Prove what’s real in a synthetic world.
NOTE: This project is still under development. Features and details may change.
The internet is entering a new era — one where the majority of what we see, read, and share is generated by machines. As synthetic content floods our feeds and search results, trust is collapsing.
Verified Provenance is an open, public-good project dedicated to rebuilding that trust. It provides a standards-based way to prove: • Who created a piece of digital content • When it was created • What it contained — and whether it’s been altered since
We do this by combining proven cryptographic techniques — digital signatures, content hashing, and blockchain-based timestamping — into a portable, tamper-evident proof of authenticity.
Verified Provenance is free, open-source, privacy-preserving, and platform-agnostic. It’s not a product or a service — it’s infrastructure.
Identity verification alone is no longer enough. A “verified” account can still post AI-generated text. A trusted brand can still silently alter an article after publication.
Verified Provenance solves this deeper problem by anchoring proof directly to the content itself — not the platform it’s published on.
This proof is portable, permanent, and independently verifiable. It lets creators protect their work, publishers demonstrate integrity, and audiences trust what they consume.
This repository houses the entire Verified Provenance project, including reference tools, specifications, and documentation.
verifiedprovenance/
├─ author/ # AuthorProvenance - CLI tool for text-based content
├─ author/automated/ # Automated OTS anchoring variant
├─ docs/ # Documentation, guides, and specifications
├─ examples/ # Example manifests, workflows, and integrations
└─ scripts/ # Utility scripts for verification and automation
The author/ directory contains AuthorProvenance, the first open-source tool in the Verified Provenance ecosystem.
AuthorProvenance is a command-line tool that helps writers, journalists, publishers, and researchers prove the origin and integrity of their written work.
It works by:
1. Signing each commit with your GPG key (proving authorship)
2. Hashing the content state (ensuring integrity)
3. Anchoring a Merkle root on the Bitcoin blockchain via OpenTimestamps (proving timing)
4. Generating a portable provenance.json manifest that can be independently verified
git clone https://github.com/jamesburchill/verifiedprovenance.git
cd verifiedprovenance/author
pip install opentimestamps-client
git init
git add your_article.md
git commit -m "Initial draft"
make anchor
make manifest
A provenance.json file will be created. This file contains the cryptographic evidence that proves:
• Who authored the content
• When it was created
• That it hasn’t been altered
Anyone with the content and its provenance.json can verify authenticity:
python3 scripts/verify_provenance.py --file your_article.md --manifest provenance.json
The tool will confirm the signature, check the hash, and validate the blockchain timestamp — giving you cryptographic proof of authenticity.
Verified Provenance is built on four core principles:
• Open: All tools and standards are free and open-source.
• Portable: Proofs travel with your content, independent of platforms.
• Private: Original content never leaves your device. Only cryptographic fingerprints are shared.
• Future-Proof: Designed to evolve across formats — from text to code, audio, video, and beyond.
• ✅ AuthorProvenance – text and publishing support
• 🛠️ Multi-format support – image, video, audio provenance (in development)
• 📦 Verification Portal – browser-based proof checker
• 🔌 Platform integrations – CMS and publishing tool plugins
• 🌐 Specification v1.0 – open manifest format for provenance interoperability
Verified Provenance is an open project, and contributions are welcome. In the early stages, the focus is on:
• Testing and improving the AuthorProvenance CLI
• Writing documentation and guides
• Proposing extensions to the provenance manifest format
Please open an issue or pull request to discuss potential contributions.
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
• 🌐 Website: https://verifiedprovenance.com
• 📘 Quickstart Guide: https://verifiedprovenance.com/get-started
• 📂 GitHub Repo: https://verifiedprovenance.com/github
Verified Provenance – Because trust shouldn’t be assumed. It should be proven.