writerslogic/witnessd: Cryptographic authorship witnessing for writers and creators

Cryptographic authorship witnessing for writers and creators

Installation •
Quick Start •
How It Works •
Features •
Citation

witnessd produces independently verifiable, tamper-evident process evidence that constrains when and how a document could have been created, enabling adversarial review without relying on content analysis or trust in the recorder.

Faking it requires more effort, more time, and more risk than simply doing the work honestly — and any shortcut leaves detectable inconsistencies.

curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/writerslogic/witnessd/main/install.sh | sh

# Example: Linux x86_64
tar -xzf witnessd_*.tar.gz && sudo mv witnessd-cli /usr/local/bin/witnessd

git clone https://github.com/writerslogic/witnessd && cd witnessd/rust/witnessd-cli
cargo build --release && sudo cp target/release/witnessd-cli /usr/local/bin/witnessd

# Install slsa-verifier
go install github.com/slsa-framework/slsa-verifier/v2/cli/slsa-verifier@latest

# Verify provenance
slsa-verifier verify-artifact witnessd_*.tar.gz \
  --provenance-path multiple.intoto.jsonl \
  --source-uri github.com/writerslogic/witnessd

witnessd init                              # Initialize witnessd
witnessd calibrate                         # Calibrate VDF for your machine
witnessd commit document.md -m "Draft"     # Create checkpoint
witnessd log document.md                   # View history
witnessd export document.md -t enhanced    # Export as JSON
witnessd export document.md -f war -o proof.war  # Export as WAR block
witnessd verify evidence.json              # Verify JSON packet
witnessd verify proof.war                  # Verify WAR block

flowchart LR
    subgraph Capture["Real-time Capture"]
        K[Keystroke Monitor] --> J[Jitter Seal]
        M[Mouse Idle] --> J
    end

    subgraph Chain["Evidence Chain"]
        J --> C[Checkpoint]
        C --> H[HMAC Chain]
        H --> V[VDF Proof]
    end

    subgraph Anchor["Trust Anchors"]
        V --> T[TPM/Enclave]
        V --> R[Roughtime]
        V --> B[Blockchain]
    end

    Anchor --> E[Evidence Packet]

witnessd/
├── rust/
│   ├── witnessd-core/          # Cryptographic core library
│   │   ├── checkpoint.rs       # Document checkpointing
│   │   ├── vdf/                # Verifiable delay functions
│   │   ├── forensics.rs        # Authorship analysis
│   │   ├── platform/           # OS-specific capture (keys, mouse)
│   │   ├── tpm/                # Hardware security modules
│   │   └── evidence.rs         # Evidence export/verify
│   └── witnessd-cli/           # Command-line interface
└── platforms/                  # Native apps (coming soon)

See SECURITY.md and docs/SLSA.md for details.

cd rust/witnessd-core
cargo test --all-features      # Run tests
cargo clippy -- -D warnings    # Lint
cargo fmt --all                # Format
cargo audit && cargo deny check # Security audit

If you use witnessd in academic work, please cite:

@article{condrey2026witnessd,
  title={Witnessd: Proof-of-process via Adversarial Collapse},
  author={Condrey, David},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.01663},
  year={2026},
  doi={10.48550/arXiv.2602.01663}
}

@software{condrey2026witnessd_zenodo,
  title={Witnessd: Proof-of-Process Architecture for Document Authorship Verification},
  author={Condrey, David},
  year={2026},
  version={0.1.6},
  publisher={Zenodo},
  doi={10.5281/zenodo.18480372}
}

Abstract: Digital signatures prove key possession but not authorship. We introduce proof-of-process — a mechanism combining jitter seals (imperceptible HMAC-derived timing), Verifiable Delay Functions, timestamp anchors, keystroke validation, and optional hardware attestation. The system converts unsubstantiated doubt into testable, falsifiable claims.

— arXiv:2602.01663 [cs.CR] • Zenodo

Dual licensed:

• Non-Commercial: Free for personal, academic, research, and open-source projects
• Commercial: Requires a commercial license — contact licensing@writerslogic.com

Documentation • SLSA Compliance • Evidence Format Spec • Contributing