DID-Near Library

DID Specification

This library can be used to create a new near-did identifier. It allows near-did identifiers to be represented as an object that can perform actions such as updating its DID document, signing messages, and verifying messages from other DIDs.

Use this if you are looking for the easiest way to start using near-did identifiers, and want high-level abstractions to access its entire range of capabilities. It encapsulates all the functionality of did-near-resolver and NearDIDRegistry.

A DID is an Identifier that allows you to lookup a DID document that can be used to authenticate you and messages created by you.

DID-Near provides a scalable identity method for base58-encoded Ed25519 public keys and NEAR Named Accounts that gives them the ability to collect on-chain and off-chain data. Because DID-Near allows any Near key pair to become a DID.

This particular DID method relies on the NearDIDRegistry. The NearDIDRegistry is a smart contract that facilitates public key resolution for off-chain (and on-chain) authentication. It also facilitates key rotation, delegate assignment and revocation to allow 3rd party signers on a key's behalf, as well as setting and revoking off-chain attribute data. These interactions and events are used in aggregate to form a DID's DID document using the did-near-resolver .

An example of a DID document resolved using the did-near-resolver:

{
  "@context": "https://w3id.org/did/v1",
  "id": "did:near:CF5Ri...",
  "verificationMethod": [
    {
      "id": "did:near:CF5Ri...#owner",
      "type": "Ed25519VerificationKey2018",
      "controller": "did:near:CF5Ri...",
      "publicKeyBase58": "CF5RiJYh4EVmEt8UAD..."
    }
  ],
  "authentication": ["did:near:CF5Ri...#owner"],
  "assertionMethod": ["did:near:CF5Ri...#owner"]
}

On-chain refers to something that queried or modified with a transaction on a blockchain, while off-chain can refer to anything from temporary payment channels to IPFS and regular web services.

It supports the proposed Decentralized Identifiers spec from the W3C Credentials Community Group.

DID Method

A "DID method" is a specific implementation of a DID scheme that is identified by a method name. In this case, the method name is near, and the method identifier is an NEAR Account or a base58-encoded Ed25519 publicKey.

To encode a DID for an NEAR account, simply prepend did:near:

For example:

• DID based on an NEAR account: did:near:alice.near
• DID based on a key: did:near:2zDZtLktExaL18PWhjUQj8Gg4X1u7dhCsQrMqQx1KeC9

Configuration

import { NearDID } from '@kaytrust/did-near'

const nearDid = new NearDID({ identifier: 'alice.near', privateKey: '...' })

key	description	required
identifier	NEAR account, public key or a full did:near representing Identity	no
networkId	The name near network (defaults to testnet)	no, but recommended
contractId	contract registry address (defaults to neardti.testnet if rpcUrl is defined)	if rpcUrl or near is defined
near	This is the main class developers should use to interact with NEAR (Provided by @near-js/wallet-account)	either rpcUrl
rpcUrl	JSON-RPC endpoint url	either near or rpcUrl
signer	JWS Signing function	either signer or privateKey
secretKey	base58 secretKey	either signer or privateKey
privateKey	Hex encoded private key	no*

Important notes on keys and signers

If privateKey is specified, then signer and secretKey don't need to be used.

Notes

Readonly near-did

An instance created using only an NEAR account or publicKey (without access to a privateKey or to signers) can only be used to encapsulate an external near-did . This instance will not have the ability to sign anything, but it can be used for a subset of actions:

• provide the full DID string (nearDid.did)
• lookup its owner await nearDid.lookupOwner()
• verify a JWT await nearDid.verifyJwt(jwt)