motivation
[Bluesky Social PBC](https://bsky.social/) developed DID PLC when designing the [AT Protocol](https://atproto.com) (atproto) because we were not satisfied with any of the existing DID methods. We wanted a strongly consistent, highly available, recoverable, and cryptographically secure method with fast and cheap propagation of updates.
PLC stands for "Public Ledger of Credentials". We expect to evolve the system (in a backwards-compatible manner) into something less centralized - likely a permissioned DID consortium. That being said, we do intend to support `did:plc` in the current form until after any successor is deployed, with a reasonable grace period. We would also provide a migration route to allow continued use of existing `did:plc` identifiers.
## How it works
See the [specification](website/spec/v0.1/did-plc.md#how-it-works).
## License
This project is dual-licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0 terms:
- Apache License, Version 2.0, ([LICENSE-APACHE](https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/blob/master/LICENSE-APACHE) or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
- MIT license ([LICENSE-MIT](https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/blob/master/LICENSE-MIT) or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
Downstream projects and users may chose either license, or both, at their discretion. The motivation for this dual-licensing is the additional software patent assurance provided by Apache 2.0.
Bluesky Social PBC has committed to a software patent non-aggression pledge. For details see [the original announcement](https://bsky.social/about/blog/10-01-2025-patent-pledge).