Cold Root Identity v0.1.0
Cold Root Identity is a simple model for survivable Nostr identities. No protocol changes, no new relay behavior, and no delegation logic.
The idea is straightforward:
- A root key stays offline as the authority
- Epoch keys are derived deterministically for actual daily use
- A signed lineage event proves each new epoch key is legitimate
- Clients treat the newest valid epoch as the user’s active identity
- Old posts stay under old keys; new posts use the fresh one
This gives users safe key rotation without burning their entire account. A compromise only affects a single window instead of the whole identity.
The Python reference implementation, test vectors, and spec are here:
https://github.com/GHOST-UntraceableDigitalDissident/cold-root-identity
If you’re a client dev, this is everything needed to implement rotation cleanly today.
