Documentation

What is ProofClaw?

ProofClaw is trust infrastructure for AI agents. It lets publishers prove what their agent does — and lets platforms and users verify those claims independently.

• Agents declare their identity, permissions, and capabilities.
• An independent notary reviews the declaration and signs a Trust Card — a portable JSON attestation.
• Runtime enforcement policies gate what the agent can actually do at deploy time.
• Anyone can verify a badge or Trust Card against the transparency log.

Core concepts

Trust Card

A portable JSON attestation that binds an agent's identity, version, permissions, and shield score to an Ed25519 signature. It travels with the agent and can be verified by anyone.

Notary

An independent review function that examines an agent's declared capabilities and signs the Trust Card if they pass validation. The notary's public key is published in the transparency log.

Runtime enforcement

Shield policies that gate network access, secret handling, and tool risk at deploy time. Outcomes are allow, block, or needs_approval. Enforcement happens before the agent runs — not after.

Badge

A visual representation (SVG) of the Trust Card's status, designed for embedding in READMEs and marketplace listings. It contains the same Ed25519 signature and can be verified programmatically.

Shield score

A deterministic score (0–100) reflecting the risk profile of an agent's declared permissions: network access, secret handling, tool risk, and data retention. Higher scores indicate lower risk.

Transparency log

An append-only, hash-chained record of every notarization, revocation, badge issuance, and key rotation. Entries cannot be silently removed or modified.

Quickstart

Get a local ProofClaw environment running in five steps.

1. 1

   Install the CLI

   Install the AgentShield CLI from the GitHub releases page or via your package manager.

   npm install -g agentshield

2. 2

   Register your agent

   Declare your agent's identity, version, and capabilities in a manifest file.

   agentshield init --name "my-agent" --version 1.0.0

3. 3

   Submit for notarization

   Send your manifest to the notary for review. The notary validates your declaration and signs a Trust Card.

   agentshield notarize --manifest agent.json

4. 4

   Build the portal bundle

   Compile your Trust Card, badge, and metadata into a portal bundle for serving.

   agentshield portal-build --trust-root trust/ \
     --out artifacts/portal

5. 5

   Serve and verify

   Start the trust server and verify your badge locally.

   agentshield trust-serve --root artifacts/portal
   
   # In another terminal:
   agentshield verify-badge-file --file badge.svg \
     --trust-root trust/

Verify a badge

ProofClaw badges and Trust Cards use Ed25519 signatures. You can verify them via the CLI, the web verifier, or programmatically.

# Verify a Trust Card
agentshield verify-trust-card --file trust_card.json \
  --trust-root trust/ --require-keyring

# Verify a badge file
agentshield verify-badge-file --file badge.svg \
  --trust-root trust/

# Verify entire portal integrity
agentshield verify-portal --root artifacts/portal

curl https://www.proofclaw.io/api/trust/my-agent-id

For the full verification flow, see the Trust Center or try the web verifier.

Integration

Embed ProofClaw trust signals in your platform, marketplace, or developer portal.

<!-- Markdown -->
![ProofClaw Badge](https://www.proofclaw.io/api/badge/my-agent-id)

<!-- HTML -->
<img src="https://www.proofclaw.io/api/badge/my-agent-id"
     alt="ProofClaw verified" />

curl https://www.proofclaw.io/api/trust/my-agent-id

# Response includes:
# - agent identity + version
# - shield score + tier
# - Ed25519 signature
# - revocation status

GET /api/trust/{agentId}

# Returns:
# 200  — verified Trust Card
# 404  — agent not found
# 410  — Trust Card revoked

Frequently asked questions