At Dock, we’re focused on providing the best possible developer tools to ensure our products are easy to use while providing the best possible experience for technical teams. So today, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve incorporated a sandbox environment for users of our API.
For the uninitiated, Dock’s API enables businesses and developers to easily and instantly issue, verify, manage, and revoke verifiable credentials and decentralized identities on the Dock Blockchain. Dock integrates industry-leading World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) VCDM standards, allowing interoperability with other open source technologies. We provide a range of open-source software on GitHub that can be used alongside the API.
You can test our API in the sandbox testnet by simply switching the toggle to test mode.
Primary features of Dock’s API include:
- Issuing, verifying, managing, and revoking/unrevoking verifiable credentials
- Creating and managing decentralized identities
- Anchoring credentials on-chain to enable timestamping
- Creating and assigning schemas to credentials for compliance
- And more
All of which you can test out in the sandbox environment!
To get started; create a free account, log into your dashboard and acquire your API key.
By default, API keys are created for production. You can switch the toggle to test mode and utilize the API in this endpoint. Any transactions made in test mode will not carry through on production. Note; your API keys for production and testnet are different.
All about DIDs
Decentralized Identities (DIDs) are globally unique identifiers that allow their owner to prove cryptographic control over them. DIDs on Dock are created by choosing a 32-byte unique (on Dock chain) identifier along with a public key.
Get accustomed to Dock’s API before utilizing your 50 free transactions on production;
Using the sandbox environment, create a new DID, public key, and controller by using an auto-generated keypair. It is important to have a public key of one of its three supported types.
Dock supports 3 types of public keys: sr25519, ed25519, and secp256k1. These public keys are supported by 3 classes: PublicKeySr25519, PublicKeyEd25519, and PublicKeySecp256k1.
You can update your public key or the controller of an on-chain DID by preparing a signed key update. You can even rotate the key of an existing DID following the instructions on our API documentation here.
A DID can be deleted from the testnet blockchain by sending the corresponding message signed with the current key. However, further attempts to resolve this DID will fail, just as it would in production mode.
Issuing Credentials
Simple to verify and almost impossible to fake or modify, recording credentials on the blockchain will increase security and prevent fraud. Though the VCDM spec does not mandate it, an issuer in Dock must have a DID on a chain.
You can use the sandbox environment to issue credentials just as you would on production; ensure your public key is accessible to the holder and verifier to verify the signature (in proof) in the credential. The DID can be found in the issuer field of the credential.
Updating or deleting Registries
Utilize the sandbox environment whenever you need it, simply switch the toggle in the top right corner to test mode and get to work.
There can be multiple registries on the chain, and each registry has a unique ID. A registry can be created, updated, revoked/unrevoked, and even deleted in a few simple steps. View our API documentation here and get started in the sandbox environment.
Verify Credentials
In production, upon receiving a verifiable credential or presentation, a verifier verifies the validity of the credentials.
The verify method can be used to check the authenticity of the issuer and the issuer’s signature, revocation status if the credential is revocable, and if the holder has signed the presentation.
Verify a credential or presentation in our sandbox testnet here.
Give it a try
Dock’s API allows you to easily issue, verify, manage, and revoke verifiable credentials and decentralized identities on the Dock Blockchain. It’s easy to set up and implement, and requires no sign-up fee! Get started in our sandbox environment and your 50 free transactions will be in production when you switch over.
