Authensia Specification

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Authensia Specification

Your Ideas, Secured in Time.

Overview

Authensia is an open-source systemic file storage specification designed for immutable, verifiable, encrypted, auditable, and locally controlled digital file storage.

Authensia establishes a modular architecture for preserving files together with their integrity, provenance, ownership, attribution, version history, and audit records.

The specification is designed around local-first operation, cryptographic verification, self-sovereign ownership, long-term preservation, extensibility, and interoperability.

Specification Goals

Authensia shall provide:

Immutable and verifiable file storage
End-to-end encrypted local storage
Cryptographic ownership and authorship verification
Persistent file and folder version histories
Tamper detection and integrity verification
Auditable file provenance
Long-term digital preservation
Local-first operation
Optional peer-to-peer synchronization
Extensible verification and auditing
Developer APIs and SDKs
Modular intelligence and automation
Optional network-based verification
Optional blockchain anchoring
Self-sovereign file ownership

Architectural Principles

Local First

Core Authensia functionality shall operate locally without requiring a centralized service.

Immutable by Design

Stored content and historical records shall be protected against silent modification through content addressing, cryptographic hashes, signatures, and version tracking.

Cryptographically Verifiable

Files, metadata, ownership records, and historical states should be independently verifiable.

End-to-End Privacy

File contents shall remain encrypted so that unauthorized intermediary systems cannot access the underlying content.

Self-Sovereign Ownership

Ownership and authorship records shall be controlled by the applicable creator or rights holder rather than dependent on a centralized authority.

Modular Architecture

Core capabilities shall be separated into modules with optional functionality implemented through plugins.

Interoperability

Authensia shall provide standards-based interfaces that allow external applications and services to interact with stored data without requiring proprietary dependencies.

Long-Term Preservation

The system shall preserve file history, provenance, attribution, and integrity information alongside stored content.

Core Modules

Storage Core

The Storage Core defines the fundamental file storage system.

Requirements

The Storage Core shall support:

Local filesystem storage
Content-addressed storage
BLAKE3 hashing
Content-addressed blobs
File deduplication
Folder and directory storage
Immutable object identification
Storage object validation
Local-first operation
Storage metadata

Content Addressing

Every stored object shall have a deterministic cryptographic identifier derived from its content.

Content addressing shall allow Authensia to:

Detect duplicate content
Detect unauthorized modification
Locate historical versions
Verify stored objects
Preserve object identity across storage locations

Integrity Core

The Integrity Core provides cryptographic validation of stored content.

Requirements

The Integrity Core shall support:

BLAKE3 content hashing
Integrity verification
Tamper detection
Cryptographic object validation
Merkle DAG verification
Historical integrity checks
Automated integrity monitoring

Merkle DAG

Authensia shall use Merkle DAG structures to represent relationships between files, folders, versions, and other content-addressed objects.

Merkle structures shall allow the system to verify:

Individual objects
File histories
Folder states
Dependency relationships
Historical project states

Encryption Core

The Encryption Core provides protection for stored file contents.

Requirements

The Encryption Core shall support:

End-to-end encryption
Encrypted local storage
Cryptographic key management
Secure key handling
Encrypted metadata where applicable
Key rotation mechanisms
Secure decryption workflows

Authensia shall be designed so that storage infrastructure does not inherently require access to plaintext file contents.

Identity and Signature Core

The Identity and Signature Core establishes cryptographic identity, authorship, and verification.

Requirements

The module shall support:

Ed25519 signatures
Cryptographic identities
File signatures
Metadata signatures
Ownership signatures
Authorship verification
Signature validation
Identity association with file records

Ownership and Attribution Core

The Ownership and Attribution Core provides persistent records connecting digital content with its creator or rights holder.

Requirements

The module shall support:

Creator attribution
Proof of authorship
Ownership records
Rights metadata
Attribution records
Cryptographic ownership verification
Historical ownership information
Attribution preservation across versions

Ownership information shall remain associated with applicable content through supported copying, versioning, archival, and synchronization workflows.

Versioning Core

The Versioning Core provides immutable historical records for files and folders.

Requirements

The module shall support:

File versioning
Folder versioning
Immutable version histories
Historical state reconstruction
Version identifiers
Parent-child version relationships
Change verification
Historical metadata

Versions shall not silently replace previous versions.

Provenance Core

The Provenance Core records the history and origin of digital objects.

Requirements

The module shall support:

File provenance
Creator records
Creation timestamps
Modification records
Version relationships
Source relationships
Dependency relationships
Ownership history
Verification history
Archival history

Provenance records shall be cryptographically verifiable where applicable.

Audit Core

The Audit Core provides an auditable record of system activity and file history.

Requirements

The Audit Core shall support:

File audit logs
Folder audit logs
Version events
Integrity verification events
Ownership events
Attribution events
Synchronization events
Archival events
Administrative events
Verification results

Audit records shall preserve historical information required to determine the state and history of stored content.

Archive Core

The Archive Core provides long-term digital preservation.

Requirements

The Archive Core shall support:

Immutable archives
Long-term file preservation
Project archives
Research archives
Historical snapshots
Retention policies
Archival policies
Preservation metadata
Integrity verification of archived content

Policy Core

The Policy Core provides automated rules governing stored content.

Requirements

The Policy Core shall support:

Retention policies
Archival policies
Storage policies
Verification schedules
Integrity check schedules
Access policies
Synchronization policies
Preservation policies

Policies shall be configurable without requiring changes to the underlying storage engine.

Recovery Core

The Recovery Core provides mechanisms for identifying and recovering corrupted or damaged content.

Requirements

The module shall support:

Integrity failure detection
Corruption identification
Redundant object recovery
Self-healing storage workflows
Historical version recovery
Verified restoration
Recovery validation

Recovered content shall be verified before being treated as valid.

Search and Metadata Core

The Search and Metadata Core provides structured metadata and local discovery.

Requirements

The module shall support:

File metadata
Search metadata
Content identifiers
Creator metadata
Ownership metadata
Provenance metadata
Version metadata
Audit metadata
Dependency metadata
Metadata indexing

Metadata generation and indexing shall operate independently from the underlying storage engine.

Dependency Core

The Dependency Core models relationships between files and other digital objects.

Requirements

The module shall support:

File dependencies
Project relationships
Version relationships
Object relationships
Dependency validation
Dependency visualization data
Historical dependency tracking

Synchronization Core

The Synchronization Core provides optional synchronization capabilities while preserving Authensia’s verification model.

Requirements

The module shall support:

Offline synchronization
Local network synchronization
Peer-to-peer synchronization
Selective synchronization
Version-aware synchronization
Conflict detection
Integrity verification during synchronization

Synchronization shall not bypass cryptographic integrity or ownership verification.

API Core

The API Core provides programmatic access to Authensia.

Requirements

The API Core shall support:

REST APIs
gRPC APIs
File operations
Metadata operations
Version operations
Verification operations
Audit operations
Ownership operations
Synchronization operations
Plugin interfaces

CLI Core

The CLI Core provides command-line administration and automation.

The CLI shall provide operations for:

Creating storage objects
Importing files
Exporting files
Verifying files
Viewing versions
Inspecting provenance
Viewing audit records
Managing ownership records
Managing policies
Managing archives
Managing synchronization
Managing plugins

SDK Core

Authensia shall provide developer SDKs for integration.

Supported SDK targets shall include:

Rust
Go
Python
JavaScript
TypeScript

SDK functionality should correspond to supported API capabilities.

Interface Core

The Interface Core defines optional graphical interfaces for Authensia.

Supported interface technologies may include:

React
Svelte
Electron
Native desktop interfaces

The graphical interface shall operate through defined Authensia APIs rather than bypassing core security and verification mechanisms.

Testing Core

The Testing Core defines validation requirements for Authensia implementations.

Requirements

Implementations shall support testing for:

Storage operations
Hash verification
Merkle DAG integrity
Encryption
Signature validation
Ownership verification
Versioning
Provenance
Audit logging
Recovery
Synchronization
API behavior
Plugin behavior

Unit, integration, and local continuous integration testing should be supported.

Optional Plugin Modules

Plugins extend Authensia without requiring optional functionality to become part of the core system.

Verification Plugin

Provides specialized verification capabilities.

Possible functions include:

Advanced integrity verification
External verification
Multi-party verification
Document verification
Signature verification
Certificate validation

AI Verification Plugin

Provides AI-assisted analysis.

Possible functions include:

AI-assisted tamper detection
Anomaly detection
File classification
Metadata generation
Provenance analysis
Verification assistance

AI systems shall not replace cryptographic verification.

Metadata Plugin

Provides additional metadata processing.

Possible functions include:

Automatic metadata tagging
Metadata extraction
Custom metadata schemas
Metadata enrichment
Metadata indexing

Audit Plugin

Provides specialized audit capabilities.

Possible functions include:

Advanced audit analysis
Compliance reporting
Historical audit visualization
Audit export
External audit integration

Synchronization Plugin

Provides additional synchronization methods.

Possible functions include:

Peer-to-peer synchronization
Distributed synchronization
Remote synchronization
Selective replication
Network discovery

Storage Backend Plugin

Provides alternative storage backends.

Possible implementations may include:

Additional local filesystems
External storage systems
Distributed storage
Network storage
Archival storage

Storage plugins shall preserve Authensia’s integrity and verification requirements.

Hardware Security Plugin

Provides hardware-backed cryptographic capabilities.

Possible integrations include:

TPM
Secure Enclave
Hardware security modules
Hardware-backed key storage
Hardware-backed identity verification

Certificate Plugin

Provides optional digital certificates.

Possible functions include:

Certificate creation
Certificate validation
Certificate storage
Authorship certificates
Ownership certificates
Verification certificates

Blockchain Anchoring Plugin

Provides optional external anchoring.

Possible functions include:

Hash anchoring
Timestamp anchoring
Provenance anchoring
Ownership record anchoring
External verification

Blockchain integration shall remain optional and shall not be required for core Authensia operation.

Marketplace Plugin

Provides optional offline and network-enabled creative marketplaces.

Possible functions include:

Creator-controlled distribution
Digital asset listings
License metadata
Attribution preservation
Ownership verification
Transaction records

Network Verification Plugin

Provides optional hybrid network verification.

Possible functions include:

Distributed verification
External identity verification
Network-based provenance verification
Independent validation nodes
Cross-system ownership verification

Archival Network Plugin

Provides optional distributed archival capabilities.

Possible functions include:

Distributed archival
Multi-node preservation
Remote archival
Redundant archival copies
Cross-node integrity verification

Plugin Requirements

All plugins shall:

Operate through defined Authensia interfaces
Preserve cryptographic integrity
Respect ownership and attribution records
Avoid bypassing core security controls
Provide clear configuration requirements
Maintain compatibility with applicable Authensia APIs
Identify external dependencies
Preserve auditability where applicable

Security Model

Authensia implementations shall prioritize:

End-to-end encryption
Cryptographic signatures
Content-addressed storage
Immutable historical records
Key security
Integrity verification
Tamper detection
Ownership verification
Provenance preservation
Auditability

Security-sensitive operations shall fail safely when verification cannot be completed.

Data Integrity Model

Authensia shall treat cryptographic verification as a fundamental property of stored data.

A valid object shall have sufficient information to establish:

Content identity
Content integrity
Applicable version
Applicable provenance
Applicable ownership
Applicable attribution
Applicable verification state

Specification Branding License (SBL)

Standard

Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
Copyleft enforced for network deployments
Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/

Optional

Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/authensia/

License & Notice Requirements

Authensia is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.

Please note the following:

All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to: Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
Authensia specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments. Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.

For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.

Notice – Authensia

Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.

Contributors

This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.

Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – March 20, 2026
Created the repository for Authensia. Developed the initial open-source systemic file storage platform providing immutable, verifiable, and end-to-end encrypted local storage with cryptographic signing, timestamping, and auditability.
[Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]

License – Authensia

This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).

Key Points

You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.

For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.