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Identities and devices

An identity stands for one user. In Keyhive, which HALO is built on, it is a group named by a DID, and its members are the user’s devices.

Model

Section titled “Model”

Identity. Identity.create makes the group and its first member, the device the code runs on. The DID, such as did:halo:BA25QRC2FEWCSAMRP4RZL65LWJ7352CKE, is how other members and services refer to the user. The identity also has a profile: a display name and free-form data such as an avatar. No server issues the identity, and none holds a key that can act for it.

Device. Each client storage, such as one browser profile on one site, has its own device key. A device becomes a member of the identity through a delegation: a statement, signed by a device that is already a member, that admits the new key. Removing a device is a revocation. The first device creates the identity; later devices join through a device invitation. A device signs the changes it makes, and peers check the signature against the identity’s members.

Each device reports:

Field Meaning
kind browser, native, mobile, or agent and agent-managed for hosted agents
presence online, offline, or removed once the device has been evicted
current Whether this is the device the code runs on

Personal space. Every identity has a personal space that only its own devices join. It holds the user’s settings and anything that follows them from device to device. Identity.personalSpaceId returns its id, or nothing before the identity exists.

identity (did:halo:…)
├── device: laptop browser   ← created the identity
├── device: phone            ← joined by invitation
└── personal space           ← replicated to every device

Behavior

Section titled “Behavior”
  • Creating an identity needs no network.
  • A new device receives the identity’s spaces by syncing with the devices it was admitted by, or through EDGE.
  • A device that is revoked stops being trusted for new changes. Changes it signed before the revocation stay valid.

Limits

Section titled “Limits”
  • If every device is lost and the identity has no recovery credential, the identity is gone. No one, including DXOS, can restore it, and its spaces are reachable only through other members. A recovery key is a member of the identity too, so it can admit a new device when no device is left.
  • Clearing a browser’s site data deletes that device’s keys. The device must join again as a new device.