A way to sign things using IPFS keys

[mitar]

So each peer has its own key (and optional additional keys), but it seems there is no API which would allow one to sign messages using those keys (except by storing them inside IPNS).

[daviddias]

@whyrusleeping thoughts?

[daviddias]

This would require exposing a new API.

[daviddias]

@richardschneider has been working a ton on the ipfs key API, he will have thoughts here :)

[richardschneider]

Hopefully the Key API #1133 will be merged soon.

Then the options sign <key> and encrypt <key> can be added to file/block/message creation commands. They would generate a CMS structure, see richardschneider/ipfs-encryption#9

[alanshaw]

A bunch of folks have also requested signed pubsub messages.

[fiatjaf]

https://github.com/tswindell/ipfs_keys_export

[adamskrodzki]

@richardschneider Is it merged? If so, where is documentation how to use it?

I would like to be able to sign some arbitrary data by one node private key, so it can be attributed forever to that node by any other node just by verification of signature.

[richardschneider]

To be frank, I did a interview with protocol labs and they never got back to me. After a month I reached out and got a "Oh sorry we don't need you response". This after a year+ of contributing to the projects.

I suggest you take a look at https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p-keychain

Also, https://github.com/richardschneider/ipfs-encryption contains my original designs and questions

[zicmama]

I wish to use keystore and node keys in other software
But I miss relation between
"PeerID": "Qm***" and "PrivKey" that can be found in ./.ipfs/config
And ed25519 keypair as in https://scuttlebot.io/more/protocols/secure-scuttlebutt.html

Any clarification is welcome.

[SgtPooki]

js-ipfs is being deprecated in favor of Helia. You can #4336 and read the migration guide.

Please feel to reopen with any comments by 2023-06-02. We will do a final pass on reopened issues afterward (see #4336).

@achingbrain this sounds like something we should probably support in Helia. I'm not sure if it's already there, so assigning to you for either migrating this issue, creating new Helia specific issue for signing messages using keys in helia, or telling us it's already possible!

[achingbrain]

When you export a key from the libp2p keychain you can access the raw public/private keys so this is possible without an API change.

Closing as completed 👍