enTrail

Overview

The parts, and how they fit

Three things to understand: the platform, which holds who you are and what you may reach; the box, which takes your events and seals them; and verification, which anyone can do without an account.

enTrail component mapYour systems send events to your Evidence Box, which seals them and publishes signed heads to a public log that is anchored in Bitcoin. The platform issues tickets and manifests to the box. Anyone holding a receipt checks the log and the anchor without contacting enTrail.The platformorganisations · users · access · boxesYour systemsapps · servicesagents · collectorsYour Evidence Boxone machine · your data never leaves itIngestauthenticate · validateSealchain · sign · MerkleBox consoleprojects · keys · trailStorageevents · archivePublic logsigned headsproofsBitcoinanchorvia OTSAnyone holding a receiptan auditor, a regulator, your customer — no account, no call to useventsreceiptticket · manifestheadsyou keep itchecks, without usenTraildocs.entrail.io
Solid lines carry data. Dashed lines are checks a third party makes on their own. Your events live on one machine; what leaves it are signed heads that contain no payload.

What each part is

PartWho runs itWhat it holds
Your Evidence BoxYou, or us on your behalfYour events, your keys, your chain. One machine, not shared.
The platform consoleUsOrganisations, users, two-factor, and who may reach which box. No event data.
The public logUsSigned tree heads and proofs. No payloads, ever.
BitcoinNobodyA time bound we cannot move, reached through OpenTimestamps.
The verifierWhoever is checkingRuns anywhere. Needs a receipt, not an account.

End to end

  1. Your application sends an event to your box, authenticated with a project key. The box answers in milliseconds with a hash you keep. That hash is your receipt.
  2. Shortly after, the box seals a batch: it chains the events, signs the batch, and commits it to a Merkle tree.
  3. The head of that tree is published to a log your box cannot reach or change, and later anchored in Bitcoin.
  4. Anyone you hand a receipt to can check it against the log and the anchor, with no account and no call to us.

Try it

The console is live in beta at demoplatform.entrail.io. Registration is open, so you can create an organisation and sign in while reading these pages. It is a beta environment rather than production: use it to try the system, not to hold evidence you need later.

Where to go next

What is not here

How managed boxes are provisioned, updated, monitored or reached for support is ours to operate and is not documented here. If you run your own box, everything you need is in these pages.