About Certs.social
What is Certs.social?
Certs.social is a passwordless identity platform built on AT Protocol, the open standard behind Bluesky and a growing ecosystem of decentralized applications. It lets you create a single account that works across every partner app — no passwords, no vendor lock-in, and full control over your data.
When you sign up for Certs.social, you get an AT Protocol identity and a Personal Data Server (PDS) hosted at certified.one. Your profile, preferences, and activity travel with you to every app that supports AT Protocol — and if the app supports Certs.social directly, you can sign in with just your email, no password needed.
How does it work?
Sign-in is passwordless: you enter your email, receive a one-time code, and you're in. Behind the scenes, Certs.social issues an AT Protocol identity tied to your account. That identity is cryptographically verifiable and portable — it works the same whether you're on certs.social, a partner application, or any future service that speaks AT Protocol.
Your data lives on your Personal Data Server. If you ever want to leave, you can export everything or migrate your identity to a different PDS provider — no data is locked inside Certs.social.
What is AT Protocol?
AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol) is an open, federated protocol for building social and identity applications. Unlike centralized platforms where one company controls your account, AT Protocol separates identity from the application layer. Your identity is yours — verifiable, portable, and independent of any single service.
Certs.social builds on AT Protocol to provide a managed, user-friendly entry point: you get the benefits of decentralized identity without needing to understand the underlying protocol or run your own infrastructure.
Who operates Certs.social?
Certs.social is operated by the Hypercerts Foundation, a Delaware nonstock corporation founded in February 2023. The Foundation develops open infrastructure for the hypercerts ecosystem — tools and protocols that help track, fund, and reward positive impact.
Certs.social was created because the hypercerts ecosystem needed a portable identity layer: a way for users to move between applications while keeping their profile, contributions, and reputation intact. Rather than build a proprietary login system, the Foundation chose AT Protocol as the foundation — making Certs.social interoperable with a growing network of decentralized applications.
How is Certs.social different from "Sign in with Google"?
Both Certs.social and "Sign in with Google" let you use one account across multiple apps. The key difference is ownership and portability:
- With Google: Google controls your identity. If Google suspends your account or changes their terms, you lose access to every app you signed into. Your data stays with each individual app.
- With Certs.social: Your identity is an AT Protocol identity — it's cryptographically yours. You can export your data, migrate to another provider, or even self-host. No single company can revoke your identity.
Open source
Every component of Certs.social is open source. The application code, the PDS infrastructure, and the protocol it builds on are all publicly auditable. You can review the source on GitHub.
Security through transparency, not obscurity. If you find an issue, you can report it directly or submit a fix.
Infrastructure
The Personal Data Servers operated by Certs.social are hosted on cloud infrastructure located within the European Union. The service is designed to comply with GDPR and the Digital Services Act.
For more details, see our Privacy Policy and DSA Compliance page.
Contact
Hypercerts Foundation
1209 Orange St.
Wilmington, DE 19801
United States
Email: support@hypercerts.org