bc-envelope-ts is a structured format for hierarchical binary data with built-in support for elision, encryption, signing, compression, and selective disclosure.
Gordian Envelope is a structured format for hierarchical binary data focused on privacy. The TypeScript implementation provides a feature-rich reference implementation.
Envelopes are designed to facilitate "smart documents" with a number of unique features:
- Hierarchical structure: Easy representation of a variety of semantic structures, from simple key-value pairs to complex property graphs
- Merkle-like digest tree: Built-in integrity verification at any level of the structure
- Deterministic representation: Uses CBOR with deterministic encoding rules for consistent serialization
- Privacy-focused: The holder of a document can selectively encrypt or elide specific parts without invalidating the structure, signatures, or digest tree
- Progressive trust: Holders can reveal information incrementally to build trust with verifiers
@blockchaincommons/envelope is published to npm. Install it with your package manager of choice:
npm install @blockchaincommons/envelope
# or
pnpm add @blockchaincommons/envelope
# or
yarn add @blockchaincommons/envelope
# or
bun add @blockchaincommons/envelopeThe root entry is the core Envelope class (construction, assertions,
digests, CBOR/UR, elision, encryption, compression, salt). Each extension is
a subpath of plain functions that take the envelope first; /all installs
every extension as an Envelope method for the fluent style.
import { Envelope } from "@blockchaincommons/envelope";
import { sign, verifySignatureFrom } from "@blockchaincommons/envelope/signature";
import { format } from "@blockchaincommons/envelope/format";
import { PrivateKeys } from "@blockchaincommons/components";
const alice = PrivateKeys.random();
const doc = Envelope.from("Alice").addAssertion("knows", "Bob");
const signed = sign(doc, alice);
verifySignatureFrom(signed, alice.publicKeys());
console.log(format(doc));
// "Alice" [
// "knows": "Bob"
// ]
// The same, fluently, with the facade (the only entry with side effects):
import "@blockchaincommons/envelope/all";
doc.sign(alice).verifySignatureFrom(alice.publicKeys()).format();Formatting names tags and known values through a global format context.
Call registerTags() (from /format or /all) once at startup, as the
reference calls bc_envelope::register_tags(), so requests, functions,
parameters and known values print by name (request(ARID(…)), «add»,
'isA') instead of by tag number; the context is created on first use from a
snapshot of the tag and known-value stores, so register before formatting.
Subpaths: /all, /format, /expression, /attachment, /edge, /proof,
/recipient, /secret, /signature, /sskr, /types, /seal.
Runnable examples live in the examples/ directory.
bc-envelope-ts is currently under active development and in beta testing. It should not be used for production tasks until it has had further testing and auditing. See Blockchain Commons' Development Phases.
- 1.0.0-beta.3 (September 15, 2026) - Validated against
bc-envelope-rust0.43.0, error messages included: format-context registration (registerTags()), byte-order sorts, decode error identity, subject extraction,u64ids and positions, exact request and event dates, SSH-agent locking (lockWith/unlockWith). - 1.0.0-beta.2 (September 12, 2026) - Text summaries truncate as the reference does (UTF-8 length decides, whole characters kept);
Function/Parameter/ExpressiontoString()andResponse.summary()print the reference'sDisplaytext. - 1.0.0-beta.1 (September 9, 2026) - Initial beta implementation.
- Continued testing and auditing on the path from beta to a stable 1.0.0 release.
- Continued parity with the Rust reference implementation as it evolves: every release replays the vectors through the reference (see
tests/rust-validation/README.md).
@blockchaincommons/envelope depends on @blockchaincommons/components, @blockchaincommons/crypto, @blockchaincommons/dcbor, @blockchaincommons/known-values, @blockchaincommons/rand, @blockchaincommons/sskr, @blockchaincommons/tags and @blockchaincommons/uniform-resources at runtime.
To build and work on this library, you'll need the following tools:
- Node.js >= 22.12 - JavaScript runtime.
- Bun - used to install dependencies and run scripts (any node package manager works).
- TypeScript >= 5.7 - language and type checker.
This bc-envelope-ts project is either derived from or was inspired by:
- BlockchainCommons/bc-shamir-rust - The reference Rust implementation, by Wolf McNally.
- paritytech/bcts - A TypeScript port of many Blockchain Commons' specs, by Parity Technologies.
bc-envelope-ts is a project of Blockchain Commons. We are proudly a "not-for-profit" social benefit corporation committed to open source & open development. Our work is funded entirely by donations and collaborative partnerships with people like you. Every contribution will be spent on building open tools, technologies, and techniques that sustain and advance blockchain and internet security infrastructure and promote an open web.
To financially support further development of bc-envelope-ts and other projects, please consider becoming a Patron of Blockchain Commons through ongoing monthly patronage as a GitHub Sponsor. You can also support Blockchain Commons with bitcoins at our BTCPay Server.
We encourage public contributions through issues and pull requests! Please review CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our development process. All contributions to this repository require a GPG signed Contributor License Agreement.
The best place to talk about Blockchain Commons and its projects is in our GitHub Discussions areas.
Gordian Developer Community. For standards and open-source developers who want to talk about interoperable wallet specifications, please use the Discussions area of the Gordian Developer Community repo. This is where you talk about Gordian specifications such as Gordian Envelope, bc-shamir, Sharded Secret Key Reconstruction, and bc-ur as well as the larger Gordian Architecture, its Principles of independence, privacy, resilience, and openness, and its macro-architectural ideas such as functional partition (including airgapping, the original name of this community).
Gordian User Community. For users of the Gordian reference apps, including Gordian Coordinator, Gordian Seed Tool, Gordian Server, Gordian Wallet, and SpotBit as well as our whole series of CLI apps. This is a place to talk about bug reports and feature requests as well as to explore how our reference apps embody the Gordian Principles.
Blockchain Commons Discussions. For developers, interns, and patrons of Blockchain Commons, please use the discussions area of the Community repo to talk about general Blockchain Commons issues, the intern program, or topics other than those covered by the Gordian Developer Community or the Gordian User Community.
As an open-source, open-development community, Blockchain Commons does not have the resources to provide direct support of our projects. Please consider the discussions area as a locale where you might get answers to questions. Alternatively, please use this repository's issues feature. Unfortunately, we can not make any promises on response time.
If your company requires support to use our projects, please feel free to contact us directly about options. We may be able to offer you a contract for support from one of our contributors, or we might be able to point you to another entity who can offer the contractual support that you need.
The following people directly contributed to this repository. You can add your name here by getting involved. The first step is learning how to contribute from our CONTRIBUTING.md documentation.
| Name | Role | Github | GPG Fingerprint | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Allen | Principal Architect | @ChristopherA | <ChristopherA@LifeWithAlacrity.com> | FDFE 14A5 4ECB 30FC 5D22 74EF F8D3 6C91 3574 05ED |
| Wolf McNally | Lead Researcher/Engineer | @wolfmcnally | <Wolf@WolfMcNally.com> | 9436 52EE 3844 1760 C3DC 3536 4B6C 2FCF 8947 80AE |
| Leonardo Custodio | Software Engineer | @leonardocustodio | <leonardo@snowpine.io> | 59DA D997 67EF 3BAB 2B90 D057 5384 DEF3 B582 450D |
Gordian Envelope for TypeScript was produced as a collaboration between Blockchain Commons and one of our patrons, Parity Technologies: Parity wrote the wrappers based on Blockchain Commons' specifications and reference libraries. Blockchain Commons is dedicated to not just creating open infrastructure on our own, but also coordinating the work of other companies in benefiting the Commons. Thanks to Parity for working directly with us in this manner.
We want to keep all of our software safe for everyone. If you have discovered a security vulnerability, we appreciate your help in disclosing it to us in a responsible manner. We are unfortunately not able to offer bug bounties at this time.
We do ask that you offer us good faith and use best efforts not to leak information or harm any user, their data, or our developer community. Please give us a reasonable amount of time to fix the issue before you publish it. Do not defraud our users or us in the process of discovery. We promise not to bring legal action against researchers who point out a problem provided they do their best to follow the these guidelines.
Please report suspected security vulnerabilities in private via email to ChristopherA@BlockchainCommons.com (do not use this email for support). Please do NOT create publicly viewable issues for suspected security vulnerabilities.
The following keys may be used to communicate sensitive information to developers:
| Name | Fingerprint |
|---|---|
| Christopher Allen | FDFE 14A5 4ECB 30FC 5D22 74EF F8D3 6C91 3574 05ED |
You can import a key by running the following command with that individual’s fingerprint: gpg --recv-keys "<fingerprint>" Ensure that you put quotes around fingerprints that contain spaces.