Trusting a bundle with signing keys

Every assistant bundle is signed by the environment that produced it. When another environment imports the bundle, it checks that signature against the signing keys it trusts. This stops an environment from importing a bundle from a source it does not recognise.

For an import to succeed, the target environment needs to trust the source environment’s signing key. You do that once per source, by exporting the source’s public key and importing it into the target. The private key never leaves the environment that holds it.

Export the public key

1. In the source environment, open Admin, then Settings, then Signing keys.

2. Find the environment’s own key and choose Export public key. Ajutant downloads the public half of the key. It is safe to share: it can verify a signature but cannot create one.

Import the public key

1. In the target environment, open Admin, then Settings, then Signing keys.

2. Choose Import a trusted key and select the public key file from the source.

3. Give it a clear label, such as the source environment’s name, then save.

Once the target trusts the key, it will accept any bundle signed by that source. You only repeat this when you start importing from a new source environment.

Caution

Only import a public key you obtained directly from an environment you control or trust. A signed bundle is only as trustworthy as the key that verifies it.

Putting it together

The usual order to move an assistant between environments is:

1. Trust the source’s signing key in the target (this page).

2. Export the assistant from the source and import it into the target. See Exporting and importing assistants.