Documentation
Docs
Technical documentation for Confium: the architecture of the 66-crate Rust workspace, the six products built on it, deployment and operations, API references, and migration guides.
Getting started
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Capabilities
Every shipped feature in Confium — threshold signing, transparency log, keyless mode, security primitives, language bindings, infrastructure, and deployment tiers.
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Installation
Ten ways to install Confium — Ruby gem, Python wheel, Node package, WASM, Homebrew, Nix, Cargo, Docker, Go, and source.
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Getting started
Quickstart hub for Confium — Ruby, Rust, and WASM install commands and pointers into per-binding docs.
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Quickstart
Five-minute quickstarts for Confium in every supported language. Pick yours, copy-paste, verify your first signature. No prior threshold-crypto knowledge required.
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FAQ
Common questions about Confium — what it is, how it works, when to use it, and the limits of threshold-native trust infrastructure.
Architecture
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Architecture
Confium's 66-crate Rust workspace as a layered graph — engine and plugin contract, shared crypto foundations, six products, services, and the binding surfaces that wrap them.
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Components
Every component in the Confium repository — the 66-crate Rust workspace plus the Go, Cloudflare Worker, and sibling-repo edges — one line each, grouped by the architecture layers.
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Security model
Confium's threat model, trust assumptions, and defense-in-depth layers. What the framework protects against and what it expects of operators.
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Transparency logs
RFC 6962 Merkle transparency logs. Inclusion proofs, consistency proofs, witness gossip, OTS anchoring. How split-view attacks are detected.
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Benchmarks
Criterion benchmarks for the confium hot paths. Composite signature verification, transparency log operations. Run locally or in CI.
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log.confium.org — public transparency log
A free, hosted, Bitcoin-anchored Merkle transparency log for every Confium signature, certificate, and signing ceremony.
Guides
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Migrate from HSM-only
You have an HSM today. You want threshold signing without replacing the HSM. This guide walks the migration path — same HSM, same consumers, threshold signing behind it.
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Migrate from Sigstore
You use Sigstore (cosign + Rekor + Fulcio) for container / artifact signing. Here's what Confium adds, what to keep, and how to run both side-by-side during migration.
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Migrate from KMS-only
You use a cloud KMS (AWS KMS, GCP KMS, Azure Key Vault) for signing keys. The KMS holds the key; your app calls the API. Here's how to add threshold control without losing the KMS benefits.
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Post-quantum migration
Migrate from classical to post-quantum signatures via composite signatures. Software upgrade, not HSM replacement. No certificate re-issuance flag day.
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Comparison
Confium vs HSMs, conventional CAs, KMS, Sigstore, and commercial threshold solutions. Where each fits, where each falls short.
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Compliance
FIPS 140 mode, jurisdictional algorithm policies, audit log format, and regulatory mapping to eIDAS, HIPAA, FedRAMP, and Common Criteria.
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Troubleshooting
Operational gotchas, common errors, and their fixes for Confium deployments and consumers.
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Deployment
Run confiumd in production. Docker Compose for single-host evaluation, Helm chart for Kubernetes, Grafana dashboards for observability.
Reference
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Confium CLI
The confium command-line tool — install, manage, and operate Confium plugins, signers, and the local configuration store.
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confium version
Print the version of the confium CLI and the underlying engine.
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confium install
Install a Confium plugin from the registry. Currently a stub awaiting the confium-net HTTP-fetching crate.
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confium remove
Remove an installed Confium plugin from the local store.
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confium update
Update an installed plugin to the latest version. Currently a stub awaiting the confium-net HTTP-fetching crate.
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confium list
List installed Confium plugins, optionally filtered by interface or algorithm.
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confium info
Show detailed information about an installed Confium plugin.
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confium search
Search the Confium plugin registry for available plugins.
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Examples
Copy-paste code samples for the 10 most common Confium tasks. Each is self-contained, runs against a real coordinator, and links to the relevant docs page for the full story.
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confium trust
Manage the trusted-publisher list — which publishers' plugins the local install will accept.
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Rust API reference
The Confium Rust API surface — confium-core, confium-composite, confium-transparency, confium-pki, confium-attributes. Types, traits, and entry points for embedded use.
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confium config
Read and write local Confium configuration.
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WASM API reference
The @confium/confium-wasm API surface — browser-side verifier for composite signatures, transparency logs, attribute predicates, and PKI. Verifier-only by design: browsers verify, servers sign.
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confiumd
The confiumd daemon — long-running JSON-RPC service for signing sessions, transparency log interaction, and PKI operations.
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confium-publish
The plugin author's publishing tool — wraps a plugin artifact, signs the manifest, and prepares it for submission to the Confium registry.
Adapters & tooling
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Tooling
Binaries and adapter libraries shipped by the Confium workspace — beyond the CLI.
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confium-pkcs11-server
PKCS#11 v3.0 server — exposes Confium threshold signing to existing PKCS#11 consumers (OpenSSL ENGINE, Java SunPKCS11, nginx).
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confium-openssl-provider
OpenSSL 3.0 provider — exposes Confium threshold signing to modern OpenSSL consumers (nginx, curl, custom C).
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confium-jce-provider
Java Cryptography Extension provider — exposes Confium threshold signing to Java applications via KeyStore / Cipher / Signature APIs.
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confium-tls-signer
TLS 1.3 signature callback — high-value domain protection with threshold signing for handshakes.
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confium-test-harness
NIST MPTS evaluation harness + multi-party threshold simulation runner.
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Adapters
Deep dives into the PKI adapters — PKCS#11, OpenSSL 3.0, JCE, TLS 1.3. How they wire existing consumers into Confium.
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PKCS#11 adapter
PKCS#11 v3.0 adapter — expose Confium as a virtual HSM to OpenSSL, Java, nginx, and custom consumers.
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OpenSSL 3.0 provider adapter
OpenSSL 3.0 provider — expose Confium to modern OpenSSL consumers in-process.
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JCE provider adapter
Java Cryptography Extension provider — expose Confium to Java applications via KeyStore / Cipher / Signature APIs.
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TLS 1.3 signer adapter
TLS 1.3 signature callback — threshold signing for high-value domain TLS handshakes.